Before I get to anything more than a few handmade Christmas gifts and cards, I do have to decorate for Thanksgiving. It's one of my favorite holidays. Not because of the food, but because of family, togetherness, movies and PUZZLES! (I secretly love puzzles even though everyone I know hates them. I think it's because of the brand Ravensburger and my Aunt Carol sending them to us, the Ravenberg family.)
I want my home to be cozy for the holiday and so yesterday I decided to jump aboard the garland/bunting bandwagon and make something festive. I have a huge box of fabric scraps from 2WENTY-THR3E and so I started with those, but I also had some of the fun Art Angel tags that remind me of my blessing that I wanted to include.
When I got the colors together, they weren't exactly as coordinating as I thought they might be. Never fear, a little dying with coffee mutes everything down making a warm and welcoming vintage effect.
To coffee stain your paper and fabric, put it in a dish (not metal) and pour your coffee over the top. I just re-used the grounds from my morning cup to make the dye. The paper will soak up the liquid quickly, so pull each piece out, crumple it a little and set is aside. Once all the paper has been crumpled, do the same with the fabric as soon as it's dark enough for your taste.
Then, take all your materials, put them back in your dish and pop them in the microwave for a speed drying session. I microwaved mine for 5 minutes turning and testing for dryness after each minute.
After they are dried, they will be AWESOME!
All you have to do now is stitch everything together. For those of you that have yet to try this, can I suggest using a zig-zag stitch over a heavy weight thread for added strength between your garland cuties.
It only takes a few minutes to put these together and they are popular for a reason..... they are super cute!
Congratulations go to Margie Visnick who said, "Thanks for the freebie!! Love CC!" Margie send your info to me, julie at cosmocricket dot com and I'll make sure you get your goodies. Thanks for playing everyone... we're almost to Friday! YEAH!!!!
