I'm back (again)

I constantly forget to update this blog...I envy those of you who consistently do this. I have the best intentions though, I promise!

Primarily, I'm back on the blogsphere just because it's been so long since I've written a post. I still get views (thanks Pinterest!) and I figure if people are still looking I should try to keep updating!

As of late, the most crafting I've been doing is always with my faithful Silhouette Cameo. Recently, I got the Silhouette Mint and I'm trying to be as creative as I can with that as well! Maybe in the future there will be some kind of post about that.

Today I don't have any kind of tutorial, but here are a few things I've been working on! Hopefully, I'll get back to creating tutorials soon.

Until next time,

Megan 👻

FitBit Decal: instagram.com/mvillstyles

Iphone Charger Wrap: mvillstyles.etsy.com

Updates: New Etsy Shop!

I haven't posted in quite sometime, I really am awful at blogging. 

Here's a few updates: 

I have opened a NEW etsy shop. I lost the password to my former one (ooops). 

Primarily, I do vinyl decals and custom orders! 

Feel free to check out my shop at MVillStyles.etsy.com 

I also have an Instagram account for my shop: @MVillStyles 

Secondly, I am beginning my teaching job this week! I will be posting photos of my classroom soon! 

I know this post was SUPER short, but I'll  try to update more frequently! 

Graduation!

Three years of endless school and I'm finally graduating from Texas State! Wahoo! 

With graduating comes many responsibilities. However, one of the minuscule and more exciting aspects of graduating is decorating my graduation cap! And luckily for you, I may have documented my progress. 

I started by browsing Pinterest and it's variety of graduation caps. I didn't find anything that I really enjoyed so I switched my focus to looking at quotes. I stumbled upon this ever famous quote.

Source: http://pinterest.com/pin/A0nORAAQwIACP2ZWUm0AAAA/

The teacher in me decided to switch it up and change the verbage slightly, "Teach the change you wish to see." I didn't think I could fit the "in the world part" so I wanted to add the Earth in the cap somehow. 

My final graduation cap! 

So here's how I accomplished this:

I bought black glittered scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby to use as the base for my grad cap. I traced the cap onto the paper and cut it out so it would fit atop the cap. I then had to cut a hole for the tassel-part of the cap. 

After this, I needed to cut out a circle for the Earth part of the design. I had initially planned to use my Silhouette Cameo to cut out a circle but I was feeling a bit lazy and changed my planned. Instead I used my fishbowl and traced a circle onto a piece of cardstock. 

Once again I cut out a center circle for the tassel and then drew my design on the piece of cardstock. 

I covered all "ocean" areas with Modge Podge before sprinkling it with glitter. I placed the paper underneath the circle in order to attempt to collect the excess glitter in order to place it back in the container. 

I repeated this process with the "land" pieces of the Earth. While I waited for the "Earth" to dry, I hot glued the black glitter paper to my cap. 

(Sorry for the low quality photo here!)

I put the Earth in it's place on the cap and positioned the letters until I was happy with their position. The letters were just scrapbook stickers I bought from Hobby Lobby. For this quote, I only needed one package of stickers! 

I then added different details to the cap. I love Disney and Mickey Mouse so I purchased these small gem stickers from Hobby Lobby and used them to frame the quote. I also bought school related scrapbook stickers and placed them on the corners of the cap. 

I really wanted a bow on my cap so I created the one you see in the picture! 

Once I was happy with the placement of everything, I glued down the "Earth" piece first. I then glued down the letters, the gems, the bow and stickers. I used hot glue for everything. 

I am SO happy with how it turned out and I cannot wait for graduation!

Final Big/Little Reveal Post

Well, two months later and I'm finally going to finishing posting about my final big/little reveal crafts. Better late than never (;

I bought chipboard letters of "G", "P", and "B." I painted both the "G" and the "B" the same shade of pink while I painted the "P" a lighter shade of pink. I wrote "Gamma", "Phi", and "Beta" on the corresponding letters. 

I bought this jar from Hobby Lobby and filled it up with lollipops to represent the "Lollipop Guild" from Wizard of Oz. I used my Silhouette Cameo to create the Gamma Phi decal to place on the lid. I also used my Cameo to cut the tag that I tied around the jar as well. 

Not exactly a craft but I figured I'd mention this anyways! I bought her a candle from Yankee Candle along with a pocketbac and pocketbac holder from Bath and Body Works. I just wrapped them in cellophane and placed it in her basket! 

This letter was actually really easy to paint. The pattern is essentially just a bunch of dots! I began with my base coat. I chose a blue-grayish color. 

To begin making the above pattern, I started by creating a "flower"-esque shape. I began with the center dot and then evenly spaced four dots around it. This will become the center of your shape. 

After creating the center, I added dots in the spaces between the previously made center shape. I tried to make this second row of dots slightly above the ones made prior. 

I continued adding dots in this manner: placing them in between the dots made in the previous layer until I reached the desired size of the shape. 

Once again, here's the end result! On the back of the letter I wrote a small note to my little! 

Here's the entire finished basket! I bought the basket at Hobby Lobby, by the way! I also found "Toto" there as well. Pure luck I guess! I also added a few Gamma Phi tshirts to her basket to begin her collection. 

Now I've finally finished sharing all my crafts from Big/Little reveal! 

Big/Little Canvas

I'm finally going to continue posting about some of my big/little crafts! 

One of my favorite things to do is paint and I'm always searching for inspiration and new things to spice up my paintings. 

While browsing on Pinterest, I found this quote and I loved the current layout of it. 

Image via: Pinterest.com

The only problem with trying to recreate this particular quote was that I had no idea how to paint a background that resembled a galaxy print. 

However, as Pinterest usually does, I was able to find a tutorial!! The pin led me to this YouTube video: 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1RMqVdYMgBw

Here was how the process worked for me: 

Materials: 

Red paint

Blue paint

White paint 

Gold paint 

Black paint 

Paintbrushes 

Cup of water

Canvas 

 I started by painting my canvas black and letting it dry. Then I used the colors above to create the galaxy. My paint was at a limited supply by the time I got around to this canvas but the colors ended up working out fine. 

I followed the instructions on the video and placed both blue and red paint on the canvas. I applied the paint with a dry, flat, thick brush. 

For the next steps I forgot to take pictures but it was super simple! Once I achieved the above look, I dipped a new brush in water and then dipped it into the white paint. I then tapped the paintbrush above the canvas to spray flecks of white everywhere. 

I painted the quote in gold and I REALLY liked how the canvas turned out. I definitely think I had a lot more white "stars" on my canvas than the video did but it worked out because the quote covered a lot of it. 

I have one final Big/Lil post after this one, so be on the lookout for that! 

'Tis the Season

I know I haven't finished all of my Big/Little Reveal posts yet, but I just had to share my project from today! 

I was told over the weekend that I should make a Christmas-themed wreath for our door to keep our sorority house festive. Of course, my roommates selected me to do the hard work and I immediately logged into Pinterest and began browsing. I ended up stumbling upon a Christmas Tree shaped deco mesh wreath! 

              Image via: Pinterest.com

Now, even though I saw this wreath I really had no clue how to accomplish it. I originally planned to do a snowman wreath but somehow came across the tree instead. 

Usually, I'm a Hobby Lobby kind of girl but since it was Sunday I had to go to other craft stores and spent hours looking for materials. My trip proved even more difficult because I wasn't sure what kind of work wreath I needed to create this tree! 

I eventually gave up searching for the unknown and got creative. I found the wire easels typically used for floral arrangements in the floral section of my craft store and figured I could make it work. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, here's a reference: 

Image via: http://www.mteden.com/catalog.aspx?subcat=50120&mastcat=Funeral

They had the cone shape I was looking for and I assumed with some patience and wire I could make my own wreath form. 

After messing with it for a brief amount of time, I was able to secure the middle wire of the easel by wrapping wire around it. I used pliers and wire cutters from my dad's toolbox for this disassembly. 

I then began to add wire rows to the easel to create my work wreath. This step was fairly simple and didn't take as much time as I thought. 

Next, I added pipe cleaners where I thought necessary. At this point, I was hopeful that my tree would come out the way I imagined. All I did next was form the wreath. I started by working from top to bottom. I did the left column, then the right column, and finally the middle column. 

Once I had finished these steps, I realized I had a few gaps between the columns. I added more pipe cleaners to the wreath form and continued forming my wreath. 

I didn't take pictures of my next steps, but the rest of the wreath was pretty easy! 

I created my bow "tree topper" by following the instructions on Kristen's Creations. (http://kristenscreationsonline.blogspot.com/2009/11/how-to-make-tree-topper.html?m=1) I've used this tutorial multiple times and it's the best explanation that I've ever seen. 

I affixed my tree topper using a pipe cleaner that I attached to the deco mesh. 

My next steps involved a lot of hot glue but I didn't really have a method in which I added the beads and ornaments. Usually when I make wreaths I just kind of wing it. I don't plan much when it comes to what is being placed on the wreath. 

I first added the beads, hoping it would help me space out my ornaments. The ornaments were sporadically placed. Primarily, I just didn't want to have too many empty spots on the wreath. I also didn't want to have too many things on it either. 

Overall, I'm really happy when the way this came out! Especially since I didn't have a cone/tree work wreath! 

Let the holiday festivities begin! 

Oh, sheet.

One of the biggest parts of Big/Little reveal is our sheets that we have to paint. 

If you remember my blog post from the spring (http://lifeofacollegecrafter.blogspot.com/2014/04/iglittle-reveal.html?m=1) 

you'll remember these sheets! The theme for big/little reveal is always movies. Each Big picks a movie and paints a sheet to coordinate along with it. Throughout the official Big/Little week, the Bigs send clues to their littles about what movie they have. On reveal day, the littles stand in front of their sheet based on the movie they got. On the count of three all of the Bigs drop their sheets and the Big/Little pairs are revealed! 

For my movie, I picked Wizard of Oz and picked a fairly easy design for the sheet.

This ended up being my completed sheet and it took forever. It was exhausting but worth it. I was relatively happy with how it turned out. Mainly, I was ready to get rid of the thing. Just kidding. Sorta.

Here's the process though. 

Materials:

Flat sheet 

Paintbrushes (foam and detail ones)

Paint

Sharpie 

Chalk 

Lots and lots of time

Tarp (optional)

Iron

I attempted to find a blue/green sheet so I wouldn't have to paint both the sky and the grass, but life isn't always fair so I had to get an all white sheet.

The first step is to iron the sheet so there aren't any wrinkles when you start painting. This step didn't take as long as I thought.

Clearly, I'm really bad at ironing and I gave up. Not recommended because it made the sheet harder to paint. Regardless, I put a tarp on the floor to protect it from the paint that would seep through from the sheet. I sketched out my design with a sharpie. 

Here's just a close up shot of my sketch Emerald City. 

I first began by painting the grass. I had two different color greens and hoped that they could easily be blended to create a "realistic" look. 

I just did random brush strokes. I liked how spontaneous it looked. 

The next step in painting my sheet was the poppies. I attempted to look up how to paint poppies but I didn't find anything worth while. So instead, I kind of just guessed. 

I used a single color of a pink/red to draw the outline. I filled in the poppy with that color and then took a lighter pink and added some highlight. 

I then went back in and added some darker reds to the center and outer petals of the poppies for more dimension. I don't really have a method for this part. Mainly I just add color where I think it looks best. 

In typical Life of a College Crafter fashion, I stopped taking progress pictures. Whoops. Even though I don't have pictures here's a breakdown of each part of the sheet. 

Poppies:

After I finished painting all the poppies I went back in and added small yellow flowers for some color. I then lightly dipped my brush in light green paint to add stems to each flower. I think this step was really important in adding dimension and life to the painting!

Grass: 

I'm not even gonna lie, I ran out of green paint halfway through and did not have the time to go get more soooo I improvised. I ran out of the green paint that is visible on the right side of the sheet. Therefore I used the deep green paint and mixed it with white to create the color on the left. It looks a little weird, but when looking at the sheet as a whole it's not too bad! I intentionally made the grass that was touching Emerald City the deep, forest green in order to separate the colors and show depth. (I try to use really artsy weirds to make you think I know what I'm talking about). 

Sky:

It's just painted all the same shade of blue. Nothing special here. 

Emerald City: 

I started by painting the city all green. From there, I added green and white paint to the city to create some streaks. I didn't want the city to be one color. I also found light and dark green glitter paint. I used this kind of paint over the dried city to add some sparkle! 

I finished it off by writing  "Littles, crescents, & pearls OH MY!" on the top of the sheet. I used chalk to sketch the letters out on the sheet prior to painting the letters. 

(That's my twin's sheet...too cute!) 

Overall, I really liked my sheet! Definitely a labor of love..

That's it for this post but check out the rest of my Big/Little Reveal posts for more crafts!