Mitzi's Miscellany

Make Your Own Hatpins

Hatpins were popular accessories worn on the huge hats that were fashionable during the late 1800's to early 1900's.  The really long pins actually speared preserved birds (yes, birds!) that were worn on the hats.  I think vintage hatpins make a fun collection, and I sell quite a few in my antique mall booths.  It's also fun to create new hatpins, and that's what I'd like to show you how to do today.

Vintage Jello Mold Pincushion Craft Tutorial

I've seen many inspiring tart tin and Jello mold crafts on Pinterest and other blogs.  It's amazing what people think of when it comes to up-cycling!  Today it's my turn to show you what to do with aluminum Jello molds and other little food molds.  It's easy to find these molds at garage sales and estate sales. Usually, a couple dollars will buy you several.  I'm going to combine the molds with some easy-to-find vintage ceramic figures, some fabric, and a few new materials to make some charming pincushions with my own twist.  This is a good project to use up cans of spray paint with just a little bit left, too.

 

Up-cycled Necktie Wreath Tutorial

 Over the years, I've ended up with numerous vintage neckties found in auction box lots and other sources.  I've been compiling creative ideas on a Pinterest board dedicated to Necktie Crafts, but most of the projects require sewing.  This wreath is a no-sew project that can be made in just an hour or two.  Could this be a Father's Day gift?  Or how about a way of preserving some old ties of grandpa's?  It beats keeping them in a box in the attic or basement, and/or saves you the guilt of throwing them out.....

My Favorite Fabric Flowers: A Tutorial

There are hundreds of fabric flower tutorials out there, on blogs and Pinterest.  If you want to see a fairly good collection of them, check out my Pinterest board.  I've been compiling quite a collection of "creative flowers."  Recently, I started a second Pinterest board dedicated to paper flowers.  

With all the tutorials already out there, It's difficult to come up with something original, but my favorite fabric flowers might differ slightly from others that you have seen.  I guess that's about all that's left to do:  put your own twist on basic ideas that already exist. 

Fabric Scrap Wreath Craft Tutorial

Recently I was making yet another attempt to clean my craft room and I came upon a pile of color coordinated vintage fabric scraps I bought at an estate sale.  They were pre-cut in five by three inch rectangles, and the fabric was just begging to be made into something fun.  I decided to stop cleaning and make a rag wreath with a heart shaped wreath form I had stashed in my "someday-I'll-use-this" pile.

I've seen many examples of rag wreaths on Pinterest and around the web.  I really like the way they look and figured they took a long time to make.  Now that I've made one, I can report that mine only took a little over two hours to make, and that included tearing the strips of fabric.  Not bad!  I'm going to give this wreath to my mom for Mother's Day:

Paper Roses Craft Tutorial

This month I planned to post crafts using books and book pages, but I've fallen a bit behind on my schedule.  I had an offer from BurlapFabric.com to use their products, which I was happy to do, and I wanted to squeeze in an Easter craft before the holiday.  But today I have a craft that uses vintage book pages.  Once I got going, I used vintage wallpaper too.  You can use scrapbook paper or any pretty paper for this project. 

Here is my bouquet of vintage paper roses:

These were fun to make, and didn't take a long time once I got the hang of them.  Although there are numerous tutorials out there for making paper flowers, I sort of figured this version out for myself by viewing finished roses on my Pinterest board.  Here are the materials and instructions you'll need to make some of your own....

Peat Pot Easter Baskets Craft Tutorial

I was rummaging around in my garage the other day and found several peat pots I had purchased a while ago.  As I recall, I purchased them for craft projects rather than gardening.  Peat pots make wonderful little baskets for holiday decor or party favors.  I even have a Pinterest board dedicated to peat pots, which you can view HERE.

I made some little Easter baskets with the peat pots I found in my garage.  Here are a couple of them:

  These little baskets were easy and fun to make, but they took some time.  Here is what you will need to make your own version:

Spring Burlap Banners with Products from BurlapFabric.com

Is there any fabric hotter than burlap right now?  I can't think of one, at least in the craft world.  Recently a rep from BurlapFabric.com contacted me about creating a craft with some of their products in exchange for a blog post, and I was all over that!  I invited my crafty friend Lisa Longlois over and we came up with two spring garlands after perusing Pinterest and using some of our own ideas:

Craft Tutorial: Tin Organizational Caddies with J-B Weld Products

Recently a representative from the J-B Weld company contacted me with an offer I couldn't refuse:  a box of samples of their products to use for my craft and repair projects in exchange for a blog post.  I have fond memories of my dad using J-B Weld products years ago, but I haven't used them myself.  I was excited to give them a try and come up with a project that required some serious "welding."  

I like to avoid a trip to the craft store to buy new materials, so I vowed to remain home and see what I could come up with.  I found a couple tin items including a pie pan, cake pan, a baking powder tin and two food molds, and came up with two organizational caddies:

 There are several J-B Weld products to choose from for various needs, but for this project I chose KwikWeld, which is a steel reinforced epoxy that sets up in six minutes:

Burlap and Bling Boxes Craft Tutorial

 Continuing with the craft category of "boxes" for the month of March here on my blog, I've created an easy project I call Burlap & Bling Boxes made from craft store paper mache storage boxes or vintage hat boxes.  These are easy to make and if you've never used Mod Podge for Fabric before, I'd like to encourage you to give it a try.  It's fun to work with and very effective with burlap.

 

 I started with these three paper mache boxes from the craft store: