In His Grip

$2.00 Nativity

Look at this great nativity scene.  Since I have begun doing a little bit of traveling to different countries, I have started a nativity collection from different parts of the world.  I have one from, Haiti, Mexico, and Costa Rica as well as my orginial Precious Moments set.  I have not been able to get one from India quite yet but am working on it.  The gals at 10,000 Villages are looking for one for me.  One of the women that works there has a daughter who has been living in India for a year now and she cannot find them anywhere.  I thought it was just me, but I guess a nativity scene is not important to a prodomantely Hindu country.  This particular navitey scene was made in China and I purchased it after, the after Christmas sale at Wal-mart for about $2.00.  I know, what a great deal.  However, it did not start out looking like this.  I purchased it knowing that I would help it out a bit and make it look just a bit better.

This is what the nativty started out looking like.  It was less than okay in my opinion.  The painting of details was very crude, but the shapes of the figurines were good.  So, I got out my trusty spray paint and gave it a couple of coats of white.  Boy, doggies, what a difference a couple squirts of spray paint can make.  

Here are the three kings, although they are all white, the detail shows up just enough to make them the elegant, distiguished men that they were.

This is the shepard and animals as well as the Holy family.  Okay, yes, I gave baby Jesus a bath in white gold glitter, but after all He is the one that the whole celebration is about. Jeff is still a little unsure about the "sparkley" Jesus, but I like him anyway.  The baby Jesus I mean.  I still like Jeff too, even though he just shakes his head at my spray painting shenanigans.

I glittered the roof of the stable as well.  So now I have a navity from China although I have never been there. It is now proudly siting amoung my other nativities, holding its head up high even though it was only $2.

I am participating in the following link ups:  Between Naps on the Porch, The DIY Showoff,Boogiboard Cottage, Its So Very Cheri, Sew Chatty, Dittle Dattle, Sew Can Do, Keeping It Simple, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings, Today's Creative Blog,Sugar and Dots, My Girlish Whims, The Thrifty Home, Blue Cricket Design, Sew Woodsy, The Tablescaper, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Making the World Cuter,Itsy Bitsy Paper, So Much Ado, One Tough Mother, Sweet Peas and Bumblebees, Handy Man, Crafting Woman, Women Who Do It All, Seven Thrity-three, Someday Crafts, Tea Rose Home. Lil' Luna, Momma Hen Scoop, Sugar and Dots, {Primp}, Sommewhat Simple, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Tales From Bloggeritaville, Gluesticks, Momnivore's Dilemma, Beyond the Picket Fence, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Simply Sweet Home,Truly Lovely, Finding Fabulous, The Shabby Nest, Someday Crafts, Passionately Artistic, Goodbye city, Hello suburbs, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Make it Great Monday,Vintage Gwen, Sew Country Chick

 

Santa's Boots Makeover

In January of this year as I was browsing through our local Goodwill store I found these cute Santa boots for 99 cents.  I loved the way that they are so short and chubby and knew that I could find a great use for them in Christmas decorating in the future.  Forgetting about my purchase earlier in the year I was so excited to find these as I unpacked my Christmas decorations.  Although they are cute just as they are, I figured a little bit of pink and sparkle were just the thing to make them fabulous.  

Finding this pink spray paint in my studio, I figured it was just the right color for the transformation.  The boots are about the size of a flower pot and knew that they would fit in perfectly with the pink theme on the front porch as bases for my little trees that were going out there.

I used Mod Podge to paint around the sole of the boot as well as the cuff and then sprinkled with bright pink glitter.  I use Martha Stewart brand, there are a lot of colors to choose from including several hues of pink.  

We filled the boots with sand to make them heavy enough to withstand the strong winter Kansas winds and then placed the plaster paris based Christmas trees down into the boots.  There we have it a perfect pink tree stand.  

There are three silver painted Christmas trees on my front porch this year, thanks to Grandma Sturman for remembering me when I said you never want to get rid of a Christmas tree.  Last year I experimented with spray painting Christmas trees and have found that the metallic silver paint gives a you a vintage look that I just love.  You have got to try it.

 

I am participating in the following link ups:  Between Naps on the Porch, The DIY Showoff,Boogiboard Cottage, Its So Very Cheri, Sew Chatty, Dittle Dattle, Sew Can Do, Keeping It Simple, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings, Today's Creative Blog,Sugar and Dots, My Girlish Whims, The Thrifty Home, Blue Cricket Design, Sew Woodsy, The Tablescaper, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Making the World Cuter,Itsy Bitsy Paper, So Much Ado, One Tough Mother, Sweet Peas and Bumblebees, Handy Man, Crafting Woman, Women Who Do It All, Seven Thrity-three, Someday Crafts, Tea Rose Home. Lil' Luna, Momma Hen Scoop, Sugar and Dots, {Primp}, Sommewhat Simple, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Tales From Bloggeritaville, Gluesticks, Momnivore's Dilemma, Beyond the Picket Fence, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Simply Sweet Home,Truly Lovely, Finding Fabulous, The Shabby Nest, Someday Crafts, Passionately Artistic, Goodbye city, Hello suburbs, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Make it Great Monday,Vintage Gwen, Sew Country Chick

 

 

 

Fireplace Cabinets Before & After

There has been a dream of mine to update and warm up our family room for quite a while now.  I did not want to change out everything as I really like what I have in there, I just wanted to warm the place up a bit.  This past weekend with my Mom's help, oh yeah, she pretty much painted the whole thing, I finally made my change.  Here is the before and after pictures of the transformation.  I am amazed how big a difference a little bit of paint can make.  And literally, I used, or I should say, Mom used only a quart of paint.

This is how the fireplace looked when we moved in.  Now, don't judge me because of all of the clutter, afterall, we had "just" moved in.  With the help of my Dad, my husband and he were able to build the cabinets and shelves just as I had seen them in a model home just a couple of miles away.  I have been very happy with the way the fireplace looked as well as the extra storage, but it was ready for a bit of an update.

Enter, 72 year old Mom who has always been a ball of energy and willing to do just about anything to be helpful around me and my sisters' homes.  Say, "painting project" and she's on it.

Everyone tells me I am like my mother, boy, I hope so.  Look at that flexibility and balance.  That's what I am going for when I am her age.

Sometimes I wish that we did not have to decorate around a TV.  Oh who am I kidding, all the time I wish I did not have to decorate around a TV, but at least they are getting smaller from front to back and can now fit on a shelf.  

I keep walking into my family room and just looking at the fireplace and love, love, loving it.  Thanks, Mom, for your willingness to be my personal assistant and get these projects done for me.  

Now that I have got this project done, I am ready to take fall down and move on into Christmas, yeah!

DIY Sweater Boot Toppers

I am really liking the boot topper leg warmers that I keep seeing around the internet and in the latest Fall fashion magazines.  There have been several out there on Pinterest as well and I think they can make a plain pair of boots into a WOW pair of boots.  A couple of weeks ago I was going through my closet and was getting rid of those things that I have not worn in the past year or have worn way too much and came across two different sweaters that I like but are just too worn out to wear any more and thought that the sleeves would make cute leg warmers.

I started out by cutting off the sleeves just under the arm.  

Then I surgered aroung the raw edge.  If you don't have a surger, I would run a zig-zag stitch along the raw edge.  

Picking out buttons out of my collection, I sewed them to hold the cuff in place.  So very easy and a great way to jazy up some boots.

I made two pair in less than an hour and now I have my newest favorite Fall accessories.  

I am participating in the following link ups:  Between Naps on the Porch, The DIY Showoff,Boogiboard Cottage, Its So Very Cheri, Sew Chatty, Dittle Dattle, Sew Can Do, Keeping It Simple, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings, Today's Creative Blog,Sugar and Dots, My Girlish Whims, The Thrifty Home, Blue Cricket Design, Sew Woodsy, The Tablescaper, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Making the World Cuter,Itsy Bitsy Paper, So Much Ado, One Tough Mother, Sweet Peas and Bumblebees, Handy Man, Crafting Woman, Women Who Do It All, Seven Thrity-three, Someday Crafts, Tea Rose Home. Lil' Luna, Momma Hen Scoop, Sugar and Dots, {Primp}, Sommewhat Simple, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Tales From Bloggeritaville, Gluesticks, Momnivore's Dilemma, Beyond the Picket Fence, The Shabby Creek Cottage, Simply Sweet Home,Truly Lovely, Finding Fabulous, The Shabby Nest, Someday Crafts, Passionately Artistic, Goodbye city, Hello suburbs, Handy Man, Crafty Woman, Make it Great Monday, Vintage Gwen, Sew Country Chick

The Fingerless Glove Necessity

With the use of touch screen cell phones for texting, checking email, and surfing the web, the need for fingerless gloves has become a necessity.  You have to have your fingers exposed, but also keep your hand warm. I started out this winter with my first attempt at such a project and they turned out great. I wear my fingerless gloves everyday and I love them, but they do lack the individual fingers.  Being a self taught knitter, I look at project like this and assume I will get stuck and will not be able to go on.  But with the encouragement of my sister and the sales gal at my favorite store, Urban Arts & Crafts, I decided to attempt some fingerless gloves with individual fingers.  After all, Janet bought the yarn with the promise that she would receive the finished project. 

 
The yarn Janet chose is awesome.  It is a silk/wool blend and oh, so very soft with a green/yellow/gold variegation.  This yarn is some of the best I have every worked with and because it is sold in a shank and has to be spun into a ball at the store, I do not have the label of what brand of yarn it is.  Dang!

 
I will definitely be looking for more silk/wool blend yarns to work with again and make myself a pair of these cool fingerless gloves.  This pattern was not hard to follow and I just need to remind myself not to read ahead and only do one step at a time.   I do wish these knitting patterns would offer more pictures of the projects as you go.  Being such a visual person, I depend pictures a lot to get me through, often times not even reading directions at all.  But I have realized in knitting you have to read and not just look at the pictures. 

 
I am participating in the following link ups: The DIY Showoff, Its So Very Cheri, Making The World a Little Cuter, Between Naps On the Porch, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings, Today/s Creative Blog, All Things Heart & Home

Panda Cake Pops

I have been seeing cakes pops all over the internet and have never given them a try.  For Christmas Lindsey received a cookbook all about cake pops with some great creative ideas.  So for Valentines day she and I decided to make some cake pops for our valentines.  They look kind of difficult but with the right ingredients and the help of the Cake Pop Cookbook it was a lot of fun.

 
Because some of the cake pops were going to Anna we picked a Funfetti cake mix, her favorite.

 
The process is a bit messing.  But really all you do is bake the cake as directed on the box and let it cool.  Once the cake has cooled you just crumble it up and mix in 3/4 of a can of ready  made frosting.  Believe me when I say not to add too much frosting as the cake pops will be too soft.  Then all you have to do is form the mixture into balls and place in the fridge to cool.

 
Once the cake pops have cooled for about an hour they are ready to dip into candy melt coating or almond bark.  This is where you need to have all of your decorating ingredients ready to go as you want to work while the coating is still wet.  One more tip from our little experience is that with cake pops, bigger is not better.  They will be too heavy for the sticks and as the coating starts to set up, it will crack.  We think this happen also because we used a little too much frosting in the cake mixture too.

 
We used pink candy melts to make hearts for Anna as well as pressed the cooled cake pops into a heart shaped cookie cutter.

 
Lindsey made hers into cute little pandas for her valentine and used one of the heart shaped cakes pops for her message.  You can see that a couple of them have cracks but that did not affect the taste or the message.

I am participating in the following link ups: The DIY Showoff, Dittle Dattle, Boggieboard Cottage, The Girl Creative, Between Naps on the Porch, Keeping It Smple, Skip to My Lou, Pinkapotamus, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Miss Crafty Pants, Making the World Cuter, Marvelously Messy, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings, Today's Creative Blog, Blue Cricket Design, All Things Heart & Home, Nikki's Nifty Knacks, Tales From Bloggeritaville, Its a Hodgepodge Life, It's Fun to Craft, Tidy Mom, The Shabby Nest, Simply Sweet Home

DIY ~ Cute Cast

During our snow storm last we week when we were stuck in the house, Lindsey and I were bored and needed to come up with something creative to do.  She had just had her cast replaced and it was just plain white.  Empty space means a place to be creative.  Grandma was working on a quilt and she had some scrapes of fabric hanging around.  So we had the idea of Mod Podging Lindsey's cast with the quilt scrapes.

 
We began by cutting out the flowers from the scrape fabric.

 
Then using the Mod Podge and a sponge brush we started to cover the cast with the flowers being careful to smoothe out the fabric and overlap as we went.  We coverd the whole cast leaving the inside of the palm clear. 

 

Lindsey then used a blow dryer to set the Mod Podge.  We then put a second coat on just to make sure that all of the edges of fabric were well secured.

 
And there you have it a DIY cute cast.

I am participating in the following link ups: The DIY Showoff, Its so Very Cheri, Skip to My Lou, Today's Creative Blog

Repurposed Recliner

This had been my project for the last couple of weeks.  There was a time when I thought the recliner would win but I kept at it and I finally conquered the challenge of the crazy recliner.  Early last year a coworker of Jeff's asked if I would want a recliner they no longer had a use for, he must have been aware of my dumpster diving hobby and allowed me the dignity of picking it up from his home rather than picking it up off the curd with the rest of the trash.  Since I have never upholstered a recliner before, my naivety, made me believe this would be no big deal.  Boy, was I mistaken!

 
Here is what the recliner started out as.  The fabric was a very worn polished cotton.  Although, this chair had been used a lot and the fabric thread bare, the structure of the chair was very solid and as it turned out a good brand name as well.  Score one for me!

 
When I begin to take a piece of furniture apart, I always start on the back and take lots of pictures of each step.  This is so helpful as you begin to put the piece back together.  I am always careful not to tear the fabric as I then use these pieces as my pattern, marking them with "top", bottom", "right", and "left".  This sounds like a bit much, but believe me it is more helpful then you know.

 
Recliners come apart, top and bottom.  This makes it easier to work with and I was able to work with each piece separately.  For the most part, I always replace or add additional dacron padding to the arms and sides.  On this chair, I added stuffing to the head and back cushion and dacron warp to the seat cushion, sides, and arms. 

 
Because of my lack of experience with recliners I miscalculated the yardage and realized I was going to be about a yard short.  Score one for the recliner.  As my luck was going with the project at this point, the recliner was winning, the store had sold out of the fabric I had purchased just a couple of days prior. Dang, dang, double dog dang!  New plan, this chair was not going to beat me, so I let my creative side take over and decide to add in a contrasting color to the back and sides.  I would only have to redo the seat cushion and add the contrast to rise so that it would go with the rest of the chair.  I ended up purchasing 2 1/2 yards of the contrasting fabric to make this new plan work. 

 
As it turns out, I like how the contrast looks and makes the recliner unique rather than just any other relciner. 

 
My mistake turned out to be something really good. However, I don't think that I will be tackling any more recliners any time soon.  This one just about did me in.  I did learn a lot, and if I ever do another one in the future, I will take waaaaaay more picture.

 
Now I think I will just pick up my book and cup of coffee and rest before I start my next upholstery project.  This time I am doing a sofa I found on the curb with the trash! Oh, yeah, re-purpose other people's cast offs, that's how I roll. 

I am participating in the following link ups: The DIY Showoff, Between Naps on the Porch, Dittle Dattle, Keeping It Simple, Skip to My Lou, Making The World Cuter, Sumo Sweet Stuff, Today's Creative Blog, Coastal Charm, Ladybug Blessings, Blue Cricket Design, All things Heart and Home, Me and My Bucket, Niikki's Nifty Knacks, Sew Woodsy, The Thrifty Home, Trendy Treehouse, Alchemy Fine Living, Miss Mustard Seed

Valentine Sweater Pillows

During the holidays I kept seeing pillows made of sweaters out there in "blog-o-land" and just loved them so I decided to make some for Valentines.  Off to the thrift stores to find some pink and red sweaters just for my project.  One thing I like about our local Salvation Army store is that all of the clothes are arranged by color so it is very easy to find exactly what I was looking for in a short amount of time. I spent $2.99 per sweater and it was also 30% off all women's clothing day.  You've got to love a sale at a thrift store, right?

 
These are the two sweaters I purchased and I had the solid red one left over from my mom's project of making a red dickie for herself.  Dose anyone else even know what dickies are?  We used to have them as kids so we could wear a turtleneck collar under some thing without wearing the whole sweater.  It is just the turtleneck collar with shoulders on it.  Well, needless to say, Mom cannot find them anywhere so she makes her own. 

 

I cut the heart shaped pillow out of the front and the back of the sweater body and then the edge and cording of the pillow out of the solid sleeves.

 
Because the sweater was so soft  and I though the cotton cording would be too stiff, I used a heavy yarn for the cording instead.

 
On the solid red sweater I used fusible webbing and added a bright pink heart and then began sewing white buttons to it and filled in the whole heart.

 
I especially like the way that this one turned out.  The buttons just seem to make it.

 

I am participating in the following link ups: Its So Very Cheri, Mad Skills Monday, The Girl Creative, Between Naps on the Porch, The DIY Showoff, Dittle Dattle, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Today's Creative Blog, Blue Cricket Design, Sew Woodsy, It's so Stinkin Cute, Life as Lori, Simple Sweet Home, Tales from Bloggeritaville, All Things Heart and Home

Tiered Heart Plate

Valentines day is on its way and when I took down my Christmas things the hearts went up.  Last week when I was at Target, I found these great heart plates.  Because I like to have tiered plates on my counter with treats on it, I thought that it would be great to have one that would represent the Valentine season.  When I purchased these, my friend Ashley was at the checkout counter and asked me if I was going to do something creative with the things I was buying.  I said that she would see my project on my blog soon. So, here it is Ashley, this is what I created with what you sold me.

I found these dowels in my craft supplies and glued two together.  I painted them all pink and then placed the longer one between the large round plate and the the large heart and the shorter between the two heart plates. 

 
My Valentine tiered plate cost me less than $10.  What a bargain for a great addition to my Valentine decor.

I am participating in the following link ups: Its So Very Cheri, Dittle Dattle, The DIY Showoff, Between Naps on the Porch, Skip to My Lou, Keeping It Simple, Today's Creative blog, All Things Heart & Home, To Sew With Love, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Tales from Bloggeritaville, Its a Hodgepodge Life

Felted Flower Pins

I am a handmade gift kind of gal.  I love receiving something made just for me and I love to make something special for people I care about.  This year I have made a lot of the gifts that we are giving.  These felted flower pins are so much fun and I have made around 18 of them to give to those special gals in my life.  Actually, the hardest part of the whole process is finding good colors of 100% wool felt or felting the wool yourself.  Luckily, I was able to find some great wool felt on line at Papertrey Ink and at my favorite craft store Urban Arts & Crafts. 

 
First I collected all of my supplies, felted beads, felt squares, needle & thread, and scissors.

 
I cut five 1 1/2 inch circles for each flower and two leaf shapes as well as chose a bead for the center of each flower.

 
Using a needle and thread I ran a couple of stitches along one end of a circle and gathered it together, then continued to add petals gather them as I went.

 
I then joined the last petal to the first petal creating a ring and finished off.  Next you do the same kind of gathering stitch to the petals and attached them to the flower.  You can either sew your wool bead or hot glue it and then glue or sew a pin backing. 

 
Each flower ends up looking just a little bit different then any other and the make a nice addition to a coat, hat or sweater.

I am participating in the following link ups:  Its So Very Cheri, The DIY Show Off, Skip to My Lou, Wildflowers and Whimsy, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Dittle Dattle, Making the World Cuter, Mad Skills Monday, Coastal Charm, Todays Creative Blog, Ladybug Blessings, Giggles, Glitz & Glam, Blue Cricket Design, All Things Heart & Home, Nikkis Nifty Knacks, The Thrifty Home

 

Painted Christmas Trees

Last year was the first year that I had acquired enough pink Christmas things to make part of our home pink for Christmas, click here and here to see what I did last year.  It has been mostly contained to the dinning room, but with the front door once again a great shade of pink, the porch has become a very fun pink winter wonderland.  I wanted to change up the look and really wanted some sliver trees but could not justify buying anymore trees, let alone explaining that one to Jeff. 

 
So I figured, I have some silver spray paint in my studio, why not try a little on the small trees on the front porch.  I tested it first on a small piece of greenery to make sure the spray paint did not melt the plastic or do anything crazy.  And it worked, so I went to town with the painting.

 
Once I saw the transformation, I absolutely love it and knew that it would be the perfect change to the front porch and make those pink accents pop.

 
The end result truly looked like the vintage tinsel trees from back in the day.  I not only paint my two trees but a wreath as well.

 
Who knew that spray paint could change a Christmas tree?  Again, Jeff doubted the outcome of my shenanigans with spray paint, and once again he is shocked that it really did work.

 
Next year I just might be brave enough to tackle the giant wreath above the door.

I am linking to the following link up parties: Its So Very Cheri, The DIY Showoff, The Girl Creative, Cross My Hooks, Between Naps On the Porch, Keeping It Simple, Dittle Dattle, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Today's Creative Blog, Centsational Girl, Somewhat Simple, Blue Cricket Designs, All Things Heart & Home, Nikkis Nifty Knacks, Trendy Treeehouse, Sew Woodsy, Fine Craft Guild, Creations By Kara, The Thrifty Home, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Life as Lori, Tales from Bloggeritavile, Wildflowers and Whimsy, The Shabby Chic Cottage, Paisley Passions, The Shabby Nest, Truly Lovely

Peace Wreath

We were shopping in Pier 1 Imports last week when we saw this great peace sign shaped wreath.  Our daughter Lindsey just loved it, but the Pier 1 wreath was a hefty $99 and way out of a first year teacher's budget. So we decided to make one of our own.  Not only would we make one of our own, for way less but then we could choose the colors to match the rest of Lindsey's Christmas decor.

 
We purchased two large wire wreath frames for $2.99 each.  Using one of the frames to make the peace sign on the inside.  We had to recruit Jeff to help with this part, he was a bit skeptical as to how this was going to work but was a good sport, anything for his daughter.

  

Next Lindsey wrapped the frame with bright pink tinsel garland to help cover up any part of the frame that might show after the balls are placed.

 
Then the fun part begins.  We purchased 10 packages of large shatter proof balls from the $1 spot at Target and 10 packages of the small balls as well.  Using a lot of hot glue, place the large balls onto the frame. Working the middle peace sign first.

 
Once the center is complete begin working around the outside part of the wreath. 

 
Once you have finished the outside ring, use the small balls to fill in the spaces.  Here you have the peace sign wreath for less then $30.  There were losts of both size balls left over for other Christmas decorating.

I am participating in the following link ups:  Its So Very Cheri, Between Naps on The Porch, Showoff Your House, The DIY Showoff, Keeping It Simple, Cottage Instincts, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, Today's Creative Blog, Ladybug Blessings, All Things Heart & Home, Blue Cricket Design, Trendy Treehouse, Nikkis Nifty Knacks, The Thrifty Home, Sew Woodsy, Life as Lori, Tales From Bloggeritaville, Finding Fabulous, Its a Hodgepodge Life, Its Fun to Craft, Simply Sweet Home,The Shabby Nest, Thrifty Tickle, Tidy Mom, Truly Lovely, Antique Texan, Along for the Ride, Centsatinoal Girl, Somewhat Simple, Fine Craft Guild, Creations By Kara

Pink Christmas Ball Wreath -- Repost

This is a re-post from last year.  My pink Christmas ball wreath post has been one of the most visited posts that "In His Grip" has ever had so I am re-posting it today for my new readers that may not have seen how great Christmas can be if you make it pink.

This is the Christmas wreath that Anna made for me this past weekend.  She showed me this really cute wreath on a blog a couple of weeks ago and had me  buy some pink Christmas balls to so she could make one.  This was an easy peasy project.  Here are the steps so you can make one too. 

 
Take a wire hanger and untwist it and then stretch it into a circle.

 
Before stringing the balls onto the hanger you will need to hot glue the tops on.  This is an important step because as the hanger gets full and the balls tighten together they will pop off.  Do not skip this step, believe me!

 
You will need to use several size balls to fill in as much as possible the blank spaces.  Don't worry if the wire shows a bit, once the wreath is complete you can fill in by hot gluing small balls to fill in the gaps.  When the hanger is full twist the two ends of the wire hanger together and then cover it with a large ribbon.

 
I love the way this turned out and I think Anna rocks for making one for me.   Thanks, Anna, I love you!

I am participating in the following link ups: Between Naps on the Porch, Its So Very Cheri, The DIY Showoff, Keeping It Simple, Mad Skills Monday, The Girl Creative, Skip to My Lou, A Silly Little Sparrow, Coastal Charm, New Nostalgia, Today's Creative Blog, Blue Cricket Design, Me and My Bucket, Night Owl Crafting, Nikkis Nifty Knacks, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Paisley Passions, T-Shirt Diaries

Bleached Pine Cones

Some time ago I had this idea of bleaching pine cones.  We have trees in our yard that drop pine cones every year and I have used them for many different projects.  But I wanted to see if I could get the pine cones a lighter color so that the pink glitter I wanted to put of them would show up better.  Heck, the pine cones are free and bleach is cheap so why not give it a try.

 
I gathered a bunch of pine cones to fill this large plastic container that I had and then poured bleach over them, enough to cover them all.  Now here is where I should have done a little more research.  When the pine cones and bleach were mixed the bleach not only heated up but the bleach expanded and started seeping over the top of the container.  You guessed it, Jeff was not happy.  I quickly moved the whole thing to the sink.  I had no idea that anyone else had ever bleaching pine cones before.  After Jeff suggested I Google bleaching pine cones, there are a bunch of sites on how to's, they recommend a bleach and water mixture as opposed to straight bleach, oops!

 
When the pine cones absorb the bleach they close up.  I left them in the bleach for 24 hours and was disappointed that the did not lighten up a much as I had anticipated.  Darn. 

 
However, I put them in the oven at 250 degrees to speed up the drying process and as they opened and dried, they came out this beautiful light tan color.  Score!  This is exactly what I was hoping for.  Perfect to add a little pink glitter.

These are going to be a great addition to this year's pink Christmas. Oh, yeah!

I am participating in the following link ups:  Between Naps on the Porch, Its so Very Cheri, The Girl Creative, The DIY Showoff, Keeping It Simple, Skip to my Lou, Coastal charm, Domestially Speaking, Today's Creative Blog, All Things Merry & Brite, Its a Hodgepodge Life, Just A Girl, The Shabby Nest, Simply Sweet Home, Finding Fabulous, Its Fun to Craft, Thrifty Tickle, Tidy Mom

My Kind of Style

If you have read my blog at all you know that I love the local store Urban Arts & Crafts.  Not only is it just the most inspiring place ever, but they carry fabrics that no other stores carry, by designers like Amy Butler, and Anna Marie Horner.  I  have been dying to make something from some of those whimsical fabrics.  So several weeks ago I picked up a couple of those coordinating fabrics and wanted to make something to wear.  Although, I love color, mostly pink, and patterns, I wanted it to be something that was comfortable and up to date.  However, I just couldn't stay away from the large pink floral patterns, so much for trying to blend in.

 
This is the Amy Butler pattern that I chose to make.  It comes in three different lengths, shirt, tunic, and dress.  I picked the tunic lengthen so that I could wear it with either jeans or leggings.

 
I used the small print as a contrast for the button placket as well as the collar and cuffs.

 
 
I love how this turned out and cannot wait to wear my new tunic.  I recently picked up some brown leggings and a brown t-shirt that will work nicely under my flowery fun.

 
The back is great too.  I have always been a pushover for bows. Besides the tie helps give this gal a waist.

I am participating in the following link ups:  Keeping it Simple, The DIY Showoff, The Gril Creative, Its So Very Creative, Skip to My Lou, Today's Creative Blog, Coastal Charm, New Nostalgia, Nikkis Nifty Knacks, Blue Cricket Design, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Paisley Passions, Tales from Bloggeritaville

Craft Faux Pas'

Over a month ago Jeff and I entered into the world of "smart phones" when we picked up our new Garminfones.  Although it took some getting used to for me, I now love my new phone. However, the only cover I have been able to find for it is a black rubber skin.  I now can say that I hate the rubber skin.  Not only does it make the phone thicker it is sticky and I cannot get it out of the pocket of my purse or my jeans.  Besides it collects stuff, lint, threads, and other junk.  I began my search for a snap on type phone cover.  This is the type of phone cover I have always had. I like that they make my phone look more like me, and protects it from a little spill now and then.

 
I found one snap-on cover on the internet.  Seriously, I wanted something fun and cute and pink.  But for $2.99 how could I go wrong at least it would not be sticky anymore.  When it came in the mail I tried in on my phone and it fit great, however, there is no cut out on the back to allow it to fit onto my car mount so that I can use the GPS feature.

 
Using my handy, dandy dremel tool Jeff made the cuts to accomidate the mount in the car.  I tried the cover back on my phone and it fit great and now could also be mounted in my car.  Yeah, problem solved right?  Wrong, I was not satisfied with a clear cover I want fun, cute, and pink.  So my creative brain took over and I designed what I though would be a great solution.

 
I used my Cricket machine and cut some vinyl stickers and put them on the inside of the cover.   

 
The sticker not being enough, I wanted some glitter so I got out some glittery pink paint and put a coat or two.  Now mind you, Jeff is in the background saying, "That is not going to work, the cover is not going fit."  Yeah right, whatever. Like he has said that before and was right about the sofa not fitting down the stairs. When that paint dried I put a final coat of bright pink paint so that none of the black phone could be seen through.

 
I love how it turned out all fun, cute, and not only pink but sparkly as well.  Only, Jeff was right.  After putting the stickers on and adding several coats of paint the darn thing will not snap together.  Are you kidding me, after all of that trouble and it turning out so great, the freakin' thing will not snap shut.  So this is one craft that turned out great, but is unusable, sure glad that it only cost $2.99.  I guess I will have to go back to the black sticky thing.  Dang!

I am participating in the following link ups:  Its So Very Creative, The Girl Creative, Between Naps on the Porch, The DIY Showoff, Keeping It Simple, Skip to My Lou, Coastal Charm, New Nostalgia, Blue Cricket Design, Nikki's Nifty Knacks, The Thrifty Home, Life As Lori, Paisley Passions, Tales from Blogaritville

Pink Jack-O-Lantern

Last Halloween, my sister, Lori, told me about how she took the traditional jack-o-lantern buckets and covered them with dictionary pages.  As I have just recently come into a huge box of old sheet music at an estate sale, I thought it would make a great cover for my jack-o-lantern.  And of course, I wanted to bring a little pink into my halloween decorations and what better way than to add a little bit of pink glitter to the mix while I'm at it? 

 

 

 
I started with two typical jack-o-lantern buckets from K-mart for $1.49 each.

 

I spray painted them both white so that they would be easier to cover with the white music pages.

 
There is no real reason to post this picture, other than to prove that I was doing crafts outside in the sun by the lake in Northern Minnesota in mid-October.  The weather was beautiful that day. There was absolutely no wind as proved by the fact that my strips of music are not blowing all over. 

 
Using Mod Podge I covered the jack-o-lantern with the strips of sheet music, being sure to overlap and pressing out the wrinkles. 

 
Once the Mod Podge was completely dry, I used glue to paint the face and then sprinkled with pink glitter. 

 
I used pink wire to make and curly handle and topped it off with a pink bow.  Now I am ready to fill this puppy with candy, and ready for the trick-or-treaters.

 
On the other jack-o-lantern I used a black sharpie to fill in the face and then add glue and black glitter (sorry no picture).  I kind of like him too!

Pumpkins From Up North

With the days as beautiful as they were when we were up north, I was inspired to do some crafts that required things from the good old outdoors.  There are lots of birch trees around in the woods and beings as it is Autumn how about some birch pumpkins?  Now this was something that I had thought up in my head and really wasn't sure how it was going to work out.  So the first course of action was to peel some birch bark from the trees around my Mom's property. 

 
Birch bark peels easily right off the trees and it is a light orange on the inside and an ashy white on the outside.  It will peel off in strips that can range from the thickness of tissue paper to hearvy cardboard.

 
I soaked the bark in hot water to help make it pliable and bend the way I wanted it to bend.  I found that this also loosened up the layers of the bark and I was able to make the pieces that were too thick much thinner by stripping away some of the layers.

 

Using handy dandy hot glue, I just started covering the artificial pumpkin with the strips of bark, overlapping as I went to make sure I had good coverage. 

 
Once the pumpkin was covered all of the pieces came together on the bottom and did not look very good so I cut a round piece of bark and glued it down.

 
Next, I drilled a hole in the top and glued in a birch branch.  Taking some thin bark, I cut some leaves and made some curls for vines and glued them next to the the stem.  

 
These turned out way better than I ever expected.  I love them.  Now my mind is going crazy as to what I can cover with birch bark next time I am in the north woods.

 

 I am participating in the following link ups: Its So Very Creative, The DIY Showoff, Between Naps on the Porch, The Halloween Scene, The Girl Creative, Today's Creative Blog, Coastal Charm, New Nostalgia, Life as Lori, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Paisley Passions, Tales from Bloggeritaville, Its a Blog Party, Its a Hodgepodge Life, Its Fun to Craft, The Shabby Nest

Felted Acorns

I found some great felted acorns on a blog a couple weeks ago and thought "I can do that".  I began a search for some acorns so that I could use the little caps, I put a post out on Facebook for anyone with acorns in their yard and I would come by a pick them up.  My friend Nancy responded that she had recently found a giant acorn while on a walk and brought it by to me.  This nice big acorn was awesome, now just any acorns would not do, I needed the BIG ones.  While at K-State for family weekend, we were visiting Anna at the Pi Phi house and what did I see but giant acorns all over their front yard.  Score!  I had all the BIG acorns I wanted.

I began by taking the nuts out of the caps and cleaning them up a bit.  Some still had their leaves attached so I decided to just keep them and see how they will fair over time.

Because I am just a sparkly kind of gal, I decided to spray paint the caps with a metallic gold spray paint.  What nature makes, can always be made a little more sparkly with some gold paint,right?

I chose to use wool roving to make the felted nuts, thinking the roving would be easier than Kristi used over at The Speckled Dog.  Using roving would also give me the ability to make my acorns mutli colored by mixing the colors together.  To add a little more colors I found some 100% wool yarn that I added in as well.

 

Taking a wooden bead and a hunk of roving large enough to covering the bead, you dunk the whole thing into the hottest water that your hands can stand, working the roving into a ball around the bead.

 

Then you add a drop of liquid soap and continue to work the ball of wool.  I am not sure why you need soap, but just trust me you do. Lightly roll the ball around in your hands dunking it down into the water again and again, putting it a side for awhile and starting another will allow the water and soap to soak in and help the felting process.  This takes a lot longer that I anticipated, but as you work it into ball it will continue to get smaller and smaller and will dry even smaller than that.  This being said, be sure to start with a little bit bigger ball of wool than you think you are going to need. 

 Once the felted balls are dry, just hot glue them into the caps and you have some fun acorns for your enjoyment.  I am not sure what it is about acorns but I love the way they look.  Maybe, its because they are the only nuts around that come with their own accessory, hats.  Love it!

I am participating in the these link ups: Its So Very Creative, The Halloween Scene, Between Naps on the Porch, Keeping It Simple, The DIY Showoff, Skip to my Lou, Coastal Charm, A Silly Little Sparrow, Today's Creative Blog, Blue Cricket Design, Me and My Bucket, Paisley Passions, Tales From Bloggeritaville, Frieflies and Jellybeans, Finding Fabulous, Its A Blog Party, Its a Hodgepodge Life, Its Fun to Craft, Life as Lori, The Shabby Nest, Vintage Suitcase, Tidy Mom