BOO! Blocks

I have been blog hopping lately and have seen a ton of Halloween projects--so I had to make my own! More blocks...I am working on a set for each holiday. So these are my Halloween blocks! The only thing I'm bummed about is that I only get to keep these out for a month!

Tutorial to come :)

Paper Fan-Flower Wreath

I have been in a crafty mood lately....I go in major spurts. One week I will craft all week long...the next I don't want anything to do with crafting. I think that since I only have a couple more months until the baby comes that I am trying to cram in as much crafting as I can. I know that once he comes, I won't have a lot of time to do any crafting. So let's hope this spurt doesn't run out! :) Anyways, on to my latest project.

After making my last project, I was inspired to make a wreath out of the paper fan-flowers! And of course, I had to add a bird :)

Supplies:

An old book (for the paper)
Hot Glue
Wire Wreath
Buttons
Distressing ink
Black bird cut out (i used the cricut cartridge "give a hoot")

Step 1: Make your fan flowers! I used about 6 large, 8 Medium, and 8 small

Step 2: Make your Wreath Form. I made mine out of an old wire hanger. (well my husband made it for me :) )

Step 3: hot glue some black card-stock all around your frame. This won't show, this is just used to glue the flowers onto!

Step 4: Hot glue your flowers onto the card-stock

step 5: hot glue your bird cut out onto the wreath

That's it!

I am participating in the following parties:

Whatever Goes Wednesday

Show and Tell Wednesday

Tute -in-Tuesday

Get Your Craft On

Weekend Wrap Up

Bird Frame with Paper Fan Flower

Remember these frames from my last post? Well I finally figured out what to do with them! Since I kind of have a bird theme for our room, I decided to stick with it and add some more birds!! Plus, I just bought the cricut cartridge "give a hoot" and had to try it out!!

I am loving the bird trend right now! I can't wait to do more bird themed projects! This project was so easy and way inexpensive. It was also a project that can be done in less than an hour! The longest part is making the flowers! Everything else is a piece of cake!

Supplies:

Frame
Mat Board
An old book (that you can tear out the pages)
Mod Podge
Black bird cut out. (I used the cricut cartridge "give a hoot")
Hot Glue
Buttons
Distressing Ink

Step 1: Cut out a piece of mat board to fit your frame. Mine was 10x10

Step 2: Tear out pages of an old book and mod podge them on your mat board

This is what it will look like when you've covered your whole board

Step 3: Mod podge your bird on top of the paper

Step 4: make your Fan-Flowers ( I made one large, one medium, and one small flower for this frame)

Step 5: Hot glue your fan-flowers on your frame

That's it! How easy was that!! I love how it turned out and it definitely goes with the rest of the decor in my room! And the best part was that it didn't cost me a dime! I had all of the supplies on hand from other projects.

I am participating in the following parties:

Make it for Monday, Making the World Cuter Monday, Just Something I Whipped Up, Market Yourself Monday, Motivate Me Monday

$10 Garage Sale Find

A couple weeks ago, I drove by a house who was having a yard sale and saw a huge black shelf! I saw it and new I had to have it!! I know a shelf like this new would cost me close to $100 bucks, so I new I had to buy it!

I got it for ten bucks and it was in such good condition that I didn't have to do anything with it! I just wiped it off really well and decorated it! I have wanted a quilt rack shelf for a while now and I am so happy I found it! We have so many beautiful quilts/afghans that have been made for us and they are just sitting in a box in our closet. So now I have something to show them off with! :)

I think I want to put something in those empty frames....but I'm not sure what! If you have any ideas let me know!

USA Blocks with Tutorial!

Yesterday my mom and I were talking about how we need something patriotic to decorate our homes with. I immediately thought to do some blocks! My parents have a ton of scrap wood at their house and so my dad and my husband cut some blocks out of the wood for us to make our USA blocks!

When brainstorming what I was going to do I decided to do more like an Americana color scheme. I like the deep reds, blues, and the antique whites. I found my paper first and then went from there! I really like how they turned out and now I have something to decorate my house with for the 4th of July! :)

Instructions:

Step 1: Cut out your blocks!

I thought it would be cute to incorporate some smaller blocks with the letter blocks to give it more detail and so for this project you will need three 6" x 6" blocks for the letters and for the little blocks you will need to cut them -- 1 1/2" x 1 1/2"

Step 2:

**make sure you sand your blocks very well, if you don't any paper you mod podge on the blocks with bubble because air can get under it!

Step 3:

Paint your blocks, I used an antique white color and a darker red color for my blocks. You could also incorporate some blue somewhere as well!

Step 4:

Distress your blocks! For this I used my new favorite product Rub n' Buff and also some sandpaper!

Step 5:

Cut out your letters and stars. For the letters I used my Cricut Cartridge Alphalicious and they were cut 4 1/2" tall. The stars are a variety of different sizes from 1" all the way to 3".

Step 6:

Mod podge your letters on your blocks! Make sure you rub the letters flat on the block so you don't get any bubbling later on. Mod podge the small stars on the three blocks as well.

Step 7:

Embellishment Time!

Use your stars, ribbons, and buttons to embellish the stars however you like!

This project is so easy! The hardest part for me was finding the perfect paper!!! :) It was also very inexpensive. The wood didn't cost me a dime so the only thing I really had to buy was some paper and ribbon! I bought enough supplies to make 5 sets for my mom and sisters and it ended up costing about $5.00 for each set! Not too shabby!!

Let me know what you think!!

Repurposed Wooden Crate and my New Favorite Product!!!

Months ago I bought a small wooden crate at my local thrift store. I had no idea what to do with it, until I saw someone hang one on their wall! I couldn't wait to makeover my crate into a wall decoration!

I love how it turned out! There were some minor problems, but in the end it turned out great!

Here is how I made it:

I first painted it a cream color to get started. It took a couple of coats to cover it. I didn't paint it perfectly because I was just going to try to make it look old again.

In order to make it look old I used a product called "Rub 'n Buff." This product is a thick wax-like substance that is AMAZING!! This stuff does wonders! All you have to do is rub it on with your finger or soft cloth and then wipe it off. I also used some sandpaper to make it look a little older. The color I used was called Spanish Copper and I loved it. It has a great brown color with copper undertones. It looks great on my crate and it gave it the old look I really wanted!

I have used a variety of different colors and have been very impressed. I have used it on both metal and wood and it has worked great on both! It is so easy to use and it really adds character to any project! I love making things look old and this product really does the trick! :) The other thing I noticed is the tube seems really small, but a little goes a long way. I have done several projects and have yet to use more than half of a tube. I hope you try it out and love it as much as I do! :) It is an Amaco product and you can find it here for more info!

After I applied my Rub 'n Buff, I used a little sandpaper on some edges to finish it off.

Now let me tell you this crate was a royal pain in my butt! It broke about 3 times and by that time I said the heck with it! I will just keep it broken. It will give it more character! :)

The worst part of this project was hanging it. I tried to hang it twice and after breaking it and fixing it a number of times I made the husband hang it.

To decorate the inside I got some glass bottles and filled them with different colors of buttons. It was simple and easy and I can always change the colors of buttons. I also used a couple of wood blocks. I didn't want to use anything too heavy because apparently this crate was not well made and I didn't want to break it for the fifteenth time!

I love how it turned out and I can't wait to find another crate and make another one! It adds so much more character than just a regular shelf!