A different kind of floral teapot

Back in the spring I picked some flowers for future crafting, and for months now I have been drying the petals between the pages of a book. This weekend, I decided it was time to try my hand at the craft I had in mind, and this was the result. I'm not sure what I'll do with it (scan the design for notecards, maybe?), but I'm pretty happy with my inaugural effort!

It seemed like I spent hours separating and pressing those violet buds and other pieces and petals back in the spring. Naturally, I realize now I should have collected about 10 times as many pieces if I truly wanted to have a good supply of "materials" to work with. Next year!

My teapot was traced in pencil on a 5 x 7 inch blank canvas, and then I lightly outlined the teapot with the edge of a glue stick before arranging the pink petals. The other pieces I arranged and glued individually. So far everything still seems to be adhering pretty well. I'll eventually need to frame this under glass so the petals don't crumple and blow away. Any pressed flower crafters out there? I'm always open to instruction!

Tea & the Sea

It's hard to believe it's already been a month since my husband and I visited Orange Beach, Ala. The seashells there were more plentiful than I could have imagined, so this weekend I tried my hand at crafting my own souvenir of the trip, a teapot made with seashells I collected there.

When we arrived, we were curious about the presence of these orange oil containment booms, which would be used to help keep any possible oil arriving from the Louisiana oil spill from reaching the shore. (Side note: I got a haircut while I was there and was told my chopped hair would be going in one of the booms. Local salon owners had been asked to save the hair because a pound of hair will attract a pound of oil.) No oil had arrived during our time at the beach, but who could have imagined that a month later the oil would still be gushing!

Here is what the boom looks like from the seashore.

I hadn't realized how heavy these things would be. I tried to lift one and was surprised when it hardly budged.

But booms weren't the greatest attraction for me on the trip. The seashells were!

My favorite seashells are the ones in what I consider the classic shell shape.

I was thrilled to find these "fancy" seashells, too.

I even liked this pockmarked, thick, heavy remnant of a seashell. Sort of a Shabby Chic seashell, wouldn't you say?

And one of my greatest finds, a teeny-tiny sand dollar!

Most of the seashells were this simple design. Lovely, and with so many color variations. (I couldn't help admiring the Artist!)

When it was time to craft, I reached for an old teapot I had, quickly slapping on some acrylic paint over the gold metallic trim so it wouldn't show through. And from there, it was just hot glue galore! I have discovered the joys of the *low-temperature* glue gun, and I'll never go back.

Here's an aerial view. (But please don't look too closely or you're bound to see some of the 2,000 or so stringy strands of hot glue I missed.)

The teapot is now part of a summer vignette on the side table in the dining room.

The shells are a happy memento of a wonderful weekend in May, and a quiet reminder to pray that those beautiful white beaches along the Gulf -- and the many fine folks whose lives are tied to them -- will soon return to normal.

Easter Egg Teapot

Cheesy or cheery? Depends on your view, I guess, but the other day I had the sudden thought, "Why not decorate an Easter egg to look like a teapot?" Last year I decorated some with teapots (shown here), but I'm not sure I've actually seen one decorated where the egg is the body of the teapot.

I had this leftover wooden egg from last year's efforts, already painted pink, so I just started gluing on seed beads and tiny buttons that were in my scrapbooking stash.

I made a handle and spout of scrapbooking paper. Getting these just right was the hardest part!

Next, more beaded bling. (Cupcake liners are good for holding beads during crafting.)

Finally, a round pearl "knob" for the top of the teapot. If I'd had this idea earlier I would definitely have made more of these, but I wanted to go ahead and share the idea in case some of you are in a crafty Easter mood this week! Next time, I think I'd like to use real eggshells (with the eggs blown out, of course) to make more delicate creations. And if I needed a craft for kids, I would use good old plastic eggs for making teapot eggs. This egg idea may be half-cooked, but I think it has potential!

(And if you want to see some truly beautiful handcrafted Easter eggs, go here!)

Teabag wrapper clipboard

If you've been saving all your teabag wrappers, here's a cheap and easy way to use up some of them while creating a nifty clipboard you can use at the office or at home.

I've been saving my teabag wrappers for quite a while now, and I was reminded of what I'd meant to make when I saw this little item in the new Country Living. You can buy a postage stamp clipboard for $28, or you can make one of your own pretty much for free if you happen to have an old clipboard you can use!

This plain clipboard is one I've had for a while and cost about $1 at one of the local bargain stores, as I recall. Or maybe it was the one I got for 25 cents at a yard sale. (I like clipboard crafts and have made one of these before with fancy floral scrapbooking papers. Now I keep a clipboard or two around in case inspiration strikes.)

My other supplies: Sandpaper. Mod Podge (decoupage medium). A paper trimmer to neaten the edges of the teabag wrappers.

Once I had shaped up the wrappers a bit, I just started slapping the Mod Podge down with a small paintbrush and applying the designs willy nilly to the clipboard. To my surprise and delight, even the flimsy wrappers with plastic-like or metallic-looking linings worked just fine, often better than the paper ones, which tended to wrinkle. When the surface was covered, I applied another coat of Mod Podge over the entire surface. Once the Mod Podge dried, I used the sandpaper to lightly file down the edges all around the clipboard. Done.

One final tip: I don't really care what my clipboard looks like *under* the clip, but if you do ... slip a piece of wax paper under the clip while it dries. I did that the last time I made one of these and it worked great to prevent a line from appearing on the papers under the clip.

Celebrating International Button Week

Yesterday I was blog surfing when I came across a delightful blog called Button Floozies, and I learned they have decided to host International Button Week. So of course as an amateur button lover I had to find an appropriate way to celebrate, and this is what I came up with. It took about 30 minutes to make last night, but don't look too closely or you will see the gobs of hot glue hiding in between all those buttons. One day, when I am in a more leisurely mood, maybe I'll try actually *sewing* the buttons in a teapot shape on a pillow, as I think that could be really pretty.

This is actually an idea I've had for a while, but when I learned of the international observance it prompted me to action. I have a couple of teapot templates I saved from some craft kit years ago. I traced the one I like best on a sheet of construction paper and began filling it with some white buttons. (Mother of pearl ones would be prettier, but I glued all those to the little metal trash bin in my craft room last year, alas.) When that practice piece was done, I used a white quilting pencil to outline the teapot template on a piece of blue-green velvet and commenced to hot gluing buttons.

Are you a button lover? I am, and I can't think of too many crafts a nice button or two wouldn't improve upon. And I'd like to use them in some new and different ways. In fact, I've been thinking that if I can find some nice large buttons with rims around the edges, it might be fun to compose collages within the "frame" of the button. If I come up with something else tea-ish in button land, you know I'll share it here!

Greeting Card Teacup & Saucer

PLEASE NOTE: Because of repeated requests, I will soon be making this pattern available for sale as a PDF, so please check back for updates and I'll be glad to let you know when it's available. Thanks!




Years ago, I began to see in antique stores some baskets and vases that had been made out of old greeting cards fashioned together with simple crochet stitches. I never bought one, though, because I knew I could make one myself, and I even had the wild idea that I could make one in the shape of a teacup and saucer. So over the weekend, I did. Actually stitching the thing probably took less than two hours. Creating my own patterns probably took about six hours! Still, I'm fairly pleased with my first little effort, and now I have patterns I can adjust for future projects. Wouldn't just the cup part be cute with an Easter-basket-style handle, perhaps as a May Day basket for friends? And in case the crocheting tea lovers out there want to make some for yourselves, here are a few photos of what I did.

First, I gathered some old greeting cards, which wasn't hard to do because family and friends know how much I love roses and often send cards with this flower on them.

Once I got a notebook paper pattern piece to my satisfaction, I traced it four more times, taped the five pieces together 'til I had the size and shape cup I wanted, then traced the pattern piece to thick cardstock. This I cut out and used as the primary pattern for cutting out the greeting card pieces. I punched holes in them using a 1/8 inch holepunch, then single-crocheted around the pieces.


Once all the pieces were crocheted up, I joined them with a needle and the same cotton thread I used for the crocheting. Now I realize none of this makes much sense if you aren't a crocheter, but I would point out that something very similar could probably be accomplished with embroidery, using a simple blanket stitch to join the paper pieces. I did resort to hot glue for attaching a paper handle, but it now occurs to me I might have stitched this on instead. And the saucer (for which patterns were made in the same trial-and-error way) can even be inverted to create a pedestal type teacup if you like. When you turn it over and see handwriting of family and friends, you'll have happy memories to accompany your new papercraft teacup!

The Fantasy Teapot

I'd forgotten how much fun a hot glue gun could be! Somehow I never saw my glue gun again after I moved a little over a year ago, so after getting by with Elmer's and Super Glue for a while I decided it was time to invest in a new glue gun. And to celebrate, last night I went to town on a project I'd been mulling over for quite some time: The Fantasy Teapot.

I had an old Chatsford teapot with the Tealuxe logo on it collecting dust out in the garage. First, I painted over the the blue logo with white paint so it wouldn't be seen through any of the jewelry findings I was about to attach. Then, I started sorting through the old tin of jewelry bits and bobs I'd been collecting. Assorted single earrings, some stray rhinestones and pearls, some fancy buttons. I can assure you, pulling a trigger has never been so much fun.

Full disclosure: I'm not finished with the back yet, because I need more "pretty" pieces, so I'll be searching through my craft bins tonight after work. But I'm pretty happy with the way the front looks. In fact, I decided I'll leave the handle and spout jewel-free so I can actually use this teapot. (Or "try to use" this teapot. DH has pointed out that hot tea COULD make the hot-glued pieces pop off. Yes, yes, I know, but I'll be caught trying.)

White Tea to Go - In Style!

I was very happy with Lipton's Tea to Go mixes when they first came out, and I'd often travel to neighboring counties' grocery stores in pursuit of the hard-to-find Mandarin and Mango flavor, which was addictive. Now I've got a new favorite: the White Tea to Go in Apple Cranberry. It is great! I carry these little packets in my purse or tote bag to work, and then just fill up a water bottle, shake, and voila, sugar-free, delicious, cool tea.

And if you want to drink your tea in style, here's a "tea craft" I was inspired to make after reading Somerset Life, a great new crafts magazine. Basically, you take a 16- or 20-ounce water bottle and use glue (Elmer's) to embellish the bottle with fabric and jewelry findings and pretty trims. My friend Deberah has pointed out that if you stitched up this fabric piece with Velcro fasteners instead of gluing it, you could whip it off and run the water bottle through the dishwasher.

The slightly over-the-top bottle with the tassels is the one I have for myself at the office; the other two were gifts for friends.

Enjoy!