Craft Night - Christmas Ornaments

 

Life has been a blur lately. I got caught up in Christmas craziness, got sick and there some other crazy stuff going on in life. As a result I forgot to post this about my latest craft night!

In the holiday spirit, we made Christmas ornaments!!! They were simple to make and did require that many materials. I cut out some shapes from old cereal boxes and added some mod podge and some Christmas themed scrapbook paper.

I was glad to see all the folks who came out. Some fabulous ornaments were made and it was all in all a fun time.

 

Even though it is a bit past Christmas, here is how you can make your own ornaments! After all it's only 12 months till next Christmas.

Materials & Tools

• Cardboard (cereal boxes work great!)
• Christmas themed scrapbooking paper
• Ribbon
• Mod Podge
• Foam brushes
• Scissors
• Hole puncher

Instructions

• Determine the size and shape of your ornament. I used Picmonkey.com to find some really nice shapes and I formatted them to the size I wanted.
• Trace your shapes on cardboard and cut them out
• Go through all of you christmasy paper and figure out what you would like to put on your ornament. Be sure to make them double sided for twice the Christmas magic!
• Once your design is figured out begin putting them together with Mod Podge. I recommend doing this step in layers alternated between mod podge and paper.
• After your ornament is assembled, use your hole puncher to make a hole towards the top of your ornament
• Take some ribbon and tie it around your ornament. Place that baby on the tree!

 

December is moving along. Despite feeling really crappy the past few weeks I have been making an effort to get some projects done. Here is what I have been up to.

We finally got a tree! This time around we went with a Basal fir. I was a little nervous because its my first Christmas with a cat. I hear they like to make a mess of Christmas trees. So far Bmo has been a good kitty and he has just been hanging out underneath it. 

I love putting together the tree every year because I forget what awesome ornaments we have. We have mostly Star Wars, a few Harry Potter and a lot of owls. One tradition we have been keeping up every year is that we each make our own ornament. I love seeing those because its part of our little story. 

Speaking of ornaments, I have been getting ready for the next Craft Night. I've been trying to get into the habit planning these out and I've had this idea for a while. Thanks to this nifty little tutorial, I've learned out to recycle cereal boxes for crafty exploits. I thought they would make perfect ornaments. So the base, mixed with some Holiday scrap paper, mod podge and ribbon, you've got the perfect personalized ornament. 

While unpacking I came across our little nativity. Its cute, but tiny. I'm not the most religious person but I feel that I needed to spiff up our nativity. I was inspired after seeing this on pinterest. Since I had some spare wood lying around I made a stencil and whipped this up in a few days.

 

After a lot of experimenting I think I may have finally perfected making my zipper pouches. I'm quite proud, so proud that I've listed some new pouches made with the new pattern and techniques. 

After the fun festivities of last weeks's Harry Potter themed bridal shower, it was followed up by the arrival of Caitie's invites! 

Thankful Napkins

Day of the Doctor is over, so let me squeeze in some Thanksgiving themed stuff here! A few weeks ago was another Craft Night at Crazy Beans. We celebrated by decorating some napkins. I ordered the napkins from Save-on-Crafts and we painted them with some acrylic. To make them look really snazzy I made a bunch of stencils (with my trusty silhouette cameo) for all of our crafterinos to use. The stencil's varied from some birdies, leaves, 'give thanks' text and because it is no-shave november, I made a few mustaches.

Everyone had a lot of fun. I met some new people and enticed them with crafty wonderness! One guy just came in for coffee and looked around with a look on his face that said, "what the heck is going on in this coffee house?" And he left with a fabulous napkin. My friend Matt got a little creative and he made his own sayings. I'm proud of my friend Joe. He is not a big crafts person but he wanted to make one for his grandma so he soldiered on!

Would you like to make your own lovely napkin? Here is how! 

Materials & Tools

• Burlap napkin
• Acrylic paint
• Stencils (optional)  
• Foam brushes 
• Cardboard 
• Iron

Instructions

• Prepare the stencils and paint. Figure out what your design will be and what colors you want to use
• Before you begin painting, place a piece of cardboard underneath the napkin (this helps prevent paint from getting all over your table) 
• Place a stencil down and paint over your stencil gently! Then lift up the stencil. Repeat this step until you are satisfied with how your napkin looks! 
• The next day, after your napkin is completely dry, iron it a little bit. This heat sets the paint and really helps melt it into the fabric. 

Fall fresh....

Hello world. This past week has been quite productive. Here is my week at a glance.... 

I started the week off with craft night! This time around we made Mason Jar lanterns. I decided since Fall is here, to make a Jack-o-Lantern lantern. It looks boo-tiful. You can read more about craft night and how to make your own lanterns here. 

I've had this key print burlap for a while. I made a super nice mail organizer a while back. I ended up with left overs and I was sure what to do with it. After noticing that our dinning room table was a little bare, I thought I table runner might be a nice addition. The print goes well with our antique style and burlap on a farmhouse table just makes sense. Here is how it came out!



September is Library Card Sign up Month, so here is a little display I did featuring everyones favorite frustrated foul, Pigeon. Check out the all the details here.

This past week I finally got my hair cut! Last time I chopped it was back in February. Tim's cousin is my hair dresser and is pretty much the only person I trust with my hair. She suggested trying something different with the bangs. I love how it came out. Then next day when I opted for glasses instead of contacts, I realized I look like Velma from Schooby Doo. That may be one of my Halloween costume options this year.

Later that same day I got a random text from Caitie asking if I wanted to go on a Michael's run with her. I can't so no to that place! So for the second time this week I went to the craft store. While we browsed the aisles looking at dumb stuff I grabbed some yarn. I haven't knitted in so long. I decided I needed a new scarf this year. After coming across this chart I figured i'd give it a go.

On Saturday we had our friends Michelle and Anthony over. You may remember me mention them in Q&As. We had them over for dinner and cooked an epic-ly delicious vegan meal. Afterwards we recorded an episode of the Commercial Convo with them. We discussed local commercials and how ridiculous they are. It was all in all a good time. Make sure you subscribe to the podcast on itunes so you'll be able to hear the episode! 

Craft Night: Mason Jar Lanterns

Before I talk about Crafty Night, I just wanted to share that I was featured on the blog, What a Nerd Girl Says. Go check it out!

My favorite time of the month is Craft Night! This time around I wanted to get in the Fall spirit so we made some festive lanterns and I also got in on some pumpkin chocolate latte!

It was another fun time and I was super glad to see a lot of library came out to support me! Michelle and Anthony also came out and made some fantastic lanterns. Tim also really got into it and is really proud of his under the sea themed lantern.

Towards the end of the night there were a batch of new people discovering craft night! I always get excited meeting new people.

If you missed out on craft night and want to make a lantern of your own, here is how to do it!


Materials & Tools

• Mason Jar
• Mod Podge
• Tissue paper 
• Foam brush 
• Candle (either tea light or votive) 

Instructions

• Cut out pieces of tissue paper. Use what ever color scheme and go nuts! 
• Add a base coat of mod podge 
• Attach your tissue paper any way you would like
• Once your jar is covered to how much you like, add another coat of mod podge
• Once it dries, stick your candle in there and watch it an illuminated wonderland

Hello world. The past few days have started to feel like Fall. The a/c has been off, I’ve switched to wearing long pants and I’m looking forward to cooking with butternut squash! (its one of my fall favs) I have been working a lot and I have been keeping myself busy with other fun things.

In July made my Mother-in-law a custom bag. She loved it so much, she asked for another one. I went to work and decided this would be sort of a ‘guinea pig’ bag. I played with the dimensions a bit and changed the placement of the handles. I even successfully made a recessed zipper! I’d been having trying to perfect it for quite a while. I love how this bag came out! I made a pattern of this design and I’m going to start rolling some more out (because Christmas is right around the corner)

In other crafting news, I was switching around stuff in our kitchen. We got our mail organizer, cork board and now a magnet board (because our fridge is not magnetic!) However I took away our dry erase board because I wasn’t sure where to put it. After posting my Dry Erase wall calendar… I had a crazy idea: What if I cut out a shape and stuck it on the fridge? I used my trusty silhouette machine and cut out this fancy little number. So far so good.

I’ve been in a bit of a reading funk lately. I have my Game of Thrones audio book to keep me going while I’m in the Craft Dungeon, however I also need something to read read. I tried a few different books and stopped in the first chapter. Nothing was really capturing my attention. Then I came across this book called Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell. It sounded like an ok premiss. Two very different kids meet on the bus and their relationship slowly builds into something more. I didn’t expect to like this as much as I do! I’m all about my Sci-fi fantasy and shy away from realistic fiction. The narrative jumps between Eleanor and Park and you get to see how they fall in love from both perspectives. It also takes place in 1986 so its littered with references to the Smiths and even Doctor Who!

Speaking of romance, this past week marked 3 years married to this guy! I had to work the actual night of our anniversary, but he took me out for bbq lunch and he gave me flowers, he knows the quickest way to my heart. On Saturday we went out for a super nice dinner at the Riverhead Project. We normally don't do such swanky restaurants because I'm super cheapo. However, this is the only time I demand high end swank! This place was really nice and very modern. It is a converted bank and the vault is available to be rented out for private parities (that's pretty awesome). It didn't feel like a typical Long Island restaurant. We had fried olives, scallops and duck. My tastebuds were in heaven! Afterwards we walked over to the aquarium to say hi to our seal friends. They are seriously my dog but sea dwelling.

I'm gearing up for another craft night tomorrow. This time around we are making mason jar lanterns! It should be another fun time. If you are a local Long Islander, come on down! We start at 7:00!

Till next time.... 

Mini Canvas Art - Craft Night

This past monday night was another fantastic evening of coffee and crafts at Crazy Beans. As always it was a fun night with my regular crew and craft night newbies.

This time around we made mini wall art! It was a fun craft in miniature. Some of my crafty crew liked painting on the blank canvas. Some of the best pictures of the night included a city scape (with Bat signal!) and a beach scene. One of the newbies was really creative and used a straw to blow on the paint to create some interesting texture. I was particularly proud of my friend Joe. He's not a very crafty person compares being artistic to household chores. However he stuck it out and painted a beautiful masterpiece.

Some of the folks who attended, were having some trouble with inspiration. To help those guys I had printed out some stencils for them to use. There were some wonderful results from this technique. Including some fantastic mustaches.





If you want to make your own mini wall art here is how....

Materials & Tools

• Mini canvas
• Paint 
• Brushes 
• Paper towels (incase you make a mess) 
• Tape or stencils (optional) 

Instructions 

• Gather your supplies 
• Think of a design 
• Get painting! 
• If you are using stencils
• Paint a base coat, let dry for a few minutes 
• Place stencils on the canvas 
• Paint your second coat in a contrasting color 

Tips 

• Glue a magnet to the back of it and BOOM - instant fridge magnet! 

Chalkboards - Craft Night

Last night was my monthly rendition of craft night at Crazy Beans. This time I was having trouble finding something that would work. There is a certain certeria for craft night, it has to look great with out being too complicated, supplies can't costs too much (otherwise i'd go broke!) and I try my best to make the craft gender neutral. I was discussing my little issue with one of my crafting confidants, Noelle. She makes some pretty amazing stuff and we've been meeting up for some crafternoons. Noelle sent me a link to a Beautiful Mess (one of my favorite blogs) and their tutorial for chalkboard paint. I looked and the tools and supplies and thought it would be perfect!

I gathered all of my supplies and needed to make a sample. I decided to make my sample a present for Callie, the owner and number one barrista extraordinare. There are always events going on at the Beans. She writes them all in sharpie on pieces of paper then tapes it to the counter. I thought maybe she needs something a little bigger and a bit more snazzy. I found some wood in the garage and decided to make her a chalk board weekly calendar. I used my trusty silhouette and printed out the letters and painted over it. It came out amazing I must say.

If you want to make your own chalkboards, then go on over to A Beautiful Mess for the complete tutorial. I used a different paint/grout ratio, however you get the same results, chalkboard perfection!