Simple and Sweet Poppy Pin In Honor of Memorial Day Veterans

Simple and Sweet Poppy Pin in Honor of Memorial Day

Materials:

Gemstones, Buttons, or Black Felt Circle for the Poppy’s Center

2-4 inch circle of fabric

Hot Glue

Thread

Sewing Needle

Scissors

Elastic or Ring Form (optional- if you wish to make a ring or headband)

Headband (optional)

First take a circular item and trace a circle onto a piece of red or reddish-orange fabric. You can use anything you wish, but remember that the end result will be approximately half the diameter. Cut the traced circle out of the fabric. My circle was just over 2.5" in diameter. It definately was not perfect.

Take a threaded needle and knot the end. Sinch up a few gathers and run a basting stitch through it. That is a longer loose stitch.

Once you meet the knot you have completely gone around the circle's edge once. Pull the thread to draw up the edges in to a tightly sinched pucker.

Hot glue a gemstone or button to the top of the opening. Hot glue felt to the rear and an extra strip for a clip if this will be a pin. Trim off the edges of the felt to clean it up and only show the poppy flower from the top.

Add a piece or elastic for a ring or if you have a ring form hot glue it on. For a head band, you can either glue it to a headband you purchased or to a piece of elastic long enough to encompass the head that will be wearing it. Lol. I say that because I have a XL head when it comes to the diameter. Apparently, the normal or regular sized head has a circumference of 22.5” and I am at a whopping 23.75”. With that size when hat shopping means XL. It is the same for me from top to bottom with headbands. I just have a big head literally. So make sure you have enough elastic for the size you need.  You can also tie off a ribbon under the hairline with poppies glued to the top or a pretty scarf can act as a headband. Another quick and easy headband is to cut the band from a T-shirt measure the circumference and sew the ends together. With that, you can make it as wide as you would like. You can glue or sew the poppies onto the top side of the headband. That makes a beautiful and comfortable headband.

Memorial Day Is About Remembering...

Memorial Day is quickly approaching. Memorial Day is a day of Remembrance. It is a day that is solemnly for honoring those who have served for the greater good and lost their lives fighting for freedom under the control of our government. Those that believed in working together and being a part of something bigger than themselves.

I find that old traditions of visiting grave sites and commemorating loved ones, friends, family, and those thousands of soldiers unknown to us personally, but known to someone is a thing of the past. Today people barbecue and celebrate a weekend off of work for Memorial Day, but that is not what it is about. It may be nice to be off of work and that is always a celebration, but Memorial Day is about honoring those who died for our country. That could be a soldier, fireman, police officer, you name it. It is our duty to keep that tradition thriving so that our younger generations carry on values that made America a great land once and it can be great once again.

So this Memorial Day, give thanks by re-dedicating yourself to your country. Honor those who have served, who have lost lives, and who serve today. Let not those who have died be done so in vain.

If you do have a barbecue, make sure to do something with your children and teach them. Make a display for your friends and family to see that is in honor of our countrymen. Be it wearing a small poppy flower on your lapel, headbands, or displaying names of soldiers who lost lives on a canvas, jewelry, or some other type of showy piece. Print a story and frame it as a centerpiece about a veteran that served well so others can read it. Ask your grandparents or great grandparents to tell you stories about what they remember during the war. I am sure they know some. Visit graves and place flags or poppies on them. Say a prayer...but keep Memorial Day sacred, remember.

I am making a pin for my sweater out of fabric, thread, needle, and black round gems.

Zebra Shelving Remade for Teen Bedroom or Home Decor



For this I took a cheap pair of shelves that were pressed board covered in laminate and beat up a bit. They were used and I hated to let them go to waste. I gathered the materials list below to remake them into something beautiful. I got the screws and brackets from Lowes.

Materials: Krylon Plastic spray paint white x 2 (1 per shelf), Collage Pauge, black paint acrylic or satin house paint or whatever color you paint your stripes, paint brushes, inspiration for stripes (mine was fabric), sand paper, white paint, pencil with eraser (optional), shelves. (Missing in this photo are: sand paper, eraser, shelves "before" picture, and white acrylic paint).

I first sanded the shelf edges a bit where they were smashed. The paint says you do not have to do this if you buy the right type of paint for plastic, but I thought it might make it a bit more adhesive and the shelves were really boogered up.

I covered the boards with white Krylon for plastic spray paint. I made sure it would adhere to plastic type surfaces before I bought it. You pay a little more for spray paint like that, but you get what you pay for.  I learned this from buying a dog in the Walmart parking lot for $25 and have regretted it ever since. LOL. This project took two cans of Krylon Fusion for Plastic. It runs about $4 per can. I picked up 3 cans to be safe and stored the third can for future use.   

I put 2 coats on the shelves one at a time allowing for drying time in between. That was hard. Then I went back touched up the shelves by spraying areas that seemed lighter.

I then used a pencil to start drawing zebra stripes at random. I found that when I went to paint the shelf with black interior satin gloss paint that I had on hand from our house (you can use acrylic), I did not stay in the penciled areas and ad-libbed so to say.  It was just easier for me that way. I have however pasted a template that I just sketched for you below. You can use this template on frames, folders-- the opportunities are endless.

Print these on 8 1/2 x 11 paper. Use carbon paper or a pencil to trace the stripes. The pencil will leave an indention that you can go over with pen or pencil and paint.

I found that starting in the center and making lines going from left to right down the board made it easier to paint the lines from top to bottom. If you look at my board you can see the center to see what I am speaking about. It is hard to explain.
Once the zebra stripes were completed, I went back and erased the visible pencil marks and had to touch up paint a few zebra lines with regular acrylic white paint to clean it up a little. 

I covered it lightly with a finish that I had already on hand called Collage Pauge-instant decoupage in glossy.  I love this stuff. It provides a nice glossy finish that is water resistant. 

It turned out real neat and everyone loved it but my husband who said it was great if you like zebras! A first and last name came to my mind... "Debbie Downer".