Valentine's Day Wreath

I love wreaths!  They are one of my favorite types of house bling!  I have been drooling over the awesome assortment of wreaths people have posted on Pinterest and blogs everywhere.  I wanted to make a wreath like this one.  Hers is gorgeous, mine is so-so.  I'm almost embarrassed to post a picture of it, but then again, we can't all be amazing!  This is my knock-off:

As long as I don't stare too much at the original, I think mine is cute!  I couldn't find a berry wreath for a reasonable price, so I grabbed a bunch of berry picks on clearance for 90% off and worked them into a wreath shape.  It is adorning our front door at the moment - don't laugh too much, but the Christmas decorations are still sitting on the mantle!  I need to take them down this week and get Valentine's Day creations up.  Wish me luck!

Happy Crafting!

SARA

Pinterest Inspired Nativity & Trees

Christmas time was a crafting frenzy.  I wanted some fun decorations to spruce up the mantle, so I turned to Pinterest for help.  Here are my results:

These trees originated here.  I had fun making them, and they were cute gifts for the kids teachers as well.  

This nativity idea originated here.  The photo above is my version.  I made the baby Jesus out of a Home Depot paint stick (I didn't have any other wood that size.)  The only items I had to run to the store for were the heads (they are dowel caps from Hobby Lobby.)  Otherwise, the paint, 2x2s and jute were random items from around the house.

If you haven't started Pinterest-ing, you're missing out on a world of inspiration!  Just be forewarned that too much Pinterest can be depressing - looking at so many amazing projects, homes and art.  I have had to limit myself - too much house envy!  I just have to remind myself that ours is a project in progress, and things will come together a little bit at a time. 

Happy crafting!

SARA 

Ironing Board Makeover

After seeing a post on how to give your ironing board a face lift, I decided to give it a try myself.

Here is what our ironing board of seven or so years has been looking like for awhile:

It's gross, I know.  I particularly hated the way the ironing board cover kept sliding off.  It has been that way since the time we bought it.  Also, the batting underneath doesn't stay put.  It bunches up underneath and creates lumps - which makes for some interesting pressing.

Sydney and I headed to the fabric store to pick up something fun to cover the board with.  There are so many amazing fabrics out there, which made choosing one very difficult.  We ended up just going with the funky one we eyed in the beginning.

I pre-washed the fabric, then followed the steps from the tutorial I linked to above.  Here's how it turned out:

Happy crafting!

SARA

Ebates & Shoprunner

I know you're missing Miss Penny's projects of extreme awesomeness (I sure am.)  In the meantime, you'll have to continue settling for my gibberish and Pinterest knockoffs for awhile.

So, I've posted two crafty projects in a row, it's time for a little bit of clever.  How many of you have signed up for Ebates?  My sister, Amy, prompted me to sign up with Ebates.  I have fallen in love!  I'm not sure how many of you are avid online shoppers.  I wasn't much of an online shopper until I fell in love with Amazon (I have an AmazonMom account - which gives me free Prime membership.)  Hooking up with Ebates made life even better!  

Here's the deal:  Ebates is FREE!  Ebates let's you earn cash back on purchases through most major retailers when you log into your account and shop through their link.  It's super easy to use.  It's shopping I'd be doing anyway.  I just get a little something back!  I have already received a gift card for becoming a qualified referral, and my first check came in the mail last week!  If you'd like to sign up through my account (I get a little something for anyone I refer) here's my referral link: 

http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=XZnLL175TuAJAgIfxUNS9w%3D%3D

I was going to go on and on about how great it is when you combine your Ebates with Shoprunner - but I'm still not sure how much I like Shoprunner.  The idea behind Shoprunner is awesome - it's supposed to  make other retailers almost as easy to work with as Amazon Prime (free two-day shipping and free returns.)  My hesitation in endorsing Shoprunner is that the stores you are shopping with still take their jolly time in processing the order.  My son has been waiting for batteries to arrive that I ordered through ToysRUs.  I mistakenly thought that ToysRUs combined with Shoprunner would actually have my products here in a two to three day time frame.  My bad!  I just checked my order status and ToysRUs still hasn't bothered to ship them - I placed the order four days ago.  Lamesauce.  I wonder how long an order would take if I didn't use Shoprunner?

Okay, enough with the lameness of the battery order.  Just remember that Ebates is awesome!

Family Name Blocks

I was on a pre-Christmas crafting kick (which I may or may not attribute to my new found Pinterest passion) when I stumbled across this pin:  http://pinterest.com/pin/177118197814858010/  

I then couldn't help myself and made several knockoffs of my own (badly pictured below:)

If you happen to be one of the few lucky family members or close friends who received a set of these - I apologize for my lack of imagination - but still expect kudos for my sweet skills at reproducing what I see!

These are created with a 2x4 and a 2x2, some black paint, white card stock and mod podge (still hadn't upgraded to vinyl on this project - but it's coming!)

I cut out my lettering on my Cricut - then measured the length of the last name on the 2x4.  I cut a length of 2x2 to match.  Then cut a final length of 2x4 which is the combined height of the 2x4 stacked on the 2x2, which does not come out to be 6" - so measure and cut based off the stacked wood for more accurate results.

I cut the rest of the letters out after the wood had been cut, sanded and distressed to make sure I was getting them the right sizes.

A bit of sanding - more was required on the 2x2 because it was kinda cruddy wood.  Light sanding on the 2x4 pieces.  A coat or two of paint, light distressing and you're ready to mod podge the letters onto your various blocks!  

Happy crafting!

MERRY Blocks

MERRY Christmas!  Or MERRY whatever you might like to MERRY.

I had a really cute set of FALL blocks from a Super Saturday event a few years ago.  I wanted something fun for Christmas.  These were made out of a spare piece of fencing I had in the garage (yes, there's a large random pile of wood that I have collected from the cull wood bin at Home Depot.)  I cut the piece into random sizes and cut out some random letters using my Cricut.  No, I'm not a super cool vinyl expert like all the chicks in Utah.  I'm old school - paper and mod podge.  There was a little sanding and painting involved - but I think this one is easy enough to replicate without a tutorial.  

Happy Crafting!

Dresser into Dress-up Closet

I apologize in advance for these TERRIBLE pictures I am about to post.  My cell phone camera is horrible, and my real camera isn't operational at the moment.  Therefore, you and I must endure blurry photos - often with a glaring flash that detracts from the end result.  

With that disclaimer, I present to you the underused dresser in the kids area of my basement:

It is. . . large.  The drawers hardly open anymore and it has become a catch-all despite my efforts to label and organize in kid friendly ways.

After some Pinterest motivation and inspiration, I headed to the basement armed with a rubber mallet and a screw gun.  I removed the drawers, then removed the runners for the drawers (power tool moment!)  Then, I had the pleasure of using the rubber mallet to knock the shelf out.  When the entire right side of the dresser was barren, it was time to head to the garage.

Who do you know who just happens to have some random PVC pipe hanging out in the garage, along with some hardware for hanging up closet rods?  Me - that's who!  The items had been intended for a different project that had become obsolete - this remake was meant to be!  With my handy tape measure and chop saw (another power tool moment!) I hacked a hunk of PVC pipe the right size to create a kids size closet rod.

I headed back to the basement, screwed in the hardware, slid in the PVC pipe, then stood back to admire my suddenly more useful piece of furniture in the basement.  Good-bye catch-all - hello dress-up!

The cupboard side (on the left) has bins for holding hats, gloves, boots and all of the other accessories one needs to become the superhero within!

It's not beautiful, but it's super useful!