My take on Word Art

I completed this "art piece" a while back and never posted it.  I was inspired by all the word art out there on Pinterest and came up with this:

I used Jeff's favorite Scripture, Psalm 139, a piece of plywood, my circut for cutting the letters out, contact paper, and paint. I basically made my own letter stickers by cutting out contact paper.  Then I just stuck the letters on my plywood and painted over it.  I began by spray painting it white and then added additional colors to create a soft water colorish effect.  I then pulled the stickers off and waala! Totally easy (but timely) project that anyone can do. 

Cheap and Easy DIY Dinosaur Costume

 

Wesley had a cute hand-me-down dino costume for Halloween so I wasn't planning on being super mom and DIYing his costume this year.  And I wasn't planning on dressing up either, until Halloween approached and I got in the Spirit.  Luckily for me, I was able to DIY the cheapest and easiest dino costume for Jeff and I.  It cost me $4 for both of our costumes and I was able to complete them both in about an hour.  Want to know how???  Here are the directions.

 

You Need:

A Sweatshirt

4-6 squares of felt

Scissors (I used pinking shears)

Pins

Sewing machine or needle and thread

Hot glue gun and glue

 

 

Start by folding your felt in half and cutting spikes (triangles) using the folded edge as the bottom of your triangle.  So when you unfold your triangle, you have a diamond shape.

 

 

Then pin your diamonds in place (where you want your spikes).  FYI- if i did this again, I think I would have put the spikes right next to eachother. 

 

 

Next, cut out your tail and pin it to the bottom edge of your sweatshirt.  Mine is a little off, but what dinosaur has a perfect tail, right?

 

 

Then cut out an oval or circle for the front of your sweatshirt. If you are using a zip-up like mine, cut your circle in half and pin it to your sweatshirt.

 

 

Then sew a staight line up the middle of the back of your sweatshirt, catching the center of your spikes.  If you plan to remove the spikes later, set your stitch to the longest length and start and stop sewing at each spike so you have less holes.

 

Sew on your tail and tummy as well.

 

Then using hotglue (or you can sew), glue the spikes halves together and watch them stand up.

 

 

And you are all set!  Seriously,the cheapest, easiest, and fastest homemade costume I have ever attempted.

 

 

Here's Jeff sporting his sweatshirt with our little dino.

 

 

And our little dino family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DIY Sharpie Mugs

 

I pinned this popular image on pinterest a while back, and finally got to buying the supplies needed to make my own version. 

 



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I picked up 2 white mugs from the Dollar Tree and used a sharpie I already had at home. 

 

I love the modern simplicity of the mugs from my inspiration picture and wanted to emulate that feel, but it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do.  I love the is + hers theme, but in reality, Jeff doesnt drink hot beverages, so it didn't make sense to make him his own mug.  In the end I couldn't come up with two matching mugs, but I like them both.

 

The first mug I simply wrote "hello" which I thought was good for a cup of morning coffee and it also seems to be a trendy word for different art projects.  I like the way it turned out, although my ink blend a bit.

 

 

The second mug took me forever to figure out what I wanted. I must have written and drawn 20 things before I finally just asked Jeff to write a note to me. Which brings up a cool point about this project. Untill you bake the mugs in the oven, you can wipe of the permanent marker and try again. I loved that.

 

 

I also love that I now have a permanent note from my love to read over and over while I drink my coffee. Is'nt he cute.

 

 

So to be totally honest, this method isnt really totally permanent. I've heard you cannot run them through the dishwasher, but a good hand washing should stand up. I did test mine using a clorox wipe and it smeared a little compared to completely washing off before baking.

 

 

 

 

I think these make for a super cute wedding gift or a cheap holiday gift if you are looking to give someting to all your friends.  Maybe fill with fixings for hot chocolate!

 

 

Boo! Halloween Decor

I finally got around to putting some Halloween decorations together.  I had been a total slacker, mostly because it just doesn't feel like fall around these parts, but I decided this weekend something had to go up, or I would miss it. And I didn't want to miss Halloween. 

I took a straw wreath I already had (which was wrapped with yarn) and wrapped it in strips of this black and white striped fabric I had gotten at a garage sale a while back.

Let me tell you, I am NEVER EVER wrapping a wreath in YARN ever again!  Wrapping in fabric is SOOOO much easier, and I think it looks just as cute. 

It took me about FIVE minutes to cut the fabric in 4-5 inch strips and wrap it around the wreath. I simply secured it with two straight pins, so it will be easy to unwrap and wrap again with different fabric.

I used more fabric strips (in orange) to make the messy bow.

I'm convinced fabric wrapped wreaths are the new yarn wrapped wreaths, what do you think?

A simple "Boo!" banner was made by cutting bunting triangles out of construction paper, gluing on letters cut by my cricut, and stringing on some jute.

I love the way it turned out!

Now go and make yourselves some fabric wrapped wreaths and then go crazy over how much time you spent yarn wrappin last year :)

Happy Halloween!!!

Yellow Fall Mantel and Circle Garland

I love yellow oh yes I do, I love yellow, how about you?!

 

It's been a while since I decorated my "mantel" that I made Jeff make for me.  It doesn't feel like Fall yet here in so cal, but I'm seeing Fall decor everywhere, so it felt appropriate to do a yellow fall mantel.  Kind of like a transition from Summer to Fall.  I can't believe its October already!!!!!

 

I also love circle garland and think I might make it for everything.  This garland is left over from my parents annviersary party.  Cut out circles and sew them together, it doesn't get more simple than that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yarn Pendant Light

This yarn pendant light was one of my most daring nursery projects and I was so surprised that it actually turned out.  Its been going strong for over a year too.  You can find these pendants all over the web but here is the video i used to make mine: Pendant Light Tutorial Video.  It wasn't too hard, you can make one too!

Easy and Cheap DIY Baby Mobile

For Wesley's mobile I created a super easy and super cheap version of some mobiles I saw on Etsy.  If you are a perfectionist, you may want to stop reading because my methods may drive you mad.  This project was done the easiest and quickest way and is in no way perfect.  (you will be able to see that in the detail pics).  But I think it works just fine and  I am very happy with the way it turned out.

DIY Baby Mobile 

What you need to make your own:

construction paper

sewing machine and thread

two small dowels (got ours at Michael's)

fishing line

hot glue gun

small hook to attach to ceiling

paint (optional)

circle punch (optional)

Step 1: Cut out circles

I just used regular old scissors and cut out circles out of regular old construction paper.  They are not perfect circles and I wanted several different sizes, so I just went to town cutting. 

Step 2: Sew circles together

Did you know you can sew paper? Welp you can.  Just feed the circles through like you are sewing anything else and wait a few seconds before you add the next one.  The few seconds in between will create the spacing between your circles. I went completely random in the order I fed the circles through.  

(If you don't have a sewing machine, you could just glue circles to string)

Step 2b: Create separate strings of circles

You can do this two ways.  you can sew one looooong string of circles and then cut the strings at the desired lengths.  Or you can start and stop sewing each new string.  Either way you do it, you want to end up with 17 strings.  If you are more exact than me, you will want to measure your strings and make sure that you have 4 each of 4 various lengths, plus one extra string that is the longest. I just did mine at random lengths (are you beginning to understand my ways?).  

Step 3: Attach dowels together

Optional step: paint dowels first.  I kinda wish I would have painted mine. 

Form an X with your dowels and secure together by wrapping thread or yarn around the center.  I couldn't get mine tight enough so I used hot glue to help bond them together as well as the thread.

Step 4: Attach strings to dowels.  

You will tie one string of sewed circles to the X of your dowels and then four strings on each dowel leg.  I simply tied the thread around the dowel and then secured it in place by adding a drop of hot glue. 

Step 5: Attach fishing line to dowels

This was the tricky part for me.  I couldn't figure out a way to keep the mobile balanced, so I ended up tying fishing line to the ends of each dowel leg (and securing with hot glue).  Then I gather the four strings together above the X and tied them in a knot with a long string of fishing line.  I attached the end of the fishing line to a small hook that screwed into the ceiling.