J is for....

When I got married I was still in high school. There for I think I adjusted to my new last name quicker then most since I had to write it on all my papers. To go from a fairly unusual last name (Tippetts, spelled with two t's on the end) to a fairly common one (Johnson, how many of those are there in the world!) was a little different. I was so use to spelling out my last name, not any more. I like to joke now that it makes up for the unusual first name (I LOVE my first name, even though the Pitt-Jollies had to copy me!)

This cute little craft is in my family room. I got the letter from Jo ann's it was $2.99. Just one of those paper mache ones.
I was hoping to tie all the colors in my living room in with this craft. So I have used black (the color of all my furniture), red (the main accent color) blue (the secondary color) and sage green (the color of the walls, we rent and can't change them, but they are growing on me). I think that the paper I choose did that.
First I painted the letter black on all sides.


This red dot paper has a silky texture to it that I really like. The sticker totally fits this room, this is were we do everything! It is the most cosy comfy room!


I cut the flower and paisley accents out of some of the other papers and then to give it some depth, I used a 3D dot to pop up the flower.


Once I had the paper the way I liked, I used the magic bottle of modge podge to secure it all to the letter. Then before adding the top coat of modge podge, I rubbed on watery black paint and then quickly rubbed it of with a wet paper towel. It just adds a nice aged look to it. Then I used more modge podge to seal it. Once that was dried I added the ribbon, tied in knots, to give it a little more texture and depth!

Tomorrow, I will present a craft that was requested by Gunner..Whats in a name?

Whats in a name?

So I said I would get this post out yesterday, but then I started a brand new job on wed. So here it a day late, but still great!

When I was buying the big J for the family room, Gunner (yes, I made them go to the craft store with me!) found a smaller letter G and said he wanted me to make his name to hang on his bedroom door. Which is very Gunner, labeled and everything in its place!

A few scraps of paper, a little glue, some letter stickers and here is Gunners name for his door!


But if you get something for one child, then they all have to have one!

So here is Gavin's

It has some metallic paper on it, so it is a little reflective.

And last Taya's

My mom found the heart wreath at the DI (local thrift store) and so I tied hers to wreath and then used ribbon tied to the wreath to attach it to the door.

Hanging it was a little tricky. We are renters here, so I didn't want to add nail holes to the doors. Instead I hung them with ribbon and then strung the ribbon up and over to the back side of the door and attached it with a little tape. It has worked great and even has survived a few door slams!

Sharing the LOVE

This is another quick and easy craft that used up some of the many scraps of paper I just can't bring myself to throw away.

First I picked a word, (LOVE, seemed obvious). I started with a 2x2 that I got my brother to cut into blocks for me. I have also seen these available at several craft and scrapbook stores, but it was much cheaper this way. Then I simpled wrapped it like a gift with scrapbook paper and secured with glue.
Here is how the back looks

Then I cut 4 squares 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 inches. I inked the sides in black and glued them on. The a small heart punched in red to emphasis my love theme. Then secured my letters on top and ta da a simple, cute project done in 10 minutes.

You will never look at a mint the same again...

Over on The Shabby Nest it is frugal Friday. So in honor of that Altoid Tin is way to cute for the trash can!

This is a cute, quick project that I put together in just a few hours. It began as a regular Altoids tin. I decorated the top with some scrap paper. I used a really strong tacky glue,because I have not always had the best success getting modge podge to adhere to metal and then stay there after it has been handled a few times.

On the inside lid, I used a rub on saying about family.


Then I made a simple accordion album, filled with some of my fav pics and tied it with a ribbon.


Tada! It was done!

A few tips, make sure to cover the bottom of the tin. Cut the paper around the hinges on the side of the tin. Be aware of the little bump on the front of the tiny that is used to keep the lid on, if you cover that then the album will not stay closed.

On another note today was very productive. I got Gunner's apron done and my forbidden skirt done. I will be posting on both soon... so stay tuned!

Sew Unhappy...

I have the coolest sewing machine ever! It is kind of a funny store how I came about getting this little beauty!.

It was actually Cory's Grandma's. When she passed away, I only asked for one thing from her house and it wasn't the sewing machine, I wanted a picture of her and grandpa, preferably on their wedding day, but I wasn't picky. I have yet to get one, but Cory's Aunt called and asked if I would like the sewing machine.
There are so many daughters and granddaughters, I was surprised that none of them wanted it. I must admit, that at first I stuck up my nose at the idea! I didn't want no old, ugly sewing machine. And then when I found out that it was attached to a sewing table, I was really convinced that I didn't want it.
But Cory said I needed one and that I may as well take it. So I agreed.
When Cory and his brother brought it in (it is that heavy, it took two of them) I fell in love!
The table alone is beautiful and when I pulled out the 1950's sewing machine....I was ecstatic!
I have used that sewing machine more in the last two months than I have used the oven (hee,hee)!

So today when I turned it on, and tried to start sewing a skirt it was sluggish and acting up, it honestly sounds like it is out of breath....any ideas for me out there! It was fine the day before, I fairly certain that no one touched it and now nothing! I am so sad. I fell like I killed this machine, that has been through so much. I mean it runs like a tank!!

So if any of you have any ideas what may be wrong, let me know!

You Blockhead!

These are the blocks I made with my craft group. (You know you are a craft junkie when you are apart of a monthly craft group!)

I did this set to go on my front porch by the herbs I have in planters there.


I also made a set for my room that have my wedding date on one, with mine and Cory's name and always.

That young, thin couple in the picture is Cory and I and the bride and groom on top are the ones from our cake.

The last set that I needed to get done


is for my family room. I painted them white, applied the vinyl letters and then stained it with some black paint. I wish I had done the black paint before the letters were applied, just so the letters were still the brighter red. But it is another thing off my needs to be finished craft list! So yea me!!

Flower Clip Tips...

I got my flowers from Roberts. I found a great sale and got them for 34cents to 50cents each. I Picked colors that Taya wears often (pink, red, white and some blue to go with her school uniforms). I also got the clips at Roberts. They were 10 for $2.99 regularly, but happened to be on sale the day I got them for $1.99.

To begin pull the flower off the stem. Then pull the green piece off the back.


Then begin to seperate out the flower layers. Each flower will contain about 5 layers.


I seprated out all the flowers first, because I wanted to mix and match some of them.

Build back up your flower layer, by layer.

This is were the fun began! Yesterday I mentioned that I was looking for instructions because I didn't want to make a mistake. In the process of making them, I learned that there is really no way to make a mistake! I had so much fun doing them.
Here are a few of my varations. I made each in a set of two for when she wears piggies or sacagwea braids.
With this one

I used ribbon that I shapped into a flower

and then hot glued the ribbon layers.


This one is Taya's favorite

I dipped every other petal in hot glue and glitter

and then I added a layer that was ribbon pieces that were rounded.



For this one

I cut flower shapes out of netting. And used it for a couple of the layers.

As you can see, the flower shape is used losely to describe what this is!


This one

is for school. She wears a uniform and even the hair accessories has to be in school colors of red, blue and white. So I used three diffrent flowers to get those colors. To get the center all glitter I pealed off the fuzzy center and dipped it hot glue and then silver glitter. I think it would look better if I had powdery glitter, but I didn't have any so this works.


These

are quite a bit smaller than the others and I attached them to the little flip clips, mostly because I was still playing and had ran out of the clips I bought, so I found these in her hair things that she dosen't wear very often.

I used the same technice from the red ones using lace instead of ribbon. I think that they would be pretty for a baptism, but lets not pusher to that age any quicker than it is already going!

These

are my favs! Again, a bit smaller and attached to flip clips. I used the netting again, but I helded it above a lit candle to give it a slight wilted affect. I think they look rather retro.


For the one yesterday,

I used pieces of the material that I made her skirt out of for one of the layers. Again, I cut it into the shape of the flower and just glueded it in like another layer.

So as I was making these here are a few things I found out. If you hot glue each layer as you are building the flower and then hot glue the center on and the clip to the back they sit a lot flatter on the head, then if you layer them back on to the nub of the center and use one of the plastic backs to hold it all together.


The one on the left has a green plastic back on before I glued on the clip. The right one has just the clip.
Here is how it sits in her hair with the green back on


and how it looks in her hair with out the back on


I hope this is helpful. I want to do some later on that include feathers in them and more rhinestones. I would love to hear any suggestions you have and see anything that you make!

Three for one

Today you get three great ideas in one blog! This is Taya this morning before church.


She is wearing a brand new skirt I made her. Her hair is in "Nana curls" and she also has a new flower clip that I made her. Yea, she is spoiled!

Starting with the skirt. This was so easy! I actually used some material that I "found" in my moms craft closet (thanks mom!) Here is the directions for the skirt. I want to try a bigger version of this for myself, but it will have to go on the long list of things I want to do.

Here is a close up


It is perfect for twirling and very girly! I love what was done here and want to make these for Taya and my little nieces.

So on to her hair. Taya has been asking for curls, "like nanas" for days. It is hard to do on very fine, very thin little girl hair. I even got a small 1/2" curl iron hoping this would make her happy, but the curls just weren't bounce enough for her(her own words!) So last night I had the option of watching Nascar or browsing craft blogs (guess what I picked!) and came across this idea. So after her bath, I put her hair up in the little buns and held my breath. (I wish I would have snapped a picture, cause she did look cute, but I was to tired to care at that point.)
When I let it out, it was so curly and so BIG. But it was just what she was after. I spritzed it with some water to help calm it down a little and this is the result "Nana Curls"


The last piece to creating her look today was the flower clip. I, like everyone else, am in love with the flower clip look. My sister in law Lyndsy has made some in the past for Taya and they are ADORABLE, but I can't keep begging more out of her. So I decided to give it a try And when I was at Roberts yesterday they had a great sale on silk flowers so I got a few. I didn't want to make a mistake so I tried looking up tips and how to's on line, but was not really successful on finding instructions. So tomorrow I will be posting a how to and several of my variations. But for today here is the one I made to go with Taya's new skirt.


Make sure you check back in for the how to and tips on making a flower clip.

Princess Braid

This is a classic that I wore when I was a little girl. This is easier if you start with wet hair. Part on the side. Start on the bigger side of the part. Begin with a little bit of hair, divided in two pieces. Twist around each other, adding more hair as you go. Continue twist all the way around the head. When you reach the other side of the part twist the rest of the hair and secure with bobby pins or clips to the beginning of the "crown".
When I was little my mom would add a HUGE bow (it was the 80's after all) but flowers are trendy right now, so that is what Taya is wearing. It is also cute for a flower girl with bits of babies breath or small flowers tucked in the strands. Or to weave a ribbon in with the twist.

The first craft I am going to feature is both a wood project and a paper craft.
Every year I make my kids something just from me for Christmas. This last year I made them these



I picked paper in a color and theme for each set. The blocks are cut from a 2x5 into 5" squares. Then painted them a solid color, black in this case. But here is a tip, instead of the time and expense of vinyl I used paper that I cut at my local scrapbook store (cause I don't have a cricut machine Hint, Hint Cory) into the needed letters and then modge podged it on as I was modge podging the paper. For the paper, cut each piece to 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 this gives a nice little lip around the block of the paint color. If you want solid paper with out the lip cut the paper to 5x5 and sand the edges after the modge podge has dried. If you aren't into the paper background, then paint the whole block. Just make sure the paint has completely dried before applying the modge podge.

While I made their sets I also made this set for myself ( I can't help myself!)


They loved them! Gavin rearranges his in his room almost daily.

Here we go!

So having been inspired by all the wonderful craft blogs out there and also by my mother who recenlty started her own craft blog, I decided it was time for me to start one too! I love scrapbooking both paper and digi, vinyl crafts, wood crafts and paper crafting. But recently I have started dabbaling in sewing and hair styling(yes I consider hair styling an art, cause anything that takes as much work as I put into my daughters hair, is definatly a craft!)I hope to be able to share some of the fun ideas that not only I have made but also some that have inspired me.
I can't promise that this will be a daily blog, but I hope it nearly will be! You never can tell with kids though and how much attention they will need on any given day!
I hope you enjoy! I love comments, so be sure to leave some!! And if you have any great ideas that would fit in, please share with me, I need all the ideas and inspiration I can get!