Creative Chaos

Finally Done Here

2010-01-22T10:20:00.000-08:00

It was brought to my attention this morning (thank you Jessica), that awhile back, I said that I wanted to have all my posts on one blog. So, that begins today. No more posting on this blog. But it will stay up and running, if you want to check out any of the past projects.

This means, if you have me bookmarked or are a follower of Creative Chaos, please click on over to Farmgirl Chaos and bookmark and follow that instead.

Thanks. See you over there! :)

Saw Happy!

2010-01-22T07:18:00.000-08:00

A couple weeks ago, I came across this awesome blog! If you are like me, you have flipped through a catalog from Pottery Barn (& kids), Land of Nod, Crate and Barrel...you get the idea...and there are many items that you might love to have, but don't want to pay the high price tag. That's where this blog comes in handy. Ana will give you step by step details on how to construct may of the same items, for a fraction of the price.

For me, my first project will hopefully be a bench for my dining table! However, living in an apartment, it makes any type of sawing and construction difficult.

But after reading a few posts from other people, I guess at some hardware stores, they will cut the wood to size for you. So maybe I can do it.

The only thing I need now....a drill! Or one of those little multi-purpose hand tools. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to get?

Thanks to Stephanie for giving me the idea to actually post about my find. I guess I'm not very good at sharing at times. I'll have to work on doing better with that!

Calendar Cover Up

2010-01-21T13:10:00.000-08:00

While iced in yesterday, I finally decided on an idea to help cover this thing up.
Isn't it just lovely? It is in the hallway that leads to the bathroom and bedroom. In the past, I had a big calendar there that I would write on. However, there were numerous mornings where it was very inconvenient to move it when I would have to flip the breaker due to the great wiring job in my apartment.

This year, I decided to go a little smaller. Something that would be easy to move, but still look stylish. And this is what I ended up with.

Much better, don't you think? Here's a closer view of it.

The calendar was a gift from Rachael and Crystal who put this together for Gift-A-Palooza {Day 18} at JessicaSprague.com. I did alter the calendar to fit my needs....I didn't add any pictures. I do have 1 niece and 3 nephews, but how do you pick who you will put on for that month? In addition, I was also able to make the calendar part a little bigger, but still fit the space I was working with.

I then took a piece of thin cardboard I found somewhere, and covered it with scrapbook paper. I took some scallop scissors to the bottom of the product, but think I will do the other sides as well.

I don't remember where I got the clips that are holding the calendar up. I believe it is either a Stampin' Up set or something I got off Scrapbook Steals awhile back. These clips are great! They hold all 12 pages just fine. And it will be nice when I switch to the next month. I can easily remove the past month to show the current month. And if I feel like keeping the past month in the pile, I will just move it too the back of the stack.

There is a magnet holding the calendar to the door of the fuse box. It is blue, with a bunch of writing on it. So I changed that as well. Just traced the shape on to some textured white cardstock and cut it out. I added some brown with white polka dots ribbon to it, topped off with the year.

As you might have noticed, there really is no room to write anything on this calendar. I am okay with that. I carry around 2 calendars with me daily, so I don't really need to have another calendar with all my activities. I think 2 is more than enough. When I did have the bigger hall calendar, I was always trying to keep it up to date, and it just didn't work.

The finished product isn't exactly what I was wanting. I messed up and punched holes in the calendar as well as the cardboard piece. But I made do for now. I have already printed off some new calendars, and will be getting them up soon.

Simple and easy, but it sure looks much better than what was there!

Be sure to check out JessicaSprague.com for some great projects and ideas.

And Another Swap!

2010-01-08T11:35:00.000-08:00

Well, here's another fun one to sign up for with Irish Rose Creations! Sign up by January 22nd for another chance to receive a 'sweet' swap from me. :)

(Click on the button above.)

Valentine's Day Swap

2010-01-08T11:30:00.001-08:00

Who would like to join me and sign up for this swap? Head on over to Audrey's Country Crafts and sign up before January 17! Maybe you will get a 'sweet' item from me!

(Just click on the picture above.)

Ribbon & Bead Necklace

2010-01-07T11:26:00.000-08:00

While on one of my numerous kid wrangling adventures, I fell in love with one little girl's necklace. Picture this....black shiny beads and ribbon. Love it! Funny thing was, it was her play necklace. For dress up. Lucky her!

What do I do? I decid that I need to make myself one. I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up my supplies. They were either half price or I used a 40% off coupon. I don't remember which was which. But here are the supplies to start.

With the model necklace, the ribbon was strung through the beads. But because these beads were smaller, the ribbon would not fit through. So I decided to use thread and 'sew' a necklace. After having to remake the necklace due to the little thread breaking while watching other kiddos, I would strongly encourage you to get some nylon thread. It's in the jewelry making aisle as well. It is much thick and should hold up much more nicely.

Here's my finished product. I tied the ribbon in the back in to a bow that can be adjusted to be longer or shorter. Hey, it makes it easier to accessorize with different outfits!

For Christmas, I made Gina a necklace very similar to this. Her beads are different, but I think I liked hers more.

I hope to make myself a brown one like this as well, once I can find some beads I like.

There are many different variations that could be done to this necklace. So have fun with different beads and types of ribbon. I used sheer ribbon, so the beads would stand out more. But it would be fun to do a solid colored ribbon with many colorful beads.

Happy crafting!

Finally....Giveaway Winner

2009-12-08T20:37:00.000-08:00

Well, I gave up on the camera, and just went with random.org. Sorry it took so long.

And here's the winner.......2. Christy! Let me know what you'd like Christy, and I will get it to you soon.

However, because it is snowing right now, I've decided I will give everyone 1 coaster of their choice. So let me know what you want! For those of you that live in the area, hopefully I can give the coaster to you at church or in passing sometime. For the rest of you, please send me your mailing address. I will try to contact you all as well by email.

Remember to let me know what you would like stamped on the coaster, if you want it in black or brown, and what color of tile you'd like.

If you are getting snowed in as well, I hope you have a fantastic day Wednesday. I don't know yet if I will be working or not. If not....I will definitely be working in the craft room.

Happy crafting!

Wait For It...

2009-12-05T21:08:00.000-08:00

Due to some technical difficulties (which means trying to upload pictures from my camera to the laptop), the giveaway winner won't be announced until Monday. I will be back in the office then and will be able to include pictures.

Thanks to everyone who entered!

Christmas Wreath

2009-12-02T07:10:00.000-08:00

This year I have been seeing a LOT of wreaths...but square ones. I link of like that...a LOT. So, I thought I would finally venture out and make myself a square wreath. I had nothing extra on hand, so had to purchase everything. I began by adventure by picking up a plain wood frame from Hobby Lobby and an extra swag of greenery at KMart. I had that sitting around my place for a few days, but never got to it since I thought it would be better to use a staple gun instead of my glue gun.

Then on Sunday, I took a trip to another town and visited Michaels. Outside the store in their 'sale' bins, I saw a round wreath for $2. It was fairly small, looked decent, and the wire on the back was nice and bendable.

With the wreath in hand, I proceeded throughout the store, and came across some fun ornaments made for wreaths, that had a wire where the hook normally goes. After I picked out which ornaments I wanted, I proceeded to the Christmas ribbon. I finally decided on a cream/gold ribbon that had some fun swirls in it. Originally, I had a different plan of what I was going to do with this wreath, but that didn't work out, so I used the ribbon in a different way. In the end, it was under $10 for all the supplies to make the wreath.

To begin, the nice and round wreath (with the tag still on it).
I bent the wreath in half both directions in order to get the 4 corners bent for the square.

It's close to being square.

How it looks from the front. It doesn't look entirely square, but it sure doesn't look round. I guess that is what you get when you pick up a 'children's wreath', instead of an adult wreath. But oh well.

After making a mess with the little bit of glitter that is on the ornaments, I worked on my wreath hanger. You can't tell, but this hanger is silver. I grabbed it for dirt cheap at Target after Christmas last year. Since the ornaments have gold in them, I didn't want this silver hook to throw everything off. So I covered it with ribbon. (Not the ribbon shown....that was one of the ribbons I was planning on using, but changed my mind.)

The final product! I like it! I'm very happy with how it turned out. And yes, I know doesn't look centered on my door. At the time, it wasn't. But after removing a nail, I can tell you it now sits centered on the door.

So now go and give this project a whirl. It was really easy. I didn't even use any glue on the ornaments. I just used the wire that was attached to them to wrap around the wreath, and they are staying put.

Happy Crafting!

Craft Time....Giveaway Time!

2009-12-02T06:56:00.001-08:00

More coasters!! Some of these are for gifts, some are for a handmade gift exchange, some are to add more to mom's stash, some are for me.

In the spirit of the season, I thought I would give away a set of coasters. The winner gets a customized set. To enter, leave a comment of what handmade gifts you will be making this year (or buying if you don't do much crafting) and that is all! Well, if your name is not linked to a blog, please list your email address as well so I can get in touch with you if you win. I will randomly draw for a winner on Saturday, Dec 7. So sign up!

Be sure to look through some of the other coasters in my posts to see if there is anything special you would like. And if you would like to place an order for a set, I am selling them for $10 plus S&H. 2 sets for $15 plus S&H. More than that, we can talk. :) Just send me an email to farmgirl.chaos (at) gmail (dot) com with your order.

I haven't yet ventured in to selling on Etsy...but have thought about it. Any suggestions?

Crafts Galore!

2009-10-20T22:26:00.000-07:00

While spending a sick day at home on Tuesday, I thought I would try to be a little productive and work on some craft projects to sell to a friends mom, to stock her new store. The fun thing about the store, I was told that she hopes to sell things that people make or make better.

Here we go. I decided to make some labels for my items. Not exactly ideal...but it worked for now. Anybody have any suggestions of where to get some great and fun tags?

Now on to the first project. I picked up these coasters at Salvation Army. Actually, all of things I made better came from Salvation Army.

I sanded them a bit just to rough them up so the spray adhesive would stick. Then I added the paper, a little inking done to the edges, and there you go.

SO MUCH BETTER! Hmm. Too bad I don't keep these for myself. I'm sure someone will enjoy them.

Up next...more coasters! However, these are tile coasters. I used a variety of stamps, and the black and brown Staz-On stamp pad.

(I have a set of the above for myself. My favorite! 4 different belt buckles.)

I believe the next project was probably one of the most dramatic. I like it a lot! First off, we have gross and boring.

Then we come to this. Clean and rustic looking.

This dome display looked pretty bad as well. I had to take some Goo-Gone to the glass part to clean off who knows what. For the base, I sanded it quite well, both top and bottom.

With a couple layers of brown paint and clean glass, you get this.

Last of the big projects...a little crate for a set of coasters. I sanded the wood just so the paint would stick. And it goes from this...

...to this, in just a few minutes.

And because I didn't think I had enough to do, I decided to finally jazz up some hand sanitizer bottles. I will be taking the 2 right bottles to one of the schools I serve. The counseling secretaries enjoy stamping and making cards, so I thought they would enjoy these as well. The one on the left is for me. I thought I should keep something finally. :)

Finally, I decided to bring some life to a notebook I will be using to keep track of the things I make for Farmgirl Chaos.

I hope you enjoyed what you saw. If you have any questions about any of the projects, please let me know. I'd be happy to help.

Happy Crafting!

Boo Re-do

2009-10-14T07:36:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, I visited the local Salvation Army. I wanted to see what I could find that I could re-do/re-craft and make in to something good. I picked up a few things, and finally worked on one little item late last night. So pardon the pictures...I guess this is what you get at 11pm.

Here is the picture frame I picked up. (At this point in time, I already removed the glass and the back stand piece.
Getting ready to paint the frame. I did nothing to prepare this frame but wipe it off. Next time, instead of going right for the black paint, I will do a base coat to cover up the blue and the little flowers. The reason being...after it dried, I sanded the edges a littel bit, and the blue started showing through. I was fine with it, since one of the papers I used had a little blue in it. After I painted the entire frame (not just where the blue was...since they left some spots bare), I cut out a black piece of cardstock to fit the entire frame. I then cut 3 little pieces of patterned paper and glued them to the black cardstock so they showed through the frame correctly. I then put a b-o-o sticker on each of the different pieces of paper. (I originally thought of having them be glittered...but wasn't in the mood for it last night.) After the stickers were on and everything was together, I decided that the stickers needed a little 'pop'. So I took a gold marker pen that I have and outlined the letters. Not as fun as if I would have used glitter, but I'm fine with that. It suits my style a little more.

And the finished product.

Here's a close up, where you can see the outline of the letters a little better.

Because of having the 'boo' part on one sheet of cardstock, I can easily change this out for every season. Something simple and easy to do with any scraps of paper and stickers. So have fun with it!

Happy Crafting!

Glitter Pumpkins

2009-10-01T11:38:00.000-07:00

This season, I am noticing a ton of pumpkins that are blinged out in glitter. I thought I would join that bandwagon, and make a little 'fall' tray for Denean, who's fighting hard against her cancer.
I started by cutting the scrapbook paper to fit the tray. Not an easy task with all the crazy/uneven angles. Then I took the unfinished wood tray from Hobby Lobby, and painted it brown. I did 2 coats on this tray, since the wood really soaked up the color. Once it was dry, I used the spray adhesive to glue the paper to the tray. I've never used this stuff before, and I'm not sure what I think about it. It did a great job with no bubbles or anything. But I did have to paint over the edges again, since I could see some of the residue on the sides. Once that was all done and dry, I sanded the edges a bit to weather it. Final step with the tray was putting a layer of Mod Podge over the scrapbook paper to help seal it in there.

Next up...glittering the pumpkins.

I used Mod Podge again as the glue for the glitter. For the single orange pumpkin, I mixed orange and white glitter. I then spread Mod Podge all around the pumpkin, even the bottom, but made sure to keep it off the stem. As soon as I had all the MP on, I started putting the glitter on. For some reason, the orange/white glitter stuck together in the container, so didn't sprinkle the best. But, at least you can't tell on the pumpkin now.

I then did the same thing to the pink pumpkins. That glitter was much easier to sprinkle.
After the glue was dried and the glitter in place, I sprayed a clear coat over the pumpkins, in hopes that not much more glitter will fall off. Then once that was dry, I painted the stems brown on the 3 pumpkins. I liked the brown better than the cream that it was.

And now the end product.

It's nothing too fancy, but I think it will look cute sitting on a side table or on a dresser.

I purchased the tray, hay bales, and scrapbook paper at Hobby Lobby. Only the paper was not on sale. The others were between 30-50% off.

I know it is a bit early....but I also gathered so Christmas decorations, since they were 50%. It was too good to pass up.

Oh, forgot to mention, for the glittered pumpkins to dry, I placed two straws on wax paper. It worked great, and the pumpkins did not stick to the straws.

Happy crafting!

Frilly Flower Bucket

2009-09-27T19:48:00.000-07:00

On the drive home after the benefit a couple of weeks ago, I was wondering what I would do with the flowers, ribbons, as well as scrapbook paper. There was a lot of it, and I don't usually do a whole lot of projects with pink in them.

Back track to about an hour earlier that evening. I was taking all the flowers out of the ball jars and putting them in the 5 gallon bucket to transport them home easier. In the end, the bucket looked awesome! Since the flowers got cut down to go in the jars, they bunched together very nicely, and looked great.

Now return to the drive home. I got to thinking about the flowers again, and knew that mom has ice cream buckets that she keeps, because they are just too handy at times. I got to thinking that I have LOTS of ribbon. I got to thinking that I have scrapbook paper. I got to thinking that there are lots of flowers. And there you go....my frilly flower bucket.

So as soon as I got home, I got to work on the bucket. The hardest part....taking the brads out of ALL the ribbons, then tying the ribbon to the bucket handle. Once I got that paper on and all the ribbons tied on, I put the flowers in, and then completely forgot to take a picture of it! Can you believe that?

Thanks to a church friend, she got a picture of it when she visited Denean one day. (Please don't mind the look of the flowers. They looked much better when she got them...not wilted or droopy.)

If you are wanting to spread some cheer to a person, but in a unique way, try this out. It's so much more fun that just a plain vase. This frilly flower bucket could someday be used for another purpose.

Happy crafting!

Bath Sign

2009-09-23T07:45:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday evening, I was finally able to get to my brother and sister-in-law's house to check out the 'bath' sign I made when Lindsey was redoing colors and decor in the bathroom. I got to help her pick out the colors, which was fun. They are a chocolate brown and a neat blue color. The walls got painted tan, and the trim and cabinets are white. I guess I should have just taken a picture of the bathroom, but didn't think about that then.

Here's the sign I made that works perfectly in the bathroom. The colors match quite well, which was a surprise to me since I just mixed the tan and the blue on my own.
(And yup, the same picture twice. One with flash and one without. Since it was about 8pm, no much natural light coming in to help out.)

I picked up the knobs at Hobby Lobby, and they are great. They weren't what I was originally looking for. But in the end, I think they work better than the others would have.

Anybody want one?

Happy Crafting!

Tile Coasters

2009-09-20T12:06:00.000-07:00

For the benefit that was last night, I decided to make some coasters.

When I got the tiles, I had addition gift ideas in mine. I knew I was going to make one set for my mom...the far right column, since her birthday is coming up. Don't worry, she got them early. So not spoiling the surprise here. :) I also made myself a set. The 2nd column from the left.

I already have requests for some, because the 3 I took for the silent auction were fought over in bidding wars. If anyone else out there would like a custom set of coasters, let me know. I just might have to finally start an Etsy shop.

Easy Decorations

2009-09-16T08:12:00.000-07:00

If you read my other blog, you know that I have been helping out with random things for an upcoming benefit for a young gal that has been fighting various forms of cancer off and on for the past 11 years. Because of the many unknowns with the benefit...like number of people for one, we needed table decorations that were easy to replicate, but on the cheap side.

My idea....flowers in ball jars, with scrapbook paper underneath. It was my mom's idea to try to put the pink cancer ribbon on the top of the jar, where brown and pink polka dot ribbon was placed to add a little color. But, I inquired about if it would be seen, or if the flowers would cover it up. So instead, mom thought we could just scatter the ribbons around the tables.

Thanks for Hobby Lobby having their sales at the right time, I got various forms of pink ribbon at 2 for $1. I also got a bunch of pink and brown 12x12 sheets of scrapbook paper at 3 for $1.

I was thinking about how to make them...and didn't really want to use glue dots (even though I picked up a box). I was wanting something a little more fun! I decided to go with brads. I just used my small hole punch, because it was faster than a push pin, and then put the brad through. I originally had small round white brads that came 50 in a pack for $2.99 (which were not on sale). But then I saw a pack of small square white brads that came 100 in a pack for $2.47. I think it's obvious what I went with. I think they turned out great!

And here is what I have done as of now. I might do a few more, just so we can use them in other places.

I'm excited to see how the table will all come together. I think it will be great!

Printable Calendars

2009-09-08T11:56:00.000-07:00

Who isn't in need of a fun, simple, colorful calendar? I enjoy the calendars from the ISU Alumni Association. But after they put in any and every activity happening on campus or with the association, there isn't any room to write the important things in life.

Cameron over at Cottage Industrialist made a fantastic calendar that you can go ahead and print off on your own. The calendar starts this September, and continues through August of 2010. It's simple, but colorful.

Click on the calendars, and it will take you right to the site. The calendars print off in sets of 3. If you have cardstock on hand, you might want to use that to print on, just to make it a little more sturdy.

Also a great Christmas or birthday gift idea would be to put the calendars together like your typical calendar (with the spiral binding), but add photos, scrapbook paper, or have kids color on the back (and upside down) of each of the pages.

Be sure to check out all the other 'Good Stuff' on the site. Fun stuff!

Happy crafting!!

Free Printables & Ideas

2009-08-10T06:58:00.000-07:00

Are you looking for some great, free printables for yourself or to give to others as gifts? Head on over to Leo on the Loose and see what Erin has to offer. There are tons of free printables, in addition to links to other printables, and numerous fun ideas for the freebies.

One that quickly caught my attention was her grocery list. On the list you are able to check if you have a coupon for it or not. What a easy and simple idea to add to a list. That way you won't have to dig through your coupons while at the store. Planning ahead of time will save you time while in the store.

Happy Crafting!

Bath redo

2009-07-14T09:34:00.000-07:00

A couple-three years ago, my sisters and I did a little bathroom makeover for our mom for Mother's Day. At the time, it worked.....but not for long...thanks to the paint. I picked out a nice light sage green color that worked with the new towels and all. However, once the paint got on the walls, it looked more like a neon green. So thanks to Martha and her bad paint color, it never looked completely right. Now, it has been repainted with a tan, and looks much better.

But while planning for this, I made a 'BATH' sign that had some knobs below it. I painted a base color that matched one of the accent towel colors, then crackled white over it. It looked nice when everything was put together. But with the new bath colors this time around, it was all wrong.

Finally a couple of weekends ago, I tackled the sign again. But due to the original crackle finish, I had to start from scratch on a fresh piece of wood. I also changed up the font, to be a little more fun. The sign looks much better now.

I also finally made one for my brother and sister-in-law. When I helped her redo their bathroom, I said I would make a sign. But I finally got the sign done (well, started and done) the weekend before the 4th. For theirs, I think I did a tan base, followed by crackled brown. Then the 'bath' was tan as well. I then tried to match the blue in the bathroom and put a border around the sign. I still haven't seen the finished product, since I had to leave before the knobs got in. So hopefully I can get over there sometime and take a picture of it.

But here is what mom's looks like close up, and how it looks with the other accessories around it. If you would like one for your bathroom, let me know, I'd be happy to make you one.....for a price. :)

If you notice....the knobs on the sign and the knobs on the box below the towel match. Too bad I can't find them at Hobby Lobby anymore. I really like them!

Father's Day Gift

2009-06-21T17:00:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Living Locurto, I came up with this for my dad for Father's Day. To make it, I used digital scrapbooking paper and elements (that I have gotten for free). It would have been just as easy to do this with real paper and elements, but I didn't have them handy or available. I made them in Publisher. And here they are.
The outside says 'One COOL Dad - Happy Father's Day'

The DAD COUPONS are good for one free: yard work pass, chore pass, show sweeping, cheesecake or other dessert, control of the remote (for one day only), car or truck wash.

In addition to the coupons, I made a 'sticker' for dad that said 'Cool Dad' on it. Since mom's always seem to get flowers, I thought it would be good for dad to get a sticker. :)

Happy crafting!

Buttons Galore!

2009-06-05T06:35:00.001-07:00

[I apologize for the blurriness of this picture. That's about as good as I could get it with my camera and the fluorescent lights.]

What you see here are mini buttons I put together for my upcoming Citizen Washington Focus trip to Washington DC. I am a chaperone for this trip, and am looking forward to it. One big part of the trip is that the students take pins/buttons that they purchase, make, or request from business, and swap them with other youth from around the country. After some of the chaperones made calls, sent emails, etc, we realized we weren't rounding up the pins like we had hoped. That's where these guys come in.

I recalled that the Workspace on campus often advertises that people can make their own buttons. So I checked in to it. The above buttons are what myself and 2 other chaperones made one night, in about a 3 hour time span. After work, before the others got there, I cut out 400 (100 of each) of the designs, and had a good start on assembling them. We could have been done a lot faster, but they have only 1 of each button machine size. So we just assembled them one at a time. It was really quite easy. The hardest part was getting them all cut out. I think next time I'll take a Stampin' Up punch (or something similiar) and cut out the circles that way. It would be much easier and more accurate.

The top left button says 'Iowa - Youth - Power', with 4 hands clasping a wrist, with the 4-H clover in the middle. (The hand graphic and saying was sent in by one of the youth. I added the 4-H clover.) The top right is an outline of Iowa, with the 4-H clover on it. There is a green border that you can't really see. (I would like to have made it wider, so it could be seen on the front. Oh well.) The bottom left is my favorite! It says 'Fresh Picked - Sweet Corn - Bushels Ahead! - 2 Miles'. I then added 'Iowa' to one of the ears of corn. To me, sweet corn and Iowa just go together. I sure can't wait to finally eat some! The bottom right button is a picture of a covered bridge, since we are famous for our covered bridges. This was sent in by one of the youth as well. I added 'Iowa' to this one as well.

To make 400 mini buttons and use the Workspace's equipment, it cost about $65.

So if any of you are looking for a fun project to do with kids or adults, or cheap and easy gifts to give out, or maybe you feel like putting your picture on a button, this would be the thing to do.

Happy Crafting!

Crafting Again...

2009-05-22T07:07:00.000-07:00

It's been way too long since I have done any crafting. Finally, this past Wednesday night, I had nothing going on. So I spent the evening doing a few crafting projects. I was quite pleased with them. :)

The first project...I can't remember where I saw it, but someone etched words on jars and I LOVED it. (Well, I still love it.) I forgot to take a before picture. But I started with some plain glass jars that I have been using to hold my sugar, sweets, and flour. I dumped out all the goods, cleaned and dried the jars. I then taped off the area that I wanted to etch with painters tape. Then I centered the stickered words on the jars. (I ended up using the middle stickers that were with the pack that I bought. I originally wanted to use a size bigger, but they were too big. So the middle size worked just fine.)

Once everything was set, I used a foam brush and brushed on a think layer of the glass etching stuff. Let it sit for at least 1 minute (I think I waited longer).

Without touching it, wash off the etching stuff. Once it was all washed off, I then took the tape and stickers off.

I then rewashed the jars, dried them, and filled them back up with their item. I apologize for the final picture. It looks much better in person. It was just very had for the camera to see it.

If I get the chance to do something like this again, I will make sure I put the etching cream on a lot thicker than what I did. I thought it was thick, but I completely missed some spots. So if you attempt this project, don't be stingy with the etching cream. Lay it on thick!

Now on to the next project...custom coasters! I got this idea from a fellow TRiO employee, and here is what I ended up with.

I found the ceramic tiles at Lowe's for 28 cents each. The stamps can be whatever stamp design you would like to use. The ink needs to be the StazOn Ink Pads (Hobby Lobby has them if you want to pick one up. They aren't on sale this week and the weekly coupon is not the 40% off one, so my fabulous Stampin' Up demonstrator let be borrow her black and red StazOn ink. Don't worry, I'll be getting her a new black pad as soon as they go on sale or the coupon is out.)

I stamped my design on the tiles, and then let them dry completely. If you mess up, just have a wet paper towel or wipe sitting by, and wipe off the mistake. A few times the row of dots got a little smudged, so I just wiped them off right away, let the tile dry, and tried again. Once all the tiles were completely dry, I then added little felt circles to the bottom of the tiles so they would not scratch tables, etc. Let me tell you....these were not easy to find. At my local Hobby Lobby, the little felt circles are located in the FRAMING area. Not really sure why, but they are. So keep that in mind if you ever go out looking for little felt circles or squares. Or just save yourself a few minutes of walking around the craft section of the store about 3 times, and just ask someone that works there.

In the end, I was quite pleased with the coasters, and I think the people I gave them to liked them as well! Success!!

When I make myself some coasters, I'll be sure to post them. They are also a fun, cheap, and easy gift idea if you would bundle them up in a pack of 4 or so. I just gave them out as an individual gift, since they were given to people who work at the high school I serve.

Happy Crafting!

Moving Time

2009-04-27T11:54:00.001-07:00

Hopefully within the next couple of weeks, I will have my craft room up and running again! Right now, it is an absolute disaster! I am finally moving this week, so haven't done much of any crafting for the past month. Please bear with me as I move things in, get settled, and get back to creating some chaos!

And I hope to have my craft room a little (LOT!!) more organized than it was before. So once it's ready to be seen with a camera, I'll post what I can and would be happy for any recommendations!

So happy creating on your own!

Wedding Invitation

2009-04-11T06:59:00.001-07:00

This past week I spent 3 evenings working on these invitations for my dear friend Beth. The first night I spent cutting the paper to the correct size and folding it, and cutting the ribbon. The second night involved lots of printing and lots of cutting. I first had to make sure the written part would fit in the pieces that I needed to cut. Then I had to print them. Follow that up with at least 200 shape punches and about 100 rolls through a paper cutting machine. And then this is what you get! The final night involved meeting up with Beth, Chris, Beth's mom, the MOA-Liz, and assembling all the invites.

All products are Stampin' Up products. The paper is Riding Hood Red and Very Vanilla, ribbon is Chocolate Chip, smaller punch is the Curly Label punch (which I LOVE!!), and the bigger piece used the sweet Sizzix Big Shot with the Top Note die (which I absolutely LOVE even more).

The final design deviated a little from the original design, but I absoluetly love it. It is simple, but elegant (I think). If you have any other questions about it, let me know!

Happy Creating!

Dream. Create. Inspire. 2.

2009-04-10T12:39:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been big in to finding some great digital kits...for free! And I will admit, I have paid for a couple of amazing kits that I have found as well. Creativity By Crystal has some fun kits! Right now, she has all of her kits on sale as well. And who doesn't love a sale?

So click on the sale banner, and take a look at what she has. If you would like to see some of her creative work, go to the gallery and check it out.

Happy Creating!

My Cute Stamps

2009-04-10T09:27:00.000-07:00

If you are wanting some fun and cute stamps, go on over to My Cute Stamps and check them out! Or go to Creating Cupcakes with me and sign up to win a cute Easter stamp set.

I have decided that I have 2 favorite sets. Think.....NATURE.

This little stamp set is Spunky Nature.

I like the mix of nature in it. Love flowers and leaves, and gotta love some of the little critters that God has blessed our surroundings with.

So to continue on with the nature theme, how about this Little Forest Friends set. Cute, huh? I like all the little critters in this set as well.

There is so much fun-card potential in these 2 sets, I need some kid wrangling gigs so I can buy them!

Now, go on over to My Cute Stamps and see what you can find for yourself!

Moments Background

2009-03-23T11:06:00.001-07:00

Here's a new background I made. It's a new week....time for a new desktop background. Go HERE to get it. Enjoy!

The kits I used are from Summer Driggs and Shabby Princess. Both of these sites have some great kits. And the best thing about them.....they are FREE!!!

Creative Easter Eggs

2009-03-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

Are you in need of a great idea for some Easter Eggs? Go over to Inspiring Ideas and check out what Jeanne did with a few eggs and some natural dyes (which she also includes in the post). A very fun and cheap idea!

One Pretty Thing

2009-03-18T11:02:00.000-07:00

If you want some great crafting ideas/tips, etc, go check out One Pretty Thing.

Here is one of the projects just found....which I have actually done before. Altered Tins.

Or print off these fun Spring Labels.

Header #3...Done

2009-03-17T20:00:00.001-07:00

Andrea wanted this one to be smaller than what I did for myself and Gina. I hope she likes it! If not, I'll be changing it later. :)

Desktop Backgrounds

2009-03-17T13:16:00.000-07:00

If you are like me, you might want some fun/different desktop backgrounds. For the longest time I have struggled finding one that I want to use. But what's the easiest way to take find what I want? TO MAKE MY OWN!!!

Here is my current background (which you can download)...

I made a very springy one last week, but wanted to change it already. And I made this in PowerPoint, since I don't have my laptop here at work, so I couldn't use Photoshop. To find the free papers and elements, go here to find a list of great sites I use.

Have fun creating!

Dream. Create. Inspire.

2009-03-17T07:23:00.000-07:00

I just came across this new blog today. It is great! I'm excited to see what the future holds for her. Go to her blog, and sign up to with her digital kits. I really want them!!

And go visit Kevin & Amanda to sign up to win her digital kits again!

Another Header

2009-03-15T12:10:00.000-07:00

I just finished another header. This one for my 'little' sister. I'm hoping to make one for my older sister. Just needs some ideas first.

Nicole Leigh Header

2009-03-15T10:54:00.001-07:00

It's done!

Go check it out.

Enjoy!

Custom Headers

2009-03-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

I've been attempting to make my own headers on both of my blogs. I have all these ideas in my head....but I can only do so much. (I could probably change it every day which is just crazy!)

But to get started, I have been getting many scrapbooking design kits free from various sites online. (I'll post a few at the end.) The header on this page I originally made with PowerPoint, but then used Adobe Elements to make it look better. If you go to my other site, you will definitely notice a difference in the quality. Many people suggest to go to Paint.net to download their program. For some reason, I struggle trying to get the different layers and elements that I want.

Due to many people not having Elements or some other sort of program, I will do a little tutorial in how to do a header in PowerPoint.

In PowerPoint, it is best to make a box that you will add all your papers and elements to. I usually make them 4x6 in size. Then you just need to 'insert picture' from wherever you saved your design kits. Sometimes I do lots of importing of the different elements that I use. But that's life.

**If there are any items that are hanging over the edge of the box, you will notice it once you make it a picture. So be sure to 'cut' any items that are too long, or resize things to fit within the box. **

Once you have resized, aligned, positioned, and set everything like you want, you need to do a 'select all', right click on your mouse and go to 'Groupings' and 'Group' everything. Once everything is grouped, right click again and 'Save As Picture'. Before you save it to a location you will remember, with a name that fits, make sure to change the picture format of the 'Save as type:' at the bottom of the box. It is usually set at 'emf', but I always change it to 'jpeg'.

After your new header picture is saved, go to your blog layout screen and click on 'edit' button in the header box. Upload your new header, click on 'Instead of title and description' (otherwise they will all be seen), and there you go.

Hopefully this makes sense. If not, send me an email and I can help you out. I'm no professional at this, or am very good at all. I just do it for fun. So if you have a better way of doing this, please let me know!

And if you do end up making your own header, please let me know so I can check it out!!

Design Kits: No matter where you get your kits from, be sure to give credit where it is due!! And this is only a few sites. There are hundreds out there! Not all are free...but most are.

http://summertimedesigns.blogspot.com/ (This is where I have gotten most of mine. They are great.)

http://www.shabbyprincess.com/ (These are sweet as well!)

http://scrappyweiss.blogspot.com/

http://shelbellescraps.blogspot.com/

http://digi-designs.blogspot.com/

The following 2 link you to where free kits, elements, and alphas can be found.

http://raspberrypatch.blogspot.com/

http://ikeagoddess.blogspot.com/

Most of the kits are downloaded from the site 4shared.com.

Upward Gifts

2009-03-09T11:43:00.000-07:00

I was a coach for Upward this year at Cornerstone Church. Last night we had our awards ceremony for all the players from both Cornerstone and First E-Free. There was a great turn out of players and parents/families. We also enjoyed a great speaker and performer, Dan Wetzel.

At the end of the night, all the players received a great little lunch cooler with the Upward logo on it. I also included a little card and a notebook with each players initial on it. I sure hope the girls like it.

Under each notebook is the card I made for each girl. It's nothing too fancy or extravagant, but it worked for me!

Picture Frame or Paper Frame?

2009-03-06T12:32:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, I purchased this at a Signature HomeStyles party.

It is normally to be used as a picture frame collage. But, to add a little color to my plain walls, I decided to add some fun papers instead of pictures. I would have too hard of a time picking out which pictures....not that I didn't have a harder time picking out which papers to put up. But this is my end result. I like it. It sure brings some spring in to my apartment.

I also had this cute little bird tag, and I found a way to use it. It brings a little dimension to an otherwise flat look.

The whole piece (the background holding all 4 frames) is about 18 inches tall and wide. So it's not very big. But the same idea could be used if you had a fun variety of frames, ranging from small to something that could hold a 12x12 piece of paper.

So if you have lots of extra paper....like me....put it to some good use!

Happy Crafting!

Polka Dot Frenzy!

2009-02-26T09:42:00.000-08:00

What can you do when you need a quick gift for someone who likes black & white and polka dots? Here is what I did for a family friend that graduated from high school.

This card was the card I wrote on...but I wrote on a removeable piece of paper, so she had another card to reuse. I went with red and black, since those are the school colors.

Here is the little card set that I made for 'S'. I made 2 of each of these cards.

Also, maybe you have noticed....but the 'S' in the red and black card, the 'J' on the band-aid tin, and 'RECIPES' on the recipe tin all used the same fun embellishment. They are called Alphabet Slides - Round, and I got them at Hobby Lobby. I did find them online here. They are fun and cute and easy to find a use for them.

Happy Crafting!!

Decorative Window

2009-02-25T07:06:00.000-08:00

Do you have any old windows sitting around your house? A friend of mine has lots of old windows, and one afternoon we both did this project. This is just one way to repurpose it.
This window still had all the glass in it, which was great.
Here are the steps involved:
* Clean off any old paint that I could
* Papered and taped off the panes I wanted left clear and used chalk board paint on the other 3
* Apply another coat of the chalk board paint
* Let it dry completely (one of them had my thumb print in it since I was impatient)
* Dry brush paint the window frame black (which means just a little paint on the brush at a time...to give it the look where you can still see the white original paint through it)
* After everything was completely dry, I painted on the wording. For my window I used Live Simply, Laugh Often, Love Deeply. (The wording was different for my friend's, but I can't remember it right now.)
* At the bottom of the window, there are 2 hooks (which you can't see), where I also tied a long piece of twine from it to the piece of chalk
* Intentions for the worded windows was to put pictures in there. But, I can't say that I have done that yet. Actually, I can't say I have done anything with it yet. Hopefully some day I will!

Band-Aid Tin

2009-02-24T12:50:00.000-08:00

I made this Band-Aid tin for a friend of mine when it was around her birthday.....and she cut her finger at work. It was a bit of a joke...but a fun and useable one! A little travel first aid kit.

I also used a container like this to hold my single serving Crystal Light and store brand ones. I never got around to decorating it, but maybe I will this year. Since I would carry it in my purse or bag, I'll have to make sure it is mod podged well, so things don't try to fall off.

Recipe Box

2009-02-24T10:09:00.001-08:00

I made this recipe box for my 'little' sister, for her wedding shower, about a year ago. We did a play on words, using a recipe theme. And this is the box that organized all the recipes...until it got wet when my parent's basement flooded last spring. They were able to save some of the recipes, but the dividers I made got ruined. And since I used mod podge on the outside of the tin, it saved it! But that reminds me....I need to get going on making some new dividers. Oops!

Here is a look at it now, in their apartment in Germany. (She had a Valentine's Day Party for some of the Cav Ladies.)

Tin Fun

2009-02-13T14:21:00.000-08:00

Here is a little pail that I decorated for a Valentine swap I am in. Imagine the other side having 'treats' on it, just like the 'sweets'. I thought it turned out pretty great. I then filled it with some of my favorite things.

I have more projects and ideas....I just need the time to do it!

Here Is 1 of 82.....

2009-02-04T09:14:00.000-08:00

...invites that I made.

I was asked to make these by my boss. (Not related to work at all! And I have done other things like this....but mainly different newsletters.) After I made this original one, I had to make some alterations. The number I was first told was 50-60. But then I was told 80. So instead of buying more items, I made due with what I had. Because of that, they all don't look alike. But I still like them.

In addition to the purple gingham paper and ribbon, I also had pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and brown. I think they are fun. I just hope the ladies they go out to think the same!