Spool Bracelets

While looking through my ribbon today, (planning to make a hair bow), I found some empty spools & started to clean them out. Well, to carry them easier, I put them on my wrist - - then the my creative juices started flowing!! ;) Why not turn them into bracelets??!! I grabbed all my materials & went to work! My daughter wanted a pink & black one, so we used some sheer black ribbon, a silk flower & a cool button accent for the top!

First, I took the spool of ribbon apart. (Sorry for all the different colors of ribbon shown - I hope you can get the idea!!) ;)

Then, I put a dab of hot glue on the spool & tacked down one end of the ribbon - at an angle.

After that, I just wrapped the ribbon around, (putting little dabs of glue under the ribbon, on the inside of the bracelet, as I wrapped it), until I came back to the starting place! Then I added one last bit of glue to finish it off. Well, my daughter tried it on & it was WAY too big! So, I just cut it open & over-lapped it a bit, glued it together & made it work! :)

I added a small circle of light cardboard (cut from the pieces I removed from the spool) to the back of the flower, just to make it sturdier.

I attached the final piece, tied some extra ribbon on the sides, (put a small line of Fray Check along the edges of the tied ribbon), & ta-da . . . . one cute bracelet!!! :)

I'll post the other bracelets as soon as I give them away as gifts!! Stay tuned!! :)

Shower CURTAINS

I found 2 pink fabric shower curtains, on clearance of course, and turned them into bedroom curtains!! In my daughter's first room, we used them separately as panels. They had silver grommets on them & I just tied them to the curtain rod, using ribbon! Then I added a few accessories, (pom-pom garland & XL diamond rings), and ta-da. . . . .curtains!! :)

Not the best picture, but you can get the idea!! ;)

When we moved, (and since I'm always changing things), I sewed the panels together - just a simple stitch down the center - and cut off & hemmed the bottom half, making a valance! I added a little more ribbon, but kept the other accessories!
2 different styles, only paid about $3 for each curtain, spent a little on ribbon & used some I had!! Super cheap & easy!!

Pirate Art

Since my boys have a "Pirate" bedroom, I wanted a treasure map for their room. Well, after looking everywhere & online, the only ones I could find were way too pricey for me! So, I decided to make my own!! :)

First, you need brown Kraft paper, (found in the mailing section @ Target/Wal-Mart - only a few dollars a roll!!) Tear off a large piece & then tear the edges. Take the whole piece & crumple it up - that's the fun part!! :) Smooth it out & add your design! I just drew a map, free-hand, with pencil, then painted it using craft paint.
After the map was dried, I used a brown ink pad to distress the edges & then lightly went over the entire map.

It's not as fancy as the ones I saw online, but I thought it turned out cute!! ;)

Lovin The Cricut!!

I know that the Cricut has been out for a long time, and there are even bigger & fancier Cricuts than the one I have (well, I should say, that my mom has, since I'm using hers!!) - however... I just love it!! I just wanted to show you my spin on the whole vinyl lettering craze!! I've never priced it, so I have no clue how much it can run, but I guarantee that my way is cheaper!! ;) It's all about Contact paper!! You can do just about anything with it & it's pretty cheap! I have a big roll of black Contact paper that was given to me, and I'm thinking that it was purchased at Teaching Tools or Lakeshore (or some other teacher supply store)! I also purchased a roll of white from Target & spent around $4. Here are a few things I've done with the Cricut & Contact paper:

Made my own "vinyl lettering" in the kids' rooms! I made a sword stencil, freehand, and then cut 2 out of Contact paper!! The crowns were from a Cricut cartridge! I have little jewels on the crowns, but they're too small, so I'm going to replace them with ones you can actually see!! :) (And there will be more stuff added to the top of her plant shelf!) ;)

Get Messy With Your Kids

Just wanted to post some recipes for some summer time fun with your kids!!!

Homemade Goo
* 8oz. white glue
* 3/4 c. water
* 1 tsp. Borax
*1-2 Tbl. water
* food coloring
Combine glue, 3/4 c. water & coloring in a bowl. Combine Borax with 1-2 Tbl. water. Mix together until a blob forms. Remove blob from mixture. Add a new batch of Borax mixture to glue mixture. Repeat process until glue mixture is gone. Knead all blobs together. Store in airtight container.

Bubbleology
1 c. liquid dish detergent
1. gallon water
1 c. light Karo syrup
Mix all ingredients in a bucket. Use tin cans, (with tops & bottoms removed), to make great bubbles. The larger the can, the larger the bubble!

Homemade Chalk
1 c. Plaster of Paris
1/2 c. cool water
Liquid tempera paint or food coloring
Mix plaster of paris with water, then add paint/coloring. Next, pour mixture in ice cube trays & let harden for a day. You can also use small sandwich bags, molding mixture into tube shapes.

Funny Putty
* 2 parts white glue
* 1 part liquid starch
* tempera paint
Mix glue & starch together. If too sticky, add more starch. Add paint for color.

Earring Re-do

My daughter wanted some black earrings, so we set out to find some. Looked at every store in the mall & didn't really want to pay $8 for one pair. Stopped by Wal-Mart & couldn't even find a pair there!! Thought about buying the materials to make a pair, but realized that it would be about the same as what I DIDN'T want to spend!! However, I found some earrings on clearance - 9 pairs for THREE dollars!!!!! Bargain! Well, the earrings were turquoise, yellow & green - - great colors, however, not black, and we didn't need 3 pair of each color! So, thinking like a crafter ;) I came up with a great plan. . . why not paint them!!!??? We went home & got out the nail polish & ended up with 9 new pair of earrings, all different colors . . . for only $3!!!

Like my Circle K earring holder??? ;) I tried a few other things to hold the earrings while I painted (polished) them, but this actually worked the best!!! We kept one of each of the original colors, then added black, purple, red, red/white/blue, and pink!! (One pair actually broke, so we only had 8 in the end - - still a great deal!!) After they dried, I went over them with clear, sparkly polish!!

Clearance Art Re-Do

I found some REALLY cheap "art" at Hobby Lobby. I wasn't too fond of it, however I saw some potential! :)

I came home, started thinking, and this is what I came up with (sorry, but I forgot to take pictures of each step, but I'm sure you get the idea!!):

Sanded the dark brown piece - (not too bad actually), then took apart the blue/pink pieces - only to find that they were made of 3 separate pieces . . . score!!! :) I had some scrapbook paper that I've been wanting to use, so I covered the outside frame, then trimmed the center. I took the yellow crown off the original center piece & covered that piece with paper as well. The original center piece actually fit perfectly on top of the outside frame!! Basically, I turned my once "introverted" art into "extroverted" art! :) They're nothing super fancy, but I think they turned out cute!! (And the price was great - - about $2 each, being that I already had the paper!!)

Welcome!!

Welcome to my craft blog!! I've wanted to do this for a long time, but just never "got around to it"!! . . . Well, I've managed to find some time to fit it in, so I can finally start adding projects as I complete them!! My posts may be few & far between for a while, but I'll try to update as often as I can!! :)