Wine Rack Transformation!

While thrifting last week I stumbled upon this little wine rack at our GoodWill Store. This is after his little makeover.

This is before....while he was still a lovely shade of orange wood.

Very simple transformation. A can of black matte spray paint (the cheap stuff from Wal-Mart, sprayed the whole thing, and then sanded and sanded. I actually sanded most of the spray paint off, well about half. Then I used a wet paper towel to rub red craft paint all over it. And wiped it back off. Just your basic distressing. It was fun, and easy and just the thing to sit on top of my wine rack.

My husband's comment about it made me LOL. He said "It looks like something you would see on The Black Pearl.  I am not sure if I should take that as a compliment or not! ;0)

My Little Prettied Up Planner!

This is my little planner that I bought from the dollar store back in January. It is so boring looking!

Today I found these little pretties at the Scrapbook Store.

And in two minutes I have this! No, seriously it took me two minutes!

And while I was procrastinating picking up I made these.

This one is my favorite, just used some big black letter stickers for the U and the R.

This one is very pretty with shimmery pink cardstock.

This one is for a friend who is going through a rough time.

Thanks for looking!

Kelly

And the Winner Is............

Comment #2

Jenn @ South of Sheridan said...



And I'm already following you - I'll post your giveaway on my blog side column too, in hopes you get more followers! ;D

Hooray! And thank you Jen for posting on your blog about the giveaway. I am so excited that we passed 10 and then 20 followers!

So here is the fun part - the Rice Pad Bag and Rice Pad Neck Pillow are available in the following color choices. So contact me with your choice and I will get these out to you!

So Lucky To Have Each Other!

Just a little reminder..........Rice Pad Bag Giveaway is tommorow! So if you have not left a comment here then you need to! Random.org will be picking a number in about 24 hours so get over there and enter. And if you are a follower make sure that you leave two comments so that you have two chances to win. Oh and I am so excited!  MakeItSparklyMama has reached 20 followers so that means that the giveaway will include both a Rice Pad Bag Heating Pad and A Rice Pad Bag Neck Warmer!

Now for the project I want to show you!

Yes, Indeed we are lucky to have each other! I am so blessed by my Family! And here is a little craft idea to showcase just that! My Mom was getting ready to burn these scrap 2x4's when she thought "Hey I bet Kelly could use those!", and she gave them to me, and I am so glad! They are pretty self explanatory but I will share with you how I did the lettering. First up I made a pattern on the computer. Sometimes it can be tricky to get a letter to print out just the way you want it, for instance I wanted my letters to take up almost the whole block, but if they were long enough than they were too wide.  Or vice versa. But I have a little trick to share,...

First Up: Open a Microsoft Publisher Blank Document

*** Insert A Text Box (It doesn't matter what size at this point)
***Type Your Letter for example I typed L (make it fit the box as best as you can)
***Right Click on the text box and "Save As Picture"
***Delete Text Box
***Click Insert, Picture, From File, then click on the name of the text box you just saved as a picture
***You can now crop your letter so that there is very little text box around it
***This will enable you to size your letter appropriately for your project, without having tons of white space around it.
***Now you can size your letter, stretching it any  way you want.

This tip really does make a difference when you want to stretch letters out, to be tall and skinny or short and wide.

I printed my letters and saying out and then used carbon paper to transfer them over. The only thing I can say is use tape. Especially if your letters are a tight fit! I traced my letters out not being too careful. I wanted my project to have a freehanded look but I didn't want to actually freehand it! After the letters were traced, I thinned some green paint with a little water and just filled in the letters. So easy! I gave them 2 coats. You will notice that my letters look old, like maybe I just chopped up an old fence post and wrote out my letters. This is how I do that look, and I know there are gobs of posts about this in blogland and on the internet but my way is a little diferent. I am too lazy to use stain. I don't like drying time I don't like worrying about things being perfect so I use Old English furniture polish. I just sanded the edges and swiped the blocks with a rag dipped in the polish. It gives them a lovely patina!

Originally I was going to stick wire in the tops of these to attach pictures of my family, and I still might but I love them as is for now!

Thanks for looking!
Kelly

Comments Are Working Again!

For a second there I thought my Shamrock was just a big dud! Then I remembered that I installed a new template and there was a "something something something" about comments not working correctly. Hmmmmm.... easy fix and now we are all good! So that shows me for trying to get all fancy! I had a lot of fun thrifting and dollar store shopping today so.....fun posts will be a coming!

A little shamrock love!

Ok, I told myself I wouldn't post any St. Patty's Day Ideas until my Valentines Day Roses had wilted. But honestly I just can't wait. To me, every holiday is worth celebrating in style, after all, if I have an excuse to eat treats, decorate and spoil my kids a little why not take it. Ok I really do all that every day but if it is a holiday at least I have a reason! So here is my first St. Patty's offering -

This really is a EASY project, if you have some of these -

leftover hearts from V-Day, please tell me I am not the only one who didn't get all their projects done!

and one of these -

a dollar store frame, or a frame you just about threw away because you broke the glass.

And some of this............

I didn't have any black spraypaint so I had to use craft paint on the frame, sad right?

and I painted my hearts green, with a darker green shading around the outside

I ended up distressing the frame, it was red painted wood originally, I painted it black, and then sanded it in spots, and then I swiped some green paint on in spots with a wet paper towel. I love how this turned out, I love it so much I might sleep with it under my pillow tonight! LOL! It looks like something my Irish ancestors had!

I also added some ruffled up fabric to the top and bottom of the frame backing, and used matching fabric to hang the frame on, I just hotglued it on the back. Then I glued a painted wooden circle to the middle of my Shamrock to hide where the corners didn't come together perfectly.  I still thought it needed a little something more so I added some "stitching" around the edges with a black pen.

And a little something more, some black pen "veins" in the Shamrock leaves.

What do you do for St. Patricks Day? I make green pancakes and green milk  for the kids at breakfast, hide golden coins, and the leprechaun usually leaves them a little something if their rooms are clean. Ya know just one more "magic person" to motivate those kids to clean their rooms.

To Celebrate my 1oth Follower - A Giveaway!

What sounds good in the middle of February, when it is cold and windy outside, and all the of the lovliness of Valentines Day is over? Well something warm and snuggly of course! To celebrate my 10th follower I am going to be giving away one of my Rice Pad Bags. They are warm and toasty and they love to snuggle up next to you at night. They are also good at soothing tired neck muscles from too much time at the computer!

To enter, just leave me a comment! And if you want a second entry then you have to follow my blog, if you are already a follower just leave me a second comment saying so! And just to spice things up a bit, if I get to 20 followers by the time I pick a winner, then I will include a matching Neck Rice Pad Bag. I will by picking a winner via random.org on February 22nd. So help me pimp,  errr.....promote! my blog, and maybe you will win a cute and cuddly set! And thanks for stopping by here. I really appreciate it!

P.S. Watch for a tutorial for the Neck Rice Pad Bag coming soon!

Cordless Heating Pad

I knew when I seen these all around blogland a few months back that it was definitily a project that I was going to have to try. I have some serious neck and headache problems and they looked like they would feel wonderful! And they do!  I also needed a gift for my sons bible quizzing leaders, and so I whipped two up, well actually I  finished one, fortunately his other leader is my Mom so she forgave me. The other leader is my sister, says she loves and uses hers.

 I just want to start by saying that I looked all over for my fabric marking pencil and couldn't find it. Finally I looked in my craft box marked sewing and lo and behold there it was! Miracles never cease! This kind of thing has happened to me twice this week. Hmmmm........maybe those gray hairs are meaning something.

So here are the instructions for my version.
You will need basic sewing supplies, plus two contrasting fabrics, I used two fat quarters, some rice and some essential oil.

Step 1: Cut Your Fabric -

Cut 1 color/style fabric 19" x 6.5" (You need two of these)
Cut the other color/style fabric 19" by 4.5"

I used 5 different fat quarters that I got from my "Quarters of the Month Club" at my local fabric store. I then mixed up the fabric. Worked out perfect for me. If you are making a few of these then now is the time to mix up the patterns and make sure they coordinate pretty like. This was the hard part for me! But I am happy with how they turned out!

Step 2: Iron Your Fabric-

You should have ironed it before you started your project but iron it again. A step I would love to skip but slowly I am learning to do things the right way!

Step 3: Sew sides together-

Sew along the long sides so that your 3 pieces are now 1 piece. I use a 1/4" seam.

Step 4: Iron Again-

Grrrrr.......Iron the top and bottom  to make a 1/2" seam.

Step 5: Sew the Sides Up-

Fold the fabric wrong sides together and sew up both short sides and across the bottom. I double sewed these for added strength. Flip right side out and iron.

Step 6: Create the Pockets for the Rice-

Here is where I needed my fabric pencil, I made a line 3 inches from each short side. Then I sewed up each line that I marked plus the edges of the contrasting fabric. Make sure your do a few backstitches at the beginning and end of each line.

Step 7: Give your rice some flavor, or at least make it smell good!

I used several cups of rice, I poured about three cups of rice in my measuring cup and added 2 drops of essential oil. Give a quick stir and now you have yummy smelling rice.

Step 8: Pour your rice into your pockets-

Use a funnel and fill each pocket about 1/2 full of rice.

Step 9: Sew the top closed-

I used clothespins to help me out in keeping the bag shut while I sewed it. It really isn't as easy as it sounds. You have to hold the heavy rice bag with one hand and keep the hem straight with the other. But don't let it scare you. I am a total newbie with the sewing machine and  I can do it.

Microwave for 2-3 minutes and enjoy, BE CAREFUL, IT IS HOT! Or tie a pretty scrap of fabric around it and give as a gift!  And make sure you tie on a tag with the instructions. On a personal note, Mom your rice pad bag is done!

And you could win one! Watch for my Rice Pad Bag Giveaway!

Linked Up to:

A Soft Place to Land

A Silly Little Sparrow

Just a little something about nothing....

My goal was to post every day and it has been like 3 days, I think I am suffering from project idea overload, mix that in with the busy weekend, lots of good valentining and a sortamajorbutIdon'twannawhineaboutit headache and I have nothing to show! So sad... however, little man is crabby and ready for bed, or maybe just his parents are ready for him to be in bed. And I am gonna try to get something fabulous done tonight, or just something done!

In other news, I have reached my 10th  follower, to be exact my 11th! So WHOO HOO! I am planning a giveaway and hope to have it up by tommorow! Yippee! If you are a follower THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! And if not there is no time like the present (wink wink)!

2 Valentines for Grownups in Your Life!

I whipped these up tonight in no time flat. The first one is for my very good friend, Jeni. She is also my neighbor, my son's Sunday School teacher and the one of the best examples of a Godly Woman I have ever known. I just LOVE her! And there really is nothing artificial about her. She is the real deal!

 I printed the saying out on a piece of cardstock and then just eyeballed a heart shape around it. Cut it out. Traced it onto a second sheet of cardstock and then hotglued them together. I left a small opening so that I could slip in a little Valentines suprise.

 Then I just hotglued these packets of Equal artificial sweetener packets that I bought  errrrr.... swiped from a restaurant (JUST KIDDING!)  all around the heart. She can actually use these if she wants. I used just a dab of hotglue and made sure all the sweetener was shook down in the package away from where the glue was going so that there was no danger of damaging it or melting it or anything funky!

This second one was fun to make too! The only difference is that I sewed it shut which was a total pain, and then I added some ribbon that I had ruffled. I hotglued the ribbon on. For some reason my ruffling didn't turn out quite as good as I was hoping but hey I am new at it so I will just keep working with it! Here are some shots of that one for hubby man!

and the fine print.....

on the back side.....

He doesn't really have to break it open it has an opening too.

Happy Valentines Day!

Hanging up my SUPERMOM cape for the night!

Yes, every night before a big holiday , yes I consider the homeschool group Valentines Day Party a major holiday,  I do this. It is 2:45 in the morning here and I am still awake trying to finish up some valentines for two little boys who couldn't care less. Well I take that back, they care that there is candy involved. Sometimes we get so busy trying to be SUPERMOM that I think we lose sight of what is important.  And yes by we, I really mean I. So I piped all these initials out of chocolate, layed them carefully in baggies and put on cute toppers. That was just a couple of hours ago. I just went to gather them up and oh look one is broken, and another, and another, and another, nothing too major yet, just a little crack, a little chip, or in my sister's case her whole letter is broken in half and laying there sad. So what am I gonna do. Babies don't sleep in just because Mama was silly enough to stay up late, so I think that I will go to the party and play it off as, oh I am so sorry that your letters got broken, and yours, and yours and yours, what those aren't even your initials, so sorry! And blush to make it look like I had no clue, maybe that will work, oh wait, I think that everyone that will be there reads this blog! I AM SO BUSTED!

Sorry girls, I am not SUPERMOM, I just wear the cape and play dressup from time to time.

White Chocolate Popcorn!

I just love to share the love around Valentines Day! I had heard about White Chocolate Popcorn and how good it was to make but never would I have imagined just how EASY it is to make! Are ya ready? First pop a bag of microwave popcorn. Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper.

Dump the popped popcorn out onto the pan and then take big handfuls and dump into your mixing bowl. Make sure to sort out all the unpopped kernels. Dump those into the garbage or if you have an unhealthy habit of eating them like me snack away!

Melt two squares of White Bakers Chocolate or Almond Bark in the microwave. I melted mine for 20 seconds, stirred, melted again for 20 seconds. Now I added three drops of red food coloring and gave it a quick stir.

Dump the melted chocolate over the popcorn and stir it up, making sure that you are stirring gently, you don't want to crush the popcorn kernels.

When the popcorn is evenly coated with chocolate, pour it back onto the waxed paper. Let sit for at least 20 minutes.

 Package up pretty and give, or toss in a bowl and keep it for yourself. Yum Yum! I got about two bagfulls out of each batch. Making each gift about 40 cents. I used cutout paper hearts for labels, on the front  I wrote White Chocolate Popcorn and on the back I wrote the recipients names. I also made some extra so that if I ran into someone I knew  I had a sweet little gift to brighten up their day.

Garden Stakes - A Burst Of Color

My brain must always be thinking of crafting! I was in the hardware store the other night and saw these wooden wedges. At a buck fifty I just couldn't leave them there. I had no idea what I was going to do with them but just had to take them home!

Before the night was up I knew what I wanted to do with them. I have the gardening bug BADLY! And yet it is still February and there is still a high chance that we will have snow. But I created these garden stakes so that when the time is right I will have some pretty little markers for my garden. And after all the browns, grays, and blues that have been around lately, and I am talking about my living room AND the weather outside I was sooo excited for the bright colors that I painted these.

As you can clearly see from the photos they are imperfect but to me they are perfectly imperfect! Now I just need to spray them like a gazillion times with a clear sealer and admire them till it is time for them to go into the garden. They were super simple to make, I basepainted the wedges first and then I cut a wine cork so that it was flat and used that as a sponge for the white circles. Sometimes I had to dab it a couple times to get a nice circle. And then added the little details with paint. Now I am no artist but I think my little veggies turned out pretty cute! Finally I just added the plant names with a black sharpie! Fun!

Sweet Valentines Topiary

*** This is a loooooooong tutorial, seems I was a little chatty this morning so I have made each step BOLD so if you are wanting just the basic instructions they will show up better without all the chatter!

One of the funny things about crafting is that sometimes a project turns out way better than what you are expecting, as the case was with my glittered wood hearts. Other times it seems that a project looks easy and amazing in your head and then reality hits you upside the head with a big thud. Sigh.....this was one of THOSE projects. But, I have good news. I have got it all worked out so if YOU choose to recreate this project it should be easy breezy. But first a shot of the finished project.

(Oh my I love this topiary and no it is not leaning it is just my un-awesome photography skills!)

A couple of notes about this topiary are that the hearts are made out of salt dough so they are practically free! And the stem is made from wooden bamboo skewers so totally cheap there as well. So here is the rundown along with lots of pictures of my fabulous (now that it is completed) topiary!

Gather Your Supplies:

Salt Dough - Get the recipe here!

Heart Shaped Small Cookie Cutter (mine was slightly larger than a quarter)

5" Styrofoam Ball

Green Spray Paint (optional)

Wooden Dowel or Wooden Skewers

A Base for your topiary

Green Fabric (approximately 1/3 yard)

Red Acrylic Paint ( I used Deep Burgandy by Americana)

Hot Glue Gun

Brown Spray Paint

Ribbon

White Marker Pen

First step is to roll out your salt dough and cut out your hearts. I used 34 hearts. Exactly. I know because that is how many I cut out originally thinking it would be plenty. And that I could always make some more if I ran out. Well I started glueing them on randomly and got about 1/3 of the way done. No big deal I will just cut some more out. Oh but it was a big deal, a very big deal. Because somewhere along the way Mischievious Mike decided that he wanted to play with and LOSE my cookie cutter. I searched high, I searched low, I bribed the older boys to find it. Still no cookie cutter and to this day it is still lost. Ugh... Soo I peeled all of those hearts off of my topiary and decided that they would just not  be as close together, but I wasn't giving up. So 34 hearts it is!

After they are baked and cooled, paint the hearts red. Spray paint your styrofoam ball green. I learned a little lesson here. Acrylic paint, which I use all the time, does not dry well on styrofoam! It takes f o r e v e r. So use spray paint on styrofoam. Now it is time to start gluing your hearts to your styrofoam ball. The first time around I just went with it and glued them on. But then, when I only had so many hearts to work with I decided to be more systematic about it. So I divided my styrofoam ball using a marker. Like so....

So now I have 8 sections, 4 hearts per section plus 2 extra. Okay. Glue those hearts down. I used hot glue and I put the glue on the heart and then the heart on the strofoam ball. Soon your ball will look like this.

Cut your green fabric into squares 1 1/2" by 1 1/2". I used a little less than 1/3 of a yard of fabric. So you might want to cut as you go. Cutting all your fabric will most likely result in too many squares.

Now you will fill in all the bare spots with your fabric. I dabbed a little hotglue on the styrofoam ball and then layed down a square of green fabric, taking a stylus I poked at the fabric till it was stuck in the styrofoam ball and scrunchy. My pictures of this stuff stink but here they are.

(See how the fabric is laying flat)

(And how I scrunch it up)

Time to paint the stem and base of your topiary. Now if you are normal you will NOT be doing this in your laundry room at 2:00 am. But heres a tip, Magic Erasers are great for getting spraypaint overspray off the wallpaper! At first these wooden skewers were giving me a hard time to paint them. But I showed them. I stuck them into a paper bowl and then I was able to paint all sides.

Give them a couple of good coats letting them dry the full amount of drying time (or 5 minutes like I do). Now is when you want to take your paint marker and write on your base if you want to. I wrote "Grow Love" on mine.  Once dry you can take the sharp end of the skewers and poke them into your finished styrofoam ball. Now you can use floral foam for the base. But I used left over salt dough. I filled the base completely full of it. Here is the benefits, for one it is free and it also makes the base quite heavy which is a good thing to counterbalance the weight of the topiary top. It takes a while to dry which is a drawback but it is what I used and I am glad I did. Almost finished. Stick the other ends of the stem/dowel/skewers into the base and let dry (this does take at least overnight). To finish I added some more squares of green fabric to the base and tied a little bow around the stem.

I am so in love with this project that once V-Day is over I am moving it to my bedroom. Seems appropriate right?