Graduation Gift

My cousin is graduating from HS Saturday (yay her!) and we knew we were just going to give her money. After roaming around through Hobby Lobby for a separate craft job we saw that shadow boxes were 50% off! Then we remembered this nifty little pin we saw!

We knew instantly we needed to replicate this! This won't be a picture tutorial (because frankly it's too easy for that!)

Supplies:

Shadow box

Scrapbook paper to replicate chalkboard

School themed dimensional stickers

Paint pen/paint

Money!(;

I turned the shadow box on its side with the clasp to open and close on top. It made the "kick stand" on it still functioning. 

I then folder the scrapbook paper to fit in the inside of the shadow box. I folded it rather than cut it to keep some of the 3D feel to it since I had to take out the padded backing of the shadow box.

The chalkboard holder along the bottom was leftover from when my parents did their floors! We did have to cut it down to the appropriate length, nothing Dad couldn't handle! 

The next step was easy! I placed the cut piece of wood along the bottom of the scrapbook paper to complete the "chalkboard." Then I placed stickers wherever I felt along that bottom line.

I did place some temporary money where I wanted it to figure out spacing. The last step was writing "In case of emergency...BREAK GLASS!" in paint pen. 

 

And ta-da you're all done! It's a much prettier way of giving money and it took very little effort. Hope you enjoy! 

Wreaths upon wreaths

I've figured that I should at least show you the many wreaths I have made. Even though I don't have a picture tutorial for it, I can just verbally sum it up for you. I realized quickly that I'm OBSESSED with making wreaths. Truly.

This is the first wreath I ever made. I did it this Christmas for my grandmother. Each ornament represents the grand kids. We are all little snowmen/women and our names are on them. For my first wreath, it was not too shabby!

Of course I made a deco mesh wreath! How could I not? My great grandmother was in a nursing home after breaking her hip and I wanted to brighten up her dull room. This wreath has caused many to ask me to make them one! I'm so proud of it! And it's on Pinterest so if you've seen it there, I'm proud to claim it! (Original pinner, yeah!) 

My take on a western themes wreath. My Tia requested this and I obliged. I will say however that this was SO difficult. I couldn't grasp the western theme as strongly as I wanted. It didn't turn out awful though and she loved it so that counts for something! The black pieces are actually hot glue painted black and sprinkled in glitter! 

I put a layer of Modge Podge on top trying to seal it but it matted the glitter...a mistake I won't make again. The idea was great though!

 

And finally, a Cadbury egg & Peeps wreath! This was an "Easter basket" gift for my Tio. The peeps are wrapped in Saran Wrap so it'd be edible and last more than a day without being stale.

That's all for now! Eventually I may do a tutorial for the deco mesh wreath. I hope you enjoy these wreaths and they inspire you! 

Canvas Painting: For Beginners

So, I'm only saying this tutorial is for beginners because I'm a beginner and this method (whether right or wrong) is really working for me. My first attempt at these canvas paintings was the one I made for my mom on Mother's Day.

 

Not too shabby for a beginner! The canvas I bought for this project came with two so I figured I'd make another one and show you my process for doing them. 

Supplies: 

Canvas (whatever size fits your needs)

Paint in various colors

Thin Paint Brushes

Foam Paint Brush 

Pencil

Eraser

Ruler 

So first off, paint the canvas which ever color you decide. I choose this light lavender color. Personally, I like lighter backgrounds compared to dark but it's all a personal preference. The way I painted my canvas was by squirting a small amount of paint and using the foam brush to spread it out. It was quick and easy. 

        

      After the paint dried, I went ahead and made margins on the canvas horizontally (as seen above.) 

I then made vertical margins. I made these margins by measuring out an inch from the top and the sides. I marked dots all the way down and across so I could "connect the dots" and keep as straight of a line as possible. 

The next step I took was to write out my plan for the quote on a separate piece of paper. (I totally forgot to take a picture of this so I'm sorry!) Basically figure out the fonts you want to use along with spacing and decorative elements. I STRONGLY advise planning on a separate paper because then you'll be less likely to erase on the actual canvas which could just thin the paint out. 

Once you've planned it out transfer it onto the canvas! I generally just eye ball how big to make my letters but if it makes you more comfortable to measure and divide it out, that'd be great too! After that's done, get to painting! For me, thinner brushes are easier to work with. I'd rather do more layers than have it out on too thick with a bigger brush. 

If you find you make painting mistakes a long the way, you can get the base color and try to paint over the mistake. It does blend in well when covering MINOR mistakes. 

By the end of all this you'll have something beautiful to enjoy! Mine are far from perfect but I love it nonetheless. I hope this helps you at least start your canvas painting journey! 

I present my Quiet Book!

 

Noah's Arc: I knew I wanted to put finger puppets in this book and originally thought I would put the infamous barn in here. However, as soon as I saw Noah's Arc on Pinterest I knew I had to do that instead! My cousin and his family is very religious and I knew it'd be appreciated. I didn't use any templates on any of the pages. Mainly because I was too lazy to go to the computer and print it out. My finger puppets are kind of sad but they're recognizable so I'm okay with it.

Monkey: I wrote on the felt using puffy paint and it worked fairly well for me. I didn't have the patience to cut letters out of felt and this will add a new texture to the book as well. 

Shapes: Super typical, I know! I decided to sew buttons onto the top shape because I had a ton of buttons I needed to find a use for. 

 

Itsy, Bitsy, Spider: I WISH I could take credit for this page but I can't! (Links to all my inspiration will be posted at the end). It's just adorable though! I used buttons for the center of the flower to hide all my ugly and uneven flower petals! 

 

Gum balls: This page is my personal favorite. Each gum ball is doubled in order to hide the Velcro poking through! 

 

Race Track/Street: Okay, it's sad. I know. Like I said this was on rush delivery and so many little details were cut out. All Micaiah ended up with was a house and a pond. At least for now. I plan on making little pieces that perhaps he can put anywhere or I'll ask his mom to glue/sew on for me. 

 

Fishbowl: This page turned into Dr. Seuss because who doesn't love Dr. Seuss? The fishbowl holds 3 free fish for Micaiah to freely play with. The Dr. Seuss  fish were hot glued on because it was too difficult to even attempt to sew. 

That's my finished product! Everything is hand sewn because I'm a complete beginner at sewing. My mom sewed the pages together but she is also a beginner. It was time consuming but worthwhile. I'm in the process of making more pages and those posts will be far more detailed! 

       Links to where I took inspiration!

Monkey: http://www.onelovelylife.com/?p=2621

Itsy Bitsy Spider: http://www.imagineourlife.com/2012/03/07/itsy-bitsy-spider-quiet-book-page/

Gum Ball: http://thestillers.blogspot.come/2011/12/how-to-make-quiet-book-gum-ball.html?m=1

Noah's Arc: http://thehermannfamily.blogspot.com/2011/02/proof-of-quiet-book.html

Quiet Books!

       If any of you have seen Quiet Books you know how adorable they are! I found them on Pinterest a while back and didn't know why I kept pinning it. I have no children and there are no babies in my family but I couldn't resist! 

        Well, as luck would have it my cousin had a sweet baby boy last year! A couple weeks ago we went to visit him in honor of his first birthday and it was this trip that made me remember the quiet books! Now, I know he's too young to really enjoy this by himself but his parents already read with him and they'd enjoy doing this together. Therefore, the quiet book saga began! I made a few pages in a weeks time (rush delivery- I know!) and I loved it. It did take a lot of time and most, well all, of my ideas came from Pinterest and the Quiet Book blog. 

      My idea is to add more pages for every little holiday and season so by the time he can enjoy it for himself, he'll have tons of pages to fawn over. This post is super wordy so check out the next post to see the quiet book in its entirety!