Crafty Wednesday - KAHLEN

I've been wanting to put something up in the kids' room since we moved in three years ago, and just haven't really gotten to it. Now I'm one step closer :) It still isn't hanging up, but at least it's done.

Here's the finished product:

It's just sitting on that piece of wood so it's not on the floor where little feet might trample it. I'll be hanging it all up hopefully in the next few days (need to get the right kind of adhesive first).

How did I do it? Read on!

First, you'll need:

• Wooden letters. Got mine at JoAnn's during the coupon commotion sale a few weeks ago.
• Scrapbook papers you like. I decided to coordinate mine instead of matching them, but that's entirely up to you.
• Mod Podge. What else?
• 1" Sponge brush. 
• Ink pad for distressing
• Sand paper
• Embellishments (not pictured)

{Step #1}
Trace the letters upside down on the BACK of your scrapbooking papers

{Step #2}
Cut out the letters as close to the lines as you can.

{Step #3}
Apply a coat of mod podge to each wooden letter, place the paper letter on, and smooth out. Because my letters are pretty small, I just used my finger, but you could also use a ruler or something else if you're worried about bubbles. I didn't have trouble with most of my papers; the textured cardstock gave me a little trouble, but you can't really tell in the finished product.

{Step #4}
You could stop at this point, but that's not as cute! Next, sand the edges a little bit to make the paper lay flat around the outside. I didn't cut my papers as precisely as I could have, so they were hanging off the edges a bit.

  After sanding, it looked much better.












{Step #5}
Distress the edges with the ink pad. I chose green because that's one of the theme colors for their room and it generally matched with the papers I chose. I couldn't get into all the crevices with the ink pad. I pondered it for awhile, then thought I'd try another 1" sponge brush. Worked like a charm! I dipped the very end in the ink pad, then just distressed like I normally would.

{Step #6}
Embellish! I was in my craft room while working on the project, so I just pulled whatever I had on hand. I'd seen these cute paper flowers everywhere in blogland recently and was just waiting for a project to use them on. Cut out three circles on coordinating paper in incremental sizes. Crumple up to get nice texture, then flatten out. Distress the edges with the same color as you did the letters. Hot glue all the middles together and add a coordinating button. Mod podge to the best of your ability. Hot glue to letters.
I also used ribbon, self-adhesive jewels and buttons from Oriental Trading Company, and raffia.

And there you have it!

Now I just need to do the little man's too, need to get some more coupons or a screaming sale at JoAnns on the letters though, Nathanael is a long name ;)

~S

Remember, recipe linking party starts in under two weeks!

Crafty Wednesday - Two Mod Podge Projects

Last week I did say that I would be doing more projects with Mod Podge. So, here are two more. I did these both in the same night :)

First, I made a container for these new Alphabet Stamps that I got from Oriental Trading Company for only $5!

I had an empty oatmeal container still from playing Grocery Store a couple weeks ago, and it was the perfect size. I then rifled through my scrapbook paper and came up with these cute matching papers that have letters all over. Since I couldn't decide on the color, I decided to tile it and use them all. I simply measured the container, and cut the papers to match. I then taped on the pieces using an Easy Stick.

As I looked at it, I decided it needed something. Off to the cricut I went. I pulled matching plain cardstock from my stash of scraps and made "ABC Stamps" using the George cartridge. Then I taped those on too. I then applied a layer of Mod Podge, waited for it to dry, then added another coat. Now we have somewhere cute to store the stamps, because who wants just a plain ol' oatmeal container when you could have this?

(Do you know how hard it is to take a good picture of a cylinder?!?)

On to my next project! While the first coat was drying on the stamp container, I jumped into making new refrigerator magnets. I saw this idea here and thought it was {cute}. It's also very simple if you have the right tools. 

Okay, here's what you'll need:

* Flat glass marbles (found mine at Dollar Tree in the floral department)

* Hot Glue Gun

* Scraps of paper, pictures, or whatever you want, cut about to 1" x 1"

* Mod Podge (of course) and brush

* Strong magnets (got mine at Joann's for much more $)

* Craft knife and cutting mat

The flat marbles that I found were NOT uniform in shape and size, so rather than cut the paper to a circle and have uncovered edges (which would have really bugged me), I decided to do it this way instead.

First, I put a thin layer of Mod Podge on the bottom of the marble and stuck on the squarish piece of paper.

After that was dry, I trimmed off the edges using my craft knife and cutting mat.

Then I hot glued the magnets to the back. I thought that the hot glue might stay better than craft glue, but I bet that any other good craft glue would work fine too.

There you have it, new fridge magnets that are much better than the cheap (read: free) ones with ads all over them I had on there before that only held one piece of paper. Now if I get really ambitious, I might make a set of alphabet ones (or some other theme) for Kahlen to play with, since she keeps taking my stuff off the fridge to play with these :)

~S

Crafty Wednesday - Clipboard

Okay, okay, I realize it's Friday. We had a busy last couple days.
Anyway, here's my project of the week.
I saw something similar at Mod Podge Rocks awhile back and couldn't think of what to use a clipboard for, so couldn't justify making one if I wasn't going to use it. Then my DH suggested that I start using a clipboard when I go mystery shopping to keep track of my stops and receipts and such.

This turned out to be a very simple Mod Podge project. I used Mod Podge Matte, but you could use glossy if you felt like it.
I simply took a piece of scrapbook paper and cut it to size. I rounded the corners. I then cut another piece 4" x 9". I used my cricut to cut a flower using the Walk in my Garden cartridge.
I put a layer of mod podge on the clipboard, then affixed the first paper and smoothed it down. Then I layered the other pieces using mod podge. I waited for that to dry then put two coats of mod podge over the top of the whole thing, waiting for it to dry between coats.
Eventually, when I get around to purchasing acrylic sealer, I plan on putting a coat of that on. It wrinkled a little bit, but not too badly. I'm still practicing with the whole mod podge thing, but I'm getting better :) I'll be doing a couple more projects with it soon now that I have a bottle of it.

~S

Crafty Wednesday - Bow, Clippy, and Necklace Holder

Another one of Kahlen's birthday presents this year...
I used to just have all her bows and clippys on ribbons on the wall, which worked pretty well too, but not nearly as cute. (Forgot to take a picture, darn it)

Got this idea from several friends and several different online tutorials, which I didn't really follow :)

Forgot to take pictures during the process too, but you'll get the idea.
I bought a plain wood frame from Hobby Lobby and Mod Podged butterfly scrapbook paper to the entire front of it. If the frame you picked doesn't come with hangers, you'll want to get some of those too :)
Then I used a hot glue gun and a staple gun to attach ribbon going both ways. I bought some small hooks from Ace Hardware and screwed them into the bottom for necklaces. I should have drilled pilot holes, but I just muscled them in.

Here's what it looks like full:

If you like the super-cute flower clips, you can purchase them from my friend Robin here


Kahlen wanted me to take her picture too :)

Now to get her to WANT to wear these cute things, instead of me begging her!

~S

My first Mod Podge project (and Tim's awesome shelves)

So, for those of you who have been to my house, you know that there's a funky counter area in the bathroom on the main level. I try to keep my cookbooks there, but it just looks messy and there's not really enough room for them all. (The picture shows about 1/4 of my cookbooks)









My wonderful hubby got the idea to build me shelves there as a better use of the space. Of course, the project turned out to be much more complicated (and therefore expensive and time-consuming) to complete. BUT in the end, the shelves are super sturdy and look very professional.












I wanted to have a hand in the project too, of course. So, my contribution was to make the shelves pretty. I've been reading a lot about and seeing some of my friends use Mod Podge to decoupage, so I thought I'd give it a go.




I think they turned out pretty good! :)


















So, there we have it, pretty and functional shelves for my bathroom. Thanks Hubby!
Now, about my full-wall built-in downstairs...