Category Archives: DIY

Altered Clipboards

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I am always being inspired left and right by others’ organization! Pinterest is no stranger to pictures of organized spaces! And I LOVE organizing, as mentioned here. So, the tutorial that I’m sharing today is one I am very excited about.

Lately I’ve been drawn to numerous pictures like these of altered clipboards mounted on walls. The clipboards are hung in craft rooms or home offices and re-purposed as hanging storage for memos, pictures, projects, or whatever!

(Click picture for original source; left: Better Homes and Gardens; center: Martha Stewart; Right: Apartment Therapy)

        

I have been looking forward to doing this so that I can have a handy visual for the materials and inspiration of my next project. At the same time, I wanted my clipboards to 1) be eye-candy for me and serve as wall art whenever they are empty and 2) coordinate with the green/white/silver theme of my craft room. Here are the materials and steps for my creation:

Materials:
- 1 clear clipboard
- paper cut-outs (scrapbook paper, magazine clippings, etc…)
- Mod Podge
- sponge paint brush
- ribbon

Directions:
1) First, wash the clipboard off and dry it with a dish towel in order to ensure each side has a clean surface.

2) Cut out the designs or words you want to cover your clipboard with. I used my Cricut Expression to cut out the designs you see here. I used Cricut Cartridge Accent Essentials, accent 17.

3) (Do not glue anything in this step!) Arrange the paper cut-outs how you want them. If you place them on top of the clipboard, it may make the next step a little easier.

4) When you are ready to adhere the paper, flip the clipboard very carefully, but quickly onto the table. Now the pieces are on the table upside down in the arrangement that you desire.

5) Pick up one piece at a time and paint mod podge across the top of the piece (on the pattern you want to show).

6) Repeat step 5 for a couple of pieces to make a row of glued pieces on the clipboard.

7) Press down the pieces so there are no air bubbles. This will make a much neater appearance on the top side (the side you will see).

8) Now, paint mod podge across the back of the row you just adhered. This will seal the pieces of paper in place and create a smooth surface for the back, instead of bumpy paper. Now the paper will be less likely to peel off in the future.

9) Do steps 5-8 repeatedly until you have the entire design completely glued on both sides.

10) Lay the clipboard face down, leaning on the table. Allow at least 15 minutes for it to dry.

11) Embellish the top of the clipboard with whatever you desire. I used ribbon. On the first clipboard I tied a nice bow, and on the second one I tied strips of ribbon in knots until the metal clip was covered.
    

12) Hang on your wall for the storage you need, or use your cute clipboard on the job!

I used the Cricut Cartridge Accent Essentials, accent 39 for the second clipboard.

Happy crafting/organizing!

I’m linking up with:
JAQS Studio, Blue Cricket Design,

The DIY Dreamer

One Chatty ChicLil\'Luna

Yarn/Felt Flower Wreath

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Happy Easter everyone! Remember those felt flowers I made? Well, I told you that I used some to decorate a wreath, and here is the spring/summer wreath I came up with. (By the way, this is the first wreath I’ve ever made!)Materials
- 1 green styrofoam wreath from Michael’s
- 1 package of yarn
- felt flowers
- glue gun & glue sticks
- ribbon

 

Directions

1) Carefully cut the styrofoam wreath in half using a sharp knife. This takes a while and is pretty tedious, but is totally worth it, because now you can make 2 wreaths for the price of buying one! (And the wreath will lay flat against a wall or door!) I got this idea from That’s My Letter. A “poke & swivel” motion is the method I found to work the best. I used no directions or videos to help me, so I’m sure there is a better way to do it.2) Wrap the yarn around the wreath once, and tie it in a tight knot with no slack. Make sure the knot you tie is on the back.

3) Now, continue to pass the whole package of yarn through the wreath and wrap the string of yarn around and around the wreath. Lay each string next to the string before it, making sure to pull tight and leave no space to show.  (This is the most time-consuming step.)

(In between these steps you could use an additional yarn color to make a stripes, argyles, or another pattern for more interest.  I chose to leave mine plain.)

4)  Next, you are ready to decorate your wreath with whatever embellishments you choose.  I made and attached 3 types of felt flowers (rose, loopy, & carnation) for a simple springy, outdoorsy style.

5) Choose what ribbon, bow, or fabric you want to hang your wreath with. (Or you may want no hanger) I layered 2 different widths of ribbon and looped them through the wreath.  Depending on the size of your wreath & where you are hanging it, the length of your hanger will vary.  I didn’t even measure the length of my ribbon. I just “eyeballed” it.

6) Hang your wreath however you wish and adjust it to your liking. Now it is on display for all to enjoy!

FYI: I mostly followed a tutorial from thegluegungirl to make the wreath and the different felt flowers. I got different tips and tricks by looking through her tutorials and watching her videos on youtube. So, please refer to her if my steps weren’t clear enough. :) She is a wreath pro!

Well, I’m no longer a wreath rookie! I officially heart making wreaths! Seeing the finished product was the best part! (Isn’t it always?!) I can’t wait to make more, especially with felt! What other felt flowers are you interested in? Do you like the rose, loopy, or carnation one the best? Are there others I should try? What other felt creations have you tried or “pinned” lately?

I’m linking up at:

DIY projects and crafts
mop it up mondaysThe Southern Institute

“Grow” a Flower in Minutes (Without the Pollen!)

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I’ve been having so much fun making these cute little flowers! I knew I had to share them with all of you!

Here are the materials and steps to make a simple little felt carnation-like flower.

Materials:
- one piece of felt
- scissors
- needle and thread
- glue gun/glue sticks
- circle template (cup?)

Directions:
(Heat up the glue gun while doing the first few steps.)

1) Use the circle template that you have chosen and trace 6 circles of the same size onto your piece of felt. (The bigger the circle is, the bigger the flower will be.)

2) Use scissors to cut out all 6 circles. (Tip: Cut inside the line that you traced onto the felt. Then the line will not be visible on the petals.)

3) Take one circle and fold it in half.

4) Then fold it into a quarter.

5) Carefully hold the circle in the quarter position and sew through the corner with the needle and thread. Knot it a few times so it does not fall out-of-place. (You may choose to hot glue the piece in the corner instead of sewing it if you wish.) Repeat steps 3 & 4 with four more circles.

6) You should have one circle left over. Lay it flat and use it as a base. Carefully glue each quarter petal (circle) piece into place like quarters of a clock. You do not have to use that much glue to make it stay in place. A few dots will do. “A dot, a dot, a dot will do. More than a dot is too much glue!” (Sorry, that must have been the teacher in me coming out.)
(Before the next step, fluff up the petals and play with the shape to get ready for the final center petal.)

7) With the 5th petal, put a medium dot of glue in the center of the flower. Then, lay the petal straight down into the center and press down and hold for a few seconds.

8) Fluff up the petals of the flower to make it look how you want it to.

Use your beautiful flower to adorn anything you wish! Glue it onto a barrette to create a hair bow or slide it onto a headband. Fancy up a wreath or another art project. Also, I almost forgot: You can layer multiple fabric colors or mesh inside the felt pieces to create a different look. I tried it with the hot pink/black flower which will be turned into a fancy baby headband. Happy crafting!

P.S. Check back later this week to see how I created a spring/summer wreath using felt flowers!

I’m linking to Someday Crafts, Fireflies and Jellybeans, My Romantic Home, and It’s a Hodgepodge Life.

Confessions of a Thrifty Crafter

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We have two wedding showers coming up at church and usually I make personalized casserole dishes by etching the new name onto the glass. But I’ve given over half a dozen of these, so this time around I thought I would try something new. I visited Goodwill and Salvation Army and walked away with two picture frames-having only spent $3! Here’s what I came up with.

These frames were so fun to convert! I’m tempted to make one for myself, except for there are only 3 letters in my last name, so it might not look so nice. =(

If your interested in how to transform your own frame, here’s the details.

First, buy a frame (mine were about 20″ long. You could go longer or shorter depending on how many letters are in the name). Like I said, I found mine at a Goodwill and Salvation Army for $3 total. I found another one today at a yard sale for 50¢! If you can’t find the color you want, just spray paint it. I used the 97¢ stuff and it worked fine.

Next, using your cricut (or other cutting machine), cut out your name on vinyl (I used black cricut cuttables vinyl- sold at Wal-Mart. The settings on my cricut were: blade depth-3, speed-3, pressure-3.This resulted in what’s called a “kiss cut,” where the vinyl is cut, but the backing is not.). I used the program “Sure Cuts-A-Lot” to cut mine. I have version 2.0, so it works with my cricut. The current version does not work with cricuts. You don’t have to have a cutting software though, just use a cartridge that has a font that you like. Or, if you don’t have a cricut, you can order pre-cut vinyl letters from a number of sites online.

Weed your design by peeling off the pieces of vinyl you don’t want. Be careful to not let the sticky scraps get a hold of your lettering. I cut strips off as a I go to prevent that from happening.

Place transfer tape (again, I used the cricut brand from Wal-Mart because that’s all that is available in my small town!) across your name. Use the red grid lines to your advantage. They will help you center your image on the glass, so keep them straight!

Peal the backing off the vinyl. As you peal, be sure the letters stick to the transfer tape.

This is the scariest part to me- putting your sticker on the glass. To make this part easier, I placed my cricut mat face down underneath the glass. This provided a grid for me to line my transfer tape up with. It also helped me get the sticker  level by making sure the lines in both grids were parallel. You may also find it useful to make marks on your glass. You can do that by using pencil eyeliner. Once you’ve got it lined up press down on your design. I pressed from the middle (because I had just lined up the center grid line on my sticker to the one on the mat below), and worked my way out to the edges.) Once the sticker is applied, peel off the tape to reveal your name!

I love the way the shadow plays on the wall.

See what I mean?

FYI:

  • For the “Kittinger” frame I used the (free!) font, “Alex Brush.”
  • For the “McGrath” frame I used the (also free!!) font, “Simply Glamorous.”
  • I spray painted the  ”Kittinger” frame, but couldn’t find a cheep brown spray paint at Wal-Mart, so I used an acrylic paint for the “McGrath” frame. First, I sanded the frame so that it would be more porous. Then I used to coats of the acrylic paint and finished it with two coats of modge podge to protect the paint and give it a shine.
  • Total I spent $5 on new supplies for these two frames. Here’s the breakdown:
      • Frames: $3
      • Spray paint: 97¢
      • Acrylic paint: $1-ish
  • I already had the vinyl on hand, but originally I paid $9 for two 12″ x 24″ sheets. So to make these frames it cost about $9 total! (Judging that I used about $4 worth of vinyl.)

So now I have two wedding presents that (to me) are worth at least $20. I know they were inexpensive, but I’ll be proud to give them!

What’s your go-to wedding gift?

I’m linking to Fireflies and Jellybeans, Finding Fabulous, My Romantic Home, and It’s a Hodgpodge Life.

Out with the old, in with the new!

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I think it is about time to replace my fall wreath with a spring one.

This was a “PINspired” project I did back in september. I got the idea from Sweet Passions on a Thrifty Dime.

While I couldn’t find red and orange accents for the wreath, I did find this bundle of grasses at Wal-Mart by Better Homes and Gardens.

I think it was less than $5. I got the grapevine wreath at Wal-Mart too, but kicked myself when I visited Goodwill later and found several grapevine wreaths for much cheaper. Remember that next time you need a grapevine wreath! The pearl letter I got on our honeymoon almost four years ago at The Paris Market in Savannah, Georgia. They actually still carry them on their website if you want one!

So today I hung up my spring wreath! And it wasn’t a “PINspired” wreath either. No, this one was inspired by my sister’s wedding.

See those beautiful hydrangeas? Those were used all throughout her wedding decorations. So after the wedding was over, and I had slaved away at cleaning and dismantling the décor, I decided to take some of those pretty flowers with me… and make a wreath! So for three years I’ve had this wreath, but after Leslie’s post on altered wooden letters, I decided to add an initial.

What do you think?

I got the letter from CraftCuts.com. It’s an amazing site with all sorts of wooden letters in different fonts, sizes, and materials. You can get letters that hang, or letters that stand up, or even letters that are connected! If you are interested in the letter I ordered, it is a ¾” thick, 6” tall, unpainted Baltic Burch letter in Poor Richards font. I painted the sides navy and the top pale blue using acrylic paint to match the flowers.

I just love my “new” wreath! Thanks for dropping by!

You used your cheese grater for what?

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It doesn’t take any crafter long to realize that kitchen tools double as crafting tools. I’ve been preparing for a sweetheart’s dinner/valentine’s banquet for the last couple of weeks and my kitchen tools were repurposed for this endeavor. One of the biggest tasks in decorating the fellowship hall at our church was creating a chandelier/lantern/globe/light thingumajig for the center of the room. We already put up white lights wrapped in tulle, but we needed something else. This is what I came up with.

Would you like to know how my kitchen tools helped me make this? Read on.

First, here’s the supplies I used.

1 Strand of Icicle Lights

2 Styrofoam blocks ($7ish each)

Spray Paint White (97¢)

Hairpins (not pictured)

Red Tinsel Garland ($1.00ish on Christmas Clearance)

I also used red picks from Target (purchased several years ago) that you use for dressing up napkins.

Ok, here’s the details if you want ‘em.

Step one: Spray paint your hairpins.

Step two: Cut the center out of both of your styrofoam blocks (measure your blocks to find the center) using (kitchen gadget #1) a serrated steak knife or bread knife. (This is when my husband said, “You know that really dulls our knives.” And I wanted to say, “You know, when you cut your steak, it really dulls my crafting knives.” No, I didn’t really want to say that, or I probably would’ve said it. I was sweet.)

Step three: Put the blocks together!

Step four: Use (kitchen gadget #2) a grater to round off the edges so it looks less like a square and more like a cylinder. Just file it like you file your nails- back and forth, back and forth- until you get the look you want.

Step five: Use your hairpins to secure lights to the styrofoam. It’s easier if you start at the bottom and work your way up because if you start at the top (like I did!) then you will be adjusting the icicles frequently to get them out of your way.

Step six: I guess this step could be placed somewhere else in the process (maybe after step 3) but this is where I did it and it worked fine for me. Using your knife again, cut the styrofoam to resemble an arrow, cutting out triangle-like pieces. You’ll have to use your grater again to smooth out the edges and level the surfaces.

Step seven: Hang it up and decorate it with tinsel! I stuck the sprigs in then cut off tiny pieces of the tinsel and wrapped them around the cords.

Another project I took on was decorating the tables. The first thing I did was hit up the after Christmas sales in January. Here’s what I got, and how it turned out.

The gold and red floral stems were from (if you can’t tell) Big Lot’s. They were 50¢ a piece!! They were originally $5.oo, but they were 90% off. I taped over several of the blooms and my (wonderful) husband spray painted them black. You should have heard him last night at the dinner. He said, “Boy this is is a great spray paint job,” while tenderly examining the stems. Everyone at our table was like, “Yeah, they look great! I wonder who did them?” (Rolling eyes while still admiring my husbands sense of humor) Also included in the centerpiece were red glittery pine cone stems, silver tinsel (both on clearance) and LED Branches (not on sale).

Here’s more pictures of the finished product.

The night was more fun than I could have imagined. There was a four course meal complete with two salad choices, two entrée choices, and four desert choices. And actually it was a five course meal if you count the coffee and tea served later. Every aspect of the meal was thought through. The butter was shaped in balls in the cutest red foil liners! I had ensalada Angelica (spring lettuce, strawberries, grapes, almond crunch, and poppy-seed dressing), lasagna, and tiramisu. It was all DELICIOUS!

The food was in tough competition with our entertainment though. We had the Black Diamond. Basically he’s a black Neal Diamond. He sounds just like him! He was so energetic and the crowd was too. He might become a household name soon because he’s auditioned for America’s Got Talent and has already been seen on Jimmy Kimmel Live. He’s good friends with our minister, so hopefully he will come back next year!

We had an awesome time, but I’m a little bit glad it’s over!

To The Letter

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One of my favorite crafts to do is “Altered” Wooden Letters. You may have seen some of these at a craft fair, in a boutique, or at a friend’s house and thought, “That’s so cute!” or “Who made that?” Well, now you can take all the credit because I’m gonna give you the few simple steps to making them. It’s easy, I promise!

1) Gather your supplies:

  • wooden letter(s) from Hobby Lobby or Michael’s
  • newspaper or paper towels
  • 1 bottle of Mod Podge
  • 1 small foam paint brush
  • scrapbook paper of your choice
  • paint (if desired)
  • pencil
  • scissors

2) Turn the wooden letters upside down and trace the shapes onto the back of the scrapbook paper that you want to show on the front of the letter.

3)  Paint the wooden letter the color you wish. For the paper/painted hybrid version that I like to do, it is only important to make sure that the sides and backs are painted well. I usually paint the whole letter, worrying mostly about how the sides look. Sometimes (because I like to use a light paint color) I have to paint 2 coats to have it looking the way I like. * Also if you are painting the back, the painting should be broken down into more steps, allowing each side to dry so that it doesn’t stick to the newspaper!*

4) While the paint dries, cut out the scrapbook paper letters.

5)  After the paint has dried, lay the paper letters onto the top of the wooden letters. Make sure they will fit. (If they are too big, that is fine too! You can always come back and trim the edges later!)

6)  Dip your paint brush into the bottle of Mod Podge and paint a thin coat onto the front of each letter. Then lay the paper letter on top and smooth it down with your fingers.  Let the letters dry for 10 minutes or more.

7)  Now, apply another thin coat of Mod Podge on top of the paper.  This will give it a shiny/glossy look. (You can skip this step if you want the final product to be more rugged or natural.)

8)  After the top layer has dried, now you can trim any excess paper that might be hanging over the edges. I use a small pair of scissors to do this because it is easier to get into the corners.

9) Add any finishing touches that you desire: paint, glitter, ribbon, bows, buttons, any embellishments of your choice!

Here is the latest letter that I did for another baby girl’s nursery. It’s my favorite so far. I just did a simple “E” for Emelyn to hang on the nursery door.  We hung it on the door to the hospital room when she was born, but they had already hung a wreath for Christmas, so we tried to work with it. However, using one of these letters in a wreath could be a cute idea too!

Altered wooden letters aren’t just for nurseries either! Use them:

  • in the kitchen: EAT
  • at Christmas: JOY, NOEL
  • at Valentine’s: LOVE
  • at Halloween: BOO!
  • on the mantle: FAMILY
  • in the classroom: READ

New Year, New Hutch!

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I got this hutch at an antique store back in October when I went to the Covered Bridge Festival in Indiana. We cleaned it (and boy did it need it), painted it, spray painted the hinges and handles, and frosted the windows. It’s a completely new hutch! If you are interested in how we frosted the windows, read on…

(Numbers correlate with picture above)

1. Supplies: Cricut (I used expressions), Adhesive-Backed Vinyl, Transfer Paper, and Armor Etch Glass Etching Cream

2. Using the quatrefoil image provided by Designed to the Nines and importing it into Sure Cuts a Lot (This is program I use to cut images with my cricut. Beware if you are interested in this program, the latest version is not compatible with Cricut cutting machines. However I’ sure there are other similar programs out there if you look.)

3. This is my finished “cut” after peeling off the unwanted sections. I used a piece of electric tape on the edge because I wanted a border of glass showing through around the edges. I couldn’t get this using Sure Cuts a Lot, so I improvised with the tape. It worked fine.

4. I covered my stencil with transfer tape. It is easer if you do not peel the backing off the transfer tape before you apply it. Instead peel the backing off as you go. How to do this: Peel about an inch of the backing off and fold it down so it is not in your way. Line up the corner of the tape with the corners of your stencil. Smooth your tape down evenly. Then continue to smooth the tape down as you peel off the backing. This will help you reduce the amount of wrinkles.

5. Once my transfer tape was on, I lined my stencil up on my windows (They just happened to be the exact width of a cricket cutting mat!) I used the same method or peeling the backing as you go to peel the backing off my stencil. (As you can see my stencil was not the same length as my window. I had to cut more stencil for that part.)

6. After applying the stencil, I applied Armor Etch with a paint brush using a dabbing motion. It is important to look through your glass to make sure you haven’t missed any spots. I shined a flashlight through to make those spots easier to notice.

7. After about ten minutes (I think the bottle says five, but I’ve always done ten), I washed the cream off using water and a rag. I started the etching at the bottom so that when I washed it off the water would run down already etched glass (versus starting at the top and water running down just applied cream or clean glass). Also, it is important to use gloves and a well ventilated area this armor etch stuff is pretty serious. Make sure you read the precautions on the back!

8. Last step! Pealing the stencil off the glass- the most fun part!

9. Finished product! I can’t wait to go shopping and fill it up with pretties!

This is a pretty big etching project. If you are interested in doing something like this, I’d start out small first, just to get the feel for it. Here are some other ideas for glass etching using the same method as above. If you don’t have a cricut- no problem. Your local craft store should have a selection of stencils you can use.

Project Descriptions:

1. Root bear mug (my classic Christmas present to people… I usually find the  mugs as thrift stores for cheep!)

2. Pyrex dish with last name (my go to wedding shower present)

3. Monogrammed canister (I gave this to my aunts one year with homemade hot chocolate powder inside.)

Happy Etching!