Day 22: Felt Flowers

These were really easy and look really cute clipped in to a messy bun. The picture really doesn't do them justice (It makes them look grey, when they are actually pure black). From a 4"x4" and two 5"x5", squares of felt, I cut out three circles. From those circles I cut out a spiral. I like to cut my spirals in a wavy fashion. I start with the outermost part of the spiral and start rolling it between my fingers. I continued to roll until I got to the center of the spiral. Then I took the center of the spiral and used a glue gun to glue the base to the rest of the rose so it acts as the base of my flower. Pretty easy if you ask me.

Day 21: Button Bobby Pins

One of the fastest, easiest, and cutest crafts I have ever made, are these little button bobby pins. All it took was me looking through my button collection, picking out what I liked, and hot gluing them to the end.



Pretty dang easy! And they look super cute in my daughters hair!! I made about 10 extra for my secret sister (refer to day 20) for girls camp. She wrote down that bobby pins are her favorite hair accessory.

Day 20: Mustache on a Stick

Next week I head to girls camp for a week. As part of that experience, we get to do secret sisters, where you draw another persons name and give her a gift a day to let her know that you care and someones thinking about here. At the end of the week you reveal yourselves to them. The gifts are supposed to be fun and inexpensive. I'm going to have a great time with the secret sister I got. She's got a great sense of humor and is a lot of fun. For one of those days I'll be including these Mustaches on a stick

along with eye shadow and chap stick. I know she'll have a lot of fun with them.
If you would like to make them as well check out the blog easy makes me happy

Day 19: Personalized Children T-Shirts

I found some white t-shirts for 75 cents a piece and t-shirt markers and paint on the clearance aisle. So today I rounded up the children and we crafted together. This is what we came up with

The kids had a hay-day painting and personalizing their own t-shirts. They put them on the minute they were dry, luckily at 105 degree weather that doesn't take too long.

Day 19: Otter Pop Sleeves

In our household we probably consume about 10-15 otter pops daily. Since I'm the mother of 3 sets of 10 cute, sensitive to cold little fingers, some Otter pop sleeves were in need. So with the help of my sweet friend Amber, this is what we came up with...

I ended up making three sets of both. All it took was about 6x4 inches of material folded over and hemmed along the edge. I used some fleece for three of the sleeves and flannel wrapped around felt for the other three. I also added a few buttons and ribbon for embellishment to make them just a little cuter. Now no more complaints about little cold fingers :)

Day 18: Cork board

It's been a few days. On Friday and Saturday our family joined some of my brothers, nephews, niece and the Jolley family to camp, boat, and enjoy the 108 degree weather on Lake Mead. The water was wonderful and the night was HOT! My "crafting" there included trying to get up on a wake board, preparing meals for the crew,swimming with my kids, tubing, building sandcastles, and setting up and taking down tents. My Sunday, the fourth was a busy one as well, with getting the kids ready for church, having to play piano for sacrament, teaching the lesson in my young women's class, preparing a big dish of enchiladas, making desserts and joining extended family and friends for dinner and the Pahrump annual fireworks display. It was a wonderful weekend but I didn't have much time for real crafting.
Today's craft I'm going to share is a cork board I've made over. I use it to hang up all my pictures I've received this year of families and friends I get around the holidays, engagement photos, senior pics, etc. This is how it looked before the makeover.

Then with a little red paint around the border, some pretty green material hot glued on to the face of the cork board, black and white ribbon wrapped around rope to hang it on the wall, and a little bow added for embellishment, this is how it turns out. Pictures included on the cork board to add emphasis (but really because I was too lazy to take them off:)) And If your photos are not on it, that is because I didn't receive yours, so next year don't forget me:)

Day 17: Computer Calendar Desktop

At Shabby Princess they have these beautiful calendars for your computer desktop that you can personalize like i did. Super easy and Super cute!

Day 16: Piece of Cake digi scrapping

At the Shabby Princess blog and on their website they have several "piece of cake" (as they call them) digital scrap book pages that make for a quick craft. Here's one I put together in just a few minutes and am tickled pink with how it turned out.

It really was a piece of cake. They also have many digital scrap booking kits that you can download for free on their web sight and you know how much I love free:)

PS. I just noticed I added two letter Ts to the end of the word independent. The wonderful thing about digi scrapping is that you can always go back and correct it:)

Day 15: Candle Stick Holders

If you know me at all then you would know its hard for me to pass up a good deal. If you know me even better, then you would know I can't!!! pass up something that's free. I've come home with a few puppies I didn't intend to take with me on account of them being free. I mean who can pass up a $1,500 tea cup chihuahua puppy that's free. Apparently my husband. Luckily I had a sister who was looking for just the dog. She was pretty thrilled with the deal:)

My good friend Chelsea had these lying around the house that her grandmother had given her and couldn't figure out what to do with them. She offered them to me and I happily said yes. I didn't quite know what I would do with them either, but after a few days of thought, I found a spot where they would fit perfectly, but before hanging them up I covered them with a coat of gold spray paint and distressed them a bit with black.

Voila

I think they now look perfect. Especially on top of the piano, next to one of my favorite paintings of Jesus Christ.

Day 14: Table Runner

I found some fabric a couple of weeks ago at Joanne's that I thought would go perfect in my living room. I did end up using a little of it to make my "I am a child of God" vinyl frames from Day 8 that hang in my living room, but what I had intended on doing with the fabric took a back burner when I found a new table cloth for our kitchen table. It's something I have been wanting to do for months now, but couldn't find the right shade of green. But it was a little too green to be left all alone, so I thought a table runner would do the trick. I loved coupling it with these colors and prints in the fabric. I'm thrilled with it! Now I just need to iron the table cloth.



Thanks again to my favorite sister Debbie for the beautiful table!

Day 13: Joann fabric masks

I picked up some wooden masks at Joann Fabrics that I knew my kids would be thrilled about. And boy where they! They cost me a dollar each. Can you tell which one my 6 year old, 4 year old, and 2 year old colored?


They put on a pretty cool show for me and the hubby once they were done and then played off and on with them through out the day.
This post is dedicated to the power of three dollars spent in a craft store!

Day 12: CupCake Liner Wreath

Another love of mine is cupcakes. I love to make them, eat them, smell them, and even look at them. So why not make a wreath out of cupcake Liners? Well I did... and here it is.



Want to know how to make your own? Just visit Tater Tots and Jello.

Happy Crafting!

n

Day 12: Photo Canvas

A few months ago I attended a good friend's wedding at the Seattle Washington LDS temple. It was the same temple where my sweet hubby and I were married. While I was there I made sure to take a picture of it that I loved. I took about twenty pictures from all different angles. I picked the best one out of those and sent it off to The Canvas People. Which were giving away a free Photo Canvas. I got it in the mail yesterday!

I am very pleased with how it turned out!

Day 11: Office Chairs

My hubby Timmy was in need of two more chairs for his office. Usually three chairs is more than enough, but the other day one of his clients had three other family members accompany her for an appointment. This has happened once before, but luckily one of his good friends that has an office next door loaned him a few of his chairs. This time his friend was out of town so he headed to Wal-Mart and bought two folding chairs before the appointment for 20 bucks each!! Later that day when he was telling me about that purchase I asked him to give me a few days to see what I could find at our local thrift stores. And this is what I found (within 30 minutes of our conversation).


Two of these chairs priced at $10 each, but ended paying a total $14 for both at checkout. Score!! Tim liked the style, but wanted black chairs. BUUUUT with a coat of primer and two coats of black spray paint this is what we got.
Exactly what he was looking for and all for less then what he paid for one folding chair. I love how easy it is to return things to Wal-Mart:)

Day 10: Blog Button

lds.org

If you want to make your own blog button like I did, then visit April Showers Blog Design

She can even show you how to make and post your own signature like this

at THIS link

I'm still working on my signature. I hate that there is a box around it. Someday I'll fix it when i would rather work on that then other fun projects:).

Day 9: Book Wreath

The minute I saw this wreath at Living with Lindsey I knew I had to make it! I had to add this to my Wreath Wall! Not only do I LOVE wreaths...but I LOOOVE Books even more! So it was perfect! I hope I'm getting my point across with all these exclamation marks and italics!!! Luckily I have a husband who accepts and even supports my book addiction and crafting. He too thought this was a perfect wreath to add to my wall.

I used extra copies of two of my favorite books I had lying around. Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island. I will admit that this wreath takes time and a couple of burnt fingers. But isn't it wonderful?!!

Day 8: vinyl frames, I am a Child of God

I have this weird wall that's about 2.5 feet wide and kind of slants to the left. I've added a couple of my favorite pictures of the children to it, but it needed something a little more. So I took some smaller frames inserted fabric that matched my living room furniture and vinyled I am a child of god on the front of them. I think it was just what that wall needed!



Looking at this picture makes me realize I need to straighten the frames out a bit and that I'm going to have to redo the G because I forgot to capitalize God. I think I might add some embellishments to the frames as well. Hmmm maybe you'll see them again in another post :)

Day 7: Tie Rack

Happy Father's Day to all those amazing fathers out there! I sure have been blessed with two wonderful fathers that I call Dad and Husband. In celebration of Father's Day I decided to post one of the gifts that the kids and I gave.



It was pretty simple. It was originally a thread holder, but with spray paint, attached ribbon, and nailing it on the closet wall, it became a tie rack. Each wooden post was long enough to comfortably hold two ties. When I nailed it to the wall I decided to slant it a little so the ties would be able to be put on and off with more ease. I thought it also looked better that way.


Tim was happy with it:)

Day 6: Little Girl's Necklace

My six year old daughter Ellie received this fun gift from her cousin Makayla on her last birthday. We pulled it out a few times the week following her birthday, but it has been nicely tucked away (where little hands can't pull it out to make a mess) ever since.

Last night, Ellie joined me at an over-nighter for our Young Women (ages 12-18)in our ward (church). We did lots of fun activities and making necklaces was one of them. Because of lack of time, Ellie ended up only being able to make the sea shell part of the necklace. When we got back home today she promptly went in search for her beads and asked for me to help her make a necklace. This is how it turned out.


She picked out the beads and I arranged and beaded them on the string for her. She was "tickled pink" (my moms way of saying excited) with how it turned out.It was fun being able to craft with my Ellie girl! And if your interested, you can find these kits at Wal-Mart, Michael's, Robert's or hiding away in the topest of top cupboards in my house.

Day 5: Little Aprons

I had the chance to "craft" with my good friend Chelsea on Thursday. She pulled out her sewing machine and ribbons from her closet and I pulled out some place mats and lace from my bag. With our powers combined, this is what we ended up with.




We did make three of these cute little aprons (two for my little girls and one for her's) but I didn't get a picture of them before I left her house. We were both pretty happy with how they turned out. I think my favorite part was the lace trimmings on the top of the pockets and the flower.



It's always fun to have someone to work on a project with. Especially with someone as fun as Chels, Buuuut I will admit, crafting with 5 little kids running around can be very trying of one's patience.

Here's a link to a tutorial on this with Somewhat Simple. Happy crafting to ya!