BURLAP PUMPKIN BAGS with LIGHTS

Here is my latest Fall creation. A burlap "Punkin" bag with lights and Punkin' Spoons.

I started out with some plain, burlap bags approximately 12"x8" like this:

 

Then I got out my PUMPKIN stencil I bought from eBay and some cinnamonish orange paint and burnt umber (not shown) and black. I also used a makeup sponge, not shown, to dab the paint into the stencils.

Make sure to get the excess paint off your sponge before you start dabbing.

The burlap really takes the paint great!

Way better than I first thought it would.

Notice I lifted my stencil and rearranged the letters to get the "N" instead of going on with the "M."

That is because I wanted to spell out "PUNKINS" instead of "PUMPKINS."  It's just what we call'em round' here.  

If you do this too, just try to realign your stencil best you can to finish off the word.

Next, I also stenciled on a star in the right hand top.

And then the lower left hand corner I free handed a punkin'.

I also wrote 5cents inside the punkin'. Sorry it's hard to see with that twig of grapevine in my way.

And now to I started to think what I could put inside it to hold it good upright. I know chicken wire would do great, but I don't have any left.  So I thought about sitting a large Mason Jar inside it. And it'd also act like a vase.

Yep, working.

Now I just need to add some more cuteness to it.

I had some plastic gourds and such from last years decorating.

And then I thought I'd throw in some of my 

Pumpkin Wooden Spoons too.

They stick up great thanks to the jar inside!

Okay, so now I think they are ready to get some lights.

And here is a shot of it with the flash off. Sorry, it doesn't show up too good.

But here you can see it pretty good, even with the flash on.

I just love it.

I also stuck a fall themed sprig of pip berry in it.

*NOTE: I had to remove my jar because my strand of lights was too big.

But if you don't plan on using lights, you can still use the Mason Jar as a good holder inside.

~*~

Still in the burlap bag mode, I went ahead and did another one below:

 ~*~ 

With this next cute burlap bag, I must say I cheated a little. 

I ordered a few pre-stamped bags, with the HOLBERTS HOG and some others, (previous post) size 12"x8", to see how they were going to turn out as bags. They already had the designs on the front but the ones above, in PUNKIN theme, I did myself.

Here  are the pre-stamped, HOLBERTS HOG burlap bags flat when I got them:

They were open ended on one end. All I had to do was 

-stuff them. Hum, but with what this time? Last time I used papers.  But this time I wanted to use lights to make them more interesting! 

 Just stuff a strand in. I used a white strand left over from Christmas decorating.

Just kinda push it in so that it'll look like a bag of something sitting there.

Here it is again,

And here is my all time favorite view of it with the flash off on the camera.

See, I just threw the lights in, kinda in a wad, and let them fall where they will.

And I left the plug in hanging out the top back. You can see it over to the right of this pic, where I have a plug in strip behind it.

Okay, so that's all I better post today, as I don't want to bore you with my burlap love too much!

I have about 10 different designs listed in my eBay shop. If you are interested, stop in and look around.

See ya'll next time!

~Lisa

MASON JAR LID MAGNETS

MASON JAR LID MAGNETS

These are some cute ideas that I had from having lots of extra Mason Jar lids.

(The rings I am going to also use on an upcoming post, so stay tuned!)

If you don't have any lids laying around, don't worry. You can find a box of 24 (both lids-12 and rings-12) at Walmart for around $2.50.

I had some left over from trying my first ever Bread N' Butter Pickels

First I simply just laid them out on and gave them a base coat of red in Rustoleum spray paint. 

Let it dry and sometimes if it didn't cover totally, I went back and did a second coat. (I'm not a great spray painter.)

And then I took a can of white spray paint and did the speckle effect.  

I do this by just barely putting any pressure at all on the spray nozzle and just holding it there. 

It will finally start to spit and spray and soon little specks of white paint will fly out like snow.  Just hold the can over what you want to spray and let it spit.  It looks cool!

Some of them, I just sprayed them white and then re-speckled the white again. Leaving out all red.

Just to make some different.

Then I took out my large Mason Jar stamp I got from eBay.

Dabbed it in black ink and while holding the lid in my hand, stamped it on.

I had to keep it in my hand so that I could apply the pressure evenly from the back of the lid.

Laying them on hard surfaces didn't work too good for me.

Notice not all of the center was stamping great on them. So that's where I started pressing harder from the back.

And after letting them sit and dry for about a good hour, because of the ink.

I went and attached a round magnet, size 3/4" (19mm diameter) that I got from Walmart. A package of 52 costed like $3 or so.  They have a really good strong hold. I do not recommend those peel and stick strips for things like this.

The glue I used is called E-6000 and it forms a very strong hold!

I use if for most everything.

 Here are some more pics of them done.

 These were the large mouth lids, if I forgot to mention that. That's why I used such a large stamp.

I also have a smaller stamp that I am going to make the regular mouth lid magnets with also.

I just have to go find it now. lol.

(I am a stamp collector also!)

(Here is the link to make the bottle labels, if you are interested.)

If you like these but don't want to try making them, 

I listed a few "buy it now's" on eBay here  for $9.99 with free shipping.

Hope ya'll give this cool Mason Jar Lid Magnet craft a try.  I figured they will look cute in about any kitchen!

I'm trying something new and linking up with Made by You Mondays to share in a linky linkup.

See Ya'll next time!

~Lisa

UPDATE:
Maggie from EyeballsbyDayCraftsbyNight asked me below, if these smear.
With regular handling mine don't. 
But after she asked, I went back and took my thumb and kept rubbing into it and yes, they started to smooth out on the sharp lines.
So, if you want to take this a step farther, you can finish them off with some type of sealer or spray clear coat even. 
I think I will give mine a coat to be safe.
Thanks Maggie, for thinking of this! 

FREE PAINT STICK SIGN TEMPLATES

Hey Ya'll! Let's give a try at making some shelf sitter signs and magnets from free paint sticks.

I've seen this idea around for a while now (saw a great one on Pinterest, but I can't find it now, but it was great! But I think they only made hanging signs,) and I am just now giving it a try.

Sounds easy enough right?
Lets see.

Here's what you will need:

-Some free wooden paint sticks 

12" long by  1 1/8" wide

(I just asked in the paint department if I could have a few for crafts and they said sure.)

-Printer and copy machine

-Holiday themed paper (A 50 pack at Walmart cost me $4.98)

-Handsaw or jigsaw

-A page of words you wish to make signs into

(I will attach a link to mine I made in Microsoft Word for you to use on your personal use items.

(Sorry I scanned it upside down!!)

You must click it top make it large and then SAVE the large image.

(For personal use only and to give as gifts.)

Okay, so are you ready to start making some cute Paint Stick Hanging Signs?

Here is the hardest part.  First, you will want to cut your free, wooden paint sticks down to 4 inches each in length. So as you see, each paint stick will give you 3 signs.  

Well, two of them will be perfect flat sides, but the third one of mine, has beveled sides.
That is because I'm using all the stick, including the handle part that is cut to fit your hand. You don't have to if you don't want.  But I don't mind.

After you have cut the paint sticks, go ahead and print out the words sheet I have posted above on plain, white computer paper.

Don't print this as a template, it is just a photo.

Okay, now having that printed out on the plain, white paper, now is the time to lay them down in your copy machine. 

And make sure you have loaded a sheet of the Holiday themed paper into the printer tray.  This is what your words will print out on.

And I just put the flat side in first, not the one with the hole in it.

Just go ahead and hit Make a Copy and be sure to print in Black.

And here it comes out:

I forgot I had messed with my margins in Word for printing, so I had to print mine again.

And finally, now we can start to see how this is all coming together.

You see, we are going to put these words and decorative paper on our wood sticks.

And the best part about using the holiday themed card stock paper is that we will not use up all the ink in our printers by printing so much colors!

Okay so now we just need to paint the paint sticks a similar color to your paper signs.

And cut out your signs to fit on the stick and leave a little space around it.

Ok now just use some mod podge and kinda glue your sign down with it.

Let it dry and then take a little bit of the same color paint as your stick and lightly dry brush some on to the edges of your paper sign.  It just helps the edges look better.
Let it dry and then do a top coat of mod podge to seal it all in.

Here are a few more:

Notice these next few I added the red to the edges after the final coat of mod podge and it doesn't look so great.

I definitely will do the corner dry brushing before having mod podge on top.

It looks more rustic.



Okay, now what to use these little cuties for.

I am mainly keeping them as little shelf sitters or tucks as some call them.
Just prop in front of crocks, jars or spoons.

And some of them I am turning into refrigerator magnets. It's always hard for me to find cute, country magnets for my kitchen.
 I am just attaching a round magnet to the back with e-6000 glue. I get the strong, 3/4" ones from Walmart and one is all that is really needed. And it holds a few sheets of paper by itself!

And the others I am turning into little hanging signs.
I'm just gonna drill two small holes in them at the top corners and attach some craft wire.
 Just however long you wish.

And then gonna hang them on my little primitive grapevine trees.
I may even attach a few of them (with the wire hanger) to Christmas presents instead of a bow!

The uses really can be endless if you think about it.

See ya'll next time!
~Lisa

WOODEN MASON JARS

Hey ya'll!

When I ran across these plain, unfinished, adorable little wooden mason jars, I knew I wanted them.  I just didn't know what for.

Well, today, about a year later, I got them out and thought it'd be cute to make some tiny little dollhouse type food for the cupboards.  I know that dollhouse miniatures are a very popular thing, I just haven't really ever gotten into them.  

But give me tiny mason jars and I'm there!

So here was my idea.

I just went into Word and Paint on my pc and tinkered around and made some tiny little word labels.

I couldn't get them to print out small enough, so I eventually had to copy them on my printer/scanner/fax and then resize them.  I think I tried a 75% first and then eventually had to go down to a 49% to get a good fit.

 I gathered up some supplies:

-Mod Podge

-Scissors

-A Paintbrush

And then I just cut each one out. They were tiny! And I use some Mod Podge to glue them on and an extra coat to seal the outside.

And then just let them sit and dry. And wa~la!

Here they are.

If you look pretty dang close, you can see I tried to make some green beans, carrots and tomatoes in the right hand corner.  To kind of give them a different look to make a set of 4. The fourth one, I just left plain to say Ball.

I am not sure my usual, craft peeps will be interested in these little doll house miniatures, but hey, maybe take this idea and use it on items?

I haven't really tinkered with anything like this before.  But with little jars, I'll do something with them or burst!

Happy Crafting ya'll!
See ya next time,

~Lisa