LOVE Block

I went to a wedding yesterday and made this to give to the wonderful bride and groom!...

I made this craft for two reasons:

- I found this old hunk of wood
- I wanted to give my friends some advice

 I chose a few words that I think are VERY important things two people need to keep a marriage strong.  Instead of putting them into a card where it will get tossed and quickly forgotten, I crafted something with them!
 

What you will need:

-black acrylic paint and brush

-sand paper

-white cardstock

-print outs of words, monograms, and pictures

1.  I simply took my piece of junk wood and painted it with acrylic black paint.
2. Distressed the edges.
3. Glued on some cardstock with a black and white collaged and some of my "advice words"  to the wood.
4. Sprayed clear lacquer.


Nicholette Read more

Fabulous Friends Wednesday - Ann from Make The Best of Things!

Welcome to another FABULOUS FRIENDS WEDNESDAY!!!   I'm thrilled to introduce you to Ann from Make The Best of Things.  Her blog sends out such a welcoming, inviting vibe, I find myself looking around all the time!  And I love how Ann can look at something and see so much potential!  She really does make the best of things.  I hope you'll take the time to drop by her blog and say hi!


Thanks to Vanessa at Craft Envy for asking me to Guest Post. Craft Envy is a great blog with some wonderful projects. If you're not a follower, you should be! I've never been a guest poster before so I am going to "learn by doing" which is the way I usually try new things!


I've been creating and crafting for a long time. A long, long time, lol! Here's a pic of my high school I.D. card from way back...way, way back. Let me just say, Class of 1970 RULES!!! (And I didn't know how cute I was) Back then embroidered denim cut offs were hot, because we could keep them from tearing and fraying with some cool embroidery. Now they're being sold at Old Navy. Back then crocheted ponchos and vests and ripple afghans were all the rage and now there are Etsy shops dedicated to crochet. And Danish Modern furniture was in (now there's Ikea) and wonderfully wild floral print hip hugger mini skirts were in style, which I and all my friends sewed ourselves because BACK THEN all the girls took sewing in Home Ec!

They say that everything old is new again and this little project I'm posting is no exception. Back then we discovered trapunto, the dimensional quilting technique, for our way cool embroidered vests and skirts. It's the perfect craft for making some unique home decor and especially that favorite project, couch pillows! So here we go, a trapunto skeleton key couch pillow just for you.


Skeleton keys are hot right now. Their vintage charm and character really bring personality to otherwise modern decor and they fit in with any number of styles, including shabby chic, farmhouse style and an eclectic mix. The dimensional look of the skeleton key on this pillow would fit in with all those styles. Annnnd, it's easy to get this look!

I used muslin for this project. It's my favorite fabric for home decor. It's inexpensive, easy to work with, a nice neutral color and works up beautifully. For the front of your pillow cut two matching pieces of fabric.

Using a quilting pen, whose ink disappears when you spray the fabric with water, I outlined a simple skeleton key shape (this one is grungeboard from Tim Holtz).

I simplified the detail within the key head to make it easier to stitch. Set your sewing machine stitch length to 3 or 2, since you want small stitches for this project. Sew around the shape and use your judgement, going slowly, turning each angle with the needle DOWN to make sharp corners. Feel free to simplify your design as you sew, this technique is very forgiving and looks better with a simple shape. For example, I eliminated the little bumps in the shaft when I stitched this key.

Sorry for the poor contrast in this pic, but if you look you can see I've stitched the outline of the key in matching thread with small stitches.


Next you will clip several small openings in the backside of the design thru ONE LAYER OF FABRIC ONLY. This will give you the openings for stuffing your shape. I used the blunt end of a crochet hook to get the small pieces of stuffing into all the small areas. You can also use a needle to "wheedle" the stuffing into place smoothly. Stuff your shape evenly until it is softly plump.

Here you can see the small slits in the backside of the fabric with the stuffing showing through. Once your stuffing is in place, handsew each slit closed. Your stitches do not have to be pretty, just as long as they work. Do not draw too tightly or you will distort your stuffed shape. Spray your design with water to erase the ink and at this point you can iron your pillow top around the stuffed shape if you wish. I put a simple envelope closure on back and put my new pillow cover on a 12" stuffed form and there you have it, a trapunto skeleton key cushion for your couch or bedroom. I like the way this came out. I like it alot! I'll be posting more projects using this technique on my blog, so if you have questions, drop me a line.

Thanks again to the gals at Craft Envy for the invite. This was fun! You should try guest posting. You'll learn something new and have a good time doing it! Read more

Pirate Wall Art

So this project has been a long time coming. Ever since I've moved I have been thinking about doing this. This pirate ship is like my crowning achievement. To me this was just SO important to have in my little Jack's room. And....IT'S DONE!

I don't really have a tutorial for this because I just penciled it on the wall and then painted it. So...good luck?

I would love to see anything you have done free-hand on your walls! Read more

EVO' 10 Rocked my world!!!

Hey friends!  Sorry for no linky party this weekend, but we were off having a party of our own, at





Before I even begin telling you about our AMAZING experience, we need to send a HUGE thank you to the person who from now on I'll be referring to as my FAIRY BLOG MOTHER,  Jyl Pattee from Mom It Forward.  She's my neighborhood friend, we go to book club together, church together, and she thought of inviting little ol' Craft Envy to attend the AWESOMEST (that's not a word, I know, but it should be) conference ever!  Did I say thank you yet?  Well, THANK YOU JYL,  a million times over! 

Check out Vanessa and Nicholette, just arrived at The Canyons Resort in Park City! We're here!!!

Opening night, delicious dinner and wonderful keynote speakers.  Check out these wonderful ladies! Nirasha Jaganath from Mommy Niri, Wendy Sachs from Care.com, Heather Spohr from TheSpohrsAreMultiplying, and Stephanie Quilao from BackInSkinnyJeans.  They are amazing speakers, we loved it.  

Okay, okay... These women... all in one room.  I was soooo star struck! These ladies were our craft experts for the craft blog workshop we went to, from left to right: Cindy Hopper from Skip To My Lou, Marie LeBaron from Make and Takes, Elizabeth Kartchner from Dear Lizzy,  and Lucrecer Braxton from Art Slam. We learned so much and can't wait to apply everything into this space of ours.

Check out the view from Park City!  

Party at the PBS Kids Suite!  So much fun!

Who wouldn't love some cupcakes from the Sweet Tooth Fairy?  I'm still thinking about the raspberry lemonade cupcake I had.  D.Licious! 

This was the cool table for lunch the last day!  All these ladies are fabulous!  A shout out to Char from Crap I've Made and Kari from UCreate. You ladies are a blast! and I've already discarded the contents of the controversial pink bag... :) 

I cannot tell you all how much this weekend meant to us.  We are thrilled to take all this new found knowledge and work our butts off to make Craft Envy the best it can be!  I hope you'll all take the journey with us!

Lots of love,

Read more

Good Things to Come

Hey Craft Envy friends! We were gone all weekend learning more about how to make this little space a wonderful thing to be a part of. We loved it, we are grateful, (a little overwhelmed) and excited to start applying our new found knowledge. We can't wait to get to work!

I hope you guys don't mind when I do this, but sometimes things touch me very deeply and it's impossible not to share. Maybe someone out there needs to see this. It's Sunday, I'm getting my girlies ready for church, and I thought I'd take the time to worship with you as well. Here is a beautiful message to make your Sunday a tad closer to our Savior.

Lots of love to you today!

Read more

DIY Beaded Watches

Beaded watches are THE thing right now and for us craft crazed people, there's no reason to pay  $30 to be a proud owner. Here are a couple of the watches I have made using the same watch face.  A really sweet way to get a watch face for cheap is to get one at a craft store like Michael's or Robert's with a coupon from the sunday paper. They come out to be about $6. Not bad.

Here are a couple of the watches I have made using the same watch face:

All you need to make one:

-Stretchy cord, $1.50 (w/ coupon from sunday paper)

-Random beads, roughly $5

-Watchface $6 (w/coupon from sunday ads)
-2 spacers (you can see one in the pic above)
-4 lobster clasps 

-Superglue, or nail glue

 To start your beaded watch: use one long piece of cord and start threading with two of your lobster clasps and two small beads to separate them. Alternate threading beads on each side strategically placing two spacers somewhere in there. I like placing the beads on randomly. Then you'll end with the two lobster claws on one side of the cord. Pull the cord tight and tie a square knot. It should suck under the first bead on your band. It's as easy as that!

Read more

Fabulous Friends Wednesday - Laurie from Scene of the Grime

Hello friends, and welcome to FABULOUS FRIENDS WEDNESDAY!   Today we are thrilled to welcome Laurie from Scene of the Grime!  Not only did I fall in love with the fun look and vibe of her blog, I really enjoyed seeing all the creative uses she finds for everyday items!  Way to be green, Laurie!  I know you'll love her, so don't forget to drop by her blog and say hi!

FABULOUS FRIENDS WEDNESDAY: Laurie from Scene of the Grime

Hi there! My name is Laurie and I’m the Domestic Detective at my blog, SCENE OF THE GRIME. I’m so honored the gals at Craft Envy asked me to guest post today! Craft Envy is awesome – I ♥ the blog design, the variety of ideas and, most of all, the terrific tutorials!!! Scene of the Grime’s blog slogan is “a heart for home • a mind for crime • a life of chronic joy” and I blog about topics from decor and thrifting to crime to chronic illness. We cover a lot of ground and have some laughs along the way!

Today, I’m sharing how to make inexpensive, cool art projects for your home or for gifts. The beauty of these ideas is they are totally customizable to the person and there’s no limit to where your creativity can go! We’re talking PoP ArT!

Here are a couple examples I’ve blogged about in the past. You can click on the labels to go directly to the posts where I tell you how I made them:

Jumbo Monogram          Sweet as Candy Accordion File

                         

In anticipation of my guest post today, I made a new pop art project and added a tutorial:

Snackalicious Desktop Organizer

I made this for my ten-year-old daughter and it was easy-peasy! Here’s the 4-1-1:

1-I saved 3 moon pie boxes (shoot, we had to buy moon pies☺!)

2-I cut the end flaps off one end of one box, cut the 2nd box off about 1/4 the way down, and the 3rd about 1/2 the way down to provide leveled heights.

3-I used multi-colored t-shirt strips to make ties toward the top of each box rim. You’ll see me use tee strips a lot in crafting – I buy colorful good wipes from Goodwill all the time!

4-I hot glued some contrasting red-patterned scrapbook paper inside the top few inches of each box opening, covering the gray cardboard inside of the box and enhancing the color scheme.

5-Last, I hot glued the three boxes together, lining them up one behind the other. Now, it’s ready for my girl to store her stuff!

The possibilities are e-n-d-l-e-s-s in pop art design! You could theme a project for sports, a geographical location, hobbies, fave foods, funky fashions, specific colors, etc. And remember, pop art decor can be made with bold or delicate colors/designs, no limitations! Just keep an open mind and an open eye and you’ll see resources and tools right under your nose to use in your creative endeavors!

Come join me at Scene of the Grime and together we’ll sleuth out matters of style, spirit and self! I’d love to meet you!

Chronically Yours, Laurie

Read more

Thanks for sharing!!

Wow!  We hit an all time high this week, 54 projects!  I'm so excited more of you out there are coming out to link up over the weekend!  I've looked through all the projects, and let me tell you, I wish there was more time in the day just for me to make all the cute stuff you've shared with us!  Here are a few that caught my eye this week:


These bracelets and ring are made out of soda cans.  Yup, you read that right.  Soda cans!  Don't believe me?  Go see for yourself!


I saw this and thought:  "Hours of fun!"  My kids loooove masks, they make them out of paper though, cause their mommy hadn't seen this awesome tutorial before.  I'm off to buy felt!


Aren't these adorable?  They were made out of the same dollar store belt!  Sometimes I just can't take how creative you all are!!!  You need to stop by and see this!


There are cute, fun, necklaces made out of t-shirt sleeves!  I would totally wear these!!!  So fun, so cute, so easy!

Thank you all for sharing your talents with us, I love Saturdays, I can't wait to see what you'll share!  If you've been featured, don't forget to grab a button! Have a wonderful Monday!

Read more

Saturday Spotlight #9

Welcome to another Saturday Spotlight! 

1) First, create a blog entry about something you made yourself.  Post our Saturday Spotlight button under your post or somewhere on your blog so that others can find all of your awesome links at Saturday Spotlight. Our linky party button is on the right side of our blog. Just copy the html code to the bottom of your blog post. If you would like to keep it somewhere else on your blog where others can see it, that's also ok.

2) Next, add your blog post name down below and then add the link of the blog entry about your project  (not your homepage) . To get your link,  click on the title of your blog post that you would like to enter and then copy the address that appears in the address bar  up top, and paste it down below. It should look about like this:    http://yourblogname.blogspot.com/2009/07/your_project.html.

3) Have fun checking out all the awesome projects!

Read more

No Sew Purse! - Meet Furoshiki

Hi there friends!  I can't wait to show you what I've recently learned.  Have you heard of Furoshiki?  I hadn't until a week a go, and I'm in love.  Furoshiki is a Japanese technique, like origami, but for fabric! They are a type of Japanese wrapping cloth, used to transport food, gifts, or other goods.  It used to be very popular, but now, we have become too dependent on the evil plastic bag!!!  So if you're looking to go green, this is it!  I've recently learned how to make a purse, from a lady called Leticia Yabiku.  Let me show you:

Isn't that cute?  No sewing required, either, all we're going to do is fold and tie knots.

What you'll need:

- any square piece of fabric (yes, it must be a square)

Mine is 1.25 yards

-Flower for embellishment

Here we go:

Step 1: Lay down your fabric with right side facing up.

Step 2:  Fold it into a triangle, wrong side out.

Step 3: Take the right hand corner, and bring it up to meet the center of your triangle, bunch it together to make a roll.

Step 4: Tie a knot at the base.

Step 5: Do the same to the left side.

Step 6: Take the top of your triangle and open it up.  You can now see the right side again.

Step 7:  Flip the whole thing over, wrong side up. 

Step 8: Tuck your knots and straps into the middle.

Step 9:  Pick up both ends and put them together, your knots are inside now.  You can push down on the inside of the bag to stretch out the fabric.  The knots are now to the sides of your bag.

Step 10:  Turn the bag over so the knots become front and back of your purse.  Stretch and pull the fabric as you go to get the right look for you.

Step 11:  Tie a knot at the very top of your bag to make a handle, left over right, then right over left.  That's it!

You have finished your really cute purse, without having to sew a stitch.  And the best part is, if you get sick of it, just untie it and find a new and fun way to fold and tie your fabric, and you have a brand new style.

I added a flower to mine, just for some fun.  I just pinned it with safety pins.  No need to stitch it on, I might take it apart anyway one of these days. :)

I hope you liked this as much as I did, and look on YouTube for some amazing videos on how to fold your own Furoshiki. 

Read more