Summer Pictures

There will be many, many more...but here are a few...not particularly in order. :)

I'm in charge of flowers for my sister's wedding this summer.  So here are some pics of my handiwork:

 Here is Paul.  So strong!  ;)

 More flowers.

 Got our tortilla bowl maker in the mail--the first thing we ever bought from an infomercial, but we LOVE it!

 Downtown Lafayette, during a free concert.  :)  This is my phone background now.

 We went to a drive-in this weekend...saw "Man of Steel" AND "After Earth".  It was awesome.

 Made this chicken salad.  I love breaded, baked chicken.  :)  I just do.

I've been reading, tutoring, walking the dogs, doing housework, or working on school/primary music stuff otherwise.  This summer is FLYING BY, WAAAAAY too fast!  I'm not ready for fall.  I'm excited, I'm just not ready!  I'm having the strangest nightmares about horrible first days and I will feel a lot better when I have a classroom all set up and some sense of the curriculum!  But I'm not complaining.  I'm very, very blessed.  And it's been a fun summer.

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!)

Stocking Stuffers and Christmas Gifts

So, if you're immediate family, namely Cerene, Charissa, Paul, or Emilie, or James or Caida, or Mom, don't look any further, unless you want your holiday goodies spoiled!  I'm too impatient and I'm procrastinating those dishes for the second day in a row, so in my fidgetiness I have to post pictures of a few things.  I think gifts will have to wait.

ACTUALLY, I'M CHANGING MY MIND.  I'M GOING TO POST PICTURES OF GIFTS, TOO!  SO IF YOU'RE A MEMBER OF MY IMMEDIATE FAMILY OR A GOOD FRIEND THAT LIVES CLOSE ENOUGH TO BE GETTING A PRESENT FROM ME (that means you, Linds, Beck, and Audz, not to mention all you Watsons [and Dan, who I include in the Watson clan]), LOOK AWAY! (I promise, you'll see what's in this post eventually!)

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DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU...

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ARE YOU STILL HERE?

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Okay, the rest of this post is a secret.  Shhh!  :)  The sad thing is, it looks like a lot less work than it all was...and I'm not done yet!  But, anyway, you may remember that I am in charge of Christmas stocking stuffers this year.  Being poorer than poor, we've had to get a little creative with everything.  I'm just about crafted out!  Here's a sneak peek at a few of the cheap things I've made (because our family doesn't really care much about what we get for Christmas, as long as we get to open something and be surprised!):

Bookmarks made from giant paperclips--flowers for the girls, and Purdue trains for the boys.  Would you guess that I padded those Purdue ones with a round cotton pad?  :)  For Aaron's and Dan's gifts, I made little felt pillows of their initials into bookmarks like this.

Clothespin magnets--some turned out WAY cuter than others.  I took paper and funky stickers or, in this case, ribbon just the right width, and used double-sided tape to funkify a few clothespins.  A bit of magnet tape on the back, and you're good to go!  This is for one of the boys.

One of the girls.  :)

I work with flowers A LOT, so that's what I had on hand.  SO.  Magic wand for my niece (it's cuter in motion than in a still picture, because you see the ribbon and beads swaying...).

Ha, these are pencil toppers for our primary kids.  I thought they were cute.  :)

I spent almost two whole days crocheting a BAJILLION of these rosebuds.  I'm making them into pins as stocking stuffers and small gifts for people when I don't know what else to get for them.

Teacup pincushion made from a felted sweater.  I got to make this at a Relief Society Meeting at church, and immediately thought of Carri.

For James, since he and Cerene don't know how to date any better than my husband and me.  :)  Remember those 100 Dates?  Yeah, this is what I did with them.  I printed them out onto colorful paper, cut them, rolled them, packed them into capsules, and made a super-cute label.  No, really, it's adorable.  But I'm too lazy to type it all up again.  But the idea is that they take turns picking out a pill at random (a week in advance so they can plan), and that way they have a no-fuss date night every weekend without having to make any big decisions.  :)  I did this for Paul and me as a Valentine's gift, and when we used them, they were awesome!

My husband is one of those nerds geniuses who knows how to solve a Rubix Cube in under 4 minutes.  So I thought I'd make him an extra challenge!  (This is probably going to frustrate him beyond all reason, because it's all black-and-white, and I found out via google that the center square rotates and you have to learn a new trick to rotate it back.)  I used a dollar-tree "magic square" and just measured (VERY CAREFULLY) the photos, cut, and used double-sided tape to stick it all on. 

Paul made me a "Paul pillow" for the Christmas we were engaged, because we spent it apart and I was going to get lonely.  I decided to take this BEAUTIFUL dress Paul bought me in Chinatown (that will NEVER fit me, dear husband-who-thinks-I'm-thinner-than-I-am, even if I lose 60 pounds, because I'm not Asian--I have HIPS!) and turn it into a body pillow.  Paul seriously needs one, and since he gets too hot if we snuggle at night, this might do.  I don't have the stuffing yet, but I sewed up ALL the edges BY HAND (it took me about 5 hours altogether!).  Thankfully, there's a side zipper so all I have to do is stuff and zip!  :)

Here's a close-up of the dress...now you see why I just couldn't part with it!

Scarf #1 (literally and on this post), for Linds.

Scarf and winter headband/earmuff for Mom.

Scarf and winter headband/earmuff for a sister.

Scarf and winter headband/earmuff for another sister.  (I still have to make TWO MORE for my sister- and mother-in-law!)

Cute headband that will hold together my niece's Rapunzel wig (also made out of yarn...but I don't have a pic yet).

*Whew* ALMOST DONE!  One more pic, and then I'll save the rest for later.  :)

I turned a few (okay, 9) of those rosebuds into a Christmas tree for my in-love-with-Christmas friend's Christmas/birthday present.  I think it's adorable, but if she doesn't like it, I just used a pipe cleaner to hold it all together, so she can disassemble it and use the rosebuds for pins, decorations on bags, etc.

For SALE!

It's that time of year again!  (The time I dread because we never have enough money for presents, entertainment, AND silly old things like groceries.)  Are you or someone you know looking for a unique, homemade Christmas gift for someone with a little girl?  If any of you know anyone who would be interested in buying one of the following tutu frames, I'm having a Christmas SALE ($10 off the original price, which is 40% off!)...not only good for you, but will help feed a starving family...namely, us.  :)  Anywho, they're selling for $15/piece, satin hanger NOT included (but I'll still put it on a kids' hanger), and if I need to ship them it'll be $5 more per frame for shipping costs. 

These make GREAT Christmas, birthday, or bridal shower gifts for anyone with a little ballerina (or two, or three) at home, and would be perfect for that creative, crafty friend for whom you never know what to buy!  Take a peek and spread the word!

Black Pearl

Autumn Hibiscus

Orchid

Belle of the Ball

Just email me at celestesbestbuds@yahoo.com to arrange for payment and shipping!  (Or, if you are friends/family close by, just talk to me, facebook me, etc.  :) 

The other crafts...

I ran out of yarn for my scarf, so it looks like I'll have to wait a while before I finish it since we can't afford more yarn for at least another week.  :)  But here are the promised pics of the other crafts I did this week:

These pilgrim hats turned out to be SO cute, and since I always have spare flowers lying around, they were pretty cheap, too!  You can find general directions here, but to be honest, I made it WAY simpler.  I just took terra cotta planters (I picked SMALL ones, so they'd be cheap [$2.50 for 6 of them at Hobby Lobby] and I could make several for the different houses we were invited to this year) and spray painted them black.  Then I used black cardstock from my scrapbook supplies and some black felt doubled together to make the brim of the hat, making sure to have a hole in the middle.  I used hot glue, which I always have in abundance, to glue together the floral arrangements, then stuck them right in.  A bit of yellow felt for the buckles, and I was good to go!  WAY EASIER than the ones at FamilyFun, but those probably look better, too...so do it the way that suits you.  :)  I think l someday, when I have actual family coming over to MY house for dinner, I'll make even SMALLER ones and use them as place card holders.  Wouldn't that be cute???  You could also fill them with candy instead of flowers, or small slips of paper to write what you're thankful for...very versatile for families of all shapes and sizes!

I also found this great digital camo duct tape at WalMart, and decided to make Paul a new wallet since it's more his thing than bright red is. :)  He loves everything military, so he got pretty stoked when I gave it to him.  Also, since I've made a few of them now, he got one that was put together a little better.  Have I mentioned before how awesome this duct tape goodness is?  Because it is.  I will never, ever buy a wallet again!  I'm thinking about using the rest of this duct tape for another wallet for one of my many military family members...but who?  (P.S. One roll of fancy duct tape makes like 3 or 4 wallets.  Even with the designer styles,it's still less than $1 a piece! If you want to make these as a gift, they are REALLY easy to make (check out a tutorial here), and then you could stuff them with gift cards or money or pictures of family or whatever you want.  :)  One note of warning: you'll have to experiment with sizes and such.  None of the tutorials online gave me the sizes I wanted.  So my first one was HUGE.  Use your current wallet or some money and cards to make sure everything fits *just so*.  :)  If you like the three-fold style instead, MAKE IT!  I did this for my niece's birthday so it would fit in her little purse, and it turned out quite nice, too.  You'll thank yourself for it!

Keeping busy...

This is what I did yesterday...more pics to come of another Thanksgiving flower arrangement and a CAMO duct tape wallet!  Wahoo!  I heart being crafty.  :)

My first EVER floral cornucopia.  I'm in love! :)

What do you think--does it need a bright orange ribbon around the basket?  I think I need to go raid my ribbon box and see what I can do to make it even prettier...

My first ever crocheting project...thank you to a special YouTube video for making this moment possible!  SOMEday, this will resemble a scarf.  :)

A few photos...

I've been crafting a ton today...and yesterday...so here's a look into what I did.  :)  Just because.

To help us budget our money a little better (especially keeping track of FUN expenditures, which we lose track of easily on a plastic card full of abstract numbers), I decorated these cute little Dollar Tree piggies to store actual cash and coins in after each paycheck.  Once the money's gone, we're outta luck 'til the next paycheck!  (I like how they're kissing.)  :)

Obviously, if you know how I am with fabrics, I didn't actually sew any of this...but I did iron the appliques onto the purse.  :)  This is my niece's 6th birthday present for next month...note the white canvas shoes in the background.

 And to go inside the adorable purse, I bought some gum (because she's ALWAYS asking for mine), a little fold-up mirror/hairbrush, and...

THIS!

Yeah, I'm in love with duct tape wallets.  Easy, cheap, and fun.  I want to make a million of them!  In lots of colors and with lots of designs.

These ADORABLE Halloween decorations were SO easy and fun to make...too bad my lights burned out almost right after I took this picture!  Now Franky doesn't light up. :(

 (You can go here to find the directions.)

Along those same lines...I'd painted and made this Halloween decoration last year, but each of those little critters is actually a wooden clip and I wasn't sure what to do with them.  So yesterday I made an Esperanza Rising-inspired yarn ghost to hang from one of them.  I kinda followed the directions HERE, except I braided the arms and didn't cinch anything at the waist.  If you have the book, there are directions for yarn dolls in the back of that, too.  :)  I'm thinking I need to make a couple buddies for him.  Or her.  :)

Linkin' up my Halloween stuff HERE!

My sister asked me to make a yellow flower arrangement for her home...so this is what I came up with!  I'm kind of in love with the simple, low, flat, round look right now.  Who knew mums and marigolds could look so interesting?  :)

 AND, for fun, I made these napkin rings to match.

And then, of course, I had to make some for US, too.  :)

If I had a million dollars, I'd pay off my debts.  But then I'd probably spend the rest on craft supplies.  I could literally do this all day.  Oh, wait...I did!  :P