Craft Day!

Red Neck Wine Glasses

Photo Fabric Pillows

Over Christmas, Christina wanted to make gifts for her friends, and of course I am all in, but she HAS to help.  I don't generally ask for help when the project involves an oven, but a craft project for her friends meant it would be a project for us both!  So a shopping trip to Hobby Lobby and a day in the sewing room.  It was the perfect ending to Christmas vacation!

The first project was redneck wine glasses.  Nic joined the fun on this one.  I came across these at a Dirty Santa party and everyone passed these silly glasses around.  When we discovered how easy and cheap they were to make, I had a group of friends over with glue and jelly jars and we made 4 dozen.  When the kids came home for the holidays, they decided they wanted some too.  You will need glass candle sticks, little short ones.  We found them at the dollar store and at Hobby Lobby.  You also need a jar for the top.  I saw them all over the internet with Mason jars, but the ones we had were the faceted jelly jars.  You will also need glass glue that dries waterproof, a little sandpaper and some fingernail polish remover with acetone.

You need to gently sand the top of the candle holder, and wipe with the acetone and wipe the bottom of the jar as well.  Lay a ring of glue on the bottom of the glass and place on table upside down.  Top with the candle holder (also upside down) and be sure it is level.  Keep it where it won't get bumped and dry overnight.  We found that setting the jars on the lids was more stable than the candle stick, they are top heavy, and can slip making it a little crooked.  We found some cool stickers that are all the letters, and Christina put her friends initials on the label section of the jars.  Pretty cute.  Then she put her glasses in some home made fabric bags and tied them with ribbon.  Of course Christina's aren't wine glasses, they would be soda glasses.

Then to the sewing machine for photo pillows.  We started with a photo of her and her friends that we printed on photo fabric.  The brand I use is no longer available, but we printed the pictures on various types of silk.  You should be able to find a similar product at the fabric store.  I should have paid closer attention to the types, because the thinner silk wasn't great.  We bought a black and white print for the back of the pillow, and she chose different solids for the fronts.  Everything was cut 15"X15" for a finished pillow of 14"X14", and we just appliquéd the photo to the solid fabric.  We also bought some white pom pom trim.
Basically you appliqué the trimmed photo to the solid fabric first, anchoring and stabilizing it with some fusible interfacing.  Then you need to baste the pom pom trim to one side of the pillow (on the right side) and then sew the two side together, right sides facing, leaving a small opening.  Stuff the pillow and then hand stitch it closed.  They turned out great, an easy and fun project for college kids!  So now, back to the kitchen, I have baking to do!