Seriously Moses

A little something

2012-04-22T20:53:00.000-04:00

Just popping in to share a little something I whipped up Friday night. I'd address my long absence but it would take longer than I have at the moment and what good would it do anyway? Let's just say, I hope I'm back!

So, I whipped together this anniversary reminder for my mom and dad, the loveliest people I know. They are so awesome and it's been a rough 2012 in their lives. I have wanted to create a few things using my Silhouette that I received as a Christmas present from my mom and aunt last year. I haven't used it as much as I'd like and am working to remedy that. So here's a little something I put together!

It's true, I can't take a straight picture to save my life! However, this project turned out great and took about an hour or so to put together. The base is a canvas I bought a couple of years ago and had never used. I painted it blue so the edges of the canvas wouldn't be white and would look finished. Then, I put together my monogram and anniversary date in Silhouette Studio, which is a lot of fun to play around with. It cuts dimensions perfectly. I couldn't be more pleased. Sure as heck beats a paper cutter and a craft knife, which is how I would have had to assemble something like this in the past!

I Mod Podged a piece of dark blue textured card stock on top of the canvas, then Mod Podged the cut piece over it. I gave it two top coats. The picture really doesn't do it justice, but it just turned out beautifully! Best of all, my mom loved it! (And she figured out why I called her at 10 p.m. to confirm her anniversary. I am terrible with dates if it isn't my birthday we're talking about!)

I hope you are having a wonderful year, so far. Take care!

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Festival of Wreaths

2011-12-19T16:46:00.002-05:00

I guess it's about time I get some Christmas stuff up, seeing as how we're just a few days away from my favorite holiday of the year. I've actually been creating quite a lot these days, just not posting much. This is, in part, due to my computer monitor going kaput and the fact that I won't replace it until after the holidays. For now, we're using an old HP with, not kidding you, an 8-inch screen. So, you might be able to imagine how annoying it is to work on anything on such a small screen. This happened to coincide with the delivery of my Silhouette Cameo, as well, so I've not had a chance to really work with it much.

Now, on to the good stuff. I've made a whole passel of wreaths this season and am happy to say I have kept many of them for myself! Unusual. Below are photos with brief descriptions. I hope to post a few more things this week, but promise nothing. So, in the event you don't hear from me before 2012, here's wishing you and your families a Merry, Merry Christmas!

Small grapevine wreath wrapped with burlap ribbon and adorned with a felt poinsettia and glitter chipboard letters spelling Joy. My mom has this hanging on the window next to her Christmas tree. Looks super cute.

I'm calling this wreath "Shirley" in honor of a dear friend. This features a wreath of greenery from Michael's for $1.99, 32 purple Christmas ball ornaments wired to the wreath (25 cents for 4 packages of 32 at a holiday bazaar!), and four silver picks from the Dollar Tree for $2.00. Silver-edged purple leopard print ribbon from Michael's, about $3. This may be my favorite wreath of all of them, and it was super inexpensive!

This wreath is on my front door. It is a greenery wreath from Michael's, several glittery ornament picks and stems and a red bow with green holly and gold glitter trim. Love it!

This little gem was super quick to put together. It was a gift for my aunt. Paper cones glued to a wood craft wreath with tiny silver bows glued to the middle. Super cute and easy!

This wreath features the same red burlap ribbon as the Joy wreath. I wrapped the ribbon around the wreath and used the remainder to create the giant bow and tails. The star is vintage, purchased in a box of Christmas items at an estate sale for next to nothing. It is gold with red, gold and silver sequins. I've had it forever and never knew what to do with it. It made the perfect addition to this wreath!

Merry Christmas!

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Silhouette and Springsteen

2011-11-21T21:50:00.001-05:00

A lot has been happening lately, hence the sparse posting. I've actually been crafting a ton, but have forgotten to take pictures of pretty much everything! Can you believe it? Of course you can. It's that time of year.

Two things are making me happy right now. The first, I received my early Christmas present, a Silhouette Cameo, last week! Yipppeeeeee! So awesome. I have been wanting a Silhouette for a while now and finally have one. Unfortunately, it came the day I was leaving for an entire weekend and even at this moment is still in the box. I've decided it will stay there a few more days until I'm off work for the long weekend. Then. Oh. It will be on! Totally stoked.

The second thing that seriously had me screaming with joy this morning when I read it is that Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band will tour again in 2012. At some point, I will write a lengthy post about how Bruce Springsteen changed my life a few years ago. But for now, let's just leave it with the fact that I am thrilled with the prospect of seeing Bruce and the band again next year! Huzzah!

I had my Thanksgiving early this year. But for those of you who will be celebrating with family this week, have a great holiday! It is a special time of year and I was so thankful to spend time with my loved ones over the weekend. Here's to us all this holiday season! Let the festivities begin!

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T14:34:00.000-04:00

My friend and I attended a Halloween party the other night as (you can see) Dum Dum suckers. It was great! Super simple costumes and we had tons of fun putting them together and laughing. Hope you have a great Halloween!!

Fall and Festive

2011-10-28T20:48:00.001-04:00

One of the reasons I love fall is the wonderful colors that come into play. As a kid, I was always fascinated by the colors of the leaves when they turned. And, I must say, I am still fascinated many years later. Nature is wonderous, that much is certain.

For a long time I've wanted to make a burlap wreath as I've seen so many online that I love. Burlap is the perfect fall decorative fabric and it's so popular right now. Who knew those old, scratchy burlap sacks from my Dad's barn would have been useful one day?

I originally wanted to use orange burlap for my project, but when I went to the fabric store, it - along with light and dark brown - was sold out! (Wonder why?) But because I really, really wanted to make a burlap project, I just bought the cream and decided to look around. I ended up back at the fabric counter two more times, once to ask a question and the other to grab some orange and brown tulle. I was pretty sure I could put something together.

Well, a few weeks later I was still struggling. I just couldn't make it work. That is, until I decided to use my lunch break last Friday to pop over to Michael's and wander around. That's where I found these 60 percent off fall flowers! Finally, inspiration struck.

Basically, what we have here is a foam wreath form wrapped in 3-inch strips of burlap to cover the base. Then, I used 3-inch strips of tulle, bunched it up and wrapped in one direction until the ends met. Then, starting with a new strip of tulle, I wrapped in the other to make the criss-cross. Then I glued in my mums, popped in a little greenery, used the leftover tulle to fashion a bow, and there you have it! My front door is now ready for fall, even though it appears we might skip straight to winter. It's cold here in Kentucky!

Cheers to you and yours wherever you may be and thanks for stopping by.

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Halloween All in One

2011-10-13T21:56:00.000-04:00

Happy October! I had hoped to make this multiple posts, but time has not allowed. So I'm posting all of my Halloween projects together. I hope you can make out the different elements in the photos. My display area is in a particularly shadowy (spoooooooky) spot. Let's get started.

So this is my fun and simple Halloween display. It might look a bit sparse, but it works well in the room as a small focal point in my kitchen/dining area. I've seen lots of super lovely fall seasonal displays that incorporate the warmth of the season. I'd really like to have something like that, too. But there's just something about Halloween that brings out the kooky, colorful, somewhat tacky but mostly fun part of myself!

The pieces I made here are the sign, wreath and calendar blocks. I had the materials on hand for all of these items with the exception of the bat on the wreath and the sign embellishments. Here's a closer look of the sign and blocks.

Making these little guys didn't cost me a dime! My dad cut the wood and let me borrow his sander. I had a pack of Halloween paper I bought ages ago and had never used, so now was the perfect time. I made stencils for the numbers and painted them on, then added a few highlights with a silver marker. All in all, I think they're pretty cute, if a little large.

This is probably my favorite of all of the things I put together. The only thing I bought for this little sign is the Happy Halloween glittery embellishments. The pattern turned out differently than originally intended thanks to Dani Noodles (dog No. 5) who found one and chewed it up. She had orange glitter on her teeth for a couple of days!

I'd love to get a good picture of my bat wreath, but so far haven't been able to. I'm going to keep trying and if I get something decent, I'll post.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope you have a fantastic Halloween season!

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Update

2011-09-30T20:55:00.001-04:00

Just wanted to write a quick little post to say I am still alive. A lot has happened since last I visited this lovely corner of the webosphere. A short list:

Design work for Christmas cards (yay, more about this soon.)
A few Halloween projects (to be posted in the coming days.)
Disney Cruise (awesome.)
Vertigo (not awesome)
Watching Arrested Development on Netflix.

So, that's it with me. How about you? I intend to post my Halloween projects in the next couple of weeks. I just finished the last one tonight after my Vertigo-induced hiatus from all things fun and enjoyable. I'm also going to be sharing more about my Christmas cards, which I'll be ordering from Catprint in the next week. (Do you know Catprint? You should. The best in short-run printing!) The cards will be sold (hooray!) at a sweet shop in my hometown of Cynthiana, Ky., called Teabeary Treasures. I'm pretty pumped.

Hope all is well with you. Thanks for visiting!

Sniffin' glue

2011-08-22T21:19:00.005-04:00

Wish I had a cool project to share right now, but nothing is finished at the moment. Do you ever have those times when you have a million things at various points in the creative process but nothing finished? That's me, at this point in time.

Mostly I've been hard at work on various holiday projects. I'm trying to put some things together to sell in a shop in my hometown. This will be my first foray into selling. It makes me a bit nervous, actually. I've been working on several new card designs, but nothing is finished, quite yet. I've sent them out for my first round of feedback (family) and am waiting to hear back.

As for the title of this post, I accidentally inhaled a snootful of E6000 tonight and am working through the headache. That's some powerful stuff, in case you've not had the pleasure. At least the Christmas magnets will be cute, despite the loss of brain cells.

Hope all is well in your crafting projects. Now time to finish watching another something's-in-the-water horror movie (it's a crocodile), then off to bed! Cheers to you, wherever you are this fine evening!

Book Wreath, Version Me.0

2011-08-11T19:21:00.001-04:00

Yeah, so, I know everyone and their mother has made a book wreath. But I hadn't, until recently. The book page wreath had long been on my list of things to do, but I had never gotten around to it.

I made this little darling with the intention to give it to someone else. But when I hung it on the wall in my kitchen to take some photos, I thought it looked so perfect in its spot that I decided to keep it. (Come on, you know you've done it, too.)

This was made with my very own aged copy of The Call of the Wild by Jack London. It was a special illustrated edition for kids. I actually pulled out a few of the illustrated pages to frame because they were hilarious and fantastic at the same time. Love it. My mom was going to sell the book in our recent yard sale. But when I was going through her sale items, I pulled it out. I'm pretty sure I never read this book, even though I apparently had practiced writing my name backwards on the inside back cover. (Don't ask.) I'm pretty sure my brother read it, though.

I accentuated the book page wreath's simple loveliness with a navy blue satin ribbon. I liked the way it seemed to finish it off. There are probably a few things I'd do differently next time, should there be one. Mostly, making sure all of the rolled pages are about the same size when rolled, especially the ends. Makes it easier to glue them to the wreath form.

So, counting the wreath (another 99 cent wreathlet) and the ribbon (which I remember cost $1.50), this little guy cost me roughly $2.50. Sweet.

If there is someone other than me who hasn't made a book wreath and you want an easy craft, do it. It's simple and looks great.

Thanks for stopping by!

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'The Wizard of Oz' inspired wreathlet

2011-08-03T21:41:00.005-04:00

That's right. I said wreathlet. I've decided I needed to call these little fellas something other than a wreath because, even though they are the right shape and perform the same function, they're just so tiny! So, wreathlet it is.

Now, on with the show.

I have several friends who love The Wizard of Oz and, especially, Judy Garland. One of my best friends in the whole world, let's just call him E., is probably the biggest Judy Garland fan I know. Well, sweet, sweet E. has had a tough year. He is on my mind constantly. There was a period of time when we talked every day, but we haven't talked as much lately. Still, you know how it is with best friends, no matter how often you talk to or see one another, they are always in your heart and head.

I wanted to make a little something (I think that's a great purpose for the wreathlet: giving just a little something) to send his way, as we do not live in the same state. Hence, The Wizard of Oz, specifically Dorothy, inspired craft.

Please forgive the odd angle on the photo. It was difficult to get a shot of this because of the glitter. A lot went into covering the wreathlet form. It's a pressed wood craft frame that I picked up for 99 cents at Michael's. I usually keep several on hand. I spray-painted it red. Then I brushed on red glitter glue and poured on the glitter. Two coats. Finally, I found this great quote from The Wizard of Oz, bought a piece of blue gingham scrapbook paper, and printed the quote. I glued it to a piece of cardboard to give it a sturdy foundation, then hot glued it to the glittery form. Voila!

I am so pleased with how this turned out and am planning to pop it in the mail in the next few days. I know E. will love it.

Just another view. Thanks for stopping by!

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Momnivore's Dilemma

We now return ... to pinwheels!

2011-08-01T19:22:00.003-04:00

So, let's just begin with the fact that I did not intend to neglect El Blog-o for the entire month of July. July was a ridiculously busy month. That would have been fine if it had been planned that way. As I don't intend to share too much of my personal life in this space, let's just chalk it up to unforeseen circumstances, shall we? Now, on with the show.

One of the unintended side effects of July's madness was that I didn't have any time, really, for crafting. My crafting materials had to be put away, to give the impression that my dining room isn't always a total disaster, when we had house guests! But my house guests were probably the best part of the month, so that was OK. Still, I was glad to pull out all of my goodies again and to take photos of some projects I had finished before the unintended hiatus.

The first of which is this wreath, which now adorns my front door. I wrote in this post about my inspiration for crafting with pinwheels and even mentioned how I would post a second pinwheel project during that post in June. Finally, here it is!

So, this wreath is something I put together one evening because I so badly wanted to work on another pinwheel project. I was addicted to pinwheels for a short while, there. I always have a wreath form or two around my house waiting to be decorated. So when I started making pinwheels with no plan for what to do with them, I decided to try laying them out on this grapevine wreath.

The great part is, this project finally allowed me to do something with the birdhouse you see here. I had purchased that birdhouse at Goodwill for $1.50 and freshened the paint quite a while before I ever found a use for it. I really love the way it looks here. I actually had a few flowers tucked into this wreath, but decided to take them out. To be quite honest, when I finished this I thought, "Is this ugly?" But then I hung it on my front door and really liked the way it looked on my door! So, whether it's ugly or not is a moot point. It's really grown on me!

This project was made entirely with items I had on hand, which was great. It's nice to be able to pull from your supplies instead of always running to the craft store to finish a project, isn't it?

Thanks for stopping by! I hope to be around here a lot more this month than last. Considering I didn't have a single post in July and already have one for August, I think I'm ahead. Enjoy the heat!

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Today's Creative Blog

Let the party begin!

2011-06-29T20:00:00.000-04:00

The last few years I've taken a week off from work during the summer just to relax and unwind. Well, I'm happy to say, that "week" begins tomorrow afternoon when I leave work. I couldn't be more thrilled. I don't have many plans and it's going to stay that way. I'm going to my mom's for a few days and taking some things to a yard sale, so hopefully I'll come back with a little extra cash! Although, her friends who have the sale always have tons of great stuff, so I might end up spending what I make. We'll see.

Other than that, I hope to see a few friends, spend time with my dogs and maybe do a little crafting. I have another pinwheel project post that I am preparing and hope to have that for you soon. As always, thanks for reading. Have a great July Fourth weekend!

Super Awesome Felt Hair Clips

2011-06-27T21:33:00.006-04:00

Hopefully, you will share the enthusiasm I have for these super awesome little hair clips that I put together over the weekend. I intend to give these to my nieces and am just so excited.

The inspiration that started these clips came from this post at Little Lovelies. I do not know Allison, the writer of Little Lovelies, but I found her post via a link party and just fell in love with her wall art pinwheels. So, I decided I wanted to make something pinwheelie, too. (This is the first of two pinwheel posts planned for the week, so you can tell I was really, really inspired by Allison's wall art.)

These clips were super easy to make and very inexpensive. I used clips I bought at Hobby Lobby with a 40 percent off coupon, ribbon for $1 and coordinating felt (the sheet variety.) The buttons are from my own stash. Altogether, these clips cost about $3.50. Score.

I originally intended to make all pinwheels, but then decided I wanted each to be different. The pinwheel is sewn but the others are glued. And, the best part is, they all have little pockets on the back, so if the girls just want to wear the clips alone, they can.

These photos really don't do the project justice, but it's about the best I could get with evening light and my point-and-shoot. I couldn't quite capture the colors. Regardless, I really love them and can't wait to make more. Big thanks to Allison for her inspiration. I'll leave you with a few more pictures of the individual clips:

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed these little beauties. Please become a follower while you're here. I'll definitely be sharing these at some link parties in the weeks to come. Can't wait!

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Quick and easy wreath

2011-06-19T21:15:00.004-04:00

I've lived in my house for four years now and haven't decorated my bedroom at all. The most I've done there is paint. The same can be said for a few other rooms in my house, but none of those bother me as much as the bedroom.

So, I decided to start adding a few bits, starting small - really small! This is a wreath I made for my bedroom that hangs right above the light switch. It is the first thing I see when I walk into the room and the last thing I see before I turn out the light. The funny thing is, while it does match the paint, it doesn't really match the bedspread. But this doesn't bother me, so who cares, right?

So, this little cutie was super cheap and easy to make. I bought the wood wreath form at Michael's for 99 cents. I actually have several of these on hand in case I need a quick gift. They are really easy to decorate and lay flat against the wall, which I really like.

For this wreath, I Modge Podged scrapbook paper on both sides and cut around the edges, inner and outer, with a craft knife. I then smoothed the edges of the paper with sandpaper. I added a few rosettes with the leftover scrapbook paper, hot-glued them on, added a raffia bow and, ta-da, I had a wreath. The raffia was the most expensive part of this project at $2 with a 50 percent off at Michael's coupon. (On a side note, this picture was taken outside to get a shot of it in good lighting. The wreath doesn't hang on a big ugly concrete screw! I do wish, however, that my bedroom had an exposed brick wall. That would be lovely.)

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A wreath for me

2011-06-18T18:14:00.003-04:00

I bought several wreaths a few months ago when Hobby Lobby had a 50 percent off sale to have around for when inspiration struck or I needed a quick gift. I recently decided to use one of those to make a little something for my home.

I made a yarn wreath a while ago for my grandmother when she went into the nursing home. It was bright and cheery and I hoped it would remind her of how much I love her between visits. It was so easy and turned out so well that I thought I would make another for me. This is how it turned out:

I was pretty pleased and it looks super cute in my living room. The yarn cost $1 at Big Lots. The base is a straw wreath form. It cost about $1.50, if memory serves me correctly. The felt and buttons both came from my stash. All in all, this is a great decoration for very little cost. That's the best kind in my book.

Felt flowers are super easy to make and add great decoration to any basic item. You can find a bazillion tutorials online, which is how I learned to make them. There is also a great resource for fabric and ribbon flowers of all sorts that I recently ran across called Fabric Bows and More. I plan on adding a bunch of flowers to my flower making toolbox from Fabric Bows and More before it's all said and done.

I may add a few more flowers to this before it's all said and done, but for now it is hanging in its place of honor where you can see it when you walk in the front door. Thanks for stopping by! Please consider following me while you're here.

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Button Fairy

2011-06-16T19:13:00.002-04:00

I am a button collector from way back. I can't really remember how it started, but I'm glad it did. So, imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning, walked into the kitchen and saw the table covered with old buttons and empty spools! This is just a smattering of what was waiting for me.

The Button Fairy had visited me in the night. And I didn't even have to leave payment. Major score.

It turns out, I actually purchased these several years ago at an estate auction, but I had totally forgotten them. When I called Tim to tell him of my good fortune, he gave me the scoop. He was searching for something last night in the closet of doom and ran across the buttons. Hooray! I'm sure I was excited when I bought these, so it was nice to be able to relive the excitement after Tim stumbled upon them.

I love the way they're all on their original cards. My guess is, at some point, someone put these in a yard sale because they have prices written on them in pencil. Regardless, I was glad to be surprised. Now, I just have to figure out what to do with them.

Here are a few more I really liked:

Hope you are all having a great week! I have what feels like a bazillion projects almost finished, so I should have a few new things to share with you soon.

What a Week

2011-06-10T21:08:00.001-04:00

This has been kind of a nutso week. It hasn't been super hectic but some strange things have occurred. I'll share one, just so you get the idea.

I have a day job. At the building where I work is a cafeteria. My co-workers (Lunch Bunch) and I eat there every day. I've been trying to bring my lunch to save money, but on Wednesday I got up late and needed to get out the door asap, so decided I would eat at work.

So, I get a salad, which has to be weighed by the cashier, right? Just as the cashier takes my money, her cell phone rings. The cashier answers the phone by shouting "WHAT?" to the person on the other end. She takes my salad, puts it on the scale, and, while someone is apparently chatting into her ear, says, in my general direction, "Three-twelve." I swear I'm not making this next part up.

I hand her my bank card.

She swipes it.

AND THEN SHE TUCKS IT INTO HER BRA!!!!

At this point, as you can imagine, I wasn't exactly sure what to do. Her telephone conversation is ongoing. There are people lining up behind me. As I've never had a cashier tuck my bank card into her bra before, I'm a little confused and not quite certain what to do. So, I just stand there.

Finally, the woman turns to me and says, "Honey, did you need a receipt?"

"Um, no," I say, feeling awkward and a little embarrassed. "But I do need my bank card and you just put it in your shirt."

Of course, at that point, she totally realizes what she has done. Eyes wide, she digs into her bra, grabs my card and hands it back to me with a mumbled "sorry," and shouts into the phone "I HAVE TO GO!" Then hangs up.

I learned a few lessons here. One, life is more than a little hectic for all of us. It moves so fast that people are often just going through the motions, for example, putting bank cards in their bras when they're finished using them. Two, don't try to do two things at once. Can you imagine what might have happened if I had handed the lady a giant salami instead of money? Food for thought.

Have a great weekend!

Dachshund Applique T-shirt

2011-06-08T22:52:00.005-04:00

I've seen several applique projects in blogland and have wanted to try one for some time. I bought some Heat n' Bond a while ago at Wal-mart, but wasn't super sure what I wanted to try. Luckily, inspiration finally struck, of course, in the form of a dog!

This is my new favorite project and I intend to do several more of these. This really is a super simple project that anyone can master, simply by following the directions on the package of your chosen adhesive bond. Let's get started!

Materials

T-shirt
Heat n' Bond
Material
Silhouette
Pencil
Scissors
Iron

To begin, Cut out your stencil and the amount of fabric you will need for the applique. Cut a piece of Heat n' Bond slightly larger than the stencil. (I probably used too much for the front of my shirt.)

Iron the material for the applique to get rid of all creases and wrinkles before bonding. Following the directions, iron the adhesive bond to the back of the material. Flip the silhouette the opposite direction you want it to appear on the garment, trace and cut out. (Word to the wise, cut slowly.)

Since my shirt is double-sided, I did the same for the back. When finished, I had two pieces that looked like this:

I hope at this point you can see where this is headed!

Make sure your garment has been ironed and is free of creases and wrinkles before you bond the stencil to it. Peel the protective sheet off the back of your bonded fabric and place on the garment in the way you want it to appear. Follow the directions to iron the stencil to the garment. (Basically, you press and hold for a certain amount of time. Simple, right?)

If you're just doing the front of a shirt, you'll be finished! However, I was doing both sides, so I needed to line up the silhouettes so the dog's body would match front and back.

Again, following directions on the package, iron the applique to the back of the shirt, and you're finished. The last step, of course: Admire your work and make your husband, or whoever else might be hanging around your house, admire it too.

I did my best to get these pictures to line up, but you get the idea. There is a very special little girl who I plan to give this to soon!

I can't express to you enough how simple this was to make. It probably took an hour or so. I did it after dinner on Tuesday night and still had plenty of time to relax with my real dogs, not just the stenciled ones.

I've had a really wonderful response to this blog in the short time it has been up, so thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this post or anything else you found here, please follow me to stay connected!

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The Big F

2011-06-06T19:35:00.003-04:00

It seems these days everyone loves an initial. I know I do. I've seen them just about everywhere on just about everything. I have long loved my own initials and have been known to doodle them endlessly during meetings, classes, conferences, just about anytime I'm supposed to be paying attention to something else.

So, I love working with Spanish moss and foam and had wanted to put together a large foam/moss monogram project for some time. However, as we know I'm not fond of making projects for myself, I needed someone to make it for! Luckily, I am blessed with a great group of friends who indulge my crafting obsession, one of whom is Beth (whose last name starts with F!) When I mentioned the possibility of making a big F for Beth, she was all for it! So, what follows is a tutorial of how to make your own large moss-covered initial, in this case The Big F!

Materials:

Sheet of foam
Spanish moss
Hot glue gun/glue sticks
Embellishments (These are limitless, really. I am prone to flowers and ribbon because they are easy to attach.)

Start by cutting the letter out of a sheet of foam. I print out the letter in the font of my choosing to the desired size, tape it to the foam and start cutting. Sadly, I don't have a fancy foam cutter, so I use a steak knife! (Be patient. It takes a while!) This is also a great time to heat up your glue gun.

After cutting the letter, gather your materials and get ready for the fun stuff!

Start gluing the Spanish moss in sections. Obviously, in this photo I've already done quite a bit. But you'll want to work in sections so you can best measure your progress. I use small handfuls of moss for each bit of gluing. Make sure you're generous with the glue. You'll be able to stretch and pull your moss to cover some sections you miss, but don't be afraid to add more if you need to fill in gaps.

After you've finished the front, you need to make sure the sides are covered. For this project, I was only covering the front and sides. If I had done the front and back, I'd still save the sides for last so I can see how much overhang covers the sides. It may be enough that I wouldn't have to do more than fill in gaps to finish it up.

Before you know it, you're finished covering the letter! Now all that's left are embellishments. For this letter, Beth and I took a lunchtime trip to JoAnn Fabrics where she found something she liked.

I bunched the flowers together and stuck them into the foam, adding just a bit more glue for security, tucked in a few green crepe stems and here's the result! This photo was taken in our office, but I am assured The Big F has reached it final destination - Beth's home.

Spanish moss is a super versatile material to work with and foam is excellent for creating custom shapes and sizes. This is something anyone can do to spruce up your mantle or door. Thanks for stopping by and please take a second to become a follower while you're here!

Sharing:

Spanish Moss Wreath

2011-06-02T21:01:00.000-04:00

Wreaths are my absolute favorite thing to make and Spanish moss is at the top of my list of versatile, easy and quick materials to work with. You can cover just about anything with it and achieve a variety of looks.

A lot of the Spanish moss wreaths I make have a foam base. I usually buy sheets of foam and cut to achieve the desired shape. However, with this wreath that I made for my mom, I used a circular green floral foam wreath form.

If you've never worked with Spanish moss before, you should be prepared to get yourself and your workspace pretty messy. I buy moss in large bags at whichever craft store has the best price! Obviously, the moss sticks together, so pulling it apart gives you lots of leftover bits to sweep up when you're finished. But the great thing about its consistency is that you can mold it with your hands while you work and it retains its shape well.

Basically, for this wreath, I separated the moss a little at a time (smallish handfuls) and hot glued it to the wreath form. I wired the ribbon to the form and stuck the embellishments into the foam, which works really nicely.

I bought the berries, flower and ribbon at Hobby Lobby when they were 50 percent off, so really saved a bundle on the whole project. I'd say with sale and coupon, this wreath probably cost less than $10 to make and it really is a great decoration!

I have another Spanish moss project tutorial I'll post this weekend when I have a bit more time to get it in order. Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to follow me while you're here!

Tie Dye Weekend, Part I

2011-05-31T19:27:00.001-04:00

The long-awaited, much anticipated tie dye weekend has come and gone and I am thrilled to share some of the results! But first, a little back story.

Two years ago (seriously) my husband bought me a tie dye kit for Christmas. As a lover of all things tie dye, I was pretty stoked. So, I put it in the top of my closet to wait for better weather so I could work outside. There it sat for not one summer, but two. I would see it every now and then and think, you know, I really need to use that. And then I'd forget again, obviously.

A few months ago, I was shopping at a local craft store and picked up a pack of dye and a couple of Tshirts just to have something to do for the weekend. Then, of course, once I got home I remembered the dye kit and felt a little foolish. So, I used my packet of dye and Tshirts as a test run for what I started calling "Tie Dye Weekend."

Then, of course, a few more months went by. I kept talking about tie dye weekend. My friend Meghan gave me a few baby items she wanted me to dye. Still it seemed it would never happen. That is until Michael's had a five shirts for $10 sale last week. I knew that sale was just for me. And, it was just the thing I needed to initiate TDW and end the dye kit's reign in my closet as the gift of Christmas past.

So, without further ado, here are a few gems from the weekend. Tim and I dyed all of these items and we had a blast doing it! The hardest part was waiting 24 hours to see the results. There are definitely more Tie Dye Weekends in our future!

Mirror image design for one of the nieces.

Scrunch n' Bunch for one of the nieces.

Spiral onesie.

Two-tone onesie.

A fun tote bag.

If you are interested in tie dye but have never done it before, I highly recommend getting a kit like the one my husband bought for me. The kit I used was made by Jacquard and was super easy to use. The best thing about tie dye is the room allowed for individual creativity. Every piece is a masterpiece!

Shared here:

Cupcake liner wreath

2011-05-30T19:08:00.000-04:00

So, Memorial Day weekend is coming to a close which means back to real life tomorrow for me. The weekend has been great, though. I am currently waiting on results from tie-dye weekend and am super excited to see how things turn out!

To take my mind off those curing shirts in the garage, I needed to stay busy today. I have a bazillion half-finished or never-started projects, so I decided to pull one out today to stay productive.

I've wanted to make a cupcake liner wreath since I first saw this one at Tatertots and Jello. I've had some of the materials for some time, but never got around to putting it together until today. Basically, this is how I did it.

Materials

Wreath form (I used a .99 cent mini chipboard wreath from Michael's. I spray painted it white.)
Cupcake Liners (I bought a pack of 100 in the dollar bin at Michael's.)
Hot glue gun
Glue sticks

So, I take you now to my work in progress. Basically, I started by figuring out the best way to scrunch up a cupcake liner. Really, there doesn't seem to be a wrong way. I squeezed the edges in until they came together then smooshed the bottom together. If it didn't look right I just crinkled and smooshed some more!

Work in sections around the wreath, going back to fill in the gaps as you work.

Eventually, you'll get to a point where you've filled in the space and you'll have something like this:

I haven't decided whether to keep this or give it away. For now, it's in my kitchen. Wouldn't this make a great gift for a baker? The best thing about this wreath? It cost $2 and change! Awesome.

I linked this project here:

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-05-27T20:33:00.000-04:00

So, today was the start of a four-day weekend for me and it started off with a bang. All-day shopping with my mom was way overdue. My purchase of the day was five Tshirts for $10 at Michael's, which means tie-dye weekend has finally arrived! Really super excited and can't wait to see how things turn out. I'll definitely take some pictures and post the experience.

Headed to an estate sale tomorrow, which I'm also really pumped about and hope to find lots of great items to work into my general crafting. Also considering picking up my mom's old sewing machine, but still haven't totally decided. I don't have anyplace to put it, really. It's a monster!

Hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Basket O' Blossoms

2011-05-24T20:15:00.002-04:00

I love felt flowers more than just about anything right now. In fact, for about a month or more, all I did was make felt flowers and put them on everything. Admittedly, I am a bit of a felt hoarder. I have a box full of felt sheets and scrap and usually pick up a few sheets whenever I'm at the craft store. My current felt flower obsession is how this lovely little basket, a Mother's Day gift for my mom, came to be!

The only thing I purchased for this project was the basket. Everything else was in my stash. You never know where inspiration is going to come from, do you? I picked up this basket for $1.50 at my local Goodwill! It was such a steal. As soon as I saw it, I knew I would be filling it with felt flowers.

I spent an afternoon cutting, rolling and gluing the assorted felt roses and accompanying blossoms. I then attached them to wire stems wrapped with floral tape. I put a little newspaper in the bottom of the basket, covered it with Spanish moss and arranged my flowers within. I added a ribbon on each side and I was finished. I couldn't wait to give it to my mom, who appropriately adored it!

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to follow me while you're here!

Update: Shared at Fireflies and Jellybeans. Check out the link-up!

Also shared at Today's Creative Blog. Super link party, so stop by!

Shared at Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays at Coastal Charm! Go visit!

Keep Calm: The next generation

2011-05-23T22:16:00.000-04:00

I had hoped to post this last week, but as luck would have it, today is actually the perfect day. You've probably read a thing or two about Princess Beatrice's choice of royal head gear at the recent nuptials of Prince William and Kate Middleton. If you haven't, I'm pretty sure you actually do live under a rock.

Well, today, Princess Beatrice's hat sold at eBay auction for a whopping $131,341. That money will be donated to two children's charities. Bravo, Beatrice.

Now for the good part. So, Beatrice's hat was probably my favorite thing about the royal wedding and I truly loved how it immediately became a contemporary icon. I was so inspired by the party on Beatrice's head, that I decided to replicate it in grand fashion (wire, newspaper, tape, tissue paper and ribbon) for my niece's 7th birthday party, a Kentucky Derby-themed event.

So, this is me, at the party. As you can imagine I was a hit, if I do say so myself. This is probably the best photo taken of my, um, hat that day. And while it cost quite a bit less than Princess B's - I made it with things I had in my house - I'm pretty sure it made a similar statement. And by that, I mean it was a hit with the 7 and under crowd.

But just to make my own, physical tribute that I could tie to my head with string wasn't enough. I wanted to really put something together to commemorate my exact sentiments - and those of many others - towards Beatrice's hat.

And that, of course, leads me to this:

Yes, dears. It's Keep Calm and Carry On: The Next Generation. At this point, there is very little new or original about the Keep Calm craze. But that didn't stop me from putting my own Beatrice-inspired twist on Keep Calm mania. This is a 7 x 10 printable created with Adobe Creative Suite 4. (I used more than one program to finesse the masterpiece.) So, I wanted to do a version that was somewhat true to the original, but I also wanted to create a version that I believe may illustrate the feelings of our young Beatrice, sister Eugenie, cousin Harry and, of course, their royal entourage.

Not only would this be a fun print for your home, it would also be super cute to send as a party invitation. In fact, I plan to use it as such this summer. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you've enjoyed my royal tribute to Princess Beatrice and the Keep Calm tradition as much as I've enjoyed putting it together. Party on!

(Feel free to use this, but please link back! And don't forget to follow me while you're here. There's much more where this came from.)

Update: You should be able to download a PDF here.

Update 2: I linked this up to A Little Tipsy's weekly party. Make sure you check out all of the great projects. Lots of wonderful things to be inspired by.