DIY Embroidery Hoop West Elm Spheres

So the other day I was browsing through the West Elm catalog, and I came across a really cool accessory. I went online to find it, and lo and behold, not for sale anymore! Boooo.

Take a look at these funky spheres.

I thought they would be perfect for our family room shelving unit (whenever we decide what look we are going for). I am trying to add in a few industrial pieces to the space and these would definitely fit the bill. I am NOT a tchotchke lover and tend to not use accessories much at all. Once we add shelving to the big, blank wall in there, I will need a few select things to put up. These are simple, minimal, and like I said, have a bit of an industrial feel with the wood and metal.

So yeah. Bummer.

Few days later I am looking for foam for that bench. Scouring the house. I am going through my big basket of miscellaneous crafty stuff, and I find two embroidery hoops. My father in law had found them in the basement and offered them up. I knew I wouldn't be embroidering anything but thought they looked useful, so I scooped 'em up (I am not normally a junk collector! I swear). So yes, there they are. Then I thought, hey, these are very similar in size as the West Elm spheres. Wonder if I could figure this out.

This is what I ended up with:

So similar! I ended up having to buy one more hoop in each size, but that brings my total cost to $2. Not bad at all. Here is how I did it.

Supplies:

2 Embroidery Hoops per sphere

Wood Stain & Foam Brush

Tacks of some sort. These are the nail head ones I bought for the bench. They were really long though, so I would suggest thumb tacks. These were $1.25 for 25.

Step 1) Separate your hoops into 4 pieces (per sphere).

Step 2) Squeeze them all together and space them evenly. You put 3 hoops vertically together and then put one hoop horizontal inside the vertical ones. Push one tack into the top, through all 3 hoops. I connected the metal brackets together, which will be the bottom.

Step 3) Add a tack to each spot where the horizontal hoop intersects the vertical hoops. You should have one tack on top, and 6 tacks on the horizontal hoop. You really have to push those babies in!! I stabbed myself with one, which wasn't pleasant, so be careful. You can see the arrangement of the hoops in the photo below.

Step 4) Stain it. I took it outside, since the stain I have is oil based. PeeeeUuuuu. Not to mention toxic. I first used American Walnut, but it was a bit lighter than I wanted, so I went over it with Dark Walnut. I just used a foam craft brush to VERY lightly spread the stain. Don't use too much because A)it will drip and B)it will take FOOOOOREVER to dry.

See, it was a bit light.

I like it much better darker. Although, it dried a smidge lighter than this.

Let it dry for a few hours.

VOILA!

I think they will be perfect for the family room, and at $2 and just 15 or so minutes of work, SO worth it! And really, what would I ever have done with those embroidery hoops anyways??

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Cedar Sunburst Mirror For Under $10

I KNOW you have all seen the gobzillions of sunburst mirrors all over the decorating scene. No need to point out the HUGE trend they are right now. If you are on Pinterest, you've seen the hundreds of  very creative ways people have reinvented them. I myself absolutely love them. They are large so they can fill a big space well, they are fun, they are stylish, and you can really be creative and find unique ways to make them your own. LOVE.

I have been keeping my eye out for how I wanted to make my own. I love the idea of using bamboo sticks, but I have yet to find all the supplies to make it on a budget (a rimmed framed mirror for one). The other variety that I really like is made out of cedar shims. Shims are cheap and natural and full of great texture! The first one I ever saw was HERE . I really liked the general idea, but I wanted to make one with A) a larger mirror and B) less perfectly round.

Also, this is not my first shim sunburst. I actually made another (larger!) one last month but I have yet to completely finish it (it is super heavy so there are some technical details that need to be ironed out). I had a ton of shims leftover, so I made this:

I am really happy with how it came out! I haven't decided how I want to finish it yet though. Depending on where the final placement is, I'll decide based on that. Either natural cedar, sealed cedar, white, or silver. I don't know. If we put it above our bed, I might go with a white and silver combo. We'll have to see how that goes.

The great thing about this mirror is that it is quite simple to make and really inexpensive. I made the entire thing for under $10. Bargain! If you've shopped around, you've no doubt (is this 2001 again??) seen how pricey they can be. Especially if you want one this large. It measures just about 40" in diameter. It really can hold it's own on a big wall!

Want one of your own?? Well then, let's get started!

Supplies:

Cedar Shims (You can get them at Lowes for $3.87 for 42)

Mirror (Mine was $4 at Michaels with a coupon)

Wood Board to glue it all onto (We had peg board so that is what we used. You can use anything)

Wood Glue (I ended up using the Titebond & Gorilla Glue)

Hot Glue Gun (not pictured in this shot)

Mirror Adhesive (shown later) or super strong double sided tape

Step 1) Figure out how you want to arrange your shims. I did this by just mixing them up and playing around a bit. I knew that I didn't want it to be completely round, so that was my starting point. I came up with this:

(Sorry, it was a seriously DARK day so the lighting is a tad off)

I liked it, but I felt like I needed more than just the 2 lengths, so I figured I would do this but add in a 3rd length as well.

Here is my first layer:

Step 2) Now that you have your arrangement down, start gluing your first layer. I wanted to make sure I did them all the same-ish length, so I measured and then marked each one where I needed to glue them down.

Make sure you use enough glue so it will go right to the edges when you push it down. It's ok if a little bit squeezes out even.

Step 3) Put some heavy objects on top and let it dry for about 30 minutes (or however long your glue tells you to). That fruit bowl is deceptively heavy!

Step 4) Figure out your next layers. I liked the way this looked:

I like the 3 different lengths (tall, medium, short, then back to tall). but geez, look at the center!

What to do, what to do.... ah ha! Cut them! Since the shims are designed like this:

The one end is so thin that you can just cut it with scissors.

Step 5) Once you decide how long you want each length, cut one of each size, then use the piece you cut off as a guide for all the rest. I cut mine so they would all meet at the same spot in the middle (there is a photo in the next step).

See, here are the "templates" for cutting all the others:

Step 6) Start gluing your next layers. I did the remaining 2 layers at the same time. I also switched to Gorilla Glue for the second layer. I did this because, since I am gluing on top of the first layer, the shims would not be 100% flat on the board. Gorilla Glue foams up and expands to fill gaps. So if you use a smidge of that, it will fill in the space between layer 2 &3 and the board. Don't use too much because it expands! (Now that I think of it, there is no reason not to use Gorilla Glue from the beginning. So go ahead and do that if you want.)

See how I cut the shims so that now they are all meeting up at the same spot in the middle? That will eliminate the big huge pile and will also give your piece some dimension. You can also see how I chose 3 different lengths to layer.

Step 7) Use heavy objects to set the glue. I did this while I glued just to keep things where I wanted them.

Let is set for 30-60 minutes.

So far:

Oohhhhh nice!

Step 8) Add your mirror. This mirror adhesive was $4 at Lowes. You could also be daring and try heavy duty double sided tape. You could try other adhesives like Liquid Nails or epoxy, but we used this. It is for more heavy duty applications, like a big bathroom mirror, but it worked well for this too. That epoxy, E6000 I believe it is called, would work I'm sure.

Step 9) I didn't want my mirror to look like it was just floating, so I added some trim to the edge. I just cut the thin part of the shims and hot glued them on since they are so light and thin.

VOILA!!!!

I  love how three-dimensional it is! I think the trim around the mirror was exactly what I was looking for to make it seem more finished. Now I just have to decide how to finish it and where I want to put it!

UPDATE! Here it is once I stained it and hung it, see HERE for more:

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Ring Around The Rosie

Who doesn't love a little fabric rosette?? They have endless uses in home decor and fashion and are thankfully VERY easy to make. After posting my lamp yesterday, I had a bunch of requests for a tutorial on how to make them. They are very simple, but it is easier if you see the process in action, so my friend Carolyn and I whipped up a little video this morning while we made them. Here are some photo steps, and then the video is at the end so you can tie it all together.

Here is what you need:

Glue gun, glue stick, long strip of fabric. It can be any length or width. Use what you have! Old mens shirts work great. Any scrap will do. The longer it is, the larger it will be.

Once you find your fabric, rip it into a strip. You don't have to rip it, but I like the frayed edges.

 

If you notch the fabric, it will rip perfectly straight.

Now make a knot at the end of the fabric. This is going to be the center of your rose.

 All you do now, is twist the fabric tail and then wrap it around the rose. You need to glue it down every 1/2 inch or so. So, twist, glue, wrap (and curse under your breath after the 400th time you burn yourself on the glue).

  

Make sure you are wrapping just around the edge so that it makes a flat rose, not a knot. You can use your fingers to flatten it a bit as you go.

See how we are twisting the fabric, then gluing the twist to the side of the knot?

Continue twisting, wrapping, and gluing until it's finished. Don't aim for perfection, because "perfect" roses don't look half as good as the imperfect ones. Depending on how tight you twist and wrap, the rose will take on whole new looks. Sometimes I do tight ones, other times I do looser ones. You can mix it up a bit while you do one.

Sometimes the back ends up looking nicer than the front!

If you use a lightweight fabric and you want to mount it onto something flat, or say, on a headband, you can cut a piece of felt in a circle and glue it onto the back of the rose to make it a bit more sturdy and easier to glue. This fabric was leftover home dec weight, so it is very rigid already and didn't need it.

Here is the short video clip with us in action. Don't mind the kids being wack-a-doodle in the background! They were having fun while we crafted in the kitchen.

Cute huh? Easy right? You really can't do it wrong either. The great thing is, there are endless uses for these! Make some large ones and mix in smaller ones and make a wreath, embellish a lamp, a basket, a headband, hair clips, picture frames....endless ideas here. I always like to do an odd number in a grouping, so 3/5/7 in a group. I think these two will look perfect with a blue one. Or gray. Or white! I don't know yet, but I'm sure I'll come up with something fun.

Now go try your hand at it!

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