Cans shown here are large fruit cans. A smaller veggie/beans/tomato can would be a great pencil cup.

These are the only supplies you need! If you’d like to use my ribbon, one ball should do it. This large can took me about 15 yards to cover.

Starting at one end, start wrapping the ribbon around the can.

As you wrap around, cover the starting end so it’s not visible.

Continue wrapping around the can, pushing it up a bit as you go to fill in any gaps.

When you come to the end of a strip, hold your finger under the ribbon as you wrap one last time around. Then tuck the end under this slack. Pull tight to secure.

Continue wrapping to the end and repeat the tuck when you’re finished.

There you go! A nice decorative can to hold anything you want.

Here mine are in use on the back of my stove. On the wall, my chocolate pancakes recipe print, which I refer to often.

I feel like I’ve been stingy with the blog posts lately, so I spent some time over the weekend putting this project idea together for you. I hope you have endless crocheting ahead of you!

Make these soft coasters with my cotton twine (or a lightweight yarn). You’ll need about 10-15 yards total for each one. The two-color coasters in the photo above were made with a mini spool for the inside color and half of a regular spool for the outer color.

If you know how to crochet already, you may be able to follow along with the photos below, but I’ll type up some instructions–with links to a how-to for each stitch–for beginners too. I’m pretty useless without pictures, so I hope this helps! Let me know if anything is unclear.

Starting the round

1. Chain 6.
2. Slip stitch in the first chain to make a ring.
3. Double-crochet into the ring 15 times, slst into 3rd chain of first dc, chain 3

Two more rounds

4. dc in the first dc, ch 1, { dc in the next dc, chain 1 }, repeat { } 16 times, slst into 3rd chain of first dc, chain 3
5. 2 dc in the first space, { dc in the next dc, 2 dc in the next sp }, repeat { } 15 times,
     slst into 3rd chain of first dc, chain 1

Finishing off

6. sc around, slst in the first sc, tie off
7. weave the end in toward the middle and tie to the beginning tail, in the back

Other options

Keep going for a hot pad or large doily

1. after step 5, ch 2 more, dc all the way around, slst in the 3rd chain of the first dc, ch 3
2. repeat step 4 around slst in the 3rd chain of the first dc, ch 3
3. repeat step 5, omitting the dc in the dc (2 dc in each space only)
4. finish off as steps 6-7

Add color!

To make multiple colors, stop one color at the slip stitch, leave a few inches and cut the string. Then begin the ch 3 with the next color. When finished tie the two colored ends together and weave the ends into a row of the same color, just for an inch or so. Trim the extra.

Do a few of these and wrap them up with some coffee, tea, cocoa, and a mug for a nice cool weather gift (it’s coming)!

I get a ton of requests for information on who my suppliers are, most specifically where I get my melamine plates made. I’m very protective of this information. I have to be. It’s not personal, it’s business. And this is why.

Apparently someone found out who Whitney’s manufacturer is and have weaseled information out of the manufacturer (who was all too forthcoming) about her product and how it was made, and they are now having a very similar twine produced for them.

One even had the gall to use Whitney’s website copy, including swiping her very cool (but apparently not yet trademarked) phrase “eco-luxe” to describe their twine. This is somewhat legal, but very very wrong.

So on her behalf and all hard-working designers and creators, let’s begin to referring to Divine Twine as the original eco-luxe striped bakers twine. And if you see these unnamed copycats surface, please remember how hard Whitney has worked to develop her very unique product and support her instead (and encourage others to do the same).

We each have a voice that can make a difference and copycats don’t deserve our marketplace “vote”. Thanks for always supporting independent creators, as I know many of you are!

Accessories

I designed a unique “hair charm” or just Ribbon Charm, which works with a snap clip to clip back your hair. Or wear it as a brooch. Depending on the style/width of ribbon I use I get a really different look each time.

AJ is wearing Shimmer in Queen Blue and Tessa is wearing Stitched in black. Journals are pictured for fun.

Remove the clip on the back and you can easily slide it onto a headband!

Natural Charm and Necklace are shown.

And there’s a necklace too. Again, using different types of ribbon I get a different casual or dressy look. My favorite is the navy stripe below.

Striped Ribbon Necklace in Navy

NEW Clothespins

Painting clothespins was getting to be more work than it was worth, especially when people began ordering in bulk for all the summer weddings! So I came up with a better way to add color to my clothespins. I’m now making Stained Clothespins. It took some trial and error, but I’ve discovered a way to get clothespins in lots of different colors.

This technique keeps the natural grain of the wood too, which makes for a more organic feel. The stain I use is water-based and the packaging is recyclable, so that feels good too. Much better than the acrylic or spray paint.

I’ve chosen a few colors which work well with each type of wood (tiny, small, and regular clothespins are made from different kinds of wood, so colors react differently). The only colors I can’t yet make are those lighter than the wood, like white. So if you have a custom color in mind, I’m no longer limited to paint because I can mix my own stain.

Twist Ties

Kraft Twist Ties are a fun thing I wanted to do last year but never got around to it and then it seemed like everyone had them, so what was the fun. But I haven’t seen them in awhile, so I’m bringing them to Olive Manna… but with a “twist”…

While I was staining things… :)

Aren’t these colors so rich and beautiful for fall? Deep brown, salty pink, vintage blue, barn red… I think I just need a rusty pumpkin and we’ll be set.

Etsy Show

As I said before, I’m not totally against Etsy, but I think it has a place and purpose. For me, the purpose isn’t a professional storefront, but more of a craft show. So I’m hosting a table/booth on Etsy for fall and we’ll see how that works.

And as I would for a “real” craft show, my prices are a bit higher to cover the added expense. So you folks will want to still visit my main shop. Etsians can pay more for the luxury of shopping in that venue. ;)

I’ll let you know how this “craft show” experiment goes. I suspect it will be better now that I’m coming at it from this perspective (lower expectations).