My Sewful Retirement

Friday Finishes

Happy Friday!

I took a break from sewing this week and did other crafting projects.

I purchased a Cricut Maker and Cricut Easy Press this past Christmas but haven’t really taken the time to learn how to use them other than a couple of Valentine T shirts for friends.

I looked on You Tube for inspiration and found a few projects that I could make with items I already had on hand.

Kitchen Towels– The Cricut software has lots of free fonts so I created a few designs to test and used a couple off free ones I found on Jennifer Makers site. If you have a Cricut and need help or inspiration she is a wonderful teacher. You can find her here.

Wall Art using Canvas and Foil Vinyl— This technique is called Reverse Canvas. Underneath the canvas is a wood frame. I painted the frames, added the vinyl design onto the canvas. The designs I used are free if you join Cricut Access community. Using a staple gun I applied the canvas to the back of the painted wood frames. Lastly added a saw-tooth hook for hanging.

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I made this frame for my desk. I spray painted the frame using a metallic paint. Covered the cardboard in the frame with scrap book paper that had metallic looking lines splashed on the background with the vinyl word art applied to it.

Wall Art using Scrap booking paper and frames— The black frames were cheap ones I had for my kids art work 30 years ago! ( I did keep their art work) 🙂 Using a glue stick I adhered the floral scrap book paper onto the cardboard and applied the vinyl design on to the decorative paper.

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T-shirt for my neighbor — We love to drink wine while discussing our daily lives ♥♥

This last project involved a little sewing. I started with these 3 fabrics

I cut them into 2 inch strips and braided them…

Joined the braids using a zig zag stitch on my sewing machine — I didn’t have enough of the burgundy fabric to complete the final round…which was OK…

The goal was to use the braided rug as a toilet topper in one of our guest bathrooms. I had an old galvanized tin in the garage — First I washed it, then using a glue gun covered it with twine and added nautical rope for handles. Added a vinyl word art…

Voila….I’m so pleased with the results

Keeping the farmhouse theme going I used the Cricut to make labels for two Mason Jars.

As much as I love sewing it was great venturing into other creative outlets. The Cricut can be used in many ways and I’m looking forward to trying as many as I can!

During this time of quarantine I find I need to be productive so I’ll stay away from watching the news on TV.

How about you, have you tried any new ideas or ways to be creative?

Hope you have a great weekend and stay safe!