SYTYC Week 4...SCRAPS ONLY!!!

WAHOO! Made it through to another week! Here's what I made for "Scraps Only" Week...

Okay, let's be honest.

 There are some themes that I am far more excited for than others.

This is one that I was just hoping I'd make it to!
Why? Because I have this great habit of collecting all the little left-overs from my other projects and storing them away "for another day's project". clearly I can find use for a 2 inch piece of ribbon, right?

Anyway, today it paid off because I finally put a bunch of those little pieces to good use...

My dad was telling me a while ago that he needed a way to remember all the grand-kiddos birthdays and so scraps in hand, he will be getting this festive little Birthday Board! The frame was even a scrap--leftover from grandma's house.

I dug through paper scraps to find fun prints to make the banner and "HAPPY" letters, the letters on the banner are leftover bits of pre-cut card stock lettering spray painted black, the months are leftover stickers from a church project, and ribbon saved from everything.

The medallions show each grand baby's special day on a cupcake sticker with the date and their name written in sharpie. (Sorry, I fuzzed it out to keep it secret)

 Grandpa can have no excuses now for not getting those birthday cards in the mail!

SYTYC Week 3... Knock Offs!!!

It's been a  crazy few weeks and once again I find myself falling further and further behind with my posts. I'm having a blast competing in So You Think You're Crafty and so deeply appreciate your votes! Here's my week 3 project...


This theme was more of a which project do I want to make versus a what project to make because trust me, I have quite the list. But this one kept calling my name...

I think it must be the time of year. That and any excuse to go plant shopping, I'll gladly take!

This terrarium comes from Pottery Barn. It's beautiful, serene, and its huge--like fish tank huge.

So my first obstacle was to find a size that would work for my space and from there it was just fun.

I ended up using picture frames, a set of hinges, some scrap wood, and paint sticks. Supplies that were easy to find and so much less expensive.

 {Isn't that part of what makes a knock-off so rewarding?}

I'm so thrilled with how it came out.

It's perfect!

Perfect for the space I have and perfectly NOT Pottery Barn priced...

thanks for another fun week, my to-make list is finally getting a little bit shorter!

So You Think You're Crafty Week 2..Thrift!!!

Hey there--I'm hanging out in Utah with my family and realized I still needed to post my SYTYC projects. Hope you enjoy them...

To be honest, thrift isn't really my thing...{can you hear my husband yelling a loud "NO KIDDING!"} I just enjoy being able to make things so I don't always pay attention to the final cost. That made this challenge at first very daunting but in the end especially rewarding. I came up with something that I LOVE and didn't spend a thing!!!

How's that for a freebie?

It started with a phone call from a sweet friend and a delivery of this:

We had already saved it once, thus the pink covered cork board where the screen once was, but it was in sad shape. Three of the corner pieces were broken and it was barely staying together. So I completely took it apart, cleaned it, cut it down a bit, and then with a few treasures from around my house,re-made it into a "country-esque" serving shelf for my back patio.

It's perfect for holding books and a drink, or even a side dish or two this summer when we get to eat outside. There's even a few hooks along the bottom that could hold a few small lanterns for a romantic late-night snuggle...

All I can say is HOORAY for THRIFTING!!!

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.