Not just for cookies . . . .

This is part 1 of a series, I am not sure how many parts it will take . . . not more than 3. It's the new year and I'm in my big girl house, so I decided it's time to start some staples for living like a 'big girl.'I found this idea on pinterest for a yearly calendar made out of a cookie sheet. The joy is that you can use it year after year. 

I started with a few supplies: 

Cookie sheet ($4) 15.2in x 10.2in 

Stickies and Supplies (for deciding the sizes of the days) 

Chipboard, various sizes ($5 on sale) 

Various scrapbook supplies ($4 pack on sale & some on hand) 

Letter stickers x3 ($1.97 ea) 

MogPodge (on hand) 

Magnets ($3)

Scissors

Straight-edge cutter 

Pen/Pencil

Ruler 

Total: $21

I started by laying out the stickers to decide the perfect size for the days. They ended up being 1 3/4in x 1 3/4 in. The large white strip is for the months 6 in x 2 1/2in. And the long, thin strip is for the days of the week it's 11in x 2 1/2in: 

Then I marked the chipboard and cut out the pieces with the straight-edge (on a cutting board) I cut out close to 50 pieces. 31 for the days of the month, at least 7 blank for fillers and the rest for holidays:

Then, I used MogPodge to attach cut out pieces of scrapbook paper to the squares. Let me tell you, when it comes to picking paper less is more. I used multiple patterns but only 2-4 pieces with each pattern. Also, as I was applying the paper I started laying the days out like I would want them in the end.:

I numbered the back of each block to be sure that I kept them in order. 

This is where I will stop for today. Next time well talk about putting the numbers on the blocks, making the months and the days of the week bar. I don't have enough pictures of this step, but it's something that you can use your imagination with. 

Ruffle my Feathers

Aside from the slight set back of a full blown cold. I am sticking to my resolutions. This week I took my loot from Hobby Lobby, along with some supplies I had on hand, to make a wreath for our front door. I had plans of making this out of tule at first, but saw the error in my ways when I tried to create organized ruffles. Heres the finished product: 

(My observant friends, please ignore the dingy door, boyfriend refuses to put the work into painting the door of a rental home) 

Supplies: 

Foam Wreath ($3 with 40% off coupon( 

Tule ($ 2 didn't use half) 

Fabric (on hand) 

Ribbon ($1.97 didn't use half) 

Sewing pins (on hand) 

Total $7 

I think you'll notice that more crafts you do, the more you accumulate scraps to use for other projects and the cheaper this hobby becomes... plus sales help :) 

I started by wrapping a foam wreath in pink tule, adding hot glue at each end.

After deciding the tule wasn't going to work, I changed to some scarp fabric I had from at quilting project. Luckily, most of it was already cut into strips (probably 2 inches wide and 12 inches long but that's not precise just a guess). I folded the strips with ruffles. Then, attached them to the wreath with sewing pins. 

This is two ruffles, you go around the wreath layering your ruffles. 

I decided to use multiple colors because honestly, I didn't have enough of any color to make a whole wreath. Then I lined the sides with ribbon, attaching with pins so that it's interchange able. Finally, I made a loop from the ribbon to hang it on the hook. Attached again by pins to make it easy to change. 

The beauty of the whole project is that it's 100% changeable. Everything is attached with pins rather than glue and sewing.

What are your ideas for the front door?

A few of my favorite things

Check it, Hobby Lobby was having a sale this weekend. Check out the loot:

I tried to stock up for a few projects I have in mind . . . 

This is what the ribbon is for, it will become a layered Valentine tutu and ribbons for some sweet little girls in my life. 

This is one I'm really excited about, it will take a while to make but its a magnetic calendar made from scrapbook supplies and a cookie sheet.

This will actually be the first project . . . with a few twists. 

This one has the biggest twist of all, I'm turning a ruffled tree skirt into a lamp shade. 

This is what all the styrofoam balls are for. 

I did have a plan for the baskets, I was going to make this 

but they just didn't sit pretty and it wasn't easy to feed the big ribbons through the little holes. So I'm still testing ribbon storage ideas. Thank you Pinterest for new ideas. 

Stay tuned for all these projects. 

K loves B

my new years resolution?  to spend more time doing things that make me happy. one of the things that make me happy, CRAFTS! i'm not going to make commitments, but here's the first craft of the New Year . . . i was inspired by this craft on Pinterest: 

if you know me, you know i love monograms. i would seriously put my initials on my toilet paper if it wasn't really weird. i originally started with: 

1. canvas board (2 for $6 at Walmart)

2. swatch of fabric (I had in my sewing bag) 

3. buttons (4 bag $1.80 each but I only needed 2 bags in the end)  

4. hot glue (on hand)  

5. ribbon (on hand)

6. stencils (on hand) 

7. scissors (on hand) 

total project cost: about $7 

at the end of the day i had extra fabric, buttons, and a canvas board. 

 

now you can sew if you feel so inclined, but I'm a fan of hot glue and quick projects. 

step 1: attach fabric to board.  starting with the sides and finishing with the corners. i'm not exactly happy with my corners but it was a learning process. 

step 2: apply stencils and outline with pencil. 

i attached with masking tape. 

step 3: start with the buttons, I found that starting in the middle, making simple lines and finishing by layering buttons was easier than trying to cluster as you go. My letters are smaller than the example, so I added an extra layer (another area where hot glue over sewing comes in handy) 

the above is an example of what didn't work so well for me, the K ended up with some holes that I had to fill in later

with the & and the B i worked in a line to cover the whole letter then came back to layer and add some fun. this resulted in less holes. 

here's an image of what i mean by working in lines. 

the finished project, i still haven't added the ribbon because i'm not sure where i want to put this. the entire project took me about 45 minutes. i thought about hanging it on the front door. but i'm worried about it being damaged or faded by the elements outside.