Book Pages + Clip Art + Thrift Store Frames

Remember that little preview I showed you of my pretty turquoise frame? I finally finished the project!!!

Here it is all finished and pretty. I spent months looking around for ornate frames at The Dollar Tree and thrift stores. I set a limit for myself (no more than $2 a frame), so it was quite a challenge. Surprisingly, ornate thrift store frames seem to be in the $4-6 price range. Anyways, after I found five 6 frames of various shapes/sizes/levels of ornate-ness, I spray painted them Krylon Ocean Breeze Blue. It turned out it was slightly more blue than teal, so I took a dry sponge brush and created a glazed sort of look with a darker teal color. It turned out exactly how I wanted!
Thrift stores are also a great place to find old encyclopedias! I like the ones with the yellowy sort of pages. I got one for 75 cents! Here is the part where I admit I didn't do this project alone. Gabe helped me cut out pages from the encyclopedia and tape them to regular old printer paper and run them through the printer. We printed stock images and clip art that I found onto the book pages.
It was a very easy and fun project...And yeah, it was actually Gabe who spray painted the frames *sheepish shrug*. I think it turned out splendidly! Maybe it will spur us on to get the rest of the living room finished.

No Sew Pillow Cover

See, I told you I would be crafting again in no time! I found this ridiculously easy no sew pillow cover tutorial and thought I'd give it a try. At least, it's ridiculously easy IF you measure twice, cut once. Fortunately, I bought PLENTY of fabric, so it worked out ok. First, you measure the fabric. It needs to be 2x as long and 3x as wide as your pillow. You don't really even need any measuring device other than your pillow. You just lay your pillow on the edge and then flip it twice for the length and three times for the width (I hope this makes sense).

Then lay your pillow in the middle of the fabric. Fold it up like a present and then tie a square knot. It's probably better if you go to the original tutorial since I didn't take pictures of every step. Really, I just wanted to show off my finished product!
I need a new couch slipcover to go with our new living room color scheme. I'm thinking grey...anyhow, it is very easy if you do all the measurements right.
And here is a little sneak peak of another project I started. I think the colors look smashing together. Hopefully it will be done soon!

Chalkboard Paint is Super Cool

I have been seeing lots of chalkboard projects around lately, but I think this one from BHG just might be my favorite. Jazz up some unfinished wood chairs by painting them a bright color. Then paint the back splat with chalkboard paint. You will never need place tags again!

This is another great idea. Give wine bottles a sleek modern look and a personal touch by painting them with chalkboard paint.
Or use chalkboard paint to create wall decor that can change anytime with the swipe of an eraser.
Use chalkboard paint to help you remember which plant is which. You could even right down maintenance instructions on each pot.
This stuff is pretty awesome and I can't wait to use it for something. Or many things!

Stuff I Made: Necklace and Earrings

I spent all day yesterday crafting away! One of my favorite little know-hows is the pom-pom. It is incredibly versatile - you can use cotton, or fabric. You can use it for jewelry, a shirt or pillow embellishment, or a headband. I like Little Miss Momma's pom-pom tutorial the best of any I've read (and I've read a lot). I made both a headband and a necklace. The headband didn't photograph well...more about that in a minute.

I also ordered these vintage looking leaves from an etsy supplier. I want to make a matching necklace, but I don't really have any jewelry making knowledge so that is a challenge that I plan to conquer eventually!
So, there are different levels of blogginess. You can tell the good blogs from the bad because the good ones have really fun, colorful graphics and professional looking photographs. The bad ones have headers that have what look like hand drawn pictures that were scanned in and either really bad pictures or no pictures at all. I think I have the cute graphics down, but unfortunately my pictures suck. I have a digital camera, but it is both crappy and packed away at this time. All of my pictures are taken on my phone and then edited in picnik. I dream of having a nice digital SLR so I can take my blog to the next level and be more like Pioneer Woman! If only they weren't so expensive!

Flower Headband

A lady at work complimented me on a headband I wore one day. When I told her I made it, she asked me to make one for her too. I attempted this with some chiffon-type fabric (since that is what mine is made of), but it turned out REALLY badly. It was hideous! Disheartened, I postponed any further attempts for awhile. Today, I was finally ready to take on the flower headband once again. This time, I used an old cotton tank top. I was unsure of what the result would be, but it turns out cotton works well! I asked little J. to be my model.

The one on the left is the original and the one on the right is the one I made today. The purple one turned out so great I sort of wish I wasn't giving it away! I guess it's a good thing I have more of the fabric left : )
If you want to join in the headband making fun you will need:

1) fabric - both flowers are recycled, one from a skirt and one from a shirt

2) a headband

3) scissors

4) hot glue

5) felt

6) a button or a brad

To make the flower, use the same method I used for the medallions in the Monogrammed Wreath only with fabric instead. I discovered the flower is sturdier if you hot glue it to a round piece of felt. Once the flower is finished, cut another felt circle the same size and put it on the inside part of the headband. Then glue that to the bottom of the felt on the flower.

Giftables: Cabochon Earrings

I ordered some adorable cabochon bobby pins from Very Jane about a month ago. As usual, when I see something someone else has made, I thought to myself "I could probably make that!". It was kind of a wild goose chase at the beginning. I googled "cabochon" and didn't come up with much. I tried looking at Hobby Lobby and they didn't carry the flowers. I looked on amazon and ebay to no avail. Finally, I discovered that etsy has a category called supplies. That was my jackpot! I found a great seller who has tons of colors and sizes of flower cabochons and other fun jewelry making stuff for very cheap. I bought earring bases/backings and some special bobby pins at Hobby Lobby for 50% off and here is the end result.
I made these for my friend as a graduation gift. But they would be great for any occasion! I loved these particular colors so much that I made some for myself as well. This size of cabochon is a little too small for bobby pins...so of course I ordered more that are bigger : )

Handmade Gift Exchange

I have neglected my poor little blog yet again! It's not that I haven't been making things (and taking pictures), I just haven't posted them. It will happen soon...but until then, let me tell you how cool the internet is! I never would have started making things as a hobby if I hadn't stumbled upon craftgawker.com. Through that site, I have found countless projects and blogs. There are so many awesome people making awesome things, and because of the internet, I'm connected to them! That in itself is pretty cool, not to mention how nice the crafting community at large is. It gets better though. One of my favorite bloggers, Linda at Craftaholics Anonymous, is hosting a handmade gift exchange. In order to participate, you email Linda your mailing address. She will then send you someone else's address (and send your address that person) and you exchange handmade gifts. There is no required skill level or price range. The only real rule is that you have to have your gift postmarked by June 30th. Last year, there were over 480 people who participated in the exchange. If you are interested in being a part of it, head on over to Craftaholics Anonymous to find out more.

Easy Peasy Headband

This project is easy peasy AND it's ec0-friendly chic! All you need is:

1) an old tee

2) scissors

3) a coordinating button

4) a needle and thread

I used my awesome rotary cutter, but you can just use scissors to cut a 2" wide strip of tee shirt. Make sure the length is a little smaller than your head so that it will actually stay on!
Next, trace four almost-circles onto more tee shirt and cut that out. I used 1-5/8" circles for mine, but you can do bigger or smaller depending on how big you want your flower.
Sew along the straight bottom edge WITHOUT tying knots on either end.
Once you sew the length, pull both ends so that it becomes a flower. Then tie both ends of the thread together to hold the flower in place. After that, place the button on the center of the flower and sew them both to the band. All that's left is closing up the headband. TADA!!!! Finished. You have a cute new headband in no time!

Giftables: Sugar Scrub & Mini Cal

I finally got my Stampin' Up stuff! I went a little stamp crazy. The first thing I made was a mini calendar. I found this calendar and tutorial on Blue Cricket Design.

My other project was a gift tag for some homemade sugar scrub. This is super easy, but the initial cost can be a little high. All you need is 4 parts sugar to 1 part oil and some essential oils to give it an aromatherapy scent (the essential oil is the expensive part). On my first go round, I used baby oil. It was VERY difficult to mask the smell...you have to use a LOT of essential oil. On my second go round, I tried olive oil. Again, it was next to impossible to mask the smell. I'm still looking for just the right oil!
No matter the smell, this stuff is great for winter skin. I use it to exfoliate before shaving and my skin is really soft afterward. Both of these make quick and easy gifts! Hop on over to Stampin' Up today so you can make adorable gifts too!

Button Magnets & More Wall Art

Truth be told, I would have had a craft day whether it was a snowpocalpyse or not. Yesterday was fun and relaxing, but today I needed to do something! So I did two different projects. First up, we have button magnets! This is hands down THE easiest DIY project ever. Supplies needed: variety of buttons and magnets. I got the adhesive backed magnets, but you could get just *magnets* and hot glue them to the buttons.

Seriously, that's all there is too it. Before, we had ridiculous Elvis magnets. Yeah, it was fun to change his little outfits, but our fridge looked hideous.
And now it's darling! Eventually, I would like to make more with different colors. But for now this will do.
The second project is a "why buy that when i can make it" project. I saw this cool felt wall decor on etsy. For my version, I used an old shirt and some thick white fabric that my grandma gave me. This project is also pretty easy, but it is tedious. First, I stretched the shirt over an embroidery hoop.
Next, I made 5 medium sized flowers and 3 big flowers out of the white fabric. This is the time consuming part because I had to trace each petal and cut them all out, then glue the bottom of each petal, THEN glue them all together. Probably 50% of the glue ended up on my fingers.
Lastly, I arranged the flowers in a cascade over one side of the hoop and hot glued them down.
It matches my bathroom perfectly! So I hung it above the towel rack. Ét, voila! C'est tres mignon, n'est pas?

Ice Day!

As soon as I heard that we were expecting a blizzard of epic proportions, I crossed my fingers that today would be a snow day. And it is! My daily computer ritual involves checking gmail, facebook, and craftgawker. Here's the thing about craftgawker: sometimes you find one jackpot of a post that leads to MORE posts and blogs. And those lead to more, etc., etc. Today I fell down the craft blog rabbit hole. Poor husband has been trying to get my attention for the past few hours. Finally he resorted to video games (boo hoo, I'm sure he's heart broken). Here are lots of blogs with free things for you!

Lollychops has a variety of cute downloads, from gift tags to patterned paper

My Owl Barn has an adorable (and customizable!) 2011 calendar

Free Pretty Things For You is the place to find vintage freebies

Feed Your Soul is a "free art project" where you can download pdfs to create instant art

Over at Just Something I Made, you can find tons of downloads. My favorite are the cannister labels!

Creature Comforts has lots of lovely freebies and projects

Easy Wall Art

I have been making weekly trips to Hobby Lobby in the hopes that canvas will be on sale. Even though canvasses haven't been on sale, I haven't had any trouble finding other things to buy at Hobby Lobby. I digress, though. On a "just looking" trip to Big Lots, I stumbled on a set of TWO canvasses for $6!!! I bought them so I could finally reproduce a project I had seen on Blue Cricket Design. I decided to use gray and yellow (my favorite color duo) to match our bedroom and hang them above our bed. Don't mind the crappy pictures, they were taken on my new phone.

You can see the tutorial and the original art here.

R-Lo and Auj: Craft Day, or "Hold Me Closer, Tiny Tailor"

Finally, a day off! I "slept in" (which is now, sadly, 8a.m.) and took about an hour to wake up. I started reading a book, but I just couldn't get into it. So I decided to do my other favorite day-off activity - crafting! I figured my friend Auj would be up for some refashion projects, so I invited her to bring some old clothes and shoes over to see what we could come up with. I planned on doing 2 things: a men's plaid shirt refashion, and a bleach pen shirt design. The bleach pen shirt seemed like the easier of the two, so I went ahead and did that first. Success! Then it was time to move onto the men's shirt refashion. It pretty much involved cutting off the sleeves, creating a new neckline, and adding ruffles. As a non-sewer, this seemed like a pretty good beginner's project. At first it went well...I mean, cutting is easy! But when it came time to sew, it was a disaster! The thread kept bunching up in crazy ways or getting caught in the bobbin somehow, or breaking (seriously?!?). I tried for hours and could not manage to make a ruffle. At this point, Audrey had made some super cute boots and a bleach pen shirt. She brought in her Singer Tiny Tailor (her mom found it for $2 at a garage sale!) so we could try the ruffles on her machine. That too was an epic fail. It was the most confusing bobbin set up process I have ever experienced. Finally, we gave up on sewing. On the bright side, I know how to thread my machine and put in a new bobbin. And we came out of it with some cute new things!

Audrey's bleach pen desgin: a super cute owl!

Boots made from old flats and sweater sleeves.

My bleach pen shirt design

And my headband!!!!!!!!

I have another craft day planned for tomorrow with L-Mo. I'm hoping it yields much better results!

Monogrammed Wreath

I love having days off! Lately, I've been reading on my days off rather than cleaning or cooking or being any sort of useful. Sometimes I like to go to craftgawker to get inspiration when I'm just lounging around in my free time. Last night's post-work craftgawker browsing yielded so many potential projects, my bookmark bar is exploding with crafty goodness! I stumbled upon a lot of craft blogs I had never seen before and found a good three or four projects I wanted to try. So today, I went thrifting and Hobby Lobbying with my mom and sister. Joey and I went ahead and did a monogrammed wreath project I saw on The Diary of Dave's Wife. If you want to create your own, you'll need:

1) a picture frame

2) 2-3 pieces of coordinating scrap book (or Stampin' Up!) paper

3) mod podge, craft glue, and hot glue gun

4) some cute brads

5) acrylic paint

6) a wooden, metal, or paper letter found at Hobby Lobby or Michael's

First, we painted our frames and our letters. Joey painted hers the same color. I originally did the same, but ended up painting my "L" black and my frame yellow.

While all this was drying, we moved on to the paper portion. We used mod podge to adhere paper to the frame's backing. We also used to other coordinating pieces of paper to cut out 3" circles. The circles are made into little medallions. For each medallion, we used 4 circles and a brad.
Joey did all the cutting! Then we folded the circles twice to make triangles. These we glued to a 3" circle that we cut out of scrap paper. In the center, we glued a flower and pushed the brad through the center.
Lastly, we used hot glue to attach the medallions to the frame. I love how Joey's turned out. She did a great job!
And here is mine. We still need to buy ribbon so we can hang them on our doors. But I can only handle so much in one day. I can't wait to finish them though and hang them on our doors!