Easter Tree for You and Me!

Resume Blogging...Now:

In an effort to jazz up the hospital unit that I work on, I have volunteered to join the morale committee (not really even knowing what it was). Apparently in the past the morale committee (being comprised of one person, not much of a committee really) plans events for all the nurses to attend (BBQs and tupperware parties and such). Well since I am new to this (and would never host a tupperware party in my life) and since we are all working so hard, finding time outside of work just doesn't seem feasible at the moment. So being the crafty human I am, I have decided to bring the joy of crafts to the unit!! Hooray for boosting morale!

This all started when I was creating Easter Decorations. I created a couple fun egg wreath for family and realized I had a dozen (or so) left over plastic eggs. Hmm...what to make, what to make? I set off for my craft room to search for some supplies and ideas and VOILA! How about an Easter Egg Tree!

 I used a Styrofoam cone, plastic Easter eggs, a hot glue gun (obviously), and some Easter basket filler. 

Now simply apply the eggs, make it pretty, place it on a table and you have yourself a homemade Easter Tree. 

Now what do you do after Easter? Well I will tell you: You make a NEW CRAFT!!!! 

Back to my craft room I went in search of supplies and a new and exciting idea. Well what I found was not necessarily new (I made another wreath), but the technique was new to me. I remember seeing this type of wreath in a Martha Stewart Magazine years ago and thought it would look neat but I never had a place or purpose for it (Morale committee it is!).  I started by making an entire mess of ribbon on my coffee table and then just started tying the ribbons on the styrofoam ring. Even after the entire wreath was covered, I made sure to go back through and add even more ribbons to get the full effect (then I added a few more!). The initials of the floor I work on were added using (what else but) hot glue and there ya go. A quick and easy craft that can spruce up even a medical unit. Plus it was a great use for all of those spools of ribbon sitting around in a drawer (I got to start making room for new items!). 
One of a kind decorations brought to you by Salamander. You are welcome!

Eat, Craft, and Decorate!

Blogging Hiatus

Nautical themed wall decor, hand painted on canvas

Hello to my devout readers (all three of you).  I am apologetic for the seeming lack of craft blogging. I am in fact crafting, nothing big, and nothing really new to my craft scene, but I should be keeping up with my favorite little hobby! Life is hectic (as we all know it comes in waves) and blogging is at the bottom of the totem pole at this point. While not really blogging as a whole (there is a certain new little blog that I have picked up, but it is not for you to know about just yet!) but this blog has received the chopping block for a bit. I will return though, have no fear, your crafter is here!

Wood burned sign with painted background and buttons for a heart

Eat, Craft, and always continue to create!

Charlie Brown's got NOTHING on this tree!

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Making X-Mas Gifts, Oh What Fun it is to create a one of a kind presentttt!Hey! Happy Holidays my fellow crafters! Have you been as busy as I have trying to make ALL of this years gifts? Well if the answer is no then please read on (if the answer is yes, then here is a new idea!).

As you will remember, a while back a hefty amount of wine corks was bestowed upon me. For sometime now I have been struggling to come up with a crafty enough gift to make with them. Well look no further than Pinterest to find your next treasure( honestly what would I do without Pinterest?)... 

Wine Cork Christmas Trees!

Utterly simplistic, but amazingly cute! This craft only needs a collection of wine corks(depending on how much you drink it may only take you a few nights to create one of these special treats!), a hot glue gun with a generous supply of glue sticks, some sassy Christmas ribbon (I used colored raffia, clearance at JoAnn's Fabrics!), a simple rustic tree topper, and green paint (which is completely optional if you would rather an au natural look of the 'purpled' ends of red wine!). Now stack up your corks with gobs of ooey gooey gluey, tie them together with your choosen ribbon, and add your so called rustic decoration( I used rust colored sleigh bells to top my tiny wine-o trees).  Hmmm now we must create a stump, but the tree is so top heavy? What could possibly hold it up right?

Ahhh HA! Pop the champagne! I have an idea!

First pour your self a delicious helping of the bubbly! Then take that over sized chunk of cork and put it to use! Your stump has been found! Glue that baby on and you have just created the perfect gift for that wine-o in the family!(Or you have the cutest cost effect gift for a yankee swap! Shhhh it only cost a few dollars to make, minus the cost of the wine of course!) Nobody can turn down a homemade gift, NOBODY! So get drinking and get crafting this festive one of a kind decoration! You're welcome.

Webster just loves the Holidays!

Eat, Drink, and be Merry Christmas!

Home is where your crafts are!

Saturday night, lounging on the couch, cruising on pinterest, and a craft idea is born. Recently I moved into a new home with my significant other person so the home decor crafting has been revisited (aggressively revisited I should add). I just want the new house to be puuuurr-fectly sweet and unique. Now I can look around my living room and see a dozen homemade, one of a kind, Salamander creations, but that is just not good enough. I want the WHOLE house to be a pinterest favorite! (Crazy I know, but I just can't stop!).

Now I have already drilled and hammered enough new holes in the house that it could be confused with swiss cheese on halloween, so this craft had to be power tool free. So what to make? What does THIS house need that will be special? The address? How about the state (been there done that)? I've got it...I will pin point the house on EARTH!(Get it, I was on Pinterest and I want to pin my location...silly me!)

Note: The original craft photo was removed
 for privacy purposes..oops!

Voila! Latitude and longitude! Honestly, how much more unique can you be? (Want to know your earthly location...click here!)


Now how to display my new found locale? I could wood burn it, but I am always looking for a new medium to express my creative self so I would need to find something else...but what? Well ask and you shall receive. Living in a construction zone (aka my house) you only need to look around to find your next inspiration...blank white tiles + sharpies + an oven = sweet unique craftiness! Now I simply wrote my message (when I messed up, I used an alcohol wipe to start fresh!) and baked it in the oven at 350 degrees for a half an hour! Permanent creation complete.

More tile crafts!

Remember: Eat, Craft and find your home!

Attack BeauBeau

          

*Note: The location on this project is only an example of a craft. The exact location is a private residence complete with attack golden retrievers. Beware!

"A month of crafting"

"Here comes the sun"

Being a part of the real world is proving to be much more time consuming that originally planned. I thought that I would be able to have a full time job, while still continuing my previous unemployed life style...I was wrong. It turns out that some things had to be put on hold (blogging was numero uno, crafting numero dos). Well now that I have had an entire week off of work, thanks to a mysterious viral infection ( probably mononucleosis, AGAIN!) I have had the ability/time to return to the arts (and crafts) and to my beloved baby blog!!

Recently I have completed several crafts:

1)A friends wedding gift (no, I didn't really make her a wine cork trivet, that was a mere tactic of mine)

2)Salt Dough Ornaments

3) A wooden painted sign.

 4) Nephew's First Birthday Gift

Coonie's footprint Ornament

Now the question is, which one do I discuss? The wedding gift was a wood burned sign that was stained (I think we have discussed this before) and then tortured with a screw gun to make a hanging apparatus. The salt dough ornaments can wait till another time (closer to Christmas maybe?), and the birthday gift is pretty childish( get it? its for a one year old!), but the wooden sign is also something we have previously embarked on an adventure with. Hmmm...what to do, what to do?

Wedding gift before stain

Decision made. I will provide my ever patient audience with visions of all of these marvelous crafts. Referrals to previous posts for possible instructions or required supplies while be more than encouraged.

Eat, Craft, and Be Happy :-)

Did you say 200 wine corks?? No, More!

What better way to celebrate a wedding than with wine (corks that is!) Hmmm... Hold that thought, allow me to explain my blogging absence...

CORKS CORKS CORKS

Back in May I was blessed with a job, a real life, grown-up, pay check, career! Craziness has only followed since the day I got hired. I have been working like crazy and having a ton of fun when I have the chance, so clearly the blog was put on PAUSE until I could balance work and fun into a manageable lifestyle and although I am not quite into a well balanced state, I have decided to craft, once again!(HOORAY time to play!)

So this craft all began a few months ago when a friend was cleaning out there garage and found BAGS and BAGS of wine and champagne corks (what a bunch of alchs!). Well supposedly the corks came from a catering company (yeah right!), either way I was psyched to have them! Oh the possibilities of wine related crafts! And what better occasion to use wine corks that came from weddings to celebrate another wedding! I know I am a genius!

Trial fitting for frame

I started by sorting out the wine from champagne corks and rooting out any broken or moldy ones (yuck). Next came the idea process which was not as easy as I had hoped. To my craft room I went and there I found: string, my handy dandy glue gun, a saw (why do I have a saw?), a picture frame, scissors, and a hammer. (Note: I had no idea what I was making so I just grabbed tools). Next I spent over an hour tying corks together with twine...whatever I had in mind to make, was not working. Fail. 

Next the picture frame came into play. Victory is mine. I checkered the corks and hot glued them into place. (I only seriously burned myself on the molten glue lava once!) What have I made though? A trivet? Seemed too simple of a craft to give as a wedding gift. So now what? (Always open a bottle of wine while doing a wine craft for inspiration). 

Waiting for the second coat of wine!

VOILA! I will use wine to dye the corks! So exciting!! Back to my craft room to find a paint brush and a container for some wine ( I didn't want to use the wine in my glass...duh!). The letter of the soon to be last name of the bride seemed an appropriate monogram. Now add a black bow to tie it all together (tie it? get it? a bow!) and you have just created the best gift a wino could give to a fellow wino! 

Eat, Craft, and put all those corks to work!

Love thy Mother!

Mother's Day is just around the corner and what better way to show appreciation for the amazing mothers in my life then to create a special craft just for them! I already had an idea of what I was going to make but I needed to confirm some details for creation via Pinterest. So I set about my search for crayon art! Moms are constantly throughout time providing their kids with crayons, you go to a restaurant and you get crayons, you go to grandma's house and she has crayons, crayons crayons crayons. What better way to show mom love then to give her a crayon (hmmm you want to give your mom a crayon? Interesting.) shaped like a heart though! Silly goose.

First attempt with horrid crayons

The craft was initially going to be done using old broken crayons from an ever present crayon bucket that my niece uses (she LOVES to color) but somehow it has gone missing (Noni must have taken it to her house! Thief!). No big deal I will just buy some crayons ( honestly they are about $1, I can afford that). Well to my dismay sometimes you just can't buy the cheap stuff, it just doesn't work. So I drove back to the store and bought some Crayola Crayons which were another $1.50 plus the gas to drive back and forth (apparently I should have splurged the first time around!).

All melted!

Alright lets get to the craft! Step 1: Peel the paper off the crayons (not really all that easy) Step 2: Cut up some colorful crayons into little pieces (don't use black or brown, just do not do it) Step 3: Acquire some silicone heart shaped molds (conveniently I already had these!) Step 4: Put some cut up crayons into said mold Step 5: Place in oven at 250 degrees for approximately 10 minutes (or until the crayons are melted) Step 6: LET COOL COMPLETELY. If you move the molds too much while the crayons are liquid then the colors will mix together and you will be angry with your self for being so silly (trust me on this).  Once they are all cooled and solidified again you can pop them out and admire just how awesome this new heart shaped crayon is!

Final Craft

Now cut out a heart shaped piece of paper for your background (I used plantable paper because I had some left over from another craft), add your heart (I used a dopple of hot glue to attach it) and add a neat little saying  about how awesome Moms are! Mine says, "The keeper of crayons, the keeper of my heart! Happy Mother's Day!". 

Eat, Craft, and Love your mother! :-)