Remember my shoppng spree???

Well, I haven't gotten around to crafting something out of everything that I did, but I played around a bit with the things I bought.  I learned what I would do "next time" on some projects, and still have to work out the kinks on some others.  Anywho.....here are some of the creations I made.

This:

turned into this:

one of the "next time" lessons I learned is to spray paint the whole thing BEFORE mod podging the paper to it.  You can't see it in the picture, but the inside still showed the cute flower design, but was a more finished look than the dull tin.  I figured after getting the bucket for 25 cents in Targets clearance, with the paper and mod podge I used (I already had them in my stash) I spent around $1 to make it?

Also, with one of the other buckets I have left, I think I may take a page from Make the Best of Things blog and use my glue gun to trace the flowers for 3-d effects then cover with tissue paper.  Once I do it, I will post it!  Such a cute idea though....gotta try that one! :)

I also bought a cheap purse at the Dollar Tree.  It was not very sturdy, and was pretty flimsy, so I took some plastic canvas, made a linen cover for it, and placed it in the bottom of the purse to give it a stronger bottom.  I also made a felt flower and put that on the front of it, to the side to give it a little flair.  Once that was done, I was looking at the straps for the purse and they seemed too thin, and not the right color, so I took a 1 1/2" pink grosgrain ribbon and made a cover for the straps.

I cut two equal lengths , pinned them to the base of the strap (where it was attached to the purse, then pinned the sides together every few inches, and again to the other side. (does that make sense?)  Once it was in place, I took some brown embroidery thread and did a basic running stitch along the sides to hold the 2 ribbons together.  I repeated this for the second strap.

so, I went from this:

to this:

to hide the ribbon ends, I took some pink felt zig zag ribbon I bought at Michaels a while back and machine stitched it to the very top of the purse, all the way around.  (Go figure I forgot to take a picture of it before giving the purse to my niece today for her birthday.

I thought it turned out pretty cute.

My only problem project is the washer necklaces that I was trying to make.  I got the idea on Creative Crates blog HERE but I think she used resin, and I used Papaer glaze, since no one in Tucson that I live near sells Diamond Glaze (I figured they were comparable).

Here is my pic of the washer necklace I made (it is still milky because it isn't fully set yet):

but I can't figure out how to prevent the little bubbles from appearing.  I took a straight pin, and dragged any that I saw to the edge to pop them, but even after doing that, as it set more, I noticed some that I missed.  This project may be my new nemesis!  Any ideas???

grrrr....I'm sick! :(

My little one gave me his cooties, and now my throat feels like I swallowed glass, and my nose is creating colors that should not be possible in humans!

I was working on the blanket I am doing for a friend of a friend, and after working on it ALL DAY Tuesday it was only 5 inches longer than when I started.....I am frustrated.  This blanket is now my nemesis!

So yesterday, I took a break from it, and played around with the fabric that I bought.  I made both of my sons a sleeping mask, and I made another owl.  My son likes it and said it looks like it has googly eyes! LOL

Now off to wally world to buy some mod podge and sealer for my pots I want to decorate.

Did a little shopping...

and found a GREAT drapery material remnant that was 1/4 yard, and super cute....for 88 CENTS!!!!!  YAY!  I love bargains.  I also bought a couple of fabric singles because Hancock had them on sale for .99 cents!  Can't wait to do something with them.....

I also hit the dollar section at Target.....a lot of the stuff was 75% off, so I got these cute tin buckets for .25 cents a piece.

 AND....had to make a trip to dollar tree, to see if they had anything.  They had these cute bags.  They are somewhat flimsy, but I thought I could use some plastic canvas, covered with a neutral fabric, and stiffen them up a bit, and embellish them with fabric flowers for cute purses!

 sooooo....off to craft!  happy Weekend everyone! :)

YAY!! My first blogging award!

AND it follows my first follower!!!  ~*~*~*~doing the happy dance~*~*~*~*~

So, the kids are now officially out of school for the summer, and I was blog surfing, and thought I would take a peek at Brittneys Budget Crafts and just happened to see she nominated me for this award.  She is also my first follower, so I am officially her biggest fan now! LOL  Thank you, Brittney!

Rules of receiving this award:
1. Thank the person who gave you this award

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3. Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic! (in no particular order...)

4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.

Seven things about myself,

1.  I am married and have 3 kids.  Taylor, who is 8, Tate, who is 6, and Zachary, who is almost 4.  They make each day an adventure, and they give me new stories to share everyday.  With 3 of them, I never lack material anymore!

2.  I am very active at their school.  In fact, I took over as the PTO president this spring when the current president was called into active duty.  I was asked if I would continue to serve my own full term, which is 2 years, and I only hope I can do the position justice.

3.  I have a sweet tooth like nobodies business, but it isn't crazy about chocolate.  If I HAVE chocolate in the house, and all my smarties or gobstoppers are gone, I might eat it....but not always. (yes, I am a female....just missing that gene, I guess)

4.  I taught myself how to crochet after seeing these great baby blankets my friends were getting, and thinking "I could do that".  I bought a book with a few pictures, and a sampling of some basic stitches, and my love of yarn began.

5.  My mom was always sewing when I was growing up.  (she still is)  She taught us the basics, and I have enjoyed tinkering with it over the years.  I am still a novice, and from time to time will sit down with some material I don't care for and just mess around with my machine to play with the different stitches.  YES, I am a craft nerd.

6.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE music.  I used to play piano, and I used to sing.....but after moving out of a house where I had access to a piano, I stopped playing.  BUT, I can lose myself in a song.....my kids know not to talk to me if I am listening to one of my favorites because I won't hear them. (bad mommy award, hand it over!)

7.  I started my blog as a way to keep track of my crafts, and pictures of them.  I have found that over the years I have lost pictures of things I made and given as gifts, and wish I was able to find them.  I figured this blog would be like a diary of sorts to help me keep track of them, and keep track of other great blogs that inspire me.


So, now is my turn to share the blog award.

And the award goes to....
Lolly Jane Boutique
Kristikoo Handmade Gifts
The CrEaTiVe CraTe
Life on Old Savannah
Imperfectly Beautiful
Living with Punks (how can you go wrong with that name?? LOL)
Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
U create
Someday Crafts
Helping Little Hands
Jaybird Designs
Crafty Sheep

Thanks for the inspirations! :)

Need some decorating ideas???

When we moved into our current house, I wanted to give my daughter a room she could grow up in, and not completely grow out of.  I didn't want to do a princess theme, even though she was only 2 1/2 when we moved, and LOVED everything princess.


Instead, I decided to give her a "Thinking Tree" with painted walls of rolling hills and flowers.  My grand plan was to paint the fields, paint flowers then put a white picket fence on top of the painting, to give it a meadowy type feel to it.  I never got that far.  After painting the meadow, and hills....as well as the sky, I painted a tree trunk in the corner of her room, and then proceeded to make fabric leaves out of different shades of green material, and pipe cleaners as the "stem"....and attach them to the ceiling to make a "thinking tree" for her.

Here is a picture of her room when we moved in:

and here are a couple of it after the tree was put in.  I just stapled the leaves to the ceiling, and you cannot see the staples from below...

(the last picture shows the painting of the meadow)

It is super easy to do.  Just draw a template of a basic leaf shape.  Make sure you cut out 2 pieces of fabric (right sides out), so they match up, then take a pipe cleanerand place it in the middle of the 2 pieces of fabric, and stitch a zigzag stitch over the pipe cleaner to hold it in place.  Once you have done that, you can cut small pieces of fusible interfacing, and before hanging the leaves, simply iron the two sides together around the edge with the interfacing.  It helps shape the leaves, and holds the 2 sides together.

Everyone who sees my daughters room LOVES it, and all of her friends have told me they want a tree in their rooms too! LOL  If you have any other questions on how I did it, let me know, and I can try to give more details on it.

I LOVE finding great ideas...

So I was scanning the web for ideas, and came across the cutest idea for teachers gifts.  Well, as I said in my last post, I had already made owls for the teachers, but decided to give this a shot for a friend of my sons.  I found the idea on Imperfectly Beautifuls blog.  You can find it here:
Imperfectly Beautiful

She has such cute ideas, and I was so excited to find her blog.  She was gracious enough to let me link it here, so I can share her genius with anyone who might be reading my blog.  (maybe ghosts! ;) ) Anywho....here are the pics of the "diary" I gave to Kyla.....and she LOVED it.  She was so excited to get it, and thanked me a number of times!  YAY!!! 

And of course, I had to make her some hair things, too! 

 

So, there you have it.....for now!!!  Back to work on my blanket!

Whoo....whoo...whoo

Owls, owls everywhere!

So, after playing around a bit, and trying different patterns, I think I have come up with one that I am happy with.  I used the same basic idea as the lunch sack owl, but made one side longer to create a triangle so I can  fold that down and make it easier to fully stuff, and sew shut.

With this week being Teacher Appreciation week, I decided to make some for the kids teachers.....owls are wise, right?  So, here is my collection of owls....

I  Also took some pics of the hair accessories I gave to Bailey with her owl, and thought I would share, since this is kind of my craft "journal".