Admit One Ticket Box

So...my friends tell me I have a problem.

I know acceptance is the first step towards recovery, but what if I am in complete denial about it? Who says keeping ticket stubs from every show and movie I have seen since high school is really that big of a deal?!



Well...I suppose it wouldn't be that big of a deal if they weren't taking up the precious space in my already receipt-filled wallet. I knew I didn't want to get rid of them, but something had to be done!

Oh, wait...do I sense an opportunity to be crafty?!

Opportunity gladly accepted!

Admit One Ticket Shadow Box here I go!

 Materials:

• 8x8 shadow box (bought mine on sale from Joann Fabrics)
• Scrapbook Paper
• Black and Gold Vinyl (or any color you choose)
• Cricut Machine
• Storybook Cricut Cartridge
• A mountain of show and movie tickets

Step #1:
Clean and empty the shadow box by removing any unwanted packaging and cleaning the glass.

Step #2:
Cut preferred scrapbook paper to fit inside the frame. I actually used three different sheets and layered them.

Step #4:
Using the Cricut Machine, cut out "Admit One" out of the gold and the black vinyl. I cut them out at 1.5 inches and used the "shadow" setting for the gold in order to layer the colors.

Step #5:
Carefully place the vinyl letters in the desired place on the glass screen of the shadow box. Place the gold shadow down first and then the black top-layer. I was too lazy to look for my transfer tape, but if you have that handy, I am sure it will be faster to use it.

Step #6:
Dump all your ticket stubs into the shadow box and replace the backing. And there you have it, an awesome ticket memory box!

Yay, another night of crafty fun! My wallet thanks me. :)

BYOP

On October 28, Daniel and I had our 3rd annual Bring Your Own Pumpkin Party. We invited our friends to bring their own pumpkin and carving instruments while we provided the venue and treats for an evening a merriment and pumpkin goodness.

This year I decided I needed some extra-cute candy dishes since all my other plates and platters are in storage. So I went to the Dollar Tree and picked up 3 candle sticks, and three candle holders (two round and one square) and got down to crafty-business. My complete list of materials and steps are below.

Materials:

• 2 Round Candle Holders (from Dollar Tree)
• 1 Square Candle Holder (from Dollar Tree)
• 3 Candle Sticks (from Dollar Tree)
• Black Vinyl to cut into shapes for faces
• Scissors
• Glass Glue (from any craft or hardware store - I got mine from OSH)
• Sandpaper
• Orange, Green, and White Candy

Step #1: Once your supplies have been purchased. Remove all stickers and wash your glass items. Then sand down the surfaces that you will place the glass glue on (the glue has specific instructions on this and may differ based on the type you get). After items are prepped and ready, place a generous amount of the glass glue on the surface and attach the candle sticks to their corresponding holder. I allowed the candy dishes to dry for 2 hours before I did anything else with them.

While the dishes were drying, cut out three ovals for the ghost face; three triangles and a smile for the jack-o-lantern; and four circles, a line, and a chevron pattern for the Frankenstein face out of the black vinyl.

Step #2: Once the candy dishes are dry, carefully place the vinyl cut-outs in place. Then, fill each candy dish with goodies in the corresponding color.

These were a hit at the party and super cheap and easy to make. I am thinking of making more but with designs for other holidays.

Now, enough with the crafty and on with more party details! :)

Everyone seemed to have a great time at the BYOP Party...even the Giants' fans, who never left the couch due to the World Series Game!

Here are the Hesslers with their gigantic pumpkins from Oregon! I was so surprised that Cassie could actually hold onto hers.

The soon-to-be-Peines with their very creative carvings. I was super excited about the melon ninja turtle with a glow-stick lighter!

Vanessa and I were yet again trying to be crafty with our melted crayon pumpkins! Vanessa added an 'M' and I couldn't help but add a bow. :)

And here is my lovely Pumpkin Man. I am so proud to call him husband! ;)

This year's Golden Pumpkin Award was given to Taylor for her Hipster Unicorn pumpkin. I wonder how she will decorate the trophy for next year.

All in all, it was a great evening of fun with our friends. Can't wait for next year!

-Crafty Mrs. G

School Stuff

Well, apparently it is a bit tough to manage my first year as a junior high teacher with a crafty life style and have fallen drastically behind my blogging dreams... But I figured it would be best to try posting again, and what better way than with some school stuff!

So in honor of the new school year, I thought I could post some fun crafty like things from my hip new classroom. Drum roll please...

My super cool and totally smashing, orange file cabinet! Thanks to a thrift store find and my husband's (and his coworkers') help, I was able to transform a totally drab piece of furniture into an awesome treasure for my room!

Next, I have an awesome paint-chip calendar which functions as a dry-erase board. I will post a tutorial on how I made it in the next couple days (hopefully)!

Last, but definitely not least (or final), I have my library "Read" bulletin board! This, I made after visiting a fellow teacher's room. Instead of using butcher paper, I covered this section of the wall with book pages from a thrift store find (I just looked for an appropriate book with a lot of pages and words). I chopped off the spine using an industrial paper cutter (if you don't have access to one of these - take your book to Office Max or Office Depot and they can do it for you). Then I took orange tissue paper, rolled it lengthwise and scrunched and stapled it as the boarder - a super cheep alternative for store-bought boarder. Then I made a coordinating pennant banner with the word "READ!" on it. I really like this, and it adds a fun, whimsical feel to my classroom library!

 So, I did it! I finally made another post! Hopefully it won't take 2 months for my next one. :)

Nail-Polished Keys

I have to admit, this all began when my husband decided that he has way too many keys than he can distinguish between. So as the wonderful, helpful, and humble wife I am - I came up with a crafty solution!

Materials:
- Nail-Polish in whatever color(s) you so desire
- Clear Topcoat
- Newspaper or any surface to paint on

Step #1: I took the keys I wanted to paint off of the key ring and wiped them with a wet napkin.

Step #2: After deciding which color would go with which key (came up with different tricks to remember them - Orange for his Office), I painted the first coat of the nail-polish on them. I alternated painting each side and made sure to get all the sides and crevasses of the keys. It is important to make sure each side is completely dry before applying the next coat. To help prop-up the keys I also created a makeshift key holder from the top of a candle jar. 

Step #3: The keys dried over night and then I applied the clear topcoat. After ample drying time, they were done and ready!

This project is super fast and super easy. I was so excited about my husband's keys that I painted some of my own, but make sure you have a spare key with you, so you don't lock yourself out of the house while the keys are drying on the table... :)

Secretive Mrs. G - Baby Reveal

So for some reason I have been the secret-keeper extraordinaire these past two weeks. And where there are secrets...there are crafty projects that go with those secrets. There it is...that is my excuse for not posting the past two weeks. But now that all of my secrets have been exposed, (or so you may believe) I can freely blog about the crafty mess that my house has been.

I mentioned in my previous entry that it seems as if all of my married friends are having babies. My dear friend Amy is also expecting and decided to have a fun gender reveal party to announce whether the baby is going to be a boy or girl. I was asked to decorate the super-cute tiny TOMS she had purchased for the baby. Now this was something I have never done before. I mean, sure, I have purchased several pairs of TOMS and promised myself to decorate them, but this time I actually had a timeline that I had to stick to - she wanted to have the party 4 days after her doctor's appointment!

So the ultrasound technician snapped some pics, sealed the evidence in an envelope, and I was given the humbling task of making cute TOMS and keeping this secret! Amy had also given me a pair to decorate for her older son Evan as well.

I looked up what sorts of paint would best work on the plain canvas TOMS and most sites mentioned acrylic and/or spray paint with a clear acrylic seal over the top.

So I went to work gathering my supplies:

• Acrylic Paint in various colors
• Spray Paint in various colors
• Clear Acrylic Spray Seal (found at Hobby Lobby or any store with paints)
• Painter's tape
• Newspaper
• Paint Brushes
• Zip-lock Bags
• Secret Envelope! 

Step #1: I opened the secret envelope and was so excited about the news that I went out and bought some cute general revealing items. :) Ok, so that really doesn't count as a craft-step, but it was very important to the project in general.

Step #2: I stuffed the TOMS with newspaper to help protect the inside from getting paint on it and to help maintain the shape of the shoes. I also put painter's tape over the TOMS logos on the back and side of the shoes.

Step #3: Then, I taped off any areas I wanted to keep white using painter's tape. Then, I spray-painted my first coat of color on the shoes. I chose to use several different colors on Evan's shoes, but only one on the baby's. After I allowed the first layer to dry, I re-applied some spray-paint to areas which needed some extra love. In addition to the first layer of spray-paint, I also painted on the baby TOMS within the color scheme that Amy had picked if it was a (boy). :)

Step #4: When surfing the internet I came across some TOMS decorated by HOM and really liked the look of them. I decided to create these TOMS with the same splattered look as some of HOM's work. When I knew that the spray-paint was dry, I poured some acrylic paint into a Zip-lock bag, (here's the messy part) I stuck my hand into it and flicked the paint onto the shoes using my hand. When I felt I had enough of one color, I washed my hands and repeated this same process with another color.

Step #5: Using a very fine paintbrush, I wrote "Big Brother" and "Little Brother" on the shoes. 

Step #6: This step took the longest...I had to allow the shoes to dry over night before spraying the clear acrylic seal over them. The spray-bottle said that the seal could be applied to the "canvas" multiple times, so I re-applied it two times before calling it quits.

Step #7: Last but not least, I removed the painter's tape that was covering the TOMS logos.

But that was it! I wrapped them up in separate (gender neutral) packages and also framed the "reveal" picture for the family to have as a keepsake. I was thoroughly surprised with how cute they came out and how much the family loved them.

The gender reveal party went off without a hitch and I am excited to say that the Brooks' family is having a baby boy!!!

String Art

I love giving gifts, especially homemade, crafty, and personalized ones. So when I found out that one of my good friends was expecting, I starting pinning anything and everything that could provide me with gift ideas. It was about this time that I came across a String Art pin that was made in the shape of Texas. I thought the concept was really cute, but it wasn't until a couple weeks later that this gift came together in my head. 

So I gathered up my supplies and set out on a fabulous craft adventure to create name blocks for the precious new baby Astrid.

 

Materials:

- 6 4x4 square wooden-blocks (from Joann)

- Embroidery Floss (one purple and one green)

- Purple Ribbon

- White Acrylic Paint & Foam Brush

- Cricut Machine and Lyrical Letters Cartridge

- Sandpaper

- Tiny Nails (Lowe's)

- Hammer

- Needle-Nose Pliers

- Scissors

Step #1: The first thing I did was cut out the letters of Astrid's name on my Cricut. I used the Lyrical Letters cartridge and cut the letters to fit the face of the blocks (3 1/2 inch letters). I had my husband help me by drilling a hole at the top of every block. Then, I painted the wooden-blocks with two layers of the white acrylic paint.

Step #2: After the paint dried, I sanded down the edges to provide an antiqued look. Then, I taped the paper-letters onto the blocks. Once every letter was attached, I carefully began hammering in the finishing nails around the paper, leaving about 1/2 of a cm between each one. I was also cautious to only hammer the nails in half-way so that I would have some room to wrap the floss around them. It took some time for me to get into the rhythm of this, but the easiest way I was able to do it was to hold the nail steady with the pliers in one hand and hammer with the other.

Step #3: Once I hammered in the nails all the way around the paper-letter, I lifted the paper and was left with an outline of each letter. 

Step #4: I tied one end of the floss to my starting nail and then had fun wrapping it in different patterns - making sure I twisted it around every nail. When I got to the end of each letter, I tied another knot with the floss and attached it to the final nail.

Step #5: I repeated Step #4 with all the letters.  In order to hang the pieces, I cut purple ribbon into 1 1/2 foot pieces and strung them through the holes my husband had drilled and tied bows.

And for some extra love, I added a personal message on the back of the last block.

Well there you have it! One creative and personalized gift that Astrid loved...well, her mom did anyway. :)

And So it Begins!

Well here I go! This is my first attempt at keeping a blog about my adventures in craftiness. I am currently enjoying my summer break and eager to begin crafting. My hope is to upload at least one step-by-step project a week. My amazing husband blessed me with a new Canon camera with which to capture and document this journey. For all of you who are taking this voyage with me, thank you and enjoy the ride!