A kitchen night light

                                     

                                         

 

 

 

 

 

I don't know why but I really like Smucker's grape jelly jars. I just think they are the cutest things.

I decided it was time to do something with one, other than put it in the recycle bin (not that there's anything wrong with that). So I made a night light out of one. I sprayed it with frosted spray paint, added some decorations, and put some tiny lights inside. I poked a hole through the lid and put the lights in that way. I used to to sell the lighted wine bottles some time ago and my Hubby drilled the holes for me. This time I "cheated" and put the hole in the lid. You can't see the cord coming out of the top because I added the decorations to hide it. The lights are small enough inside that the jar doesn't get hot even when I leave it plugged in all night. Here's what it looks like in the light.

 

  I thought about hanging a bunch of grapes on the side, but I wanted to use what I had here and all of my grape bunches were too large and looked a bit awkward on there. Another project made with things I already had on hand. I really like it! What do you think?  Have you made any night lights? Or light up jars. I want to try a solar one next. We'll see.... Have a sweet day!



 

Summer Decor

                                 
                                          This may or may not be my last wreath. I am not even sure I would call this one a wreath. What would you call it? A door decoration. Ok. Whatever we call it, I think it might be my favorite one so far! What says summer more than flip-flops? I mean really? I know. All this one took was flip flops, a base, and some decorations. I got my flip flips at the Dollar Store. I would get them quick, I don't think they stick around long. I painted a wooden "welcome" from the craft store and everything else I already had in my craft stash. The base is just some cardboard strips I glued the shoes to. Total cost on this one $5.00. I have to say another one turned out better than I pictured in my head. Since only 3 people live in our house, I wanted to do a pair for each of us. But I think 4 balanced out better in the long run. It took a whopping 20 minutes to make. I spent the most time cutting the card board strips. Hot glue holds everything together. Yep, my favorite so far! As I said I can't promise there aren't anymore "wreathes" in my future. I really like something to decorate the front door. Since I have been feeling better i have gotten a few more projects done. Some more summer decor. I will be back to show them to you soon! Have a sweet day!

My Family Banner

                           
                                      Are you tired of looking at my fireplace yet?  I think this is the last time for now.  I can't promise I won't ever show it again.  But, you're safe, for awhile anyway. This time I want to show how I made my banner. Well, not so much how, more like what I used to make it.  Making a banner is pretty basic. You need something to make it from, something to hang it from, and somewhere to hang it. Am I right? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                      Mine started with this roll of window screen. You know, the metal kind that comes in a roll. Now I am not sure why I have this roll. It showed up when I was organizing my craft closet. I cut small rectangles, I thought about triangles, but rectangles felt right. After I cut them out they got a couple coats of white spray paint.

 

 

 

 

 

                                       After painting them I felt they still needed something. I pulled some "strings" off from the edges,  which gave it a more frayed look. You might see it better in the after photo. ( I decided they needed more fraying after this picture.) This may not work for everyone. I don't have curious little ones touching things in my house  ( just a 12 year old). The edges might be considered pokey and sharp. With card stock and scrapbook paper I made two smaller rectangles to layer on top of  the screen. I stenciled the letters with a black Sharpie marker. I hung the pieces on twine by folding over the top edge to catch the twine.

 

 

 

 

 

                                        I wonder what else I could make from this screen stuff. It was easy to work with. My craft scissors cut it pretty easily even though it is metal. I don't think I would use good scissors on it,  it would most likely dull them. Do you have "good" scissors?  I have some I only use for sewing, my family knows not to touch them and they joke about using them all the time. So, that's it. Pretty basic stuff. Just different materials I guess. Have any suggestions for the screen? Let me know what you think in comments, please. If I come up with anything I will share. Did I mention that I already had everything to make this banner so no money spent?  Gotta love the freebies.

 

Have a great weekend!







A faux fireplace redo

                         I don't have a real fireplace in my house, so I have to make do with the faux surround. I got it for a steal a few years ago $15.00 brand new. Here's what it usually looks like.

               I decorate it for Christmas, but this is what it looks like most of the time. Pretty boring. I decided it needed a little something. Here's what it looks like after I tweaked it a little. The top stayed the same. I have to keep it somewhat clear so we can see through the "window" into and out of the kitchen. I completed a few more projects this week ( yay me) and now that they are done I added them to the mix.

                  I am really pleased with how it turned out. In the next few posts I will share how I made the window, the family banner, and the letter. It may not seem that different, but the lights glow at night and it looks pretty. What do you think? Better? I believe so. Have a wonderful day!

A little more Christmas

Okay maybe a lot more! I have said in the past how much I love Christmas.  Just some shots from around the house. I can't believe it is Christmas Eve already. Ask The Boy and he will say...already?! it has taken soo long to get here!  Enjoy this holiday season. Be safe. MERRY CHRISTMAS!

More new Etsy items

   
       Hope to get back in "the bakery" later today. Here are a few more items I recently added to my Etsy shop. I have a few more in mind. I better hurry before it's too late to get them on there. I really need to get a cupcake craft done to post here soon. Thanks for looking. Have a sweet day!

Christmas Past.....

We have just about finished our Christmas decorating. Just need to "tweak" a bit and add a little more here and there. I love Christmas!  We all love decorating for the Holidays here too.  We all help put all the pretties up. All three, oops I mean four, after all Daffie likes to "help" too!  So we spend the day together decorating, hanging out, and laughing, lots of laughing!  I thought I would share some things we used in our decorating.  The first picture is Hubby and Me,  from umm.......a long time ago. Mere babes I say. And of course we still look exactly the same. (wink)  The next picture is from The Boy's first Christmas. He is about 4 months old.  The things we put on our children, he was very cute in his Santa outfit, don't you agree?  In the third picture The Boy is about 2.  Look at those rosy cheeks! The last picture is of a wreath we made around the same time. We traced his little hands. I love to look at these kind of things! I wonder if he would let me trace them now to make another?! That wreath has been up every Christmas since we made it. Thanks for taking a walk down my memory lane with me. I will share some more later. Ahhh the magic of Christmas!

Before & After

Yes, girls do rock, ( I have to be careful here, because I have a Boy) but I think the after looks much better, don't you. Just a little makeover I recently finished. Amazing what a little spray paint can do. Hope your projects are rocking too! Have a sweet day!

At last.. some new things for Etsy! and stuff

I am happy to report that I have gotten my behind in gear and finally listed some new things on Etsy. ( insert  trumpets and confetti here!) I am currently working on more things to list. I have to say I have been somewhat of a slacker these days. No, I have been a complete slacker! Well, I don't have any more excuses now that the Boy is back in school. I really need to get it in gear and get everything going again! Unfortunately, summer is coming to an end but, That means maybe I can get back on track, in more ways than one, I might add. Have you ever noticed how summer break can side track things?  Happy little vacations from everyday stuff, and it's perfectly okay to have that happen. Funny how much time to myself I have once school starts. I still miss that booger though. I am not one of those moms who counts down the days til school starts, let me tell ya! I absolutely love being home with the Boy. I am always sad when school starts. And this year was no exception! I can't believe my baby started middle school this year. Wow, time flies, doesn't it? I am so excited for him though. So many new opportunities and things to experience. Still a little sad for me though. So, now I can use all this to inspire me to get more things done for Etsy and start listing on eBay again. if you have a few minutes and would like to , click on the etsy box and visit my little shop. Thanks! have a sweet day.

A Project....yippie!

I did it! Can you believe it?  Not only did I post another post this week, but I posted a project. WOW. I know a lot of these wreathes are being made right now so it really isn't a new project, but it might be new to some. I have seen this idea all over blog land, which is why I decided to make one. Well that and the fact it is made from CUPCAKE WRAPPERS. And as you know if it's cupcake related, I'm so there. I'm pretty happy with the end result.What do you think? I had a slow start with this one. Wasted about 10 wrappers.  I didn't like the way it was turning out, so I started over. So this project took about 1 1/2 hours ( probably because I started over) and total cost was about $4.00. Yep 4 bucks. So you wanna know how it's made? I guess if you are still reading than the answer would be yes.
      I started out doing the folding method but after about 20 wrappers I realized I did not care for how it was looking. Was starting to fear the hot glue gun a bit, too. So I took  those wrappers off and started doing the pencil method (pic. # 3) which by the way is MUCH safer for me. Anyone who knows me knows about my other glue gun mishaps. Not good people, not good. Any way. The pencil method is where you wrap the liner in a pencil, put a little glue on the end and then stick it on the wreath. I moved around and filled in different sections on the Styrofoam then came back and filled in the rest. Some others cover the styro with ribbon first and then the wrappers, I didn't want to take the time to find ribbon so I just skipped that part. Totally up to you. You can see in pic.#5  that it really isn't too attractive at this point, needs many more wrappers. So I did just that, added more. I used about 140 wrappers not counting the 10 that I had to throw away because they were messed up from the first try. I used what I could for the last few. I think I would have used all 150 plus more if I would have had them. I don't like to waste anything. But I'm actually happy with the 140 on there. I just used some ribbon I already had here to hang it on the kitchen door.  So, that's pretty much the gist of it. Tell me what you think. Maybe try making one yourself. It was fun once I got on a roll. And....... I DIDN'T BURN MYSELF. priceless.
Have a sweet day!

Some DIY gifts

At this time of year there are many gift giving opportunities. We always like to show our appreciation for The Boy's ( my son ) teachers. This means a few extra gifts. He has 3 reagular teachers he sees every day, 3 specials ( art music gym ) teachers, 1 gifted class teacher, a principal, and 1 very special school secretary. This can add up quick, so we try to keep the gifts small. So this is where the diy in me steps in. Here are a few gifts I made for them. I think that the pictures are pretty self explanitory(sp). The first picture shows the almost finished projects. I am going to fill these jars with candy. I was trying to find some candy that is wrapped in black wrappers to show through the Mickey outline, not having much luck so far, any suggestions?

Having some picture issues at the moment.

supply list

Jar

contact paper

frosted spray paint

outline image

ribbon of choice

Start with a clean jar. Decide what image you would like your "window" to be. Trace the image onto the contact paper. Cut out the image and firmly place it on the jar where you want it.

Spray the jar with the frosted paint. After waiting the appropriate drying time, which varies per manufacturer, carefully peel off the contact paper. I let mine dry for 24 hours after removing contact paper before I tied the ribbon on. I think they came out pretty cute. Next i will fill them with some candy and there you go. I had everything here on hand so it that was even better. let's see if my pictures will post now. Tell me what you think of this project. Easy and fun!