Create Your Own Art Work

So here's an affordable way to get the artwork that you want in your home. I love the country signs that have cute sayings but I just couldn't find one that would fit in our kitchen. I like the say “Good food, good friends, good times." In fact the saying "good times" is something my husband and I use A LOT. So I really wanted to have a sign with that saying on it. Now my kitchen is this amazing blue color (well I think its amazing) and I have accents of brown, tan and orange. Needless to say I couldn't find those colors in a sign so I took it upon myself to make my own. I went to a local craft store to get supplies. I first went to the scrapbooking section to find paper to use as the background. I found this awesome orange paper that had fluffy white flowers and grabbed two of those. Next I headed to the frame department and found a frame that I liked and I was able to use a coupon on it so I got it for half price. I already had cardstock at home for the lettering. I simply tried to line up the two sheets of paper the best I could to cover up the fact that there were 2 separate sheets instead of one solid background. Cut it the size of the frame. Then I cut out the saying using my Cricut© machine with the Jasmine font. Then I simply glued them in place. After letting it dry I just placed it in the frame. Then I bought some cheap berry garland and draped it around the frame. And there you have it. Total cost was about $15. And it’s custom made!

Flower Pots

So I should be studying for my Abdomen board exam but instead I’m doing this. I’m trying to grow flowers from seeds but I’m not having much luck keeping them alive and there is still a chance of frost so I’m afraid to plant them outside but they’ve are grown enough to not be in the starter kit that I bought. Unfortunately I don’t have flower pots or the money to go buy some up so I needed to come up with something that not only could allow the plants to further grow indoors but also look nice as it would be displayed in the house. That is where I decided to make mini flower pots out of stuff I have around the house. I will show you this very simple and pretty way to make a small pot from a tin can. You could really use anything like plastic bottles or bowls too. The supplies you will need include: Mod Podge, scissors, foam brush, scrapbook paper, ribbon, paper trimmer, and the item you wish to plant in (i.e. tin can, soda bottle, cool whip bowl) I also had pliers to push down a part of the can that was sticking up inside to avoid cutting myself as I placed the soil into the can.


First I took the label off the can.


Next I measured the height of the can and cut my scrapbook paper accordingly (I used a scrap piece of 12X12 paper and cut to the height needed).


Then I covered the entire outside of the can with Mod Podge.


Next I wrapped the paper around the can.


Cut off the excess paper leaving some extra and applied the Mod Podge to that and pressed down to secure.


I gave the can a little time to dry before I applied the Mod Podge around the entire outside of the can again, over the paper. This will help it resist water should you spill any as you water the plant. Next I tied a scrap piece of ribbon around the can while the Mod Podge was still wet. Then I allowed it to dry.


Finally I filled it with soil and planted the flower…and that was it. It was really very simple. Happy growing!

Boxing

I posted pictures of my boxes that I’ve been making on Facebook and they are selling like hot cakes. Within a half hour of putting the pictures up I already had 4 requests. I’m pretty excited about that. I’ve been busy making them up. But unfortunately the store where I buy the unfinished boxes is currently out of the recipe box so I’m kind of on hold until they get more in. I tried looking on line for a wholesale place but I just can’t seem to find the boxes that I want and if I do, the price is not feasible. So we’ll see…for right now I’m enjoying this success…hopefully it doesn’t end as quick as it started…

Here's some that I've done, some were requested schemes others I just did:

Chocolate & Crafts

Today I went to a church event where the women of the church were able to eat yummy foods dipped in chocolate and enjoy crafty ideas. I actually was there to walk them through making a card. I had a lot of fun. It was a very simple card but it was great to see everybody's creativity when they did their own cards...it really was a great time. I even got asked to make a custom designed box...my first sale! I'm so excited. I've been working really hard on these boxes and I'm glad that someone other than me appreciates them. It was hard trying to think of prices because I work so hard on them, what is the price for someone’s creativity???? Well for me, it ranges between $10-$15 LOL! Anyways, they asked me to help out in the Fall for another event so now I’m busy trying to think of something to do then….we’ll see what I come up with...

Handmade Autograph Book

A friend of mine is taking her 8 year old daughter and niece to Disney World next month. The girls are hoping to collect the Disney character’s autographs while they are there. So she asked me if I could make autograph books for them. She gave me the top 3 favorite colors for each girl and away I went. First I started by finding a cardboard box. Albert just happened to get a new computer last week so we had boxes left from that. I used the box the keyboard came in which was great because it already had one end bent for the flaps of the box which is where the crease to open and close the book would be.



I just randomly chose a size. I wanted it to be small but have plenty of room for them to have a signature and perhaps embellish it later so it can be more like a mini scrapbook. So it is about 7 ½ by 3 ½ inches. I lined-up what will be the front cover and back cover together to make sure they were even (or close enough…remember it’s homemade, not perfection).



Then I roughly punched 2 holes in each piece where I will later put ribbon through to bind the book.Next I covered each piece of cardboard with scrapbook paper and taped it down.



Then I folded in each end like wrapping a present and taped that down.



I used a very tiny screw driver (which happened to be handy) to poke holes through where the previous hole punches were.



Next I cut paper to go inside the book. I made these about 7 ¼ by 3inches.



Two of the pages I taped using double sided tape to the inside of each cover to hide the paper that had been folded over and poked tiny holes in those.



Next I threaded some ribbon through everything and tied a bow.



Finally I decorated the front.

Recipe Boxes

I recently started making boxes....any crafter out there should know about the Cricut die-cutting machine. It's not just for scrapbooking or card making...it's for all crafts! I absolutely love it. The cartridge "From My Kitchen" was my inspiration for starting my boxes. It comes with a “how to” on making a recipe box….but I thought the box that they showed wasn’t too impressive so I decided to take it to the next level. That’s when I designed this box. My first! What I love most about it is that it looks old. First I took the hardware off and stained the box in a walnut stain then allowed it to dry.


I used the apron design and a phrase from the cricut cartridge…added some paper in which I used the inking technique around the edges (inking is just taking an ink pad and dragging it lightly along the edge of the paper making it look slightly discolored and vintage).

Finally I used some mod podge to seal it all in. Then I took a sanding pad and went around the edges, put the hardware back on and it was done…very easy! I was very impressed with the end results that I had to make a second one too…

This was not your typical recipe style box…but I think it turned out just as good. I made both of them in one day, start to finish.

Lomography

In the age of technology where everyone wants things done quickly and with instant results, it’s hard to believe that people are still interested in film cameras. My husband started telling me months ago about this cheap fisheye camera he saw on Amazon that he thought I would like. But I told him that we shouldn’t waste our money especially since my digital pictures can be altered on my computer to make the image a “fisheye” image. And so we kind of left it at that. Then about 2 months ago, Angela was telling me about Lomography cameras and was showing what they did. Little did I know at the time that the fisheye cam was in fact a lomograghy camera as well. So we explored the world of Holga and Diana and I was blown away by the uniqueness, obscured, and vibrant images that appeared with these cameras. The color contrast is amazing and the vignette images are awesome. Sure now with the digital cameras and the software that provided you can create similar images. But where is the element of surprise???? With the Lomography camera and film…you can shoot, shoot, shoot and see what happened later. As you can tell I’m very excited about these cameras. I plan on purchasing my own Diana F+ here in the near future. When I do, I’ll be sure to let you know what I think.



P.S. Jon you’re awesome :)