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! :-)

802, 978, 508, 207? Wrong! It's the 603!

Finished state

In the previous post I created a wall hanging of New Hampshire using bottle caps that I had collected. Since I had deviated from the original plan of 'how to apply the caps' it took longer than expected for the adhesive to dry. In the mean time I had a million ideas of what I was going to add to this craft (I might be a little manic with my thinking). I wanted to somehow add an ode to Vermont along the border (originally I was going to use all Long Trail caps on that edge) but then I would have to do something for Maine and Massachusetts (I felt bad that they would be left out). What could I add to the board for all three states? Area Codes?(VT only has 802 and Maine is 207 but MA has like 10 different ones, lame!) So that idea was rejected.

603 Stencil placement 

With the other states forgotten from the plan the focus was back on the Granite State. So what to add now? I can not just leave it with the caps in the shape of a state? Can I? NO, I CAN NOT! The project was not complete, it needed more(it was probably fine but I had to continue!). I then messed around with the idea of stenciling 'New Hampshire' down the Maine side but it looked off balance. So maybe '603' in Vermont territory and 'New Hampshire' in Maine. Now it was too much. Woe is me.

Finished project!

So after some discussions with my dog Beau on whether or not to add anything to the sign (He didn't really have much to say) I decided on just adding '603'. (It's hard to believe that I could have this much to say over one simple addition to the sign, but there is more!) The color now had to be decided. After a very small discussion with Jason (one text) the color was decided on as BLACK. And just like that the sign was complete. You are welcome. :-)

Eat, Craft, and Be from the 603!

Do you collect Bottle Caps?

When the weather is yucky out, I do not feel the least bit guilty about sitting inside all day and doing crafts! So yesterday, that is what I did...alllll dayyyy. Typically my craft projects are rather quick little adventures that I can complete in a few hours (max) with the wood burned signs taking the most time. Well scratch that concept. This craft that I am about to share with you is a LONG and tedious endevour that you should not undertake unless you have a large amount of time to 'waste' (preferably on a rainy day would be best).

Wooden backing

To begin this project you have to either be someone who enjoys bottled beverages or someone who knows a lot of people that enjoy bottled beverages (clearly I was able to collect my own caps!). Now depending on how big you want to make your final project or which state or shape you are using will change the amount of caps you need (I think this project took just under 200 caps).  I should also add that a variety of caps is best. Once I decided to commence this project I was shocked at how many of certain caps there were (particularly Sam Adams Octoberfest, and Longtrails). Luckily there was enough variety in the other caps so as to not make the project look too repetitive (plus my friend Jason was nice enough to share some of his exotic caps with me).

Laying out bottle caps 

With the cap situation discussed, I suppose it is time to share what the project is. Awhile ago I got the idea for this on Pinterest (For the probably easier instructions go here!) but of course already had my own twists in mind. I was going to make a wall hanging of the state of New Hampshire using bottle caps! Ta-Da!  So Jason helped me to create the backing which was 5 planks of wood simply held together by a couple of cross bars on the back(Note: I should not have been allowed to help hammer ANY nails) and I then acquired a state map which I cut out and used for the outline. Now this is when it becomes a time sucking craft of death.

Map cut out and glued down

Organize your caps into the shape you have chosen while making sure to create enough variety for a visually appealing final project (I completely arranged the caps onto the board twice, total time sucking). Now once you have played around with the caps and got them into the exact locations that you want you have to find a way to make them stick to the board. Not such an easy task. The website that the idea came from suggested using an epoxy but with the warning label using the word cancer, I became rather hesitant. Thank goodness Jason was around to provide a solution.

Syringing on Mod Podge

I decided to use Mod Podge, my new favorite substance ever! But how do you apply this white gooey glue of amazingness? Duh! Be a nurse who has random medical supplies in your house and use a 3ml syringe! Simply an awesome use of resources. Now let dry for DAYS and you are almost complete. Mine was just created yesterday so it is still drying. Now you can just create the map but I have further plans for this craft! Final project: TO BE CONTINUED.... So suspenseful :-)

Eat, Craft, and wait for the final project to be revealed!

The birds and the BEES and the flowers and the trees

Suiting up!

                         buzzz                                                         buzz
Phrase of the day: BEEEEE- careful! Alright today is not per say a crafting post but it is pretty awesome and therefore beelongs on the blog! Today I tangoed with a several thousand (end of the summer there can bee up to 10,000!) swarming, angry, honey bees. And yes, I did so voluntarily :-)

Space Aliens 

My step-dad Lou likes to juggle a bunch of different hobbies (horticulture, geology, dentistry, travel, learning different languages, pretty much anything that is interesting, and of course bee keeping).  So when my mother asked if I would help Lou open the hives for the season and rotate them, I thought, "What an exciting opportunity to blog about...I'll do it! It's safe, right?". The answer was "Huh? safe? Yeah of course...I did get stung 10 times one time though." (Awesome motivation Lou!) So needless to say, I did it anyways.                                  
                                                                        buzz

Open hive after smoke

So we suited up (in 80 degree heat mind you), ducked taped off our ankles and wrists and the bee-tastic adventure beegan! Now apparently we were a little too eager to open up the hives and somehow FORGOT to smoke em! Bees get frantic when they are smoked beecause they assume it is a forest fire. Now I thought the smoke made them docile because it asphyxiated them( silly me!)  but instead they begin to eat thinking that the fire will destroy the hive.(Little bit of bee knowledge for you!). So after the initial swarm we realized they needed to be smoked and we continued on our way with little to no real mishaps.

Bees forming a chain across a gap in the hive

Basically we just opened up the hives to check on
the health of the colony. We pulled out each rack to see if the bees had sufficient stores of honey and also to check the brood amounts(baby bees). If the bees were overflowing there hive we added a new level for them to inhabit or simple rotated the bottom hive to the top since bees move upward, not down (another smackeral of info for you!).
                                 buzz

Bear proofing: tacked boards and electric fence

Once they were all rotated and sufficiantly angry with us (we had 6 hives of bees swarming us by the last hive!) we were able to reset the Pooh Bear (bears just love honey in there tummy!) deterent fence and bee on our way.

Note: This was definitely something that you need to have some patience for. Moving slow and trying not to freak out when there are bees crawling all over your face mask is something that took more than a few minutes to get used to. The constant 'BUZZING' was just a tad unnerving. The real panic came when the hive began to literally growl at us. Lou had never heard the hive make that loud of a noise and was actually in disbelief that it was the bees making that fear inspiring noise. Fun fun fun :-) or buzz buzz buzz.

                                             buzzz

Eat honey, craft some candles, 

and Beeeeee careful!

buzzz

Do you believe in angels?

My helper, Coonie :-)

Alright, I understand that I have been posting a lot about wood burning and signs but that is what I have been making...so either I don't post at all or I post about a similar craft? Clearly I choose the latter. YIPPY!

So last night as I was sipping some delicious vino I thought it a perfect time to bust out my new wood burner and completely fill my house with the scent of fire (not always the best idea...but most of the time it is!). Minus a small immediate blister I got from touching the scorching hot metal to my fragile human skin and a fire alarm mishap, I think the night was pretty successful.

Sign before the feather

I had decided on the phrase "Believe in angels" since I was recently reminded of just how fragile life is. The phrase wasn't enough though. The sign looked incomplete to me so I went through a few scenarios of how to enhance it (paint? no. stain? maybe. wood burned graphic? YES!).

Sketched graphics

Next phase of this craft began. How do I wood burn something other than letters? Hmmm...lets just give it a go! So I designed two different graphics on plain white paper that were possibilities for the sign, some wings or a feather. I then loosely cut out the shapes and placed them on the sign in various places to decide which one worked better and where I would ultimately place it. The feather won this battle but I still had the trouble of figuring out how to make it look soft like a feather while using a tool that specializes in making hard straight lines...?

Feather complete

Instead of wasting time trying to change the tip on the wood burner (which probably would have been a lot easier) I decided to just go for it  (probably the wine talking) and see what happened! I ended up using the side of the wood burner tip to create a shading effect instead of the harsh lines. It came out just fine (I think) and I am really happy with the final result. I hope you believe in angels too!

Eat, Craft, and Believe :-)

Stencils, paint and...a hammer?

Once an idea is planted in your head it is impossible to get it out of there ( Inception anyone?). This is how I feel about summer coming. I am just so ready for the cold to be over that my crafts have all taken on a summer theme (and they are all on wood). To the beach we go!

Original piece of wood

I love working with wood but lately just using my wood burner has bored me, so I have got into using simple paints for accent (also I broke my wood burner on the last project so...).  As always I found the piece of wood first and then decided on the craft that would be put on it. Now being a typical girl, I also change my mind several times before the final project is done. Sometimes I begin a craft and can simply erase it and start over, or flip the wood over, Ta-Da! This craft was originally going to say "Make today count" for a kid with a clock and number theme but I changed my mind and found a better piece of wood for that craft. Last night that seemed too ambitious though so a simple "Beach" sign was created.

Stained wood with stencil ideas

The wood was very light that I was using so I wanted to darken it up but staining is such a process that I decided to cheat(just a little!). In all of my crafts there is a hint of impatience and this was a perfect example. I want my crafts to be quick and easy, no long time waiting for things to dry (BORING). So I found some brown craft paint, watered it down a little and simply wiped it onto the wood. Easiest way to stain ever! It came out fabulous and it achieved just what I wanted for the color. Then the stencils came out. (Note: I almost never use stencils, like NEVER.  I love creating fonts and designs by hand but apparently I was feeling very worn out...and lazy). So the word was chosen and then white paint applied.

My sweet hammer

Now to give the wood a rustic and used feel I simply brushed on some white and brown paint for some dimension. I also wanted to beat it up a bit...enter my pink Breast Cancer hammer! Beating it up was a simple process of banging in the edges a little and then using the 'claw' (the pointy nail remover side) of the hammer to add some character divots. That's it!

Eat, Craft, and get beachy!

This sign was made for indoor use but it could definitely be an outdoor sign with a layer of finish on it! 

Summer is almost here!

The majority of the time I start my crafts with my medium already decided. If I am going to knit something then I look for a craft that has to do with knitting, or with 'mod podge' I try to create a sign of some sort. Today I began my craft with some scraps of wood that I found in my Mom's basement (Thanks Mom!). Alas a wood burning extravaganza began!

Stenciled lettering 

As you can see in a previous blog entry (Burn Baby Burn), I have a fondness for wood burning. I just love the way the wood smells as it is being singed by the ever scalding tool of awesomeness. It is just such a cool art form to work with, with all of the imperfections of wrongly burned areas creating a unique and totally handmade piece of art. Although I have been using my wood burning tool for years now, and know that if you hold it at just the right angle you will create a large unintended burned area, I am still the impatient person I am and tend to rush through everything....therefore I tend to create these flaws, if you will, in my work. Regardless lets get to the craft!

1/2 way done letters

I decided on the piece of wood I wanted to use, got my idea of what I was going to put on the sign, and began sketching. I used just plain white paper to sketch out my words and decide on the size and fonts before ever messing with the wood (Note: Wood is not very forgiving when it comes to trying to erase pencil or buff out divots left by mistaken lines!). Once I had the layout and fonts decided on I tried a new technique for applying the wording. I simply laid the paper on the wood and traced over the letters creating an invisible (OK not invisible or else I wouldn't have been able to see it!) dented outline on the wood. Begin burning bold b(f)onts now!

Complete creation 

Once the outline was complete I started burning in the letters to create a bolder look. Now at this stage I would usually stop my sign and say "Good job Stevie, it looks amazing! He/She will love it!", but not today! After years of sign making, the plain wood burned words just started to look..plain. So another new technique was born! Watered down paints in white and blue were then applied using a foam brush to add character and color!  I just applied them in a random-esque way to create a rustic beachy feel!

Eat, Craft, and Be happy :-)

Wreath Mania!

I realize that I have taken a small sabbatical from the blog, but I have a perfectly good reason. The weather in New England has been extraordinarily warm, ice out on the local lake was even declared yesterday (earliest EVER on record...global warming? Nah!). So I have been enjoying the glow of the closest star to earth (the sun!) and ignoring my time consuming baby blog. Apologies world.

Today's creation :-)

To the craft! Today I decided (well actually I decided yesterday that I would blog, but the time frame is irrelevant) that I would create! Create what? Well the change in seasons has got me springing into spring at warp speed so a new wreath was in order (no more Christmas greens in this house!). Ideas began to hop around my brain and it was off to the dollar store for this crafty salamander! Inevitably I came up with several ideas and will blog about all of them in due time (or closer to Easter for one in particular! hehe) Today I want to share with all of you the absolute coolest wreath in the history of the universe! Wait for it........ a book page wreath! (Find the original version here) So exciting!!! AHHHH! I can't even contain my excitement!(I sense that others might not be as enthusiastic as I am, oh well, it is my blog!)

Supplies

Begin wreath (note: 'wr' is a weird letter combo) craft now. Supplies cost me a total of ONE DOLLAR (no joke, I literally only 'spent' 100 pennies on this craft). You will need (and might need to buy) a foam wreath, a glue gun, a ton of glue sticks, a razor blade, some brown paint, enthusiasm (should be free) and a book. The book is very important though. It was hard to choose a book to destroy because I love reading and have so many favorite books (I am also my mothers daughter though and tend to hoard a little bit) so a book had to die.  Into my hoards of college books I went (Little known fact, I was an English minor, surprise!) and a jewel I did discover! Wilderness and the American Mind by Roderick Nash (is that how you even cite a book? I learned nothing at school) was the perfect book for my project. It was earthy, and wilderness oriented and even talked about Lake Winnipesaukee (so now the wreath contained a secret in it's pages), but you can choose any random book you want.

Attaching rolled pages

Now stain the edges of your book to give it a cool rustic and old school feel. Then begin the destruction. Using the razor blade (ever so carefully children! Don't try to cut the book while it is in your lap like a silly goose!) cut out the pages and begin rolling them up. I used the glue gun to add a tack of glue to keep the rolls together and then started attaching them to the foam wreath. Make the first row on the back side of the wreath and then flip it over and add the rolls in rows until it's all done! That's it! You have now created a sweet and unique wreath that is ALL season! I also attached some felt to the back to cover up the back and make it prettier from the other side of the door!

Eat, Craft, and Be Hoppy :-)

Shamrocks and... Bleach??

Per usual, I have decided to start to write my blog entry before the craft is complete. Needless to say the craft does not always go to plan and I end up reinventing the blog or sometimes the craft to make it work. Today I feel is going to be one of those days.

Use a stack of newspaper
to prevent running of bleach

I started out with the idea that I wanted to create my very own St. Patrick's day t-shirt. I have worn the "Kiss me I'm Irish" and those sorts of typical green garb, but I wanted to switch it up this year. To the drawing board I went (aka Pinterest) and boy did I hit a pot o' gold! ( Let's see how many St. Patty's day references I can make!). The idea was to use a bleach pen to remove the rainbow( "Clever girl"- name that movie...) of colors from your wardrobe. (Find the original idea here, since mine is not working out very well!). So I found a plain green t-shirt and a pen o' bleach and thought my quest twas complete. Whale Oil Beef Hooked! :-)

Attempt numero uno

The bleach pen proved to be faulty (I know this because I have watched it sit on the green shirt in the pattern of a shamrock and nothing is happening for 20 minutes now! what the blarney stone!) Let the troubleshooting begin! I assume that the bleach pen is old and therefore ineffective as a color destroying agent.

Gallon of liquid color death

Bring in the big guns! That's right folks, I am placing straight bleach onto a shirt ( that I did intend on wearing again) and hoping it is not COMPLETELY destroyed! Oh the things I do for crafts! So the straight fabric eating bleach is on the shirt now. I applied it with a simple paint brush. I did use the gel from the bleach pen to create a kind of outline so the liquid bleach of death didn't seep into the entire shirt! Clock is ticking starting now. If this does not work I will simple chalk it up to the fact that Wal-mart apparently makes indestructible clothing (yeah right).

Color Removed!

Now that the bleach has sat for 30 minutes I have finally seen the color begin to fade! Victory is mine! For future crafters, try and buy a brand spankin' new bleach pen (NOT COLOR SAFE...duh!) and you might be able to avoid the mishaps that I have encountered!

 Eat, craft, and try not to get pinched! 

IRISH you luck!

Completed Project

As previously stated, I have been working on several Saint Patrick's day crafts. My sister is throwing a medium sized get together so we have been collaborating on the decoration needs for the party. One of the many ideas that I came up with will be today's topic of crafty discussion! So I know I have used these white canvas boards in a couple other posts but that is only because I had three of them and I felt that I had to use all of them. Every time I walked into my craft room they were just sitting there begging me to make something amazing out of them (and apparently I have no will power, because use them I have).

Moving on...I love the look of the 'subway' signs (One time I saw it referred to as subway sign, so that has now stuck in my little brain). They are signs that have run on words with a common theme and sometimes have the words going all different directions and in different fonts ( I might be mixing up two different ideas here, oh well!). Anyways, I love the look of them and wanted to make a St. Paddy's themed one.

The beginning phase

Step one: Create a work space (mind you I do have a complete craft room, but I chose to do crafts in the living room on a coffee table, I am weird) complete with all things green, many different lettering techniques, and a bunch of other crafty stuff that you want to play with.

Step two: Come up with some wording or phrases that have to do with your theme. I chose things like 'shamrock', 'pot of gold', 'irish' and a bunch others. I came up with a ton of phrases knowing that I would not use all of them.

Step three: Figure out which words are going to fit where and with which technique you will be writing or applying them.

Step four: Don't be afraid to venture outside of the norm! I spray painted some pennies gold using spray paint (is that an illegal use of currency?). I also created shamrocks out of glitter! Go nuts!

Gold coins!

Step five: When all is said and done, Mod Podge it all! I found that with some mediums, like stamped ink, the mod podge can smudge it so just be careful not to brush it around too much. To cover the glittered shamrocks I just literally goobed the mod podge on without even touching the glitter for fear it would completely be destroyed!

The ending mess and project

IRISH you the best of luck! 

Eat, Craft, and follow the rainbow :-)