Love Sign!

My little sister is getting married and I so wanted to do something cute for her wedding shower.  I made this a couple of weeks ago but wanted to wait until after I gave it to her since she is a follower of my blog and I didn't want her to see it before hand.  I found this quote on pinterest and knew that it would make a great sign for her and their home together. 
Supplies needed:
white acrylic paint
vinyl letters cut out in the saying (2" for the LOVE YOU and 3/4" for the rest)
board - I used an old drawer front that I found at the Habitat for Humanity.
Patience!  - it takes a lot of it for placing the letters and then peeling them off.

I cut out the vinyl letters using my cricut but I will probably find some stickers for the next time I try this.  Lay them out on the board the way that you want them.

Second, I painted over the stickers and everything using white acrylic paint and a foam brush.  I put a couple coats on since the drawer was a cherry finish. 

Third, peel off the stickers carefully since the paint does want to come up a little.

Last, I sanded the edges and distressed it a bit. 

Finished!  I can tell you that I love how this sign turned out and would do it again.  This last picture has some LOVE scrabble tiles that I made for her too. 

Enjoy your crafting!

Snowmen ornaments

I mentioned in my last post about ornaments that I had made for my annual ornament party and that I had hoped to post my ornaments that I am making for this year's party.  Well, here they are!  I saw on pinterest (the link is to etsy.com) some cute snowmen made by using blocks of wood and burlap hats so I decided to make a minature version for the ornaments. 

Supplies used:
burlap (8" x 4 1/2") for cap
cream paint
orange, black, and white paint for face
blocks of 2x4 (1 1/2" wide)
hot glue
twine

I used 2x4s of course... and cut them to be around 1 1/2 inches wide.  Then I sanded them and painted them a cream color.  So they looked like this:

I then painted the face on them.  I used the wrong end of the paint brush to make the circles and carrot for the nose so it turned out like this:

Next, I used my trusty hot glue gun to glue the piece of burlap for the cap.  I folded it about 1/2 inch and placed it around an inch from the top of the block.  Starting on the back I put the folded side towards the bottom and then glued it all around.  Lastly, I used a piece of twine to tie the cap.  This is the finished product:

I loved how they turned out and think that I might have to make the larger version of this anyway.  What do you think?

Enjoy your crafts!





Ornaments of Christmas past....

I have a friend (thanks Melissa Fossat) that introduced me to the idea of an Ornament and Cookie party!  The party was so much fun that I stole the idea and started doing one of my own.  The idea is the invite 12 people total to the party and have each of them bring 12 ornaments and 24 cookies.  The ornaments are usually something homemade and the same with the cookies.  You bring the ornaments and cookies and swap them with each other so you end up with 12 ornaments and 24 cookies - one from each of the people attending and one of your own.  This is my third or fourth year hosting the party and it is one party that my sisters ask if I plan on hosting again every year.  It is going to be a tradition for a long time.  So I thought I would post ornaments that I have made from the parties in Christmas past. 

Ornament #1:  2x4 Christmas Tree

First I cut some scrap 2x4s into triangles using the chop/miter saw.  It is the same technique used in the 2x4 candy corn post.  Then I painted them green and splattered some white onto them to frost them a bit.  Then I distressed the edges.  Next, I drilled a hole in the top of the tree to put the ribbon through to hang on the tree.  Last I put a roofing nail in the bottom for the trunk and tied a Christmas ribbon on the trunk.  Here is the finished project:



Ornament #2:  Silver snowflake

This was the easiest of the 3 to make.  It involved going to the craft store and finding some snowflakes that were already cut out and spray painting them silver.  Then I added a Christmas ribbon so they could hang on the tree.  Easy as pie!  I don't know why they have that saying - I don't find making pie that easy- anyway...  Here is the finished project:

Ornament #3:  Fabric Candy canes

This was a time consuming ornament because of the sewing.  Everytime I sew I usually take twice as long as someone else because I usually have the re-thread the machine - kids help me un-thread it ;), and I usually have to pick some stitches out because I am that good.  So I found 4 different fabrics that I thought looked good together and kind of christmasy and sewed a long line of them together.  I then used a template (this one was a cookie cutter) and cut out the ornaments.  I cut out another fabric for the back and started sewing.  I used a zigzag stitch of these so I would not have to turn them and stuffed the candy cane when I got to the top.  At the top I also added a ribbon to (you guessed it!) hang from the tree.  Here is the finished project:

I loved how these 3 ornaments turned out and I hope that when I come up with another idea for this year's party I can share it with you.  Here is some creative vibes to you this season and I hope I get some too.  Enjoy!



  



Painted "old" signs for fall

I love fall and I love the look of old items.  I wanted to make some new signs using the idea of vintage labels for the fall.  My husband just finished making a gate for the side of our house and had some leftover cedar fence slats and I have some acrylic paint so the idea was born and FREE!  Like I have said before - you have to love free crafts. 

I cut 4 pieces of the cedar slats 11" long and used 2 for each sign.   Then I searched on the internet for vintage labels and used then as a guide for how to paint the sign. 
I knew that I wanted to make a pumpkin sign but I looked at some other vintage labels and found one for Apple Cider so with that being an appropiate fall item I used that as the second sign. 

On the Sweet Cider sign I painted it red with the acrylic paint, let it dry, and then painted it with a crackle medium.  I left a border around it and painted the rest a country tan color.  
I then used my Cricut and cut out an apple and the words.  The words were around 1 1/2 inches.  After stenciling and adding some free-hand accents to the apple - I used a acrylic paint called goose feather and glazed the sign and sanded the edges.  Here is the finished product:

On the pumpkin sign I used the same size of cedar slat in 2 pieces too.  I painted the base the country tan color and added a border on the top and bottom of it using a color called Honeycomb.  It really doesn't show much.  I then used a picture from the internet of a pumpkin to trace and reference.  I used on the pumpkin 2 colors of orange (citrus twist, autumn leaves) and used some green (ticket) and some of the goose feather color.  The labels I made using the Cricut again.  I stenciled the top using red paint and the bottom using black paint.  I then glazed this sign with the goose feathers to age it.  Here is the finished product:

I have to say - Not too shabby!  I can't wait for the fall and to find a place to hang these.  I am connecting them using a shim on the back and I am thinking of finding some iron work to make the hanger.  Not sure.  I might have to make more for the booth in the Signs and Wonders store in Spanish Fork.  My sister and I have a booth there that tries to help fund our hobby. :) 
Have an enjoyable week and enjoy crafting!



Cute wreath and dresser!

I know that I have been a slacker on posting on this blog but I am going to turn over a new leaf and try harder.  I have no excuse except to say that I haven't stopped creating things I just have forgot to post them.  Sad story - I know. ;)  So without further ado I wanted to show the cute wreath that I made.  I have been wanted to try this for forever and I bought the supplies a million months ago but it has been sitting waiting.  So over the weekend I pulled it out and made it.  I bought a dollar store foam wreath and the craft paper was from the dollar store too so I am in it a total of $2.  Don't you love this kind of crafts!  I channeled my elementary self and made a grown-up version of the tissue paper art.  I can't remember what blog had this idea so I can't give proper credit but I love it!  After cutting a million flowers later (I love my cricut for this)- I started to glue.  You take an unsharpened pencil and put it in the middle of the flower.  You then fold the flower up around the pencil and put a dab of hot glue on it.  You then glue it onto the wreath.  Easy as pie!  Look at the finished product - I must say it is darling!

So my little girl promptly told everyone that the wreath was for her room and I had to agree.  I have wanted to incorporate teal into her room for a while now.  It is currently pink and brown.  So with this wreath in her room I figured that she needed more teal and told myself that I was going to paint her dresser.  I put a base coat of a dark chocolate brown and then put the teal paint on it.  Lastly I glazed it with some cream paint.  I love how it turned out.  It is very calming to me.  I think because it reminds me of the sea.  I then sanded some of the paint off the edges and look how it turned out:

So I hope that you enjoyed the crafts I made and I am looking forward to posting more. 

See you later!