Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Dry Erase Boards with personality

For a long time I wanted a kitchen scratch board...you know, for grocery lists, love notes, menus, uplifting thoughts, and so on. I didn't just want something boring and white though, so you can imagine that I was pretty excited when I saw this idea on the interweb...


This project quickly got more expensive than I intended it to...

The humongous frame was at DI for $10. The paint was $4. The fabric was $3.50 because I didn't have any scraps that big and I was picky...

But I have loved having it in my kitchen for the past few months.

I made another one for Eric and Charlene's wedding gift...


Jacque had a box full of frames in the attic and told me to take what I wanted when I mentioned my wedding gift ideas.  Charlene doesn't know how she wants to decorate yet, but her favorite color is red...so I took it and ran with it. I had all the fabric in my box of scraps. The pearl button, and antique glaze were left over from other projects. I only had to spring for the red paint.

Secretly I hope they hate it and will give it back to me...but really I hope they like it a lot and keep it forever.

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Infinity Scarf

I made an infinity scarf yesterday...for free. I like how the fabric compliments my gray cardigan...


It's really too bad you can't see it in person...I'm really terrible at taking pictures of myself.

Anyway, I used a tutorial from The Cottage Home. So easy.

I only wish I had made it longer...

I can't wait to show you what I'm crafting for my brother in laws wedding gift...I'm going to be pretty sad to give it away. I just hope they will be pretty happy to be recieving it.

Friday, September 16, 2011

For Ollie

I meant to make this over a year ago...before Oliver J. was born...when I first saw it. Since then, it seems like the idea has exploded...which is fine. That just means everyone has one...and now so do we.

Print that baby on some fresh white card stock and stick in a frame which has been fanci-fied and call it GREAT!

Now if only we had some ink...

I'm not certain who had the original idea for this, but I can tell you that I first saw it at The Rachel Berry Blog.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Dry Spell

The fact of the matter is that I haven't done a whole lot of crafting lately...

First I was moving, and then I had moved but I was busy...and everytime I sat down to think about decorating my home, a quiet little voice told me to let it be for a while and find something else to do.  Now that I'm moving to idaho in two months I'm glad I didn't waste much time.

Really, all I've done since March was create a mobile from some fancy paper I purchased at the scrapbook expo, and take some adventures in book binding. OH! And Martha (Martha Stewarts Baking Handbook) and I spent some time baking in the kitchen...I've checked that book out from the library three times and counting!

My books:

I wish to make many more, but I don't have anything to fill them with...

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

A little love for my earrings

Last week I spent a few days in the {801} and visited DI a few times. I found some great spoils! One of which was an empty picture frame painted gold and white with no back or glass for 50 cents. It was pretty ugly.

I saw potential.

Originally I thought I wanted to paint it black and hang it empty in my new cedar city living room to give some character to a picture frame collage, but that idea is a little overdone for my taste.
On a late night trip to Walmart, (one of my favorite Ashley past times) I saw some lace that I couldn't live without.

Then the light bulb clicked on...

I love the result!


Painted it "Celery", tried out the glazing technique, starched the lace and hot glued it to the back, threw on the earrings. Total cost: under $5

I'm a fan.

In case you aren't into lace: my ShaNeil friend stores her earring in ice cube trays. One pair per slot, and they stack up neatly in a drawer. Yeah, I though that was a fantastic idea too!

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Wish I had something cute to post...

With chaos on the craft table, a mountain of moving mishmash, and an apartment too small to relocate it all anywhere that the carpet tiger won't get to it, I haven't felt much like crafting anything around here...but I do have some fun ideas... Hopefully I'll be able to do a little here and there, and then get back into it as soon as we have settled into our Cedar City abode.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Old McDonald

...he had a farm.

(I know you are fond of photos taken of craft projects placed atop my fancy white chest freezer...)

Now I do too! Well at least the animals...

I made some hand puppets from the tutorial I found at Just Another Day in Paradise. I'm so glad I stumbled upon that gem of creativity!

I'm pretty excited for Oliver to get a little bit older so we can play with them together.

I'm also pretty excited that they are finished. They were rough! Lots of pieces to keep track of...lots of felt hunting (I didn't have a huge stash so it took some time to collect it all...but don't worry, I have a stash now.) Lots of unpicking due to the lack of speed control on my spiffy new sewing machine (it was pretty cheap...definitely better than nothing though!)

My favorite part was when I ran out of bobbin thread almost at the end of a particularly difficult section and had to rewind the bobbin for a measly six inches of thread to finish. This happened three times actually. It was quite comical. (I kid.)

I might have sworn at the whole project a few times.

The important thing is that they are done, I love them now, and Oliver may just love them in the future.

This little project was a little more expensive because I couldn't buy the felt one sheet at a time...my only option was the 4 dollar multi color pack at Walmart...it took a couple of those. I also had to buy more bobbins for all the different colors of thread I needed. All in all it came out to just under ten dollars and about 3 weeks for the whole thing. The rest of the supplies I begged or borrowed from my crafty Bree friend. Thanks a bunch Lady!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

King of the Jungle

One of the songs that I can't wait to sing with Oliver J. is about a lion.

Leo the lion to be exact. And his jaws are big and wide.

So when one of the ward members had a lion puppet for her daughter, my creative juices started flowing...and then I forgot about it all. That was a year ago.

Last month I was browsing a craft blog and found the tutorial for the exact lion puppet. Since I had plenty of felt leftover from the package I bought for the fishing set, I printed out the pattern and got started.



This puppet was free to me.

Now Oliver J. and I will have a fun prop to  help us sing about the King of the Jungle.

Until then I will toss it in my box labeled "future Ollie gift ideas" and call it good.

Silhouette Throw Pillows

Get this!

My silhouette pillows are done! And I love them....even though Jesse has a big head complex and my silhouette looks like an old lady. The best part is that they were SUPER inexpensive!

You want to see them?


I know the bed still looks a little drab, but I've got three more pillows in mind to liven it up a little.

So whats the method and how much did they cost me?

Well now,  I started by taking pictures of our profiles, cropping them to the right size, printing, tracing and cutting them out. Add a little chin definition for Jesse and an upper lip for me and Voila! Silhouettes.

The cream fabric? Yeah, those are my old worn out sheets...tea dyed to disguise the dingy. That probably cost me 3 dollars upfront (cost of the box of tea bags) but I certainly didn't use it up so I have plenty for tea dying in the future. So when you get to the nitty gritty, I only spent fifty cents or less.

The border? I had to buy a roll of freezer paper and Kent's was my only option (that was expensive)...that made it seven dollars up front. But as with the tea, I have a TON left over, so I don't really figure that into the equation.  I borrowed some black paint and that was that. For the amount that I actually used, I spent less that seventy five cents.

I used three dollars worth of poly fill for the stuffing, and the back of the pillow was made with one dollars worth of this pretty black damask fabric.

That's about $5.25 for two pillows...two pillows that I LOVE!

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Taggie Crinkle Square

Oliver has a thing for tags...so when I found this tutorial I decided I had to make it.



I used a piece of noisy plastic that was just going to be thrown into the garbage with the rest of the empty wipes package. That makes the noise. The rest was somewhat expensive because I'm sort of new to the crafting scene and didn't have a supply of ribbons or flannel. 

I had originally intended to do some sort of applique as well, but decided that I wasn't interested in putting forth that much effort at the time.

I think Ollie likes it.

Felt Flowers

Last month I made two different kinds of felt flowers:

This one:




tutorial here

Made from felt and a pin that I had on hand...free to me!
and This Dahlia for my Valentines:



tutorial here (I used hot glue to save me a BUNCH of time.)

This made for expensive valentines between the pins ($2) the felt ($4) and the buttons ($5) but they only came out to about 75 cents each. This is actually great considering that I found a shop on etsy selling the same thing (which is dishonest because the pattern is owned by someone else) for $14 dollars...so yeah, I think saved some money there.

I slapped a brooch pin on the back and now they hang out on my cardigan or coat.

Ruffle T-Shirt

A few months ago I found this ruffle t shirt tutorial at Tea Rose Home. I instantly had to have it...but it took me a few months to get around to making it. Right After Oliver was born, I went shopping and found that Down East was clearing out some of their wonder tees and they were only five dollars. However, I found that when I bought two, they took two dollars off, making them four dollars a piece. I decided to make one for me and one for my sister's birthday gift. This made for a total of three shirts (two for the shirt and one for all the pieces). All in all I spent $12 dollars. That's six dollars per finished shirt. This pleases me.
I usually throw a cardigan over it and feel pretty much adorable for the rest of the day.

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Jesse's Quilt

Jesse likes to keep things....even shirts that are two sizes too small. So I stole those shirts and turned them into a quilt. It is very simple, but I don't care. We both like it. It took me a year and $15 to make. I'm so glad it is finished. I doubt that I will make quilting a regular habit. It was not my favorite activity.

Mustache

When I was pregnant with Ollie I was into crafting and mustaches. So I made a mustache craft....It is displayed in the form of a mustache bouquet in my living room. I recently made more for Valentine's Day and passed them out to the men I know. They were a hit...we love them as photo props.  They are made from black felt and wooden dowels. I did not spend more than $3 to make them.

Gone Fishing

I made this fishing set by following a free tutorial provided by "Just Another Day in Paradise." I am planning to make a bag to store them out of a fishing net looking material, but I haven't found the right net type fabric to make it from. I'm keeping my eyes open. This will be an Ollie gift when he's older. This cost under five dollars to make. My favorite part is the Velcro on the eyes and the fish hook so you really can "catch" fish.

Memory Game

Jessica at "Just Enough Style" created this matching game for her daughter and was kind enough to share the tutorial. I made one to save and give to Oliver for a birthday or holiday in the future. I LOVE it.


There are two of each shape. Made of felt with a backing of scrap fabric from Jesse's quilt.




I love the bag that I made...It is a simple one but I made it without a pattern...which is a testament to the improvement of my sewing skills.


I made this game from materials that I had leftover from previous crafting endeavors. It was free to me.

Bird Mobile

I made this birdie mobile for the nursery last year. I followed the tutorial using felt, yarn, fabric scraps (for wings), and embroidery hoop, and ribbon. It was super easy and every time I see it I remember how much I love it. I believe that an accurate estimation of the cost of this mobile would be just under $10 dollars.

Idea from "Little Birdie Secrets" blog.
A blog to remember my crafting adventures.