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?

Firework Burst Earrings

 My daughters, Cheyenne and Natalie, and I have really been having fun making jewelry for the past couple of days.  We haven't done that for quite a while.  I learned some new skills, I introduced them to the fun of "Clue" the movie (they didn't find it that fun), and we escaped the heat while making super cute things.  I love summer!

Last week Cheyenne and I (oh, and Billy, he was in it for the Sonic for lunch) went shopping.  While we were in Shopko, Cheyenne found some really cute earrings and at the same time we both said, "We could so make those!"  So we came home started looking through the beads we have deciding what colors to make when I thought they would be perfect 4th of July earrings.  So our Firework Burst earrings were born.

Okay, so I had a little fun editing this picture, too. :)

Here's what you need to make your own:

You can make these as long or as short as you like.  We held the chain up to a pair we like and guesstimated that way.  Remember when you add the beads to the bottom link it will be longer.  1.  Attach the chain to the hooks.  2.  Put the beads on a head pin.  Using the wire cutters, cut of the excess of the pin, leaving about 1/8-1/4" above the beads.  3.  Then using the round end pliers, curl that extra 1/8-1/4" making a loop at the top and then use the loop to attach it to the chain.  This was the new technique I learned, I've never done this before.  It was kind of fun. lol  And I promise, it get's easier with practice and you'll see for yourself how much extra to leave depending on how tight you roll, etc.  The first pair I made it took me about 30 min. per earring.  By the second pair, I could make the pair in 30 min. and by the time she was done making several pairs, Cheyenne was pretty fast at it.

We started by putting one pin in each link of chain and then filling in "holes" when we were done.  You can make them as full or sparse as you like.

Cheyenne's pair are less full than mine are, it's just preference.  Finish by cutting off any excess chain links you have.

Give it a try, it's really kind of addicting.  I think we ended up each making 3 different pairs.  I'll show you our other pairs later.

Me and my beading buddy in our matching earrings - sorry it's a little blurry.

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!

Father's Day Printable

 As I promised in yesterday's post, I made a Father's day printable to use as a decoration (would be really cute as a centerpiece for your father's day bbq), or for a card, just print and fold.

Paper and banner from Persnickety Prints

The quality of the print is much higher if you download here in stead of just copying straight from my site.

8x10 print

4x6 print

I saw this quote in our church newsletter this month and just loved it.  It's just how I feel about my dad.  He's just the best!  I have very fond memories of going fishing with him in my younger days, stopping at the gas station on the way to get a treat and pop, making up stories on the way, and him being very patient with my sister and I as we stood up in the canoe (that only took once) or our enthusiasm for fishing wavered and we started leaving lilly pad trails for the fish to follow (that was mostly Leslie.) :)  He was always my number one supporter whether it was just playing church basketball, then on the school team, or even when he snuck in the back of the auditorium when I was trying out for cheerleader - how many dad's are there for cheer tryouts?  My dad was!  When I was in high school, his office or room was always a place to hide or regroup when needed.  He relearned geometry with me and painstakingly tried to teach me every night my freshman year.  He was there to comfort and reassure me when I barely nicked a senior boy's pickup while backing out one day, and the senior boy yelled and cussed at me, again while I was a freshman.  When I was a junior, my favorite year, I took 2 classes from him and was his teacher's aid (where I met my future husband :) )  I was in his class every day for the entire year, and two hours one trimester.  While I was his TA, I remember being enthralled by his lectures in class (history), and then loving the time we sat and talked while the class worked.  Then after I was married, I have loved watching him teach and play with my kids now.  My kids love going to Grandpa's house and the highlight of the summer is "Grandpa's Campout."  I'm so glad  we live so close to them and they are such a big part of my life still and in the life of my children.

Here's my mom and dad, aren't they so cute!

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

P.S.  Don't be too jealous, but my mom is equally as awesome.  I'm so blessed!

Simple, Fun, Father's Day Gift

Hey everyone, time flies when you're having fun, and we're really enjoying our summer so far.  Sorry for the lack of posts, I've just been enjoying my kids being home.

Anyway, here's fun, quick, little gift my kid's had a lot of fun making for their dad.  

We bought the bottled root beers along with a bunch of his favorite snacks.  Then Billy, Cheyenne, and I made the sacrifice (while no one else was around) and drank three of the bottles.  Cheyenne was hilarious.  Every time she took a drink she'd start grinning and giggling because she was feeling like such a rebel drinking her "beer".   I washed out the three bottles and let them dry really well, you don't want sticky candy later.  I just made the little tags with my scrapbook software, or just type it out and print on scrapbook paper.  The kids (with some help) came up with ideas for each candy of why they love their dad.  Of course their favorite part was filling the bottles, a few treats might have ended up in their mouths along the way.  Then they cut all the circles out and we tied them with twine onto the bottles.  We left three of the bottles full, because he really likes this root beer, too, and instructed him to take it all to work for some afternoon pick-me-ups.  Easy peesy! 

See how much we were having! :)  Oh, and we actually made this for Bill's birthday a month ago, and he loved the gift.

P.S. Come back tomorrow for a Father's Day printable to display or use on a card!  

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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Lucky Printable

I love my husband!  He is the best!  I think I'm still on a "love" high, with my birthday, Valentine's day, the anniversary of our first date, and also the anniversary of when we were sealed in the temple together, we've done a lot of reminiscing and had a lot of fun together this past month.  But now that we're almost to March and my Irish heritage is seeping out, too, so I decided to combine the two in to a printable.  What?!  Well, let me explain,  I was thinking about the word "lucky", which made me think of how lucky I am to be married to my best friend, which made this song pop into my head (my girls are laughing now because everything makes a song pop into my head.  I've become my mom. :) )



I really like this song by Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat.  Even though it's not my usual taste in music, it's just a fun song.  So I decided to make a printable out of the chorus.  Okay, I did switch the last couple of lines, I just liked it better that way.

Lucky

If you want it, you can download it here.  So why do you feel lucky?

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Melted Crayon Heart Art

Ever since I first saw all the cool melted crayon art work, I really wanted to make one.  However, it wouldn't really go in my girls' room, and the boys have plenty of wall art already; I don't have a play room to hang it in; and both of their teachers have enough of this kind of stuff - one's retiring this year, too.  So I never made any.  Now with Valentine's Day just around the corner, another idea popped into my head, what about a heart shaped melted crayon picture.  Yeah!! Now I have a reason to try this cool technique out.

This is what I came up with. Here it is displayed with the topiary ball I made here.  As I was forming this idea in my head, I decided to see if anyone else had come up with this idea and this is the only one I found. So I decided to give it a go and make a little tutorial while I was at it. That way you can all learn from my mistakes. :)

Supplies:
12x12 canvas

Glue gun
White paint - if you're a little messy like I was
Vinyl or contact paper
Crayons - lots of crayons depending on how you do it.
My vision was to do all pinks, reds, and purples.  However, as I got going and need a lot more crayons and I only bought 5 boxes, I decided to add in a little pop of turquoise, a little lime green, and yellow.  I also added a few brown crayons, thinking a nice brown stripe here and there would be cool and tie into my room.  BIG MISTAKE! Ummm, when crayons melt, they don't stay in straightish-lines. It kind of blended into everything else and wasn't quite the look I was going for.

Start by drawing/tracing a heart as big as you want onto your canvas.  (See the TIP below.)  Lay your crayons out to give you sort of an idea and to see how many crayons you'll need. This was when I realized I didn't have enough just pinks and reds and added the other colors.  Since my canvas was so small, I cut my crayons in a about half.

Then begins the fun job of tearing off all the wrappers.  At least Maddie decided to help me. (oh, and we had no school this day, that's why her hair is not even combed.)  Then start gluing.  Note:  I would have preferred to leave the wrappers on, I like that look, and it would have been soooo much easier to glue (hot glue + wax crayon = melting before you even get it on the canvas,) but I had two different brands of crayons. Also, if you leave the wrappers on you can tell what colors they are. Turquoise and purple start look a lot alike without wrappers.

Melting the crayons was fun.  Make sure you have newspapers covering a good area, because it does splatter a little.  I used my blow dryer on the highest setting; the other settings weren't hot enough.

I put my template back in the middle to hopefully keep the center clean from some of the crayons melting backwards.  It helped a little, but not enough.  TIP:  If you cut your center heart (template) out of vinyl or maybe even better, contact paper and lay that on first before you even glue the crayons on, I think it would keep the "back-melt" of the crayons from making such a mess.

See the mess I ended up with.  Not so great.  However, I found that some white paint was easy enough, although the big spot on the right took several coats, to cover it up with.  Plus if you're not real careful and you have a few stray crayon lines or flakes in the middle, the paint is great to cover all those up, too.

Final step, cut your saying out of vinyl or contact paper and stick to the middle.  Ta Da!!  A unique, but fun piece of art work for Valentine's day, or since mine didn't work so well with the pinks and reds, I think I might keep it up for a while longer.

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