My Crafty Playground

Felt Mice- to hold Candy Canes

2012-01-26T20:23:00.000-08:00

The idea for these little mice came from http://www.marthastewart.com/649965/clip-art-and-templates-christmas. I originally saw it on Pinterest, which took me to "good old Martha". My daughter was looking over my shoulder and requested me to make them for her class. That was my first mistake! My second was thinking I could bust 30 of them out the night before she'd be taking them. They don't take too much time in general, it's just more the cumulative effect. They were a hit, and I saved the pattern in case I want to make some again. I think they're reasonably cute...

Dinner choices, in black and white

2012-01-25T22:19:00.000-08:00

This is the second sign I've made of the Dinner Choices- I didn't use the beadboard this time. I like the look of both. My friend asked if I could make her one in black and white- and I have to say that I really like the combination. It's a very clean look. I put a metal sawtooth hanger on the back, so she could hang it on her wall or place it in an easel. Depending on if I were making it for someone, I'd use a ribbon hanger instead, and drill holes for them. She has now asked me to make her one of the "Chocolate Understands" signs... and I'm more than willing. They're easy enough to do. And chocolate does understand, doesn't it?...

"Thankful" Wall Art

2012-01-21T10:38:00.000-08:00

Soooo... yeah... again, I saw this saying on Pinterest, and knew I had to do something with it. I ended up settling on an oversized sheet of compressed wood stuff- what do you call that stuff? MDF? maybe? Anyhow, I had it, and I thought, I could make this work. I actually (because I don't usually) measured off even lines- just making slight hash marks, so I could have the lettering not off kilter. I usually eyeball it, and it takes a lot more time. I still had to work on centering, but if you at least don't have to factor in the up and down part of it, it makes it a lot easier.

I have been enjoying using the technique of the paint on the bottom, vinyl, then painting over the vinyl and pulling it off before the paint completely dries. It is really fun, yes, sigh... I'm a craft nerd! I just touched up a few of the letters a bit, and then distressed it. All it took was adding a wire hanger, and I was done. Surprisingly, for the size, it was a really quick project! I love this saying, because I really, strongly, believe in being thankful. It is something I hope to get through to my children.

Chocolate Understands wall hanging

2012-01-21T10:30:00.001-08:00

Soooo, I've been on Pinterest a lot, and I came across this saying. It immediately amused me, and I thought, "I gotta make that!" So, I did! This sign is about 5 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches. I painted a base color of a vintage white/cream color. After it dried, I stuck on my vinyl that I cut out with my Cricut. For this size sign, I used the 1 1/4 inch size for the "chocolate" and 1 inch for the rest of the words. I used the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge. I then painted over it with a nice chocolate color (how appropriate!) Before it dried completely, I used a little pick tool to grab at the vinyl and pull it off. It only needed a few touch ups. After it dried completely, I distressed it a bit and added a sealer coat and a hanger. A friend of mine claimed dibs on the first one I made, and I'll be making another for our MOPS auction. Again, I have to plug MOPS : If you'd like more information about it (Mothers of Pre Schoolers), here's a link : www.mops.org
Ahhh... yes... Chocolate does understand, doesn't it... ? :)

Ho Ho Ho Wood blocks

2012-01-13T14:13:00.000-08:00

Oh, how I love wood blocks! These were just 4" blocks cut from a 2 x 4 piece of wood. Painted and crackled- and ho, ho, ho added. The bummer: I just made them. After Christmas. And my decorations are put away. Bummer. They get to go in the box of decorations that I'm adding to- either by finding randomly around the house, or making. It's never too late or too early to make decorations, is it? I hope not. It's almost more relaxing now when there isn't the pressure of everything else to do. Have I mentioned how much I love blocks already? (Just kidding :) ).

Decorative plates with Vinyl

2012-01-11T18:58:00.000-08:00

I'm on a kick again- this time, with my wall plates. Since I attached my plate hanger to the wall, I now have to fill it. I couldn't keep my "peace" and "joy" plates up from Christmas- since they were all red and Christmassy... bummer. I used plates found at the Dollar Store, and my handy dandy Cricut vinyl to cut out some new words. "Faith" and "Family" are 2 very important words to me, so it works well. I may find some more plates and change them out with the seasons with different words that work. For Valentine's Day, you could use red plates with white vinyl, or white plates with red vinyl with all those Valentiney words like love, kisses, hugs, be mine, etc. Lots of options, definitely. I'm happy with this- such an easy way to change things out inexpensively and creatively.

Beadboard sign- Dinner Choices

2012-01-03T09:17:00.001-08:00

I think I'm falling for beadboard. The problem is that it's hard to find it in smaller usable quanties for crafts. There are ways around this, though. I used a scrap of beadboard that I'd had cut down- after patiently (or not so patiently) waiting for some beadboard to end up in the culled bin at Home Depot, I finally found some- and they will cut it to the size you want. It was just a couple of inches wider than my miter saw could accomodate, so I needed them to cut it for me. Anyhow, back to the sign. I painted the base coat a cream color, let it it dry, and then placed vinyl letters on it. I painted a nice dark chocolate brown over that, and before it dried totally, I used my little Cricut hook tool to peel the letters off. I love this technique- it's kind of fun. After everything was dry, I used some sand paper to rough up the edges and distress the sign just a bit- I tend to not go too wild with the distressing. I tend to be a minimalist with it. I'm debating whether to have this sign sitting in the easel, or whether to add a ribbon hanger. I'm not quite sure yet. I think I'll donate this to our MOPS auction this spring. I hope it will find a taker.

Closet fresheners

2012-01-03T09:07:00.000-08:00

Soooo.... it's after Christmas now, and I really didn't want to have to put my scented pine cones away. I used some for a garland for my mantle, using this idea :http://organizeyourstuffnow.com/wordpress/?p=26047&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+OrganizeAndDecorateEverything+%28Organize+and+Decorate+Everything%29 .... and then I thought, hey, I have a few left over. (Oh, by the way, I used my drill to drill a small hole matching the size of the eye screws I was using- made it so easy to get those screws in the pine cones- genius (and not mine) I tell you!
I decided to use the left over cinnamon pine cones to freshen up my closets- the clothes end up smelling musty and funky when they're not worn every day. I just took some ribbon and hung them up. I figure that as long as they don't touch the clothing, but are close enough to make it smell better, we'll be fine. I love easy things like this!

Holiday plates with vinyl lettering

2011-12-12T22:57:00.001-08:00

I'm on a roll, woohoo! This is another project inspired by a pin on Pinterest. I found the original idea here : http://pinterest.com/pin/55591376619891512/ - from Better Homes and Gardens. They used 3 plate hooks/holders to spell out the word "JOY" with 3 white plates and red lettering. That is what I orignally wanted to do, and had planned on doing, until I realized that the plate holder that I had sitting waiting to be hung on the wall only had 2 spots, not 3.. I had to regroup. I hate to admit that it took me a lot longer than I would have liked.... I was trying to think of all the words that would go together for Christmas. Comfort and Joy would have been good too... I settled on Peace and Joy. At that point I cut them out with my Cricut in the last piece of my lovely red vinyl that I have rarely used. I'm so pleased with how they turned out. Okay... to be nitpicky, I should have recentered the JOY, it's a bit high on the plate, but oh well.... it was the perfect touch for my empty wall. I'm trying very hard to not just pin things on Pinterest, but actually attempt to make some of them. For right now, I'm doing alright I think. I do copy and save images to my computer so I can place them in a Word document in smaller pictures and print them out for my idea binder. I can't always get to a computer to look at something I've pinned, and it's easier to show someone else that way... I'm rambling... anyhow.. I found a set of 5 white plates at Goodwill for $4.99, I didn't think that was too bad of a deal, and I had the vinyl already. You can do this without a Cricut- and I plan on buying some Contact paper too- cheaper and cuts the same as vinyl too :) Try it out, it's easy and a lot of fun!

I think my picture is a little off kilter- didn't realize that until I posted it... sorry about that...

"Lets Be Jolly" sign- I made something I saw on Pinterest!

2011-12-09T22:59:00.000-08:00

I've been on Pinterest for a few months now, and every day I find more things I want to make. Here is where I found this idea :http://pinterest.com/pin/94646029638585698/- to give credit to the owner of this idea. I found this scrap of wood in a lot in front of our house, and believe me, it was scrappy- wet, dirt clumps on it and all. I took it in and let it dry off, sanded a bit, then painted.

I used a buttery yellow for my base coat, and when it was dry, used my Cricut to make vinyl stencils. I painted over them with my red paint, and when it was almost dry, I peeled off the letters with my little Cricut pick-type tool..

To my delight, some of the paint came off with the vinyl. Normally I would be unhappy about this, and try and clean it up with some paint- but since I wanted this to look slightly distressed, it worked out great- and I didn't even have to try! (Always a plus :) ) I finished it up with sanding slightly around the edges and adding a wire hanger. I'm really happy with it, and it added the finishing touches to the decorations in our downstairs bathroom. I love the pop of the red. That, and you can't go wrong with the word "Jolly". It makes me smile every time.

DIY Superhero masks

2011-11-23T22:25:00.000-08:00

Our MOPS group decided to make some superhero masks to go in our Operation Christmas Child boxes, so the first step was to find an easy template to use. I searched online and found some basic templates here: http://www.firstpalette.com/Craft_themes/Wearables/superheromask/superheromask.html

We used felt to make them a bit sturdier than paper- and to double up that sturdiness as well as offer 2 masks in one, we made them double sided, so the recipient could change around their look. I used my Cropadile punch/setter to make holes for the elastic. We also decided on elastic rather than ribbon or cording to tie, because then they didn't need to have to tie them, or need help. They could just start playing.

On this design, I cut out the center part of the mask template and traced on another color of felt for contrast. For the lightning bolts and stars, I just looked up some clip art and honestly- I traced on a piece of paper right there from my computer screen. I cut that out and glued it to cardstock, then used the star or lightning bolt to trace around as I had the masks.

These are also double sided - oh, just in case you're wondering, I cut out the entire mask piece first, then used the center from a second template that I'd cut out, to add a contrasting color. I used my hot glue gun to glue everything together. They came together pretty quickly, and you can personalize them to your little superhero- my daughters even wanted some- so don't feel limited to boys, by any means- make hearts, flowers, glitter glue, ribbons... There you have it, some basic superhero masks. Oh, and I bought the felt by the yard at Jo-Ann's- on sale, they have a lot of color options- and depending on how many you want to make (think birthday party, etc), it might be more cost effective to buy 1/2 a yard or so of your main colors. Happy mask making!

Easy little notebooks/drawing pads for kids

2011-11-19T20:09:00.001-08:00

I made these little notebook/drawing pads out of scraps of chipboard and cardstock. The pieces I had were roughly 3 1/2 inches wide, so that's what I used. I was playing around and thought that there was no reason why it wouldn't work to make these little notepads for my girls- they love paper and drawing/writing, and they're the perfect size. I determined what size I had available for the chipboard, then cut the paper about a 1/16th of an inch smaller. I used my Cropadile to make holes in the paper- using the first punch as a guide for the rest. I had some book rings on hand, and "ta da!" there you go. I tied a bit of scrap ribbon around the ring, and used some leftover adhesive chipboard letters for their initials... They could have been decorated a lot more, but my girls were very happy with them ( apparently a little sparkle goes a long way with them). I might make more of them for stocking stuffers. You could make them bigger- a 6 x6 size would be cute too, giving a bit more room. You could use any cereal boxes or things like that to make your covers- especially if you wanted to decorate them more than I did. I figured I could use my Cricut to make some die cuts to glue on- you could easily do little boy notebooks like that with a car, star, or something like that. You could even use stickers- or give them stickers with it to decorate it themselves... no limits!

Photo Display /Hanger with ribbon and clothespins

2011-11-15T13:23:00.000-08:00

For the record, it is REALLY hard to get a good picture of something that it tall/long, just saying... hence the multiple close up pictures. I used a piece of scrap beadboard, that was part of a scrap of beadboard that will hopefully end up as a different project- if I ever figure out how I want to do it. That is a different story all together. Back to the picture hanger. I painted it brown first, let it dry, then painted it an aqua color, let it dry, and then distressed lightly around the edges.

I used hot glue to glue ribbon ( on the back) at the top and bottom, and then used some scraps of cute paper that I still had to cover some mini clothespins. I found a package of 12 for under two dollars in the office supply section of Walmart. I used Mod Podge to glue the paper, then sanded around the edges. I used my Cropadile to punch holes in the top corners of the "wood"- I think it's actually made from the light MDF stuff, so it worked- otherwise I would have drilled. I used more ribbon to make a hanger for the board, then all that was left was to add my pictures.

This was part of my attempt to start doing things with all those "project worthy" scraps and miscellaneous items in my crafty stash.. I'm pretty happy with it, especially since 2 days ago I still didn't know what I wanted to do with this... :)

Scrapbooking Retreat Layouts

2011-10-17T13:52:00.000-07:00

This last weekend, I got to go to a scrapbooking retreat- it was a lot of fun, and I was able to get a lot accomplished (for me ;) ) It was great to be able to focus solely on scrapping and not have to get stuff out, then put it away. Everyone had their own 8 foot table to work on and we could leave our supplies out the whole time. We scrapped into the late hours and woke up early to scrap some more! Crazy productive and TIRED! Anyhow, I was able to use a sewing machine on some of my layouts for the first time- I usually hand stitch- which doesn't leave the option of zip zagging really- so I tried it with the machine, and my oh my, that's fun! If you have the opportunity to go to a scrapbooking getaway, I recommend going, and having a friend along to make it more fun :)

Card Making day for MOPS

2011-10-05T12:42:00.000-07:00

All of these designs, just for the record, are not mine- I used the basic layout of everything based on pictures of cards I'd saved to my computer from the Internet.... The cards themselves were made by me, and I picked out the papers and ribbon, etc. On the first card- I used a punch to make the little flowers and used self adhesive bling to go in the middle of them.

The stamped image on this card was a Stampin Up stamp- with the two images that work together. ( I don't know what the 'official' term for it is). I normally would have added some inking around the edges ( and I actually did on the first card- I pre inked all of them because I couldn't handle it), but since this is a project being done by over 50 ladies, adding a step like that means adding a lot of ink pads and such, and I didn't want to go that route this time with this craft. Not everyone likes that look anyway, so, they got the basic.

This one is my favorite, I think. I love the aqua color, and the stamp, and the embossing, and and and.... I used my Cuttlebug to emboss the basic white card, and then all the ladies had to do was put it together. It amazed me how many different ways they changed things up, and they all looked great! Again, I used the same small punch and bling for the flower. I definitely want to make more cards like this one. If you have a Cuttlebug, I highly recommend using it if you like to make cards, it adds such a nice look to it every time.

We Are Family- Make your own Photo Display

2011-09-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

Part two of " I did it!!" This is another project that I started many months ago, and just finished now. The reaaallllly sad part is that it took me that long to figure out the lettering for it. I knew what I wanted it to say, and I tried different fonts with the Cricut, and it just wasn't working for me. I was determined to finish it this weekend. I ended up using the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge, and just doing it like this, nothing fancy. I created this by cutting a piece of 1 x 4 x 6 down to a length that would work for my 4 small picture frames that I purchased on clearance. The frames were originally an orangey stained color, but fortunately, real wood- so I just sanded by hand. That took a while, but I'm glad that I did- that would really bug me to have an orange color come through when I was distressing later. I was then able to paint all the wood with a base coat of dark brown, and then a top coat of a vintage white/cream. When it was all dry, I just sanded around the edges a bit until I was happy with the look. ( I tend to be a "less is more" kind of gal with distressing) I attached the frames with eye screws. I nailed a hanger in the back of the main board, and it is hung by that for the support. I attached some ribbon to the back and nailed it higher up the wall to give the impression that it was being hung by the ribbon. I wonder if it would be too much to add little ribbon "ties" where the eye screws are... that look could go either way, couldn't it? Hmmmm.... Anyhow, it's not perfect, but I'm happy for putting something together like this, I've never tried doing that before. You could do this with any piece of wood and frames, could be super cute, I recommend trying it!

Count Your Blessings Wood Decor- Craft Warehouse project

2011-09-19T11:09:00.000-07:00

I did it! I finally finished this after having it sitting for months half done. I bought this at Craft Warehouse- for a steal- $5! Their project idea was for a chore chart, but I wanted to go with this instead. I numbered the frames and will place pictures of my children and of my husband and I together in one- counting my blessings :) I painted the base color brown, let it dry, then used Americana brand Weathered Wood Crackling Medium. My top coat was a nice off white/cream color. I sanded a little bit around the edges, not too much though. I think I will at some point change out the twine with some nice dark brown ribbon and add a ribbon hanger. I think I will like it better that way. I used my Cricut to cut out lettering and the numbers. I love the song with "count your blessings" . "Count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your many blessings, see what God has done." Amen.

Fun with a 2 x 4- Fall Wood Blocks

2011-09-15T19:26:00.000-07:00

I've been itching to make some Fall blocks for a while now, and finally painted some of my 2x4x4 blocks in Fall-ish colors to make it happen. I sat brainstorming words or phrases that emboddied the Fall feeling to me (took a while...don't you hate it when you know that they're right there but can't think of words when you actually want them?) The first set I painted with a base coat of dark brown, then after it dried, painted a nice dark orangey color - I actually didn't have the right color in my paint stash, so I combined a couple of colors.. who knew that neon orange with a brick red would create this pretty dark pumpkinny color? The second set, I painted with various colors that reminded me of the leaves turning color this time of year. I was able to use supplies that I already have, always a plus! I then sanded away to distress the blocks, for once I'm actually pleased with how it turned out. And I didn't even CRACKLE anything, quite rare.. though they would be pretty crackled instead. As an aside, I used my Cricut (the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge- using a combination of the Tall Ball, Roly Poly, and regular font to change the look up)

Comments and Suggestions box

2011-09-03T22:47:00.000-07:00

This is just one of those random posts about something kind of crafty that I did. No big thing, but I'm pleased with how it turned out. This started as a plain white box with a lid- one that you'd put a gift in and wrap up. I was asked to "prettify" it for our MOPS group- (if you want info. on MOPS- here's my plug again : check out www.mops.org ) I cut a hole in the middle of the lid- trying to get it centered was tricky- it's not completely in the middle, but "gut genug"- good enough! I glued paper to the front, then wrapped the edges around, working carefully to make it neat. I only had one piece of paper for the bottom, and I knew that if I had the paper all the way to the top, it would get mangled when we put the top back on over and over. My solution: I traced the sides out, then used my corner edge rounder to make a scalloped edge, and glued it as high as the bottom of the lid when placed on the box. It actually worked pretty well. I used a sponge ink pad to shade the white part of the box that would show when the lid was taken off, so it didn't stand out. Last part was cutting the letters out of Cricut vinyl- using the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge. I added a few token flowers just to add some dimension and then placed small colored rhinestones along the sides. (Main reason for this is that I didn't have any ribbon that matched right at home, grr... but I think it's nice enough.) Consider it "prettified".

Saturday Market

2011-08-11T19:18:00.001-07:00

This was my one and only attempt at a Saturday Market this year. I joined in with my in-laws in Tillamook- they sold polished rocks that they've gathered from Oregon beaches. I tried a few different things to sell: signs- made with paint, crackling medium, and Cricut vinyl lettering.

These were some of my favorite- I tried sets of words and phrases- with 3 two by four by 4 inch cuts of wood. Some I just painted with a base and top coat (contrasting) then distressed, others I used crackling medium. I then cut out the lettering with my Cricut.

I also tried these little easel frames (mentioned with the original idea and link to the owner of the idea in a previous links) with paper Mod Podged on and sanded around the edges. I did paint around the edges and backs of the wood first with a coordinating paint color, then added ribbon.

Here's a "group" shot. Right behind the signs are some roughly 5 1/2 by 5 1/2 blocks of wood, decorated in the same way as the easels. I cut up a 2x6 to make those. I like them because they can fit a bigger picture on them. I made almost $50 at the market, not too bad I suppose- sure beats a kick in the teeth! :)

Wood block photo holders, part 2, Mod Podged paper

2011-06-30T14:47:00.001-07:00

This is another variation on my last project that I tried with the wood 1x4x6 and a little dowel to make it an easel. I included the link in my previous post- I can't claim the original idea- the original source was generous enough to share her great idea with all of us and include a tutorial- check it out in my last post! She used her Silhouette to make vinyl stencils and paint to make some super cute photo/note holders..

This time around, I tried Mod Podging (that's a proper term, right? ;) ) paper on the wood, and sanding around the edges- I painted first... Then, tying satin ribbon around them... I think I'm in love with the ribbon! I think I might try inking the blue ones with brown around the edges... I'm not sure if that would be "gilding the lily" so to speak...

Red and cream....

aqua and white...

aqua and cream.. have I mentioned how much I like the satin ribbon? :)

Wood block photo frames

2011-06-15T12:21:00.000-07:00

I found this super cute and easy idea from a fabulous link : http://www.bystephanielynn.com/2011/05/make-your-own-wood-block-photo-frames.html
I didn't stencil mine like she did, but the possibilities are endless with what you can do. I think I want to try some with Cricut vinyl, and also try Mod Podging cute paper on there. I couldn't find any of that nice baker's twine when I looked, but I really like the look of the satiny ribbon. I used a sheer organza ribbon for most of them, because I had the most of that. Love the satin ribbon and bow! I didn't even need glue or staples. I just wrapped the ribbon around several times and tied a double knot, then a bow.

I don't know if the dowel needs to be the full 4 1/4 inches, but it adds stability being that length.

And here's all of them together, all ready to slip my "thank you" tags in for the teachers. I made these to give to all the female teachers, secretaries, lunch lady, and safety patrol lady (that just doesn't sound "proper" but I don't know what else to call her. I appreciate them all and thought (and hope) they might enjoy the little gifts.

I almost decided to give these to the male teachers- somehow we have a bunch of male teachers for my boys, which is good, but makes giving crafty gifts kind of hard... I decided against it, and they will get chocolate dipped pretzels instead. I don't have the cash to give everyone Starbuck's cards.. wish I did, but oh well... :) Anyhow, check out the link and get some great ideas like I did! Thanks Stephanie!!

Wood Block Photo Holders

2011-06-06T12:37:00.000-07:00

This is essentially the same thing as I did before with the project from http://www.howdoesshe.com/ , only I made the bottom piece of wood (from a 2x4) twelve inches instead of eight, and added 2 more blocks. I made this for my husband's mom, and it uses both sides so she can have all the grandkids and great grandkids on there. I really, REALLY love how my little clothespins turned out. You can get a package of 12 I believe, from Walmart for under 2 dollars. I painted them like I painted the blocks- with a bottom layer of red, and top layer of aqua, sanding around the edges to show the red just a bit through the distressing... Totally fun grandparent gift- or for any other person who you want to bless with a photo holder. Use whatever colors you like, paint or don't paint, use paper or not.. your choice. I suppose at some point I need to move on past the aqua/red combination... :)

Scrapping, kinda, with wood

2011-06-03T21:30:00.000-07:00

I bought these wood hangers of sorts from Craft Warehouse. The example they showed had a picture scrapped on it. I decided to do the same thing, only after going from one idea to another with some pictures of a friend's boys. I'm really pretty pleased with how this ended up- especially since I finally decided on what to do with these "future projects" after they sat for a year in my craft stash.... No, I don't hoard... my husband would disagree- I purge every so often- a year or two is generally the maximum amount of time I'll keep something... but I digress. :) I suppose everything is pretty obvious what I did- stitching, distressing, brads, inking... Once I decided what I was going to do it went fast- only 6 months in the making or so, since I got the pictures...

Laundry Room Sign

2011-05-31T08:08:00.000-07:00

This is another style of the laundry room sign I made several months ago. I ran out of the 1 x 4 x 8 pieces of lumber I normally use, and used a big square piece I had previously cut instead. I pretty much did the same thing, only the layout is obviously a bit different because of the shape of the wood. Crackling, sanding around the edges, then Cricut vinyl letters. I can't remember where I got the black ribbon of sorts- it's a nice wide grosgrain type- but I know that I recycled it off something, probably a gift one of the kids got. ( I always feel a bit excited when I can do that :) ). This was made for a friend who is putting together a basket for an auction, and she asked me if I could make the laundry sign for it. No problem! It came together quickly. I like this big square size from the lumber that I cut- it's about 9 x 9 inches.

Ribbon and Wood Hair Clip Holder

2011-05-29T07:56:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to figure out a way to keep my girls' hair clips contained (and somewhat matched- so I can find matching clips when we have them), and after perusing some sites and talking to my friends, I decided upon the ribbon and wood idea. I cut a small piece of wood from a 1 x 4 x 8, painted it 2 colors (a base color and top coat) and distressed it a bit- cause that's how I roll.... I then cut strips of ribbon and glued the top of them to the back of the wood, glued on more ribbon to make a hanger, and cut out some vinyl letters with my Cricut. (The Cricut letters are totally unnecessary, and you could easily Mod Podge some cute paper on the wood instead of painting it or do whatever you want). I just wanted the function with a bit of "cuteness" added. Waiting for the paint to dry took the longest amount of time. My girls immediately liked it- ooh, I suppose I could have made polka dots and their initials... that would have been cute.... Anyhow, I can now find the matches to the clips and see exactly what I have instead of digging around in a basket with them loose. I'm pretty happy with this. Unfortunately my method for organizing the hair ties is not as cute- I have them all around a long paper towel roll- functional, but not cute... Oh well, if you have any ideas for that, please feel free to share... because that paper towel roll really leaves a lot to be desired visually....

Cards made with the Cricut Damask cartridge

2011-05-28T09:48:00.000-07:00

I borrowed the Cricut Damask cartridge from a friend and played around the other night- trying to come up with some easy cards for teacher gifts. There were some designs that I liked better than others, and if I'd had more time I would have embellished them more. I added stick on rhinestones and pearls to add a bit more to them. Anyhow, you can use any combination of colors that you like that complement each other. I wish that I'd had wider organza ribbon to tie around them, but like I said, they were quick gifts and I didn't have time to go get more. Anyhow, I took a quick picture of them all together, no great close ups.. but it's enough to prove that I did something.... :)

Girl's room fabric picture/memo board

2011-05-25T13:58:00.001-07:00

These are just another version of the french fabric and ribbon board that I created with the brown damask fabric in my last post. For these, you can just get a piece of foam core board at the Dollar Store, or any other place that sells it. I did the "reduce/reuse/recycle" bit and used leftover pieces of foam core board from a MOPS project a few years ago that have been sitting in my stash (to my husband's displeasure...they've been there for a while.) He's so long suffering with my craft stuff- he calls it "Pandora's Craft Box"... Anyhow... I used 2 smaller pieces and glued them together with hot glue to make them a little bit bigger. I covered it with sheet batting again (using spray adhesive), and wrapped fabric around it, pulling it tight and smooth as I glued. I then attached my ribbon the same way as before (referring to a picture of some skinny ones we'd done in MOPS for refrigerator versions of these... surprisingly, all the leftover foam core board was not left over from that project....) because the foam core wasn't super thick, I was able to stick a big ol' embroidery needle through the middle of the ribbon's cross points and make a stitch to pull it in just a bit to make the ribbon feel more snug against the fabric. (Yes, "big ol' " is an official term of measurement somewhere in the world.. :) ) All that was left was to glue buttons on- I bought these specifically for this project when I bought the fabric a couple of months ago. This is a project that I've had on my list to finish- now that MOPS is done for a bit, I can focus more on the many crafts projects piling up that I've been itching to get to. These are for my girls' bedroom, and way overdue. I glued a loop of ribbon on the back so I could hang them easily, and just for the record, if these were being made for a gift, I'd have covered the back to and make it look a lot nicer, but I figure that since they're just in my girls' room, the front is cute and that's all that matters to me right now... (lazy I know...) These can be done pretty cheaply if you already have batting and either a stash of fabric already, or access to inexpensive fabric. I think I'm going to start perusing the remnant section of Jo-Ann's. :)

Fabric and Ribbon Memo Board

2011-05-21T09:50:00.000-07:00

Well, my husband will be happy, - not because I made more crafty stuff, but that I made use of a metal framed cork bulletin board that has sat in either our room or our boys' room for years. I took the board and attached some sheet batting (cut to size) with spray adhesive. I measured the board and went searching at Jo-Ann's for some fabric that I'd like. Out of all those choices, I ended up with this brown damask print. It was hard to find something I liked well enough and that would go with any decor color I might use. It took a little bit of time to center the print so that it wasn't lopsided- I'm sure it probably is to a degree, just not to the point that it's bugging me anymore. Note to self: next time get a print that needs no straightening...... I used hot glue to adhere the fabric on the back. ( Note the picture of my cat who immediately claimed the board for herself as soon as I finished covering it....) To figure out how to arrange the ribbon, (after attempting it briefly myself), I searched out French Memo Ribbon Boards on Google and used some examples for reference. I used hot glue to hold these down, but there was too much slack for my liking on the front of the board, even after gluing the cross points down. I decided to try out my staple gun to see if that would work to make it tighter and I was happy with the results. My other option would have been to go out and buy some flat thumb tacks and use those instead. I was happy to not have to go out and buy more supplies :) . I used hot glue again to glue my buttons down at the cross points- I used embroidery floss to add a little bit of interest to them. Now all I need is to hang it up, but I'm not sure which wall I'm putting it on, so for the moment, it's at least done and waiting for a home. ...........And my husband wanted me to just get rid of the board........... :)

Inexpensive, easy Teacher Gifts

2011-05-10T17:40:00.001-07:00

This is a variation on covering journals and other notebooks. I found these swivel notepads at our Craft Warehouse for a dollar each, and thought, well, they would be much cuter with cute paper covering them. As I've done previously, I traced the notepad shape on the chosen paper, cut it out and glued it on. I used sandpaper to sand the edges of the paper off the pad to make it cleaner looking, and then inked. I added a flower and button in the middle and a little bit of Stickles glitter glue. The childcare workers I gave them to really liked them. Easy gift, not too time consuming... not a whole lot of brain pain involed.. always a plus!

More wood plaques-

2011-04-03T17:15:00.000-07:00

These are just the same phrases I cut out of Cricut vinyl as the last 2 plaques- only I put them on 5 3/4 inch by 5 3/4 inch wood squares I cut from a board I bought from Home Depot- (love my miter saw!!!).. Anyhow, one I crackled, one I didn't- I painted the dark brown base and light aqua top coat and distressed. I used my drill to make holes to make a hanger with ribbon to match. These are for my best buddy, she liked the cream and brown ones, and I mentioned the light aqua color and she said "OOH". I may make more for others, depends on what people like. Anyhow, you can see the difference in appearance for the same colors of paint when using crackling versus just distressing (sanding the edges) and no crackling. I'm really loving that light aqua color... :)

Wood Wall Hanging- Having somewhere to go is home...

2011-03-20T22:06:00.000-07:00

I found this quote on a wall hanging idea at Craft Warehouse. I instantly wanted to make my own. I used my miter saw to cut a piece of wood I bought at Home Depot into 3 even pieces, then used my power drill, (Woohoo, girl with a saw AND a drill!!! could be dangerous! ). It was a little bit tricky getting the holes the same distance from the edge, but I think that's due more to learning curve with the drill more than anything else. I then base coated the wood pieces in a dark brown, allowed them to dry, applied Weathered Wood Crackling Medium by Americana, let it dry, then used Italian Sage colored paint by Folk Art. When that was all dry, I used dark brown grosgrain ribbon to tie them together. I did this first to see if I could make it work, before going to the time and trouble of cutting and applying vinyl lettering and having it not work right. Well, call me happily surprised, (Thanks, God! ) it actually looked alright to me, so I was content to cut my vinyl out with my Cricut. There you have it. This project is going into the MOPS auction this Friday... and that concludes, I think... all my planned and unplanned projects contributed to the auction... whew!

"Shh!! We're reading" sign

2011-03-20T21:55:00.000-07:00

If you've checked out anything else on my blog, you'll at some point run across the mention of our MOPS group's spring auction and what I've made for it. I tend to make a variety of items- there are some things I've made several years in a row because they did really well, and then there are specific to the year and my whim and fancy. Anyhow, I digress..... :) Each year every table of ladies in the MOPS group comes up with a themed gift basket in which we put together items that go with that theme. Our table chose "Child's first library" in which all those classics are included that you'd typically buy for a new baby. I decided to contribute a little sign, the idea just came to me... thanks God!! I think God gives me the best ideas :) So, what popped into my mind was "Shh!! We're reading" Pretty basic, really. I painted a little plaque from Craft Warehouse a bottom coat of red, then painted over that with a light aqua color. I then sanded around the edges a bit and on the front to let the red show through slightly for contrast. I used a red ribbon hanger to complement the red and aqua, and then used my Cricut with the Alphalicious cartridge to cut out some vinyl lettering. I think it will be a fun addition to our First Library basket.

Journey's Boutique by journeysboutique on Etsy

2011-03-18T09:04:00.000-07:00

Today's post is all about Becca and her fabulous new Etsy shop Journey's Boutique by journeysboutique on Etsy. Here's the link: http://www.etsy.com/shop/journeysboutique?ref=pr_shop&utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=PageTools&utm_campaign=Share . She has some beautiful diaper bags that you'd never know were that by how stylish they are, "binkie babysitters"- for those pacifiers to not get lost or icky, and other fabulous handmade baby items. Go check her out- she even has a free shipping code if you visit her Facebook page- and here's a link to that : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Journeys-Boutique/148251425237219 . Way to go getting your beautiful baby items out on Etsy, Becca!

Cricut vinyl wall hangings

2011-03-09T11:10:00.001-08:00

I found these MDF plaques at Craft Warehouse- on sale for a dollar each- they're about 6x6 inches in dimension. I painted a dark brown base and cream top coat, then sanded lightly around the edges ( I really like how it looks).. If you are familiar with my latest habits craft-wise, you'll be surprised that I didn't crackle it :) I was tempted, trust me. Anyhow, I used my Cricut to cut vinyl letters for these sayings. The "life happens, love helps" quote was actually from a stamp that my best buddy used on a layout of her daughters. I really like it a lot. The other I found just "around", but I like it too. The paint drying took the longest amount of time with these little wall hangings. I'm donating them to our MOPS auction. (Hopefully other people like them enough to bid on them in the silent auction- if they dont', I still like them well enough :) ).

New (Old) and improved Knife Block

2011-03-06T21:55:00.001-08:00

I've had my knife block for a long time now, and it's starting to show its age- it's been looking kind of shabby (and not in a good way). I finally decided the last week was the time to finally change it up a bit- with a cute little monogram too- inspired by Allison at House of Hepworths. Here's the original post of hers that got me ooh ooh oohing... : http://www.houseofhepworths.com/2010/03/24/fun-with-vinyl/ . She used spray paint for hers, but I wanted to use the acrylic paint that I've been using lately in the colors that are my thing right now (for whatever reason I'm really into aqua and red together- SO pretty! ) So I sanded a bit first, then base coated the knife block red. Once it was dry, I painted it the aqua color. The original color was a bit bright for me, so I lightened it up with an equal amount of white paint in the little bowl I used. I then sanded a bit around the edges and in the middle to show the contrasting red. To protect the paint, I used DecoArt Sealer, just brushed it on lightly. I finished it off with my Cricut and some red vinyl. I didn't care for the capital "F", so I opted for the lowercase for the monogram, can you do that? Well, for the moment, that's what I did, and I like it well enough. Now my knife block is back in my kitchen, getting all "matchy matchy" with my other aqua colored accents..... Okay, it's not EXACTLY like the breadbox, because of the red, but.... I like it. I love Allison's blog, and have gotten tons of inspiration from her many projects, so check it out! Thanks Allison!

Check out this cute idea for Valentines Day! (or party favors, your choice)

2011-02-13T08:11:00.000-08:00

Check out this idea for cute and inexpensive home-made Valentines! My friend Natalie started this blog : The Diapering Gourmet. She has a lot of great "from scratch" ideas from laundry detergent to homemade play-dough. Check her out and maybe even start "following" her, I think you'll get a lot out of her blog. She makes everything she shows so approachable- and I tend to be hesitant to try making a lot of household items from scratch- but thanks to her, I made my own laundry soap! Totally doable! Anyhow, her play-dough Valentines are so cute, and I think you could easily use the idea for party favors, stocking stuffers, etc. etc.. Here's the link: http://thediaperinggourmet.blogspot.com/2011/02/play-dough-valentines-html?showComment=1297612482985#c9223108094753188829

Love Notes Tin

2011-02-12T14:07:00.000-08:00

I found this idea from a Creative Keepsakes magazine, I think... the original idea used a tin that had held scrapbooking flowers and was reusing it. I found our tins at Ikea- a set of three (in the knives section) with a big magnet on the back of each. The set of 3 cost $4.99, and these are really sturdy too! You can find tins similar to this, possibly cheaper through Oriental Trading Company and other resources, but I ran out of time to order, so I was fortunate to find them at Ikea. I measured around the tin to see how long to make the strip of paper to go on there. From that point, I just cut strips of different papers for the tins to glue around them. I used my Cuttlebug and a scalloped Nestabilities die to cut the "notes" and used varying stamps to stamp on them. I tied them with a pretty red ribbon to add another element to it. We made these for a recent MOPS craft. Since we're so limited in time, it's a challenge to find crafts that the ladies will want to do, but also have enough time to do. These little notes can be given to a spouse/loved one, child- in their backpack, lunchbag, etc.. however you want to use them. You certainly don't need to reserve them for Valentine's Day.

Perpetual Calendar/Dates to Remember Calendar

2011-02-12T13:57:00.000-08:00

This is a craft we made for MOPS recently. I typed up as best I could each month with all of the days without taking up an entire sheet of paper. The measurements for these were 8 1/2 x 8 inches. For basic decoration, I cut strips of scrapbooking paper to fit and tied ribbon around the paper to add a bit more 3 dimensional feature to it. We used book rings to hold the calendar together. This is one of those calendars for birthdays and anniversaries that keeps them all in one place, where you don't have to re-write each year in a calendar. This would be very handy for me because I continually ask the same people what day their birthday is each year- I remember the month, but not the exact day. I always plan to write it down too, but don't, so I feel like a flake each year. You could decorate these however you want- even use different colored cardstock. We just did a basic version because of the size of the group and time allowed for the craft. I found the idea on a MOPS forum for Creative Activities. This is just how mine ended up looking...

Lost Socks hanger/board

2011-02-12T13:52:00.000-08:00

I borrowed this idea from a blog I follow: "Organize and Decorate" . This is obviously my take on it. I crackled/distressed the board (leftover cut from a scrap board I bought at Home Depot), and painted the front of my clothespins the same color. I used rub-ons for the initials of my children. I used my new power drill to drill holes for a ribbon hanger, and used my Cricut to cut letters out. I'm not sure if I think the size of the letters is too big or not... We'll leave it this way for right now. I'm going to hang it in my laundry room for all those socks that don't have a match at the time- there always seems to be several floating around.

Laundry Room hangers

2011-02-11T22:05:00.001-08:00

I decided to make this board of hangers for the things like girls tights and other items that needed to be hung up to air dry- mostly children's items... I had been draping these things over the supports to the wire shelf above my washer and dryer, and thought there needed to be a better (and more attractive..) way to go about it. I bought a piece of scrap wood from Home Depot for 51 cents- yup, not even a dollar. I cut it into 2 pieces - one longer (which is this project) and one a bit shorter ( for the next project for lost socks that I'm working on). I used my handy dandy miter saw- my husband is getting his money's worth out of his Christmas gift to me :)- love that man of mine! Anyhow... I crackled it with brown underneath and Winter blue on the top, then distressed slightly around the edges. I bought 4 hangers at $2.57 a pair at Walmart in ORB (Oil Rubbed Bronze). I had to buy slightly shorter screws though, because the wood was not as thick as the screws were long. I dabbed paint over the heads of the screws to conceal the silver finish that stuck out like a sore thumb. I used my Cricut to cut out letters to come up with the little saying on it. It amuses me, since it's for my "hang ups"- oh, if only it were that easy to take care of our hang ups! :). I'm going to hang it up on my laundry room wall across from the washer and dryer. So if you're on the lookout for cheap(er) wood in the home improvement store, look in their scrap bin where they're selling partial cuts of wood for cheap. You can always peruse construction sites and ask for their scraps, or ask the home improvement stores for any scraps they might be willing to just give away. I'm holding out for some scrap beadboard... for another project...

"Father" mini album

2011-02-11T17:01:00.000-08:00

This is a "companion" album to a mini album I posted last year of a "mother" mini album I made for a good friend. I knew as soon as she showed me the pictures of her husband with each of her 6 boys, that they should be scrapped as a companion album to the one I made her of herself with each of her boys. I stitched and distressed the pictures, along with inking. I looked up the father quotes online- I really love the last one about the grass. (Actually, I like all of them, since I picked them out from a bunch of father quotes...)

My miter saw- it's a beautiful thing :)

2011-02-09T15:18:00.000-08:00

So here's a shot of my miter saw in use- despite the fact that it takes up room, my husband DID buy it for me, and I must use it. I'm a happy girl! :)

Scripture Verse tag books

2011-02-07T20:19:00.000-08:00

I made a few of these Scripture verse tag books a couple of years ago now, and the verses mean just as much now to me as they did when I was reading through the book of Psalms during a really difficult time in my life. I decided to make some verse tag books for a couple of friends who are experiencing some struggles of their own, and I thought they might like something of this nature. The verses mean so much to me, speaking of God's character and faithfulness, especially when you're struggling, and clinging to who you know God to be. I hope that they find comfort and encouragement in the words of Scripture on these little tags. I think this idea can be used for so many things: quotes on friendships, moms, sisters, dads, etc. ... if you prefer something other than Bible verses. I'm posting a smattering of the pictures (there are a lot otherwise...).

True Beauty Layout

2011-02-02T09:13:00.001-08:00

This layout all originated from a fantastic picture that was taken of my sister and niece last summer/spring. I knew as soon as I saw it that it needed to be scrapped and framed. It was a struggle finding the right papers to go with the colors in the pictures, but I didn't want to turn it to black and white because it was so vibrant. I was fortunate enough to get to see my best buddy over the weekend and she helped me figure out the last bit of "what to put where". Gotta love that friend of mine :) I used a copious amount of Stickles glitter glue on the layout too.. I think it really added to the feminine look with the more masculine colors of the cardstock.

Valentine's wood projects

2011-01-31T21:13:00.000-08:00

I found these wood Valentine's projects while perusing my blog reader... the conversation block idea I found from Brown Paper Packages, and I can't remember where the stacked lengths idea was from... so if you come across it and it was your idea- for the record, I'm not claiming it as my own, but thanking you for a cute idea! :) In the Brown Paper Packages project, she used fence posts, but I had 2 x 4 blocks, so I just used those. I painted 2 different colors on the blocks, then sanded to show the bottom color. I did the same thing on the other project too. I cut out the letters out of vinyl with my Cricut- Alphalicious font. I'm thinking the "love, kisses, Valentine wishes" project might look more "complete" with some ribbon, but I need to find some first... so we'll see. The conversation hearts are fun because you can arrange them however you want. So thanks to the ladies in "blog-land" for the cute ideas! :)

Another wood project (different colors this time)

2011-01-31T11:02:00.001-08:00

This is a repeat of a Christmas project I made with blocks cut from 2x4 wood. I made one of these the colors of green with brown underneath in the crackling- but didn't take a picture, doggone it! I made this one for a friend from church who is going through a really painful time right now, and she liked the colors of cream and red together, so that's what I did with the crackling. I was smart enough this time to write down the sizes of the letters that I used for each word- and whether I used the shadow feature or not. Makes it a lot easier to repeat the process if I don't have to try and figure it out again...

One of my older projects

2011-01-30T13:51:00.000-08:00

I made this wood sign probably 10 years ago, perhaps longer... it's been on my sister's wall for a long time... This was from a time when I wrote on my own handmade signs. If you want to do this, my suggestion would be to perhaps draw a very faint line with a ruler so your writing stays level, and sketching your words in pencil first. Depending on what I had on hand, I used a black Sharpie pen or a black paint pen. My experience with the Sharpie was that when you try to brush sealer over it, it smears the ink. (Quite frustrating if you've gone to the painstaking work of the writing...) I also used clear glitter for a snow effect. You can either sprinkle it on wet paint, or on wet sealer to make it stick. I think I might try this quote using my Cricut machine and vinyl lettering, that could be really cute..

First project using my miter saw

2011-01-17T15:38:00.000-08:00

This is my first project using my miter saw that I asked for (and received) for Christmas. Woohoo!!!!! Once I got headphones so the sound wouldn't make me completely weenie out from using it, the task was a lot easier to stand. I cut 8, 7, 6, 5, and 4 inch pieces of wood from a 2 x 4, then set to sanding and painting. I considered crackling, but figured with the patterned paper (and asking my best buddy who also is crafty), decided to go with painting 2 colors on the wood and distressing to show the bottom layer of paint. After that, I just used Mod Podge to glue strips of paper on, and cut names out with my Cricut and vinyl- I borrowed my best friend's Alphalicious cartridge for the font, and added shadow on some. I (literally) wrapped up the project with some wired ribbon. Pretty simple, once I had the means to cut the wood. Speaking of wood, have any of you seen that Geico commercial with the woodchucks? "Hey you dang woodchucks! You quit chucking my wood!!!"... sorry, I really get a kick out of that. Oh, I found the idea for this project from http://www.howdoesshe.com/- fabulous site!!!

Christmas wood decor

2010-12-20T09:12:00.000-08:00

I've continued to play around with wood, paint, crackling medium, and Cricut vinyl letters, and came up with this Christmas decoration. I like it so much that I want to make one that isn't in seasonal colors because of what it says about God and how I relate to Him. To me, He is my source of hope, joy, peace, and so much more, and He is definitely my Saviour. I used leftover pieces of 2 x 4's cut from the wood photo holders posted recently (from the http://www.howdoesshe.com/ site). I used a narrower piece of wood cut from a long board purchased and cut at Home Depot. I was originally going to put "Believe" on the long piece of wood as a separate decoration for Christmas, but then decided to use it with the 3 smaller pieces of wood. The whole thing was an experiment- I was going to put holiday words on the smaller pieces, and wasn't sure what all I was going to do. I'd also run out of the green and red paint, so I couldn't use the eight inch piece cut from the 2 x 4's that I had left over to put "Saviour" on, so I tried the one I'd originally intended for "Believe".. I'm really happy with how this turned out, and I can arrange the wood pieces however I want. I don't think my infatuation with wood, paint, and crackling medium is over yet... :)

More "Joy" wood photo holders

2010-12-13T15:56:00.000-08:00

These are just a slightly bigger version of the "joy" block photo holders I posted recently. I made them the same way- paint, crackling medium, more paint, then I used a metal stem wire wrapped around the edge of needlenose pliers to make the spiral of sorts. I sanded slightly around the edges to distress it a little bit more. I used a finishing nail to make a hole the same diameter of the wire in the center of the wood, then pushed the wire in. Ta-da! Super easy secretary gifts for the ladies in the office at the boys' school. :)

Etched Glass Teacher Gifts

2010-12-13T15:31:00.000-08:00

I bought these large square votive holders at the Dollar Store, then used Cricut vinyl to cut out the letter C- (both of the ladies who are co-leading our Bible Study at church have names that start with C). I used Armour Etching Paste to etch the glass. It's a little spendy, but it goes a long way, and when you scrape it off, you just put it back in the jar. Running your object under running water deactivates it, so it doesn't damage your pipes (just in case you wonder about things like that... ) I'm filling these with a candle and a little blank tag book- (paper cut as tags, then hole punched and held together with a book ring- I added ribbon to the book ring to pretty it up just a bit..) I think it will be a nice little gift, in which the recipients can use the glass holder as they wish, and fill the book with Scripture verses or quotes that they like. Easy peasy, and super fast!

Christmas wood block photo holders

2010-11-28T22:10:00.000-08:00

I think I was inspired by http://www.howdoesshe.com/ for these with all their wood crafts, I can't remember anymore.. but I know at the very least that's what triggered my thinking... I happened upon these handy little blocks out of the generosity of my best buddy (also a very crafty buddy at that :) ) I decided to try and paint then crackle them with holiday colors, and add the word "joy" on them (since it's short and sweet, and these are small blocks). The crackling worked, and then I sanded a bit around the edges of them, to add even more detail to them. I used Weathered Wood Crackling Medium by Americana- I mentioned in my previous post with my wood signs that I have figured out how to make it work for me for the most part without it dragging and ruining the whole look.. I found it at Michaels for under three dollars, and it goes pretty far. Anyhow, I used my Cricut to cut out vinyl letters and stuck them on there- but you could paint them on there or use stickers, whatever you want. The next point of the experiment was to see if I could manage to get a wire photo holder in the wood without mangling everything. I used metal stem wire- found in the floral arrangement dept. in JoAnn's- it was a package of about 20, and I cut them in half. I wrapped one of the ends around the end of a pair of needle nose pliers to make the spiral holder, then added another loop in the middle by wrapping it around my finger. I used a finishing nail the same width as the stem wire to make a hole. I dabbed the ends of the stem wire in E-6000 glue before pushing them into the hole, and to my happiness, it fit tightly and securely. Woohoo! These were totally inexpensive- you could use scraps of wood for anything. I highly recommend using crackling medium to instantly make something a little fancier. I'm excited that this actually worked out- those ideas in my head don't often have success :) ..

Wood signs, Crackling, and Vinyl

2010-11-26T13:49:00.000-08:00

I got to playing with 2 x 4's after getting them cut, and then fiddled around with paint and crackling medium. In a previous post regarding my breadbox, I talked about my struggles with crackling medium. I think I've found a kind that I like- the Weathered Wood crackling medium. You allow it to dry completely before you put your top coat of paint on. I have discovered that the biggest trick to it not dragging when you brush the paint on, is to thin down your top color of paint with water so that you can get it on without dragging the brush- for once you don't want super thick coverage of paint. I also figured out that the other trick for me was to use a bigger brush, so the combination of the thinner paint with being able to brush it on fast, before it interacts with the crackling medium (and then drags.. and frustrates you quite a bit) and the bigger brush so that you are done faster, it seemed to work really, really well.. Yes, this makes me very happy, because it's very aggravating to work so hard on something, having it look like it's got great potential, and then have the last details snag up on you... So I painted and crackled the wood, then distressed it a bit more around the edges with sandpaper- which also reveals the base coat.. I'm really enjoying how this looks.. :) (yes, my inner craft geek comes out big time here...). All that was left was cutting out vinyl with my Cricut. The "Keep CALM and CARRY on" quote I found on a talented lady's blog (which I can't remember or find at the moment)- only she also added a crown on there, which totally adds more to the look, but alas, I have no crown- only the ones in my mouth, and those won't do me any good here.. Add a metal hanger on the back and some ribbon to finish it off.... The "Est." idea for the last name I also found in several places in blog land. I'm glad I finally got around to making it. Oh, and for the record- the Gratitude sign, I didn't crackle, I just distressed, but I'm lumping it in with all my signs for the day...

Wood signs/wall hanging

2010-11-14T16:55:00.000-08:00

This is a project I was asked to help with by a friend of mine. The wood pieces are 12" long- I had them cut from a larger piece purchased at Home Depot, and they cut it down for me. I used eye screws to link the pieces together. I hammered a nail into the wood to make a hole to screw the eye screws in. The only thing that is missing is that I recommended my friend to use some ribbon at the top to act as a hanger- and add a bit of pretty to offset the dark colors. You basically nail a regular picture hanger in the back of the wood to hang it by, and then glue ribbon to the back and attach it to the wall with a small pin so it looks like it's hanging by the ribbon but it's not. She chose the words "smile, relax, home" because they had significant meaning to her. The colors match the colors of her bedroom- I don't think I'd normally use a dark color to have writing on it because it's hard to see. I painted the wood and then used Cricut vinyl letters to trace around, then peeled them off and filled it in with black paint. I used a piece of sand paper to distress it, then sealed with a clear top coat. So, she's happy with the colors- personally I might have used black vinyl letters, but it's not for me, and I'm always critical of things I've made. I took pictures of the steps, probably not necessary, but I personally like seeing pictures, so maybe somebody else might too.

Laundry sign

2010-11-14T16:47:00.000-08:00

Have I mentioned that I love what you can do with a piece of wood? What I did: took a piece of wood and painted a base coat (bottom), then crackling medium, then a white top coat. I then used my Cricut to cut out vinyl words to go on the sign- this idea I've gotten from several blogs, so I can't specifically say which one, because I've seen it done in a variety of ways. How could you make it easier? Forget the crackling step, and just paint your wood the color you want. You could sand it a little to distress it, but that's not even necessary unless you really want to. I think I might donate this to our MOPS auction that we have in the spring.

Altered Paint Can

2010-11-09T21:17:00.000-08:00

I found this can of sorts in Craft Warehouse- there are varieties that are completely metal (more traditional paint can, versus the shape, but not the function of this particular kind). I've had this sitting in my craft stash for a couple of years now, and I've been seeing versions of them all over the internet, I just hadn't had the motivation to do it, until not. Instead of covering the outside with paper, I placed it on the inside instead, and didn't need adhesive. You can switch it out to whatever you want inside. I measured around the outside with my measuring tape to see how long I'd need the paper, and also measured how high the can was too. I took about a 1/2 inch off of the height measurement so I wouldn't have to try and jam it under the lip of the can. I needed 2 pieces of paper to fit the inside, since my 12 inch paper was not long enough, so I just stuck a shorter piece onto the longer one and rolled the entire piece up, then popped it inside the can. As it unrolls you can push it along the sides to fit better. If you'd like you can add more adhesive at the ends to keep it still, but I don't mind how it looks. I used a corner rounder to make a scallop at the top, then inked it. I like how it turned out, it makes it a little prettier to me. I used my Cricut to cut out an initial out of vinyl, then stuck it on the outside, and added a few simple pretties to it, along with some flowers and buttons. I tied ribbon scraps to the handle to color it up just a little more. At that point, I just filled it with scrapping goodies for a friend. We made a simpler version of this for our MOPS table centerpieces this year. I cut out paper in the same fashion, then added a little cut out with this year's theme on it. We tied coordinating ribbon to the handles, then made flower pens and put them in the inside of the can for the ladies to take notes with during the meetings. We'll be able to reuse the containers with other papers if we want to, since we didn't stick anything on the outside (unlike this present for a friend in which I used the vinyl and the flowers/buttons.). Sooo, the moral of this story is: don't be daunted, these can be fun and simple little goodie containers, and easy enough to make. OOh, and I now apologize for the ugly dirty window tracks behind the can in the pictures, ICK! Note to self: clean those window sills and tracks!

Another wood block photo holder

2010-10-17T21:24:00.000-07:00

I played around with another set of these today, for a second example for the MOPS craft coming up a week from Thursday. I set the blocks horizontally instead of vertically, but they can be set however you want. I will mention the site, again, that I found this idea from, because I know that if this is something that appeals to you, you'll love the 2x4's section of craft ideas on http://www.howdoesshe.com/ . I think I like this set better than the first one I did :)

Fall Blessings/Give Thanks Wood block decor

2010-09-12T14:28:00.000-07:00

I decided to try this out in the same manner I did the wood blocks for the photo holder craft, it was all looking good ( to me) until I inked.. now I'm not so thrilled with it, even though it does add a bit more to it. Don't you just hate it when you are making something and you're liking the way it looks, and add just ONE more detail, and it's a commitment detail that you can't really undo, and then you don't like it much after that point. Bah!!! Anyway, I used extra scraps of wood left over from the wood photo holder project. I can use it for early Fall and then around Thanksgiving too...

Welcome/schedule sign- frame/glass/vinyl, fabric

2010-09-08T10:45:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally finished it- the new sign we'll be using for our MOPS group (if you want to know more, check out http://www.mops.org/ ). I used a 24" x 30" frame. I used spray glue to attach fabric to the back of the frame, ribbon with Terrifically Tacky Tape, and used my Cricut to cut out the vinyl for it. I tell ya, trying to make sure everything was even and not all wonky was a challenge ( I did not use the Transfer Paper they recommend using with vinyl, I'm cheap... ) It was intimidating working on such a big scale, and I've only used vinyl on a very small glass frame. I want to do a lot more now that I've tried it. I think making just a welcome sign or a sign with our last name and "est. 1994" (when we were married) would be cool too, especially with a fabric background. Lots of fun! If I had the room, something of this size could be cool for a daily schedule... lots of possibilities!

"My Blessings" wood photo holder

2010-09-05T12:52:00.000-07:00

I found this idea on http://www.howdoesshe.com/ - a really cool blog, there's lots of fun wood projects on there. I want to try more. We'll be doing this for October's craft in the MOPS group I'm involved in. If you're interested in MOPS, you can check it out at http://www.mops.org/ - MOPS is a great opportunity for support and connection with other moms. This picture shows what I did for the example for the group, and therefore can be finished in the given time we have for crafts for that meeting. I plan on doing another one (or more :) for gifts), and I think I'll maybe paint the blocks and sand and ink around the edges, but I didn't want to add too many extra steps for the meeting. It felt good to craft again, I've been busy with summer and kids and such, along with working on another mini album for a friend, so it felt good to whip this out. It comes together really fast!

Recipe box redo

2010-08-04T13:11:00.000-07:00

As you can probably see by the pictures of my recipe boxes (the brown, torn, sun faded ones), they're kind of hurting in the "appeal" department. I've had them forever, and they've served me well. The other day I was looking at them though, and thinking, gosh those things look ratty! I had several more in my closet being used for pictures (which I think is their original "purpose"- but since my recipe cards are bigger than the average recipe box, I went for the picture boxes), and since these are on their last legs, I took some of the ones in better shape and lightly sanded them (since the paper was glossy), and then took my trusty acrylic paint and went at them. I used crackling medium with one, and went for a "plainer" look on the second, thinking a) if the crackling doesn't go as I liked, I didn't do the work on 2 boxes for naught, and b) it's a nice 'contrast' to the crackling to have the eyes rest on. I played around with the lids, and I think I like using the crackled lid on the solid colored box... The beauty of it is that I can switch them around if it starts bugging me. I used my Cricut to cut out some red vinyl numbers for the boxes, just for whimsy. Anyhow, I didn't spend a thing- I already had the supplies that I needed right here at home, and now my kitchen is starting to look a little more coordinated with the colors. I don't know why I'm on that color combo kick right now of that aqua-ish with red... I think scrapbooking paper has inspired me. I suppose the bonus of painted things like that is that if I want to change things up, I'm not committed to those colors, I can just repaint or cover with paper....anyway, I hope you might have gotten an idea or two about changing something up without having to go out and spend money to do so...

Dollar Store Frames Revamp

2010-06-24T23:05:00.000-07:00

I found the idea for this from I think it was Dollar Store Crafts- a site/blog, something like that. She spray painted the frames (they started out this oogly brown...) and then added neato things to be framed. I did basically the same thing, except I used my monogram acrylic stamps and stamped two Fs and an H. I then used one of my Cricut cartridges to cut out "home" "family" and "faith"- a few handy little bonuses on the cartridge. I put the vinyl on the OUTSIDE of the glass, and the stamped images on the inside. I really like how it looks... they're now on my mantle. What took the longest was having to spray a couple of coats (separately) of the spray paint on the frames. I think I need to invest in a can of spray primer. Anyhow, here's to having vision to overlook the initial "ugh" of something, and to spray paint! And to the ladies who inspired me to find these frames in the first place from the Dollar Store. :)

Is it bigger than a breadbox? No, it IS a breadbox!!

2010-06-24T22:50:00.000-07:00

I found this breadbox in a thrift store near our house, and it was 2.99, and a lime-ish green. Not particularly shabby, but I knew it had potential. I played around with some paint- a Caribbean blue color, with some crackling and an undercoat of brown paint. I decided it was a bit too bright for me, not to mention the crackling medium was dragging in places and didn't look good. I think the problem was that the paint was too thick. So, I mixed a bottle of the blue with a bottle of white and it was a bit lighter, and then added some water to thin it down enough so I could get full coverage with one stroke of the brush across and not have the brush drag and mess up the crackling medium. On this project, I tried a different brand- Americana weathered wood crackling medium, in which you allow it to dry. I had previously used DecoArt brand crackling medium which requires you to NOT allow it to fully dry. I think I'm just getting aggravated with crackling at this point (at least on bigger projects), but I have figured out that the thickness of the paint used on the top coat can make a big diference in the success of the attempt. I haven't yet tried the spray crackling medium from Valspar- I so want to try it, but it's 6.50 a can and you need a base coat and top coat color, meaning, a little chunk of change for something you've never tried before and not sure what success you'll have with or like. The advantage of the spray would be that you don't have a brush dragging through the medium and smearing it..... Okay, I'm seriously rambling here. So after repainting/crackling the whole thing, I'm happy enough with it to put in my kitchen, but NOT for bread- I'm going to use it for my dish towels. I'm glad I changed out the knob too, those suckers are expensive though! I have a little set of wood drawers that I need to switch 3 knobs out by the time I'm done and I don't want to spend that money on them, and I need smaller knobs.. but I'm digressing again... Anyhow, I think my distressed little breadbox is a happy distressed at this point...

More Frosting Spray projects- Toothbrush holders and Q-tip jar

2010-06-19T17:26:00.000-07:00

So just to clarify on the Frosting spray- it's the Valspar variety I used on my Mason jars, not the Betty Crocker kind for cupcakes and cookies and such . ( Just clarifying because of the mystified expression on my 8 year old's face when I said the words "frosting spray" and "glass".) Anyhow, I bought these glass containers at the Dollar Store in their craft/candle section, and I used my Cricut to cut out letters for the toothbrush holders and a pretty little design for the Q-tip holder, from vinyl. It is quite handy (but completely unnecessary), if you revisit my post on the Mason jar teacher gifts, you'll see why, and the link to the original poster of this idea- who didn't use a Cricut, or vinyl. I needed two holders for toothbrushes since we now have 2 bathrooms. I still have more plans for the Frosting spray....

Dry Erase To Do Board (In the same fashion as the Menu board)

2010-06-19T11:07:00.000-07:00

As I was making my Menu board, I thought about how handy it would be to have a "to-do" board, to jot down my notes for what I needed to do that day. I'm always writing notes down for what I need to do on any given day, and this is so much easier (at least for around the house). So I just made a little bit smaller of a "to-do" board in the same way I made the Menu board- with a picture frame and vinyl cut outs. I really like how it's practical and looks nice on the wall with the Menu board at the same time. Are you feeling a little urge yet to make something like this? :) They're very easy... anyhow, I suppose it depends mostly on what appeals to you, but I'm enjoying (and using) my latest creations.

Loving those Mason Jars!

2010-06-13T21:24:00.000-07:00

I found these the other day whilst ( I like that word- a little more interesting than "while" ) perusing craft blogs and some of their links to other blogs... I've been finding the neatest ideas that way! I was able to track down the original post and blog for this craft- since I don't always know where I found the pictures I save for future crafts, this is very cool. I don't want to ever take credit (or be given it for that matter) for somebody else's great idea, that is NOT cool. Okay, so I found this idea here: http://www.recapturedcharm.com/2010/05/mason-jar-tea-lights.html on a blog called Recaptured Charm. I'm going to have to spend more time perusing her blog. I showed my best friend and we both made these using apples, so we could give them as teacher gifts. We used vinyl die-cuts made with the Cricut die cutting machine, but as you will see if you check out this talented lady's tutorial at Recaptured Charm, she did not have a Cricut and still found a way around that little (in)convenience- she made her own- yep, she's just that good! While I'm at it, I'm going to give the link to my best buddy's blog too, so you can check out her cool stuff, and her take on these little gems : http://dlemmascraftsbykatherine.blogspot.com/

I used the wide mouth Mason pint jars, my buddy used the half pint wide mouth jars- which I happen to think are adorable.. gush.... :) After making these, I have become a big fan of the Frosting spray- I used Valspar brand, and found it at Lowe's home improvement store for $4.98, you can find it at Michael's too, but it was several dollars more. Anyway, check out the link, and you can see how she did it. Easy peasy. I'm thinking this technique would be fabulous with Dollar Store glass plates on the underside- think of all the possibilities. The next thing I try with this will surely get posted here :) Thanks for checking it out, I hope you got some fun ideas to try!

Menu Board (dry eraseable)

2010-06-06T13:32:00.000-07:00

I can't remember which blog I got the idea from :( , but the original poster had printed out the days of the week in a typewriter key font and it was in a skinnier frame. They may have even painted the frame... but I digress. I went out and bought a black 12x12 inch frame, and put the rest together with scrapbooking paper and Cricut-cut letters and flourishes. I used paper for the "menu" and flourishes next to it, and vinyl for the days of the week. It's very basic. I even cheated a little and because I wanted ribbon hanging it, I used the hanger at the back of the frame and hung it that way, and used glue dots to stick the ribbon on the back, making it look like it's hung by the ribbon, when it's not. Since I didn't stick anything to the frame on itself, I can change the paper out and redo it in different colors/themes. I want to play around with more frames for a to-do list or something like that. I'm seeing a lot of frames being used in 'blog-land' and it's making me itch to play around with some. All I need now is a dry erase pen, and I can write the meals I plan out for each day (eliminating paper notes all around). I realize some people already just use a dry erase board on their refrigerator or wall, but I like this version too... and I'm glad I got to "play", after the move recently, I needed some craft therapy!

Shabby- Chic Serving Plates

2010-05-23T20:28:00.000-07:00

I made these several years ago now, I got the idea from a lady at church who is very creative, and I love the idea of "repurposing" things. I picked out the plates and bases from Goodwill- I used a short vase with a wide base for one of them, and a metal candlestick for the base of another. I chose pretty plates to coordinate in a way that pleased my eye. I then used E600 Glue which works well on ceramic/glass objects, to glue the base to the bottom of the plate. Once you use these, you'll want to hand wash carefully, not immersing it in water. It's a great way to make your own unique serving plate.

Teacher Gifts

2010-05-23T20:21:00.000-07:00

I found the idea for this from a blog somewhere, a couple of years ago, probably, so I can't give credit where it's due- so for the record, I'm not taking credit for thinking of this myself.. The original that I saw had some kind of clip art or stamps that were cute and it was a little more dressed up- but, I was crunched for time and lucky that I even got these done. You get any kind of small container and fill with either Smarties candies or Dum Dum suckers. For the Smarties jar, I made a little sign that says "Thanks to you I'm a Smartie! " and for the Dum Dums jar, the sign said "Thanks to you, I'm no Dum Dum! ". My kids got a kick out of the play on the words for the candies (as did I :) ).

Dollar Frame Dress Up

2010-05-17T13:54:00.000-07:00

I got these frames when my daughter was a baby, and I wanted to celebrate the "big brother" relationships of my older boys with their baby sister. I found these frames in the wood section of Michael's, for a dollar each. I painted the frame first, then found a color that I liked to coordinate with the base color. I cut strips of clear contact paper to mask it so I could make stripes. I used a little make-up sponge to sponge paint the coordinating color on. When it dried, I took off the contact paper and then touched up the stripes to look clean where there were a few smudges. I used rub-ons for the lettering, then used a clear coat sealer. I think for a dollar each, they are nice, and I like the group of them together. Ooh, these could be cute with polka dots instead of stripes, doncha think? There's so many things you could do with little ol' frames like this..

Framed "Sisters" Layout

2010-05-09T18:35:00.000-07:00

I finally finished this layout of two sweet sisters meeting for the first time. I love pictures, but I especially love scrapping those sweet moments captured by the camera. The pictures in this layout are of the meeting of a new sister. I love the wonder on big sister's face. These little girls belong to a friend of mine from church. I knew as soon as I saw these pictures that they should be framed, and so this became my gift instead of new baby clothes, toys, or diapers. Maybe I'm just a real sap when it comes to pictures and people... but... isn't that what makes a scrapper? (at least sometimes.. :) ? ) Ooh, and I played with the ribbon and ruffling this time, which I haven't tried before, and I think I'm hooked already..

Cards for the Women's Retreat: Pictures

2010-04-15T11:06:00.000-07:00

So here are the cards we came up with for the kits for the Women's Retreat. They're not embellished as much as I'd like, but we were faced with a tight budget and not a lot of time, also not wanting to overwhelm people who may not have made cards before... I hope people will want to them, and hopefully it's mostly self-explanatory so that I don't make something difficult that shouldn't be.

Some Fabulous blogs for craft ideas that I stumbled across last night!

2010-04-15T10:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm a self-professed craft nerd, and I'm relatively okay with that- so much so that I got really excited last night when I found some new craft blogs with some awesome ideas that are inexpensive and WAY CUTE!!! I plan on trying to see how I can implement some of them into MOPS crafts for next year, and definitely plan on making some for gifts- I suppose I should do some for myself too, but I always end up making things for gifts instead- since I love to be 'gifty'. Anyhow, check out these fabulous ladies' blogs: it all started at http://ikkiscuttlebugcupboard.blogspot.com/ when I was checking out some of her links at the bottom of the post for Transformational Thursday- where people can link up to their own blogs and such where they've taken something that perhaps might have been trash or Goodwilled, and turn it into something better. I love this idea because I am always happier making something cute out of somthing that would have been landfill somewhere. I think we throw away way too much when it's perfectly useful- often something just needs some imagination and a coat of paint and embellishment. Thanks Ikki, for a great blog! So my blogging travels took me to www.HowDoesShe.com , there's just too much to mention, all I can say (trying to restrain my gushing) is that it's great! That blog featured another fabulous lady's blog - who also loves to make great things out of the inexpensive and also repurpose things to make them great- and this is : http://infarrantlycreative.blogspot.com/ Um yeah, my happy craft nerd dance is seriously grooving right now, which is probably quite the spectacle, but I love new craft ideas!! :) Anyhow, I just thought I'd share since I love new ideas and if you're checking out this blog, chances are it's out of some kind of crafty curiosity too. I hope you check out these fantastic blogs and get a chance to create some of their fun crafts for gifts or even yourself. I'll be sure to post when I get a chance to try some.

Making more card kits - this time for the Women's Retreat

2010-04-10T00:06:00.000-07:00

So for someone who does not call themself a card maker (AT ALL), I've somehow gotten involved in 2 different occasions of making card kits for groups of women.... hmmm.... In March I was asked my mother in law to do a card craft for her church's ladies night out, and this month I'm involved in putting together 240, yes, that number is right - 200 more kits than the ones for last month's card night. March's was 20 cards each for 2 designs. This month is 60 cards each of 4 designs. I was asked to help another lady at church with this craft project for the ladies at our church's Women's Retreat next weekend (who, this is funny, :) - doesn't make cards EITHER!!)- apparently being the Creative Activities/Craft Coordinator at our MOPS group gets you a reputation for being creative... Let me be honest, I get a lot of ideas from other people- online, books, magazines, blogs- VERY rarely my own- and certainly not cards... So I find it somewhat funny that for someone who doesn't make cards (I scrapbook and do other assorted crafts), I've started to have to dabble in card making. My motive (or lack of motive in this adventure) is that I'm a perfectionist and I don't like doing things that require a lengthy learning curve because there's no guarantee that I'm going to GET good at something, and I don't have an abundance of time to just flail at something... bad attitude I know! I can take an idea and run with it, but I don't tend to run too far. Anyhow, it amuses me in an odd way- the lady who is working on the cards with me has a good laugh about it too- 2 ladies together trying to put together nice cards for 60 women when we don't have a whole lot of experience doing it. Fortunately I have a lot of pictures printed out and sketches from online to at least use ideas from. Today I showed my friend Rebecca the 4 cards we'd come up with- she's been in Stampin Up! so she's done card parties and such and had experience with what people tend to want to do when they make cards and stamping and such. I also value her opinion a lot on whether something looks hokey or actually nice and something someone else might want to do. She liked all the cards we had, and gave some creative suggestions to help with some finishing details that I wanted advice on. She's also honest, which when you want the truth about something, she's not going to feed you a bunch of hooey, she'll tell it like she sees it, without trying to be too rude about it. So anyhow, we're just about done putting the pieces of the kits together, and now I just need to look for some ribbon for one of them in a color that works better than white, and get the adhesives... lots of work- I'm very glad I had a partner in it! I was going to post some pictures, but since I'm tweaking a couple of the cards a bit, with the ribbon, I'll just wait.. anyhow, I had to share my bemusement (is that a word? ) with doing all these card kits when I don't make cards...I hope it doesn't come across as obnoxious, I really am more bewildered by it...

MOPS auction items

2010-03-15T22:51:00.000-07:00

Well, after much preparation, we finally had our MOPS auction tonight- it is our only fundraiser, which we rely on to offset the costs of running our MOPS group. God blessed us again this year with a great result- it's exciting because it opens up more possibilities for how we can serve not only our MOPS ladies, but those in our community too. I made a set of cards, the 'live, love,laugh" votive holders, a bunch of the magnetic memo boards (the leaders had set the minimum bid for $5- which I thought was too much to start with but I didn't quibble about it,) and to my surprise, they not only sold but were bid on higher than that... go figure! They were very basic... I also made a bunch of gift tags with my scraps that I hate to part with, a couple of altered notebooks, a "mother" themed mini album, and a crackled paint picture frame. I was also surprised at how much people bid on the gift tags.. again, go figure. I also made an 8 1/2 x 11 inch layout to be framed, but I ended up in my rushing to leave for the auction leaving IT on my kitchen counter... ugh! Anyhow, it's always gratifying when something you make sells. It would just be nice if I could actually make a profit from crafts in general. I think I just have to stick with making them for gifts, it's more fun that way... :)

The latest card...

2010-03-10T23:17:00.000-08:00

I saw the original version of this card in a stamp shop in Poulsbo, WA while spending a weekend with my best buddy. I needed a card ( the other one of two) for a card craft I am heading up for my mother in law's ladies evening out at her church in Tillamook, OR on Friday. Anhow, we each bought the stamp that was used. The original had a script stamp for the background of the paper that the flower was stamped on. I didn't want to buy another stamp just for script, so we came up with the idea of using the Cuttlebug Script embossing folder for the paper covering the card base instead. In an ideal world, I'd probably be inclined to ink around the edges of the all the pieces, but since this is for a group of up to 20 women, who mostly haven't any experience with cards (haha.. like I have much either!!! :) ) and inking and techniques used often in scrapbooking and cardmaking, I was trying to keep things as simple as possible. I will be stamping all the images ahead of time, and making kits for the cards, and my best buddy helped cut out the paper - the mat was cut with a die from Quickutz, most excellent layering I would say!! :) I used pop up foam dots to pop the white paper up from the rest, I like how it adds another element to the card. I used organza ribbon to complement the colors of the card with the color of the flower- also added another element to the card which I liked The original had this tiny little bow which was so perfect, but I don't want to try and get a bunch of women (pardon the pun) all up in knots over trying to make bows for the cards. A simple double tie worked great for me. I think I will be using the Script embossing folder a lot, I really like how it looks.

Card Day for MOPS service project

2010-03-02T21:28:00.000-08:00

This last Saturday, ladies from our MOPS group got together to make cards to go in kits for families of deployed military. These kits have cards for various occasions during the year- birthday, Mothers/Fathers Day, 4th of July, Holiday, First Day of School, and blank (just for fun), along with postcards for the recipient to send back to their child/family, and stamps. Our group's card efforts will be going to Fort Lewis. Despite not being much of a card-maker, I made some efforts to create some cards too. Here are some of the results- I ended up making a set of the green cards for our MOPS auction- from a suggestion of one of our fellow MOPS members and card maker that day. I used a couple of card sketches to jumpstart me- I still struggled, but I'm satisfied enough with the results. My category was "just for fun".

Beaded Glass Taper Holders

2010-02-10T14:05:00.000-08:00

These taper holders ended up being pretty simple to put together. I used a piece of stem wire- 18 gauge (pack of 20 at Jo-Ann's was about $2), wrapped it around the taper holder, and used needle nose pliers to curl the ends up a bit. I then used thin wire to add the beads to the stem wire. These particular flower beads I found at Jo-Ann's also for about $4 for a pack that had 192 in it- this included those pretty green leaves too. They had several colors. I used a seed bead threaded onto a loop of wire to hold the flower bead on to the wire (also made a pretty center for the flower too. :) This will be our MOPS craft tomorrow, hopefully the ladies will like it. I hope you found some ideas to play with for yourself.

Votive holders with Cricut- cut vinyl words

2010-02-01T18:11:00.000-08:00

These little votive holders were so much fun to decorate and so fast! A friend of mine who borrowed my Cricut to see if she'd like it well enough to get one for herself- (she did :) ) came over this morning to show me how to cut vinyl with it and I am hooked. We used the Home Decor/Design cartridge and cut out the "live love laugh" at 2 inches, and the little flourishy/vine feature too (in white)- I think that may have been at 1 1/4 inches. Then all I had to do was stick them to the glass votive holders. The votive holders were bought from Ikea- 4 to a package for under 2 dollars. I can't wait to play some more with it! These holders will go to our MOPS auction in March- nice to have something cute and inexpensive already done for that.

"friends" layout

2010-01-27T16:20:00.000-08:00

Here is my latest layout which was 'lifted' from another layout that I really thought was neat, so I did my best to replicate it. I used a transparency over the pictures, stitched and inked over the pictures, and inked around other elements of the layout. I would have used my distresser but I hadn't brought it with me when I started this at my in-laws, and I figured it looked alright with just the inking instead. I used some acrylic letters that I'd had for a while, and added a few stitches around them to add interest too. The papers were from a paper pack from Michael's with a distressed/shabby chic theme. Lots of fun, and I'm giving this to my best buddy for a gift. Thanks for stopping by!

"good sport" layout

2010-01-24T14:44:00.000-08:00

This was a layout I did using a sketch- which took a lot of thinking work out of it. I like the clean look of it. I distressed the striped paper, picture mat, and the journaling strips. I just used some embroidery floss to add a bit more interest to the title and the journaling strips. I used the bubbles embossing folder from the Cuttlebug to add more texture to the letters. My original intention for the title was to use chipboard letters, but I didn't have enough, so I traced around the chipboard letters onto cardstock, then cut them out and embossed them. It was one of those pleasant surprises with how much I liked the letters in the end, despite having to compromise.

"Family" wooden decoration- Dollar Tree find

2010-01-18T23:22:00.000-08:00

I found this 'Family' plaque at Dollar Tree- unpainted, and I used good old acrylic paint- the kind you get in a bottle for under a dollar. I painted it a sage green then used crackling medium and a cream colored paint over that. I think the brand for the crackling medium was DecoArt- it's inexpensive, and I found it with the sealers and such in the paints area of the craft store. I have to say that before I tried crackling medium, I was a bit unsure of how to use it. So, after much procrastination, I took a deep breath, read the directions on the bottle, and found out it's pretty basic. You get a couple of contrasting colors of paint- the darker one usually looks best underneath, the lighter one crackles and shows streaks of the darker. Paint your project with the darker color then let dry completely. Brush your crackling medium on. The trick is to not let it dry completely, so you have to keep checking on it, until it feels tacky. You then carefully brush your lighter coat of paint in the same direction as the brush strokes you used for the crackling medium. It begins to crackle with a couple of minutes. After it is completely dry, you can add a clear coat of sealer if you'd like- I don't generally, but it depends on how much touching it's going to get. Then I just used ribbon and buttons to decorate it. I'm giving it to my best buddy, and since I bought 2 of them, I need to work on one for myself too. Maybe this will give you a new outlook towards Dollar Tree craft items. I'm glad I gave it a chance.

Envelope Mini Album

2010-01-16T10:59:00.000-08:00

This is a mini album made out of mainly envelopes- and with a template you can choose the paper that you want them to be by using thick double sided printed cardstock. My best buddy showed me how to make it, and I think I'll definitely make it again. It packs a lot of pictures in there for your mini album effort. It took me a long time to warm up to the idea of an album made out of envelopes, but I've determined after this that I like it- at least this style. You can also slip extra photos in the envelopes- big bonus there! This is just a hodge podge of pictures from over the year that I will be giving to my mom who lives in England. I distressed around the mats of all the pictures (except the ones I ran out of cardstock for and then distressed the edges of the pictures and inked them). I used a lot of random rub-ons, there's no rhyme or reason- which for me can be difficult because I like order and continuity in general when I make something. But since this is such a casual album, it didn't bother me too much to do pretty much whatever on this- it was rather freeing I have to admit. :) I wanted to get it done and not overthink it- which I'm incredibly guilty of doing. My best buddy used her Zutter binding tool to make the binding, but it could be easily done with book rings- in fact when my buddy showed me how, she had an example in which she used book rings instead of the Zutter binding, and it was equally cute. So if I make another one (which I will) I will be using book rings instead. I dont' have room to show all the pictures of the album, so I picked a few to post.

More Cards using the Cuttlebug

2010-01-15T17:55:00.000-08:00

So I tried my hand again at cards, using the Cuttlebug to emboss. I cannot heap enough oohs and aahs on how much I like the way embossing looks and how easy the Cuttlebug makes it. I used acrylic stamps from the Dollar Section of Craft Warehouse, and just alternated the colors back and forth. I added ribbon where the embossing ended and the stamping. I used my corner rounder punch to make scallops, which I like the look of on a card. Very basic cards, but I'm pleased enough with them that I'll group some together for a small gift. Again, I was inspired by Maria's cards- (the Maria I referred to in my last post about my card making efforts). Thanks again Maria! :)

Trying my hand at cards

2009-12-28T13:09:00.000-08:00

So I've been toying with the idea of trying to make some cards, and when I decorated the tin that I did recently, I thought cards would go nicely inside as a gift. These didn't end up going in that tin, but I made them for my sister, who really liked them- but I say she's my sister so she has to. :) I used my Cuttlebug that my best buddy gave me so generously, and used the Swiss Dot, Paisley, and a flower/vine (don't know the official name of it) embossing folders on store bought plain cards. I was inspired to do this by Maria from her blog Maria's Craft Room. She has so many cards that she used her Cuttlebug, and I thought it looks so nice without having to be a ton of work. I used an acrylic monogram stamp that my best buddy (again :)) gave me a set of, and stamped on the embossed card and then on some plain white cardstock. I then cut around the image on the cardstock and used foam pop up dots to pop it up over the image on the card. I attached the ribbon in the middle of the stamped image on the card before I attached the second one over it by wrapping ribbon around the card then gluing the ends in the middle of the image to hide it. I just tied a little extra bit of ribbon on the side to add a bit more visual interest, and added self stick half pearls in the middle of the stamped letter to make it a little prettier too. Very basic looking, but nice enough I think. Thanks Maria for the inspiration!

Altered Tin

2009-12-20T22:54:00.000-08:00

This is a great way to re-use something that might be thrown away otherwise (not in my house though... if it's feasible). I used a tin that originally held a holiday cookie mix, and I'm glad I held on to it. It's pretty sad when I'm looking at a tin in the store that holds goodies and I'm thinking "that's a nice looking tin- I could do a lot with that!", and I haven't even bought it yet. I used Terrifically Tacky Tape by Provocraft- it's just beyond awesome for holding power to adhere my paper to the tin. I cut flowers out of the paper and inked, then stitched them, and used buttons in the centers. For the die cut, I used a Sizzix Top Notch die with my Cuttlebug machine, and then used the Swiss Dots Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug product) over it. I love that polka dotted look so much (or as my 3 year old daughter calls them "pokey doks".... I used an acrylic monogram stamp for the initial on the top. I plan on filling the tin with some hand made cards (definitely SIMPLE hand made cards, since I'm not a card maker) for the recipient. Maybe you'll be inspired to find a tin and reuse it, or buy one at the craft store and fill it with some goodies of your own, perhaps handmade :)

Mini Album- masculine themed, with distressing and black and white pics...

2009-12-18T12:38:00.001-08:00

This album is a gift for one of my good friends. I was inspired by some pictures she posted of herself with her boys- six of them in all! She's a great mom, and I thought it would be neat to celebrate that in an album, as she doesn't really get much time to scrap and is overwhelmed by it all. I started out with the pictures in color, but there were so many competing colors, that I thought it would get really distracting. So, for the very first time, I changed them to black and white, and worked with them in black and white, and was so much happier with how they worked with the paper colors and print. I also distressed and inked around the edges of the pictures- a first for me there also, and I'm really pleased with how it looked- especially with the black and white pictures. I hand stitched around the pictures and various aspects of the album- again, another first for me. I've been working on it since the latter part of September- it was supposed to be a birthday gift (in October), and yes, I'm aware that it's the middle of December... and very late.... Fortunately my friend is very understanding- I showed her what I had started when I saw her on her birthday, so she knew to a degree what was coming. I've changed and added a lot since I showed her the beginnings of it. I painted and crackled the chipboard on the cover and added the pearls- it coordinates with the layout I did with the same paper not too long ago-inspired by the album and using extra pictures from this project. I would have liked to have added some of the pearls to the inside, but I was trying hard to keep it masculine- being all boys for the album- and I thought I was kind of pushing it with the scroll/flourishes on the pages for accents, so I opted not to add them inside. The cover though, I thought I could get away with it more, and like I said, it coordinates with the layout I made and framed for her that matches this. So, stick me with a fork, for I am done.. finally...

Teacher Gifts/Magnetic Memo Boards

2009-12-18T12:31:00.000-08:00

Here are some more magnetic memo boards.. I didn't have enough time to pretty them up much, but I think with cute paper they are pretty enough to give as is. Once again, I went to my trusty Lowe's hardware store and bought the metal shingles in the roofing section for 63 cents each, bought cute paper and made the magnets with the glass pebbles and used extra paper for the magnets to coordinate. I would have liked to add some stamping or something else 3 dimensional to them, but when you're drying the Stickles glitter glue with a hair dryer 5 minutes before the bus comes, you're happy to just have the glitter dry!

Altered Notebook

2009-12-15T23:39:00.000-08:00

Once again I reach to my trusty stash of notebooks set aside for the reason of "just because" to alter for someone. I made this one for one of my friends, pretty basic, but I love the velvet ribbon and the look that it adds. I used the little packets of self adhesive pearls found in the dollar section of my Craft Warehouse. I stocked up the other day- they're one of my latest "ooh I like the way they look on things" items. Altering a notebook really is a great cost saving and personal gift you can give someone- find their favorites (color, flowers, etc. etc.) and glue away, add ribbon to the coils and you have a fun little gift. I really like Terrifically Tacky Tape by Provocraft to hold everything down well. So go ahead, change a notebook up for yourself or a friend- get them in the dollar section at Michael's or anywhere else with inexpensive notebooks. Once you start, you'll want to make more and more...

Matchbox Advent Calendar

2009-12-03T19:03:00.000-08:00

I discovered the directions for this in a scrapping group on Cafemom, but the original directions came from "Tracie Hudson copyright 2007 for Bubbly Funk". I had to give credit where it was due. The drawers are pretty small- I only can fit one Ande's mint in each drawer. So with having three children, I bought enough candy to put one in each drawer and have left overs so they can take turns pulling the drawer each day, but will all get a piece of candy. I have enough squabbles and declarations of "not fair" without voluntarily doing it to myself. I used eyelets on the drawers and threaded a piece of ribbon through- with the knot on the inside. There's so many ways you could do this, the original directions had a piece of ric rak with a brad in the center, but I couldn't find exactly what I wanted, so I went with the eyelets. It was a fun little project, but I'm not sure if I would do it again, I'm moving on to the next project now. My kids got a kick out of opening the little drawers tonight, a little bit of the wonder of childhood.

"Two Months Old" Layout

2009-11-23T11:59:00.000-08:00

This is a "lift" challenge that I undertook- a little out of my comfort zone- trying to coordinate at least 3 different patterned papers. I tried flocking for the very first time on the letters and the flourishes- I just sprinkled the flocking over the wet paint (I painted the chipboard), then tapped off the excess and poured it back into the bottle. I used Martha Stewart's flocking- individual bottles at Michael's- I think I like that better than buying a pack of them with colors I'll never use. I hand stitched around the vellum squares since I don't have any vellum adhesive and my regular stuff will show through otherwise with vellum. I also handstitched around the white mat- inking the white paper slightly with pink ink, then distressed the pink double matting. I like how (to me at least) it kind of looks similar to the texture of the pink blanket. I used handstitching on the center of the flower too- stitching more on vellum. The little pink acrylic half-round I found at Craft Warehouse- a good size bag of them which I shared with some scrapbooking buddies of mine. The little felt hearts- I cut out of felt and stitched to mimic the arrow point- and I used a glass to trace little stitch lines to follow with more hand stitching. If you have the chance to try flocking- I recommend it, it's a lot of fun and adds more texture to anything you use it on. :)

Mini Magnetic Memo/Picture Boards

2009-11-12T18:28:00.000-08:00

This little project idea came out of the bigger memo board I did recently. In our search for an adequately sized memo board, we had to use two 8 x 12 metal roofing shingles and put them together and stabilize them. Well, this is what only one of those roofing shingles looks like by itself when it's covered. Sixty three cents at Lowe's provided me a metal roofing shingle which I covered with scrapbooking paper (using spray adhesive to adhere). I used my Cropadile to punch holes for the hanger, but you could use a drill. Then I used a glue gun to put the ribbon on. This is a very basic version, you could add more detail and/or personalize it, but I'll be working on approximately 30 of them for childcare worker gifts for our MOPS group at church, so I can't go overboard time and detail wise. I used the flat bottomed glass pebbles that you can find in a floral section- I bought mine at the Dollar Store- the smallest size of them that would work. I then used leftover paper, traced around what I wanted under the glass and glued it on with Aleene's Paper Glaze- which I found at Michael's arts and crafts store (about $4.50 ). A little goes a very long way. After I glued the paper to the bottom of the glass pebbles, I used a hot glue gun to glue the magnets on the backs. At Craft Warehouse, they have bigger flat bottomed glass pieces that you can cut out pictures or cute paper, etc. and glue on the glass pebbles. I believe they use Diamond Glaze to glue the paper onto the glass pebble, and E600 glue (comes in a silver tube) to glue the magnets on. My experience with using the hot glue gun has been a good one, so if you have a glue gun and don't want to spend more on glue, then by all means use what you have. I hope this gave you a fun idea for teacher gifts or whomever else you'd like to give something fun to.

"Brotherly Love" Layout

2009-11-09T13:54:00.002-08:00

This a layout I made as a gift for one of my friends- I've been working on a mini album for her with pictures of her and her boys in it, and had extra pictures left over. I'm still working on the album, but I thought it would be fun to incorporate these "brother" pictures into a layout with the same papers. I hand stitched around the pictures (before I matted them), and then stitched around the papers of the layout. I really like the effect of the stitching- it's my newest "ooh I like this" technique. I painted brown on the chipboard and used crackling medium on it, then painted the top color of paint over it when the crackling medium was tacky. I added Aleene's Paper Glaze over the top of the chipboard when dry to add that glossy look, then used stick on pearls for a finishing touch. I can't believe I've gotten more than one layout done in less than 2 weeks, I'm usually pretty few and far between.

2009-11-09T13:54:00.001-08:00

Easter Sunday 2008 Layout

2009-11-04T09:28:00.000-08:00

This layout was based on a sketch challenge in a super inspiring scrapbooking group on Cafemom- Julie, you and your scrappy ladies ROCK! Part of the challenge was to use the sketch, but to also incorporate some felt on the layout, in addition to some hand stitching. This was the first time I've used stitching on a layout, and I have to say that I am HOOKED on it now. For whatever reason, there is something calming and therapeutic with the stitching- now I'm just talking the basic stitch (not fancy embroidery), for the record- THAT would not be calming to me... :) Anyhow, I stitched around the pictures before I matted them- I used a single strand of embroidery floss for that. I stitched around other various aspects of the layout too, with more than one strand. I used my edge distresser (oh my, how I love my edge distresser! thanks to my best buddy Katherine for giving it to me- I have used it SO much! ). The distressed edges really soften up the look of the layout. Here's a secret- the paper actually says "growing boy" along the top of some of the leaves of the flowers. I used more stitching along those areas to hide it, because the paper and the floss and pictures all coordinated so well, and I couldn't find anything else suitable- so I improvised... I bought 2 sheets of the flower paper, so I cut some of the flowers out and used pop up dots to raise them out of the background to add depth. I then stickled the centers of them. I cut out more flowers and put them along the bottom of the pictures with rhinestones and buttons that coordinated. And then there's the felt- my first time working with it. To make the scallops, I used my corner rounder punch on a piece of paper to make it scalloped and then used it as template with a little bit of dry adhesive to stick the paper to the felt and cut around it . All I had to do was remove the paper and there you have it. I used beads that coordinated with the colors and sewed them on the felt, and I stitched around the border of the scallops with coordinating embroidery floss. It was really fun to do. I have to say that I'm really pleased with this layout- and that doesn't happen too often for me.

Magnetic Memo Boards ( MOPS version)

2009-11-04T09:16:00.000-08:00

These are variations on the metal magnetic memo boards I've done before. This time we couldn't find the 12 x 12 metal sheets at Craft Warehouse (of course they have them there now when we don't need them anymore.. :) ) Anyhow, we improvised and found 8 x 12 inch galvanized metal roofing shingles from the roofing section in Lowe's- 63 cents each, Home Depot was thirty cents more, but still less than a dollar. For these I taped them together and then glued some foam core board on the back with spray adhesive for stability- this gave us a 12 x 16 inch memo board. I used my Cropadile to make holes for the handle. It took a full 12 inch sheet of paper plus a section of another (4 inches) to cover the board. I actually like how these look with coordinating paper. I used spray adhesive to adhere the paper to the metal board too. We used glue guns to glue the ribbon, but I originally used Terrifically Tacky Tape by Provocraft ( a red line tape), double sided and super tacky. We then made magnets with the glass pebbles that you can find in the floral section in the craft store ( I got ours at the Dollar Store- big savings there! ), you can also find bigger ones which give you more versatility. I used Aleene's Paper Glaze to glue paper to the glass pebble, then used hot glue to glue a magnet on the back. I also sacrificed our Scrabble game for the tiles and hot glued magnets to the back of those. The mini bulldog clip adds an extra way to hold something on the board too. I plan on using the single 8 x 12 metal sheets to make mini magnetic boards for pictures of quick notes for Christmas gifts this year, and make some cute magnets for them. Very easy and cute gift to make- especially the mini version of it.

MOPS centerpieces

2009-11-04T08:59:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again- time for our MOPS (Mothers of PreSchoolers) group to start up, and once again, I got to have fun working on the centerpieces. They were really a collaboration of ideas that once put all together, came out to something we're all pretty happy with. We have 6 tables, and each is a different "color"- which is why the centerpieces are the colors they are- to match the table's color theme. This year's theme for MOPS is "where two or more are gathered in my name, there am I with them". Believe it or not, these started as a pencil box with only one side to it (the house shape). I traced another house side out of chipboard to match up on the other side so no matter where you sat at the table, you'd get a nice view of the centerpiece. I put floral foam in the box and we made picture holders ( my favorite part! ) out of 20 gauge stem wire. I bought packages of it at Jo-Ann's for a couple of dollars, I think they had 20 to a package. We used needle nosed pliers to wrap one of the ends of the wire around the pliers 2-3 times- which made that spiral to hold the pictures. We then just gently wrapped the stem wire around our finger once in a couple of places along the wire, making pretty little loops. To coordinate further with the table color, we wired coordinating colored beads on a few of the loops. They turned out so cute, really fun and easy (and FAST!) to make- you could make your own and put in one of those pretty metal tins with floral foam in it and cover the top with shredded paper to hide the foam, and give as a gift- or make for yourself. In our centerpieces, we printed out pictures of the ladies' families to put in the holders for each table. All this from a humble pencil box! Maybe I'll show a little how to with pictures of making the picture holders- I know that I like pictures to go along with written directions.

Coaster Post-It Notebook

2009-08-14T14:50:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness, it feels like forever since I've done something scrappy or crafty at all!! A big thanks to Sara in Scrap Happy for this fun idea, recycling coasters- gotta love that! All I did was cover the coasters in pretty paper, then cut a piece of coordinating cardstock 6 3/4 inches by 3 1/4 inches, and scored the width of the Post-It notebook in the middle- I played around with this since right now I don't have sound on the computer and couldn't listen to the directions on the YouTube demonstration of these to see at what point they scored... This was such a fun little notebook to play around with. I'm considering suggesting it for one of our MOPS crafts this year...

Good Baby/Bad Hair Day redone

2009-06-29T18:05:00.000-07:00

Well, I wasn't happy with the layout the way it was, so I trimmed the edges of the title pieces and inked them again (it looked neater than the distressed edges inked) and I added ribbon instead of the embroidery floss on the corners and the title pieces. It added more than the plain white floss in my opinion.. anyhow here is the new improved (anal retentive) version: