Learning To Be a Mom: Crafts

Showing posts with label Crafts. Show all posts

I love to read. Snuggling up with a good book is one of my favorite things to do. But even more than I love reading, I love books. I don't think a person can ever have too many books. I love the way they look and the way they smell. Over the years I have amassed a pretty good book collection (It would be bigger if Husband wasn't here to reign me in.) In our play room we have a large book shelf with many of my favorite children's books. While I love just the look of lots of books on a shelf, it felt like something was missing, so I added this cute decoration to the top. I picked up these paper mache letters at Joann's, and covered them in this cute paper I got from Hobby Lobby.

If you've never done this before it's a pretty simple process. Some people like to cut the paper to the exact size and shape of the letter, and then glue it on, but that is way too meticulous for me. I trace around the letter, leaving some extra space all around. Then I cut it out and mod podge it to the letter. You can see in the first picture how the paper is still hanging over the edge of the letter. Next fold the extra paper over the edge and use sandpaper to sand it off. It will rip off right next to the edge of the letter. IT does leave kind of an ugly ripped edge, so I take a black stamp pad and run it over the edges to cover it up, plus I add some to the front for and antiqued look. And voila, it's done!

I used my repurposed soda bottles to add some height and fullness. Now I not only love looking at all my books, but I also love the overall look of my shelf.

Years ago I found a shelf that I really loved at Target. Husband and I bought it and we have hung it up in every apartment/house we have lived in since then. And in every single house it has hung completely empty. It is kind of an odd shape. It is a rectangular box with smaller shelves built into it. Everything we tried to put inside was either too big or too small. It just never looked right. But for some reason we still always hung the shelf. Finally I decided it was time to either fill the shelf or get rid of it. I decided a basket might look cute in it, but as I started looking I realized it was going to be a pain trying to find something that would fit perfectly in those weird little cut outs, so I decided to make my own basket.

1. I started with a cereal box. (Maple and brown sugar Life is delicious by the way!) I measured out how big I wanted my shelf to be and cut the box down to size, then taped it into the right shape.

2. Next I cut a piece of muslin and hot glued it over the top. I didn't worry about how it doesn't matter hoe it looks on the inside and outside. The outside will be covered and the inside will be filled with stuff so nobody will ever see it.

3. Finally I just started wrapping and gluing. I used a roll of jute that I bought at Joann's for about $2. It took awhile to glue, so I made sure I had something to watch on TV. It was a great way to spend nap time. I wrapped all around the sides, but didn't bother with the bottom.

I loved the way it turned out. It was my first attempt so I learned a lot. First Push the jute really close together with each wrap or you will be able to see the cereal box peaking out. Second watch out for hot glue clumps. Third try to keep the wrapping straight or you will run into problems at the bottom.

The funny thing is that in the end this didn't fit the shelf where I wanted it. But when you spend maybe $.25 making something, it's not that sad if it doesn't work out. I did find a home for it in our guest bathroom and whipped up a new basket that fit better on my shelf. So simple! So cute! So cheap!

Before Little Brother joined our family, I decided to put together a big sister gift for Sweet Girl. I figured Little Brother would be getting a lot of attention and maybe some new toys and some file folder games would help ease the transition. Sweet Girl is very into purses. She just likes something to put all her little things in, so I decided to make her a little bag to put her new file folder games in to take to church. I found the tutorial for this adorable bag from Stitches In Play. It really didn't take too long and I made it from scraps of fabric I have in my fabric stash. I am not a great seamstress, but I managed to do this pretty well and in one afternoon. And I think it turned out pretty cute.

Here is what you need:
2 pieces 15x15 inches for the lining
2 pieces 15x11 inches for the main outside piece
2 pieces 15x5 inches for the outside top strip
2 pieces 20x6 inches for the handles

1. Start with the handles. Fold each handle in half hot dog style and iron. Open it back up and fold and iron about 1 inch on each side. Fold it back in half and sew up the side. Don't worry about sewing the ends, you'll get then later.

2. Sew a top strip to each of the main outside pieces. Then place them right sides together and sew around the sides and bottom, obviously leave the top open.

3. Place the lining pieces right side together and sew down each side and part of the bottom. Leave a 3 inch opening at the bottom.

4. This step is important if you want to give the bag a flat bottom. If you don't care you could probably skip it. You will do this with the 2 bottom corners of both the outside and the inside lining pieces. Open the bag and and pinch the side and bottom seams together, so it creates this point. Sew a straight line 1 1/2 inches up from the tip, and then cut off the point. I hope that makes sense.

5. Now it's time to sew the whole bag together. The most important part is pinning it together correctly.Start by pinning the handles in place wherever you want them. Double check that your handles aren't twisted at all. That would be really frustrating to have to pick out. Leave the outside piece facing right side out, but turn the lining inside out. Slip the outside piece inside the lining piece. You will need to repin the handles so they are pinned to both the inside and outside pieces. Now sew around the top of the bag, reinforcing the handles really well.

6. Now pull the outside piece through that hole you left in the bottom of the lining. Sew up that hole either by hand or with a machine. (I figure it's the bottom of the inside so I don't care if my seam shows.)

7. Stuff the lining inside and viola, you have your bag!

Not too hard right? I really like how it turned out, and Sweet Girl loves carrying it around. Now she can help carry some of her own stuff around and I have more room in my bag for all of Little Brother's stuff. I forgot how much little babies need between diapers, burp cloths, emergency change of clothes, etc.

Have you ever felt a complete lack of inspiration and ambition? That's how I have been feeling this week. I just have the hardest time motivating myself to get up and do everything that needs doing. So, all week I have been slowly working on this 2x4 wooden pumpkin. I got the idea for this pumpkin on Pinterest last fall, and finally got around to making it when I had a bunch of wood leftover from my two sided fall sign.

Here's What You Need:
4 2x4 Wooden Blocks- Mine are 7 inches long
Orange Paint
Black Stamp Pad
Green Ribbon

1. Sand, sand, sand! These blocks took a lot of sanding.

2. Paint the blocks orange. I wish my paint had been a redder orange, but this worked too.

3. I sanded the edges to make it look distressed. Then I patted my black stamp pad across the wood to help darken and age the bright orange.

4. Finally I stacked my blocks and tied the ribbon around them. This really was an easy project, and now my house looks a little more like fall.

I recently pulled out all of my fall decorations, and as I started to put them up I realized I really don't have many fall decorations. How did this happen? So it was time to get to work and start making some new fall crafts. I found some great inspiration from the cute fall sign over at The Happy Scraps. I liked the idea of just a simple sign. As I got started I decided to turn this into a two in one sign for fall and Christmas. Now once Thanksgiving dinner is over I can come home, turn my sign around and the Christmas season can begin!

This project was incredibly easy and inexpensive. Here is what you need:

1 block of wood- I used a 2x4 cut into a 7 inch piece. I paid $2.50 for the entire board and got 13 pieces out of it. Looks like more signs are in my future.
Scrapbook Paper- Just what I had on hand.
Paint- Less than $1
Vinyl- Leftover from other projects
Mod Podge
Sandpaper

1. I started of by sanding my block down. I had to really work hard to get the ends sanded down. It was a good arm workout. Two birds with one stone!

2. Next came the paint. Originally I painted it a cream color, but it just looked so bland, so I painted over it with this nice deep brown. With the cream underneath it almost has a stained look that I really liked.

3. I cut the paper just a little smaller than the block, and antiqued the edges with my stamp pad. Next I spread some Mod Podge onto the block and smoothed the paper out over top of it, and then spread more on top of the paper. It is important to keep the paper as smooth as possible. Take your time and try to get rid of those bubbles and wrinkles. You can see some wrinkles on my fall paper. I smoothed as much as I could, and when it dried you could barely even see them.

4. Finally I added the words in vinyl. I chose the phrase "merry and bright" from one of my favorite Christmas songs, "White Christmas." I have never had a white Christmas. When I was little I used to pray that it would snow for Christmas, but I'm still waiting on it.

I love the way this turned out, and now I have one more fall decoration. Husband thinks that is sufficient, but I think we need a few more!

Linking Up At:
$Lil\'Luna$

I am so excited to finally be able to share this project with you! It is one of those projects that I have spent a few minutes on here and there over the past few months. I had a really hard time figuring out exactly what I wanted the finished project to look like so there was a lot of starting and stopping and asking Husband's opinion and staring over again. Now it's finished and I am so excited.

I have posted about a couple toddler family home evening ideas that we have done with Sweet Girl. The idea of the family home evening board is just to keep organized about whose turn it is to do each part. There are about a billion different ways to make one, but I liked this ideas because it was pretty easy and affordable and not too big. I wish I had more pictures to show my process, but there really wasn't much to take pictures of.

Here is what you need:
Cookie Sheet- Walmart (Isn't that where I get everything?) for $5
Vinyl- It doesn't take much. I used cream and red.
Chip Board
Stick on Magnet Tape
Scrapbook Paper to match your word color
Ribbon

1. I used my Cricut to cut out a whole bunch of test fonts, sizes and wording options before I finally settled on this. I think I used Doodletype for the cream colored words and Makin' the Grade for the names, and the house is actually a gingerbread house from Christmas Cheer.

2. I used some pieces of chip board I picked up at a craft warehouse sale and have been holding onto for the last 3 years. Glad I finally found a use for them. I stuck pieces of the magnet tape on back to hold them in place. This was my final layout before I started sticking things on. The nice thing was that the vinyl peeled off the cookie sheet really easily it I placed it wrong.

3. Before I stuck the names on I decided the chip board was too plain as a solid white, so I glued on pieces of dark grey scrapbook paper. It wasn't cardstock, but it was heavy paper.

4. Finally Husband helped me drill holes in the top and I threaded the ribbon through.

We still need to work on filling the blank rectangles, but that takes time. For now we just have to double up jobs. Sweet Girl is usually in charge of the treats, which means I make something and she passes them out. I really liked the Love at Home on the bottom. It is the title of an LDS hymn about how everything is more beautiful when there is love at home. So true.

Even though the weather is still very summer like, I have been dying to put up my fall decorations. I love seeing all the fall crafts and activities on other blogs and Pinterest. So I decided it was time to make my fall wreath. I have been looking for inspiration for several weeks, and it finally struck when I saw this simple burlap wreath at Create Craft Love.

Here is what you need:
A wreath- I got this straw wreath at Walmart for $2.50.
Burlap cut into strips
Fall Leaves and Flowers
Twine
Paint
Ribbon
Hot Glue

1. I started with this straw wreath. It was very messy once I took the plastic off, so be prepared for that. I wrapped it in the burlap and hot glued the ends down.

2. I arranged and glued on the fall leaves and fall colored flowers.

3. Next came the bunting. I cut out the triangles and the letters on my cricut. I cut out burlap triangles and then used the letters as stencils.

4. I was planning on stopping here, but as Husband and I looked at it we agreed that it just felt like it was missing something. So I added this ribbon around it, and glued it under the leaves.

I love the way it turned out! I love how the burlap makes it feel very rustic, and I love the fall colors. The only problem is that it is too fat to fit in my wreath holder.

Even though it is still almost 100 degrees here, fall is in the air and I am excited! I love fall. I love the holidays, the food, wearing sweaters, and lots more. Fall is also a great time for crafting. I love word art. I think they are such a fun decoration for every season. I decided I wanted to experiment with making my own word art for fall. So here is my first attempt. I included all the things I love about fall. Feel free to click and download this fall word art printable to add to your fall decorations.

Linking Up At:

$Lil\'Luna$

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