Tie-Dye T-Shirt Project

Our softball team didn't want to go through the work of getting a sponsor so we decided not to have one and instead of getting custom printed jerseys we would make our own!  It turned out to be a blast! The team came over to my house, we set up a large table in the garage and we all brought t-shirts, rubber bands, tie-dye kits and of course snacks and drinks! Our shirts turned out AWESOME! Here is the How-To for tie-dye t-shirts!

SUPPLIES:

• Tie dye kit- Complete with bottles and dye!
• T-Shirt
• Rubber bands
• GLOVES! (Our hands were all stained for quite some time because a few of us chose to skip this step!)

DIRECTIONS:

1) Take your t-shirt and the runner bands and start grabbing different sections and bunching and twisting them.  Rope these areas off with a rubber band.


2) Squirt different colors of the dye (after you mix it according to instructions of course!) to the different areas of the shirt


3) let it dry for at least 24 hours


4) Unravel the rubber bands, rinse it in the sink, throw it in the washer and dryer and youre done! here are how ours turned out!....

I did the swirl pattern on mine and if you are interested in the you need to follow these instructions instead... 


1) Pinch the shirt in the center


2) Swirl the T-shirt in a circle around the pinch as tightly as possible, you will form a circle.


3) Take the rubber bands and wrap the shirt creating wedges... like this... 


4) Dye each wedge a different color, I chose rainbow order just because I think it's pretty! 




This is how mine turned out after I LOVE IT!!! 

Here is our entire team with their lovely handmade tie-dye uniforms!

GO KILLA BEEZ!

Folded Cloth Flower Pins

I was bored and cruising around StumbleUpon when I ran across this  AWESOME idea complete with a How To video! I immediately ran out and bought the supplies and made a ton of flowers.  I made four for a bag and then I made about 15 others and turned them into ornaments and gave them as Christmas gifts.  Here is the How To...

SUPPLIES:

• Fabric
• Glue
• Needle
• Thread
• Buttons

DIRECTIONS:

Follow these instructions at this link...

Kanzashi Fabric Folded Flower Craft Project at WomansDay.com - Woman's Day

Here are how mine turned out!

Refurbished Rocking Chair Part One

I wanted a rocking chair for my front porch because i live in the country and enjoy drinking coffee in the morning and reading outside.  I found this one at the local Goodwill store for only $20 so i bought it. The wood was split down the middle and really dirty so it took some work to revitalize it but now it is looking good and almost complete.  Here is the how to for sprucing up old furniture and refurbishing chairs...

SUPPLIES:

• Rocking Chair
• Sanding Blocks
• Wood Glue
• A Wet Towel
• Sealer and Primer Spray Paint

DIRECTIONS:

 




1) Take the wood glue and seal each crack of the chair.  You have to hold it for awhile until it sticks or it will shift and dry off center.






















2) Once it is dry, take the chair outside on a nice day and sand every single part of it.  This will remove the grimy top layer and reveal fresh wood.  It will also open the pores up for your sealer and primer to sink in.











3) Spray every surface of the chair with the sealer and primer.  Let it dry.

YOU'RE DONE WITH PART ONE! Here is how it should look!

Wine Cork Coasters

I have a lot of painted furniture and therefore am obsessed with coasters so the finish doesn't get ruined.  I have been wanting to craft some coasters of my own but couldn't find an idea that i really liked and wanted to recreate until i found this one.  It involves wine corks and I happen to have a ton.  I have been saving them from our Girls Nights and have some friends from a local bar who gave me an entire Crown Royal bag full of corks from the bar.  Here is the How To...

SUPPLIES:

• Corks
• Hot Glue
• Strong Scissors
• Ribbon

DIRECTIONS:

1) Take your wine corks and cut them in fourths. It takes alot of muscle and strong scissors but it can be done!

2) Glue the pieces together with the hot glue gun side by side to form a circle.

3) Let it dry and glue a ribbon around the outside (if you don't want to it does look cool with the sides of the wine corks showing so you can skip this step if you like it as is!)

YOU'RE DONE!

Here is how they should look....

Chalkboard Wine Glasses

I host a Girls Night once a week with my best friends.  We hang out, chat, eat all sorts of good snack and of course, drink wine!  As our girls night became more popular we had more and more attendees.  Now, there are about 6-8 regulars.  With this increased number my amount of available wine glasses was decreasing and we were getting mixed up as to whose wine glass was whose. That is where I felt this project came in handy! I will show you how to use one of my favorite craft supplies (chalkboard paint!) and some wine glasses to make sure you don't ever have the issue of not knowing which glass is yours.  Here is the How To!

 

SUPPLIES:

• Wine Glasses
• Chalkboard Paint
• Tape
• Chalk

DIRECTIONS:

1) Take the wine glasses and wrap a strip of tape 1/4 a way up the stem of the glass around it creating a straight line.

2) Spray the bottom of each glass with a few coats of Chalkboard paint below the strip of tape.

3) Let it dry.

4) Peel off the tape and write your name on the base of your glass! TADA!


You're done!  Here is how it should look...

Mod Podge

Mod Podge is one of my favorite crafting supplies, you can use it for practically anything! It is a glue, a sealer, a glaze, a decoupage product and many other things. 

They also have so many different kinds of Mod Podge out there!  On their website... The Mod Podge Website , you can see all of the different kinds from Antique to Gloss and they even have a link to their own craft blog. 

On their blog they show all different types of projects you can do that incorporate Mod Podge. It was really awesome!  Here is the link to that blog...Mod Podge Rocks! I may have to craft some of their ideas and show you how mine turn out!

Here is an image of their sample pack.. I want it!

I used Mod Podge for my "Silhouette ‘Birds in a Tree’ Wall Art ... here is a link to that How-To in case you haven't seen it!: Silhouette 'Birds in a Tree' Wall Art.  I want to use it for other projects, I have some more in mind so I am excited about that!

What are your Mod Podge experiences?

Hanging Party Decor

We had a New Years Eve Party this year and wanted to make some homemade decorations.  Here is a Hot To on one of them that we decided on! 

SUPPLIES:

• Card stock Paper - All different kinds (I chose the glitter kind for effect)
• Ribbon- All different kinds
• Scissors
• Glue
• Tacks
• Hole Punch

DIRECTIONS:

1) Glue the large pieces of paper together back to back so that the image or color/glitter is facing out on those sides.

2) Cut all different sized circles out of each sheet. 

3) Punch a hole and the top and bottom of each circle

4) String the hole from the top of one circle to the bottom of the other to make a chain.

You can do as many or as few as you'd like, we did about 8 on each chain and then hung them  by a tack from the ceiling.  They looked really cute and sparkled as they turned, it was easy, cheap and fun!

What do you think?

Homemade Gift- Cookie Jar w/ Recipe

I made these jars as Christmas gifts for close family and friends and they came out really nice.  You just take a mason jar and cookie recipes and fill the jar with all of the dry ingredients needed for the cookie you chose, type up a recipe card and decorate the jar!  It was really fun and the cookies turned out great.   I made Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, Cranberry Hootycreeks and Toffee Blondies. Here is the How-To and some photos!

SUPPLIES:

• Mason Jar with Lid
• Ribbon
• Felt
• Patterned Fabric
• Hot Glue Gun/ Glue
• Scissors
• Card-stock Paper
• Computer with Printer
• All dry cookie ingredients

DIRECTIONS:

1) Take your mason jar and layer each dry ingredient from your cookie recipe carefully.  You want them to be straight across so that you can see it is layered and so it looks nice! I used a spoon to spread and even out the sugar, flour and what not in the jar on the sides before adding the next layer. 

 (I forgot to take an 'in process' layering photo so I found this one on 

the internet to illustrate my point, hope it helps!)

2) Now that you have all of your dry ingredients layered you need to type up a recipe card with the directions on how to make the cookies.   I put all of the ingredients that are in the jar and their measurements listed in a column on one side and then what they needed to add in a second column and then the instructions for mixing and baking underneath.  I typed them up in a fun font and printed them out on decorated paper.  Then I cut them out with scissors that had decorated edges so it looked more fun. 

3) I used a ribbon and wrapped the recipe card against the jar and tied the ribbon tight so that the card was attached to the jar but easily removable by untying the bow. 

4) Then I took the lid of my jar and cut a square piece off felt long enough to cover the side of the metal lid and hang over a bit so it looked nice.  I glued the patterned fabric to the felt and glued the entire thing to the lid.  Then I used the same ribbon used to attach the card to tie around the rim of the lid and over the felt for extra security and decor.  

Here is how they turned out...  

I LOVED THEM! I think it was a nice gift and they were fun to make and they are easy to enjoy.  We kept a jar for our self and we loved it too!

What do you think?  

Ribbon Organizer

For Christmas I decided to make homemade gifts for the people I care about.  I love to craft and thought spending time making things would be more fun then analyzing the store shelves and searching for the perfect gift.  I decided on making ornaments for Christmas trees as well as Cookie Recipe Jars.  I will be posting a 'How-To' on both of those shortly but that isn't the point of this post.  The point of this post is to tell you both of those crafts required a lot of different kinds of ribbon to make them unique and my ribbons were not well organized, until now!  


At first I just had a bin under my craft table where I would stack the miscellaneous spools of ribbon but that became really messy so quickly!  Because it was such a mess I decided to research some organization techniques for all of my ribbons, that is when I found this AWESOME idea!  


All you need is a plastic basket/container with little holes along the side and a long skinny kabob stick of some kind.  You place the ribbons on the stick via the hole in the center of the spool and stick it inside the basket and then poke the end of the ribbon out of a hole and you have easy access to a well organized supply of ribbon! Here is a visual so you can see what I am talking about.  I highly recommend organizing your ribbons his way, it is cute and easy to use!

I highly recommend organizing your ribbons his way,

 it is cute and easy to use!

Refurbished Side Table

I found this tri-fold table in my mothers basement and decided I could refurbish it.   I wanted to make it a cool side table to match our dark wood end table that is between the plants with the green drawer from an earlier post.  Here is the how to!

SUPPLIES:

• Table
• Chalkboard Paint
• Painters Tape
• Colored Paint
• Paint Brush
• Sandpaper

DIRECTIONS:

1) Take the table and make sure it is sanded smooth.


2) Tape off the sides of the table (and in the case of mine the center where it folds!)


3) Clean off the top and spray paint it with a few coats of the chalkboard paint. I believe the can says at least three.





4) Once it is dry remove that tape and tape the top edges.


5) Hand paint the edges (and in my case center) with the color that you chose.  I chose green to match a drawer on another piece of furniture in our house that I mentioned above. 


6) Let it dry and you're done!! 




Here is my photos and how they turned out!....

What do you think? What would you do differently?

Chalkboard Paint

I have a serious obsession with chalkboard paint.  I love being able to write little messages and doodle on my furniture and chalkboard paint affords me that luxury! Thankfully, Brian likes it too!  Chalkboard paint is so cool and really easy to use.  I have done two vases, four terracotta pots and a table so far and they have all turned out awesome on all surfaces, glass, terracotta and wood.  You just do a few thin coats (at least 3) and then once is it dry you rub a piece of chalk over the entire surface, erase it and you are good to go!  The paint even looks cool when it isn't being drawn on or utilized.  It is a flat, matte black paint that matches with everything.  I want to use it for everything now!  The cost is about $7 a can and it covers a lot of area.  

                              Here is my favorite kind...

Here is a link to the Krylon Chalkboard Paint Site!

If you are looking for a cool way to spruce up an item I would definitely recommend the Chalkboard paint.  You can get it in spray paint or a can.  I think it looks great and it is really fun.  You can change the piece you've painted daily with new drawings or words, you can send notes and you can have fun with your furniture!

Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts

I have been obsessed with crafting for awhile now and the people closest to me have, for obvious reasons, realized this.  Well, come Christmas time this year, much to my enjoyment, I received a lot of gifts pertaining to my hobby.  One of them was from my dear boyfriend Brian. He gave me the COOLEST book! It is called...

"Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts: 

An A-to-Z Guide with Detailed Instructions and Endless Inspiration."  

It is FULL of ideas and How To's on all sorts of different crafts like botanical pressing, decoupage, rubber stamping and glass etching. I am SO excited! So, if you are looking for a new project I would buy this book. It is full of tons of inspirational ideas and how-to's, it is very detailed and the ideas are great.

Mason Jar Key Holder Part 2

Ok, here is Part 2!

SUPPLIES:

• 2 Hooks for your keys
• Hammer
• Nails
• A Pipe Clamp
• A Mason Jar
• Fake Flowers
• Picture Hangers
• A Ruler

DIRECTIONS:

1) Nail in the picture hangers on the back first, it will be harder to do this when there are hooks on the front because the board won't lay flat. 


2) Measure three places on the front of the board that you want your hooks and the decorative jar to be.


3) Nail in the two hooks for your keys in the holes you have measured.


4) Nail in the pipe clamp for the mason jar.  


5) Slip the jar in the clamp, tighten it and add the fake flowers.  You're done!!


Here is the photo of my key holder, I love it.  Brian uses it every day so my kitchen table is free of his keys and it looks nice at the entry way to our home.

What flowers would you chose? Would you do something different? 

Mason Jar Key Holder Part 1

How I wanted a place for our keys when we came home because Brian kept putting his on the kitchen table and it was ruining my decor.  I previously kept mine in my purse but would constantly get irritated when I couldn't find them (I tend to always have rather large purses...). Anyway, through www.StumbleUpon.com I found this awesome idea and got to it right away.  It's a big project so I am going to do it in two staged.  Here is Part 1.

SUPPLIES:

• A Wooden board
• Grey Spray Paint
• A Tea Light Candle
• Off White Latex Paint 
• A Paint Brush
• Sandpaper

DIRECTIONS:

1) Take your board and spray paint it grey.  


2) When it dries take the candle and rub the wax on the corners and in random spots on the board.  This is actually a really cool painting technique.  On top of the grey spray paint you are going to paint a coat of the latex paint.  Then after it dries you are going to sand it in the places where you rubbed off the wax from the candle.  It makes a really cool antique look because the grey paint shines through slightly and it looks like worn wood.  


3) After the spray paint dried and you have rubbed off the wax onto the board in the places you like, paint it with a coat of latex paint.


4) When the paint dries lightly sand the board focusing on the areas that you waxed.  


Here is what it should look similar to...

That's Part 1! Part 2 to come! 

Scrapbook Paper Tree Branch Centerpiece

This is one of the coolest centerpieces I have ever made.  I get a ton of compliments on it and it fits every season.  I saw a similar idea from a Pinterest post but altered it a bit.  It was a tedious task because it involved lots of cutting and gluing but it is something you can do over time while just watching a movie or relaxing with friends.  Plus, you can do what I did have solicit help cutting out leaves :) 


Here is the How-To...

SUPPLIES:

• TONS of Scrapbook Paper, I have no clue how many sheets I used but it was a lot!
• Scissors
• Tree Branches
• Glue (I LOVE the GEM-TAC, here is the link to a previous post I did about how awesome it is...  GEM-TAC Post)
• Vase
• Sand
• Chalk

DIRECTIONS:

1) Fold your scrapbook paper in half.  Cut leaves out with the sheet back to back, that way they are the same shape with the design on both sides.  You are going to need a million of these! 


2) Glue the leaves together. You glue both blank sides of the paper together so the design view is facing outward on both sides of the leaf.  You may need to trim them up a bit to make sure they match and there isn't any white paper sticking out.


3) Once they have dried you need your tree branches.  Now you want to glue each leaf to the branches in the same design as nature.  Try to mimic how real trees produce leaves by placing your fake leaves in locations that are similar to a tree outside. I also found it easier to curl the end of the paper leaf I was gluing it around the branch and then place the glue in the curl and wrap it around the branch.  You may have to hold the leaf in the position you want for a minute so the glue can firm up and will keep the leaf in the position you planned. 

4) Let the branches full of leaves dry and take your vase (I spray painted mine with Chalkboard paint because I thought it would look cool and wrote 'Bloom' on it in script) and fill it with sand.  Once the branches are dry the sand in the bottom of the vase will give you the ability to position them and the security to help them stand on their own.  

You're done! here is my final product! Thoughts?

What would you do differently?

Chalkboard Plant Pots

I also love to bake, cook and garden as well as craft. It was actually a difficult decision choosing which subject to blog on, crafting obviously won! That being said, this next project does have some overlap from my other hobbies. I have a garden every summer where I grow green beans, carrots, cucumbers, gourds (for bird houses), cat nip and various other things.  I hate only having them in the summer though so I decided I would plant some fresh herbs in the winter indoors and that way I would be able to have at least fresh parsley, mint, basil and oregano when i make sauces or bruschetta or other things that require these herbs.  Then of course I decided to get crafty with it haha.  Here is my how-to.. 

SUPPLIES:

• 4 Ceramic Terracotta Pots (with matching water catching dishes)
• Painters Tape
• Chalkboard Paint
• Chalk
• Seeds ( I chose mint, parsley, oregano and basil)
• Dirt
• Water

DIRECTIONS:

1) Tape off the top thick rim of the ceramic pot with the painters tape.  I did this because I did not want the entire pot to be chalkboard. I liked the contrast of the terracotta color with the black of the chalkboard paint.  

2) Once it is taped off then you can begin spraying with the chalkboard spray paint.  I did multiple thin coats because I have found that works best.

3) Let it dry and remove the tape.. 

4) Write the names of the seeds you are going to plant on each pot with the chalk.  Just make sure the name you write correlates with the seed you plant! All of the seeds look so similar and the plants when they grow are hard to tell apart sometimes also so be careful! 

5) Plant your seeds! I put the dirt in, wet it and add the seed on time.  Then I lightly brush some dirt over them.  

6) Now place them in front of a window that receives a lot of sunlight and wait for them to grow!

You're done! Here is how mine turned out! 

Now I have fresh herbs all of the time! 

It's great!

What seeds would you plant?!

Refurbished End Table

We wanted a small table to place between all of our plants in the front window to break up the series of plant stands.  It seemed like fate when we stumbles across this gorgeous little stained dark wood end table in the clearance section of Target. There was one problem though, it was sitting in the clearance section but it didn't have a clearance price sticker on it... or any damage.  We saw an employee walking around and asked her what the deal was with it, she was REALLY nice and she understood our issue ;) so she ever so kindly peeled off the sticker on another clearance item and placed it onto our end table.  She then told us if there was any question at the register just to have the cashier page her and she would call and confirm the price. Needless to say, this table was WAY cheaper than it should have been.   Yay!  Anyway, we took the table home and it looked nice among the colorful flowers and green of the plants but it didn't quite match.  That is where my craft idea comes in! I decided to paint the drawer of the table a bright green to tie in with the plants and to make the table a little bit more funky.  Now instead of just looking nice, it looks AMAZING! 


Here is the How-To!

SUPPLIES:

• Table
• Paint
• Painters Tape
• Screw Driver
• Paint Brush

DIRECTIONS:

1) Take the drawer out that you want to paint.

2) Unscrew the handle and remove it, place it somewhere safe so you don't lose it!

3) Tape off the sides and bottom of the drawer so that you don't get paint all over. Also, you may want to put something in the hole where the handle goes to keep it from filling with paint and causing the handle not to fit.

4) Paint your drawer the color you chose! I did a few coats.

5) Let it dry, put it back together and you're done!

I tried to find our exact end table on Target.com to use in a before photo but I couldn't so sorry about not having a before and after photo!
BUT

  I really like how it turned out and it matches really well now!

What do you think? What would you have done differently? 

Colorful Doormat Part 2

Ok so by now our doormat slates should be primed, sealed and dried! On to Part 2...!

SUPPLIES:

• 14 Different Colors of Paint
• Paint Brushes
• Thick Rope (it has to fit through the holes you drilled!)
• Scissors

DIRECTIONS:

1) Pick your color layout! I chose 14 different colors from the Martha Stewart Paint Testers I bought at Home Depot.  Once you've chosen them, paint each board.  I did a few coats on each and painted the entire thing, not just the top.  

2) Let them dry

3) Rope them together!  This is actually more complex then it seems.  I estimated the length of the rope needed, cut it longer for a margin of error (I think I did like 6 ft) and dipped the end in glue so it was easier to thread (it was kinda split before).  Now take your rope, tie a knot about 3 inches from the end, take a board and thread the longer side (not the 3 inch end) through the the hole in the board. Once you've strung it all the way through the 6 ft rope strand to the 3 inch knot tie another knot on the other side.  String one side of each board this way until you've done all 14.  They should all be on the same string with nothing but a rope knot between them. Like this... 

 It was ok with me if they were a bit uneven because I am really into the homemade imperfect look.  I do blame the Home Depot guy though!

Oh and here is a bonus photo of my cat Monster he decided to rest in the box that my boards where drying on once I took them off of the top :)

4) Now do the exact same thing to the other side, loop them through and knot them. 

You're done and it hopefully looks similar to this now!...

Tada! I really LOVE it. 

 These photos do not do the colors justice, I am going to take a day light photo and post it soon!

How did yours turn out? What did you do differently?