Garden Guardian Angel Ornament

Make a garden angel ornament using a clear plastic bottle and an angel ornament.

The inspiration for this project was the little plastic angel that did not make it back in the box when the Christmas items were put up and has been sitting on my desk for 6 months, but I have also seen ones at the dollar store that would work as well.

Items used:

• Clear Plastic Bottle
• Small Plastic or Glass Angel
• Decorative Stones
• 1 Large Jump ring
• Gold Acrylic Paint
• Small sponge brush
• Cardboard
• Clear Acrylic Spray (optional)
• Caulk (I used a single use caulk)
• Clear Glue (I used Amazing Goop)
• Box Cutter
• Craft Scissors
• Push Pin

The bottle you use depends on the size of angel that you have as it needs to be able to fit in the bottom. Remove the labels from the clear plastic bottle.

Paint top of the lid of the bottle with the gold paint. When dry spray with the clear acrylic sealant.

Paint a cross on the cardboard using a brush, allow it to dry then cut it out.

Flip it over and paint the other side.

For this side, which is the side I used facing out, I textured the paint by dabbing it with the sponge brush and squishing it down.

Use a box cutter (I tried using a regular knife and it was not sturdy enough and scratch the front) to start a cut along about an inch from the bottom, then use the craft scissors to cut the shape of a door.

This is what it will look like when you are done.

Put the cross in the bottle (you may have to trim it to fit).

Apply the clear glue to the edges to hold the cross in place.

Squeeze the caulk into the bottom of the bottle and distribute it evenly using the end of the sponge brush.

I put a decorative stone on the back of each edge of the bottle.

Put the angel in the bottle and press it down slightly into the caulk.

Use a push pin to make a hole in the door and a hole just to the right of the door.

Put the large jump ring through the hole and bend to close and you are done.

I put mine out on a piece of marble and put 4 decorative stones in the front, but you could put it wherever you like.

Designer Inspired Nautical Bejewled Top

This top is based on a tutorial at Carbon Couture on a version of designer Phillip Lim's nautical theme top.

http://carboncouture.blogspot.com/2009/05/anchors-away.html

I was able to make this version for under $8, but the stones are a little heavy - a lighter weight t-shirt would not work with as many stones as I used without pulling down the fabric.

Items used:

• Heavy weight t-shirt
• Decorative stones (I used 11 total)
• Amazing Goop Craft Adhesive and Sealant
• 2 yds of rope (I would recommend getting at least 3 yds - I did not have enough to go all the way around the top-just the front)
• 1/8th yd. iron on interfacing
• Iron & ironing board
• Glue gun and glue stick
• Needle and thread

I couldn't find any large flat beads at any of the local craft stores, so I resorted to using the decorative stone that you can get at the dollar store.

Glue the stones to the top of the interfacing about an inch apart and press down firmly.

Quickly flip the interfacing over before the glue seeps through and allow the glue to dry.

Once the glue is dry, cut around the stones to allow just enough of the interfacing to stick out that will be covered by the rope (I ended up cutting most of the ones below down further after tieing a piece of the rope around them as it was too wide).

Position the stones on the t-shirt how you want them.

Iron around the edges of the interfacing to tack it to the t-shirt.

After tacking down all of the edges with the iron, turn on the steam and go over all of the stones, then allow to cool off for about 5 minutes.

Turn the t-shirt inside out and iron over the back of the stones then allow to cool about 5 minutes.

Tie the rope around the stones.

Once the rope is in place lightly tack the rope to the interfacing in several places around the rope, then hand stitch the rope to the top.

SPRING IN A JAR 3D PHOTO FRAME

This is my new desk decoration for work - I call it my "happy place". I saw photos put in jars on Photojojo and it inspired this project. http://photojojo.com/content/diy/glass-jar-photo-frames/

BEFORE:

Item bought from Dollar Tree:

• Blue Star Shaped Glass Stones (to represent water from all the spring rain - we have a lot of flooding in the Spring where I live).
• Scrapbook Stickers (I chose these because they reminded more more of things my son does and things we see - our local zoo opens in the Spring and they have train that we always would ride, my son uses his skateboard on the sidewalk, the net for when he used to go fishing with his Grandpa before he passed away, and bugs).
• Easter Grass (to represent the grass getting greener and growing).
• Flowers (to represent the flowers that start to grow).

COST: $4 Things I already had on hand:

• Old candle jar.
• Photo of my son at Air Zoo in Battlecreek, MI that I took on a field trip for his school in Spring when he was in the 8th grade.
• Components to make "Shaun The Sheep" (made out of cotton from an asprin bottle, googly eyes that had come off of other project and scraps of black fabric) - I was going for more the look of the animals with suction cups that you stick on a car window - as a user commented on my blog, he does sort of look like pickled sheep).

AFTER:

I cropped the photo then put it in the jar, then put the blue star stones in the bottom, put in some pieces off the flower and Shaun the Sheep (yep, have to agree with one comment I received where he sort of does look like pickled sheep here), then added the Easter grass in the center.

To top it off, I pulled more flowers off and stuck them in the center so they stuck up outside of the jar, then put the lid on the jar. I then put the stickers on the outside of the jar to make it even more 3-D. ***UPDATE*** This was submitted as an idea at Familycrafts@About.com as part of a challenge on what to do with an empty jar and it was one of the three items featured. http://familycrafts.about.com/library/projects/blscrapbookjar.htm