Make a can opener cozy!

Today I got to cleaning off my kitchen counter top, which had become a bit of a (ahem) storage area, and I got a little fixated on the ugly utilitarian look of the electric can opener. Decided I needed to make a little cozy-cover for it, and knew I had just the fabric to whip up a cute, quick project. Here are the materials I used:

2 cloth napkins (you could also use kitchen rags or towels)
1 stem silk flowers
Hot glue or Fabri-Tac

My fabric was actually a pair of red-and-white-striped kitchen rags. I didn't have a plan, but my original idea was to build a sort of fabric "box" complete with formed corners. Because of that plan, I started by sewing the two rags together, but ultimately decided I was making things way too difficult. I settled on just laying the rags right-sides-together, and cutting out a dome shape.

I pinned and sewed the whole thing together, trimmed my seam to a quarter inch, clipped my curves, and hemmed the bottom. Once turned right-side-out, it looked cute, but a little plain and even boatsy.

Obviously, embellishments were needed. I settled on a sprig of small silk daisies that I had on-hand - there isn't really a theme in our kitchen right now except perhaps "out-dated 70's stuff with red accents," but I thought the daisies would fit in better than my go-to choice of romantic roses.

I separated the daisies and leaves from the wire stems, and knew I was going to attach them to the cozy with glue. (I like to use FabriTac instead of hot glue - it works great for a project like this, and I don't burn myself. If you're adept with a hot-glue gun, go for it!) One problem, though, was that the backs of the daisy blooms didn't lend themselves to easy gluing. I simply clipped off the excess yellow bit, and was left with enough surface to apply a good dab of glue.

I pressed everything down into place, let it dry, and fitted it over the can opener. Here's the result:

It's not as complicated as the constructed "box version" I was going to make, but I sure like it - it only took about 15 minutes to assemble from start to finish, and it goes great with my red cannisters!

I've linked this quick and easy project to Making Monday Marvelous over at C.R.A.F.T. Dozens of fun, creative ideas - be sure to click through!