Two little boys and a craft for a girl

So, the last time I blogged, I was finishing up a craft for the twins' nursery. Little did I know they would make their appearance just a few short days later! Dwight and Jordan entered our lives on April 7.

This is them at one month; Dwight is on the left and Jordan is on the right. The first three months have been a heck of a ride. They are so much fun, and Greg and I often look at them and think, "Wow. They're really ours."

More on being a mama later. The boys are sleeping, and I want to share a simple, cute idea for a little one in your life.

I was glad to be able to make this easy project for Greg's cousin who just an adorable little girl.

The original idea came from Pinterest, but the link has since been deleted, so I can't give proper credit. I didn't take pictures as I went, but believe me, it was a piece of cake!

First, I took an old picture frame and removed the staples from the back. I painted the frame with acrylic paint. (I tried this on another frame first using spray paint. Bad idea. It ran like crazy. Save yourself the headache and use acrylic or latex.) After the paint dried, I measured the open space on the back of the frame and decided how far apart I wanted to place the ribbons. I put a dot with a Sharpie at the top and the bottom, and I measured the ribbon before gluing it on. The ribbon is fairly tight. This is the only picture I took, so you can see where I hot glued the ribbon.

The small strips of ribbon are hot glued in the groove of the frame where the glass would go. The ribbon for the hanger is glued onto the outside of the frame.

I turned the frame back over and put dots for the cup hooks. I pre-drilled with a bit, which made the hooks go in very easily. Then, I jazzed it up with a few silk flowers. And, voila!

So, if you haven't figured it out yet, the vertical ribbons are for hair bows. The cup hooks are for headbands, necklaces, etc.

I hear stirring babies, so that's all for now blogosphere...

Babies are almost here... time to finish up the nursery with one more craft!

I love the painted signs you can find at craft shops. I always admire the pretty paint jobs, but I some times gasp at the price. I came across a link on Pinterest to a tutorial for printing your own professional looking letters. 

I decided I could make my own sign for the nursery using this method. Best of all? I had all the supplies I needed, so the project was essentially free!

First, I found a nice scrap board in the garage. I cut it down to the approximate size I needed and proceeded to stain it.

Like my staining bench? It's a big cardboard box in the basement that I use so I don't get paint or stain anywhere. I started on the back of the board, then I did the sides. This way, I was doing the front last, so I could make sure it blended in well with the sides.

I'm kind of impatient, so I barely let the stain dry 15 minutes before I moved on to the next step. In Microsoft Word, I typed the phrase, "We love you to the moon and back." I used the font Optima ExtraBlack in size 110. I printed it off and was ready to proceed.

I cropped the bottom of the page off, so there was an equal margin at the top and bottom of the page, and then I centered it side to side and top to bottom on the board. I secured it with scotch tape. As you can see, my stain wasn't quite dry, because it bled through the paper, but it didn't affect anything.

I was skeptical of the next step, but it worked like a charm. I used a normal ball point point and traced over the letters. It was really hard not to peek, but I didn't want to risk pulling up the paper to look and then not getting the letters lined up again!

If I was going to do this step again, I might trace over each letter twice. It made a good imprint in the wood, but because the stain was dark, it was challenging to see.

I filled in the letters with acrylic paint and a small paint brush. After all of the letters were painted, this is what I had:

I decided it needed something else, so I found some star and moon clipart online, and I repeated the imprint process at the top and bottom. And here's the finished product:

This was seriously a super-easy project. From start to finish, it took a little over an hour. The technique is fool-proof! The sign is now hung on the nursery wall, so these babies can come at any time!

Our front door

One of my goals for this year is to keep something on our front door all the time. I think it makes our house feel more welcoming. Plus, it gives me a project to do every month and a half or so when I change out the door hanging. 


The best of today's project was it's cost. It was CHEAP. Here are the materials I bought, all from Wal-mart.


1 grapevine wreath: $2.50
1 bunch of silk hydrangea: $3
1 bunch of silk roses: $.94
1 bunch of silk honeysuckle: $.94


Total cost: $7.38


(I also used a glue gun and a stick, which I already had on hand. Also, I didn't use all of the flowers, so I saved them for another project.)


The second best part of today's project was the time it took to complete. Literally, in three minutes it was hanging on my door!


Here's the finished project:

Happy crafting!

Simple Welcome Plaque

I've been seeing all of these cute Valentine's wreaths on Pinterest, but I haven't being feeling all that motivated to try one. Nonetheless, I have been thinking our front door needs a little somethin', somethin'. I was cleaning the garage the other day, when I found these 1/8in plywood pieces I had cut down for another project. I had a pinkish colored spray paint, so I figured I could do something with them. I was right!

The best part of this project is that I had everything I needed on hand. After spray painting the plywood, I picked out a lighter pink sheet of scrapbook paper and some white cardstock. I freehanded the biggest heart, and then I traced it on the white paper and trimmed it smaller. I repeated the process with the third heart. I glued the three together and onto the plywood with a glue stick. I pulled out the white letters from my scrapbook goodies, and I glued them to the plywood with a glue stick also. I put a couple layers of Modge Podge over the whole thing. The white ribbon was in my scrap drawer, and I put it on the back with my trusty glue gun. I also glued a strip of scrap felt on the back at the bottom, so when the wind blew, the plywood didn't knock on the door.


Up went a wreath hanger on the door. On went the plaque. Project finished!

Easy as 1, 2, 3

1 curtain rod, mounted to the wall
2 sheets of contrasting scrapbook paper
3 frames with mats

Hello, cute magnets.

I didn’t even need Pinterest for inspiration on this one! (Though I’m sure it’s on there somewhere!) These magnets took 20 minutes top from the time I started until they were hanging on the fridge with dry Modge Podge.
 

Spray paint clothespins any color you’d like.

Place magnetic strip on the back. (I used the kind that already has adhesive, but I put a couple of drops of hot glue for extra durability.)

Place the magnet on the backside of scrapbook or other cute paper and trace. I used scraps, because it takes so little paper. Cut out the traced shape.

Cover the side of the clothespin that does not have the magnet with Modge Podge, and place your paper on it. Cover the front paper with more Modge Podge. Pardon my sausage fingers. 

Allow to dry.

Marvel in their simplistic beauty and functionality.

Mementos

Almost three years ago, as I was enjoying blessed bridal showers and wedding gifts, I decided to save a scrap of each wrapping paper. I'm not really sure what I was thinking, but I thought it would be a nice memento some day. However, they soon got shoved in a box, never to be seen again. Until now. 


Last weekend, I realized I had several wedding mementos that needed a good home. I was ready to store them away, but I wanted them to be some place special. Things like unity candles and the guest book and the like were collecting dust, but they're still really special to me. So, I remembered those scraps of wrapping paper and created a memento box:

I used a paper punch to punch a circle of each scrap of paper. Then, I glued the scraps with a glue stick onto a paper mache box. Finally, I put Modge Podge over the scraps to hold them in place. I spray painted the lid to the box silver, mostly because I didn't want to mess with all of the corners. The result was this box that now holds precious memories from a wonderful day. And, every time I look at it, I can remember all of the family and friends who gave generously and celebrated with us. Life is good.