Quick Bobbin Rack

This past weekend I was putting things away in the office and came across a box of these little metal bits. Not really having a need for their designed purpose, I decided to put them to another use. I grabbed some foamcore, hanging wire, and a sewing machine needle and got to work.

The needle really helped punch through the foam core and provided a clean channel to feed through the hanging wire. Each metal piece was mounted to the foam core by two tiny twists of wire.

It took a little bit of time punching and twisting, but all thirty bits were eventually attached to the foamcore.

Once complete, the foamcore was mounted on the wall. It's a homemade bobbin rack!

No more fumbling through my overstuffed sewing basket for me. Now my thread is in plain sight and organized. Hoorah!

Craft Nerd

Making "crafts" can be treacherous territory; one glitter sprinkle too many and you're in the world of garish kitsch. People will never take you seriously again and your whole career as Craft Extraordinaire is doomed for failure. Your opinions and design input will always be ignored and no one will want to visit your home for fear of being "gifted" with floral painted mason jars meant for storing change or other knick knacks.

Despite the stigma of "crafts," I decided to let my craft-nerd run free and make a fall wreath. Sure, I could have purchased a wreath online for $40+, but I'm cheap. Perhaps I could have put that floral design class to use and made my own. Unfortunately, we do not have many mature trees and shrubs to harvest enough material to make a decent wreath. What was I to do? Well, we had a ton of cardboard boxes lying around and I had a lot of fabric waiting to be used.

I measured the front door to get an idea of how large a wreath I could make, grabbed some string and a pencil, and marked out several circles on the cardboard. After hacking away with my #11 X-acto, I had a stack of relatively concentric circles. These were sandwiched with classic Elmer's glue and left to dry while I grabbed various fall-ish fabric swatches and cut out approximately fifty leaves. 

Once all my materials were ready and the rings were dry, the "wreath bones" were wrapped in fabric strips.

The leaves were then layered in alternating colors and styles. . .

. . . and hot glued in place. You can't make a craft without hot glue.

From here I scrunched the tips of the leaves a bit and tacked them in place to add a little dimension to the wreath.

Satisfied with the final product, on the front door it went.

I understand not everyone has a love for crafts and I may have sealed my fate as "tasteless country girl" by hanging a cardboard wreath on the front door. I think I'm ok with that, though. I do promise not to go too overboard with the crafts and I want you to know that if you stop by you won't be leaving with an empty floral painted mason jar. It'll most likely have homemade jam in it.