Sorry... not sorry.

I've underestimated just how hard this motherhood thing was going to be. I knew going in, it wasn't going to be easy. Free time, whats that? As you might have guessed, blogging/crafting have not been priorities. Taking care of the babe, maintaining the house and going to work is pretty much all I do. I'm not complaining, because out of those three things, the only one I hate doing is the house work. Since most of my time is occupied any spare time I do have, I'm tired or want to spend it with my husband. I just haven't felt that drive to do much. 

I also felt that it was important to disconnect for a bit. I was so sucked into this blog, my etsy shop and my little craft room, I needed to walk away from it for a bit. Especially for the baby's first year. There have been opportunities  to do work on stuff while she was just hanging around, but I was more motivated to spend it with her than spend it in front of the computer. Its something I recommend anyone do if they get sucked into a social media whirl wind, its nice to just walk away for a bit. Now that I have I feel a bit refreshed and ready to start again. 

Just because I haven't been blogging or doing much crafting doesn't mean I haven't been creative. I've been doing a few things that are easier to do with my little girl crawling around. 

I've hopped on the adult coloring bandwagon. I think we need a new name for this trend. Adult coloring book sounds like its full of nudie pictures. Anyway, moving on, I got a coloring book full of kaleidoscope designs and I've been enjoying it. I even caught my husband Tim coloring a page! 

I've also been doing a few Lynda.com classes. For those that are unfamiliar with Lynda.com, it is an excellent source for education on a various types of media. I'm lucky enough to have a library that has a subscription, so check a library in your area because you may be able to access this site for free!

I have been the most interested in the drawing classes. I've done a few drawing challenges and more recently have been tying to teach myself how to make vector images. The goal here is to make my own silhouette images. When I make stuff for personal use I usually just grab an image online and trace it, however if I'm going to sell my own stuff, I want to be able to make my own graphics. 

To help keep my creative brain going I do daily drawing prompts and sometimes writing prompts. Here is an adorable otter I drew, complete with mustache. 

Some changes are coming along the way, so stick around. 

Pointillism Vase

Iron Craft Challenge # 9 is 'Inspired by Art' So it got me thinking of some of my favorite art pieces. One of them is featured in Ferris Bueler's Day Off and Cameron has a serious stare down with a Surrat painting. Its one of my favorite scenes in movie history! 

This painting uses the pointillism technique so I used that as my jumping off point for this project. It involves using a series of dots of varying colors to create a pattern in which an image emerges. Since I wasn't setting out to make a grand masterpiece I applied the idea to a small scale project, a small vase. I used an ampersand design (&) because they are just so neat and visually interesting. After my little vase was done I put some rocks in it and suck a candle in there. 

Here is how you can make one yourself: 

Materials & Tools

• Glass jar or vase 
• Contact Paper Stencil 
• Q-tips 
• Paint (varying colors)

Instructions: 

1. Clean your jar/vase with some glass cleaner and dry it to remove any dust. 
2. Apply your stencil to the jar/vase and press out the air bubbles as best you can.
3. Take a q-tip and dip it in some paint and start dabbing your jar/vase over the stencil. Continue this step with different colors, until you like your color combination. 
4. Allow to dry for at least 20 minutes. 
5. Gently peel off stencil to reveal your wonderful design! 

Iron Craft Challenge 8 - Spring has Sprung - Teired planter

Spring is finally here!!!! This means I can start sprucing up the outside of the house. The front of our house needs a serious pop of color. It is very white. I thought a painted planter would help! 

This planter project also meets the requirements of the latest Iron Craft Challenge # 8 - Spring has Sprung! The task for this challenge was to make something inspired by spring or Easter. 

Since big planters can be kind of pricey, I thought about making a tiered planter. Since terra cotta planters are inexpensive, I bought three of varying sizes. I took them home and spray painted them with some color. I painted the top rim gold and the bottom a dark green. After I put it together I realized it looks like a Zelda inspired planter which was no my intention. 

After painting, I began to layer them together with soil and plastic planter turned upside down. That way you don't have a ridiculous amount of soil. After putting it all together it didn't seem very sturdy. I was worried about the wind blowing it over. So I had a dowel in the garage and was able to use that to keep it all together. 

It came out pretty fantastic! Now I just need to put some flowers in it! 

The week that was.....

After taking a few months off, it was finally time to bring back Craft Night! We are going to be making Animal Collage art. Its pretty simple, we take a shape of an animal (in our case we have a bear, fox, doe and dog) and trace in on our ‘canvas’ (its really a piece of cardstock) then we take some strips of scrap paper or magazine pages and we make a collage to fill in the shape of our animal. I’m glad to be bringing it back, because its been too long. I’m also excited to hear how Callie is doing with Beans 2.0!

I also made this nifty chalk board! Every time I do a craft night, I write out the instructions, but its a bit time consuming. So I had some scrap wood around and I made it a chalkboard! (Fun fact, making chalkboards was a previous craft night activity, read all about it here)

I had a bunch of other scrap wood hanging around. I have a lot of left over 3 by 7 inch blocks, so I thought I'd do something with them. I started making a bunch of hanging signs! Of course I made some Doctor Who themed signs. I also made a one saying Bonjour! I think I'll make some more with greetings in different languages.

I am thinking about making a nautical theme sign for Iron Craft. The next challenge is all about Trends. Of the trends suggested, I really like the nautical trend. When you live on an Island, you see a lot of houses with nautical motifs. I like a more subtle approach, no sea shell lamps or signs saying "Life is a Beach" for me. I'm not sure what I'll do but I'll be sure to tell you about it.

I've been continuing on my reading marathon. I'm catching up on an award winner I missed. The librarians at work are always raving about Three Times Lucky and it won a Newberry Honor. I thought I would check it out. I got my next reads few reads lined up to keep my roll going!

Iron Craft # 5 - A is for ....

So I've take a bit of a break from the last few Iron Crafts, but I am back! 

This time around the challenge was called, 'A is for...' Crafters were given to task to do something either inspired by the alphabet or something that begins with the letter A. One thing I love about these Iron Craft Challenges is that they are open to interpretation. So I went with A is for applique! 

I recently got the fabric blade for my silhouette machine. I was excited to be able to put it to good use! It was incredibly easy to use and the results are pretty amazing. 

This challenge was coincided with distaste for my couches throw pillows. I was sick of them so I decided to make a few new ones. I wanted to make one featuring my two favorite dopes, Gyspy and Bmo. I also made one featuring a stag head, I just think its an image that looks cool. 

I still have two more pillows to replace. I've got a few ideas of what I can do, I'll be sure to tell you all about it. 

Decorative Plates

I've gotten really sick of stark bare walls and I've been trying a few different things to really liven up our dinning room. I found this mirror for 20$ at Marshall's (score!). It was a little cracked and boring white. So I gave it a goat of gray to really spiff it up. I hung it opposite some windows. That is a design trick that is supposed to make the room feel bigger. I have our Parisian street art pictures hanging on another wall, along with a little flying birdie my friend Margaret got me. However that still left some blank spots in the room. What to do?

Originally I had planned to start collecting graphic plates and hanging them on the wall. That hit a snag when I did not like anything I was finding, either in the design or price. So I decided to put my own DIY spin on it and made some plates of my own! I abandoned my plan of an entire wall of plates and decided to hang them on each end of the windows. It makes it look balanced and we now have plenty of visual interest in this room!

Materials & Tools

• White glass plate 
• Spray paint (two contrasting colors) 
• Contact paper 
• Exacto Knife 
• Plate hanger 

Instructions 

• I recommend purchasing plates from the Dollar Tree because they come in different shapes and sizes and they are only a dollar so if you make a mistake its not a big deal. 

• Plan out a design, make it simple and not too intricate. Trace and cut out the design on contact paper (or if you have a silhouette machine just use that) 

• In a well ventilated area, spray paint a base coat. (this should be the color you want your actual design to be) Allow design to dry. I recommend letting it sit over night.

• Peel out your design and stick it on the plate

• Spray a top coat of a contrasting coloring and allow to dry. (don't wait too long because you run the risk of peeling off the paint from your design) 

• Allow the paint to dry for at least a day before you hang it up. (otherwise your house is going to smell like paint fumes) 

Linking up with: 

Craft-o-maniac 

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.