Crafty Girls Hit the Pavement!

St. George Midnight 5K

Martha, Tara, Hillary, Julie

Not only do we love to sew, craft and make yummy treats,

We RUN!

Congrats Hillary on your FIRST RACE!

We all did amazing!

Carseats and Cupcakes!

Shortly after my little Griffin was born, I attended an expo and for the first time ever, I saw the cute carseat canopies!  I instantly fell in love and wanted one, but didn't LOVE the price tag they had.  I inspected the canopy and left feeling pretty confident I could make this thing much cheaper.  I had great intentions of making one and never got around to it.  Griffin is now almost two and doesn't ride around in an infant carrier anymore!  (THANK GOODNESS!)  However, I was sad because I never had made one. 

Well, today was my lucky day!  A friend is getting ready to have a baby.  A baby GIRL!  Even more exciting.  Admit it, girls are MUCH, MUCH more fun to make things for!  I know you all agree.  So, I thought "No time like the present!"  Tara found this tutorial here for me (thank you girl!) and I tried my hand at sewing these sweet little things.  I am actually not surprised at how easy they are.  I added my own little "fun" things, like a ruffle around the edge, adding straps to BOTH sides making it completely reversible, and of course a flower.  Because every little baby girl needs a flower or two, or three.....

I made a button whole in the bottom corner and attached a button to both sides of the flower.  Then she can use either side of the canopy and have the flower on either side too!  And then, when you lift up the canopy to show off your darling, there is a cute button to show off!  How clever of me?  Yes, I know...I am tooting my horn on this one.  I am so clever!

These cupcakes are nothing special, other than they taste delicious and look so dang cute!  So cute, I had a hard time taking a bite.  I made the basic chocolate cake mix here and made delicious buttercream frosting.  Oooohhh, my mouth is watering.  I can eat frosting by the spoonful.  I took the sissy way out this time and bought some premade fondant, rolled it out and cut out cute little flowers.  I used food coloring to color another batch to be pink and cut out smaller flowers.  Now, off to my fridge to eat one of the few I hid from the family!  Shhhh...don't tell!

Shadow Boxes

I have decided that shadow boxes do not receive the credit they deserve.  By me....I guess.  For so long, I have overlooked shadow boxes, thinking they are a little outdated and not of interest to me.  My sweet mama was cleaning out her garage and gave me baskets full of craft stuff/junk that she didn't want anymore.  Me, being the pack rat, had to take it.  I hid them away in my craft closet and one day the light bulb went on and I decided that these little shadow boxes have nothing but potential!  They just need attention and some creativity!

HOME SHADOW BOX

Supplies:

- Shadow Box

- Paint

- Scrapbook Paper

- Vinyl

- Spray Adhesive

- Flower

- Twine

- Hot Glue Gun and Hot Glue

- Sandpaper

Directions:

1. Begin by measuring the box and cutting your paper to fit inside.

2. Cut out vinyl and apply to the scrapbook paper. (I use my Cricut to cut out my vinyl)

3. Paint the box and sand the edges if desired.

4. Use spray adhesive to adhere the paper to the inside of the box. 

5. Arrange flowers, leaves, twine and hot glue in place.

PLAYROOM SHADOW BOX COLLAGE!

A much more simple version....just some vinyl and black paper applied to painted boxes.  Orginally, I wanted to hang them on the wall.  But, then I decided I liked them sitting with the extra large clips!  The words in each of the boxes is exactly what happens inside this playroom....except I should make one more that says "CLEAN UP YOUR MESS!"

This project was absolutely free for me (you gotta love that).  Boxes compliments of mom!  I had the paper, vinyl, paint, and flowers all on hand.  I LOVE when my creations do not cost much, or better yet free!

Happy Crafting!

DIY Piano Bench

If you haven't seen the blog Knock Off Wood, then you are missing out. I recently discovered it and fell in love. Ana provided free furniture plans, the material list, the cut list, and step by step instructions on how to make it. She really targets women and tells them they can build their own furniture at a fraction of the cost, really encouraging them they can do it themselves, items that seem overwhelming and usually reserved as a man's hobby. She lives in Alaska and doesn't have access to Pottery Barn, West Elm, Land of Nod, Ikea, etc so she makes a knock off, that in my opinion, is pretty darn close, if not more awesome. Okay, enough about how much I LOVE her website.

My first project was to take her coffee table and modify it, shorten it and turn it into a piano bench. We haven't had a bench and I thought it would make a good starter project. I forgot to take photos from the beginning, but remembered in the middle. Check it out:half way done, just needs the toptrying it out to make sure it fits/workslots of sandingand staininglike my little wood shop in the garage?

sorry cars, you will have to park outside now.

DRUMROLL PLEASE........

a little darker than the piano, but my hubby insisted this was the right color, Man, I love being right!

Whalah! What a beauty (I think!)

Mother's Day Gift Idea

Mother's Day is coming - May 9th to be exact! 

I was trying to decide what to get my mother this year because really she has everything!  She doesn't enjoy mani's and pedi's because she is to shy to show anyone her feet, she is allergic to real flowers and perfume, when she wants something she just gets it! So I had to put my thinking cap on again this year.  My mom always has something hanging on her front door and this idea came to me.

Supplies:

1 barnwood frame

1 piece of scrapbook paper

Vinyl lettering

1 giant gerber daisy

small flowers and fillers

hot glue and glue gun

I measured my "fillers" to be the length I wanted and tied them off with some twine.

Use a hot glue gun to attach it to the frame.

Clip of the stem of the gerber daisy and hot glue to the frame covering the base of the fillers.

Attach scrapbook paper inside the frame and apply vinyl lettering.

Simple as that!

The frame can stand on it's on.  Say like on a entry table?  Or maybe even attach some burlap with a staple gun to the back and hang on your front door.....like this!

(Please forgive the horrible ness of this picture.  My camera was being stubborn!)

Happy Mothers' Day to all the great Mothers out there!

Teacher Appreciation Week

It's Teacher Appreciation Week at our school.  I am super lucky and get to be the room mom for both my kindergartener and 2nd grader.  Here are a few items I put together for the teachers.

I found a simple inexpensive clipboard, notebook and box to dress up a bit.

Supplies & Instructions for the Clipboard:

You will need:

1 clipboard

1-2 pieces of scrapbook paper

distressing ink

ribbon

spray adhesive or mod podge

vinyl letter

embellishments

Here's how to do it:

1. Trace the outline of the clipboard onto scrapbook paper and cut out.  Distress the edges using distressing ink.

2. Adhere using spray adhesive or mod podge.  If you use mod podge, apply glue to the back of the paper, place onto clipboard and allow to dry.  Once it is dry (and you have put all your vinyl/embellishments on) you can apply the mod podge to the top of the paper.

3. Attach the ribbon to the clip on the clipboard.  You can fill up the entire clip or put just a couple strands.  However you fancy!

4.  Cut out your vinyl and apply.

5. Add your embellishments.

6. Apply top coat of mod podge if desired.

Supplies & Instructions for the Notebook:

You will need:

1 notebook

1-2 pieces of scrapbook paper

distressing ink

embellishments

Spray adhesive

Here's how to do it:

1. Trace the outline of the notebook onto the journal and cut out.  Distress the edges of the paper using distressing ink.

2. Adhere the paper to the notebook using spray adhesive.

3. Decorate and embellish to your liking.

Supplies & Instructions for the "Clips n Bits" Box

You will need:

1 box

1-2 pieces of scrapbook paper

ribbon (I LOVE ric rac)

spray adhesive

vinyl lettering

Here's how to do it:

1. Cut out the paper to match the top of the lid and sides of the box.  Distress the edges with distressing ink.

2. Adhere the paper using spray adhesive.

3. Cut out vinyl to say "Clips n Bits" and apply to the lid of the box.

4. Decorate and embellish.

5. Fill with all sorts of great clips and bits of stuff!

What did I fill it with?  I put paper clips, magnets, fancied up cloths pins, matching binder clips, staples.

Really whatever you fancy!

Teacher's Name Letters

This is nothing new, but so fun to do!

I had the letters of the teachers last name cut out and decorated them with paper, flowers ribbon, bling blings and whatever else my heart desired.  I am really pleased with how they turned out!

Here's a close up of a letter.  I thought they turned out so cute, I had my last name cut out too.  I can't wait to start working on mine!

And then.....of course I don't have a picture of the cutest thing.  But, only because my brain is half gone and I forgot to take a picture of it BEFORE I gave it to the teacher.  So, you will just have to imagine it in your head and put one together.  The PTA sent out a list of questions to ask each one of the students about their teacher and their year in school.  The room mom is to be in charge of putting a little book together with all the answers from their students.  So!!!  I asked each of the kids a couple of questions, took their pictures and created a cute page (with the help of Anne...THANK YOU for saving my bacon on this one!) to put into the book.  I had a couple of thin scrap pieces of wood laying around, so I cut them out to be 5x7 (to match the cute pages of the kids!) and decorated them with paper, ribbon - basically matched the letters of the teachers last name.  I bound the little brag book with ribbon and presented it to the teacher.  It turned out SOOO cute!  And sure enough, I don't have a picture of it.  I just may have to go back to the school and snatch a shot of it, just because it was so cute!

Kitchen Remodel

Well folks!  It's complete.  I know I said it should only take about TWO weeks, but who was I  kidding?  Huh, myself!  Two weeks my .... (insert whatever word you prefer here!)  This project took SIX weeks to complete.  It wouldn't have been so long had Mike not had to go back to work so quickly.  I mean seriously?  Three weeks is not enough time to spend with my honey after being gone for a WHOLE YEAR!  Well, he must make the money to support my craft happy addiction!  So without further ado... THE KITCHEN, in all it's glory!

Start to finish....just some fun pics from our journey.  I could spend a year telling you all how I did everything, but I won't!  If you have questions about a certain task just ask!  I will be happy to let you know how we did what!!

The 80's ugliness....say bye, bye!

My honey, hard at work...cutting out the bead board.

Oh, what a dusty mess!  Sanding down all the cupboards and cleaning them all out!

I really did help in this process!

Painting the inside of these things SUCK! 

Thank goodness for paint guns!  We masked off the kitchen and Mike went to town.

Two coats of primer and two coats of antique white paint!

Oh So Pretty!

The tile!  This job was MASSIVE!  We didn't just do the kitchen, but down the hallway and the entry way too.  I think at this point, Mike wanted to quit and go back to Iraq.  Tiling is hard work and THANKS to Mike C and Judd who came and helped.  We couldn't have done it without you both!

Now, after this tiling job I PROMISE I helped Mike GROUT. IT. ALL.

Glazing!  Who ever knew you had to make something so UGLY to make it look so PRETTY?  I felt like I was destroying all the hard work when I was putting this glaze on top of the pretty white cabinets.

But, it was all worth it because this is what I have now!!!

Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my new kitchen.  I am so proud that Mike and I did it all!  We worked so hard and learned so much with this project.  The biggest lesson learned? 

NEVER DO IT AGAIN!  Just kiddin! I would definately do this again if it meant I got to stare at this beautiful kitchen instead of that ugly ol' thing before!  Now, all I need it a new stove, microwave and dishwasher.  Anyone want to take care of that for me?