Caught Up!

I have finally caught up on everything I have done since November....Whew!  Tomorrow I will post my newly finished St. Patty's Day project, then its off to Easter!  Have a few super cute projects to share!  Yay!

Family

I finally got around to doing the Family wood letters that I bought a few or 6 months ago.  It seems I spend most of my crafting time doing things for everyone else!  I think it is because I am my own worst critic...and when it is for me I can't ever seem to get it right.  This time it turned out just the way I wanted.  FOR ONCE.

This particular set is HUGE...And given the place I wanted to put it, it needed to be.  The "F" is 16 inches tall.  I used printed papers from the "grandmas kitchen" line.  I wanted to use these colors for a scandinavian feel without the crazy bright orange and turquoise.  I needed something softer to tie in the colors in my kitchen.  I did manage to slide in some bright turquoise ribbon on the "F".  I kept this one simple, and the bling to a minimum.  I did manage to get some glitter in there...actually both the "F" and "Y" have glitter in them.

As much as I am not a fan of the floorplans in the homes here in Utah..pisst...they put their garages out in front of all there houses...HOW TACKY IS THAT????  Anyway, they do have these nifty nooks randomly placed in most of the houses...This one is in our kitchen/dining room over our pantry.  Turns out, I did need the big tall set.  Was a good fit!

My Wonderful Mother's Birthday Present

I had no idea what I was going to get Mom this year for her birthday.  But there were a few rules....My stepdad Frank says that Mom has way too much stuff in the house.  This "stuff" he is referring to are the decorations that make a house feel like a home.  And I definetly don't think she has too much of it! Plus mom's like it when their kids make them stuff...she still has the birds on a stick, as I call it, that I made a million years ago in summer vacation bible school...in the guest bath so everyone will see it in all it's glory.  So.  Following the "no more stuff for the house" rule, I decided to take it outside the house.  If you know my family, you know that the Utter Bunch tend to go alittle crazy on the outdoor decorations...seriously... So.  Frank never said anything about the outside:) Hehehe.  I picked up this birdhouse.  Mom really likes birds.

I painted the base color of the birdhouse sandstone, and the trim a light blue.  I drybrushed nutmeg brown, ivory, and gray over the sandstone to give it a worn look.  The trim was drybrushed with walnut and navy to make it match the paper I chose.  For me, this paper looks like my mom.  I thought it was perfect.  I hand painted the fence patches on the front and sides, going off the background pattern of the paper.  Make sure if you do something for the outdoors, that you seal it really good.  If not, your hard work goes down the drain.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Can't Do Something For One and Not The Other!

So I had to do something for Brooke's brother of course....I won't do something for one of them and not the other!!!  That has got to be a golden rule somewhere.  I did the same thing for Luke, his name in wooden letters.

This time I bought simple letters.  Luke loves sports, and his room is done in a traditional boy theme.  I went with baseball since it is his favorite.  Sadly I wasn't able to play with glitter this time...The letters are painted Leaf Green.  Something about baseball screams grass...that screams green!

Paper choices for boy stuff is really easy for me, so I just picked some prints and solids that I thought would go with his room.

Now comes the hard part....they don't make anything good for dressing up boy projects...it is very irritating, and you would think something as big as baseball would be the only thing you could find...I tried Michaels, Hobby Lobby, and Joanns, and found NODDA!  So the only thing left to do is make your own....

So the baseballs on the "L" are wooden circles that I painted to look like baseballs...really is a poor picture, will do better next time!  The two tags on the "U" and "K" are wooden tags I painted and then glued the only decent looking embellishment I could find on them.  The "E" is a wooden star.  Turned out cute, and even though there is no glitter, I still managed to get ribbon in there...thank you very much.

I Want One!

My sister-in-law was telling me that my niece wanted me to make her something cool.  So I had Jenny take some pictures of her room, tell me what colors she liked, and what she was into.  She loves hot pink and purple and animal prints. Surprise!  I think all girls go through this color scheme phase...but it really makes for a fun project.  And of course the more glitter the better!  So I got to go shopping...again, I have two boys and don't get to play with this stuff often, shopping for pink and purple and animal prints!!! I am in.  I wanted to do her name, so I went to the handy dandy wood shop (the only thing besides my wonderful neighbors that I will miss from Utah) and picked out some girly letters.

They were perfect for her.  Next I had to decide what would go best with the colors she liked and the animal print, so I went with plain black letters.  This seems easy enough, but note, don't sand your pieces in the same room you paint them black.  Doesn't mix.  I will think long and hard before I paint all black anything in the future.  But I am glad I went with it...

Next I tortured Noah, and had him sift through all the papers I had bought to find the perfect ones for each letter.  The only one that I wouldn't budge on was the "B".  I loved that paper, and in fact, I sent Jenny a picture of that paper and Brooke had just bought that exact paper for a school project.  I am so good, I read minds all the way to Pennsylvania! Ha!

I used pink glitter zebra print for the "B", leopard print for the "o" and "e" and a regular print for the second "o", and purple glitter paper for the "k".  The small chipboard heart is covered with alligator paper though you can't really tell from this picture.  And at this point, it is time for the fun to begin!  Its like dress up:)

B:  I used buttons and glitter in each of the swirls on all the letters.  The heart is surrounded with hot pink toole and some sparkly scrapbook fibers.  Its topped off with a glittered pink jewel.

R:  Black and white paper flowers, scrapbook fibers, and diamond jewels.

O:  I used 3 double sided zebra buttons, diamond jewels, and scrapbook paper stickers at the bottom.

 O:  Black and white paper flowers and some cool fibers I found in the upholstery trim section.  You would be surprised where you can find stuff to decorate these letters!  Thank you Melissa for that little tip!

K:  The "k" is several different scrapbook fibers and a sequin rope.  I bought a horse charm to hang on this letter.  It doesn't really go with the whole animal print theme, but she LOVES them...and you can't do something for a horse lover without slipping a horse charm in there!

 E:  More black and white paper flowers and buttons with diamond jewels.

Here they are all together.  It turned out soooooo good. 

Moral of the story for the fam...all you have to do is ask and something will magically appear one day on your front porch!

Slider Frames

I picked up a couple of these frames at the wood shop.  I liked them because they can be mounted on the wall, and you don't have to take them down and fumble with a frame back to change the pictures.  Your photos just slide in from the side.  This frame holds up five 4x6 pictures in all. 

I chose to gift these to my mother and father in-law for Christmas and my wonderful neighbor Carol.  Ruth and Bill have tons of pictures on their living room wall, and I thought this would be a space saver for them.  The pictures that hang on their walls scream "family" so I used that for the title of their frame.  I painted it with walnut, ivory and pink.  They have a lot of floral in that room, so I just went with it.

The second frame for Carol was done a little brighter.  She loves green and purple, so I picked a scrapbook paper with small green and purple lines to use for the "blessed".  I used walnut, light turquoise, and ivory paint. 

 

Can I Get A Snowman Please? Or Five?

I spent most of my childhood in a ceramic's shop where my grandmother painted.  She had a very particular style and was an extremely talented woman.  I picked up quite a few tricks and traditional techniques from my time spent there.  I have been dabbling in ceramics just a little over the years, and picked up this super cute little piece at a local ceramic shop. 

I initially stopped by to find something for Cayden to paint for Christmas gifts and they had nothing....except this sweet little snowman family.  So I picked it up.  It sat on a shelf in my crafty room (slash laundry, slash storage room) for about a month, and as usual, I forgot about it.  One of the guys I work with was looking for a non-Christmas snowman for his wife.  She loves them and he buys her a new one every year.  He asked if I could paint a picture of one...no way....I don't do pictures, but wait, didn't I have a little snowman family sitting on my shelf?  I took a picture of it and asked him if this would work as the "just because" gift for his wife.  I told him I could paint it however he wanted.  He gave me free reign (he said he "trusted" my judgment....wahahaha) on the piece so here is what I came up with...

I painted the piece with really bright colors, then drybrushed (which I hadn't done since I was a child, and suprisingly it turned out great) the arms, scarves, hats, and earmuffs.  I used a diamond acrylic paint to accent the scarves and hats, and gold stain for the bells.  I hated to see this go, I fell in love with it...but it was totally worth it to see his face when I brought it in to work.  His wife LOVED it.  And that was enough for me.  It wasn't enough for him, so he MADE me take payment for it.

Beach, Beach, Beach!

So you can make me live in Utah for now, but I will still have a "shore" themed room SOMEWHERE in my house.  Growing up so close to the beach makes you miss it when you can't be there.  I have turned my guest bath into my piece of beach.  Noah and I were shopping one day and happened upon a really nice boat shelf that screamed "I need you to buy me and hang me in your guest bath"....I REALLY, REALLY wanted this shelf....one problem, at about 3 1/2 feet tall, there was no room for this gotta have it piece.  So.  I found a small little unfinished boat....

I grabbed one of the lighthouses out of the bath and used it as a guide for the color scheme of the boat.  I painted it blue with tan trim.  I drybrushed the entire piece for a worn older look.  Then "speckled" (my own Alabama term...) it with navy and walnut.  I draped a net over the top and down the side, and filled it with seashells.  I used a seashell over the knob of the drawer, you can never have to many shells!

I used this little boat to store my guest shampoo/conditioner/lotion.  Oh and last but not least...that gotta have it boat...$65, mine...$7 HA! 

Rock Star

Alexis Is A Rock Star!!!!

For Melissa's 9 year old daughter, Alexis, I bought simple rock star letters.  They have a demo at the wood store, but it was a little "dark" for a 9 year old who likes hot pink, purple, and turquoise....and really what is the fun in crafting something that someone else designed.  I started by painting the wood letters a desert turquoise.  After painting the letters, I sanded off the paint on the corner edges of all the letters.  I used a dark brown rub-on stain on the edges for a nice contrast.  Here is the unfinished piece:

I used printed scrapbook paper on the R, C, K, and star.  When applying paper to wood I always seal the wood with a mat sealer when I am finished applying all paint.  I use Modge Podge to glue the paper onto the wood, let it dry and then apply a thin coat on top to seal/protect the piece.  I hand painted the skull and crossbones...and of course, don't forget the glitter.  There are about a billion diamond rhinestones on this for added "bling" and is topped off with a metal heart charms as a necklace for the skull and "k".  This picture is a bit small, I will try to get close ups of each letter from now on so you can see the details!

Materials:

Coordinating Scrapbook Paper

Onyx glitter

Paper flowers

Ribbon and fibers

Diamond rhinestones and jewels

Buttons

Heart charms

Gabby's Crown

Princess Crown

For Christmas this year, my 7 year old, Cayden wanted to make some gifts for his Dads fiance's two girls.  I was so excited to finally get the opportunity to make something crafty for girls!  They make some really cute things for girls, and besides, who doesn't like playing with glitter.  Gabby is three and loves the princess stuff.  I found this little crown at a local wood store and thought it fit perfectly.  Here is the unfinished piece:

The base is done in wood, and the top pieces are done in chipboard.  I started by painting the pieces.  I choose a light pink and purple of course!  Most people use vinyl to put names on wood, tile, etc., but I didn't have any...so I used my cricut to cut out her name out of a light pink and cream printed paper.  I used fine glitter for the top of the crown and found pearl accents and a butterfly at the local craft store to dress it up.  The hangers were painted with a pearl acrylic paint to stick with the pearl accents.  I had my husband, Noah, nail two small metal hangers on the back.  Cayden helped with all the decorations, glitter and 7 year olds don't really mix!  I finished the piece by sealing it with a mat finish sealer.  Was a fun project and she loved it!