Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Time for Christmas crafts!!!

It's that time of year, when the world falls in love! Every song you hear seems to say "Merry Christmas, may your new year dreams come true!"

I LOVE this time of year! As soon as Halloween is done, I move on straight to Christmas! Yes, I know. The turkey deserves its day, and he gets it! I just happen to have my Christmas tree up in the background as we "gobble" him up :)

I happened to have some free time on my hands today cause I wasn't feeling too well. So, I decided to try my hands at my first Christmas craft of the season! I started with this....



and ended with this!



I have seen these letters on Pinterest and just knew that I had to have a set of my own for my mantle! This was so easy to do, and even better, it was so inexpensive!!! You could use actual wood letters which I will probably do for a different project, but for today, this was perfect!

Materials:
Foam core project board
Stencil or printed letters on computer paper
Exacto knife
Finishing supplies
Hot glue

First, print out the letters you want to use in the size you want on your computer. Or use a stencil if you want. I went the more difficult yet cheap route :)

I used pencil and put a layer on the back of my letters...



Then when you trace on your foam board, it will leave an outline behind.





You may not be able to see the outline, but it's there ;)

Next, cut out all your letters with an Exacto knife. Note: use a SHARP Exacto knife! I used a not so sharp one on my first letter, and it was nearly ruined.



Now it's time for the fun part...painting! I wanted my letters to look like wood even though they weren't, so I wanted to do a really antiqued, grainy, crackled look. I painted all the letters brown.



Next, I painted on a layer of Elmer's glue. Did you know that Elmer's glue works as a crackling medium?! I have learned some amazing things on Pinterest! Don't let it fully dry! You want it to be tacky!



Now, add your main color paint. I used white and blue to go with my Christmas color scheme.




As it dries, you will see it start to crackle. I think this was the coolest part :)



Let that fully dry. You can stop here if you'd like. I went one step further and did a wash of brown over the letters so they looked old. Just water down brown paint, paint it on, then wipe it off.



Next, hot glue the letters together in the way you want.



Last step, put it on display and admire your crafty work! I'm in love with this :) I might make one that says "love" to display all year!

I hope you all enjoyed this post! Until next time, happy crafting!




Sunday, March 6, 2011

Floral Painting...

It's been quite a while since I have had the time, or been in the right frame of mind, to sit down and be crafty! This weekend was different though! I've been a very productive girl, and decided to take a few hours and finish a project that has been on my mind for a few months now.

This is my mantle...
It's ok I guess. But I'm not quite sure what to do with it. I had the tv up there for a while but then found a better layout for the room, so now I have a mirror. This is the wrong place for a mirror. It's encased and doesn't reflect any natural light, and it's pretty small. I wanted something that made a statement.

This is a piece of artwork that was given to my husband and I by friends who didn't think it fit with their decor...

This is pretty and all, but honestly, who's decor would fit this painting? It hung around my house for a while waiting for some love, and finally an idea came to me. This would be perfect for above the fireplace! It's pretty big and I could do something great with it! By the way, Spencer and Rachel, I'm sorry that I did this to your painting, but I hope you will find it in the goodness of your heart to forgive me after you see the final product!

In comes the spray paint! My fave! ORB...
I let it dry over night, then busted out some acrylic paint that I had lying around. I drew up a layout on paper, and then put it to the canvas...







And voila! I LOVE it! It fits perfectly with my decor, it's handmade, and it was cheap! I think painting might be my new favorite hobby. Too bad the only thing I can really paint are flowers. Oh well! 

Faith.Hope.Love

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Life is up in the air...





I've been looking at a lot of these photos lately. Photos of the beach seem to calm me down and fill me with warmth more than anything besides actually being there in person. I'll take what I can get at this point. Like the title states, life is up in the air, and I really don't like it when life is up in the air. I wish I could just sit down and build something, or make something, or even cook at this point, but my mind wont stop reeling enough for me to even thing about that stuff!
If there's one thing that I've learned in the last 10 years of my life, it's that I don't like change. I hate it, in fact. I hate starting over...I hate starting fresh. I just want things that I'm comfortable with. I want to know people...not  meet new people. I want to know how to do my job...not learn a new one. The extent of the change that I'm comfortable with is rearranging furniture in my house, which is one thing that I have done lately to try and turn my brain off.
I don't want to talk about the details of why life is up in the air. All I will say is that it's a big change...huge...to me at least.
I'm not worried, I'm not concerned, I'm not sad, I'm not even scared of the situation itself. The only thing that I'm scared of is the fact that I feel like I'm starting to welcome this change. Since when do I do that??? I should be scared out of my mind that everything I know is going to disappear and I will have to start all over! But I'm not afraid of that at all....I'm actually excited. Excited to the point that I feel like I'll be disappointed if things don't change.
Along with my previous hate for change I also really really hate surprises. Well, I guess I like surprises, but I hate the anticipation for the surprise. A surprise isn't a surprise if you know that it's coming! I've been praying and praying and praying for God to help me find peace in all of this, and I feel like God is saying "Hey, I have a surprise for you! But...you have to wait for it for a while!" ARRGH! Now my mind is sick with anticipation! Which is why I can't focus on anything! I know I can't do anything to make things resolve sooner, but I feel like I need to! Like my mind wont rest until I know for sure!
For now, I guess I will just continue to stare at calming photographs of beaches, oceans, and palm trees...

Who knows...maybe this surprise plan that God has for me will lead me to the beach :)
Faith.Hope.Love