Deer Head Coaster

So how does everyone feel about the deer head trend? Have you noticed it at all? I sure have and I love it. There are an specially large amount of deer head silhouettes kicking around and I knew I wanted one for my living room.

Plus I have my awesome coffee table. Story for you, my sister-in-law came over and we had glasses of water that got placed onto the coffee table. I sat there thinking about the money I spent on that coffee table paired with the water dripping off her glass and it made me a little crazy until I finally reached over and wiped off her glass. Like a loser. So perhaps some coasters were called for.

I found these teak square ones at TJ Max for $8.00, a perfect blank canvas.

A little modpodge and glitter, paired with a vinyl stencil.

I didn't love the twine they'd threaded so I replaced it with some bakers twine. Probably not the greatest colour but it was that or red and that seemed too Christmasy.

I have four of them but it's a bit much for the coffee table so I've put two of them away.

I can now comfortably forget about the water and my coffee table and act like a grown up yet I also get to love my sparkly, deer head coasters.

Glitter Christmas Lights

This is a project I've been wanting to do now for a couple of years but I hadn't ever got around to it. Enter my Mom who of course, just happens to have the supplies on hand. I brought the modpodge, she had everything else so it cost us nothing.

It was a super satisfying project and so simple.
You just take some old Christmas lights, any colour, coat them with modpodge and then coat them in glitter. Shake off the excess and you have magic, sparkly lights. Toss them in a bowl and you have a cute Christmas decoration.

Mom went with a cute blend of brown, silver and light green.

Surprise surprise, I chose gold and emerald green. I stacked them in this cute square vase and put in on the built in shelf under the mirror in our front entrance.

They're exactly what we wanted, you should make some.

Felt Hair Bows

Looking for a quick craft?  I saw this pin the other day and thought they were so cute that I whipped up a couple versions of my own.

They were super easy and look adorable in her hair.  I didn't actually put them on elastics I added them to clips instead which are perfect for some super cute little pig tails.

Hand Print Ornaments

This week would be full of all sorts of fun posts if most of them weren't gifts.  Instead I have one or two and the rest will have to wait, check back the week after Christmas for some fun posts.

This one is a gift for my Mother-in-law but since she doesn't read the blog it's safe to post.

We gathered Bryn, Gwen and Catie together and this craft was super quick.  

We pressed their hands into embossing ink and then onto the Christmas balls.  We then sprinkled the powder on the balls, tapped off the excess and using a heat gun melted the powder.

I added bows and tags with their names and the year so Grandma can tell apart who's who.

Here's Catie's.  She's actually a little young for this project and kept moving around her fingers so it took a  couple tries.  I was surprised how easy it was to wash off the ink and unmelted powder and start again.  Third time was a charm though and we got a good print.

Gwen was a pro and hers is perfect, on the first try too.

And Bryn's.

We'll give them to Grandma this week so she can hang them on the tree.

Jewelery Holder

I've been wanting one of these for quite some time now but I kept waiting for the perfect frame.  Something like my Make-up Magnet Board but I think that was just a lucky find because I kept coming up empty handed.  I finally settled on just a frame.  Despite the plain frame I love it, and it's super useful and was a cinch to make.

I'm sure you can see exactly how it was made but I'll give a little tutorial anyway, starting with my supplies.

For the wire I used this Welded Hardware Mesh, it was exactly what I wanted except I had to buy a big roll.  If you live close to me and want a Jewellery Holder you should let me know, I'd be happy to help you out with Mesh for real cheap.


I picked up the paint at Michael's at 2 for $1.00.  The purple wasn't quite what I wanted so I added some black and it was just the right shade.
To hang necklaces I used these little "S" hooks I got from Lowes.

So once you have all your supplies, remove the glass and the picture from the frame.  They were held in with staples so I pulled those out two.  Then I nailed a hook to the back of the frame.

I lightly sanded the frame and then painted it with three coats.
Using the original picture as a template I traced around it on the mesh and cut it out with tin snips.  I flattened it as best as possible and then my lovely husband stapled it in place of the picture.

That was really all there was too it.  Here are a couple more photos and one last point, no judging the amount of earrings I own, in the last three years I've purchased two of them, the rest are just really old.

And a picture of what this looks like hung on the wall.

And one last plug, if you need mesh you just let me know.



Linking To Monday - C.R.A.F.T., Making The World Cuter, Polly Want a Crafter, Simpsonized Crafts, Sugar Bee Crafts, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, The Girl Creative   Tuesday - All Things Related, Creative Itch, Domestically Speaking, It's Sew for You,  Ladybug Blessings, Sassy Sites, Today's Creative Blog, This & That, Topsy Turvy    Wednesday - Blue Cricket Design, Me and My Bucket   Thursday - A Glimpse Inside,  House of Hepworth, It's Sew Stinkin Cute, Somewhat Simple, The Train to Crazy, What Allie's Making Now   Friday - Creation Corner, Finding Fabulous, Tatertots & Jello, The CrEaTiVe CraTe

Paper Quiet Book

I loved this Paper Quiet Book idea from Sew.Craft.Create and Brynn needed a birthday present, it was the perfect fit.

I used Heidi's tutorial so my book looks just like hers except for the different paper.  I did leave out a couple pages and I'm glad I did because this book was really fat in the end, it definitely needed a ribbon to keep it closed.  

Here are my pages.

Linking To Monday - C.R.A.F.T., Making The World Cuter, Polly Want a Crafter, Simpsonized Crafts, Sugar Bee Crafts, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, The Girl Creative   Tuesday - All Things Related, Creative Itch, Domestically Speaking, Ladybug Blessings, Sassy Sites, Today's Creative Blog, This & That, Topsy Turvy    Wednesday - Blue Cricket Design, Me and My Bucket   Thursday - A Glimpse Inside,  House of Hepworth, It's Sew Stinkin Cute, Somewhat Simple, The Train to Crazy, What Allie's Making Now   Friday - Creation Corner, Finding Fabulous, Tatertots & Jello

Make-up Magnet Board

We all know with craft blogs that original ideas are often hard to come by, we find ideas we love and make them our own but we didn't come up with the idea ourselves.  I feel like I've finally done something original here and I'm excited about it.

I'll show you the finished product and then explain.  

Behold my Make-up Magnet Board.

I have a friend who is beautiful and stylish and has always loved make-up but recently took a course that intensified her love.  Her renewed interest has worn off on me and it made me remember eye shadows I'd hidden away that were gathering dust.  I pulled them all out and was shocked at just how many I had.  My old make-up organization/storage consists of a basket that sits on my bathroom counter, I put all my hair stuff and make-up stuff in the basket and used maybe 3 shadows in my daily rotation.  With the addition of my pile of eye shadows it now looked like this.

The basket was a mess and I was overwhelmed with all my choices never knowing what to use, digging through to see what I had and find what I wanted was a pain.  I needed a way to display them all and my brilliant mother and I came up with this idea.


I started by making a magnet board, (nothing original here), I used this super ugly frame I found at Salvation Army.

I painted it (The hard way, with a brush instead of spray paint.  I look forward to spring when the weather lets me spray paint again.) and then glazed it.

I went to the hardware store and picked up some metal and had them cut it to fit inside my frame.  Then I used spray adhesive to stick some fabric to the metal.  I put it all back together and it looked like this.

Here comes the brilliant part though.

Here's the stash of eye shadows we're talking about (I've even added a couple since this picture).

I went to the dollar store and picked up a bunch of magnets and hot glued one to the back of each shadow (I actually needed 3 magnets for my bronzer).  I considered using a stronger glue but when the makeup is empty I want to be able to peel the magnet off, hot glue lets me do that and it's held up really well.

Next I wanted a place to store my brushes and liners though.  An orange pill container with some oil rubbed bronze spray paint made it beautiful and 3 extra strong magnets glued on the back holds nice and secure.

Now it hangs in my bathroom wall and every morning I'm excited to play with my different make-up.  It feels sort of like art and an expression of me.  

I thought tomorrow I'd do a little feature of how I use some of this make-up and talk about my favorite products so come back and check it out.

 

 

Linking To
Monday -  The DIY Showoff, C.R.A.F.T., Making The World Cuter, Polly Want a Crafter, Simpsonized Crafts, Sugar Bee Crafts, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, The Girl Creative   Tuesday - All Things Related, Creative Itch, Domestically Speaking, Ladybug Blessings, Sassy Sites, Today's Creative Blog, This & That, Topsy Turvy    Wednesday - Blue Cricket Design, Me and My Bucket   Thursday - A Glimpse Inside,  House of Hepworth, It's Sew Stinkin Cute, Somewhat Simple, The Train to Crazy, What Allie's Making Now   Friday - A Craft a Day, Creation Corner, Finding Fabulous, Tatertots & Jello

Felted Brooches

My Mom is a crafting genius.  She went to Value Village and bought a Grey wool sweater, then she took it home and washed and dried it until it looked like it could fit Catie.  Out of that tiny sweater we made these cute pins.  It was a lot of Grey so she pulled out some red fleece and it was a perfect compliment.

Here's a close up of the individual pins (except the lone red one, I must have forgotten a close up).

They're so cute I just may make some for myself.

Ribbon Rose Ring

I link up to a lot of different parties which gives me the opportunity to see a ton of really original idea.  My favorites tend to jump out at me and this was one of those.  I like how easy and quick this idea was so I took 15 minutes and made my own.

Ucreat's looks a little smoother than mine and perhaps a second or third attempt would look just a bit better but I think it's a cute accessory.

It does stand up a little tall so it's not something I'd wear all the time but I think it's a fun piece to be pulled out occasionally.

Menu Planner

I've seen tons of menu planner's all over the blogs lately and honestly I've sort of looked and them and thought they were cute but unnecessary.  It wasn't until I looked up at my magnet board and saw this that I realized how much I'd like one.

Each week I pull out a piece of paper, a scrap of envelope, an old receipt or any piece of paper I can find and write up 6 or 7 meal ideas, then I make a grocery list based off of those meals.  The grocery list gets thrown away but the meal list stays up on the magnet board until I've made them all.  Sometimes they look fine (this list is a good looking one), sometimes they look less fine.

I think this is a big improvement.

I took a frame I wasn't using and spray painted it black.  It was ridiculously windy but I was impatient so I sprayed anyway.

I then used scrap book paper to fill the frame.  I added the red strip to the bottom thinking it will make a good temporary grocery list.  For example, I used up the last of the vinegar while making sweet and sour sauce for the meatballs so I added it to the list.  Next week when I come up with my new menu I'll add vinegar to the grocery list instead of forgetting until it's absolutely necessary and sending Brad on a quick run.

I simply write on the glass with dry erase and can wipe it off when I'm done the week.  I also cross off items as I make them.

It hangs here in my kitchen.  I would have liked it a little to the right but I rent and there was already a nail there.

I had visions of stenciling the days of the week on the glass because I think that looks really cute but I hate planning my week that way.  I don't like being tied to a specific dish, I like having the flexibility to make what I feel like.