Little Heart Decorations

I found these fun paper mache hearts at Hobby Lobby and I'm using them to decorate around the house.  I painted two of them navy blue to match my new kitchen curtains and added a bow and a hanging loop.  I have two of these hanging in my kitchen.

I have a few more of these that I will paint, decorate and put in my bedroom.  Pictures of those later.

Another Christmas Craft

I've been watching Christmas DIYs on YouTube and I saw a couple of ladies cover Styrofoam cones with fabric or scarves to make Christmas trees and I decided to try it.

I bought my Styrofoam cone at Hobby Lobby last Saturday using my 40% coupon and I saved a three dollars on it.  I found the cute fabric in my Christmas fabric stash, I bought the silver star at Michael's on Sunday and saved a couple of dollars on that with my frequent buyer membership, I had the piece of round board (I bought it for a decoupage project, but it was perfect for this tree), and I bought some sliver metallic paint to paint the board.  I had a chance to use my glue gun and I used up two regular stick of glue putting this together.  Fun. 

I'm loving this tree.

Paint, Modge Podge, Fabric and A Christmas Card

    I got this odd size free piece of wood a couple of years ago from Lowes or Home Depot when I was shopping one day.  I've been trying to figure out what to do with it since I got it.  I found this card a couple of weeks ago and I started getting the idea of using it on this piece of wood.  I painted the board, decoupaged a piece of pretty light blue polka fabric on the front and then I decoupaged the card on top of that.  It was fun to make, but I don't enjoy painting because it takes so long to dry.

I Thought I Was Finished Making Fall/Halloween Decorations

I really disappointed in myself.  I am still not finished with all my Fall/Halloween decorations that I want to make.  I still have a Halloween table runner that is partially cut out.  It will be made in the next week, but not in time for Halloween.  Once I finish that table runner, I can get started on my Christmas projects.

This past weekend I made myself some hanging Halloween dish towels.  I love these.

And tonight I finished decoupaging cards and paper napkins onto painted 8" x 10" canvas panels that I got at JoAnn's a few weeks ago.  The panels came in a pack of three for about $7.99.  I think I had a coupon as well.  I already had the paint and the Mod Podge.  I bought the cards a few weeks ago and the paper napkin was a donation from dear daughter.  She likes to do decoupage projects as well.

This is the front a greeting card that I decoupaged.  I think I got this card from the Dollar Store.

This is the paper napkin.

This is my favorite.  I love this card (my daughter has a Cairn terrier) and I love the paint treatment I gave the panel.  So much fun.  This card was more expensive, it came from Target.

Easy Christmas Tree Decorations

    I found these cute Christmas tree ornaments on Facebook and made three to give to my dear daughter.  Here is the link to a similar tutorial made with scrap ribbon.  Link to fabric Christmas trees. 

     I made mine a little different.  I used a dowel that I cut up into three different sizes.  I filed the ends of each piece to round off the edges caused by the cutting.  I painted the dowel stick, then I cut up 1.5" wide strips of fabric into 8" long pieces and I also used some green ribbon I had.  I tied the fabric to the dowel and trimmed it into a triangle.  I found the wooden stars at Michaels and painted them with some silver glitter paint I had.  I glued the star to the top and added a piece of twine for hanging. 

    These were easy and fun to make.

Decoupage Doilies

   I made these crazy doilies the other night.  I didn't use a pattern, I just crocheted the center and started chaining and joining the chains.  I wanted to do something decorative with them and decided to decoupage them onto a painted canvas.

2015 - My Crafting Year In Review

 I'm counting down to the New Year. Tomorrow is my birthday, then we have New Year's Eve, then we celebrate New Year's Day.  This week is always just as special to me as the week of Christmas.

   Short Review of 2015

       It's been quite a crafting year for me.  I made a lot of projects this year.  I painted, knitted, crocheted and sewed.  I made yard art, built a quilt ladder, fashioned jewelry and I have more pincushions than I will ever need.  I learned a lot this year about what I'm good at, what I like to do, and what I should not try a second time.  I made some lovely projects and others just didn't turn out like I expected.

     I did a lot of organizing this year to make sure I could find my crafting items more easily.  I replaced some of my old tools with new ones.  I added three sewing machines to my collection and re-homed two machines I wasn't using.  

  I made a lot of projects this year with my sewing machine that I love, but my favorite project would have to be the hanging dishtowels with the button closure.  They are so freaking cute and so easy to make it's hard not to love, love, love them.  This post from November has the link to the tutorial I used and some information on how I made my first, but definitely not my last, hanging dishtowels.

   My biggest fail had to be the bathmat I tried to make in January.  The three posts about that fail started here on January 12th, with another on January 13th, and my complete resignation on January 15th.  I ended up buying a bathmat.  I don't know if I will ever try this one again.

   My favorite quilt would have to be the disappearing hourglass in black and white.  I started it on June 3rd and finished it on July 29th.  It's a nice size quilt and I love the pattern the blocks make.  This is a link to pictures of the finish.

   There were so many projects and I had fun with all of them.  I'm working on my updated crafting to do list for next year and I'm looking forward to lots of  projects in 2016.

No Sanding, No Staining, Just Chalk Paint

   I have this old end table that I moved into my bedroom next to the recliner.  I love the table, I bought it new in 1991, it's heavy and it has a huge drawer, but it needed to be refinished and I wasn't looking forward to doing all that sanding and staining.

   I found some tutorials on how to use chalk paint and I was sold.  I didn't have to break out the sand paper, I just needed some time, a cool color of paint, a wax, a couple of brushes and a couple of cotton rags.  I also updated the brass drawer pulls with silver rub which was a nice plus because I had never seen silver rub before and I love it.

   I did some research and I found out you can spend a lot on chalk paint.  I did not want to buy a lot of this paint because I don't have any other paint projects other than this one table.  I ended up getting an 8 oz. bottle of Folk Art chalk paint at JoAnn's for $7.99 in the color of Spanish Moss.  There was plenty of paint in that small bottle to do two coats on this end table and I still have some left.  One thing I would say is that I used a sponge brush to apply this and I think I would have done better with a bristle brush.

    The wax I bought for this project was liquid because that was all the store had, but I originally saw a paste wax in the tutorial and I think I would have liked to use the paste better.  The wax I bought was made by Folk Art and it was labeled clear wax.  The wax went on with a brush, you let it dry and then you buff it up.   I bought 8 oz. of liquid wax  for $7.99 and I have lots of wax left over.  I bought the silver rub on Amazon and a small tube (.5 oz) was $6.21 with free shipping.

      This was a super fun project and for less than $25.00 I have a pretty table in my bedroom.

Yard Art Complete.

Okay, so I sanded the bowling ball and then I filled the finger holes with some of the adhesive that I used to glue the glass gems on.  I had read that one person filled the finger holes with cement but I think the caulk is fine.  I let the caulk dry for 36 hours and then I leveled the caulked holes.

On Saturday, I painted the bowling ball silver.  It's hard to spray paint in the wind.  hehehe
I let it dry for overnight.

On Sunday I glued on all the glass gems covering every bit I could.  I was surprised how long this process took because I had to let each section dry for about an hour before I could move the ball and do a new section.  I worked on this from 11:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m.

This is the finished piece of yard art in my gazing ball holder.

This one is done and that ugly bowling ball looks pretty in the garden now.

I'm Working On Yard Art

    This project will probably take me about a week to finish.  Tonight I'm sanding a bowling ball.  I'm preparing to make it into yard art.  This is a project that has been waiting patiently for 7 years.  It's time to get it done.

   Back Story:

   When I bought this house over 7 years ago, I did a lot of research on yard art made from other items.  I found a site where it showed how to make a bedazzled ball from a bowling ball using sand paper, caulk, spray paint, silicon adhesive and glass gems.  It's supposed to resemble a gazing ball.  After I mention this art project to dear daughter, she gives me an old bowling ball for Christmas so I can create this yard art.  That bowling ball has been sitting in my extra bedroom since then.  I bought the glass gems on-line about two years later and they have been waiting for me to use them as well.   I bought the silver spray paint a few weeks ago when I was buying paint for my barn quilt because I knew I wanted to get this project done.  All I needed was the clear silicone adhesive.  I bought the silicone adhesive today, so this project is ready to start.

  So to make this bowling ball into bedazzled yard art I have to sand this ugly bowling ball, fill the finger holes with caulk and let that dry, then spray paint the ball, let that dry, then use the silicone adhesive to glue all these crazy glass gems onto the ball.

   Here's a link to the picture of a purple bedazzled ball someone made and posted on the web.  Purple Bedazzled Gazing Ball

    Bowling ball all sanded.

  See you at the end with more pictures.

My Barn Quilt - - - How I Made It and Why I Won't Be Making Another

   But, I made myself a barn quilt.  I'm not going to hang it anywhere but I am going to set it on the deck so I can see it from the sliding glass door in my dining room.  My barn quilt started as a almost 2' x 2' piece of plywood I purchased in 2013 for this project.  I finally bought the other materials to finish this on February 9, 2015.  I bought wood glue to seal the edges, a quart of grey exterior paint and a quart of bright purple exterior paint for the design; a quart of latex primer, a good paint brush, and a quart of Spar varnish to finish it.

   This project is really messy and I thought about fixing the messy areas and I even thought about re-painting the entire thing with a different block and different colors.  But I'm not going to do that.  I'm going to leave this as is and let this serve as a reminder to me that I hate to paint and I'm not a good painter.  I think one of the worst parts of painting is letting one coat dry so you can paint the second coat.  Boring!

On Saturday, February 14, 2015, I sealed the edges with wood glue, sanding the edges after they were dry.  I painted one coat of primer on all sides of the board and gave it a light sand.

On Sunday, February 15, 2015, I painted two more coats of primer on all sides of the board, sanding after each coat was dry and I drew my hunter's star pattern on the wood.

On Sunday, February 22, 2015.  I painted all the grey sections with two coats of paint.  Then I started putting down my painter's tape in some of the purple sections to paint them.  I gave about 4 purple sections two coats of paint.

On Monday, February 23, 2015.  I took all the old painter's tape off the piece and put more on the purple sections that needed painting.  I gave each of these sections two coats of purple paint.

On Tuesday, February 24, 2015.  I took all the old painter's tape off the piece and put more on the purple sections that needed painting.  I gave each of these sections two coats of purple paint.

On Wednesday, February 25, 2015.  I took all the old painter's tape off the piece and put more on the purple sections that needed painting.  I gave each of these sections two coats of purple paint

Today, Saturday, February 28, 2015, I will paint the back and the sides with two coats of grey paint.

Tomorrow, Sunday, March 1, 2015, I will give the piece two coats of varnish with a light sand in between each coat.

Here it is: