E-reader cover

Hubby and I are two different types of crafters.

- I'm a planner.  I'll research ideas online, draw out plans and then re-draw out plans for days and days and days.  Then, after rehearsing the steps in my head, I'll finally go into the store knowing exactly what and how much needs to be purchased.

- Hubby's a doer.  He'll research online and then run into the store grabbing bits and bobs that appeal to him.  His process usually happens in one day(!).  He doesn't use specific measurements.  He doesn't write down lists.  He's a "do now, think later" kind of crafter.

And although his method perplexes me, I'm always impressed by what he turns out.  (I also feeling more inspired to do more and think less... which is a good thing, I think.)  Here's an e-reader cover that hubby quickly threw together this past weekend.  

Photo bombing feet!

Happy Wednesday!

Painted twig and pipe cleaner wall art

Hi everyone!

Today's craft was inspired by my love for sunny weather, typography, and pipe cleaners.  Lately, Chuck and I have been going to the park a lot.  We live in an urban environment, so he's always tickled pink to see living, green things.  Two weeks ago the dandelions were in their full fluffy white splendor, so he spent the afternoon crying "bubbles, bubbles," as he ripped them out of the ground and blew their seeds everywhere. (Sorry city gardeners.  He knows not what he does.)

Anyway, while he blew his "bubbles," I found myself hoardinig scavenging for sticks.  After seeing Ginette Lapalme's bright and colorful painted sticks, I kept wanting to make my own version.  Here's my super easy, kid-friendly painted stick craft:

Materials:
- Sticks
- Pipe cleaners
- Yarn
- Scissors
- Glue
- Paint
- Paint brushes
- Mod Podge and foam brush (optional)

Directions:
1.  Collect some sticks.

2.  Play around with your sticks and see which ones best make a frame shape.  Then, practice bending your pipe cleaner letters.

Notes:
-  You could always write out the words on paper first and use your handwriting to guide you. I ended up just going for it and practicing with a bunch of pipe cleaners first to see what looked best.

-  Make sure to leave extra pipe cleaner bits in the beginning and end of each word.  You'll use those bits to attach your words to your frame.

I needed more pipe cleaner in the front and back of each word to attach the words to the frame

3.  Paint your sticks.  After painting them, coat them with a layer of Mod Podge to protect your paint job.

4.  Use pipe cleaners to connect all four twigs together in a frame shape.  Then, attach your pipe cleaner letters to the frame.  Tie a bit of yarn to the top of your frame so that it can be hung.  Use glue to secure any knots.

Tada!  Now you have your very own piece of colorful artwork.

Thanks for taking the time to look at this craft.  If you try to make your own painted stick wall art, I'd love to see your handiwork.

Babies

Two weekends ago we attended a niece's birthday party.  I was too busy enjoying the party to get any photos, but luckily hubby snapped a couple of shots of Chuck and his super cute baby cousin.  

These two kids are just too cute.

I love seeing Chuck kiss other babies.

Chuck saying "cheese"

Ack.  Such tiny hands.  She is just too cute.  I could just eat her up.  

Paint Chip Wall Art

After our relatives left, I really noticed how empty our place seemed.  Although we moved here almost a year ago, I haven't put much effort into making our place more personal.  Chuck's room is the only one that's sort of decorated.

So, I'm going to do my best to add some decorations to the walls.  I'm not too picky, but I do have three requirements for wall art:

1.  It must be bright and happy.
Chuck and I spend quite a bit of time at home.  We need to be surrounded by lovely, happy things.  

2.  It must be removable.
We live in an apartment.  We're not going to live here forever.  I really really don't want to re-paint rooms or fill holes when we leave.

3.  It must be relatively inexpensive.
I'm uber cheap.  One day we'd like to own our own house, so we're slowly saving up.  (Plus, we had a rather traumatic experience with movers breaking stuff, so I worry about expensive art being destroyed.)

Making wall art with paint chips fits all three requirements.  Inspired by A Beautiful Mess's modern paint chip wall art and How About Orange's triangle paint chip art, I thought I'd give paint chips a try.  Here's my result:

Three Mini projects

Hi everyone!  It's been a couple of days since my last post and I thought I'd just say a quick "hi" to let you know that we haven't dropped off the planet.  We've just been enjoying the good weather and spending lots of time playing outside (boo shoe tans) and stuffing our faces  eating Girl Scout cookies (yurmmy).

Here are three small projects that we recently worked on,.  They didn't seem big enough to get their own posts, so I figured I'd just group them together in one post:

1.  Last week I freezer paper stenciled a flying pig tote bag for a niece 

2.  Inspired by Dave Laferriere's sandwich bag art, I hid some inspirational (and humorous) notes in hubby's lunch box:

3.    What was that third project again?  Oh yeah, Hubby gave Chuck a mohawk.  Shnazzy.