Archive for the ‘Craft Projects’ Category

Ok, I’ve finally finished this but I have to upload the pictures.

This is a canvas magnetic chalk board.  I did four of these and then grouped them together for a huge wall in my office at work.

Give me another day and I’ll post the how to’s and what I’ve learned.

 

 

It is quick cool and it works, so I hope I have piqued your interest.

 

I need a decorating element on a huge wall in my office at work.  I also want this decorating element to serve both function and form.

I saw a piece done with canvas and numbers.  Being in the Financial Industry the numbers things would work perfect.  The other part is that if I ever needed to bring it home it would work in my home as well.

I went to Home Depot and bought some magnetic primer (approx $20).  To M’s to buy some canvas (got 18 x20 twin pack for $7.99).

 

Let me say, if you do this be sure and pick up some xylene for clean-up.  The magnetic primer is heavy (because it has shards of metal in it) and you need to be sure and stir it good and then stir it occasionally while you are using it.  

Thin coats is the best way to put this on and I also used a dense smooth foam roller.  I put on three coats, one vertically, second coat horizontally and the third coat vertically again.  It takes 30 minutes to dry in between coats.

 

The next step is to paint this with latex paint.  After I paint it with a cream latex paint, I’m going to cut out various sizes of numbers and symbols to put on the canvases.  Then you’ll have to wait and see what happens after that.

I’m always looking for ways to display some of the cards that I make so I can take a picture of them.

I found this easel at IKea for cheap but I needed to paint it.

Pulled out some craft paint and started to work.

 

 

 

 That didn’t take long.  Now I need to get busy and make some cards…..oh wait. I’m painting furniture.  I’ll get back to this in the near future.

We have some interesting things we are going to be doing once I get the furniture taken care of.

 

Oh Henry!  Sometimes when I’m in my craft room (and he has not felt like I’ve paid him enough attention) Henry takes up his spot right in the middle of my table.

 

 

 

 

This is a pretty simple project and it gives great results.

I have some tile left over from my kitchen back splash that I wanted to use to make some coasters. The stamps are a 2009 or 2010 Stampin Up set.

 

 

 

 

Clean the tile and then stamp using StazOn ink.  I used black but you can use any color.  By the way, you can buy individual tiles from HD or Lowe’s to do this project.

As you can see either my inking or stamping did not get the “C” in cherish very well.

 

 

I took my Copic black marker and hand colored the rest of the ” C”  in.  I don’t know why the Copics works well with the StazOn ink on tile but I didn’t have any trouble with it smearing.

I let it set over night and then started putting layers of ModgePodge on.  Cut a piece of cork to fit the back and you are in business.

 

These make nice gifts for the hostess or  someone you want to give a little something to.

I like to put lamps on a stack of books to (especially if they are a little short or small) to help add some height and dimension.

Since this is for the re-do on the Dining Room I was looking for something black/white  or tan or cream.

Excuse the mess on my desk but this adventure in recovering a book came over me all of a sudden and I just started the process.  Luckily, I thought to take pictures.

 

 

Alright then, I’ll just go find me a book out of my bookcase and make one the color I want it.  Warning from here on this is a tutorial on how to cover the book.

Nope, blue does not fit but hey, I can change the color of this with paper.

 

 

 

 

Pulled some papers I liked.

 

 

 

 

 

Measure the spine and cut the black paper to 5-1/2″ by 10-1/2 “.

 

 

 

 

 

I ran a strip of tape down the spine to hold the paper in place.

 

 

 

 

 

Fold it over the side and run my fingers down the crease on the side.  This will make an indention in the paper and allow for it to flex properly.  Then I ran tape down each side and secured it down.

 

 

 

 

 

Once both sides are tapped down you need to address the ends of the book.

 

 

 

 

 

I’m flying by the seat of my pants here, but I snipped a section on the side where the crease happens.   Do this on both sides and both ends.

 

 

 

 

I glued down the larger tab with tape.

 

 

 

 

 

I used hot glue to glue down the little tab.  I don’t know if you could just have one tab and glue it, but this worked really well.

 

 

 

 

At this point you have the tab left on the spine.

 

 

 

 

 

I bent that tab over and creased it where it meets the book and then I cut it off and hot glued it so it would stay in place.

 

 

 

 

Here is the spine all dressed up in the black paper.

 

 

 

 

 

Next the paper for the front was cut at 7″ x 12″.  I aligned the paper on the cover passed the spine crease, leaving an overlap at the top, bottom and side.

 

 

 

 

Run the tape around the cover and place the paper on and open the cover.

 

 

 

 

 

At each corner cut the paper diagonally into the corner of the book cover.

 

 

 

 

 

Run the tape down the side and fold the paper over.

 

 

 

 

 

Cut the corner off flush with the end.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a little tricky on the end remaining fold down the diagonal cut down and the fold over.

 

 

 

 

 

Hope this makes sense, it creates a double fold but it is necessary to cover the corners.  I used a combination of hot glue and then ran tape down the rest to secure it down.

 

 

 

 

See how nice that looks.  Now at this point if you want  to finish the inside you can cut a piece of the size of the inside cover and then secure it down.  I didn’t do that because this book is just going to be to look at and not opened and read.

 

 

 

 

Side one.

 

 

 

 

Side two.  I love the way this turned out.  Come by tomorrow and I’ll show where it is sitting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See that white (cheap) basket that is holding the closet plant?  I decided I wanted to use it to add a little “whimsy” to my dining room redo.

 

 

 

 

It came with the plant when DH had gall bladder surgery and both the plant and the basket have made it through several years of moving around the house, to my desk at work, back home after I got laid off.

 

 

 

 

I had some extra ribbon left over (in retrospect a grosgrain would probably worked better).  I ruffled about 5 yards of it and started hot gluing it on.

 

 

 

 

Started at the bottom and as I made it around the basket I just stair stepped up to the next row.

 

 

 

 

 

Super cute!  In the picture the ribbon looks more sheer than it does in reality.  The white top works well since this room is tan, white and black.

Best yet I used something from my stash and reused a basket…..sweeeet!

There is a very cute and talented young lady at our church, Avery, who is making these sweet little card holders.

She uses decorator duct tape and then hand crafts the holders.  Of course when I saw them and found out that she even did special orders, I just had to have one…no wait two.

Love Hounds-Tooth and the pop of red just sets it off.

 

 

She brought me two different sizes and I decided they would be a perfect fit for all my reward cards.  This lighten the load in my wallet, not $$ wise but space wise.

Because they are hounds-tooth with the red trim, I can easily locate it in my purse.  At last, I will give one of these to my #2 Daughter since she loves hounds-tooth too.

 

All of this cuteness for $2 a piece.  Avery did a great job and I noticed she even matched the pattern on the overlaps.  Wow, talk about paying attention to detail.

Thanks Avery (thanks Mom, Rachel)  for taking the time to craft and for making the card holders.  Mine is already in my purse and full of cards!

Here we are day 2 of the BFF mini album.

 

 

 

 

 

I found this picture of two women exercising (it’s very retro looking).  Years ago my BFF and I would go to a local school gym and exercise together.  I used my Copic markers to enhance the color on the women and put a little pink in their cheeks.

The little label on the left side is a stamp I found at M’s in their $1 spot.  It says “A balanced diet is chocolate in each hand”.

 

 

The above page has a pocket that I put descriptions of our friendship on little labels and tied them all together.  I used TH Distressed inks to color the labels and ribbon and I embossed the words in gold.  Again, these were stamps from M’s and their $1 spot.

 

 

 

 

The page on the left, describes how I feel about my BFF, blessed.  I cut out a flourish to represent the girliness we are and the ticket speaks of our creativity.  When I started making cards, my BFF went with me on this journey.  It is so much fun to have someone who loves to do the same things you like to do.

The other page is a calendar for her birthday month.  She was born on 9/11.  The flower is one of my first homemade flowers that I learned to make.  We are always trying to learn how to make things our self so we can have more $$ to spend on Mexican Food.

 

Well, finish up this little mini album tomorrow.  The mini album is bound with TH tissue tape and a little extra glue.

We all have a Best Friend Forever (BFF) and mine is Phyllis.  I decided I would make her a special album.  I’m going to do this in several post so each post is not too long.

This little album is made out of one sheet of 12 x 12 pattern card stock that is folded that creates pages and several pockets.

 

 

 

 

I’ll take you through what each page means.  I wanted this to have significance to our friendship.

The little bird in the cage represents being in the corporate world.  The little birdie was freed when she decided to make a change in her career path.

The heart with wings represents her love to help people.  She is called “Princess” by her hubby and we are Diva’s in our own homes!

 

The crochet flower was made by my Mother and my BFF loves this type of handwork.  Of course every sweet flower attracts bees.

I used a M’s $1 stamp (one of our favorite places to shop together) and embossed it with white embossing powder.  Wanted her to know that this little book stuffed with things are all about our friendship!

 

 

Come back by tomorrow and I’ll show you some more of this little jewel that honors my BFF!

 

Well, here that little “Cutie” is in all of her beauty.  She has on the little pillowcase dress NaeNae made her and the her leggings with the ribbon ruffles.

It came out so cute and the little jacket I got at Target with her leggings.  She loved it and had to dress it up a little more with a purse.

So cute for just almost 3 years old.