Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Junking Treasures Pt 2.

Today I promised you some burlap, so burlap you shall get.  I'll even throw in some pages from the antique french book for good measure!

As I have been developing my "new line" of products for this summer's market, I've delved into making party pennants - also known as banners, signs, and bunting.  It has been SO much fun to do, and as soon as I saw the burlap coffee sacks they were magically transformed into ruffles in my mind.  Yes, I have a strange mind, but if you are a long time reader then you know already know that.  :)

To make this pennant, I tore several pages out of the french book (purchased over the weekend), and modge podged them onto triangular shaped chipboard (thank you CTMH for carrying this awesome product).  Then I cut 1.5"x22" strips of burlap and attempted to pleat it by sewing with a needle and thread.  This is a bad idea, and I don't recommend trying it at home.

My second attempt at creating burlap ruffles involved scouring the scrap room in search of my dusty old glue gun that hadn't seen the light of day since at least the twentieth century.  After finally locating said glue gun, (and running to the craft store for glue sticks) we partied like it was 1999, and that puppy hasn't been unplugged since.  I am IN LOVE with my glue gun.  If my glue gun were human I'd marry it and have its little glue babies.  Dave better watch out, because I swear my glue gun has special powers.  Don't judge me.

(hmmm...maybe I've been sniffing a little too much glue today).

Anyway... back to the burlap.  Using the glue gun (also known as awesome) I was able to just pleat and glue my way along the top of each of the pennant triangles with the burlap.  Then I added a strip of pretty black ribbon (using the glue gun), and some decorative buttons (using the glue gun).

The letters are CTMH chipboard monogram dimensional elements.  I painted them black, and then added a glitter glaze over the top (making memories).  Sadly I couldn't use the glue gun to attach them (I used tacky glue instead).  I thought that using "amour" the french word for love, would be appropriate with the french book background.  And I also thought how lovely this pennant would look in my Parisian themed living room should it not sell at the market.  Wink, wink...


Here are close ups of each letter.  (Sorry about R - it's a bit blurry)






Finally, I strung them all the triangles together using waxed linen.  Then my hubby helped hold it up so I could photograph it (yes, that is his finger on the far right).


This pennant is fairly simple compared to many of the others I've made.  I'm still deciding whether to leave it plain and simple, or add more decorative bits.  Any suggestions are welcome!

Hopefully this post gave you a new idea for using burlap!  Tomorrow will be all about the glue gun again, and more uses for antique book pages, so I hope you come back!

5 comments:

Patty said...

Love this Nona! Does the burlap smell? I started to use it for a project once and it smelled! I do think these need just a little dressing, maybe some CTMH Licorice Pearls? Love the glue gun story too! Glad you had so much fun!

bridgette said...

You are too funny... I agree glue guns do have special powers! Maybe a hand made flower accent made using an old crochet dollie?? does that make sense? Anywho... I want to get together, I've been meaning to email you. (I'm going to do that right now)

Lydia Bryant said...

Your out do yourself every time Nona. AMAZING, J'adore!!!

Nancy Ball said...

These are great Nona. Funny about the smell question, I just brought home several green coffee sacks and was unsuccessful trying to wash the burlap smell out of them. The roaster suggested leaving them out in the sun to see if the smell would bake out! I might just try that, then get my magic glue gun from its resting place....MAGIC!

nonapearl said...

My burlap smelled wonderful! Like coffee and chocolate. I just left it sitting out on my craft table and the smell has all but gone away.

The sun trick should work. That's what my friends do with their cloth diapers for stains.

Last resort, fabreeze?