Beloved State Wall Hanging

For my grandma's birthday I really wanted to give her a homemade gift. I am not big on making homemade gifts because life's other obligations get in the way (and most gifts from my family tend to be belated). This birthday however was an opportune time to make something special. It was spring break so I had extra time on my hands and I was already challenged to think up something that was inexpensive because my parents had just paid college tuition for my sister. My mind flip-flopped from one idea to another, at one time I was dead-set on making a half-dozen napkins with ranch-related symbols embroidered on them. Then I considered making a table runner. I was trying to push my mom to take me to Mood, but she was very resistent for a good reason, it was 5:00pm the eve of my grandma's birthday. I had to think of something simple and then it came to me. 

The Beloved State Wall Hanging. A framed felt cutout of the state of California with a heart where my grandparents live, Sonoma County. 

The felt is from Michaels and the background fabric and frame are from Ikea. I originally went went Ikea to find some fabric from the fabric section but nothing was turning my crank. I still did not give up and went searching around for some cute fabric. 

And I found it...

I found this cute pillow and fell in love with it especially because I was looking for chevron fabric and found this one to be similar but more interesting. I love the colors too!

This is what the pillow is called

Next I had to search for the perfect frame to suit the fabric and my grandparents house.

The Ribba frame in medium brown was just what I was looking for. 

Then I went over to Michaels and selected gray felt for the California cut-out.

Overall you will need...

• Fabric of your choice (the amount depends on how large frame is)
• 2 colors of felt, your choice
• A frame
• Fabric adhesive (I used Aleene's Peel & Stick Sheets)
• Wood glue
• Scissors, seam ripper, pencil, printer etc.

First I picked apart the pillow cover with a seam ripper, and saved one of the panels of fabric and the zipper, which I did not need. Then I iron out any wrinkles. 

Then I hopped on to my computer to select an image of California's shape. When I found the image that I liked, I pasted it on to a Word document. To make sure that California ended up the size I needed it to be, I make a rectangular outline around the image the same size as the frame's picture dimension allowance (not sure what it is really called) to use as reference. 

If you don't need help with this keep reading...

(Note: these directions are for Mac Word 2011)

1. Select the image of your state and copy an paste it to your Word document
2. Double click the image and change the "wrap text" setting to "square" or "tight" (look for the image of the dog)
3. Then click "shapes">"rectangles">image of the square
4. Drag a rectangle on your document (don't worry about the size yet)
5. Change the fill to "no fill"
6. Expand the rectangle to the size your need around the state image
7. Adjust the state image to whatever looks good to you.
8. Print

Okay now back to the tutorial...

Next cut out your image and pin it to your felt.

 Cut out you felt.

I used my regular fabric scissors to cut out the basic shape.

And then I used some tiny scissors to cut each little nook and notch.

Using a Peel & Stick Sheet I glued the felt California to the fabric.

Then I added a little felt heart where they live.

 Using wood glue I fix the fabric to the fiberboard from the frame, cut away the excess fabric and placed my completion into the frame. Done...whew!

And the best part is the total!

Ribba frame $4.99

Lappljung Fågel pillow $9.99

Gray felt $0.33

Already owned everything else

Total: $15.31 Hooray!!!

Crayon Rain

  One of my good friends, Ivy, showed me how to make crayon rain last year; it's really simple to create but the results are beautiful. Want to learn how?

You will need...

• A 64 count box of crayons (or how ever many you need depending on the size of the canvas you are using)
• A canvas panel, form core board or particle board(I used a 16x20 canvas panel)
• A hot glue gun and hot glue
• A blowdryer

Now that you have gathered everything...

1. Here's the caveat... you have to put the crayons in rainbow order. I was totally shocked when I opened up my new box of crayons and realized that Crayola does not put them in order for you. Well anyway it was kind of fun organizing them. If you have kids you can get them to do it; it will be an entertaining challenge for them to figure out the perfect spectrum.
2. Now we are trying to make a pretty rainbow take out all of the browns, blacks and grays (if you want). I was debating on whether or not I should remove "asparagus" green. I didn't but now I wish that I had. Sorry asparagus you make for a yummy vegetable but an ugly crayon.
3. Now with your crayons all lined up in the order you want them, pick each up one at a time and glue them down on your surface of choice. Make sure the keep them straight and to leave one crayon width (a few millimeters) of space on each end so there can be extra space for the wax to spread.
   
4. Line your wall and floor/table top with garbage bags to catch wax splatters and drips. Now prop up your canvas.
   
5. Take your blowdryer and set it to high heat. Turn it on and start melting those crayons! Watching this project come to life it so fun, just look...

Keep in mind that you can be as creative as you want. Try using only warm or cool colors if you want (you may have to buy a couple boxes then). Also think about the layout of the crayons because you don't have to put them in a straight line. Try a wavy layout or scatter them, whatever you like! Be creative with the surface you choose as well! Look what a friend and I did with our Social Institutions teacher's book shelf.