Book Page/Celery Stamp Art!

What do you get when you use celery, acrylic paint, an old book page, and a simple matted frame?

ART!

These pics really don't do the artworks justice--in person they are delicate, feminine, beautiful roses, and they match my bathroom perfectly.  :)

4-sided (4-season) decor!

I finally got around to making my 4-season stackables!  I loved this idea from the moment I saw it because (a) I like cute, handmade things, and (b) I live in an apartment so I don't have the space to store a lot of cute things.  :)  I haven't put any vinyl lettering (I'm gonna go with white eventually) on them yet, because I'm indecisive about fonts and words and such right now, but they look pretty awesome as-is.  So maybe they won't get any vinyl at ALL 'til next year?  :)

Anywho, I found a few variations of this idea via Pinterest (check out HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE)...because some of those links give tutorials or even an option to buy for various holidays, I won't go into TOO much detail here.  But there is a general idea/to-do list below the pictures if you're interested in the short version.  :)

Basically I bought some wood--I went with 4x4s from Home Depot (get the cheap wood, it's not for building--I got an 8 foot length cut down for about $9 total!  I loved that they would cut them for me, although I know most people get much thinner wood...also, I liked that I could make them HUGE and the 12x12 paper I bought would cover 3 sets...great for Christmas presents!  Cut your wood (whatever sizes you want, I used 6", 8", and 10" blocks) and sand all edges down as smoothly as you like.  

Paint or stain the blocks in the color of your choosing.  

Purchase and cut to size 3 scrapbook papers (I really recommend 12"x12", you can always use the leftover scraps for future art/decor that matches) for EACH holiday you pick.  I liked the white trim around the blocks to make it more uniform so I cut the paper 1/2" shorter than the length of each wood piece.  I chose Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Valentine's Day papers, although if you want to do other holidays--St. Pat's, Easter, 4th of July, back-to-school time even--go for it!  :)  

Mod Podge your papers on, under AND over the paper, one side at a time with at least 2 hours of drying time between each side.  TIP: Unless you're going to also seal it with some sort of sealer, I HIGHLY recommend storing/stacking these with a thin sheet of wax paper between each block.  At least for the first year of use.  Mod Podge can be temperamental, especially if you store it in a box in the garage/shed with weather changes, and you don't want to have to pry them apart and possibly tear your paper!  

Finally, if you so desire, add vinyl lettering to each side.  Enjoy!

Beautiful Bathroom Stands :)

I saw some cute cake stands on Pinterest and I got to thinking...maybe they could solve my messy bathroom counter conundrum!

Headed to Dollar Tree.  Bought 2 plates, 2 margarita glasses, 2 fancy plastic condiment cups, and a silver bead thingy in the Christmas section.

Already had the rose petal soaps (also from Dollar Tree) paint, sealer, and hot glue.

Magic.

From this:

These are the best representation of the actual colors.

 To this!:

SO PRETTY, if I do say so myself.  And these will be the inspiration behind everything else in my bathroom makeover yet to come. Mostly white, but with these sort of minty-silver-several-shades-of-pink touches scattered throughout.  :)   (I want new towels and soap dispenser/toothbrush holder, something decorative for the back of the toilet and the wall, and a new shower curtain and floor mats for sure...that'll probably be it since our bathroom is TINY. :)  I'm loving it so far.  I throw a few makeup essentials on the one on the right side and a few hair clips and ties on the other.  But they are so pretty on their own I almost want to keep it as-is!  'Tis quite the challenge...I probably should've gone for larger plates!

Cereal Box Mosaics :)

I have been saving and cutting up my cereal boxes into little 1/2" squares and sorting them by color into old jars for the last few months JUST so I could try this project out.

I thought my niece would love it, but it turns out you have to have a little more patience and artistic vision than a 7-year-old girl with no sleep really had.  She just wanted to doodle more than glue and put all the pieces together.  :)  But it gave me a chance to try it out on a smaller scale, and now I know that I want to do a much larger version soon!

Gather cardstock, some plain ol' school glue, and a paintbrush (to brush the paint more evenly across your paper, totally optional), and of course a pencil and your mosaic tiles.  :)

1) Just cut a piece of cardstock to the size you want. I recommend a 5x7 for the kiddos, anything bigger is very time-consuming.  Plus you can frame it this way.  :)
2) Draw a decently large image of what you want to make...mine was a moon, Caida's was a castle.  You want to make sure you don't have too many details, larger shapes are better since each mosaic tile is 1/2" square!
3) Paint a layer of glue over the top inch or two.
4) Start laying down your tiles.  Go piece by piece, row by row, and just put the color that MOST belongs there to make your shapes.  Of course the image will be pixelated--the smaller your image/artwork, the MORE pixelated it will be.  And the cereal box pieces are almost NEVER a single color, but that's okay.  That adds to the artsy aspect of the whole thing.  It will still be awesome, I promise.  :)
5) Cover the whole page with tiles as best you can and let dry.  Image will be stiff.

Here's my moon, with blue/purple/black sky:

And here's Caida's unfinished castle...at least you can tell she had a colorful castle, blue sky, and green grass.  :)  She just didn't have the patience to finish.

I think I'm going to add mosaic to my trio hot air balloon art vision I have for my guest bedroom.  More posts on that to follow.  ;)

Faux Bubblegum Machine...with a purpose!

Remember this awesome faux gumball machine my BFF Linds made me?

(A tutorial can be found HERE)

Well, after we ate all that sugary candy fruit, we filled it with 7 pounds of M&Ms. 

(1/2 gone...)

And then ate it ALL.

In a week.

And then it sat for a few months, empty.  The problem with this is that I wanted to either (A) fill it with candy and eat, fill and eat, rinse and repeat, which would NOT help me lose weight, or (B) fill it with gumballs--which I don't even like, honestly.  So candy sitting for months in the "machine" didn't bode well with me, either.  And keeping it empty did no good and was a waste of a perfectly beautiful birthday gift.

Well, I FINALLY got inspired.  That's the first time in a WHILE, craft-wise, so as soon as I thought through the details I went right to WalMart and bought 4 dozen ping pong balls and a Sharpie.

Oh, the magic that happens with a Sharpie!  :)

So, I give you...my faux bubblegum machine centerpiece/conversation starter!

(Yeah, I should probably come up with a shorter name for it.)

ANYWAY, I just took those ping pong balls, and painted them in six different colors.  Conveniently, the ping pong balls fit right into my plastic painting palette, so I could easily paint and dry them one half at a time.

Then I used the Sharpie to write a different question on each one.  They actually normally sell colorful ping pong balls already, but WalMart was out of them and I was impatient...not to mention I already had the paint and the white ones were WAY cheaper.  48 questions, none too nostalgic so even kids can play along, to get conversation going around the dinner table. 

If you're needing ideas, here are my 48 questions:

1.       What’s the verb you want to spend your life with?

2.       If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

3.       What would you do with a million dollars?

4.       If your life had a soundtrack, what are some of the songs that would be on it?

5.       If you could vacation anywhere in the world for one month, where would you go?

6.       Five of your favorite things?

7.       If you could have picked your own name, what would it be?

8.       What is the funniest joke you know?

9.       What would you do today if you knew you were going to die tomorrow?

10.   What fictitious character is most like you?

11.   What thought would you like to put in a million fortune cookies?

12.   If your life had a remote control, which button would you press most often?

13.   What do you (secretly) wish you knew how to do better?

14.   If you could take in any 3 animals as pets, what would they be?

15.   What is your biggest “claim to fame?”

16.   If you could win a shopping spree to any store, which would you choose?

17.   What do you want to be when you grow up?

18.   Do you (or have you ever) collected anything?

19.   If you were a punctuation mark, which would you be and why?

20.   What are some of your biggest fears?

21.   Which TV family would you most like to belong to?

22.   What would you like your famous last words to be?

23.   What is the most common compliment people give you?

24.   If you could swim in a pool of any food or drink item, what would you choose?

25.   Finish this sentence: “Love is…”

26.   Do you have any scars?  How did you get them?

27.   What was the best day you’ve ever had?

28.   If you hosted a dinner party for 5 guests (anyone goes), who would you invite?

29.   Would you rather live under the ocean or on the moon?

30.   If you had three wishes, what would they be?

31.   What one work of fiction do you wish was true?

32.   Which friend (besides family) have you had the longest?

33.   Who in your family are you closest to?

34.   If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would you pick?

35.   Where do you see yourself 20 years from now?

36.   If they made a movie of your life, what genre would it be?  Who would play you?

37.   Who is/was your favorite pet?

38.   What is a favorite family tradition of yours?

39.   What is one thing you learned today?

40.   What do you think is the greatest invention of all time?

41.   Would you rather be blind or deaf?

42.   What is your biggest pet peeve?

43.   If you were President for a week, what 3 laws would you create?

44.   What is your favorite room in the house?

45.   If you were in a yearbook now, you would be voted “Most Likely To ______”

46.   What sport do you enjoy playing/watching the most?

47.   What item would you put in a time capsule for someone to find 100 years from now?

48.   What about your life (to date) are you most proud of?

You could modify this in a ton of ways, of course, which makes it even more fun.

AT HOME:

• This could be your "boredom buster" jar.
• You could write Sunday-appropriate activities on each ball and that could be your go-to place on the Sabbath.
• You could write a different chore on each one and have the kiddos pick different jobs to do.

AT SCHOOL:

• use these prompts as morning meeting starters
• creative writing/journal prompts
• reading response tasks
• alternative assessment ideas listed on each one...like instead of a book report, do this...
• "early finisher" tasks
• alternative to the popsicle stick names/jars
• use as a "prize box," with a different incentive/reward written on each one

The possibilities really are endless!  I'm so happy that I have found a use for this adorable faux gumball machine that won't interfere with my weight loss goals.  It is a TRUE CONVERSATION PIECE, and I am happy with the final result.  :)  I'm also happy to finally have something to show off, since I haven't had much of that lately.  Here's to good things to come!

 

State String Art (just in time for the 4th of July!)

If you're on Pinterest, chances are good you've seen some of the awesome state-themed string art around.  I wanted to make mine more red-white-and-blue, for the 4th of July mantle--I'm thinking I'll make a new one for every place Paul & I live together. :)  Anywho, it's a pretty straightforward concept, inspired by many people (The Ginger Penny Pincher, Curiously Wrought, and Andrea Arch, to name a few), but here's my take on it anyway.  :)  Aside from the final effect, which I love, I also love that this project hardly cost anything--the wood was $1.50, the paints were $2, and the nails were $1.  I had the thin string in my stash already, but it's cheap if you do have to go buy it--or you can do thread, which looks neat, too.

Sorry, I'm still figuring out Picasa and I thought I had rotated those bottom middle pictures...like 3 times. :)

1. Gather supplies--red & blue paint and paintbrushes, white string (or thread, if you want), small nails and a hammer, wood plaque and state outline that fits in it. (I made mine on the small side, 5x7, because it was cheap.)
2. Paint the wood block blue. (Let dry.)
3. Lay your outline of the state and position as you like it.  I put a nail in each of the "corners" to make it stay put as well as define my edges.
4. Hammer in nails all the way around your paper outline--when you have about an inch of straight line left, remove the paper.  I think mine were pretty close together--almost touching, really--but if you have a larger board you won't have to put them together as much.  (Or if your state is mostly straight lines...)
5. Paint a red heart in the area where you live.  Bigger is better--at least 1/3 of the width of your tall states or 1/3 the height of the wider states.  Hammer your nails around that heart, too.
6. This is the fun part!  Use a slip knot to tie your yarn around one of the heart's nails, and then go back-and-forth between nails.  You can do it kinda crazy and chaotic, like I did, or orderly, going from heart to outline to heart to outline over and over again.  Either way looks really cool, but I'm a controlled-chaos person, so I went with that.  NOTE: Most states are shaped kinda funny, so make sure you don't cross your string outside of the outline or inside the heart!  If you're doing it more orderly, you'll have to get creative about how to fill in the gaps. 
7. Continue until all (or nearly all) nails have been touched.  I recommend wrapping the string around each nail as an outline at the end of it all, especially if you went for chaos--it'll help confine it a little and define the shape better.  This goes for the heart, too.  When you're happy with what you have, tie it off with a double slipknot.
8. Put it on the mantle! (Or wherever you're putting it.)  And admire your awesomeness.

Book Clock!

For our anniversary, I wanted to make my book-loving hubby a book clock for our bedroom.  I'm sure you've seen them around the internet, but here is my version.  That I love.  :)

Turns out, it's not too hard, and it's as cheap or cheaper than buying a nice clock from WalMart (the whole project cost me $11...if you have to go out and buy paint and stuff it might be a little more expensive for you, but not much!).

SO.  Here's what you need to make it happen.

1. Cardboard book (that opens up).  I got mine at Hobby Lobby for $4.  I wanted to buy twenty of them.
2. Two other ACTUAL books of your choosing--we used books that we had bought at GoodWill and not really liked that much.  Make sure they look good, size-wise, on either side of your cardboard book.  I went with something rather uniformed (black with silver/gold lettering), because that's how Paul likes things, but you could easily do an eclectic mix of different colors and prints.  :)
3. Clock movement/kit--this is all the actual clock parts.  :)  Got mine at Hobby Lobby for $6.  NOTE: MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT SIZE!  I got a 3/4" kit when I should have gotten the 1/2", and it made things difficult.  I'm still tinkering with it.
4. Paint/sealer/modpodge/possibly stickers (depending on what you want).  I used gold stickers and just wanted the 12 and 6 for my clock, but other versions out there cover the books with fabric or paint and paint on the spine.  Do what you like here.  :)  But the sheet of gold stickers cost me $1, and I had black paint/mod podge/sealer already on hand.
5. GLUE.  Here I used some of my E-6000 glue, but you could easily do hot glue, too.  You want something strong that dries relatively fast.
6. EITHER a drill with fancy bits or, if you're poor, a hammer and nails and some willpower.  :)

HERE'S HOW YOU MAKE IT:

1. Drill an appropriately-sized hole in your cardboard book--make sure it goes ALL the way through both layers.  (Look at clock movement instructions if you're not sure how wide it should be.)  We don't have a fancy schmancy drill, so I used a hammer, poked a nail through, and wiggled it around until it was wide enough.  That's how I roll.

 2.  Use your mad-awesome painting skills to paint your cardboard book.  I LOVED the way my pages turned out--I put a little brown in my white and only partly mixed it up, then painted long strokes with a 1/2" wide brush over and over again. It looks so realistic!  :)

 3.  If you're adhering any stickers, do it now.  You could PROBABLY just stick them right on (like with vinyl), but I wanted to be sure they didn't go anywhere so I Mod-Podged the crap out of that sucker.

 4.  While your *everything* is drying, take some cute pictures of your dog, who has just found a new "hiding" place (I didn't have the heart to tell her I could see her, but I think she got the hint when I snapped this photo...). 

 5.  Seal anything and everything with your clear spray paint/acrylic sealer.  This really is optional, but I like the "safe" feeling I get when I do this.  It's nice to know a sneeze or a humidifier won't mess up the paint job.

 6. Admire how awesome it all looks...you're almost done!

 7. Follow the directions on the back of the clock movement package to install your clock pieces!  (If you struggle with this, enlist help.  And eat some chocolate.  I'm sure those of you who are more mechanically-minded will have an easier time of this step than I did...)

And voila!  You have an awesome book clock that is TRULY all your own!  You could put it on a shelf to blend in, but since our bookshelf is already crammed in the ugliest way with books from GoodWill and Freecycle filled to the brim with quality literature, we put it on our bedroom dresser.  For now.  We'll see where it ends up.

Melted Crayon Art, Take 1

I've loved the melted crayon art floating all over the internet since the first day I saw it, but it quickly became a fad and I wanted to make mine a little more special.  I came up with an idea I'm really excited about, but I wanted to experiment with this whole melting process first...so, once again it was Pinterest to the rescue.  A little pastel inspiration, and here's what I came up with:

 It was a lot of fun to make--I bought a HUGE foam board and cut it down to the size I wanted with an exacto-knife.  Then I just hot glued the crayons down like I wanted, turned them upside down to blowdry (MUCH messier than I had anticipated--even with three trash bags laid down, I will still have to do some SCRUBBING in my bathroom tomorrow!  Next time I will do it outside), and hot glued my giant, bright gerberas.  Voila!  Instant springtime.

I LOVE my new spring decor for the mantle!  Now I just have to figure out what else I want to make to go along with it.  Stay tuned for take 2!

(And if you love that Easter egg button art and/or the felt bunnies, check out the original post HERE...there's a link to the original tutorial from Auntie Lolo Crafts!)