Menu Board

I have a new obsession...it is called Pinterest and it is addicting.  You sign up for the website and you can tag anything online onto your Pinterest page.  They categorize your pins so you can have fashion pins, DIY pins, quilt pins etc. I like it to catalogue crafts I want to do or clothes I want.  In my pinning I came across a menu planner that Emily pinned.  I have a ton of extra picture frames sitting around so I went to the office, got a piece of scrapbook paper and cut it to the frame size.  I made days of the week labels in word and printed them along with the word MENU. I cut it all out and pasted it on the scrapbook paper.  Then I connected an overhead marker from my teaching supply box with some ribbon and hung the menu board in my kitchen. Eventually I want to hot glue magnets on the menu board and put it on the fridge.  Sorry for the poor quality picture but my phone camera flash was reflecting off of the glass.  PS if you have a circut or silhouette this would come out much nicer I am sure.

Nautical Wooden Flag

Do you ever get house envy? I have a major case of it.  It is hard to move around every 6 months to a year and never feel settled in your house.  I see tons of blogs, magazines, TV shows on a daily basis that give me major house envy but there is one that literally makes me green.  Meet The Lettered Cottage and their reading room redo, or before and after pictures of several rooms in their house.  I love it.  White, clean, nautical, beachy, decorated but not overdone. 

How did I find this blog which led to my house envy you may ask?  I saw this post on one of my favorite blogs/websites (u-createcrafts.com) and I was in love. I found that post months ago and I finally created my wooden nautical flag today.  My living room is beach themed in honor of Maryland, my home state. 

But if you know me, you know I like short cuts because I do not like things that take a lot of effort. A few weeks ago my husband made our TV console and we had some extra plywood left over.  I had him cut a piece of that for me and used that to make my flag, instead of buying individual boards, painting them and then screwing them together (too much work!).

So here is what I did:

First I painted the entire board white. I used three coats of white that was watered down a little bit with water.

Then I used tape to set up where I wanted the stripes. I put down three pieces of tape and then removed the middle piece so that the white space was showing. I did this up the entire board. I painted the white sections with two coats of aqua/grey paint. I used two parts aqua and one part grey.  I removed the tape and let it dry.  The blue bled out in some places so I just used a Q Tip and went over those spots with white paint.

I then used some sandpaper and distressed the blue stripes in some places. Then I hot glued on 9 starfish. I like the white starfish from the original blog but I think the orange ones stand out more and that is what they had at Hobby Lobby.

And there is my flag! My flag has more stripes than the original because the tape I had was 2.5 inches wide. Maybe one day I will get my cameras working since all of my blogs since March have used pictures taken with my phone!

Mod Podge Easter Eggs

While the kid in me still loves to dye Easter Eggs it just seems like such a waste of time, money and eggs.  I saw this really neat idea on another blog called Tatertots and Jello where she mod podged strips of scrap booking paper to eggs. I used large plastic Easter Eggs that were a dollar for 6 eggs. Other suggestions I have seen on other blogs were to use wooden eggs, foam eggs or paper mache eggs.  The trick is to cut thin, short strips so that they lay nicely on the oval surface.  WARNING: Your hands will get super messy.  Basically put down a line of mod podge on the egg, lay the paper strip over the mod podge and then using a foam brush or your finger mod podge over the strip you just put down.

I poked out the bottoms of Styrofoam cups to let the eggs dry. You can see the extent of my Easter decorating in the second picture.  The subway art/word collage I found online here! So my Spring/Easter decor cost me a whole dollar, ok two dollars because I bought two packages of eggs!

Mod Podge Tile Coaster

We have been in South Texas for about three and a half weeks now and I am finally settling in.  A week or so ago my neighbor (a fellow Navy wife) came over and saved me from boredom.  We took a trip, actually several, to Hobby Lobby and got supplies to make these cute Mod Podge tile coasters.  They were quick, simple, easy, cheap and cute! After I made them I texted Emily right away to tell her about this simple and cute craft! I miss crafting with her!



Supplies:

Bone color tile from Lowes (19 cents a piece)

Mod Podge

Cocktail sized drink napkins

Glossy spray sealant (located in the same case as spray paint at Hobby Lobby)

Glue gun

cork backing

sponge brush

Directions:

1) Peel apart the layers of the napkin so you just have the top layer.

2) Cut a square out of the napkin that is big enough to cover the top and sides of the tile

3) Spread a layer of Mod Podge on the tile using a sponge brush

4) Carefully lay your napkin piece on the tile with little to no wrinkles

5) Let it set 5-10 minutes then dab another layer of Mod Podge on the top of the napkin and on the sides. (You may need to use your finger for the sides)

6) Let the tile sit over night and then spray with the sealant

7) Hot glue cork to the back of your tile

TIP: Cover your crafting table with newspaper and sit the tiles on plastic cups while Mod Podging and drying. ALSO, napkins with more color show fewer wrinkles!

Do you have an old window hanging around?

So I was Facebook stalking as usual and I saw this pop up in my news feed.

So I asked if I could share this lovely idea.

Before I asked if I could just steal the photo on Facebook I tried briefly Googling "using old window for Christmas cards" and I found this...



http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:wZ3pAMpPjLpvaM:http://www.imagestosmiles.com/window%20mount.jpg&t=1

And I also love this because you can recreate your favorite outside scene. So like me you could bring the beach to Oklahoma! Just thought I'd share!

Let It Snowman, Let It Snowman, Let It Snowman!!!

I have a confession...and an obsession with one thing that deals with winter...Snowmen.  I love them. I have all kinds of snowman ornaments, snowman decorations, snowman pictures, etc.  I have recently seen several snowman crafts that you may enjoy creating.  I have not made these but they were too cute not to share.

Snowman Paint Stick

The 3rd graders at my school made these and they are adorable! The directions and picture are from http://www.familycorner.com/homegarden/crafts/angels_and_snowmen.shtml.

Paint stir stick

small craft or ice cream stick

white & black acrylic paint

orange toothpick

scrap material for scarf

black fine tip marker

green embroidery floss

gold cord

light pink acrylic paint



Paint the stir stick white. Paint the handle end of the stick black. Pain the ice cream stick black, let dry. Glue ice cream stick across from of paint stirrer, this will act as the hat brim. Tie fabric scrap around neck as the scarf.

Make a loop and glue gold cord to the back of the head. Draw on eyes, nose and mouth, as well as belly buttons. Add rosey cheeks with slight touches of pink paint. Glue toothpick in place for nose. Tie floss into a small bow and attach to the front of the hot with hot glue.


Melted Snowman Cookies

From http://www.crazydomestic.com/2010/12/melted-snowman-cookies.html


1 package Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix


10 large marshmallows

Betty Crocker Cookie Icing (white and orange)

Wilton Decorating Icing Tubes in Black, Red, Green, Blue and Pink




Mix cookie mix according to directions, or prepare your favorite cut out sugar cookie recipe, then just grab a golf ball sized chunk and squish it down until it's about 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Do not worry about the shape or how lumpy it is, the more misshapen the better! Bake according to recipe directions.

Once the cookies are cool, load them up with the cookie icing and spread it around with the back of a spoon, let some dribble over the edge for a "puddle" look.


Spray a microwave safe plate with cooking spray, and place marshmallows on the plate. Set the microwave for 30 seconds, but watch the marshmallows as they cook. Stop the microwave as soon as the marshmallows start to get puffy, do not let them double in size.

Spray your fingers with cooking spray or grease them up with shortening, and carefully pull the marshmallows off, by the base, and set them on top of the frosted cookies.


Then just decorate as you'd like with the Wilton frosting, or your own homemade frosting



Felt Christmas Tree

Apparently to get back at me for suggesting the Turkey Oreo cookie making, Emily decided our next project would be these felt Christmas trees, which are actually very cute! So here it is...

Actually this was pretty easy to make! Umm let's see who reads my blogs? Can you tell me whose heads those are in the bottom of my picture?

So here is what you do...

You need:
Around 12 pieces of pre cut felt (I think it is like 10x12) in varying colors of green if you wish
A foam cone (mine is a medium one, not sure the measurements but bigger cones need more felt)
Straight pins
Pinking shears
Small ornaments if you so wish
A tiny tree topper ( I cut a star out of glittery foam)

Cut each of your felt pieces into 12 circles using pinking shears...I believe my circles were 2.5-3 inches in diameter but I know I got twelve out of each piece of felt.

Once your circles are cut, fold a circle in half and then in half again (so it is kind of cone looking). Pin the folded circle at the bottom of your cone to start a row.  The open end of your folded circle should be facing out.  When creating rows, place the folded circles close together in the row but when you start a new row move up the cone a little more than half of an inch. If you don't your rows will get smooshed.  Once your cone is covered you can pin in ornaments and put on a topper!


Here is the link from Family Circle with other pictures and a few more directions....and a circle template!!
http://www.familycircle.com/family-fun/christmas/decorating/felt-holiday-crafts/?page=11