4th of July Wreath

Did you see Leslie's super cute Stars and Stripes Wreath a couple days ago?  When we both made our wreaths months ago, she didn't have the stars on yet so I didn't get to see the finished awesomeness.  I love it!  Well, I was going to make the same flag wreath like Leslie, but when I got ready to start inspiration hit (lightning has struck my brain . . . name the movie!)  So I changed things up a little.

Basically, I made it the same as I did here, only I tried a 16" green styrofoam wreath instead.  My suggestion, stick with the straw, wrapped wreath, so much easier.  I had to be careful not to smash any of the foam, and ended up with little flecks of green foam all over me by the time I was done.  It also didn't wrap as smoothly, the foam grabs the yarn making it take a little longer to get everything in the right place. 

So pop in a movie or catch up on your tv shows, and start wrapping.  An episode of "The Unit" and my wreath looked like this:

I did carefully measure and mark my wreath to divide up the sections and colors this time.  And yes, I do realize I'm missing a red section at the bottom, but I knew it would mostly be covered up so I didn't worry about it.

Then to make the pinwheels, I followed these instructions here:  Pinwheel Instructions  I just used some scrapbook paper I had in my stash.  The big pinwheel started with a 6" sq. and the little ones were 3".  Just remember both sides will show, so keep that in mind when you're selecting what paper to use.  Also, I did a test with a piece of cardstock, and I liked these papers better.  The cardstock was a little stiff.  However, my big pinwheel was paper that is slightly heavier than most paper and not as heavy as cardstock.  Does that make sense?  I glued down the centers with a tape runner or any glue that holds and then really kept it down with a brad.

So that's it, a fun festive wreath for my front door.

Now to agree on what we're doing to celebrate the 4th is a whole other post.  Cheyenne and Natalie are going to be in the parade helping Bill's brother with his business "float".  But Bill is adamant about NOT going to the parade - he hates it!  It's hot, boring - there're hardly any floats, it's all businesses, and it's long.  Yes, but it's tradition - that's my only argument. :)  He wants to go to a movie again like we did last year, which I'll admit was fun and so much cooler.  Either way, I'm sure we'll have a BBQ later at some point and of course fireworks later.  It'll all be good whatever we do.  I love the 4th!  How do you celebrate our nations independance?

Stars and Stripes Wreath

Leslie here today:  I love the Fourth of July.  I also love to spend it with my sister Kimberly and her family, in nice, cool, Idaho.  Alas, we won't be visiting this year, but I will be thinking of the traditional, hometown parade, a ride on the carousel, and waving sparklers in your backyard at night, Kim!  (Looking forward to a late July visit, perhaps?)

A few months ago, Kim and I were together for a family get together and we decided we needed a craft day.  So, we both tried out yarn wreaths.  She posted her cute spring version here and I went for a patriotic theme (I was inspired here.) 

Kim gave a good description of how to make these.  Basically, I started out with a straw wreath form (I left the plastic on).  I drew an outline on the wreath of each stripe so they would be even.  Then, I started wrapping a portion of red yarn around (tucking the ends under and adding a little hot glue so they would stay in place), and then wrapping a portion of white, repeat, repeat, and last blue. 

I couldn't find medium-sized wooden stars so I ended up using some larger ones that I had from a previous project.

It feels festive to come home to this on our door.

  One thing I know for sure, after taking pictures of my front door, my next project is to give it a much needed paint job!  Funny how it is something I hadn't really noticed until now!

My Little Scout

 A few months ago (sheesh time is flying!), Billy had his first Blue and Gold Banquet for cub scouts.  For Christmas his leaders had given each of the boys a toolbox kit to build and they used these as part of the decorations for the banquet.  Billy was quite proud of his masterpiece and asked if he could share it on my blog, "since it's something he made."  I can't resist those dimples so here he is with his toolbox creation.

Can you tell he wasn't so excited by the end of the photo shoot? :)  So he built the box first, painted it all, then because he knew I could cut Batman stuff on my Cricut, decided that would make it awesome!  He really likes the Cricut.  We picked out the designs and he helped cut a few pieces and then got bored - it was a LONG process to cut out all the different layers in different colors.  He glued some of them together, but the stinkin' car and Batman himself had some teeny tiny pieces and I ended up finishing both of those.  However, he finished up by mod podging each thing on to the toolbox.  Mission complete!  He did a great job and I got to introduce him to the world of mod podge.  He now proudly displays it on his shelf above his bed where it holds his rock collection.  Good job, Billy! I love that boy!!

Baby Stats Sign and Custom Onesie

 A friend of mine just had a baby a couple weeks ago, so of course I had to make her something cute.  Lucky for me I found this adorable subway art sign on The Winthrop Chronicles a week or so ago.  I fell in love with it and knew I had to make one, too.  I also had some flocked iron-on vinyl that I'd been dying to try out and this was the perfect opportunity.  So here's what I gave her and her adorable baby boy:

For the sign, I first painted my board white, just around the edges and on the back.  Then I created the word art in Storybook Creator (my scrapbook software that I LOVE!), printed it out and mod podged it on to the board.  Easy peesy!  I like to cover the board with mod podge and then put the glue on the back of the paper, too.  It seems to bubble and curl less that way.  I also use a brayer (or credit card, or just your hands) to smooth out all the bubbles I can.  I let that dry well, and then put a coat or two on the top. Oh, I also sanded the edges of the board for a distressed look.  See the above picture for the finished product.

The onesie I found a year or so ago on a super clearance and grabbed a couple just for this idea.  I've just never gotten around to it until now. :)  I found an image I liked and cut it out with my Cricut.  I like to give bigger clothes, like 12 mo. size, since it seems like I was always given tons of 0-6 mo.  So I didn't want something too babyish.  The P!ay Hard was perfect.  When I'm cutting vinyl of any kind, I always test my image by cutting it out on cheap cardstock first.  Why waste the good (expensive) stuff on errors.  Did my adjusting, and then cut it out of the Silhouette flocked iron-on vinyl.  This stuff is cool!  I can't wait to do more projects with it.  Then it was easy as ironing it on, letting it cool, and pulling off the top coating layer (I washed the onesie first, too).  Again, check out the top picture for the finished product.

I really hope my friend likes it as much as I liked making it.  Making things for others is just so much fun!

Spring Yarn Wreath

  I'm so excited about this project.  It's my first wreath, yes, I've never made a wreath before.  I didn't know how to hang them on my metal front door without the over-the-door hanger, to which my husband would object, I'm sure.  Then after this post, someone mentioned magnetic wreath hangers.  I finally found one at Christmas time and have been itching for a good wreath ever since.  I've been wanted to try a yarn wreath (because yarn wouldn't scratch my door) and have pinned several different yarn wreaths as inspiration.  Finally, I needed a little burst of color and some springiness after this drab, boring, pretty much brown winter.  So here it is:

And it was really quite simple, too.  If you want to make one, here's what you need:
Wreath form - I used a straw form and left the plastic wrapper on, it's just less messy that way
Yarn
Burlap
Felt for flowers
Ribbon - the rick rack I used is the BIG kind
Chipboard letters
Fusible interfacing
Glue gun

Not necessary, but helpful:
Lot's of family to tell you when your colors are even
Good music - my sister introduced me to the Walt Disney channel on Pandora and we tortured my daughter by singing along with it
Cadbury Mini Eggs - always good for a craft project, also good - chocolate covered cinnamon bears

So tried to be all scientific about measuring it all out and evenly dividing the wreath for colors, etc.  But it ended up not working very well anyway, so I'd just pick your main color and start wrapping.  In this case, I started a little off  the top (there was supposed to be another section of the green at the top) with the turquoise yarn.  I glued down the edge and started wrapping, occasionally gluing the yarn to the wreath.  When I got to where the green was to start, I tied the two colors together and glued it in place, leaving me with tails all over the back.  When it was all wrapped, I ended by gluing the last end down, and then trimming all the tails.  Okay, so I'm a little meticulous when it comes to crafting, thus the anxiety over measuring and marking it all out to begin with. Luckily, my sister, Leslie, was here and she coaxed me through the "it's not coming out even" part above and it was fine.

However, for the banner, my exact measurements worked really well.  I printed and cut out various sizes of triangles I had manipulated into banner shape so I could see which size fit best.  I knew I wanted "spring" on the wreath, so I laid out that many triangles on a ruler across the wreath.  I know Leslie is laughing at me right now, but it worked and saved me much frustration!
And now I can tell you that my flags are exactly 2 1/2" tall each. :)

After deciding on which size, I traced the paper onto a piece of cardboard to use as a template for tracing and cutting out the burlap.  Oh, after I traced the shapes but before I cut out the burlap, I ironed on some interfacing to the back side of the burlap.  This made it easier to cut, stiffened up the flags, and kept them from fraying as much.

I fully intended on stenciling the letters on with paint, but wanting this wreath to be done, I looked through my stash of scrapbook stuff for something easier.  That's when I came across some chipboard letters I had.  Perfect!!  I hot glued them on, then glued the flags on to the rick rack.  Glue one edge of the rick rack on the front of the wreath, then wrap around to the back, and then stretch the banner taut, and do the same on the other side.

For the felt flowers, I did two different kinds:  described here - just a circle cut into spiral and then rolled, and also my felt square just cut into one long strip and rolled.  The circle way worked a little better.  I glued all three of them together and then glued the whole group onto the wreath.

Finally, attach your ribbon to the top and hang it up.  I'm no bow-tyer, so this is the best I could come up with, but I'm happy with it.  My first wreath, it makes me happy every time I look at it.  Now I'm just hoping the wind doesn't blow it off the door.

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Easter Egg Bouquet

Well, Spring has officially sprung!  The weather has been beautiful here this week, my kids were even begging to turn on the sprinklers yesterday (okay, it wasn't really THAT warm.)  Easter is only a couple weeks away now and I thought I'd share with you this really cute idea for an Easter bouquet.  My friend, Mary Jo, found this fun idea on Pinterest (I'm sorry, I don't know who to give original credit to), and we made them along with another friend,  a couple weeks ago.

This is a very easy project and very inexpensive, too.  I'm pretty sure you could find everything at the Dollar Store.

Supplies:
Eggs - number depends on the size of the container.  Here I used 3 pkgs. (36 total) of the big eggs (from Walmart) and 2 of the little eggs (from the dollar store.)
Container - mine was a blue plastic Easter bucket
Foam - a foam block trimmed a little for height, and then sliced off the corners so it would fit in the bucket
Bamboo Skewers
Ribbon
Easter grass or moss or whatever you like to cover up the foam
Paint - silver spray paint & black craft paint

I started with my bucket.  I bought silver spray paint, hoping to get a look as shiny-like as the eggs themselves.  The lid on the can was that kind of silver, but it didn't come out as a mirror finish.  It looked like this:

Nice, but not the look I wanted, so I decided to try some black paint on it to see if it would bring out some of the details and make it look sort of zinc-ish.  Sorry for the lack of pictures here, but it was a fast process and I couldn't paint and take pictures at the same time.  I was also talking to my sister on the phone and was supposed to be at my friend's house in a few minutes.  :)  Nothing like waiting until the last minute.  Anyway . . . I dipped my dry paint brush in a little black paint and just dabbed, brushed, pounced over a little area.  Then quickly grabbed a paper towel and wiped as much as I could off and smeared it around some more.  That's the whole technique, paint and rub, paying particular attention to the knobs and details I wanted highlighted.  Here's how it turned out:

If I would have thought about it, I would have cut off the little knob that held the handle on, but oh well, it's not that noticeable now.

Next, start sticking the skewers into the eggs.  All my big eggs already had holes in them, and the little ones were styrofoam.  Put the foam into your container and start sticking in the eggs.  I'm no flower arranger, so this was a little stressful for me.  My basic idea was taller in the middle, then get smaller toward the edge, also watching not to put the same colors next to each other.  When I was done, I filled in holes with the little eggs.  I did break some of the skewers to vary the height also.  Finally, tie a cute bow - I'm also terrible at bow tying, so Mary Jo tied mine and glue it onto the container.  I also wrapped the ribbon around the whole bucket.  Then fill with grass.  It was a fun, pretty quick little project. 

It's really so much more fun to craft with friends.  Thanks Mary Jo and Karie!

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Scripture Power / Super Hero Capes

Leslie's here today with a fun project:

This was a fun project Kim and I worked on together last year.  We both serve in our church primaries and last year's theme was on the scriptures.  Scripture Power is always one of the kid's favorite songs.  I wanted to make something fun they could use when we sang that song, but even more importantly, something that could help them realize the scriptures can give them superhero-like spiritual strength!  So, this is what we came up with:

The Scripture Power/Super Hero capes!

These were SUPER easy, no sewing necessary, and we made six in an afternoon!

1.  Get red, yellow, blue, and green fabric.  (I bought the cheapest, solid colored, cotton fabric I could find).  
2.  Cut a rectangle measuring about 36" x 22" for each cape.
3.  Iron on fusible interfacing (like this) to the back of a separate piece of contrasting colored fabric for the shield.
4.  Cut a shield shape in the contrasting colored fabric for each cape.  My shields measure about 8" x 8".  I used Kim's Cricut to cut my shields, but you could google "superman shield clip art", find a shape you like and print it to use as a template.  It is a simple shape to cut. 
5.  Iron on fusible interfacing to the back of a piece of fabric.
6.  Cut a "S" and "P" in this piece of fabric. 
7.  Peel off the paper from the interfacing of the letters.  Iron them onto the shield.
8.  Peel off the paper from the shield and iron it onto the center of the cape.

9.  Drape the cape around your little one and tie under their neck using the top corners of the rectangle. 

If you are more of a perfectionist like my sister : ),  you could make straps to go around the neck, but for my purpose, we only needed it to stay on for a 2 minute song, and this works just fine.  (I, also did a simple straight stitch around all the sides to keep them fraying too much, and then cut a fringe into 3 sides to help it fray there.)

Our kids testing out their new superhero strength.

When we used these in primary, we drew names of six kids to come up and wear them while we sang the song.  The primary theme  this year is, Choose The Right.  You could make something similar with the CTR logo.

I'm already thinking of using this pattern for a possible upcoming birthday party favor, with the guest's initial in the shield... but I'm sure my son will change party ideas four or five times before May!

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