Pinterest Inspired Week #2

I can pat myself on the back now for good follow-through. Here it is, week 2, and I did what I set out to do. I made something that was Pinterest inspired. 

 I made a menu board picture thingy.

Here is my inspiration:

You can find it here.

I was so excited to find this. I actually had this picture frame! I found it at a thrift store a while back.

For the last 2 weeks (a long time huh?), I have been using this menu from Thirty Handmade Days.

If you have never checked out that blog you should. It rocks.

I have been using a grocery list you can find here. 

I was super excited to get even more organized so I got to work. 

I dug the picture frame out from under my bed and grabbed my excessively large bag of paper. I found some paper that was pre-cut (from my Creative Memories days) that matched the curtains in my kitchen and my 'EAT' sign.

 I used a mix of patterned and plain paper. I laid the paper out so the colors alternated.

Then I opened up a Word document and started playing with fonts until I found what I liked. I printed them out on plain paper.

 I took my pretty paper to the window and traced out my words from what I printed.

Of course, there are many of you who are way cooler then me and have a Silhouette. Yes, I am jealous. Yes, I want one. But alas, I have to settle for tracing cool fonts on my window.

This is before filling in the letters

Once I colored in all the letters I trimmed the paper and fit them into the frames. 


The hardest part of this whole thing was hanging it on the wall. But I had the perfect place.

Sorry for lame picture. There is NO natural light in my house. At all.

I am pretty excited about it.

 You can usually find me linked up at the parties on my sidebar and 
Homework
Vintage Wanna Bee
House of Hepworths
Delightful Order
Tidy Mom
Tatertots and Jello 
Thirty Handmade Days
Homemaker in Heels

Fall is welcome here!

A few weeks ago summer came here in Washington. It did not last very long. Fall is here now. It has been raining and the temperature has dropped. 

I was looking forward to this season, I think summer was long enough. 

I wanted to make a wreath to hang by the door (I can't hang it on the door) that felt like fall.

I am loving all the yarn wreaths I have been seeing so that is what I made. 

Supplies:

Wreath form

Yarn

Felt

Super easy to make. All you do is wrap the yarn around the wreath. I did it very smooth and even but you can do it any way. I think messy looks good too. Wrapping this wreath took me a LONG time. I used hot glue to hold the start and the finish. 

Once it was wrapped I cut out a bunch of squares of felt. Diamonds would have been better but I was not about to measure anything. (This wreath has been in progress for two plus weeks, just needed it done) I alternated the colors and used a dot of glue to hold them in place until I wrapped it.

I wrapped the yarn in both directions, that is what gives the argyle look.

I like the way it turned out. If it was a bigger wreath form I would add something to it like this owl wreath. I am super glad I pinned it when I did because it is not there anymore:(

There are so many awesome wreaths out there. Be sure and check out my wreath board.

And now, just for fun...

Love having chickens!

You can usually find me linked up to some or all of the parties on my side bar and here

In case you don't know what to do at the table

I finally finished my signage for the kitchen! It has been a work in progress for a while. I have seen other bloggers tell people what they need to do at the table and now I did it too.

I bought cardboard letters at JoAnns and found some nifty scrap book paper that matches the curtains I made (perhaps will show them in another post).

I don't think directions are needed but just in case, I painted the outer part of letters black and traced the letters on paper.

I modpodged the paper to the letters and after letting them dry for about 2 weeks.

I used an exacto knife to clean up the edges and sanded them.

 They are not perfect. I tore some of the paper on the 'A'. But I like how rustic they turned out.

I found the utensils on Craigslist more then a month ago and had plans to paint and distress them a bit. After sitting in my bedroom for too long one of them broke. I opted to glue them and leave as is just so I could finish it. They are kind of distressed already anyway.

I am glad to have this finished. There are so many other things I want to make and now I can move on to them.

Here is the finished product:

 I need to find something to put in the little area below the letters. 

What do you think?

You can usually find me linked up at the parties on my sidebar.

Clay flower cobochons: A tutorial

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I know what you are thinking. This is gonna be good. A tutorial. From me. And this will not disappoint.

We have all seen these cute little flower 'cabochons' all over blogland. I really wanted some. But I did not want to buy them ready made. No, that would have been too easy. And then I would have felt like what I was making with them was not really handmade. No offense to those of you who buy these type of supplies. I am strange in that way.  

After some looking around I found out that there are molds to make these things. Etsy has tons of shops that sell these. This is the shop that I used. They had a pretty good selection and it is a husband/wife team that hand-make the molds. I think that is really cool. The mold I bought was $6.50 which I think is pretty good. And it came really fast.

I really wanted to make earrings, rings, and hairpins for my Etsy shop. I found some hair pin blanks on Ebay. I am blessed to have a mother-in-law who used to own a bead shop so that is where I got my earring posts. I have yet to buy any ring blanks:( Baby steps.

So, enough background and on with the tutorial. Here is what you need:

• Earring, ring, or hairpin blanks
• Sculpey or Fimo oven bake clay
• Flower mold
• E6000 or similar glue
• Cookie sheet to bake on
• Oven

The end result is so super pretty. I love how they look.

Here are the earrings.

The hair pins are just as pretty

This was such an easy craft to do and the results were great. I did let the glue dry all day before I touched them too much.

One little pointer though, make sure that you flatten out the bottom before you pop it out of the mold or you will end up with this:

 Not a very good earring. I will be wearing this one. I would not want to sell something that was not closer to perfect.

I will be linking up at the parties on my sidebar and Here at I'm Crafty Party

Holding your hooks and holding up your pants

This lovely item was a request I got on whoopdwhoop. Have I mentioned that I love that site? Anyway, a while back I found this great tutorial here at Little Birdie Secrets. This is a great blog. If you have not already checked it out you should.

So, I made one of these for my bestie a while back and thought I would see if anyone on whoopdwhoop might want it. I followed the tutorial without any problem.

 I love how it turned out. I will be making more of these in the future.

My belt was worn out to the point that I used some black duct tape on it to stop the tearing. I was definitely needing a new one. I found a great tutorial here. Living with Punks is another great blog. 

 Another very easy to follow tutorial.

I can't wait to share more of the stuff I have been making. I will be posting more very soon.

I am linking up here:

House of Hepworths 

Thirty Handmade Days 

Tatertots and Jello 

 

"Sew" sign

I saw an idea like this a couple weeks ago on another blog, I can't remember which one so I can't give proper credit. 

I did mine a bit differently.

This is super easy peasy and you can make any words with this. 

Here is what you need:

1. 3 wood plaques (4")
2. wood letters to fit
3. ModPodge
4. Craft paint
5. E6000 or other glue
6. scrapbook paper
7. Brushes
8. Something to cover work surface
9. Picture hangers (optional)

Paint the plaques on the sides and edges. Your paper will cover the inside. I used about 2 coats.

 While that is drying paint the letters. I painted them the same color as the plaques.

 

Cut your paper to fit just inside the square and use Modpodge to stick it. I did 2 coats I think.

Once everything dried I attached the hanger things to the back. Sorry, I don't know what they are called.

I used my trusty E6000 to glue the letters on. I stacked books on top so they would not shift.

Here is what they look like all done:

These were so easy to make and I love how they look. I am going to hang them up over my sewing machine.

Sorry I don't have pictures of the whole process, I am just trusting that it is simple enough that the explanation is enough.

Linked up at Not Just A Housewife,
 Vintage Wanna Bee
Bacon Time

Future projects

We have been a little under the weather here so I thought since I am not doing anything crafty I will show off some of my inspirations. There are some truly awesome blogs out there with some great tutorials. I know, I have most of them bookmarked :)

I have not made any skirts yet but I have pictured them in my head. There is a great one here 

Abby, from Morning by Morning has a lot of other neat ideas on her blog. Check her out.

If you decide you are digging skirts check this one out. Sew a Straight Line is a great blog. I love the fabric she used on this skirt.

Wrap skirts are so feminine.

I am planning a variation of this for Paul's phone. Cheryl from A Pretty Cool Life makes it look easy. I don't think I will use the same bright colors, I am thinking black with a rooster or something on it.

I would like to have something spiffy to put my business cards in. Perhaps this:

I found Schlosser Designs from another blog, though I can't remember which one. She just moved her blog so check out the new site.

I don't know about you guys but I am having some serious fabric envy issues right now.

I know if I had this laptop sleeve I may have less issues with my laptop. It is so darn cute. And it is thick too, that will protect from the kids and the dog knocking it around when I forget to put it away.

Char, from Crap I've Made makes it look easy. 

 Crap I've Made is also one of my favorite blogs. She is always making stuff that I like.

With all the great tutorials out there it was hard for me to narrow it down and only show a few. With that being said, here is one more:

This clever little purse uses something you would never guess to keep it closed..a tape measure. I love this idea! Hopefully it will be one of the next things I make.

Sorry I have nothing of my own to show off right now. Please visit these great blogs and show them some love. Let me know if you make any of them too.