Tin Can Flower and Feather Fascinator (With Pattern!)

 So I ordered some new tools... Because I'm wanting to start doing some more metalwork in my jewelry making! I bought some gemstones while we were up in North Carolina, and I really want to learn how to create silver pieces and set stones and whatnot. While I wait for my silver sheets to come in the mail, I'm itching to use some of my new tools! So after making some tasty dip for lunch today, I saved the can from the diced tomatoes and green chiles and used some of my new things to make this fascinator hair clip :) I'm really excited with how it turned out!

 I wore my hair with a french braid in front yesterday, and surprisingly, it made it through the night intact, without hair frizzing up crazy everywhere. Otherwise, I don't think you'd be seeing any action shots.

These are rooster feathers. My best pal picked up a giant bag of them at a yard sale for me, so thoughtful, she knows what I like. 

Here are the tools I used. You can't tell, but the inside of that tomato can is GOLD! Well, not real gold, just in color. I only used the top and bottom circular parts of the can, which I removed with a regular ol' can opener. Then I cut out 4 layers of flower shape with my new german metal shears . They're made specifically to cut metal. I've used my regular scissors on tin can before, and it sucks. These shears make it SOOOO much easier. 

Once the pieces were cut and filed a little on the edges (can be sharp!) I pounded a hole through the center of each piece with the hammer and nail. 

See that wood block and other wood thingie? That's a tamping block, and you put the pieces in the round dimples and hammer them so they round out a bit, and aren't so flat. 

Next, I connected them with a jewel brad through the center holes and then shaped the petals with the pliers. I think I should have riveted them together, but I'm not at that point yet! 

See the ridges on the biggest petals? That's just the ridges that already come on the top of the can, so I didn't even need to shape those. Score!

The next step was the easiest part, arranging feathers and hot gluing them to the back, then gluing the whole shebang to a hair clip.

So here is a pattern for the metal flower pieces if you have a tin can lying around and you feel like making a pretty flower fascinator for yourself! If you run into any problems, go ahead and comment and I'll get back to you.

On a side note, my hand-eye coordination has been stupid lately and I've accidentally deleted a couple of comments :( They put the "reject comment" directly below the "approve comment" link, and it immediately deletes the comment when the reject link is hit. I'm trying to be eeeeextra careful now, so I apologize if your comment is missing! I appreciate each one and I literally bellowed with frustration when I deleted them, especially when I did it the second time. Sorry! 

Well, Happy Thursday! Until next time!

Birds in Hats Coasters

 I had the lovely opportunity to be a guest designer for Alpha Stamps this month! I had a lot of fun playing around with lots of cool products including these 4x4 coasters and the theme "Birds in Hats". What a perfect theme for me, huh? :) This pink, fancy bird is my favorite...

 I used the "Parrots" Collage Sheet for all of these coasters. I flippin' love this collage sheet. So colorful!

 10 gold stars if you can tell me where this quote comes from.

And my second favorite, because I love budgies. Happy Monday, everyone! More Alpha Stamps projects coming soon, too :)

If you're interested in joining the Alpha Stamps "Birds in Hats" Coaster Swap, more details can be found here!

Wee Button Books and Unique Crafter's Challenge!

Happy June, everyone! Here comes summer... And nothing says summer like ice cream sandwiches. Speaking of sandwiches, these button books kind of look like button sandwiches (Yes, that WAS an amazing segue{segway}, thank you for noticing). This month's challenge for Unique Crafters is "Buttons"!

These wee colorful button books are accordion style, so they fold out to reveal the pages. To make the inside piece, I used a round button of the appropriate size to trace circles. Make the circles overlap just slightly, the same distance each time. Be sure to have an even number of circles, otherwise your button book won't close properly. I learned that the hard way... 

After carefully cutting out my pieces, I used watercolors to brighten up each circle. I did front and back, so the book would look nice in back, too. Then I used some little inkpads to accent the edges. The little boys on the smaller book are cut from a vintage kids book, and the birds on the bigger button book (alliteration!) are snippets from Alphastamps Collage Sheet "Parrots." Fold them up and then glue the outermost circles to the insides of your button covers. Voila! Cute!

So, if you're inspired to do some button-related crafts with that giant jar of buttons you have squirreled away someplace in your craft room (I know you have one), enter it in the June Challenge for Unique Crafters this month. 

Go on over to the Unique Crafter's Challenge Blog to see the awesome projects the other DT members have come up with, get inspired, then enter your project! Have a splendid June!