I made a Tassel!

Look what I made!  I am so excited!  I have been seeing all these wonderful tassels out there that our blogging friends are making and have wanted to do one myself.  I even saw some for sale at Michaels that look very much like the tassels everyone in blogland is selling.  They were not nearly as nice though! 

I have been putting it together in my head for a few weeks now and knew how I was going to do it, just not too sure how it was going to all come together.  So I finally sat down Sunday afternoon and whipped out all the items I thought I would use.

I knew I wanted to make a Halloween tassel and remembered I had some small statue figures in my Halloween box.  I decided to go ahead an unpack a few more of the smaller items too.

Then I pulled out all the ribbons I thought might be the best options to use.  Turns out I didn't quite have the size or colors I really wanted to use, but I wasn't going to let that stop me this time.  I was determined to do this without paying a dime, using things I already had.

First up was this Styrofoam base.  It was thicker then this but I cut it in half.  Now I have another piece I can use for the next one.

Next item I used was a doily similar to the one above except it was an off white one.  I have a few more of these just sitting around from a project I was going to make many many years ago. 

The next thing I used was this beaded trim.  I just gotta have a little bling you know!

Then out came the glue gun.

First I glued the doily over the Styrofoam then glued the ribbon around it.  In retrospect I wish I had glued the beaded trim around the end of the doily to make it longer since I did have more that would have gone around that perimeter easily enough.  Oh well, this is a learning project.

Then I added these ribbons I had left over from other decorating around the house.

Then I cut this fabric into strips to use.  I only needed a small amount of this.  I have had this from a costume I made for Halloween year ago.  It's not burlap but sure looks a lot like it doesn't it?  I forgot all about it until I saw several of your projects decorated with burlap and then remembered I had it.  Yippee!

I then glued the figure to the top and a little something extra, I'll show you that in a minute.   First, let me show you one more step I did on the bottom. 

I turned it over and painted the bottom with this decoupage glue.  That way the Styrofoam will not shed so easily.  I know there's other steps I probably should have take to prevent that but that's just what I did.

And here it is before attaching the hanging ribbon.

I kinda like him just like this too.  He makes an excellent candle topper, don't you think?

Here's the little something extra I added.  I went through my buttons to see what I had, and found this old upholstery tack with a nice brown and rust fabric already on it.  Easy peasy, all I had to do was push it right in!

Pretty cute!

Now here it is, with a hanging ribbon attached.  I just attached the ribbon around his hat.  I think if I were going to use him permanently as a tassel I would attach a ring to his head.  I actually even have small extra rings in my jewelry box, but I'm not committed to that idea yet.

I just love it!  I know it's not as wonderful as all the beautiful ones for sale by all of you pros, but this is my first attempt and I am feeling pretty good about it.  I hope you like it too..

What a fun way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon! 

Please be sure and join me and my other creative friends for Metamorphosis Monday.

There always something changing on Mondays!

Have a great week!

Mary