BYE!

Hey friends & followers,

We are no longer posting on this blog.  You can follow my family blog HERE, where I will be posting the occasional craft and lots of other stuff!  Thanks for your support.

Butterfly Chandelier

The inspiration:  Pottery Barn's Butterfly Chandelier $30.

 My lacking photography skills do not do this project justice but here is the tutorial.

What you need:

Embroidery Hoop

Butterfly Paper Punch

Clear Thread

Paper

($9)

Using the thread create a web by tying knots around the embroidery hoop as pictured above.

After punching at least a GAZILLION butterflies, (actually around 100), cut a long strip of thread and lay it on top of a butterfly with a dab of glue. Then stick another butterfly on top-as poorly pictured above.  When your strip is as long as you like, tie it onto the hoop/and or the clear thread webbing.  My strands have anywhere from 10 to 6 butterflies. Repeat this process until your chandelier has as many butterflies as you want.

I covered the outside of the hoop with some tulle and used another strip to tie around the center of my chandelier to hang on the ceiling.

Happy Flag Day!

For a Soldier's Mother

My son's teacher has a son serving in Afghanistan. As we can all imagine his deployment has been a deeply  emotional experience for her.  I found this quote and decided to frame it as her end of the year gift.  I used the technique I describe HERE in my subway art tutorial.  Then I added the flowers to dress it up a bit.

Grandma's Doily Shirt

This project literally takes 5 minutes and I am happy to say requires NO SEWING.  By, the way this isn't exactly Grandma's doily. It is one I found in the dollar bins at Michael's. 

Place your doily on a piece of ultra strong Heat & Bond.

Flip it over and iron on the paper side, not the waxy side.  You might want to put something under your doily or you will have  sticky mess on your ironing board.

Peel it off!

Place your doily where you want it on your shirt, and carefully turn it inside out and iron.

That's it! If you feel it isn't sticking you can stitch around it but you shouldn't have any problem. Just wash inside out on gentle cycle.

Old Tights = New Flowers

Wow! Just look how happy this project made me.
Ingredients: 

 Old panty hose or even kid's tights.

(Make sure they are clean, who wants to wear dirty panty hose their head)
Glue and/or Sewing Machine with coordinating thread

Scrap Fabric/Felt/Interfacing
Alligator Clips/Brooch Pins

Take the tights and cut one leg into two long tubes. (Each pair of tights will make two flowers) Fold both tubes in half and take a gathering stitch on the fold.  If you don't have a machine just improvise with hot glue.  When finished you should have two pieces that look something like...

Take one piece and shape it into a donut, gluing it in place like so...

Using a piece of scrap felt/fabric/interfacing cut a circle and glue to the bottom of your donut.

Now take your remaining piece of tights and fill in the middle of your donut attaching with hot glue.  (Sorry no picture!) You can add an embellishment to the center if you like.  Additionally, glue an alligator clip and a brooch pin to the back.

Clip it in your hair or pin onto your shirt.

SUMMER Block Party

Can you believe that June is finally here?  And even though my son still has 3 weeks of school left the weather has definitely been SUMMERY! 

Here is an easy summer decor project!

I used an old 2x4 to create six equal blocks.  These are about 6 inches tall.  Then I painted each wooden block white.

Next I found some cute paper in my stash to create letters and a background color.

I Mod Podged the paper onto the block and let it dry.

I cut strips from a piece of canvas to create bows and I paper punched some flowers to CUTIFY (fake word) my blocks.

Crib Upcycle

This is a real trash to treasure story. The other day I was driving down the road with all 3 kids when we saw an old crib sitting next to the curb with someone's trash.  I slammed on the brakes, the kids squealed with excitement and then embarrassment when I started loading up someone's trash into the back of our mini van.  Although I had know idea what I was going to do with this thing, I really couldn't resist. The crib was in fantastic shape with only a few chipped paint spots.  Never fear, I figured out what to do with it. We made a reading nook.

Let me admit that I didn't build this myself. My hubby did most of the hard work.  I asked him to take pictures of the process but he only took a couple and they are a little confusing to me.  So, here is my piece of advice--do a google search of Cribs into Benches.   You will find at least a million ideas of how you can upcycle an old crib into a bench or maybe something entirely different.  Aside from the crib, the project also required two 2x4's to complete the seat and stabilize the bench.  I also added a little quote with vinyl letters.

I really am in love with this project. The bench only required 1/2 of the crib, so now I can't wait to dream up something else for the husband to build.

Growth Chart

 This is the doorway where we use a PENCIL to mark the kid's height.  This is also the doorway that my son thought he would decorate with a red sharpie because obviously it is an okay place to write.  This is what I created and stuck on the wall to cover the mess! 

How to:   

Buy a board and cut it or have it cut to desired length. 

Paint the board. I spray painted mine.

Use a tape measure/ruler to create the measurements on your board.

I used a Cricut to cut out vinyl numbers/lines to stick to my board.You could use a sharpie, paint, stencils, whatever.

Hang! (Shh! I hot glued my board to the wall.  Glue usually peels right off when your finished.)

Egg Carton Dump Truck

First, I should say that I cannot take credit for this idea. At the same time, I am not sure who should get the credit. I recently saw a picture of an egg carton dump truck but alas, I cannot find it again or the tutorial.  Here is me winging it.  So, whoever you are I am sorry and thanks for such a fun idea. This actually entertained my 4 year old son for at least 3 hours today.

Read More for the HOW TO!

Subway Art Tutorial

Have you noticed Subway Art popping up everywhere!  There are lots of great ideas, everything from art for newborn babies...

to family rules,

or even Seasonal artwork.

Here is how you can create Subway Art with your own personal touch!

First, go HERE to Picnik and download any photo. Picnik is a free site and it is very simple to use.

Now that your random picture has been uploaded to the site, click on the CREATE TAB at the top.  Then select the STICKERS TAB.  Scroll down the sticker window until you find BASIC GEOMETRIC SHAPES. A window, as shown on the left of the picture above, with various sticker shapes will appear. Choose the RECTANGLE, and stretch it to completely cover your picture. Now your newly uploaded picture should be a giant black rectangle. As you are stretching a pop-up box will appear that will allow you to change the color of your sticker. 

Now that your picture is covered with a rectangle in the color of your choice.  Click the TEXT tab. Begin writing your text, one phrase at a time, in the text window and playing with the fonts. Picnik has a plethora of fonts to choose from.  As you type your text, another window will appear to let you change the color of the font. Then move the text around your rectangle and place it where you want.

I made this for my son's birthday. It describes him including his likes and dislikes. I  thought it would be fun to make one every year and see how he changes as he grows up.  You can also turn them into postcards or greeting cards.  Oh! The possibilities!!!

Save your new masterpiece when complete. Then you can either print it from your computer or order it from Picnik, Shutterfly,  Costco, etc. in whatever size you desire.  Frame it and enjoy.