A craft.

3 days!!!! 3 days until I get on a plane and head for MD!!!! Cassie will be waiting for me at the airport, and we may or may not sob while hugging each other! I am sooooooo excited to be able to spend a week with Cassie and her family, visit with Andi, and meet some of the other awesome ladies from Blog Land that Cassie is already real life friends with. Oh - AND - I get to go to LUCKETT'S!!!!!!!! Seriously people - I am sososososososososososo excited! I've been dreaming of going there for the last few years and I get to go this Sunday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!

Ok - the craft. right.
I wanted to make something for Cassie and Andi to give them when I got there. Hmmm. What to make?

On a routine trip to the local Dollar Tree, I stumbled on these awesomely hideous Spring banners. Never mind about making them something....I'll just bring them these!! Done and done.

Ha ha - NOT! No way! Never gonna happen!
BUT - I am going to strip them for parts. Wanna see??

I know they dell dowels at all the craft stores. Even WalMart has them.
Cut the dowels to size, glue on the end caps, tie the string....ha ha...nope. This is easier. And for $1 each, totally worth it!

After cutting the ugly banner off, I used it as a template to cut my replacement fabric. I used my go-to vintage sheets for this project and I'm happy I did. I wanted to make them personal and special, but I also wanted them to be sturdy and small enough to pack easily in my suitcase.

I used my standard technique of printing out letters on the computer and tracing them onto the fabric. Then filled them in with craft paint. This one below is the beginning of Cassie's.

Here's the start of Andi's (a secret code that only her and I know...and maybe a select few others)

After I finished painting the lettering, I knew I wanted to add hearts to each of them. I used this tutorial from Sew Chatty to make the heart for Cassie's. Time consuming, but cute I think :)

I kept it a bit more simple on Andi's so they wouldn't be the same. I think they both came out super cute and I really hope they like them (scratch that - I couldn't wait so I texted them pictures of them, ha ha. They like 'em).

Wanna see the finished products???
Cassie's:

(she and I have been texting and e-mailing each other "Yay May" for like the last 6 months!! ha ha!)

And Andi's:

(ok - is it totally bugging you that you don't know what it means?! I'll tell you. It stands for "Aqua Sisters For Life." We both love the color aqua and any time anyone asks us for a color opinion, aqua is always our choice. We're dorks. I know.)

So, that's it. A little happy craft. I can't wait to get there and give them to my friends!
YAY MAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!