Sunday, January 8, 2012

Gina's 14th Birthday

It's been a while since I've done anything crafty that was worthy of posting on here. I found this idea on Pinterest and came up with my own idea. I was going to make this as a Christmas gift but ran out of time. Gina's birthday is today so I figured it would make a cute, little present.

Here are some of the supplies I used:
Ceramcoat Acrylic Paint in Gecko
JoAnn's Craft Essentials Fine Glitter (6 chambered jar)
Americana's Triple Thick ( Diamond Glaze isn't available here.)
Wooden letters

Not pictured:
Sponge Brush
Elmer's Glue
Ribbon
Stapler


This after I painted them, one coat. I painted the letters so that it would still be 
green where the glitter wasn't, like on the edges. 

After the paint was dry, I applied a thin coat of Elmer's glue and then sprinkled the glitter. I let that sit over night to dry completely. I forgot to take some pictures so there are not pictures of this step.Then I applied the Triple Thick using a sponge brush and let that dry overnight. My only regret with this step is that I didn't use more of the Triple Thick. I applied it directly to the letter and used the brush to smooth it out over the glitter.  I wasn't aware that it would take so much to make it bubble like in the letter from my inspiration. 

Then my next question was how was she going to use these. My first thought was to attach brackets so she could hang them on the wall. Then I had an idea to buy zebra print ribbon and attach them to that to make it easier to hang. I used a regular stapler to attach the ribbon to each letter. In some areas, the staple did poke through to the front but it's not too bad looking.
 


Here's the final project.


 I didn't get to see her open it but James said that she really like it. 
She thought I bought it from somewhere.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

The "Up" Anniversary

Here's another guest entry from Tessa. She asked me for ideas for something she could make for her anniversary. I shared with her some of the ideas that I had found and she ran with them. Don't forget to check out Tessa's blog, Cake Art.

In this post, I'm going to cover 3 different presents I made for my boyfriend, Josh, for our two year anniversary. The first movie we ever saw together, actually, the first time we ever saw each other outside of work, was the movie Up. If you haven't seen the movie before. Go see it. Cry over this scene:


That part of the movie makes me cry every time and it's the inspiration behind all of my anniversary presents in the end. I didn't make each one with the connection in mind, but in the end, I made them all connect to this movie. I, of course, bought him the movie as a part of all of this!

The first present is a set of "Love Coupons" that I found here.


I printed out both, the set that they have and two blank pages of coupons.

I started out by creating a larger version of each of the coupons so I could cut them out:


I ended up doing this with five different colors:

Let's just ignore the table, okay? It was painted by my nephew when he was about 4 or 5 and... yeah, anyways...

I then pasted the cut out coupons on them and hole punched them before putting the ring through them.


I took them to work to show Sara and she gave me the idea to add a "used on" thing on the back, so I went home and added one:


I wrote "Expires: Never" on all of them. :)

When I added a tag to it, connecting it to "Up" it says something about, "Love coupons for whenever we want to be 'up' together and have an 'up' moment in our relationship."

~*~

The second thing I made is a book that Sara showed me here.


I started off by typing up the 52 things and printing them out in a chart so I could cut them evenly.



I took the two jokers and covered them in blue paper, using one to create a cover:


Then I pasted the 52 things on the cards:



Finally, I hole punched two holes on one side and put the binder rings in:






I added "Volume I" so I can make others for him later on. To connect this to 'up' I wrote: "Whenever you're feeling down and need a little pick-me-'up' just read this and feel a bit more 'up'."

~*~

Finally, I made an 'Up' Jar from this inspiration from Sara. I started off by printing off these five photos of Ellie and Carl from Up:



As you can see, there's one from different stages in their lives: kids, dating, wedding, marriage, and old age. I actually printed out the one of them when they were dating (and looking up!) as a circle because that's the stage Josh and I are in, so I wanted to put it on top. I ended up using Mod Podge (thanks to Sara!) and put the photos on:






 I put another layer on top which gave it a bit more of a texture to it:


Then, I added 'Up' to the top of the jar and then a bow:



I explain in the tag on this one that I decided this would be an 'Up' Jar for the two of us. Whenever we have an 'up' moment in our lives together, we'll scribble it down and add it to the jar. Whenever we have a down moment, we can reach in the jar and remember an 'up' time. Although this day hasn't happened yet, I know it'll be our first 'up' moment to add, so I already added it:

Monday, June 27, 2011

Paper Star Decoration

I was feeling crafty tonight but didn't want anything super complicated. I had found this cute idea from The Lovely Residence on how to make a paper star decoration while on Pinterest.

I didn't take a picture of my supplies but the blog that I used has more details on how to make it. 


All you need is :
6 double sided square pieces of paper. I used 12x12in paper 
Stapler
Scotch Tape
Scissors
Ruler
Ribbon to hang it. 

From the other blog she offered measurements for where to draw the lines to cut the paper.. but I used the width of my ruler to make it simpler.
I decided to take a picture of each set that I made. You staple the little side to the large side of the other.



All done! 

 Stapling the center together was a little difficult but I figured out a way to make it work. 

 This is a little large for the front door.. but I found it a home in my room. 

I wanted to put a candle sconce here.. but this adds so much more color. :) 

The whole thing took me about an hour or so to make. 

I'm thinking smaller ones would make cute decor for a classroom, wedding reception, baby shower, bridal shower, etc.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

River Rock Garden Labels

I recently joined this awesome website called Pinterest. It is the best way to waste some time! I have my mom on the site now too.. While searching one day, she came across this idea from Lu Bird Baby .
 


 Here's the supplies that were used:
Large, smooth river rocks that were purchased from Michael's and Home Depot.
Sharpies

Some are for memorials in the garden. 



 These are to label the different vegetables that we have planted.