What I have been working on

I feel bad that I have not had too much time to craft. By the time I get my boys settled down for bed all I want to do is relax on the couch and do nothing that requires brain activity! I did get my husband to cut out some letters with his jigsaw before he left so I could make a Halloween decoration. The letters didn't cut out quite the way I wanted them to but since it is Halloween it is okay not to have it exactly perfect right? It turned out pretty cute I think, and goes nicely with my mantle!

I bought a ribbon necklace kit on clearance that had like a silvery purple, this blue, and another purple color with it. I also bought the birdy on clearance too and some attached the ribbon clasps and some chain. What I love about this is that if I want to use another ribbon with the bird it is SOOOOOO easy to change it out.

I am also making a 'Sugar n Spice' baby shower present, but that is about all I have worked on in the past couple of weeks. Kudos for all the single moms who can juggle crafting with their life! I do not know how you do it! Tips would be greatly appreciated!!!! Happy Crafting!

Spider Topiary

I love Halloween, it is hands down my favorite holiday of the year! The air is always so crisp and the leaves are changing all different colors. To see all of the fun, spooky decorations in peoples yards to me is fantastic!

During the summer I bought some supplies to make a traditional topiary, I never got to it. So while going through my craft stuff I came across a wooden dowel and reminded myself how I did not complete a project I was so excited for. I thought it would be fun to make a topiary Halloween style I thought of doing a spider with furry yarn instead of moss and spiderwebs at the bottom. I started with a half sphere of floral Styrofoam and started wrapping the fun fir yarn all over it. My oldest son told me it did not look anything like a spider, telling me it needed legs and eyeballs. He has such opinions for being the tender age of FIVE!!!

My husband actually suggested the pipe cleaners. I have such a clever husband! I cut each one in half and stuck it into the spider body. Which was not as easy as I had imagined it at first since it was covered in yarn! I also found two red beads from my jewelry kit and two headpins and stuck them it. I then showed it to my five year old who was pleased haha!I bought some buckets this past summer at the DI for a dollar a piece and used that instead of a terracotta pot. I spray painted it black so it would look spooky!!
I painted my wooden dowel orange and did not worry too much about the bottom of it since it was going to be in the bottom of the bucket anyway. I picked up some spiderwebs from Walmart and did not even use a handful of them! WOOOHOOO more for decorations!

After the bucket and the wooden dowel was dry I then assembled my spider the same way you would a regular topiary. I now need to find a place for him that the kids will not try to tear him apart. Happy crafting!

Stars and Stripes

Who doesn't LOVE the month of July? It is warm, there is always BBQs going on, and the FIREWORKS! Most importantly it is the birth of our country which my husband so proudly protects for us. It is seriously one of the funnest months in my opinion! I got a new cartridge for my Cricut called Stand and Salute which I have a TON of ideas for. I wanted to use it right a way so I came up with an idea for this centerpiece for my table. I found some plastic tumblers at Wal-Mart for like a buck a piece a few weeks ago and while I was at the DI I found a wooden crate I guess that is what you would call it.

First I took some spray paint which I bought from Wal-Mart the 96 cent can. (Probably the worst can of spray paint ever) I painted the crate the white.

I then printed off some stars from some extra vinyl which happened to be red. Perfect right? Then I put them on the tumblers so that I could paint them and get a stencil type of effect. After I put the stars on I kind of liked it the way it was. But decided to stick with my original plan.

See how cute they look just with the stars on them? But I wanted the look of a flag so I went out and sprayed them a deep blue. I did the first one right side up put soon found out that it works better with them upside down. Then I let those dry some picked up my wooden crate and went inside.

I took some craft paint, the color was red apple. I painted the slats the red to get the effect of stripes on the flag.

I cut out on my Cricut the Stars and Stripes with some vinyl and stuck that on the sides. After the paint on the crate dried I decided to rough it up a little with a sanding block. Then I went and got my tumblers and peeled off all the vinyl stars. I put it in the crate, lit some tea candles and admired my work.

Lamp Makeover

Soooooo I have to say that I LOVE the DI. Oh yes it is a place of junky glory, I found a clock that doesn't work anymore but still has SO much potential in it.... Here is a pic of said clock.


Why would anyone give this away?!?!?!? Oh well now it has a new home where I will love it and cherish it for its junky beauty.


I also found two lamps that MATCH! I have never found lamps that match at the DI. (Then again I do not get there too often). However these lamps were from the 70's... the are old souls but I wasn't really digging their gold, brassy look they had going on seen here:

These ladies were due for a makeover. Don't get me wrong I DO love some gold, clunky, silly things. It can be very beautiful but for lamps? BTW do you like the box?? Ya that is all I had, I like the television that came out of it even more. Back to the ladies lets call them Agatha and Agnes. Okay now that I have successfully named lamps let's get to what went down.

• First you will need a fantastic husband who will watch children for you. (check)


• Second I used a can of spray paint. I used Rust-o-leum Aqua

So then after my husband (lets call him for fun Sgt Fantastic) showed me how to spray paint. I painted them (bulb and all) with the spray paint. Agatha and Agnes looked like this:

They were looking good. Very bright and bold! However Agatha and Agnes will be living in my bedroom I did not want them outdoing everything in the room (including me jk). So I thought hmmmm how can I tone them down a little. I had a great idea for them. I took some leftover paint, watered it down quite a bit and painted it on then rub it off with a rag. Sorry no picture of this step per my hands were quite dirty and didn't want my camera getting painted. It took me a little bit to get the hang of it but alas I got a result that I was happy with. Agatha and Agnes were made over and if I do say look fabulous.
Now all I need to do is find some cheap lamp shades to complete their new look. I cannot wait to get them in my room.