SYTYC Round One...Dollar Store Crafts!!!

Here's my week one project/tutorial for the SYTYC Dollar Store Challenge.

And if you haven't yet, go vote this week. The theme is Thrift and the projects are really neat...

My favorite thing about this challenge? It may well be the first time I've ever walked out of the dollar store having spent under $5!!! So what did I get to take on this first challenge? 

Floral wire in four super bright and shiny shades... 

So what can you do with a bunch of pretty colored wire? How about make these...

The wire was perfect for making some fun, kinda-quirky, super cute jewelry.

I was able to make a ring and pendant from each spool--talk about bang for your buck!

These were really easy to make and my girls are loving them. The necklace is basically two rings stuck together--one just a bit bigger than the other, so I'll share with you how I made the rings.

You're going to need a package of floral wire and a pair of wire cutters. Also something round to help you make the band part of the ring, I used the lid of a paint bottle for my hand, and a toothpaste cap for my girls.

Cut off about 18 inches of wire. Leaving about a 3 inch tail, wrap the wire around your frame twice--starting and ending with the wire ends on top, pointing away from each other.

Start shaping your petals with the long piece of wire.

You'll make 5 petals total. I held my thumb in the center of the ring and folded the wire around it to keep them all somewhat uniform. I worked in a clockwise manner so that the following petal overlapped the first.

**Note that the short wire tail is UNDER the petals and off to the side***

When you've finished the last petal, adjust the spacing a bit if you need to. Hold the long tail in one hand, and bring the short tail up, over, and through the center of the petals to hold them in place.

Slip the ring back onto your base frame, and with the wire cutters pull on the short wire to get it as tight as you can and then cut the extra wire off, close to the underside of the ring.

Last, tightly wrap the long tail around around the piece of short wire a few times to create the flower's center. Cut the wire and use the cutters to tuck the cut end under.

There you go!

 One super hip and very budget friendly piece of jewelry.

***For the necklace I just skipped the base part and started directly with the petals. Once I had my two flowers, I laid them on top of each other and used the wire of the top flower to hold the to together and the wire of the bottom flower to make the center.***

Happy crafting.

I Just Passed Third Grade...Again!!!

I have spent the last week of my life helping my daughter to pass third grade, again.

this is my little cave-girl making arrowheads

Okay, so maybe it's not quite that serious, but it sure does feel like it. You see she has a phenomenal teacher. He truly is amazing and has a wonderful way of incorporating the eras of history into his entire curriculum. They started the year off in pre-history, you know cave men, hunter/gather, spears, and fire and have worked their way up through history to the early modern era{we still have six weeks to get through the most recent bits history before the year is over.}

The really neat part of his classroom is that at the end of each 6 week grading period the students put on a living history museum. They become what they have been studying through costume, decoration, props, monologues, displays, and work stations. It is AMAZING to see what these students have learned.

the Shakespearian play presented during their study of the
Rennisance Period

Last term they were responsibe for becoming a famous person from history, my daughter chose to become Ivan the Terrible. It sparked a great interest in Russia so much so, that when they were asked to research a country this term, that's the country she chose.

So what does this have to do with me? Well, her 5th museum is today and they are to create and sell souveniers that represnt their chosen country.

{I had this horribly inappropriate idea to redo the labels on bottled water and pass it off as vodka but then remembered that it was for school and might result in a suspension, that and I have no idea what a vodka label even looks like but we did get a good chuckle out of it!}

Anyway, we opted for flags, military pins, a fur hat raffle, and those crazy nesting dolls! I really thought I was being brilliant when I suggested this, they would be so cool...well, 5 days later they are finally done.

All 300 of them!

And because they took that long, you're all going to get to see them because I am quite sure that the fellow 3rd graders that have the opportunity to "purchase" them just won't appreciate the time that they took, and well to be honest...I want a little pat on the back! No, I need a little pat on the back because my husband just keeps telling me that this wasn't such a brilliant idea and I just can't let him be right.

In theory, it was a good idea, right?
And well, he did say my fur hat was "pretty sweet". That's a big thumbs up coming from him!
Crazy Momma...happy crafting.

WYLTC...April Showers Umbrella Planter from Craft Goodies!!!

May's Wood You Like to Craft is just around the corner and I'm sure it will be fantastic. Until then, here's my April project and all the how to's! Enjoy...

I love Spring! So when my month to host WYLTC ended up being April I was nothing but smiles.

I love the sight of all the color coming back, the grass and tree, the birds that sing endlessly, and the flowers!!! Those first little sprouts of soon-to-be tulips and daffodils are pure joy to me and I wanted a way to show them off. My project for this month was the perfect way to do that... 

Here's what I used to make my umbrella planter:

1/2 inch and 1/4 inch MDF

Wood Glue and Staples

PAINT in bright spring colors!

1/2 inch eye screw

Sandpaper

Glitter, Ribbons, Puffy Paint

Tulip bunch and greenery

I started by drawing out the umbrella parts and figuring out the planter. The planter sits on a slight angle so that it wouldn't stick out to far off of my door and is on the smaller side because I only wanted a few flowers tucked inside there.

Then I traced the patterns onto the wood and cut them out with my jigsaw. The handle and planter pieces are each cut on the 1/2 inch MDF. The umbrella and panel pieces are cut from 1/4 inch MDF.

I painted everything next, just base coats--no detail yet, distressed the edges and then glued the planter box pieces together and the umbrella pieces together.

 {I aded a few staples to the plant box just to be safe, but really, they weren't needed.}

Once the planter box was good and dry, I glued it to the umbrella pieces and then ran and did a load of dishes while it dried.

At that point the "hard" stuff was over and it was time to decorate!

I added the line details with white puff paint, drew on the little circles with the puff paint and loaded them up with iridescent glitter. Once everything was dry it got a good coat of sealer.

I added the eye screw into the back of the handle, ran a ribbon through it to hang it up. And then added my bow to the front of the planter.

And last...

Added the greenery and flowers and hung my little umbrella on the door.It's so fun to see this when I pull into my driveway--totally makes me smile. I hope your spring is full of fun and flowers and even a shower or two. I can't wait to see what the other ladies have made to go long with this month's theme of April Showers. I can't wait to see what all of you come up with either, be sure to check back all week. You're sure to find something to inspire you... Happy Crafting!

New Week...New Projects!!!

Happy Monday all!

Hope it's starting off on a good note for you.

Me, I'm off to the dentist to hopefully rid myself of a nagging toothache.

 What a great way to start the week!



This was my dollar store craft--did you guess it? I'll put the tutorial up later this week!

I wanted to give a big THANK YOU to those of you that jumped over to
So You Think You're Crafty and voted last week.
 

There were some great projects shared and I'm super excited to say I made it through to this week's round of "Thrift."

So thrift isn't really my thing but I love my project. It was a lot of fun to put together. And again, there are some great projects shared this week. So while I'm off getting my tooth repaired why don't you go get inspired and share your vote! I promise it will be A LOT more fun...

Happy Crafting.

Shopping Anyone?

If I have any Northern Utah friends out there looking for something to do this week, head on over to

 the Simple Treasures Boutique being held at the Ogden Train Station. It opens today and runs through Saturday.

My sisters and I have had a booth there for years and it is always such a fun place to find great ideas, fun gifts, and fantastic treasures. Grab a friend and go do some spring shopping!

Enjoy your day!

It's Pillow Week over at the CSI Project!!!

If you didn't get a chance to visit the CSI Project last week for my guest post, no worries!
Here it is:


Hey there all you CSI friends!

It's been a while since I've been here and I could not be happier to be back. My name is Wendy and most days, I can be found over at my little place in cyberspace:

 Craft Goodies.

So why am I so happy to be here this week?

One, I LOVE this blog--so many fantastic ideas to be found and two, I LOVE pillows!!!

I love that they are so versatile, such an easy way to spice up a plain old chair or sofa, and can be anything from wild and crazy to completely personal. SO, let's get busy and make one!

I spied a pillow a few weeks ago at Hobby Lobby that I immediately wanted, I just didn't want to pay the $35 dollars for it so I set out to copy it.

I couldn't be happier with how it came out.

{And it was so much less expensive to make.}

The key to making this pillow a stand out is to not use prints. The ones in the store were all solid, bright colors like hot pink, turquoise, lime green, etc, and then were paired with either a bright white or black flower.

Start with the pillow form size of your choice, your cover fabric, and contrasting flower fabric.

The pillows in the store used a suede type fabric for the flowers, because mine are going outside I chose felt-backed vinyl. I probably would have used this if I were using these inside anyway. It "puckered" just like the suede, will be super easy to wipe clean, and I don't have to worry about the edges fraying.

My cover fabric is also outdoor fabric so it won't fade or mold if it gets wet. Home decor fabric would make a good choice too.

I used an envelope style pillow case to cover the form. These are fast and easy, and make it super quick to change out your pillows.

You can find a good video tutorial on how to make one HERE.

**I measured and pinned out my casing, but didn't sew it together until the flower was on. This made it easier to sew the flower on without having to try and avoid sewing my pillow case shut!**

To make the flower cut the vinyl into 2 inch wide strips.

 {I used a total of 3, so you don't need much fabric at all...}

Once you have your strips, go back and add a scalloped edge to each of them.

Pinning comes next. I used a soup bowl to give me a starting point. I pinned around the bowl really loosely, about every other petal. 

Continue to spiral the petals toward the center, pinning as you go. the go back and sew the petals into place, catching the "puckers" as you go. 

See the gaps between each layer? This made it super easy get in between each layer with my sewing machine. I used the machine to sew everything but the last two petals, they got fabric glue.

From there I finished up the envelope casing, stuffed in my form and sat back and smiled!

All in all, a yard of each fabric was enough to make two 14x14 casings and oodles and gobs of flowers--a 1/4 yd of vinyl would have been plenty.

I hope you like it as much as I do, and will give it a try. I can't wait to see all the submissions that come in this week, it's sure to be a mega-source of ideas and things to try!

And thanks too for letting me stop by today. It's always such a treat.

Happy Crafting.

A Fun {and BUSY} Week Ahead!!!

Today starts our week of projects over at Wood You Like to Craft?

 I'm kicking it off with the tutorial on making my April Showers Umbrella Planter.

It's always a fun week of great projects and ideas, be sure to check it out!

Also, today marks the start of my season on So You Think You're Crafty.

The polls opened this morning for voting on our Dollar Store projects. There are some really great ideas being shared over there so please, go check them out and be sure to vote for you're favorite.

Because I seem to always be a bit behind. I hope you had a wonderful Easte weekend. Ours was great-sunny and warm and because we had no school on Friday, extra long.

Have a great week and as always...

Happy Crafting.

Out of the Office...But Still Crafting!!! Guest Posting at The CSI Project...

So clearly I can't read a calendar! My guest post actually went up today...sorry if I lead you astray, but it really is there now if you'd like to go check it out.

Today I'm over at the CSI Project sharing how I made this:

 It's Pillow week at CSI and I'm thrilled to be a part of it {and super excited to find a ton of new and fun ideas} so come on over and say hi!

Happy Crafting.

A New Kit and a New Shop have Arrived...

I added a new kit to the shop and would LOVE it if you'd go check it out.

I designed it for the Wood You Like to Craft? theme for April which just happens to be

 "APRIL SHOWERS".

I'm hosting this month which means the tutorial for this baby will go up on Monday on the WYLTC site. Be sure to head over there next week to see a week's worth of fun projects and ideas and to share your own.

And a little side note, I opened up a new shop. It has the same name {...Well Good!} and will have some of the same items as my etsy shop but this one will feature

 only finished items.

It's still pretty empty, but I'm working on that. I've got some fun things to add.

You can find it at:

 http://wellgood.bigcartel.com

And if I haven't said so lately, THANK YOU!!!! for you're continued support and encouragement.

It still amazes me every time I think about it.

Happy Crafting.