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!

Another wreath

                                   I guess you could say I have a thing for wreathes these days. I don't know why, I'm just on a wreath kick I think. This is one I have wanted to make for some time now. It's more summery but, I am ready for summer! I love the beach and pretty much anything that goes along with it, except for seafood. Nope, don't want any part of that! Weird, huh?  I know. Anyways, here's my latest beach inspired wreath, What do you think?

                                       Now this wreath was a bit more expensive than the others. This one was about $8.00. I bought the wire wreath base at a local craft store for about $2.50. I gave it a quick coat of white paint, I didn't want the green wire to be so noticeable. I found the sisal roping at Walmart. It was a pretty good size package for about $5.30 including tax. The seashells and starfish I already had ( for quite some time, I might add) for some beach inspired project. This wreath hangs on my side door. We don't live anywhere near  the ocean so this will have to do for now.

                                     See my little helper there. She was "helping" me wrap the metal base with the rope. She was very eager to help, too! I didn't use the whole package of rope on the wreath. It depends of course on the size of the base. I tied my two ends together to hold it in place when I finished wrapping. Pretty easy. Believe it or not I have one more wreath in mind to make. I am running out of doors though. Here's one more shot of the finished wreath.

         
                                         I have a few more beachy project ideas. After all, I have quite a few shells left. I hope you have a sweet day. Thanks for stopping by today!

A wreath.....finally!

 

 

                                         Well, I finally finished the wreath for my front door. It really didn't take me long to make the wreath, only a few hours. Once I chose a paint color ( which happened today by the way, you know you can't rush genius ;) ) it wasn't long until I was actually finished. Now it hangs on my front door. I'm so happy it all went as planned and turned out pretty much like the picture in my head. I started out with coffee filters (I believe they are the 8-12 cup pot size) I got these at the dollar store along with a square piece of  Styrofoam. That's right a 3 buck investment. I will say I used about 1 and 1/2 packages to make my wreath. I also cut a piece of card board to cover the back of the Styrofoam.

 

 

 



                                         
                                          I used the pencil method to make mine. Put the coffee filter around the end of a pencil. Put some glue on and stick it!

                                                   
                                                    I started with a row around the outside of my base. When that was finished I did rows across of four continuing all the way around until I was finished.

                                        

                                                
                                                   I knew I had to do something else with it because it looked a little like wedding decor. My hubby said it looked like a carnation. That's where the paint came in. I had to figure out what color I wanted before, because like I already said, there was no going back or repainting this one. So I chose brown leather spray paint. You will see where the pink comes in later.

 

    
                                                    I used a very light hand when spraying. I like the way it looks. I am happy with how it turned out.



a close up to show paint detail

                                         Remember I only used 1 1/2 packs of filters. I made a ball with some of the rest. I guess I didn't realize how big this was going to turn out. Bigger than I thought it would. This is where the pink paint came into play. I used the ball as a test for the paint. I went a bit heavier handed with the pink. I just started gluing the filters around the center of a Styrofoam ball I already had. Continuing in "layers" until one side was finished and then flipped it over and finished the other side. What do you think? Not sure where this is going to go yet, because of the size.

                                         I knew this would need some paint, too. Kind of a bit wedding-ly. Is that even a word? Oh well you know what I mean. Here it is after adding some paint.

                                                    The paint is a bit thicker on here. They both dried beautifully. Pretty easy. Not bad for about $3.00 for both. I really like the wreath. In all I worked on the wreath about 3-4 hours. It took so long to actually finish because of my fear of paint commitment. I am working on this, no really I AM. I hope you enjoyed today's post.Thanks for visiting! Come back soon! Have a sweet day!






                                         



Christmas greetings and stuff

Christmas greetings to all! Love Christmas. Hope you all had a really great day and can carry these feelings into the new year. It is coming so fast. I had to get a few last minute things in here before we have to face the facts, the cold hard facts that the Christmas season will be coming to a close. I love all the things you can do and not even realize until you see the pictures. Although in some cases this is bad, really bad. But not this time. The picture of our tree was taken through these effects glasses we got last year at a hardware store of all places. Pretty cool huh, I think so ( here is where I am patting myself on the back for being clever, except it is not an original idea of mine, could have been though...really). It takes some practice and about 10 pictures or so, to get a good well, kind of good, one. What do you think?

The wreath is an easy craft that is cute, too. Maybe you can make these for decorations next year. Would be cute to shrink and make for Christmas cards. ( I did not get mine mailed out this year :( I don't keep stamps here, so I kept forgetting to get them. I know, I will mail them out in February. Think anyone would expect that?!) Sorry about that! Anyway, back to the wreath. I just traced my Boy's hand over and over and over on craft foam and cut them out and arranged them in a circle to look like a wreath. See I told you easy peasy. I put magnets on the back. I think we made this when he was about 3. Do you think he will let me do it again, now that he is 11 and all? All I can do is ask right? I will get back to you on that one ( don't hold your breath waiting ;p ).

So there you have it, a 2fer. I really hope you all had a really wonderful Christmas. I will try to be back before the New Year, but I'm not sure about that. I have many plans for the upcoming year. Maybe you guys can help me out some. What would you like to see here next year? Leave me some comments, we'll chat. Thanks.

Happy Holidays!

Snowmen, like I promised!

I am back. I have some snowman crafts for you. Now, these were made some time ago before I started blogging. So that means I don't have step by step pics. I can tell you they are pretty easy ones though. I will come back with a newer diy snowman soon, but for now I hope these will do.

The first picture shows a snowman the Boy made about 6 years ago. I think they are just the cutest things. Maybe you can make them with some kids you know. These are made from Dannimals Drinkable yogurt containers. We found the hats at a store called Flower Factory, great place if you have ever been there. The eyes are very small buttons, but you could use whatever you have. We have Pat Catans in our area so we get A LOT of our craft supplies there. That is where the little carrot nose came from, but I am sure you can get them other places, too.

The boy was 5 when he made these so we used tacky glue to glue stuff on. It has held up pretty well. We have these little cuties all around the house in the winter. A great way to recycle those containers. He drank that stuff All. The. Time. So we had to come up with something for them!

He drew the mouths on with crayon! I love that boy!!!

The next picture is a snowman wreath I made about 2 years ago. It is made from a styrofoam wreath covered with felt and a snowman head. You make a tube big enough to cover the wreath, leave a little extra to look like wrinkles. Cut circles of felt large enough for a head and sew it closed enough to stuff, oops, you might want to put the face on first it is easier. Ask me how I know that one! The eyes are buttons and the mouth is embroidery floss. The nose is a carrot shaped piece of felt sewn on. The scarf is from the dollar store ( love that place, you never what you might find there. Hmm, maybe future posts could be crafts made from supplies purchased there). The hat is made from scraps I had in my fabric scrap box. The mittens are also from scraps. He is hanging from a screw eye screwed in the top of the back. Again, most of the stuff I had around here already, except for the scarf.

Not the greatest directions, but easy enough to make by looking at the pictures. We have always been crafty people around here. When we can make stuff from things we already have it is a plus for me! I love to recycle, too. so there you have it, a few cute and easy crafts to make. I hope give them a try. Please let me know if you have any questions.

On an entirely different note, anybody watch Survivor? Do you think the "right" person won? I was not unhappy with the winner.

I still have much to learn about this blogging stuff. Like, why is there so much space at the end of these posts? Any help would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!

Be well,

Barb