Spider Mobile

Posted in craft, diy, Holiday, Uncategorized by peppermintsandhoneybees

So I know I’ve been pretty m.i.a. for a while. The truth is that I just didn’t feel like blogging really. I’ve been focusing on my art and other things for the past year. (Oh yeah I got married this summer! More on that later.) I just didn’t want my blog to become a chore that I dreaded, so if I didn’t have anything to blog about I didn’t. I’m ready to post more here and there and I actually do have some stuff to share. So, in honor or my favorite holiday Halloween I present to you:

Duh duh duh! A spider Mobile. I actually made this last year after Halloween. I bought the spiders and mobile for way cheap the day after Halloween and made it. So this year is the first Halloween I’ve put it up. I got the idea from Better Homes and Gardens magazine’s Halloween Tricks and Treats magazine 2015. I had wanted to make it back in 2015 but it took me forever to find some plastic spiders that weren’t attached to rings. Last year I finally did so here you have it.

You’ll need:

200 or more plastic spiders
a wire rimmed spider web
fishing line
a needle or something sharp to pierce spider butts
optional- I tied little seed beads to the end of my strings for a little weight so they hang straight

Its pretty easy just pierce a whole in the abdomens of all the spiders and make different length strings with them spacing them about 5-6″ apart and tying a knot in the fishing line under each spider. I finished each string with a clear seed bead under the last spider for a little weight.

After you have your strings tie them all on the spider web strands. You might want to do this as you finish the strings to so they are out of the way and don’t get tangles up.

The last step is to tie string onto four sides of the web so that it hangs horizontally from the ceiling. (most are made to hang vertically)

And there you have it! Perfect for a Halloween party or I guess all year round if you really like spiders, I don’t judge!

On a side note, when storing this I put each string of spiders in it’s own individual baggie so the strings don’t get tangled beyond saving. Next year you will really appreciate it.

Enjoy!

15Oct2015

Pumpkin Terrarium

Posted in craft, Holiday by peppermintsandhoneybees

When I was in elementary school I always secretly loved projects where I got to make dioramas. I’ve always loved miniatures and love making little scenes. So when I found some pictures on Pinterest here and here that combined my love of dioramas with my love for Halloween I knew what I had to do! I found the foam pumpkin at Goodwill. Someone had tried to carve what sort of looked like a castle and gave up so I buggy it and just cut a big hole out where they had started carving. Of course you can just by a new foam pumpkin from any craft store in the fall. Just make sure it’s the hallow carve-able kind!

I chose to spray paint the inside black as shown below but it’s totally up to you what you want the inside to look like.

I used rocks, sticks and different kinds of moss for the terrarium. The moon and stars are glow-in-the-dark stickers and the fox is a little figurine from Joann’s. Finding things to put in is half the fun! I’m still on the hunt for very tiny battery powered led string lights that I can attach the the top inside to shine light down on my scene. It’ll be fun to switch things around every year. Now get to crafting!

16Jul2015

Perler Bead Card

Posted in craft, diy by peppermintsandhoneybees

So every year for the past few years I have been making my own cards for my uncle’s birthday because I can never find good uncle cards. I’m close with my uncle and they’re all so impersonal! I had an idea to use perler beads, I used to make things with these as a kid. You just iron the design! I attached it to card stock and stamped the “happy birthday.” I got the design from Makeandtck on iconosquare. I forgot how much fun these little beads are and I’ll have to come up with some more projects for them! Also here is the embroidered card I made last year.

13Mar2015

Cat Tepee

Posted in craft, Sewing by peppermintsandhoneybees

Hey Peeps! I have a super cool project that I actually made a few years ago, but it’s still a good one so I thought I’d share it. All you need is a yard of fabric for the panels and a 20″x20″ piece for the bottom piece, a sewing machine, and 8 dowel rods that are 1/4″ wide. I got the original idea from a book titled “One-Yard Wonders” by Rebecca Yaker and Patricia Hoskins.

After you cut your panels out you need to sew the sides of each three side panels together, leaving 1″ of space between the seam and the edge of the fabric. Then sew the ends of the insides of the panels leaving a pocket to push 4 of the dowel rods thought. Don’t put the rods in till everything is sewn though. Next sew the seams on the tops and bottoms, leaving the dowel rod openings.

Next for the Base cut a square that is 20×20″ wide and cut a square notch on each corner that is 2″. You will fold the sides in 1″ and sew the seam like in the picture, only I made all sides the same. Don’t forget to leave an opening for your last 4 dowel rods. These will have to be cut smaller to fit. Leave a few inches sticking out on each side.

After the bottom is sewn, attach it to the rest of the tepee by sewing the top of the bottom section onto the inside of the tepee. and then insert your dowel rods. I also tied a piece of fabric around the top to secure the dowel rods.

As you can see Gatsby claimed this one and still uses it! Lucy will sit in it occasionally but if your cat likes hiding in things (like most cats), then they will love a tepee!

This is the picture of how to cut the three side panels and two shorter front panels out of the yard of fabric. Lay the piece out in a single layer

Here are my crazy homemade patterns for the side and front panels since I made more than one

They don’t like to share!

So Happy!!!

28Jan2015

My New Cross Stitch Phone Case

Posted in craft, diy by peppermintsandhoneybees

So I’m kinda bad at finishing things I started sometimes, or things I haven’t started in this case! I bought this phone case from Rue 21 about a year ago because I knew I could do a cool DIY with it, also it was only about $1 on sale. It came with some patterns but I made up my own and really like the way it came out! I was able to find some of these cross stitch template cases on Amazon made by Coats and Clark if you are interested. I was only able to find some for 5 and 4 and no other brand of phone but you might be able to find some if you search. If you make one send me a picture so I can see!

19Jan2015

Valentine’s Day Garland

Posted in craft, diy, Holiday, home by peppermintsandhoneybees

Hola peeps! I took a bit of a hiatus from blogging, not really on purpose but more because I was too busy to start/work on new projects and before I knew it January was half over! I am totally scared by the way time works and wish things would slow down just a bit. Now its that time of year that I just want to bypass to warmer days but I’m trying to enjoy the here and now and find the good, even in this frozen wasteland, because one day I’ll look back and miss these times!

I’ve never really decorated too much for Valentines day but since I have a craft blog now I figured I’d see what I could come up with, and love the results. I’m really starting to get in that heart everything spirit now and even though I don’t do frilly decorations (unless they’re vintage of course!) I made some simple nature inspired pieces. The arrows are inspired by similar ones I found on Pinterest. I used sticks for mine though and used paint and marker for the feathers. the heart tips are cardstock. I also made some of the feathers into earrings for my Etsy shop Peppermint Emporium. The garland is straight from my noggin and is just sticks, coffee filters dyed with watered down craft paint and twine. grab your glue gun and there ya go! Ben buys the unbleached coffee filters so I was a little disappointed that they weren’t white, but afterward I decided I liked the brown color better, it lends itself to the natural rustic vibe I was going for.

27Dec2014

Holiday Gifts

Posted in craft, diy, Holiday by peppermintsandhoneybees

Hello, I hope you had a Merry Christmas and are resting up with family and friends! I know Christmas is over, but I couldn’t post any of the stuff I made as gifts until I gave them out, but you could still make them for yourself or birthdays, or just wait till next year. So here we have wood burned bamboo spoons, hand stamped cork coasters, and yes, those are the marble clay dishes from A Beautiful Mess!

6Oct2014

Who’s Ready for Halloween?!

Posted in craft, diy, home by peppermintsandhoneybees

Halloween is my favorite holiday (when else can you dress up as whatever you want!) and I thought I’d share my outdoor set up thus far. More to come!

19Sep2014

Painted Wooden Bangles

Posted in craft, diy, Jewelry by peppermintsandhoneybees

Wow, has it really been a month since I posted anything? Bad Jenna, bad! I have been working on things but not to completion I guess. I’ve been busy working and doing other fun things such as the Renegade Craft fair in Chicago, here’s their link. They do shows around the county and in London. It’s like etsy only not online! I had said that this was the year I’d finally have a booth but once again I chickened out. Boo me! But I did go to shop and like always it was amazing with amazing people making amazing art, jewelry, pottery, clothing and other goods. I also went to the Chicago riotfest this past weekend and rocked out! This was the third year in a row that Ben and I went and like always it was packed with awesome bands! Here’s the lineup if you were curious. Riotfest is in Denver this weekend.

I got a pretty good spot for Metric, one of my favorite bands and here’s one of Ben and I waiting for Social Distortion to start.

Any who like I mentioned one of the things I’ve actually finished recently was these two wooden bracelets I painted and then sprayed with a clear coat for protection. I’ve been really into all the constellation accessories I’ve been seeing lately and wanted to make my own take on the trend. And the triangles are just one of my favorite color pallets. It’s very summery because I guess I’m sad I see summer leave so soon. I love fall, don’t get me wrong but summer and I have a special relationship and goodbyes are always hard!

Well forgive me for the time gap and I’ll try to post more. Let me know what projects if any I should try out!

20Jul2014

Dip Dye Dress

Posted in clothing, craft, Uncategorized by peppermintsandhoneybees

Hello all! I have been wanting to be able to post this all summer, but haven’t been able to because it’s taken me all summer to get it right. Arg! I think I finally got it to how I like it. It’s not quite as I had pictured in my head but oh well, that just goes with the territory of making things sometimes. I bought this awesome gray dress at Plato’s Closet, one of my favorite used clothing stores and wanted to spice it up a little bit.

I had originally planned on bleaching the bottom 1/3 and then dip dye the very bottom either purple or blue, so that it would go gray, a bleached cream color, and the purple on the bottom, but after bleaching didn’t get it completely bleached (and I tried a couple times) I tried dying with Rit. Well the color didn’t take so yeah… I’m pretty sure all of my problems were due to the material of the dress, it’s mostly polyester and rayon. So moral of the story is check the fabric before dying, lesson learned!

I did how ever get it to a color I like by dying the bleached part with a mix of beet juice and mulberry juice. I love when the natural way is the best way! So here is my final result. Not what I had first pictured, but I still love this dress. Plus it has the built in bra pads so woohoo!