Knotted Rope Coasters

I finally got time to make these coasters over the summer, but haven't got the chance to blog about them until now! I mean, I have an exam on friday, this is a perfect time to blog, right?? ;). 

Knotted Rope Coasters

I got the idea for these from this pin:

And I loved them so much I actually really wanted to buy them. But upon tracing them to the seller, it was like $24 for set of four and as a vet student I just couldn't justify it for something I didn't totally need. Then I had two free weeks of dog sitting, and I thought, "I bet if I tried hard enough I could make those...." 

Well, here they are after hours of cutting ropes, multiple failed attempts at knotting, and several hard ciders. 

What you will need:

- 1/4" thickness rope; I used the one below

- Scissors

- A binder clip

- White thread

- A needle

- A lot of PATIENCE! 

I used cheapo clothesline rope from the Wal-Mart - it was only $3.84 - and everything else, I already had!

Step #1 - Cut and Gather Your Strands

Cut yourself four strands for each coaster. I started off with strands ~2.5 ft in length until I got the hang of the knot and then I went down to 2 feet and still had a bit extra at the end. 

Step #2 - Knot Away!!!

Step #3 - Stitching the Knot Complete

While this is not the most attractive method in the world, it worked for me. I just used simple white thread and stitched the loose ends together. It is going to look messy, but nobody needs to know it's there in the end!!

Step #4 - A few more stitches

In an attempt to make these slightly more durable, I threw stitches in on the back side between the five places where three crosses came together. I totally do not know how to explain that, but see the picture!

Step #5 - Admire your hard work!!

Hope you enjoyed this project!!

Snowy Gift Tags

It's that time of year again! Gift tags have become one of my favorite things to do every season! These ones were a lot of fun, and I found a way to make them into cards, as well!

Snowy Gift Tags

I started out with the idea that I was going to cut out a reindeer bust and glitter it - but I quickly realized that glitter and I DO NOT get along so I had to abandon that idea. Then I thought I might get one of those rubber stamps at the craft store and just use stamped tags. Sadly, those stamps are like $15!! Then I realized, hey, I could just print things! Then why not sprinkle some white paint on them to make snow!! I am so happy with the results!  

These were easy and fun to do! 

What you're going to need:

- Cardstock - Any color you like

- A printer

- White acrylic craft paint

- Scissors 

- A hole punch

- A toothbrush

- Ribbon 

1. Constructing Your Design

I couldn't find any clipart trees online that didn't have watermarks, so I found a photo of a pine tree and worked it in picasa until it looked black. Then I found a reindeer silhouette in google images. I pasted the images into paint and added the line underneath everything so that I could get an image I wanted. Upon saving the paint image, you can copy and paste that entire image into a word document. In the word document, I then added the text boxes. 

2. Printing

I printed four per page on my cardstock. You'll need to change your printer's settings to be able to print on cardstock.. On my HP I had to switch the paper type under advanced settings to "matte greeting card" or something similar. It was a pain in the butt, but it worked eventually! 

3. Outlining

I wanted the tags to look like those traditional sales tags, so I cut an index card to the shape I wanted. Then I traced the index card over each print to outline where I would cut later. There was no real measuring to this - I just eyeballed it! They're supposed to be a little imperfect, that's how you know they're homemade! 

4. Spattering - the fun part!! 

Get out your paint and toothbrush! All you have to do is dip your toothbrush into your white paint and run your finger along the bristles over your paper to get white specks. This is messy, so be sure to cover your table with some newspaper. Make sure you don't have too much paint on there or you'll get big globs that you won't like - I learned that a few times! Let them dry overnight. 

5. Cut 'em out! 
What they looked like after being cut out! The snow is so cute!!

6. Ribbon!

I used that cheapo stuff you get for curling, but you could certainly jazz it up with some real ribbon!

Ta-Da! I love them so much! I hope my friends and family like them this year, too! 

A Variation: Cards! 

For these, all I did was print out two images (a little bigger) without the "to:" and "from:", cut them out and folded them in half. There's nothing on the inside yet because I haven't got that far with my Christmas stuff, but all I'm going to do is cut out a matching piece of printer paper, write my note, and glue it to the inside of the card! 

Hope you enjoyed these! Thanks for viewing!