Do Something Creative {DAILY}

Cub Scout Patch Sash...can I trademark that?

2011-02-24T23:05:00.000-08:00

Yeah, the name. Cub Scout Patch Sash...can I trademark that? Food for thought.

My son the cub scout has outgrown his red patch sweatshirt and decided he doesn't want the red windbreaker jackets the pack purchased for the boys. These jackets are handy for outings, and for the boys to proudly display the patches they receive from various outings, activities, community service projects, etc. I find this very odd, as he's an avid patch-shower-offer and he's clearly outgrown the red patch sweatshirt he keeps wearing over and over again. It's every boy's envy when he wears it to school and quite the conversation starter when we go to the store and he's wearing it.

I suggested maybe a red vest as other boys have sported in the past, but he didn't like the idea. He decided on a sash, very much like the green sash his older Boy Scout brother wears for his Merit Badges. Now, he's decided this a few weeks back and with Blue & Gold around the corner, it's time for this busy momma to get to work. So off to Joann's we went to select the fabric for the sash. Luckily a yard is all I needed, and at $5.99 a yard, and my 50% off coupon, it cost me a whopping $3.00 plus tax.

I simply cut two strips of fabric to the desired width, and sewed them together. Then I hemmed the edges, and cut the length to fit my son's body (this part is pretty forgiving since it hangs from the shoulder, across his body to the opposite side.

I then pressed it.

And after trying it on his body, sewed the seam at the bottom end in an angle as seen below.

Then it was time to sew on all the patches, making sure to leave plenty of space for his Sports and Academics pins towards the top of the sash.

Side note: Notice this Warstone patch. He earned this at a weekend campout where Duncan had the Guinness World Book of Records there in an attempt to break a record. My son participated in this event. They wanted to break the record for the most people participating in a marble tournament...and they broke it!! So now my son's name will be on this record and it was just recently recorded in the books. FYI, he's quite ambitions and the overachiever...he had told me about 8 months prior to this event that he wants to break a world record one day. I reminded him after this event, and told him he can check that off his bucket list!

And we're ready! He'll be so excited to see this in the morning.

Here it is all finished up and posing next to its big brother the Boy Scout sash. Buuuuut, it's almost all filled up with patches. Back too! So I guess we'll make more and overlap them over one another. We'll cross that bridge when we get there. At least he has something to wear to Blue & Gold now to display his patches.

The Wall Painted Headboard

2011-02-23T20:52:00.000-08:00

I had that hunch today. Yup, creativity trying to tell me something. Yes, that one. Early this morning. So at lunch time, after a quick session with my chiropractor whose office happens to be just down the street from my apartment, I made a quick trip to my place.

There my perfectly taped future headboard awaited on the wall, as seen here. I kicked off my heels, removed the sweater I purchased in Italy, and rolled up my white jeans....ha, ha, ha... Removed the bed from the wall, taped paper to the baseboard to protect the carpet and got started.

Rolling my little round brush up and down, back and forth, to and fro. Mmmmm...the smell of fresh paint. I couldn't believe I was doing this, during my lunch time...and I'd be done in minutes!!

Here it is with the first coat completed. I painted right over the blue tape, but not passed it. And right over the green tape, as that would create my white inset border.

I didn't even want to take off the electrical outlet cover, as it's covered by the bed, but I did cover it with blue tape cause I don't want to replace it when I leave.

Here it is. You can tell it needs a second coat. And I left back to the office, leaving my bloody mess as is.

And upon returning home, and quickly feeding the kids, I got right back to my project with a second coat of paint, as seen below.

And I just couldn't wait to see what it would really look like. So I quickly removed the blue tape, and then the green tape and I was soooo excited. But the room looks so much better in daylight, and it's dark out now, and I really want to see it with the pillows up against the wall, but it's still wet...so I improvise. Breath in, breath out.

I cleaned up and pushed the bed back up against the wall as close as possible without actually touching it, and semi setup the pillows. Voila!!

Wow! It's really coming together.

But I still can't wait to see what it looks like tomorrow morning. I'll post a picture as soon as I can.

Nighty night!

OK! Here's the picture in the morning!! Woot woot! I feel like quite the interior decorating diva powerhouse.

This bedroom is definitely not "done", but this project has inspired me to her 'er done sooner.

Headboard Painted on Wall Project

2011-02-21T10:00:00.000-08:00

I'm starting a new project...wall painted headboard. I don't have a headboard and don't want to buy one. Been wondering what can I do creatively, very low, low cost and cool. Been pondering several ideas that involved spending a little bit of money, but finally decided why spend any money at all. I have left over paint from the good ol' craft armoire makeover seen herehere, so now that will be put to good use. I'm painting a square above my bed with a white inset border. Can't wait to see the result. Will share as soon as I get a step forward.

As of now, I've taped the area that will be painted gray. That would be inside the blue tape...all of it. The green tape will keep the wall un-painted for the white inset border.

Doing this will also help tone down the white walls. And this wall is so large, that I decided to go tall on the headboard. There's plenty of space for it.

Until next time! Wish me luck.

Origami Hats...celebrating Boy's Day Japanese style with Shuko

2011-02-18T09:30:00.000-08:00

Another afternoon learning origami with Shuko. During lunch today she mentioned that in Japan, boys have a day of celebration in February. They make origami hats and wear them . So with napkin in hand, she taught me how to make them. Once we arrived at the office, she broke out with the origami paper and I practiced some more.

Directions:

Fold origami square in half to form a triangle.

Fold each side corner up to meet the top corner. Make sure you fold both sides up.

Fold one lose end over to opposite end, like this picture above. Do the same to both sides.

Fold the top corner down, on the top layer back to look like this picture. Do the same to both sides.

It will look like this when you make those folds.

Fold up the bottom half, the one that doesn't have the little wings sticking out. Only fold up the top layer, so you see the inside of the paper, as in the picture above. Fold it so the top corner is just over the folds of the little wings.

This is what it will look like when you make that fold.

Fold that bottom edge up so it aligns with the crease.

Open it up, as in the picture above.

Tuck the bottom triangle up into the opening in the center.

It will look like this. It's a mini hat. Make it out of a larger piece of paper, or better yet, newspaper as they do in Japan and wear it.

Boys love to wear these, that's why they make these to celebrate boys' day in Japan!

Thank you Shuko for another fun day of origami lessons! Check out this post for origami butterflies, with Shuko.

The Shabby Chic Frames are up...in the dining room

2011-02-17T22:42:00.000-08:00

Finally decided the permanent location of the Shabby Chic Black Frames...the dining room. And here they are.

It was a bit of a challenging task figuring out exactly how to do this as I couldn't tell which side of the decal was a transfer paper and which side was a paper backing.

This was my initial positioning, simply taped to the wall. It was up for about a week, after being up above my bed as a headboard another week. I finally decided heck, it was only $4.00 and change for crying out loud. If I don't like it, it can come down and I only lost a few bucks. Done!

Started the first step by placing the adhesive side of the tape and decal (or so I thought) on the wall in the desired location...he, he, he...But when I tried to peel back the transfer tape from the wall, like it instructed me to, the decal didn't stay on the wall. Oh, oh...I removed it, read the bloody instructions over and over and over again until I determined I was doing it correctly and maybe, just maybe this wasn't going to work for me. But carry on I did.

I scraped every bubble flat on my not-so-smooth wall, with the provided tool.

Then it was time to peel the transfer tape from the wall and the decal is supposed to remain stuck on the wall. But it wasn't quite. I just kind of forced it off the transfer tape and pressed up against the wall. The rest was pretty easy pulling off, but the decal seemed to be wanting to pull. It was a little rubbery so it didn't ever break. I also kept using the plastic tool to rub it against the wall. I'm pretty sure at this point I'm not supposed to be using it on this type of wall. You know, the kind that has some texture vs. the super smooth walls. Oh,well. There is no way to salvage this decal and place it somewhere else. I'll just keep going and finish it off.

So the first half of the large frame is done.

But the top half was a challenge as it was difficult to align the sides and have it still be leveled at the top. Well, it's not. I came to the conclusion that the frame decal was not perfectly squared, or leveled. So I just made it work as best I could.

And here they all are together. Now, please keep in mind tha it's 3 days after Valentine's and my place is still Valentiney. Hence, the Valentine tree, the red table cloth, roses on the table, etc.

And then I decided to add some 3D origami butterflies I made last week. I posted a step by step for these cool origami butterflies here.

It' funky, it's whimsy, it's fun...it's me.

Birdfeeder for my cub scouts

2011-02-17T15:32:00.000-08:00

The finished birdfeeder

The old birdfeeder made at summer camp

There are many things I enjoy about being a den leader. It didn't start off this way. When I volunteered, there was no Tiger den leader for my son, the only Tiger. So I stepped up to the plate so he could be involved and move up through the ranks. We quickly had two boys join us (who are still with us, yipee!) and through the years we've seen many come and go. Hey, it's not for everyone. But I am happy to report we have a den of 5 committed Bear scouts that show up on a regular basis, in complete uniform and a good attitude. So back to what I enjoy the most, the satisfaction of seeing the smile on the faces of those little boys when they receive their awards, patches and rank badges. When they learn their knots and you see the light bulb above their head shine a light in the whole entire cafeteria (our meeting location). When they give me a big thank, but when they give me that BIG BEAR hug....ugh...I just melt.

But one of the next best things I enjoy is the crafts. Yes, I enjoy the crafts, but the boys do too. And on a rainy and cold day like today in sunny Southern California, crafts are just the thing.

My Bear son and I attended resident camp last summer and they made an easy, simple, and quick bird feeder which he just loved. This went towards one of his achievements that ultimately will go towards him earning his Wildlife Conservation Award. He definitely used it, hung it on a tree in our little apartment's balcony. OK, yes the tree is fake, hee, hee. But with the wind and the elements the bird feeder now looks like the above picture. So, we shall make bird feeders as a den, so all the boys can get their Wildlife Conservation Award. And, cause I'm done with Blue & Gold decorations {woo hoo} and can think of nothing else to do. And to practice leadership skills my son willl this activity.

We made one at home last night to remember the details and to pre-pack the components into zip lock bags for each scout.

What you'll need per birdfeeder:

19 wood craft sticks (like the popscicle ones). We paid $3.99 for a bag of 150 at Michael's

4 pieces of cotton twine, approximately 25" long each. Paid $2.00 at Big Lots for 50 yards.

Glue, I use Aileen's Tacky Glue. $1.99 at Michael's, but have several laying around.

Directions:

You place two sticks parallel to each other and place dots of glue at each edge of sticks. Place two more sticks on top, as shown above.

Place two more sticks perpendicular to the last ones, and yet two more on top, see above picture. You should now have two sticks stacked on top of each other at each edge of the square. Make sure you place glue dots at each end every time you add sticks!

Then add sticks going across the entire top to create a platform. Again, place glue on the edge of the sticks that the platform sticks will lay on.

Add one more stick on each end of the sticks to keep them together, as shown above. Glue, please! Let dry for a few minutes so the glue bonds.

Thread a cotton twine string at each corner of the square platform. Pull all four strings together at top and tie them together. And you've got yourself a nice, easy, simple birdfeeder!

Now add a bit of peanut butter to the platform and sprinkle bird seed on it. The seeds will stick to the peanut butter and not slide off the platform with the first breeze that comes by. Hang it in a patio or by a window and enjoy the birds that stop by for a snack. I mean, don't enjoy the birds for a snack, enjoy watching the birds have a snack. Just want to make sure we're all clear on this one.

And here it is hanging in our balcony,
sans the bird feed cause I gotta take it to the scout meeting as a sample

A trip to the center of the craft armoire

2011-02-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

Several of you have asked so here it is. A quick trip to the center of the craft armoire. Yes, a view inside the oh so long awaited craft armoire. You will notice, not much has happened in here as of yet, but it will get there. The plan is to add a peg board to the left side door and possibly magnetic board on the right side. It'll happen as needed.

It has proven to be quite easy to use and organized for the projects I have engaged in, like making Valentine's cards and ornaments. A place for everything and everything in it's place. Well, not everything has a place yet cause I still have some boxes to unpack in the garage. They bare such labels as scrapbooking and crafts and yet another is labeled stamps. Scrapbooking, crafts and stamps, oh my! Scrapbooks, and crafts and stamps, oh my! Get it?...Wizard of Oz? Get it? Anyhwo, I can't remember what was stored in these boxes, and I certainly don't miss whatever is in them. I'm afraid to open the unknown. Maybe if I never open them, I'll never know...and I'll never miss whatever is in there. What to do? What to do? But that's a project for another day.

Note: For those of you who attempted to read the original post...I'm sorry....so sorry :( It's been revised. Really, it has. I'm just silly like that, naturally. AND I've had seven (7) hours of sleep. Yes, you read that right ladies and gentlemen, SEVEN! And, I've had my cup of joe. So top fo the morning to ya. Make it a great one!

Valentine's Cards for my sweets

2011-02-15T21:22:00.000-08:00

I've made our Valentine's ornaments and completed our Valentine's tree for this year. But it was TWO days before Valentine's and I had yet to create cards for my sweet boys. So here we are.

I'm pleasantly surprised as to how cute these turned out. I really had no recipe to follow, didn't copy anyone's card at the scrapbook store, or get ideas from all the fabulously creative people from a magazine. These were truly my own creation and therefore, much more satisfying when done.

Filigree Heart Card
Cut 5.5" x 8 1/2" red cardstock and folded in half. Used corner rounders to round every corner. Cut 2" x 5.5" turquoise printed paper, rounded the top corners and glued to top half of card. Used white cardstock to cut the scalloped border with Accent Essentials Cricut Cartridge in 1/2". Cut this in half and glued one half where the red and the turquoise printed paper meet, to the left edge of the card, and the other half to the right edge of the card. Used pink glitter cardstock and the Wedding Cricut Cartridge to die cut a scalloped hear at about 4". Used white cardstock to cut the complementing filigree heart. Glued the filigree to the scalloped heart and the whole thing to the card, over the white scalloped border, covering the torn edges in the center.

I {heart} U Card
Cut 5.5" x 8.5" red cardstock and folded in half. Cut 2.5" x 5.5" pink striped printed paper and glued to top half of card. Used turquoise printed paper and the Accent Essentials Cricut Cartridge to print 2 funky borders, and glued them to the card where the red meets the pink. Used pink glitter paper to cut I and U with a cricut cartridge at about 3.5" (skips my mind exactly which one at this moment in time), and the heart was cut using the Accent Essentials Cricut Cartridge at about 3.5". Used the turquoise printed paper to cut a shadow of the heart. Glued the pink on the turquoise heart. Glued the I and the U on the card, then used 3M foam tape to adhere the heart overlapping the I and the U. Wrapped a red ribbon around the heart for added whimsy.

Quick, simple and oh so special.

Update on Craft Armoire knobs!!

2011-02-14T15:47:00.000-08:00

When I presented the Shabby Chic knobs on the Craft Armoire in this post, I mentioned the two bottom knobs were slightly different. They sure were! They are handcut crystal so of course, there will always be a difference. But they were also slightly different in color, one being more pinkish. Both these minor natural flaws made them look quite different to me and they were bugging me. So on a trip to the mall with my boys, I took them with me to exchange one for another one to match the second one. Have I confused you yet? Anywho, I only needed to find one at the store that matched one of the ones I purchased to have two semi-identical knobs.

My bf and sons went with me. Once in front of the beatifully rotating displays full of gorgeous artsy knobs, my bf said to me "How about adding some color, like these?" Wow, I thought. I love it! So I purchased them. Here they are.

Cloisonne Chrystanthemum Knob

Not showing them on the armoire yet because one of them is broken, ugh!! So these two I put on the top doors (yes, voiding the clear crystal knobs I previously loved...he, he, he...) and these I put on the bottom doors.

Ceramic Melon Knob

While I love the Cloisonne Chryanthemum knobs, and I do love the ceramic melon knobs too, I just don't think they go together, and I like the cloisonne chrysanthemum knobs better. I almost feel as if I should have known they wouldn't look good together before I brought them home. So, yet another trip to Anthropologie is planned because at this point I only have one good knob since the one Cloisonne Chrysanthemum knob is broken.

And I haven't even begun the inside organization of the Craft Armoire project!!

Origami Butterflies...lessons compliment of Shuko

2011-02-12T21:46:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had a breath of fresh air at work. At our usual 4pm break to the lunch room for candy, instead, my dear friend Shuko hosted a butterfly origami workshop for 15 minutes. This woman is incredible. She is such a dear friend. She can cook, bake, knit, orgami and drink a good wine like no one else can. Love her!

So back to the workshop. She brought the origami paper and got right to the lesson. You need perfect squares of origami paper to make these. Here are the instructions, step by step:

You fold the square in half.

And then in half again.

Open one corner by sticking your finger in between layers and align the crease you'll have at the top with the center line you see in the white in the below picture.

Fold the edges so this area looks like a triangle, like this.

Turn it over to the side so the side that you see on top is now against the table and flip the squared side of the paper to the opposite side of where it's at to create a good crease on both sides of it.

Now lift the squared side of the paper up to the center as shown, so what is left on the table is a triangle shape.

Push the center area down to create another triangle on top of the bottom one.

Crease the sides well.

Now lift the side edges of the top triangle toward the top, leaving the bottom triangle intact.

Flip this new triangle over so the creased areas you see on top are now against the table and the point of the triangle is facing you.

Fold the bottom tip up so the tip is sticking up beyond the top edge a bit.

Pull the top layer of the top tip down.

The side edges will start to want to lift and that's OK. Crease them down.

Fold in half, left side over right side.

Notice the little tip that sticks out on the left side. That's the little head of the butterfly.

Take the top layer, the left side just folded over the right, and fold it back to the left with the top edge aligned with the head that sticks out.

Turn it over so the side on the top is now against the table, and fold this side down just as you did the other side, with the top edge aligned with the head tip.

Crease it down well.

Here is your butterfly!!

I plan on making a bunch of these to create a wall decoration. If you try them, let me know and post pictures!!

Shabby Chic Black Frame Decals

2011-02-11T15:09:00.000-08:00

Tar-jay {sophisticated for Target) carries the most darnest things sometimes. It takes a lot of will power to walk in there and purchase only what's on my list. Never a small bill, for sure. So when I saw this Shabby Chick Black Frame Decal set on clearance for $4.32, I just had to pick it up {insert happy dance}.

I debated what to do with it...exactly where to place it for the best impact. And not being able to figure it out, and having guests over, I slid it under the bed to be forgotten for months. Until the craft armoire project that is. That's when I took everything out of the armoire and under the bed, nooks and crannies in my bedroom to work on it. So that's when I saw it. It's like finding a $20 bill in a coat that's been put away for the summer and suddenly taken back out for the fall. I couldn't deal with it at the time, craft armoire project on hand, so I left it there to be found again once I cleaned the mess back up and into the armoire.

And so, I found it again. First I thought I'd use it as a headboard in my bedroom, since I don't currently have one. Here it is as I contemplated putting the shabby chic frame decals, similar to these, up as a headboard.

I thought it might actually work. But something in the pit of my stomach tells me, maybe not so much. These have been taped on the wall for about two weeks now, winking at me and waiting for the ultimate approval...the final sealing process. But that hasn't quite happened. My walls scream of apartment rental (white). Bedspread and sheet sets are light khaki and white (in this picture you see one set. The pillows shown in the picture will go once I decide on a final color pallette. I'm thinking gray (to go with the craft armoire I just painted gray and is in the same room), and turquoise for a splash of color, along with the neutrals khaki and white. That swing lamp (new project!) will have it's brown hardware painted white, and the lampshade will be covered in a cool, modern fabric, preferably gray...I'm thinking a light gray zebra stripe I saw online, like this one.

But anyway. Back to the shabby chic frame decals. What ya'll think? These can be rearranged into different positions, and I can add cool little wall hangings in each frame..just another thought. For example, 3D bird, a key, deer head, just funky things ya know.

The biggest problem is that the actual frames will be bright black once the liner is removed. I'm afraid this will be too stark for the room given the rest of the colors I'm working with.

Update 2/11/11 8:30pm:
Or..............maybe it would be best in the dining room. The black will definitely work in here. Here is a night time picture, cause I'm usually at work during the day.

Again, please keep in mind these will look jet black once the liner is removed.

Your vote?

Blue & Gold Banquet Campfire Centerpieces Complete

2011-02-10T21:52:00.000-08:00

Our finished campfire centerpiece

A while ago, I reported we were doing campfire centerpieces for our Blue & Gold banquet, in this post. Today was the day. We got them done in one den meeting {woo hoo!!}, were simple to make and super cute.

In addition, we practiced one of the scout values..."a scout is resourceful". Most of the items used were items we already had at home or in nature, with the exception of the tissue paper and wrapping paper.

Items needed per centerpiece:
6 cardboard tubes- left overs from home
brown paint - from previous projects
paintbrushes- from previous projects
1 yellow tissue sheet- purchased
1 orange tissue sheet- purchased
1 red tissue sheet (left this one out)- was supposed to be from previous project
cardboard sheet about 10" x 10"- trash from work
blue wrapping paper to wrap cardboard sheet- purchased
2 twigs about 8" long- picked up from the ground outside our meeting place
4 cottonballs- from my stash at home
tape- from home
scissors- from home
paint brushes- from previous projects
Aileen's glue- from previous projects
glue gun- from home
glue sticks for glue gun- from home

Directions:
Paint cardboard tubes brown and let dry.

While they're drying, wrap the cardboard sheet with blue wrapping paper.

Overlap yellow tissue paper and orange tissue paper. Grab the center in a bunch and wrap with tape to hold it together.

Glue the tissue with glue gun in the center blue board.

Using glue gun, glue 3 cardboard tubes flat on the blue board around the tissue paper in a triangle, with one end of the tube pointing toward the tissue and the other end pointing toward the edge of the board.

Using glue gun, glue the other 3 cardboard tubes between the flat tubes, with one end of the tube attached to board and the other end of tube leaning against the center tissue.

Use the Aileene's Tacky Glue to glue cottonballs on the twigs, to make them look like marshmallows.

Glue the twigs across the campfire, using the glue gun, to make them look like they're being roasted and this should be it.

But, our creative scouts had an idea. They wanted the marshmallows to look like they were really roasted and so they decided to dab them with brown paint. In the case of my son, the picture above, he likes his almost burned, and so he smothered his in brown paint.

For the final touch we crumpled the tissue so it looked distressed and like it was really burning.

Do you have any idea how excited I am that we finished in one den meeting? No need to be lugging these centerpieces around. Our boys were so efficient we got these done in one hour, and still had time to play. Mind you, the brown tubes were not completely dry yet, specially those with a thicker coat of paint. But we went for it anyway and they finished drying on the boards.

Valentine's Tree Completed...for 2011 at least

2011-02-09T23:03:00.000-08:00

Last I reported on the progress of the Valentine's tree, I had created large heart-shaped ornaments but apparently not enough. It still needed to have some holes filled here and there. Valentine's is quickly approaching in a week, and I knew I had to get this project done pronto.

I had picked up a printed scrapbook paper with Valentine postage stamp like designs, a bunch of them. I cut each one out individually, matted each onto a different cardstock, punched a hole at the top and slipped ribbon through. I added the ornaments to the tree, and finito.

It doesn't have nearly as many ornaments as I had hoped, but it still makes a fun and beautiful first Valentine's tree.

Next year I plan on adding pink glitter poly mesh (like the one in the picture below) draped around the tree to make it look more lush, glamorous and plentiful.

For 2011, this is our Valentine's tree.

No too shabby crystal knobs...before & after

2011-02-07T22:47:00.000-08:00

I finally had the time to go out and purchase knobs for my armoire. I skipped the usual Lowe's and Home Depot home improvement stores for something more unique. I stopped by Kirkland's hoping that they might have something that would fit with my decor because they're soooo inexpensive. But as usually is the case when I'm decorating for myself, I walked out empty-handed. No luck.

I'm very fortunate that just around the corner from good 'ol Kirkland's is an Anthropologie store. Now if you want unique, hip and quirky clothing and home decor items, this is a good place to stop. Never your run of the mill stuff, but never inexpensive. Now if I was looking for a bedspread, I would have to avoid Anthropologie like Chuck E. Cheese's, because my pocketbook can't handle it not because of the chaos. But because all I'm looking for is a touch of whimsy I'm thinking I might just get away with this. Plus I had already done some homework online at http://www.anthropologie.com/, and found that this was looking promising.

I'm so excited I found my knobs. Check out the cuties up close.

Anthropologie Crystal Faceted Knobs

There was a plethora of beautiful, unique knob designs gorgeously displayed sitting atop small black pebbles in spinning displays. It was definitely difficult to choose just the right ones. I finally selected the one design I thought would look beautiful on my new craft armoire, picked up a total of 4 and proceeded to the checkout. There the sales girl goes to ring me up and says "all the same?" Oh my!! What a question. Well, yes. They're all the same I think to myself. But I guess they don't have to be!! Aaaahhhh. I'm screaming inside to myself. Yet, another opportunity to get creative, whimsy and unique. "Yes", I reply to her. "But, I guess it would be nice to mix it up". And off I go to pick a different knob. At this point I'm thinking I need two for the top {taller} doors, and two for the bottom {shorter} doors. So while the knobs I already had at the register are tall, sort of an oblong-like shape, they would be perfect for the taller doors. But the shorter doors would now get a design that's more suited and in proportion to themselves. Kind of like when I'm shopping for clothes for myself, somewhat on the shorter end of the scale. And so after carefully spinning the displays around a few more times, I concluded that these round crystal knobs would be the right ones for shorter doors, yet complementing the longer knobs.

Anthropologie Crystal Faceted Knobs for Taller doors

Anthropologie Crystal Knobs for Shorter doors
Do you see anything, oh I don't know....different?

What a sense of excitement and accomplishment I felt at that moment. So I paid for my selection and quickly made my way back home to "try them on". How I hoped these would be perfect for my armoire...and they were. A little classy, a little shabby...but, not too shabby, huh?

And now for the before and after..........drum roll, please............... tada!

The inside is also getting a makeover. Organization, bins, containers, pegs, etc. More on that when I get around to it. Stay tuned.

Note: As you can see from the knob picture above, there is a very slight difference between the two round knobs I picked up. One might even be a little pinkish. So I'll take these back for two more identical knobs when I get the time.

Girlie Cupcake Card

2011-02-03T23:09:00.000-08:00

Here's a recipe for a yummy cupcake card. Made this for my cousin, so I wanted a bit of a grown up pattern, but still sweet so as to not forget the child inside.

8 1/2" x 5 1/2" light pink CTMH cardstock, folded in half
3" x 4 1/4" black and white Hollywood & Vine Swingtime paper (from Michael's), glued to top portion on front of card
2" x 4 1/4" tinted rose stripe by g.c.d. studios designer paper, glued to bottom portion of front of card, overlapping the b&w paper.
4 1/4" Black Jumbo Rick Rack 5/8 Inch by Wrights glued over the overlap line of above papers.
Cupcake diecut using my Cricut Expression Cutter and the following papers:

light blue Mom's Diner Salt paper (from Michael's)
pink medallions by g.c.d. studios designer paper (I used the back for the solid pink)
Pink glitter cardstock (for the heart) I picked up at Target.

The cupcake was assembled and glued onto card with foam tape, doubled for a super 3D effect.

Inside the card, I used the same light blue and pink medallions paper to die cut MAKE A WISH with the Cricut Expression Cutter.

Voila! I'm liking this do-something-creative-daily goal of mine. I feel like I really take the time to do something that fulfills me and helps me relax. It's my hobbie and it makes me smile.

Now if my cell phone just took decent pictures!! Camera still broken...I keep waking up everyday, nudging it a little to see if it decided to roll over, overnight. But that hasn't happened. I guess I better call the warranty company or get a new one.

Blue & Gold Banquet campfire centerpieces

2011-02-02T22:39:00.000-08:00

Campfire Centerpiece
picture by Crafts by Amanda blog

It feels as though today wasn't very productive in the "do-something-creative-daily" kind of way, because I didn't create something. But the more I thought about it the more I realized that looking for ideas to create something is in fact "doing something creative". So here is my creative something for the day.

A few years back I became a Boy Scouts. No, I'm not a boy. I'm a girl. But once my sons decided Scouting was their thing, I had to get involve and become a committee member, then the secretary, then the committee chairperson, then a den leader. I've been through various Scout Leader training sessions, summer camps, pinewood derbies, and know more about camping than I ever wished to. Being a boy scout wasn't exaclty something I was aspiring to be when I was growing up. Never quite made it on my bucket list, ya know. But so the joys of being a parent brings us to do things we never thought possible...like going for 3 days without a shower, in 100 degree weather. Eeeeewwwww!! But 'nuff about that.

So, in cub scouting we have an annual banquet called Blue & Gold (as in the uniform colors), where the boys usually create centerpieces and in the case of our pack, napkin rings as well. Our theme this year is "Back to Basics" since last year was the 100th Anniversary of Boy Scouts of America and we WENT ALL OUT. This year, not so much. Whew!

I interviewed a few boys and asked the question. "What does boy scouts mean to you?" Answers: camping, hiking, outdoors! You know, anything that requires no showering for a while...ok, just kidding. They didn't really say that, but I know what they're thinking those boys. So I found the above cute centerpiece idea at Crafts by Amanda's blog, themed around a campfire and adopted it as the centerpiece for our banquet this year. I'll gather up all the supplies this weekend (hello Michael's, it's me again) and we'll be working on these next week at our den meeting.

Will post the finished product then. Stay tuned.

It's beginning to look a lot like....Valentine's?

2011-02-01T23:01:00.000-08:00

This year I decided to leave the Christmas tree up for a while. And by a while I mean at least through Valentine's. We are creating our very first Valentine's tree. I put all the Christmas decor away early January and kept the tree. Now it has sat mostly bare this whole time, the poor thing. I've been searching for red twinkle lights, very much like the white ones at Christmas, but red. For some odd reason I thought these would be easy to find, but I was wrong. The only ones I've come across are these red heart-shaped plastic lights, string of 10 for $10 at Target. To saturate this tree in red lights, I'm going to need at least 5 of these string lights and I'm not about to fork out $50 for red lights. So it will have to do with the white lights left over from Christmas.

As you can see, the tree sits on a corner by the windows. I don't want the neighbors to think I'm THAT crazy, and I figured red lights would let passerbys know "Hey, I'm not crazy, just celebrating Valentine's". So I guess I'm gonna have to settle for crazy this year.
I know I can order them online here, but I need to decorate this tree now before Valentine's has come and gone AND I really don't want to spend money on this crazy idea of mine.

With the help of my trusty Cricut Expressions like the one found here, I got to work and whipped out these adorable Valentine's ornaments. They are so easy and add so much whimsy to the room. I first picked up several sheets of scrapbook paper at Michael's and Target. Mostly pinks, reds, some black &white, and lots of glitter and sparkles. Also picked up a couple of rolls of Valentine ribbon that looks something like this, at Michael's for $0.50 a roll and at Target in the dollar section, for a whole buckaroo. My coworker was kind enough to let me borrow her Cricut Jukebox and oh what a treat! Take a look at one here. It holds a total of 6 Cricut cartridges at a time. You hook up the Jukebox to the Cricut Expressions, and rather than inserting a new cartridge everytime you want to switch, you simply press the corresponding button on the jukebox to access the one you want. She has several Valentine-y cartridges I don't have and so I borrowed them from her. Anywho. Here are the cute Valentine ornaments I whipped up last night.

For these I used the Designer's Calendar Cricut cartridge seen here to cut out the large hearts. Then simply matted one with the square cardstock, shaping the edge of the square one with Fiskar's paper edgers. Then used this Ek Success Paper Shaper folk heart punch to punch the 3 small hearts and adhered them with foam tape for a 3D effect. Hole punched some holes and strung the ribbon/tulle through them.

These hearts were cut using the George & Basic Shapes Cricut Cartridge, seen here. The owl and birdie were cutout with Winter Frolic Cricut cartridge seen here, heart punch for the 3 little hearts in each ornament, punched holes and slid the ribbon through them. The owl and birdie were adhered to the heart ornaments with foam tape for a 3D effect.

The scalloped heart, filigree heart and the LOVE sign and scalloped box were cut using Wedding Cricut cartridge seen here. I used glittery paper for these and I love the effect. Filigree was simply glued right onto the scalloped heart, hole punched at the top and ribbon slid through.
The LOVE sign was foam taped, for a 3D effect, to the scalloped box. Then I stapled the ribbon to the back using fucshia colored staples with my Close To My Heart stapler.

And here they are on the tree!

I'll make a few more ornaments to fill in some gaps and I'll call it a day for this year. Next year, we'll do more. My 9 year old, was very excited to see the tree this morning and declared to be happy that we're a funky family that loves celebrating, well, love.

Note: please forgive the quality of the pictures. My camera has broken on me and I'm taking these pictures with my not-so-great-quality-picture-taking cell phone.

Craft armoire...and the shelves (and stuff) are in

2011-01-31T22:57:00.000-08:00

So I haven't exactly be on hiatus over the weekend from my creative endeavors. Trust me, this armoire project is looming over my head and I just want to get 'er done. I had my niece and nephew over for the weekend in addition to my two kids (help!). And although I had all good intentions of making an arts & crafts hour (or two) to make Valentine's cards with them, that never quite happened. This is where having a nicely organized craft armoire where all my arts & crafts supplies are neatly organized into perfectly labeled containers <<insert girlie squeal here>> comes in. This weekend my precious tools were scattered around in my bedroom trying to hide behind my reading chair, under my bed and in every kinda concealed corner I could find. And then of course, there's the box that just couldn't be hidden, sitting right in front of my reading chair just waiting (for a year now) for a permanent home. No way, no now, could there be a successful, organized arts & crafts session with the kiddos. I really wanted them to take something away from their weekend with me and what better than their own homemade Valentine's cards.

The kids went home Sunday morning. And after working out for 2 1/2 hours, cooking mom's amazing tostadas (click here for recipe) and hanging out at my girlfriend's for 3 hours in the afternoon, I came home to "relax". And then I walked into my bedroom, where the beast, I mean the armoire, awaited empty and lonely to be covered up from it's nakedness (missing doors) and filled in with all things nice and pretty (arts & crafts supplies). And there I went again. I added the hinges, doors, shelves and put in place the art supplies in the bedroom. Aahhh. What a relief.

Take a look at 'er now.

Speaking of 'er...what shall I name 'er?

But, I'm not quite done yet. Still need to purchase new door knobs, extra plastic bins, and get all the supplies boxed up in the garage out to be sorted and stored into the armoire. I'm thinking vintage style glass drawer knobs like these to add a touch of whimsy. Or, I may just make a trip to Anthropologie to get a few of these cutie knobs, What do you think?

Then and only then, will this project be completely done. You can view the BEFORE picture and the painting process here.

The armoire (soon to be Craft Armoire) has been painted

2011-01-28T23:38:00.000-08:00

I've always wanted my very own Craft Armoire. Well really, I've always wanted my very own craft room. But I'll settle for an amoire given that I live in a tiny apartment. About a year ago, I (finally!!!) upgraded my BIG BOX TV to a Samsung Flat Screen TV like the one seen here. Oh, how I love a light, slim, easy to carry (by myself) TV. This TV being wider than the old big box, didn't fit into my TV armoire. So what to do with the armoire? It made it's way into my bedroom, with no TV to fill in it (I don't believe in TVs being in the bedroom) I started sticking arts and crafts supplies in it. Otherwise, my nifty supplies would be inconveniently stored in the garage, which is very inconveniently not attached to my apartment. I've been stuffing supplies in it, with not much of a rhyme or reason, and there's tons of wasted space. So it's time for it to have a make-over and be converted into an official Craft Armoire.

It will have shelves, plastic bins, a peg board on the back of the doors for storing more supplies, drawers for scrapbook paper, baskets, ribbon spools, oh the possibilities! Just take a look at my inspiration board here!

But first things first. It needed a paint job. And as per my previous post seen here, I selected a warm, gray color in a semi-gloss, Laura Ashley Home Mountain Pass. Now, I've never painted furniture before so this was sure to be an adventure from the get-go. I googled away and did some research until deciding on following the following method.

First, of course, the prep work. Removed all the doors, shelves and hardware. I sanded everything lightly. Then applied 2 coats of oil-based Kilz Stainblock Primer Original. A good brush is needed here to have good results. More on that a bit later. I learned a BIG lesson here! Next time I'll apply only one coat AND I will get low or no VOC primer!! Wow, wowee! I thought I picked up low VOC which was very important to me because this armoire is hideously heavy and sitting in my bedroom, remember? There's no way I was getting this armoire downstairs to the garage and back up to my bedroom just to paint it. So, paint in my bedroom it is. Much to my surprise, the primer stenched up my little apartment. Luckily, the smell was contained by closing the door. Unluckily, I wasn't going to be able to paint over the primer for days. Yup. I slept on the couch for 4 days. The primer did dry quick, though, and quick is always nice. Nothing like some instant gratification.

Now back to the paint brush. A good paint brush like the one seen here is needed for good results. Don't skimp on the cheapy ones. It will pay off in the end. I used a good brush for my first coat of primer. However, I didn't get to the second coat for 24 hours. I quickly learned that with oil-based primers, it's better in my opinion to discard the dry brush and use a brand new one. I went to Michael's to purchase my second brush because it's the closest to home. I picked up what I thought was a good brush, somewhere in the $7 range, without really paying much attention. And when I started applying the second (unnecessary) coat of primer, I noticed these thick brushtrokes. Half way through, bothered by the strokes, I looked at the wrapper and it read "Gesso brush". Hello??!?! That is definitely not what I needed. But it's too late now. I did sand the armoire lightly before I started painting to ease the look of the brush strokes. It worked, but they never were completely gone. Sigh. Nevertheless, my craft armoire will perform just fine, I'm sure. It doesn't care if it has stripes. Heck, it might even start to feel a little friskeeey...

Primed Armoire

Next, the paint. I applied two thin coats of Laura Ashley Interior Semi-Gloss Latex Paint in Mountain Pass . Mmmm...the smell of fresh paint. It makes everything feel new, fresh and mine. And it covers the smell of that primer like a charm. Whew! I was starting to walk around looking a little tipsy.

Wow! What a difference paint can make! Take a look.

I still need to reassemble the doors, add the shelves and attach hardware. But I haven't quite had the time...single mom, full time job, get the drift?. Come back for an update soon, though. Ciao!

Please note: I realize the pictures are not the best quality, but my camera has broken on me. What a time for it to decide to break!

Colorful Star Thank You Card

2011-01-26T12:51:00.000-08:00

After R&M (Randy and Michelle) took the time to carve our super cute Disneyland Matterhorn Bobsled Pinewood Derby seen here, a thank you was definitely in order. We created this cute Star Thank You Card with scraps we had from other projects.

Used a 7" x 5" piece of white cardstock. Folded it in half and the two bottom corners with my Creative Memories Corner Rounder like the one seen here. Love the soft look this effect creates.

Then cut a 4 3/4" x 3/4" piece of printed paper and cut one of the long edges with Fiskars pinking paper edgers like these. Glued it to the to portion of my card, about 1/8" in from the edge, with pinked edges to the top.

Then cut a 4 3/4" x 2 3/4" of printed paper in a different pattern, and rounded two of the corners. Glued this on the bottom half of my card, overlapping the top printed paper.

Then, with my Cricut Expression like the one shown here (which by the way is an excellent deal!), I cut a star out of dark colored cardstock, followed by a star about 1/4" smaller in a lighter colored cardstock. Glued them together and then onto the card.

We finished with a THANKS with foam letter stickers and we're done. I made about 12 of these to have on hand and ready when an occasion arises. Then I can just pull from my pile at a moments notice.

Craft Armoire Inspiration Board

2011-01-25T08:47:00.000-08:00

I've posted the paint chip I've selected to paint "the armoire" here. But I wanted to share with you my inspiration. Do you see how much more practical this will be once I pimp my armoire with all these nooks and crannies, shelves and baskets, pegs and containers??? It will be so organized! And being that I'm a little on the OCD side, it's just what my little heart flutters for.
Check it out.

Craft Armoire Inspiration Board

Gray Paint Color Selected

2011-01-24T09:26:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder what the heck to do with that giant TV armoire you no longer need to house that big box of plastic called a TV? Now that TVs have been streamlined to be light and much thinner, I no longer need that big, bulky armoire. It's been sitting in my bedroom for over a year now and it's been stuffed with art & crafts supplies. But there's so much wasted space!! And living in a small apartment, I'm all about maximizing my space while keeping a decluttered look. I've decided to repurpose the TV armoire and it's being converted into a.... **drum roll, please**... Craft Armoire.

The project is underway and I will soon post the whole "how to", including the mistakes I've already made.

In the meantime, this armoire has for almost a year held paint chips down it's side to help me select the color it will be transformed into. It's currently just wood toned. Kind of an orangey glaze. Pretty countryish looking now that I think about it. But the lines of the armoire are pretty straight and with a fresh coat of paint it will look updated and sleek. The paint chips started light khaki, to darker tones of khaki, to green khakis, to gray khakis, to light grays, silvery grays, cool grays, warm grays, and charcoals.

I've finally concluded, with the help of Laura Ashley, that the Craft Armoire's color-to-be is Laura Ashley Home Mountain Pass.

Yes, I realize the paint chip is quite beat up. Even has some smudges on it. But you get the gist, right?

Cubmaster's Award and Third Place...woot woot!

2011-01-22T21:03:00.000-08:00

Pinewood Derby 2011 has come and gone. We won Cubmaster's Award for best design and came in 3rd place in the Bear category, again. And this time, there weren't only 3 Bears....hee, hee.

Now, for the little detail we added today to the car...Para Mi Abuelo (For my Grandfather). Diego dedicated this race to his grandfather, whom passed away only a couple of weeks ago.

Rev Your Engines! Pinewood Derby Here We Come

2011-01-21T23:37:00.000-08:00

Well, we're finally done! The Disneyland Matterhorn Bobsled, with little people in Mickey Mouse hats and Mickey T-shirts. Just waiting to add one final detail which will need to be done tomorrow, once everything dries overnight.

We used these awesome Sharpie Oil-Based Medium Point Paint Markers and they were perfect. They're used like pens, but dispense glossy paint. Dries pretty quick too, if you don't lay it on too thick.

Once painted it was time to work on the wheels. Because apparently, that's where the focus should be if you plan on actually winning the race. Now in years past, I just took the wheels, slid the screw through it and attached to the race car. But this year I got a real treat from a vendor of mine who holds the 2009 winning race car for his pack...oh boy. So I tried my best to follow his instructions. I sanded the screw for the wheels to take all the ridges off, so the wheels can spin freely. I also sanded the surface of the wheels so they don't wobble. I bought a Wheel Truing Mandrel Set for my drill, actually it's my dad's but hopefully I'll get one for my birthday. Hint, hint. This little gadget, holds the wheels in place, so you can spin them and hold the sandpaper up to it. Pretty clever, huh? Anyway, the wheels are supposed to be super smooth, and the screws super polished. I don't think mine are.

Then we just assembled the whole thing together. Glued the Disney little people on, and added the wheels. But something was still missing. The handles! How else are the little people going to stay in their seats through this ride? Then need handles to hold on to. So luckily, I had black pipe cleaners at home, cut those to size. And thanks to my dad's drill, I drilled tiny holes where the handles should be attached. Poured a dab of glue in them and inserted the pipe cleaners. Voila!

So the race is tomorrow and I've done my creative something for the day.

PS: Would love to show more pictures of the whole process but my camera has broken. :(

Matterhorn Model Magic Madness...the little people

2011-01-20T23:12:00.000-08:00

Our BSA wooden block has been dropped off with our friends Randy and Michelle and will be carved within the next 24-48 hours. Oh, the excitement. We can hardly contain ourselves.

Disneyland Matterhorn Ride

In the meantime, we will need to purchase paint pens and make "the little people". Yes, the Disneyland Mattehorn ride looks much more fun with people in them. We made three Matterhorn riders: one representing each of my sons and one representing me.

We used our handy, dandy, quick and easy to use Crayola Model Magic, which you can get here, and made the top half of people's bodies to be glued onto the Matterhorn Bobsled Pinewood Derby once we receive it back from R&M. We want to be ready and prepared, because that's what we scouters do. Be prepared! By the way, if you've never used model magic...it's the best. It's like play-doh, but it's not sticky, oily or stinky and doesn't leave residue. It molds as easily, and dries to a rubbery, foamy texture. It can be painted, glued, cut, etc. It's a must to have in your craft supply box for that last minute school project.

We molded our model magic into three little round heads with mouse ears to resemble Disneyland Mickey Mouse hats, created the upper half of their bodies and let them harden/dry overnight. The following afternoon, R&M dropped off our carved matterhorn...yaaaaay!

We then got the little people all dressed up (painted and glued). Even added face expressions. What da ya think?

The little people are just sitting on the Matterhorn to dry.
They're not glued yet as the bobsled still needs to be sanded and painted.