I'm Still Here and I'm Getting Crafty

Complications from my surgery and a series of unfortunate events have held me back from my Fall projection of getting back into crafting. But I'm here! And here's the latest...Enjoy!

A little Love

Hey guys! It's been so long...I've missed ya! So my life got a little crazy in October with the birth of my daughter...which was to be expected. I found a little time this weekend to work on a project finally. Here's the video: 

Also, if you haven't already, check out these posts for free printables to create more 

Valentine's Day decor.

Thanks for stopping by!

Decoupage Bird

I recently went to Michael's craft store and had a mini shopping spree. One of the things I purchased was an unfinished wooden bird. Here's a video on how I stained and decoupaged it.

Here's how my final bird came out. I used some berries and leaves from a pick I purchased awhile back and glimmer misted a Prima flower and hot glued them into place. 

Pinspiration Sunday: BOO! Sign

So I've seen a lot of signs on Pinterest that say "BOO!" And I finally decided it was time to make my own. Everything I used in this project I already owned...whoo hoo! So here's how mine turned out:

Mine got a little bigger than I was originally aiming for. Here's my original pin:

This beautiful sign was for sale in an Etsy Shop called PeaceGlitzNGlam but has since sold.

I began my project with 3 wood pieces...I have a ton of these because I came across them one day in ACMoore and they were only 25CENTS!!!!! 

I painted the fronts and sides with black craft paint and a sponge brush. I use sponge brushes whenever I can. They are crazy cheap and great to use and toss especially when working with Mod Podge!

After they dried it was time to cut the burlap. I happen to have a strip cut from a prev project which also happen to be the perfect width. All I had to do was cut the length. Burlap frays so easily...so here's a tip: pull one or two fibers out from the area you want to cut, then cut through that area. See the picture below? I pulled a thread out. then cut along that open space.

I did this for all three wood pieces. Then I covered the wood pieces with Mod Podge and pressed the Burlap on top to secure.

Next, I cut out letters using the Happy Hauntings font on my Cricut Craft Room and some creepy spider paper I had left from a previous Halloween mini album.

I decided then to ink the edges using Tim Holtz distressed ink in Peeled Paint. But after I started inking the edges, I decided to blend and cover the entire letter. I knew that I wanted to use 3D adhesive dots to help the letters stick off the wood pieces, but my paper was really thin. So I decided to laminate them. This also helped me to ensure that my sign could last through the years.

For some reason I decided to take this project even further. I had this picture and frame that I bought at a thrift store months ago for $1 or $2.

I pulled all those staples out.

Then I tried painting the front with craft paint. But I realized it was going to take A LOT of coats to cover it. So I flipped it over and painted the back. 

I had this bottle of crackle medium...it's a very OLD bottle...but I gave it a shot...

After covering the frame with the crackle medium and allowed it to dry, I painted the frame black.

It worked...okay...but it's supposed to look grungy so it worked for me! By the end I went along some ridges and edges of the frame with silver craft paint too. While that dried I finished off the "picture" part. I knew I wanted something else for the background...plain purple just wasn't going to work. I thought about drawing some spiders on...but then I looked through my lace and I had a small piece of black that was just a bit longer than what I needed! WHOO HOO! Perfect! I covered the purple area with Mod Podge and pressed the lace on top to secure. Then I cut the excess off the ends.

Once it was all dry, then it was time to put the background back into the frame. I secured it with nails I had in a tool kit and added a picture frame hanging bar thing (technical name, I'm sure) to the back. Next I hot glued the wood pieces into place. The hands came from a bag full that I got from Michael's (and they have them this year too)!

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Pinspiration Sunday: DIY Coasters

So if you have been wondering what I did with those tiles from my last blog post, you’re in luck because I’m about to tell you… I found this DIY coasters on Pinterest from Mine for the Making. Now she used photographs to make hers. Honestly, I was being lazy and didn’t feel like rummaging through pictures to find ones I wanted to use so I just grabbed a 12 X 12 sheet of scrapbook paper. And I am also using unfinished wood tiles so I wanted to stain the tiles first around the edges and sides. I used walnut acrylic stain again and allowed them to dry.

Each tile measures roughly 3 3/4inches and I wanted some of the stain to show so I then cut each piece of paper 3.5 X 3.5in. And I inked the edges with brown ink.

Next I mod podge each piece of paper on to each tile and allowed them to dry
Then applied a coat of mod podge to the surface and sides applying in one direction and allowed them to dry. Then I applied another coat of mod podge in the opposite direction (horizontal then vertical) and allowed them to dry.Next I sprayed them with an acrylic sealer.

Then I applied brown felt to the underside of each tile using hot glue and cut around the edges to remove any excess material.

Here’s the finished coasters

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! :)