Craft Therapy

Jilian, my sweet baby girl is now almost three and giving me a run for my money!! She has been so sweet and easy going that I thought we might make it through two and three without many trails, boy was I wrong! In the last month or so she has been pushing the limits and is go-go from the minute she wakes up! Nap time has been mine AND Grace's peaceful time. Yesterday we both needed some "craft therapy"! Crafting is my happy place! I wanted to share what we created. Of course they are Forth of July inspired!

While Grace played a few games, I made these:

Inspired by some pictures I saw in Country Living Magazine, I added a few things to a candle holder lantern.

I'm not sure what to call the embellishment I made here. It kind of reminds me of the ribbons you win at a county fair! I made it by folding a piece of flag scrapbook paper like a fan and stapled the sides together so it would stay open. I printed a vintage 4th of July image and cut out the center. I added a piece of sparkly white ribbon and glitter on each gold star. Then put it all together with pop-dots.

I printed a vintage 4th of July postcard on cream card stock and mog podged it to a wooden block. I also, added strips of red card stock on the top and two sides before adding the red, white and blue striped ribbon. Of course I had to add a little glitter!

Added a few flags to our mantle...

Moved the metal Freedom sign from the office bookshelf to the red shelf by our front door.

I took a 5x5 white canvas, added a 5x5 piece of old glory scrapbook paper. I then printed another vintage 4th of July postcard and mog podged it to the canvas, added some bling and tags cut out of the old glory paper. It rests on a mini-art display stand I got at JoAnns for .79 cents.


Together, Grace and I created these Popsicle flags. We hot-glued 6 Popsicle sticks on to one "flag pole". You should really do seven if you want the colors to start and end with red, as the real flag does. We criss-crossed two Popsicle sticks across the back to reinforce the flag. Since I LOVE spray paint. We sprayed painted them white and then hand painted the red and blue. Easy and fun!

October Craft Challenge

With Halloween being one of my favorite holidays, I couldn't wait to get busy on my craft for this month's Craft Challenge!

I decided to make some wooden block art to frighten all by saying BOO.

First I started with a piece of scrap wood (good thing my husband is a carpenter!) and with his help I learned to use a skill saw and cut the wood in thirds.


I then sanded and spray painted them black.


I choose some Halloween paper from my current stash (yes I have lots!) and cut them into strips.


I LOVE
vintage Halloween postcards. I just happened to have a sheet of Halloween paper that was made from vintage Halloween postcards. I picked my favorite images and covered the front of each block. The strips of paper I used to cover the sides of each block. Once the paper was mod podged on, I embellishment with card stock stickers to spell out BOO, the ribbon I won from Heidi is tied in a bow on top of each block and a craft wouldn't be complete without a little bling.


Close-ups




I hope you like them! I'll be making another craft or two or three inspired by Halloween and Fall, my favorite season (well, it ties with Spring!) :-)

Monograms...monograms!

This month's craft challenge from Heidi @ Blue Eye Blessings is Monograms. Although I love the look of monograms, I haven't really monogrammed much. I am sharing a scrapbook page I created months ago, but it is one of my favorites and one of the only monogrammed crafts I have (been too busy to create something new).


"G" for Grace... :-)

I made the "G" using blank chipboard and patterned paper. I added glue to the chipboard, put it face down on the patterned paper and then cut it with a craft blade.

Ribbon...ribbon...

You would almost think I only have this blog to make postings about Heidi's Craft Challenges! I really do intend on blogging more! Anyway...

Heidi's monthly craft challenges do inspire me to be crafty. This month's challenge was ribbon. I LOVE ribbon and use it often on my scrapbook pages and in Grace's hair. However, I am going to show you some simple ways I have used it in the girl's bedroom decor. AND you get a little sneak peak at the changes going on in Jilian's room. I'm almost done and am excited to share! Until then, here are my crafts...

Grace's curtain in her room. I made a simple white linen curtain and then tied it up with wide pink satin ribbon.

Jilian's new curtain in her room. Similar to Grace's however I made the curtain from cotton fabric with little pink and brown birdies and used wide brown satin ribbon. I was low on ribbon so I didn't make bows, even though I didn't plan it that way, I like how it came out.

Lastly, for Jilian's room I made this sweet little bird (birdies are my new phase!)which I will be hanging over her crib, with thin brown satin ribbon. I've made two so far and will be making a few others.

Please excuse the poor photo quality. My camera is at the camera doctor, I had to use Grace's to take these pictures! :-)

I've been crafty, again...

Hi there! This month Heidi has challenged us to use buttons (again one of my personal favorites). I'm in the s-l-o-w process of changing Jilian's bedroom theme, from sea to land. So, for this month's craft challenge I decided to create a button tree for her room. I need to add some brown or blue ribbon so I can hang it on her wall, but other than that, I'm done. Hope you like it!

The Tree

Close-ups of the buttons