Our Liberace moment

Hi everyone, how's it goin'!? I hope you all are well. We have been doing the usual day to day over here but we have also been getting a little crafty. During the holidays, I saw this post on one of my favorite blogs and it got my wheels spinning. I loooove vintage inspired crafts and definitely wanted to give it a try. I didn't have a big bag of sparkly "goodies" (as Hayden and I call them) given to me by my great aunt, but I do have a craft cabinet that's busting at the seams.

Hayden and I gathered up our supplies and got to work. Take a look...

 

(the spangle mix and tri-beads are from the craft section at Wal-Mart)

 

My first step was to paint a basic canvas aqua (shocker). This is actually more of a minty aqua but you can't really tell in these pictures. I cut out a heart template and traced it on to the center of the canvas.

 

 

 

Next I covered the pencil line with tacky glue, and added some thick cream yarn to define the shape.

 

 

After that, I started covering the inside of the heart with tacky glue. I squirted it on, and then spread it out with a foam brush. I wasn't stingy with the glue, I knew we would need quite a bit.

 

Once the entire heart was covered in glue, it was time to get blingy. Hayden had sooooo much fun putting all of the sparkly goodies (one by one) in the glue. It was really cute to watch her pick out each one and stick it on. She kept telling me how beautiful each one was :)

 

 I helped the process along by dumping on small hand fulls of goodies at a time. We didn't have all day and one by one would have taken way too long. Plus, we wouldn't get that fun clumpy layered look that we were going for.

 

After the whole thing was covered with sparklies, we covered the bits of remaining glue with glitter. My girl looooooves shaking on glitter...

 

Once that was done, I added the word "Love" with tacky glue and shook on some mooooore glitter!

 

 We let that dry for a a few hours and then shook off all of the excess glitter and goodies. At the last minute I decided to add some polka dots. I mean, why not, right!?

 

Wanna see the finished product??

Take a look...

 

 

 

 

Does it make you smile (or give you hives...you can be honest). Hayden and I love love love it! The only problem we're having is figuring out where we should hang it. If it ends up in my gallery wall above my desk, I definitely won't complain ;)

 

I think Liberace would be proud of this fancy, sparkly, fabulous craft that was made with love!

 

Getting crafty with the kids really is fun! Especially when they really enjoy themselves and love the finished product. Happy kid, happy mom :) Simple (& sparkly).

The writing on the wall.

Happy hApPy Friday eve everyone :)
So...during "nap" time yesterday (I put the word nap in quotes because yesterday neither of my kids fell asleep during nap time. This is a rare and unwelcome change and I am NOT a fan) I got a little crafty. My mojo isn't fully back yet but this quick and easy project definitely helped.

Let me start out by saying that I browse pintrest daily and always leave it feeling inspired. Over the holidays my awesomely creative friend Cassie pinned this beauty and I quickly hit "re-pin."

                                                                            (source)
Back story: I am SO SO lucky and I get to go to Maryland this May to visit Cassie and her family!! YAY!! We have a week full of thrifting, crafting, eating, and hanging out in our pj's planned. Anyway, she pinned it and said we should make these when we are together. I, of course, yelled YES!

After Christmas, I went to Target and stocked up on tinsel garlands for us to use when it was on sale for 80% off. I think each 15' garland was like $.55 each or something awesome like that. I got gold for myself and silver for Cassie. I also got a strand of red because...well....you just never know.

Fast forward to yesterday and this happened....Poof!

Ha ha! Like magic :)
All I did was cut some large letters out of red/burgundy card stock...

...and then I just hot glued the tinsel garland onto the letters (cutting it to size as I was gluing it). Super EASY! The only thing that was a bit tricky was trying not to be too messy. The minute you cut a tinsel garland, it starts shedding EVERYWHERE! I just squeezed a tiny blob of hot glue on the end right after I cut it & It worked like a charm. After I was done gluing it, I just used thumb tacks to hang them on the wall (just make sure you bury your tacks in the fluff so you can't see them).

Do you LOVE it as much as I do!? Do you wish you stocked up on tinsel garlands after Xmas!? I totally wish I got some in every color!! Well, there's always next year!! Ha ha :)

Not even really a craft, craft.

While they nap, I craft. It's quiet. SO very quiet. Crafting in the quiet. Oh yeah. Let me start by saying that I have a TON of things that I need to do. Special etsy orders for friends, photo props for another friend, CLEAN my house. But, nah. It's just too quiet.

Before it got quiet, I took down my Christmas cards from my Christmas card holder....and then I felt sad.

Before it got quiet I used my printer (I never use my printer, cricut, or any other noisy crafting tool during "quiet time.").
I printed some Valentine's Day words on card stock using a new fancy font that my sweet sis in law showed me how to download to my computer. Thx sis!

Once it was quiet (can you tell I love the quiet), I made a paper heart template and traced it around the fancy words to make some conversation hearts :-)

Then, after sitting still in the quiet for a few minutes (ha ha), I used my quiet scissors (he he) and cut them out.

Then I got distracted (what's new). I thought I would get fancy and hang the hearts from a branch that I took from the park earlier today.....so I {quietly} punched a bunch of holes in them. Hastily, I should say.

I yarn-ified my branch a bit....don't ask me why.

(at this point, I should have realized that this was not the direction I should be going). Alone in the quiet, I strung the hearts and circles from various lengths of yarn and hung them from the branch.

The hideousness that was described above went un-photographed. For a good reason. It was not cute.

So, the original plan of refilling my card holder resumed (& yep, it was still quiet).

I had to use 2 clips on each to cover up all of those hasty holes.
The font (called circus from da font) makes me happy :)

Big pic :)

(it even looks quiet, huh?? ha ha).
I hope you all are having a great weekend!

And with this last craft....

I say to you......"Aloha!"
That's right people, tomorrow morning bright and early, I get on a plane to Hawaii!!!!! All by myself (well, not all by myself really, I'm flying with a girl friend). We are headed to Oahu to go to our friend's wedding on the North Shore. It is going to be AMAZING, I just know it!!! So, I will be back on Tuesday with a zillion pictures to share from paradise. I did want to share this easy-to-do Valentine's Day craft before I start packing my suitcase :)

I got these basic dollar store vases the other day and wanted to fancy them up a bit. SO many people make-over these little guys so I thought I would give it a shot too.

First I used goo-gone to remove the labels (WHY do dollar store labels have to be so sticky?!), and then taped off some stripes. Seriously!? Taping off level circular stripes is kind of hard. At least it was for me. Anyway, moving on...

I shoved grocery bags inside each one and secured it with my top stripe of tape so none of the paint would get inside.

Then I took them outside, grabbed a can of chalkboard spray paint that I had on hand and got to work. I ended up doing three coats with about 20 minutes or so in between coats.

Once it was dry to the touch, I removed the tape and waited about 24 hours for it to be fully dry. Ready for the reveal??!!

I filled 2 of them with candy hearts and a candle, and the other one got a $3.99 bouquet from Trader Joe's :)

Back view...

BIG picture...

I think they came out pretty cute!! They're very versatile too! You can write messages for any occasion :) Yay! This was a cheap, easy, and useful craft and I am happy with the outcome. I hope you like it too!

I'll be thinking of you while I'm in Paradise (ok, not really, ha ha). BYE!
Aloha people!!!! xo