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 :-)

Chicks go peep-peep-peep!

Lovely display method :-)

Spring is an exciting time for crafts. There are so many little holidays that need to be celebrated and decorated for. There is St. Patrick's day (which will have it's very own post when I get the supplies for that craft) and also Easter (there are plenty more but these are my focus for now). When I think of Easter I picture bunnies, and baby chicks, and pretty eggs, and children wearing pastel colored dressed and hats! I almost never think of candles, but VOILA we are making Easter Egg Candles! (I would like that to be read in the style of Oprah, thanks!)

So I do not think that I need to get into the logistics of dying eggs, that seems to be a pretty simple topic that I am sure you can figure out. Feel free to color them and design them any way you would like, but just keep in mind that we are going to be breaking these delicate little nuggets in half ( and if you are anything like me, only one half will survive this step).

Egg candle example

Supplies would include but are not limited to :an old candle that no longer will burn but has plenty of wax left (annoying right?), dyed Easter eggs (and everything that goes along with that process including the blowing out of the actual egg), a bit of wick string (I do not know what you would call that...I am a horrible instructor) and a little patience with your blogger :-) for she is not very organized today.

Highly technical way of melting candles

OK lets get started. Blow out and dye your eggs (this might be a good craft for after Easter and just use those already done eggs, what else are you going to do with them?). Now carefully crack your egg in half. I actually unsuccessfully tried this several times and found that the best way to complete this horrid task without destroying your entire project was to simple break away chunks using the hole you created to drain the egg (again my tutorial is a little spotty).  Now the fun part! Place the no longer awesome candle (that is in a glass container) into a pan with a little water in it and set it on LOW heat (you do not want this glass bomb to explode in your kitchen). Once the wax is melted, place the wick string into your egg and pour in the wax. TA-DA! I found that placing the egg into the egg carton was the best way to assure that it would stay upright and not spill during the drying process.

NOTE: I do not think that these would really be practical candles to burn! They are unstable and will spill and set your entire home a flame! But they are pretty decorations :-)

Eat, Craft, and buy a fire extinguisher!

Breakfast surprise!

Acorns are more fun than circles

As I set about the task of creating breakfast this morning I was feeling a little ho-hum. I usually make a simple egg and cheese breakfast sandwich on toast. Apparently you can only eat this a million times before you get extremely sick of it and bored. I tried changing the toast, using cinnamon raisin English muffins, different cheeses, but it was all the same. DING! My brain had an idea. Today I would make a 'surprise egg'!! (Note: Food can always be crafty in my world)

Hmmm....what is a surprise egg? A surprise egg is only the coolest and most fun way to eat fried eggs. Some may call it by a different name (I have heard a reference to something about a hen and a basket? or something like that), but my mom always called it a surprise egg so there ya go.

Just yummy!

Now forever I always used a cup to cut out the middle of the bread but I was feeling a little sassy so I used an acorn cookie cutter (twas more pleasing on the eye than a plain circle I think). Butter the bread and the cut out shape and set on skillet. Crack egg into middle section. Flip when you think appropriate (FYI:the point is to have an over easy egg). Once you have cooked your deliciousness, use your grilled little acorn to dip into the yoke!

SURPRISE! 

Eat, Craft, and be Surprised!

Unwrapped: Adventures with Mystery Cookies

A friend of mine once told me that I should not commit to making a baking day on the blog because it was too big of a commitment for me...he was right. So instead whenever I bake, that is when I will post. Simple solution :) Begin baking brookies blog now. 

Brookies might not be the exact right term (brownie+cookies= brookies, get it!) for what I am creating but I think it is a cute name so that is what I will call them (others might be upset by this, tough!). What I am actually attempting to make is a brownie stuffed chocolate chip cookie.  I had the pleasure of once eating these magical concoctions when I was moving out of my apartment in Burlington (what a sad day). A friend (Shout out to Bob George) brought them over as motivation and we fell in love with them. Mostly we were amazed at how they were made, we just could not figure out how on this awesome earth the brownie got inside. It was a mystery to us (two college grads, can  you believe it?). Now years later I have seen the light. Pinterest, you sassy minx, you have given me the key to the mystery. (This is where I got the idea, but I did not use these recipes, just the technique).

Note: Never crack your eggs directly into your mix,
you never know what's in there! Baby chickens!

Since I don't have all day to spend making things from scratch as I usually would, I am cheating a bit and using prepared mixes for both the brownies and the chocolate chip cookies (don't judge me). I did sass up the cookie mix by adding vanilla extract (my mother's secret) and more chocolate chips though. So mix up both batters and cook the brownies while the cookie mix chills. Technically I should have cooked the brownies earlier and let them cool, but being the inpatient manic person I am, I will use them hot! I am so daring!

I made a top and bottom part to the
 cookie to surround the brownie

Now cut up the brownies into 1inch squares, and smother them in cookie batter. These are probably going to be some of the biggest cookies you ever make. Now bake them as you would your normal cookies, but make sure to give them plenty of room to spread out since the brownie will sort of melt in the middle (I know just thinking about it makes me hungry!) Now let cool and enjoy!

Eat, Craft, and Be happy :-)

(Warning: You will eat raw cookie/brownie mix and  sample burnt cookies...sugar overload is a real possibility!)