Pinterest Inspirations Complete

Pinterest, where have you been all my life?

 

I have seen mason jars all over the place lately. I have quite a few at home already. I finally decided to complete some of my Pinterest pins. I'm quite pleased.

 

I bought mason jars at Farm & Fleet because they were on sale. 2 dozen for $4. I wanted them all to match.

 

My new mason jar soap dispenser.

 

 

This one was easy. I am planning on making a few more & maybe giving them as gifts. I will probably make one for my kitchen from one of the bigger ones I have on hand already.

 

And my next project, turned out to be harder than it should have been because I bought the wrong kind of wood. I bought maple. If you do this, don't buy maple. It's seriously as hard as concrete. I should have bought pine like I always do, but I had a brain fart at Lowes.

 

This piece is a 1x6 cut to 18 inches.

 

I spray painted it brown against Jarrett's better judgement - he likes stained wood. I love this Valspar spray paint. It is very good quality and the nozzle doesn't make your hand feel like it is going to break.

 

He had to drill the holes for me since I bought maple. No pictures of that because I kept saying "do this" "do that" and he had a disgusted look on his face. I would have just done it myself but he said "it's a new drill bit, you will break it."

 

And to complicate matters, he had to drill a little hole in the back of each of the clamps too. He says "I friggin love Pinterest". I believe the original pin said to glue the clamps onto the board. I think that's dumb. I don't want them falling off. Hello, they are holding up a glass jar in a room where we are primarily sans shoes. Come on.

 

I pondered the placement/spacing for a bit, but I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I spaced them at 3, 7, 11, & 15 inches. So they are even.

 

Once we got that all figured out & brought it inside, I was fully prepared to just take it from there. But I ended up having the screw driver slip off the clamp & cut my finger. He said "just let me do it". See how happy he looks.

 

And the finished product.

 

That was a rough 20 minutes for Jarrett to help me with a project. In the end, he likes it. Well, I think he likes it. He says "this is what you wanted?" - Yes, yes it is.

 

That bathroom is coming along.

scratch-offs for 3rd graders

oh i've missed being crafty. the extent of my craftiness over the past few months can be seen here. and to tell the truth, that really didn't take much work. so, i've been itching to do something crafty. enter, pinterest & it's wonderful crafty goodness.

bad mom confession: olivia loves scratch off tickets. a lot. and i have been known to buy the $1 ones, occasionally, just to let her scratch them off. we rarely win. but she has fun anyways. so when i stumbled upon this, i knew she would love it. ok so i did my own variation of them, but it's still awesome.

may i present to you, olivia's valentine scratch-offs.

and just for kicks, a tutorial.

i printed the jokes 3x5 so there were 4 to a page. as an added bonus, my color ink ran out so some of the hearts look like they are on fire - red fading to yellow-orange. i was ticked, but olivia loved it. no harm no foul. i also used picmonkey.com to get the heart doily & liv picked the font. it was a good choice. I modge-podged them onto red cardstock.

i bought a package of the clear address labels at the wally. i may have panicked slightly when i found that they weren't exactly clear. but it worked out fine.

here it is with the label over the punchline. see, you can barely see it.

for the scratch-off, i mixed dawn liquid dish soap and metallic craft pain ($.97 at the wally). this is after 1 coat. i may have panicked a little bit here too.

here it is after 4 coats of the paint/soap mixture. it may not look perfect, but hey we are talking about 8 year olds so they won't be overly critical like me.

i cannot stress this enough, let them dry dry dry. fyi - 3 hours not long enough. however, i let them set overnight & tested again, voila. it worked perfectly.

here they are in all their glory. (please ignore my messy counter and random pill bottle.)

all that is left for olivia to do is write the to/froms on the back. my plan is to attach a penny to the back too so they can scratch away.

thank you, pinterest. 

Valentines Sparkle

Christmas came down. I don't know about you, but I just today got my house restored to pre- Christmas standards. The last box got shuffled on down to the basement mere minutes ago. Nothing like getting things back to normal.

Now, one issue remains. I miss the sparkle. When I was putting away my Christmas stuff away, I found these Valentine's candy boxes. At first, I wondered why on earth I had kept trash for nearly a year. Then I remembered. Duh, I kept them for Valentine's day. I wanted to make a garland or something out of them.

I bought red craft paint. It took 3 coats. The glossy fronts covered much crappier than the backs with the nutrition information. Plus waiting each coat to dry, not my strong suit.

I also bought sparkle paint. Extreme Glitter to be exact. Which just happens to be my new favorite color. Love!



I bought the cheapest ribbon walmart had. And I used the hole punch to string them all up.


I also enlisted the help of one grumpy husband to help me hang it. He got frustrated and decided to put an end to my obsessive compulsive need to have it centered and perfect so he just stapled it to the mantel. It will do for now.

I had to keep a little tree. and sparkley snowflakes on my mirror.

I'm liking it. I have decided with each season/holiday I need to incorporate sparkle. Now I just need some red lights and heart ornaments for my little tree.

Crafty Talk

After a rather lengthy hiatus from all things crafty, I'm getting back into the swing of things. I started off small. I saw a subway sign at Wal-Mart. Sorry, I can't find a picture of it. But I loved it & knew I wanted to make something like it.

Nothing to spectacular, but I love it. I bought an unfinished wood frame at the Hob Lob & some scrapbook paper. I love how it turned out.

This isn't crafty, but I had to show off my favorite Christmas gift. Jarrett got me the Dad & 2 girls Willowtree. I love it!!!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

I. LOVE. CHRISTMAS.

Boy am I wore out from spending the long weekend getting our house ready for the Christmas season. The tree is up, the stockings are hung, & a few of my hand-made Christmas crafts that I actually have finished are up. I have plenty left to get finished up.

Here are the Christmasy things I have up in the house already. And here are some of my easy/not so easy - time consuming/fast Christmas crafts I have made!

Our Tree - I couldn't resist the urge to buy new ornaments. I bought lime green, red, & silver balls. LOVE THEM! Lots & lots of glitter going on. This is the 2nd year with our fake tree. I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. But it is so stinkin' easy. I love that it is pre-lit. The best part is, I got it for clearance after Christmas 2007 - it was $7.00 at Wal-Mart. I figured if it sucked, I wasn't going to be out much money! But I love it. I certainly do miss the smell of a real tree...

The Girls' Tree - my mother-in-law bought them pink & purple miniature ornaments. I love how it turned out. Olivia was so excited to do all of this on her own.

Stockings - I cross stitched all of our stockings, Rachel's in 2007 & Jarrett's, Olivia's, & mine in 2006. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but aren't they gorgeous? LOVE THEM! I'm not gonna lie - these took FOREVA to do. I literally worked on them from September - November. Every spare minute I had went into stitching these beauties. But I love them, not only for their beauty, but for the message. Each one has a verse on it. I picked each one specifically for the verse. LOVE THEM! I even sewed them together...I know - sometimes I amaze myself :)

The Mantle - I love how it looks this year. I loved that I forgot that I had bought some new stuff after Christmas last year. I must have bought the poinsettia lights then & I was so excited when I found them in the box. I don't know if I am completely finished with this or not. But I think its a good start.

Wreath #1 - this is all dollar store finds! Cheapo $1 wreath, cheapo $1 set of unbreakable ornaments, & cheapo $1 jingle bells. It took me all of 30 minutes to put this bad boy together. And I would say that 15 minutes of that was helping Olivia string the threads thru the jingle bells. (An adorable little shopping companion for the trip to Dollar Tree is completely optional - LOVE THIS GIRL EVEN MORE THAN CRAFTS!)



Wreath #2 - again dollar store finds! WOOT WOOT for the Dollar Tree. I just strung ornaments on an old wire hanger. Didn't take me very long at all - except I am fumble thumbs & dropped the ornaments a few times. That's why I love unbreakable things.


Centerpiece - Not really sure if I am done with this bad boy or not. I bought this old wooden bowl at Country Junction last weekend. I have been looking for one, at a decent price, for a loooong time. (Sometimes I am frugal to a fault.) I filled it with buckeyes I got for free at our trip to the pumpkin patch in October & a red candle from my stash. (Laura questioned my excitement when the lady said I could take all the buckeyes I wanted...now she knows why I was excited.) I jazzed it up by putting it in the middle of a wreath - you guessed it from Dollar Tree. And I put more bells & ornaments on it. I LOVE IT WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER! Now if I could only keep my adorable little 2 year old from grabbing the buckeyes & putting them in her mouth.

I ♥ Give-Aways

I follow several blogs, and I always see people doing give-aways.

Monkey See - Monkey Do

I am having a give-away!!! WOOT WOOT FOR FREE STUFF!!!

If you read this blog, and obviously you are...you know that I have been feeling mighty crafty these days. And after a bit of nudging suggestion from my Bestie Laura, I decided to do it.

Up for grabs, one of my precious home-made with love wooden block sets. You name what you want, and I will do it. I have a few that I am working on that are Christmas themed & a couple of Harvesty ones. Here are some of the ones I have done, just to give you an idea.

This monogram set, I made as a gift for my secret pal at work.

(it's not a secret anymore, so I am sharing it with you)

And I have already shown you these little beauties I made for Halloween

Here is what you need to do to enter:

1. Leave a comment = 1 entry
2. Follow my blog = 1 entry (if you are already a follower leave a separate comment to that effect)
3. Blog about my give-away with a link to my blog = 1 entry (leave a separate comment to this effect also)
   
   I will draw the winner randomly & then email you to get the specifics on what you would like your blocks to say.
   
   OhMyGoodness I. AM. EXCITED. about this & I don't even win anything.
   
   You have until Friday, October 16th at 8:00 am to enter this contest!! WOOT WOOT!
   

I ♥ Fall

Fall is my absolute favorite time of year! Have I told you that before??? Oh well, even if I have it bares repeating. I. LOVE. FALL. Everything about it: the cooler weather, the leaves changing, the smells, you name it - I love it!

I have never really been much of a decorator, I really never took the time. But this year, I feel compelled to decorate! Maybe it's because Olivia is 5 now & she can help me with projects. Or maybe it is because Olivia is 5 now & can ask me why everyone else decorates for the changing season/Halloween & I don't. Take your pick...

Anywho, remember this little beauty that I made?

I decided that she needed a little something extra. And that my friends was jute & a pretty ribbon. I simply hot-glued some jute (twine) onto my pot & tied a pretty bow. I love it!

This "FAITH - FAMILY - FARMING" sign I have had hung up for a few months now. I bought it at Country Junction & thought this weird-closet-sticking-out wall made the perfect home for it.

I got the "Trick or Treat" sign at Apple & Pork. I love it!

I got the Indian corn also at Apple & Pork. They had bundles tied together in three's of the little ears of corn (and I mean little) for $3.oo a piece. But then there were the bigger/regular sized ears for 50 cents a piece. So I bought 6 of the big ones & tied them up myself.

I think it looks good, don't you?!

I was feeling crafty, so I mod-podged this little "boo" decoration for my mother-in-law. I super-glued the wooden letters from Michaels onto my festive paper. I love how stinkin easy & cheap project was. I plan on making several more for all different seasons/holidays.

I made this trio for myself. I have like ZERO Halloween decorations. I used 2x4 scraps & mod-podged on Halloween-ish paper. Then super-glued on my chipboard letters. Olivia loves it!

I am sure I will come up with some more decorations...just gotta keep looking!

Being Creepy Pays Off

Ok, so I have read enough "home decor/thrifty decor" blogs over the past few weeks that my head is spinning with ideas. I. LOVE. THEM. No joke, these blogs are, in my opinion, the best things in the world.

Now, if you ask my husband, he would definitely tell you they are bad influences on me. I get too many ideas, and then want to change every single aspect of our home. Well, that is basically what he would say except I cleaned it up a bit because he is a truck-driver & he has a way with words. HA! He gets a very cute "concerned" look when he sees me with measuring tapes, hammers, & what-not. I love it! Keeping him in suspense & wondering what exactly I am up to is also one of the best things in the world!

And I apologize that I cannot remember exactly which blogs I copied some of my ideas from. I would like to give credit/props to the folks whose ideas I have stolen borrowed. But frankly what I did was (and this will make me sound like a completely creepy internet stalker), once I found a decor blog I liked I went back through the archives & looked at almost each & every post. I know, I have A LOT of free-time somedays. But I looked at sooooo many blogs I honestly don't remember who I got the ideas from.

I am working on several different projects at the present time, but here are a couple of completed ones. I saw a pumpkin topiary sort of similar to this one I made. I thought, "wow what a novel idea" & it looked so easy! And it was easy! I bought the fake pumpkins at Michael's in New Jersey when we were there. They were on sale of 50% off so I got them for $3 a piece. I had the pot on hand, because I lack a green thumb & my plant died. I also dismantled a wreath I had, so that is where I got the pipberries & other little things.

First, I cut off the stems from 2 of the pumpkins. And I super-glued them stacked up like that.

Then, I took my dismantled wreat parts & just stuck them in where it looked good. (Jarrett was in charge of making sure it looked good!)

All in all, I think she turned out quite nice. She is proudly displayed on my mantle because Rachel keeps trying to un super-glue the pumpkins.

Completed project #2 I came up with all on my own. I got this old milk can from my grandma. She was in rough shape (the can not my grandma - felt the need to clarify that). I didn't take a true "before" picture because I forgot to. But here is one of Rachel playing outside with the can in the background. VERY VERY VERY RUSTY & DUSTY! I had to put on a mask while I was cleaning it up.

The clean up & sanding was the hardest part. Then I just gave it a couple of coats of black spray-paint. I usually buy the cheapest stuff they have, you know the $.99 stuff at Wal-Mart. But Jarrett picked it up for me. He got the Krylon black spray-paint for me & I will never buy the cheapo stuff again. My finger didn't get a horrific cramp in it because the sprayer is that much nicer. Then I just made a stencil on the computer & printed it out. It took all of 5 minutes to do that. And I just love it!

So, there you have it. Being creepy really did pay off for me. I have several more ideas & projects in the works. And of course, I will give you all the pleasure of seeing the completed ones!