Ragball Pumpkins

 I purchased a dozen of these drying rag balls, made by the Good Year car brand from the auction last Saturday for $2.00.  So I have about 16 or 17 cents in each.

They are made to use as a drying rag ball for windows and such.  But as soon as I saw them I had other plans. I pictured them as cute little primitive pumpkins because of their shape.

So as soon as I got home with them, I got out my 

-JUTE TWINE

-Manila Tag Labels

-Wooden Ice Cream Spoons

-Scissors

-Few Sprigs of Pip Berry Garland

-Old Crow Stamp and Ink

-Brown Craft Paint

I first painted my wooden ice cream spoons a brown color to make them look like little stems.

And I tied some jute string around them and just stuck them inside the little rag ball.

I noticed some had dis-colorization on the tops. I bet this is why they were cheaper.

Then I used the Manila tags, stamp and ink and stamped up some cute tags to tie on them.
I thought an ole crow would be Halloweenish~.

And then I just put it all together.

 

And I put them in a brownish/yellow colored enamel pan for display.

I think I am going to price these for $3.00 each in my local co-op craft booth.

Not a bad profit for an item that ended up costing me about 16 cents each! And I got a case of 12. 

I so wish I would've gotten more now! Ah, maybe next time.

What do ya' think? 

A fair price?

Happy Crafting ya'll,

See ya' next time,

~Lisa

MASON JAR STAMPED GIFT BAGS

Time to spruce up those plain ole' gift bags you got on clearance last year.  Here's what I recently done to a bunch. I made them into Mason Jar Stamped Gift Bags.  Mason jar anything really catches my eye and I hope they do the shoppers at my local co-op also.

Here's how the Kraft bags originally came in both green and red. The price says $3.00 but I got them at the Christmas clearance at Big Lots for 75% off.  Woot woot!

I got them for 75% off at the Christmas Clearance sale.

As you see above, I just got out my big and little Mason Jar stamps and black ink and started stamping.

I didn't have an exact idea in mind, just to stamp.

Some of them, as you see in the back, I stamped on the words, "Thank You," in case someone is using the bag as a thanks gift.

Really simple way to spruce up those plain bags I think.  And anytime I can use my Mason Jar stamps, I'm ready!

The green ones are larger, but you can't really tell from this pic. I did get two different sizes.

And to finish them off, I took some jute string and a Manila tag and tied one on each.

Ready for someone to write on.

I'm gonna tuck these in at basket at my local co-op craft booth, beside my Mason Jar crafts.

I'm thinking maybe pricing these for .99cents each? Not sure yet, but I'll give it a try and see how it goes.

Happy Crafting,

DIY BOTTLE CAP PIE MAGNETS

Set of my finished Bottle Cap Pie Magnets in a cookie tin

I wish I could take credit for this cute idea but I can't.  I had never seen any or heard of them before winning an auction box lot full of miniatures last week.  And tucked away in the corner was this single, cute miniature little pie that inspired this DIY bottle cap pie post:

Here was the bottom after I tore off a $3 price tag of old scotch tape.

It wasn't a magnet, but I immediately thought it'd be cute as one. So I had to get to making up a batch and see how they will sell in my new booth.  Oh, here's a few pics of how it's coming along so far.

And now on to making these adorable bottle cap pie magnets.

YOU WILL NEED:
-Salt Dough (Recipe Link) or Polymer Clay (my first batch I'm trying the clay since I have a lot on hand)
-E-6000 Glue
-Round Magnets
-Craft Paint & Spray Paint (optional) but faster for me for larger batches
-Metal Bottle Caps

First off, gather up some metal pop lids.  Oddly, I'd saved these for a while, but I just never new what I'd need them for.

Then take them and lay them out on something, I used a styrofoam plate, and spray paint them the base color you want.  

 

I chose white just because it was what I had on hand.  

 I'd really have  preferred red. But anyways.  One coat was good enough, so I continued.

My next step is totally optional but I love the old enamel speck look it gives so I've gotta show it.

Take some other contrasting color, I choose red for one batch 

 

and blue for another, 

 

and flick specks on using an old toothbrush. 

Just dip the toothbrush in some paint, and run your finger up and down the bristles to let the specks fly. You can add a dab of water if you must, but not too much or it'll look too runny.

And after they dried good, I got out my clay.

Next time I'll use salt dough, but for right now I have plenty of the clay ready.

I went ahead right now and squirted a bit of E-6000 glue into the empty lids, preparing them for the clay. Here's the type I used that I purchased from ebay:

Just pinch you off a bit and shove it in a dry lid to make the pie.

 

Here is a bunch of the tops so you can see the various designs I did. 

Oh, I also went in while the clay was still wet and cut a slit out to make it look like a piece was gone.

Here's another pic to show how I used the tip of an ink pen lid to push in to make fake cherries or what have you:

And with the same pen, I rolled it on top of the clay to give it a woven texture.

Just look around and find items that you can use.  If you notice the edges of these, I took one of the metal bottle caps and rolled it around the edges to give it the crimped look. I really liked that.

Now let them sit to dry. Depending on what type of "pie filling" you used, it depends on the time.  But for my clay I let them sit for about 12 hours.  And then I did a bit of painting.

 As you see,  I just used some craft paint and try to dribble on some sort of pie toppings. And I loved the one that I painted white, like a cake, with red strawberry dots on it. I think that one is my favorite.

 A few of the others I just played around with. And the one with the chocolaty looking runny topping I was trying to go for a drippy look for the edges, but it didn't turn out so good.

And if you noticed, I've got them stashed in an old cookie tin that someone had given me as a gift last year.  I thought it'd be a cute way to transport them to my booth and to display them in.

Also, if you wanted to sell these in a lot of say a dozen or so, it'd be a cute packaging idea to leave them in the tin with the lid!  I may do that also.

But here's some pics of how I've gotten some displayed in my kitchen now:

And again, it'd be a very cute way to give a tin of  Christmas cookies, errrr pies, as a unique Christmas gift!

I'm still on the fence on how to price these. Maybe 2 magnets for a $1.00.

Or .99 cents each? I dunno yet.

 Or if I put around 12 in a tin can, as above, maybe $7.00 or so? What would you think on the pricing?

Hope ya' like this idea and give it a try!

Happy crafting ya'll,

~Lisa

DIY UK Wildcats Cornhole Game Boards

UK Wildcats Corn hole Game Boards

Cornhole is a fun outdoors, summer family game that we enjoy at cookouts. You may also know it by the name "bean bag toss."
It's a simple concept game. You simply throw bean bags towards a board and try to sink it in the hole for 3 points or at least land it on the board for 1 point. The team that reaches the score of 21 first wins.

Official rules of cornhole found at ACA
 

We play every year at most every summer cookout.

And we always played with these plain cornhole boards that my husband made or my brother in laws boards who were plain as well.

Notice our plain boards? Still fun but not fun to look at!

Well, being as most of my family is into sports and they all love UK Wildcats, my brother in law, Robert, asked me to do his in a UK Wildcat theme.

So here goes.

First, I painted them a gloss white with outdoor paint:

Then I used some masking tape to make the large triangle that will point towards the hole.

Remember when sticking it that you will be painting on the inside of the lines.

And then I took some blue outdoor paint, from Walmart in semi gloss and painted the triangle. Remove the tape and let it all dry.

Next, I needed to add a UK logo.
So I printed out one online to lookout as a template.

This was the hardest part for me.

I free-handed the UK symbol the best I could in pencil. Double lines, kind of outline it.

I had to keep a UK picture close to keep looking back and forth.

Then I took a small paintbrush, well a makeup brush really, and filled in the pencil lines:

It's a little crooked if you look close, but good enough for me!

And now on to the easy part.

My brother in law had bought some UK logo, clear cling decals for me to try to use.

I took some E-6000 craft glue from Walmart and rubbed some of it on the backs. To make sure they hold good. And that glue does hold strong.

NOTE:
I just do not like the clear plastic around it now after seeing it in a photo.
I do wish I had trimmed all the excess clear plastic off and just glued on the helmet logo itself.

 See what I mean about being able to see the clear lining of the decal?
Next time I will definitely cut it all off before gluing. 

Do you see the large wildcat on the front ends?

I didn't have anything to go there so I printed out a wildcat on plain computer paper. I cut it out very closely and applied it with the E-600 glue also.
Use as little as possible or it will start to distort the paper.

Once dried, I sealed it with a craft paint sealer.

And I also went over the entire board with a can of clear coat sealer found at Walmart.
I'm sure you could probably brush on clear coat protector also if you have it.
Just test o a small part first.

When not in use be sure to store these indoors so that the logos don't ruin.

The paint will be fine, it's just the logos that I worry about as it is the first time I've ever used them like this.

I also made a set of matching UK bean bags.
Well, the best I could anyways.
I know they should be made of  Duck Cloth but I didn't have any on hand. I'd never made bean bags before so this was a first.

I found a bunch of this UK fabric at the flea market for only $5.00.

Looked up the measurements (6 in x 6 in and wieght 16 oz) and such and cut them out.
Seems you can either fill them with brown beans or whole kernel feed corn.
I went ahead and did beans since they were on hand.

I hope these can withstand a bit of throwing.
We shall see! 
If not then I will make some new ones from the mighty Duck Cloth!

I'm not very good at corn hole, I just get lucky a lot. But with the right partner, we have won every game each year, so far for the last 5 years! lol. 

I hope I didn't jinx the next game!!! lol

I will probably make another set similar to these and put them for sale in my 
Etsy Shop.

But I'm still trying to think up a reasonable price.
What would you suggest?

UPDATE:

Some friends wanted me to also make Jack Daniels themed boards along with Bud Light themed boards. 

I did and I will share them on my next post.

Have you ever played the game of corn hole bean bag toss?