Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hello everyone! Since it's just two days before Christmas I'm taking a break the rest of the year. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday and a very happy New Year!!! If you want any last minute ideas feel free to check out my Christmas Pin Board! And I will see you back here on January 6th, 2013!

Pinspiration Sunday: Earring Frame

THIS WEEK'S INSPIRATION:

I found this cute gift idea on Pinterest quite awhile ago for a framed burlap earring holder. And now I’m in love with this project! And it’s going to be a Christmas gift for someone and I know if she sees this she will know right away that it is for her...but I had to post this. This project cost me $1.75 to make. I will repeat that…ONLY $1.75 TO MAKE!!!! WHOOOOOOO HOOO!!! The only items that I did not have on hand were the frame and spray starch. The frame I bought at a thrift store for only 25 CENTS and the starch was $1.50! Here is a list of what I used:

Thrift store frame
Acrylic paint (I used mint green and black)
Acrylic spray sealant
Hot glue and gun
Prima flowers
Tattered Angels glimmer mist (I used jingle bells and peach delight)
Burlap
Spray starch
Iron and ironing board
Cricut Craftroom Software and Jasmine Font Cartridge

Let’s get started. Here’s the original thrift store frame with the glass and backing removed:

I was originally planning to buy spray paint for this but I hadn’t gone to the store so I just decided to go with the acrylic craft paint I already had. I also have a plastic frame that I could use for this project and for that I would use spray paint. Using the craft paint on this wooden frame took 3 coats to get good coverage. I allowed that to dry then sprayed it with the acrylic sealer.

Next I went through my Prima flowers to see what I could use in this project. Now the original post showed a burlap and felt flower which I was going to try to make myself but I love the Prima flowers I have and I’m always looking for an excuse to use my glimmer mists. After I sprayed the flowers, I allowed them to air dry (you could use a heat tool but as I’ve said in the past, every project I do gets done in shifts. With the flowers I had to go to work so I let them air dry overnight)

Meanwhile I sprayed the burlap with starch and ironed it according to directions.

Next I used the Cricut Craft Room software to make the letter B. I knew my frame opening was for a 5X7” frame so I just made sure the letter was within those marking on the cricut mat and cut it out with cardstock. I placed the paper remaining from the cutout on to my burlap and used a sponge brush to stencil the letter on.

Then I used the glass to cut the correct measurement for the burlap.

After that I hot glued the burlap and flowers into place.

And there you have it. It’s a great personalized gift! Although it took me a span of 3 days to make this, I could have easily made several in one day. It was a very quick project and I’m sure I will be making more in the future.

***To get some good tips on using glimmer mists with Prima flowers, you gotta check out Marion Smith. Everything I learned about them, I’ve learned from her. The large yellow and orange one was made by first spraying the entire flower with jingles bells, then with a wet paint brush I dipped into the peach delight and just touched the tips of the flowers with the brush. The color bleeds well from there.***

He'll Only Turn ONE Once

Here's some pictures from my carefully crafted Mustache Bash!

Pinspiration Sunday: Christmas Wrapping

This year I found a new way to wrap gifts for Christmas on Pinterest. Just use brown packaging paper and some ribbon and stamps. I love this amazingly simple and clean look! This is my original pin from The Haystack Needle:

This is what mine look like:

The paper I bought from Amazon. It was about $26 and it is a HUGE roll. If you would like to check it out you can find it here.The ribbon I bought at Michael's clearanced for $1.99 a roll. And the stamps I also bought at Michael's. They were originally $9.99 but on sale for 40% off.

And then I found this idea:

As soon as I saw the above photo on Pinterest I did the “pin now and look at it later” and started saving my toilet paper rolls. But then when I went back to look at it, it went a video which does not show you how to make them. Just shows ones made. Not too much of a worry for me because as I’ve said in the past, I like to figure things out on my own. This toilet paper roll gift boxes work great with this look. I didn’t need to do any decorating to them. But you could always cover with scrapbook paper prior to getting started. Here’s how I made mine. First I flattened the roll out.

Next I grabbed a ribbon roll and placed it at the end of the roll and scored the outer edge to make a curve. I did this on front and back and both ends. Using the ribbon roll allowed me to line up and make consistent score marks.

Then you fold in along the score marks to make the box close on each end.

My plan was to use these for gift cards. Unfortunately I did not measure the gift card to the toilet paper roll. What I found was the cards were too big to fit inside.

Not a problem…I’ll start again. This time I just free-handed the score marks and hoped they turned out okay...and guess what?!?!?! They did!

Next I stamped the name on the front. Placed the gift card inside and tied some small red ribbon around it.

Perfection! And cheap!!!!

Pinspiration Sunday: Wooden Letter Ornament

I found on Pinterest this cute wooden initial ornament. Unfortunately this person only posted a picture and no instructions. Not that it matters because I rarely follow the instructions anyways. I like to figure it out myself. This seemed simple enough…and it was and I think my end product turned out really cute. So here is my inspiration:

Here is a list of supplies I used:

Wooden letter
Small eye hook (same as I used on the mustache ornaments)
Wood stain
Mod podge
Ink
Scissors
Paint brush
Cricut machine
Decorative Scrapbook paper
Ribbon
Hot glue & gun
ATG gun


So I headed out to A.C. Moore and found their unfinished wooden letters. This one was only $1.19 or maybe $1.29, either way it wasn’t very expensive. This is basically all I spent because everything else I had at home.

Let’s get started…First I started by staining the letter. I knew I was covering it up with paper which meant I could do it quickly and it didn’t matter so I could be fairly messy with it. I let it dry.

Next I traced the letter once onto a sheet of patterned paper.

I then folded that paper in half and cut the letter out. Which gave me 2.

Then I covered the two sides of the letter with mod podge and placed the paper on top.

After it dried, I cut the excess paper off from around the edges. I then used ink to blend the edges so it flowed nicely into the stained sides of the letter.

After that, I cover the entire letter with mod podge and let it dry.

Once it was dry I inserted the eye hook on the top of the letter.

Afterwards, I typed up and printed out what I wanted the tag to read. Then I practiced manipulating the Cricut Craft Room software to get the tag and circle cut-out I wanted. I cut out the tag on patterned paper and tried to line up my words on the cutting mat so that the circle would cut perfectly around the words I had printed out. I inked the edge of the white circle and used my ATG gun to adhere it to the tag. Next I covered the tag, front and back, with a very thin layer of mod podge. This was in case it gets damp it would be slightly protected.

I then hot glued the tag to the letter. Next I made a bow from ribbon and hot glued that to the top of the tag.

I finished by tying another piece of ribbon through the eyehook so it could be hung from a tree. Here is how the other side looks

This was a nice and inexpensive gift that is truly one-of-a-kind. And it could be made for anyone. This one in particular is for my sister-in-law who just got married in May. After I made it, I thought it was so cute and easy that I should make more for other family members. So that’s what I’m going to do. Hope you enjoyed this episode of Pinspiration Sunday. Be sure to keep checking back to see what else I've found and made! :)