Monday, August 9, 2010

Buttons!

I was adventuring around blogland one night and I saw that Someday Crafts had a new sponsor that was doing a giveaway, buttons and badges. Due to my recent OBSESSION with buttons I had to go check out their etsy store. Holy moly, I was in love! Of course I had to order some and when they came in the mail I couldn't wait to check them all out!
I ordered the Bulk Supply of Modern Silhouette Flat Back Buttons and the Assorted Bulk Supply Flat Back Buttons. I'm so excited to start making some things with them! Stay tuned for those... for now, just admire how wonderful they are.

Horse-ish Stool

So I found this guy at a garage sale last weekend for $1.
We couldn't decide if he was a horse, or a dragon. I thought horse.. so that's what I'm going with. I wasn't really sure what attracted me to him, other then I was looking for bargains and by golly a dollar is a bargain!
I thought he could become something pottery barn esq. So, I purchased him, brought him home, and spray painted him with Krylon White Semi-Gloss. I used a very fine paint brush and some black acrylic paint and painted in all of his details (eyes, ears, nose, etc.).
Of course, I gave him a good rough sand and was pretty proud of my little dragon...er, horse!
I haven't figured out where exactly he is going to go, but I like the way he turned out!

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Keep Calm and Snap On

I know you've seen them.... Keep Calm and Carry On. They're everywhere, the original versions and tons of plays on the original. If you're wondering, like I was, where did this saying come from, you can find out on the Wikipedia page here.

My friend Jessica is a photographer, you can check out her awesome work at her website, JessicaKlimaPhotography. Whenever I saw this version of the "Keep Calm and Carry On", I knew it would be the perfect birthday gift for her. I used the same technique as I did in this project.
Silhouette Font: Gill Sans MT Condensed, Font Size: 189;122, Image: toy_camera_C00445_18816
A little Tulle... and it's the perfect gift for a photographer!
Join us Saturdays at tatertotsandjello.com for the weekend wrap up party!


Finally...No Sew Fabric Flowers!!

I can't sew. I know. It's a bummer. I've tried, but ultimately everytime fail. I'm looking into a sewing class, but the classes offered in my town have been put on hold, so... until then, No Sew Tutorials are what I'm looking for! Everybody has versions of cute flowers to adorn on headbands, pins, alligator clips, but most of them are sewn versions. So, I was happy to find a couple of no-sew versions that actually looked as good as the others! I followed a couple of different ones, and ended up with a couple of different versions, all that I loved. I found my tutorials at Samster Mommy, Little Lizard King, and at The Examiner Houston.

"Create" Tutorial

Here is the tutorial for how I made my Pier 1 Inspired Wall Art. First I had the BF cut me a piece of MDF 10"X36". I divided my six sections, for each letter, and marked them with a pencil at 6". With this project you have to think from the bottom up. So the first color you want to paint is the color that your letters will be. I didn't worry too much about them being perfectly straight.
The next step I found out was not necessarily needed. So, you could skip this step if you wanted. I actually ended up liking how it gave some dimension underneath the flat black paint, but you could get the same effect at the end if you wait. But, for my picture's sake, and so you won't be wondering how those splatters got there, I splattered black paint across the whole piece.
I picked a font that I liked and cut 6" tall letters with my Silhouette. (Remember, you aren't actually using the vinyl, so use the color vinyl you use least in your projects, for me, it's baby pink!) If you don't own a cutter, you can just print out the font and size you like in Word and use those as a guide to cut out Contact Paper letters to adhere to your board. Also, if you're making a smaller version, you could just use store bought stickers.
So, thinking from the bottom up, next I wanted two of my sections to not be black. I used Scotch Decorate & Repair Tape (it has a real plastic texture and I knew it wouldn't pull up my letters or paint) to give a straight edge. I painted those two sections the colors that I wanted them, blue and white.
After the paint dried I then covered those two sections in freezer paper (dull side down), to keep them from getting spray painted.
Then, I used a fat black spray paint and covered the entire piece and sides. Once it was dry I removed the wax paper, tape, and vinyl letters. Then, using every color in my piece I coated a brush in paint and splattered everywhere, mostly on my garage floor and foot. (I tried to tape a small line between the "T" and "E", but ended up not liking how it looked, so I painted over it.)
I let it dry overnight, some of the splatters had a good dose of paint, and then gave it a light sand to smooth it down. I think it's a good addition to my craft room! I'm going to put it over my window, just haven't hung it up yet.
UndertheTableandDreaming

Friday, July 30, 2010

Happy Birthday...40 Blows!

I saw this idea over at Susan's blog, Poca Cosas, and I knew exactly who would appreciate a gift like that! I work with someone who is a ball of energy and spunk and can make anyone laugh and I love her to death. What a fun little gift idea don't you think? I found the painter's bucket at Michael's and filled it with Blow Pops and flavored Double Bubble. I should have used one or two more bag to make it look more full.
Forty Blows!

Featured on Before & After!

Lindsey features the best shots from any project, the Before & Afters of course! She was so sweet to feature my fireplace re-do! Go check out her blog, here, it gives you the inspiration you need to finish your next project!