Flower Study Part 8: Pinecone Flowers

All of the flowers I have shown so far have been fabric. Amie over at Kitty Cats and Airplanes has a great tutorial for pine cone flowers. These would be so cute in the winter. Plus they are free! Check out her tute!

Beachy Button Art

I've been seeing button art all over blogland for forever now. Weirdly, my main reason for not trying it is because I didn't really have any cute buttons. Have you noticed buttons never go on sale and if they do they aren't the cute ones?

I broke down and bought a bag of buttons from Hobby Lobby this past week. Then Amie came over and brought her expansive stash. She also brought her Silouette and I showed her how to cut vinyl. We each cut out a letter and placed it on some scrapbooking paper. Then we started gluing away.

I really wanted more of a teal look, but the buttons I liked best were all more of a baby blue. It turned out super cute. Luckily we are planning on doing a nautical theme in our basement so it will fit right in.

I found this other super cute example of button art over at Mod Podge Rocks. 

 

My Crafty To- Do List

After buying a fixer upper house it seems like my list of to-do's never ends. Not only do we still need to do some major renos (hello bathroom!), but I am definitely still working on making it cuter. Here are a few projects that I have already bought all the supplies for and are just waiting foe me to find some time.

Painted Rug at The Idea Room

Washer and Dryer Pedestals from Ana White

Amy Butler Gumdrop Pillows

Tinted Mason Jars from Momtastic

Flower Study Part 5: Felted Roses Like You Have Never Seen

Just when I think I have mastered the felt rose, I realize I'm an idiot. The Shabby Creek has an amazing flower tutorial. I love this version because it plays into my OCD desires. They look perfect!

Flower Study Part 4: Fabric Yo-Yo Flowers

These are super cute and simple. They would be a great wretah embellishment. I'm not sure how an entire wreath would look with these on it, or how my little fingers would feel trying to hand sew these babies. I think the fact that you could make them any size you want would also be a plus. Maybe a teeny tiny one for a card would be sweet.

Checkout Crafting and Creativity for the tutorial.

Flower Study Part 3: Felt Roses

Dianna pointed me in the direction of this felted rose tutorial over at Positively Splendid . It seems like it would take a bit longer than the method that I use, but the roses definitely seem to have more dimension this way. If you are making a wreath with fewwer flowers like her this would probably be worth it.

Flower Study Part 2: Wrinkled Roses

As the quest to increase my flower making skills continues I wanted to introduce you all to a tutorial I have used many times. Check out this tute for making roses from inexpensive crepe paper over at House of Smiths. These are time consuming, but they actually look awesome when they are done. Plus they are much cheaper than using fabric.

Remember to email me your flower making ideas so I can share them with everyong :-)

My First Garland

I've been whining forever about how I don't really know how to utilize my Cricut. Thanks for the joy of YouTube I have finally started to do some fun stuff with it. Mostly I've been actually cutting vinyl. I made this cute Fall garland for my new shelves. 

I have to say I hate the green ribbon so as soon as I can make it to Hobby Lobby I will be buying some jute. Oh my jute is also missing. I'm guessing it's in the same place as my fall wreaths. I even used some distressed ink on these babies. Another recent discovery of mine. Yeah I know I am behind the times. 

Still Trying to Use up that Fabric

After the great curtain calamity I am still constantly trying to find ways to use up the 8 yards of customer fabric I have lying around. I decided to make a dry erase board for the front door in hopes John will read it before he leaves so he won't forget anything. Plus I already had everything so it was free.

All I did was use a spray adhesive to glue the fabric to the board of a picture frame. Easy peasy. Too bad I still have a million yards of paisley fabric.

Dry Erase Tile

I saw this idea over at  Madigan Made. As often occurs with crafts I try to copycat it didn't turn out like I was hoping. The paint looked really crappy so I thought Sharpies would be a better idea. So I headed to JoAnn's to see what I could find and I discovered Sharpie Paint Markers. They were awesome!

Here is my version. It looks super cute on the counter. Did I mention it cost $3 to make? I got the tile for free at Home Depot because there was no barcode and I got the Sharpie Markers at JoAnn's using coupons for 40% off. 

BHG Faves

I look forward to my Better Homes and Gardens newsletters. Unlike some other magazines (*cough*Martha!) I can actually do the projects they show and for less than my entire paycheck. What do you think?

So many great things going on in tis picture. First of all I am obsessed with this wallpaper. Does anyone have any clue where you can by sweet stuff like this for a resonable price. Second I love the flower base and I think I can totally make it with my sweet quatrefoil vinyl I bought. Third, I am so painting a peg board for my craft space.

Great use of upcycling here. And again with the wallpaper. Awe.Some.

We've all seen great version of DIY canvas art all over blogland. What I am really loving in this pic are the colors. I am now on a mission to find this blue and use it when I restore the dry sink my friend donated to me.

Worst. Picture. Ever

I wanted to share this 5 Minute Craft with you, but I could not get a good picture to save my life. It's in a very dark part of my house and I hate my camera. I'm showing you anyway and hopefully you'll still be my friend.

I bought this vinyl for $1 from the clearance section of Wonderfully Wordy and slapped it on a piece of scrapbook paper and threw it in a frame I already had.  For a buck, I'll take it!

Easy Peasy Desert Tray

I have been wanting to make on of these for a while, but I couldn't find the right plate. This weekend at Hobby Lobby I found it and it took me about 5 minutes! I think it's pretty cute. Sweet and simple!

Remember this awesome Goodwill find from a few months ago? Probably not, but it has been my only decent Goodwill find ever. Because of this I have been very leery of using these pieces, but I have finally used one of the small candle stick holders.

I primed it and spray painted it blue. Sorry the picture is so crappy. I only have time to craft at night which makes for terrible pictures. 

Then I used the glue gun to glue my cute paisley Hobby Lobby plate. 

And placed some cookies on it! (I'll post the recipe tomorrow!)

AND, I'm being Featured on the Thrifty Thursday Bloghop over at Saved by Love Creations.

A Little Somethin, Somethin

I feel like there is a baby boom going on with everyone around me right now. My awesome neighbor Dani just had a baby girl named Lily and my SIL Jen's baby Owen is getting baptized next month. I like to always make something handmade for a baby no matter how small. I did these letters in about 5 minutes with scrapbook paper and modge podge. Sweet and Simple.

More Specimen Art

Now that I know what specimen art is, I'm all about it! I saw a few of these with real Conversation Hearts, but I knew it wouldn't last long with my dog so I found some cute foam ones instead.