Overcoming crafters block

My new nail fetish

2013-10-15T17:17:00.001-07:00

So, I recently stopped paying strangers to do my nails and started buying the supplies needed to do my own. Surprisingly, I have gotten all the things I need for about the price of one or two trips to the nail salon.

The Basics: Although I am linking to Amazon, most of my stuff was purchased at Walgreens!

Nail clipper – I like the kind with the fold out file thingy to get stuff out from under my nail.
Nail Files
Nail Buffer
Cuticle pusher – Lots of options, but I like the one with one flatter pushing edge and one smaller hooked digging edge
Cuticle clipper – Again, lots of kinds, but I like the kind that look like little scissors.

The décor

Nail Polish – Any kind you want, but I like the cheap stuff in TONS of colors.
Brushes – These are my favorites!
Extra stuff?? You can get all sorts of stickers, jewels, stencils… but I usually mess those up.

My process:

I always start by clipping and filing my nails to the length and shape I want. Recently I started going square shape to just past the tip of my finger pad. The most important part of this step is to make sure after you file that you dig out anything from under your nail. I always get filed off nail under there, and it messes things up later.
After that, I wash my hands and then soak my cuticles for a minute in warm water. I do one hand at a time of pushing the cuticle back and then trimming it. Careful to get close but not cutting back too far!
Next I prep my nails by buffing them out and then washing my hands again.
Time to paint! This is the creative part that really gets me. Here are a few of my favorites:

Princess French

One coat of a sparkly pink base, then the top third gets chunky glitter, and finally a tip using one of my small brushes of silver glitter. I used the Kiss kit to get the glitter in this one, but any silver glitter with your small brushes should work.

Winter Wonderland

Simple red polish with some silver snowflakes. Painting your big toe is harder than it looks. You can’t get a good angle on it, but with a little work, you can do it!

Pink and blue patterns

One of my earlier works, I tried to do some décor with only a dotting tool. I highly suggest brushes, but the dotting tool can work.

101 Dalmations

Clear base coat, and white and black dots. Simple, but cute!

80s Pink Geometry

Pink base, white skinny lines over it. Love!

Rainbows!

The hardest part is finding colors that look good together- and then narrowing down to only 5.

And finally, ADVENTURE TIME! Nails

These took quite some time and a little help. I painted the base colors on each finger and then my WONDERFUL husband helped me to paint the faces and other fine details.

Now it’s your turn! What will you think up?

Numbered Baby Onesies

2013-09-09T09:59:00.001-07:00

My friend, Alyssa, originally did this for our friend, Debbie's shower a while back and I stole her idea.

I loved the way they were personalized, how they turned out, and the idea behind them. They were by far the hit of the shower both times.

You will need:

1. Blank onesies in a variety of sizes: three size 0-3 mos, six size 3-9 mos, three size 12 mos. Walmart is where you can find the cheapest ones (about $8 a pack, and they actually come with 4 per package).

2. Fabric. I had 5 fat quarters, which I bought in a pack, also at Walmart, for $7. It was MORE than enough fabric, but having 5 designs gave people options and they all went together really well. You could probably do them all in 1 fat quarter if you use your fabric well and wanted them to all look alike.

3. Iron on adhesive web. It comes by the yard on a bolt from Pellon, also in the fabric section. This stuff can get expensive, but it was about $2 a yard at Walmart. You only need a half yard.

4. Number outlines. I made mine on MS Word using the Word Art section and printed on regular paper. I made them 4" tall, which I think is a perfect size. (If you want the exact same ones, the font is Aardvark size 300 pt.)

5. Pins- because you will want to pin the number, fabric, and adhesive together before you cut.

6. Scissors

7. Iron and board

8. Puff paint

9. Patterns for other shapes (optional)

Set Up:

Pin each number to a proper sized onesie. If you want people to be able to decorate any extras, set those out, too. I suggest hanging them with clothespins!

Crafting:

1. Pin the following items in this order:
number pattern piece
fabric (right side up)
Pellon with web side up (keep on the paper for now)

2. Cut out the number from all 3 layers at once.

3. Unpin the layers, removing the paper number and peeling the paper off of the web adhesive.

4. Make sure the web is lined up with the number as perfectly as possible, place on onesie, and iron it on!

5. Decorate with puff paint.

Nine was decorated by a high school boy. I was nervous at first, but he really had a great time and it turned out great!

Eleven is my favorite, and was done by baby's 17 year old uncle. So adorable!

I had some other shapes for another craft that we hijacked and used to make more onesies!

6. Let them dry overnight. I left them hanging, but you can also set them out on a flat surface to dry.

The great thing about these is that even if you make a mistake, they are homemade and so it is just part of the charm!

Baby Shower!

2013-09-08T15:03:00.001-07:00

My sister-in-law is pregnant. I am crafting. Here are some of the things I did for her shower:

Decor

Hanging paper lanterns. I didn't make them, I got them at JadeTime.com. They were a good price, look cute, and got here in a week. Bonus. I bought them in sizes 8" (little blue) to 18" (big purple).

We also decided to get some paper cupcake wrappers, colorful straws, and rubber bands to help decorate and label peoples drinks.

Not my craft, but one of the other ladies made kisses with personalized stickers. SO. CUTE.

Activities

Baby onesies with month numbers on them:

These turned out so great, I will post a second blog on how to do them!

Words for Baby: I made this in Word. I am going to hole punch and make a little booklet out of them to keep in the nursery.

Baby Mobile:

So this was a great idea, but in execution, I learned a few things:

1. Shrink film is not as easy to use as it sounds. (This was my BEST trial piece- yikes!)

2. Even if you go for regular paper, you should cut things out for people first. I only got 5 total pieces (out of 60+ attendees)! Not such a great turn out, but I will make some and have the family fill them out later.

Present

I decided to make a blanket. I know, she will have a million, but I am hoping since this is in her nursery colors, she will actually use it!

Nursing Tanks

2013-08-19T19:28:00.000-07:00

Several of my friends are pregnant or just had babies. Actually, I think it might be all of them. But, in light of this, I have been seeing a bunch of FB posts and the like asking about nursing tanks. It turns out, there aren't very many good ones out there in a reasonable price range. I decided to fix this.

Step One: Gather supplies

Tank top (I like the ones at target that are about $9.)
Scissors
Extra wide bias tape
ResQ Tape (because pinning bias tape is a pain in the butt)
Snaps
Snap pliers (not pictured)
Marking chalk
Sewing machine and thread

Step 2: Deconstruct
I measured about 5 inches from the shoulder seam on each side, made a mark with the chalk, and made a clean cut where I wanted the snaps to go.

Step 3: Reconstruct
Cut your bias tape to the length of the cut sides.

Open up the bias tape and line it with the ResQ tape.

Making sure the wider side of bias tape faces the outer side of the tank top, adhere the bias tape to one side of the tank.

Flip it over to adhere the other side of bias tape.

Set your sewing machine to a stretch stitch and sew all 4 sides of the bias tape.

Step 4: Snaps!

I bought my pliers on Amazon for less than half the cost of our local Joann. You can also get the easy attacher if you don't want to be able to do eyelets later.

Using the rubber ring, place one of the rings with pointy sides facing the center on the metal side.

Then place one of the nubs into the plastic side so the nub is in the tool.

Line it up so the nub is on the inside (wrong side) of the top shoulder piece, and squeeze! Repeat for both shoulders.

Do the same thing for the bottom of the snaps, but make sure the RING is on the inside of the shirt this time!! Note: I made the mistake twice on the nub-less sides of putting it going the wrong direction. If you need to take out a misplaced snap, use a small flat screwdriver head and just push it in to the ring side, parallel to your fabric. They pry out fairly easily. The ring will be mangled and you will need a new ring, though!

Step 5: Admire your work!
This project took me an hour to do 3 shirts, and that included the time it took to drag out my sewing machine, re-thread it, and put everything away.

Baby Shower Mobile

2013-03-18T19:15:00.001-07:00

My dear friend and co-worker, Michelle, is having a baby in a few months. I asked her if there was anything I could make for her, and she gave me one really cute idea. Check it out!

I stared with a quick trip to Michael's and a browse on Amazon. I knew she wanted clouds and a Cow Jumped Over the Moon theme to it.

Using the feather boa, I made some clouds that also hid where I tied the jewelry wire to the hoop and helped it all stay in place.

The Swarovski crystals were glued to make some floating stars...

And little start and moon elements hung from the end of each strand.

A cow in the middle, and I was done!

Pintrest Inspired Sewing Projects

2013-03-18T19:10:00.002-07:00

I went on a sewing project binge a little while ago, all inspired by Pins I had seen. Here are a few of them...

Coffee sleeves (reversible!) by crafty Staci

I got carried away and made 2 Bapron's by Craftiness is not Optional

Baby blankets inspired by ecBloom

And then I bought some yellow and grey fabric I had to have, so I found a few others:

A bowtie by Martha.

And one for a little boy (it is a pin) inspired by Kiki Creates

Finally, a very useful garbage bag for my car, inspired by Make It - Love It.

(I squared my corners to help it keep some more shape, but otherwise the same thing.)

Card making

2012-10-27T10:50:00.001-07:00

I am going to admit, my life changed for the better when we bought a Cricut at work. Now I felt like I can craft anything and not have to rely on my not-so-perfect handwriting.

I started by making invites for a baby shower I was co-hosting.

I just love the hippo.

OK, so nothing in the above picture was made on the cricut, but look at the cute giraffe decor my friend, Alyssa, made by hand! She is so cute.

Then I realized when we had nothing to bring to a housewarming party that the Cricut sitting in my living room was just the touch I needed for a card.

And a few baby showers...

And even just a pick-me-up card for my friend to give to her fiance during finals:

And only taking a few minutes to make sure cute cards made me more likely to make and give them!

Tissue Paper Flower Centerpieces

2012-10-27T10:43:00.000-07:00

Also for the wedding shower last spring, I needed some centerpieces. I found a great tutorial online (scroll down to the golf ball) for tissue paper flowers that I loved, so I decided to give it a shot.

I gathered my materials and started making petals.

One episode of Castle later, I had enough to make centerpieces and also scatter as decor around the food area.

I stapled some curling ribbon to the bottom of each flower and propped them in my vases (Dollar Tree), adding a bit of ribbon around the top to conceal the transition area.

Although it took a little while to make the flowers, the rest came together in about 20 minutes. (I made 12.) Not bad for an evening's work!

Mounted Photo Plaques

2012-10-27T10:34:00.001-07:00

Last spring, we threw a wedding shower for my boss, Megan. My gift to her (and also some of the decor) were these cute plaques of her engagement photos (because we all get them done and then how often do they really get displayed?).

I started by ordering 5*7 unfinished wooden plaques. You can get them anywhere, but I found them cheapest online (CreateForLess). I then got paint in her wedding colors using tester sizes at Home Depot, and printed out 5*7 photos at Walgreens while I was waiting to fill a prescription. Good crafters multi-task, after all.

After painting the wood, I cut the photo corners to fit the shapes and used Mod Podge to affix and cover them. I prefer matte, but glossy would work, too. I had one extra and covered it in themed scrapbook paper.

Finally, I just stapled some ribbon to make hangers for each, Since they were so light, the ribbon will be able to hold them just fine, and I think it looks book. But using a regular picture hanger would work, too.

I wish I had a picture of them being displayed on the wall, but alas, I never remember to capture pictures of my final work in action. I should make friends with a photographer so that my blog looks better. But you all get the idea!

Wedding Keepsake Shadowbox

2012-10-27T10:24:00.002-07:00

My boss, Megan, got married this summer, as well. She has the cutest wedding that looked like it came straight from Pintrest. I kept a few of the things from it (program, CD they made, napkins they stamped) and arranged them for her in a shadowbox ($10 at Target). A great way to remember some of the big day!

Pacman Incentive Chart

2012-10-27T10:19:00.002-07:00

This week, my friend Trena and I decided to have a crafting day. She is a 6th grade teacher with a homeroom of all boys. I am a former 6th grade teacher with a love of video games. It is like we were made to be friends.

I should let you all know, this was entirely Trena's idea. I just helped with execution. So, to motivate her homeroom to all come to school for 100% attendance days, she decided a little motivation would help. Also, video games.

We made this poster where every day there is 100% attendance, Pacman gets to chomp another bite. (Pacman is a magnet so he can always be repositioned. The rest of the poster will be laminated for reuse year after year.) You can see at certain points he gets donuts, pancakes, pizza, and at the end, there is an Xbox. When the students get to those days, they get a class party.

We also used the ghosts to guide the students on the path we want them to take so that it is perfectly spaced 5 days to the first party, 5 to the second, 10 to the third, and 10 to the fourth.

Hopefully when the kids see this on Monday, they will be excited and it will help to make sure that they are in school as much as possible!

Birthday Cards

2012-10-27T10:12:00.000-07:00

This weekend I will be celebrating with 2 of my very special friends who have graced us with one more year of being awesome.

I decided to make "cards" for each of the ladies with a balloon theme.

First, I decided to make a cute balloon card for my dearest friend, Sarah, for her 30th. No need to dwell on numbers- it is just a cute card. Although I used a Cricut machine, I just made different sized circles out of colored paper and then cute little triangles to make the nubbins. Some string and a bit of glue later, this is what emerged!

Next, I decided for Alyssa's 24th, she needed something a little more inspiring. So, I listed the 24 reasons we are celebrating her, printed them off on a cute font from my computer, and cut them up, sticking each one rolled up inside of a balloon.

Using balloon ribbon, I tied them all together and hung them from a hanger. Then I printed out a "card" to go on the top of the hanger.

It said" Reasons to celebrate Alyssa: A 3D birthday card" and on the inside I wrote her a little note and told her to start popping!

When she "opens" the card, she will see 24 little notes of why I love her, which hopefully will help lift her spirits (Get it, because balloons lift up? Well, helium ones do. You get it...)

Well, that is it! Happy birthday to my two wonderful ladies, and I hope that the rest of you feel inspired!

Bridal shower advice from the heart

2012-10-13T14:39:00.001-07:00

My sister-in-law had a bridal shower a few months ago, and it was totally cute. The ladies from her church who threw it have been doing these forever, and they are like Pintrest for pros.

One cute idea they used was to cut out little paper hearts and have the girls write words of advice for the bride and groom. With no real intention for what to do with them after the shower, I took over to make them a cute display.

I started by purchasing a 12*12 shadow box (from Target), 12*12 scrapbook paper in baby pink chevron, and the hearts from the shower.

After arranging the hearts, I grabbed some double sided tape and went to work affixing them to the paper.

I felt like something was still missing, so I grabbed a silver paint pen and added a little decorative detail to the center glass,

and the couple's name

and "Words to take to heart" quote to the frame.

I think it gave it a nice, subtle finish to the project!

Ok, so my photography could use some work, but I live in a 600 sq.ft. apartment with bad lighting. It is really cute in person, though!

Button escort cards

2012-09-27T18:59:00.000-07:00

First, if you are looking for ivory tent cards, let me help you by saying the best you are going to find on short notice are at Office Depot. Unfortunately, getting them means you cannot do an easy Avery mail-merge, so I am going to quickly explain those steps below so you don't want to kill yourself as I thought about while getting this to work.

After printing these adorable cards (in Gatsby font), we decided to add a little extra decor by using the left over buttons from our table number craft.

Here is how they turned out!

And if you need help with the tech side of printing these, here you go!

Make a spreadsheet in Excel that has the names you want on each card so each cell is how you want it to appear on the escort card with the table number in the next column and save it. Make sure row 1 labels the columns as name and table number. (If you want both names on one card, put both names in one cell and the table number in the next column. If you want each person to have a card, put each person's full name in different cells with the table number for each person on the next column.)
Download the template at the Gartner website by using the SKU from your product package.
Open the template in MS Word.
Under the "mailings" tab, click "select recipients". Select existing document and find the Excel document where you saved the guest names. Select the sheet of the document (it is probably sheet 1) where the names are saved.
Select the sample text you want to replace with the guest's name (mine says "John Doe").
In the mailings tab, select "insert merge field" and select "name" from the drop down.
Select the number 1 where it says Table 1, and from the "insert merge field" menu, select "table number".
Now go up next to the "insert merge field" button and find the "rules" drop down and select "next record".
Format this cell so that it looks how you want it to print.
Copy this cell and paste it to the others in the template where you want the names to print. Delete the other pages in the document.
Now you can preview the results and then print! Each card should have a different guest's name and their corresponding table number for you.

Button table numbers

2012-09-27T15:08:00.000-07:00

Here is the first craft we actually completed a few weeks ago for my sister-in-law's wedding. She wanted to include her husband-to-be's love of art, so we used 6 by 6 pulled canvases painted ivory as a base to glue our button numbers. They will be displayed on cute little 8" easels at each table!

If you are looking for a good place to get a massive amount of buttons, I recommend Little Red Cottage on Etsy. The ones above are sweetpea pink and we ordered 1000 (she was very sweet to do a custom order for us) and had enough to use them here and on the escort cards.

UP themed name tags

2012-09-27T14:57:00.003-07:00

My sister-in-law is getting married in 9 days, and the rehearsal dinner is UP! themed. She had a great idea to do name tags with bottle caps, and here is how they turned out:

I am totally excited to see it come together with the other items we have been creating lately!

Craft blocks!

2012-09-25T09:06:00.001-07:00

I got the inspiration from this post on Pintrest to display the family photos for my sister-in-law's wedding coming up in just 2 short weeks!

First, I found multiple sized wooden blocks at CraftParts.com. (I used the 5" size since we want to display them at the wedding and want them to be obvious in the space. I would suggest a 3" block for your home.)

Wanting to honor the bride and groom's parents and grandparents, we collected photos of each of their weddings and printed at Walgreens as 5 by 7 photos, and then cut those down to size.

Some scrapbook paper and a little Modge Podge later, we had all the supplies we needed!

I did use a friend's Cricut machine for the letters. Then we just printed the couple's names and relation to the bride and groom on one of the colored papers.

The funny (punny?) part is that I got stuck with craft-block on this block-based project. I was having trouble getting the letters to stand out using such neutral-toned papers. A little black shadow fixed it and they came together really well!