Musical Chair(s)

Last summer my brother salvaged an old-school desk from a garage sale (could have been from the curb, I don't remember). He wanted to use it in his classroom but didn't exactly know how he could improve the appearance of the old, beat-up desk. Being my crafty schmafty self, Chris sought my advice. My answer: DECOUPAGE!!! Chris is an elementary school music teacher so he wanted to somehow incorporate music into the project, we decided to use sheet music and cd covers/jackets to accomplish the task. We found some really classic cd covers too! LFO, Backstreet Boys, Boyz II Men, Michael Jackson and Eric Clapton helped beautify the old desk. Oh, don't let me forget that we used stuff from his band The Rebounds. Prior to the decoupaging Chris cleaned the desk and took off the parts we decoupaged: the seat, seat-back and the top of the desk. He ended up spray-painting the metal part of the desk a bright, cheery red.

What you need:

• desk
• decoupage glue
• paintbrush for glue
• sheet music
• cd covers

VARIATIONS:
I think this would make an adorable project for a kid's room. You could use that child's artwork, photos or cute scrapbook paper to decorate the desk.

Back of the seat

The seat

 The top of the desk (duh!). I added Scrabble letters to give the desk a little extra pizazz!

The finished product!!

Happy Crafting!

-Les

Miscellaneous Material Bookmark

I just can't seem to stop creating things from my collection of almost-thrown-out children's books! I've done an L and I've done earrings, now I'm venturing into bookmark territory because you can never have enough bookmarks! I was looking at my 'lil craft corner in the basement and decided I needed to use up some of my scrapbook paper (which somehow seems to multiply). I found a poem I liked from one of my salvaged library books (the book was called Read Me A Poem) and cut it out. Then I realized that I had one of my bottlecaps leftover and decided to throw that in the mix as well, it's like a smorgasbord of crafting...

Materials Needed:

• scrapbook paper
• poem/book page
• I also think a picture would work really well here and it'd be super cute! a child's artwork or writing of their own would work as well
• clear contact paper
• scissors & glue (duh!)

**optional for bottlecap topper:

• bottlecap
• book page/picture to go on inside
• modge podge dimensional magic glue
• hot glue gun

The Process:

1. Cut your scrapbook paper to the size you want
2. Glue picture/poem to your bookmark
3. Using the same scrapbook paper that I used for my bookmark I created a tab for the bottlecap. I cut a small rectangle, folded it in half and glued it to the bookmark.
4. Apply the contact paper to create a protective seal for your bookmark.
5. ** Glue the bottlecap onto the bookmark using the tab you just created. Click HERE for a link to my previous post about how to make the bottlecap portion. If you choose not to add the bottlecap, you can simply skip this step and be done!

Like I said before, I think this project would also work well with a small picture or perhaps some hand-drawn artwork. I think it'd be adorable for a Mother's/Father's Day gift if a child were to create some sort of artwork to turn into a bookmark for one (or both!) of their parents. At my school the 3rd graders wrote winter-ish poems, typed them up and created bookmarks for their parents for Christmas/Hanukkah presents. They turned out so cute!

The finished product!
The book page I used inside the bottlecap doesn't necessarily match the scrapbook paper, but I still like it.

Looks adorbs sticking out of a book.

Seriously, how cute is this?

Have fun!

-Les

Gift for a Sentimental Mom

Thist post is about the gift my siblings, sister in law (the lovely Claire), niece (4 months at the time), nephew (5 yrs old) and I (I did all the hard work) made for my mom for Valentine's Day. My mom had been pretty stressed out so I knew that a cheesy yet sentimental gift like this would be perfect for her and would really make her feel special and loved. I originally found the idea on pinterest, i'm pretty sure the pin I found had made it as a Father's Day gift but I figured it could really work for just about any gift-giving holiday.

 

Supplies:

• canvas
• the canvas I used was 16x20
• paint
• for mine i used acrylics mixed with water
• thin point Sharpie (used to write quote)

Steps:

1. ** paint a straight line across the bottom of the canvas, don't go across the whole canvas. I used this as a basis for my tree. **optional. you probably don't need to do this part but I think it serves as a nice base for the painting
2. paint your tree onto the canvas
3. now its time to do your handprints. if you are doing several like I did, do a few handprints , let them dry and then do more.
4. ** To make my gift more sentimental I added a quote I found on a quotations website. Any quotes related to family, love, grandmas/grandpas, mothers/fathers would do. The quote I used was:

"Love is like a tree, it grows of its own accord, it puts down deep roots into our whole being."

           Victor Hugo, Notre-Dame de Paris

My mom absolutely loves this gift! My nephew loves to point out who's handprint is in what color and how much fun we had making it together. It makes her happy and that's all that matters.

Leslie 

 

Bottlecap Book Page Earrings

Here we go again, yet another project made from recycled library books! This time around I used my book pages to create earrings. I'll admit this is not an original idea, I saw it at a craft show this weekend and wanted to give it a go myself.

What you need:
- bottlecap
- book pages
- decoupage glue
- hot glue gun
- earring bases
- dimensional magic glue

The Steps:

1. Trace around the bottlecap to measure the size of the book page you will need.

2. Glue the circle piece inside the bottlecap.

3. **optional: I used book pages w/ writing on them for the back of my earrings so you couldn't see the smirnoff logo

back of the earring

4. use a small amount of decoupage for a smooth finish on the back of the cap

5. once the decoupage glue dries flip the cap over and use the modge-podge dimensional magic inside. make sure there are no air bubbles. let the glue dry for atleast 24 hrs (it takes awhile and I always want to make sure it is plenty dry).

6. using hot glue, attach the earring piece to the back of the earring.

dangly but not heavy

the finished project!!

HAPPY CRAFTING!

-Leslie

Dominos or Dice?

I am so glad that I have a job that allows me to paint my nails in crazy colors and patterns. I've done all kinds of wild designs: zebra, multicolor water marble, and all kinds of sparkles! today I decided to go for a domino motif, or I guess it could be dice, I can't decide which.

what you need:
- white nail polish
- black nail polish
- Q-tips
- plate (or something to put the polish on)

obviously i did the white coat first then came back and did the dots next. to create the dots I dipped my Q-tips into the small amount of nail polish I had poured onto a plastic plate.  you could also just dip your Q-tip into the nail polish bottle if you don't have a plate or something to put the polish on.

Primadonna Pooch Barrette

I love dogs, they truly are man's best friend. Cute, fluffy and always happy to see you. I'm sure there are dogs out there that are well-behaved and obedient, but our dog (okay, okay, she's Lindsey's dog) is neither of those. Meet Ruby, a spoiled-rotten, badass, do-what-she-wants kind of dog. Rescued from a puppymill, Ruby has been in our lives for 3 ('best years of your life' says Ruby) years. We're not sure what breed she is exactly but we're pretty sure she's atleast half Shih-Tzu. The other half? I don't know... dragon? yeti? woolly mammoth?
Anyway, Ruby is waaaaaaay overdue to go to the groomer and her hair is driving me nuts because you can't see her cute little face. I decided to fix this by making her a sparkly, red barrette to match her namesake. To make it I used materials I already had: a silver barrette, red rhinestone thingys and hot glue. It's simple, I glued the rhinestones to the clip and voila! a cutesy barrette for your cutesy dog! I realize it's not the fanciest or best looking barrette out there but it does the job for Ruby.

**note: before I glued the rhinestones on I clipped the barrette onto a piece of cardboard so I wouldn't glue the barrette shut.


Back of barrette

the finished product.

yes, her collar says 'Princess'.

"woof, woof, woof! thanks for reading!"

- Ruby (and Leslie)

Headband Bonanza

Hello readers near and far across the globe! It's Lindsey, guest blogger and kin to Claire and Leslie. I am posting to show you my fabulous and inexpensive headbands. I notoriously hate the hair I was genetically blessed with so I try to jazz things up with styling my hair when I can. You can go crazy with decoration on the headbands or play it subtle (but fabulous) like I do.  

Braided headbands with added glitz

Flat satin headbands with added glitz

Materials Needed:

• Satin ribbon (get at least 2 yards per headband, less if you are not braiding)
• Black elastic
• Tacky or craft glue
• Hot glue gun
• Scissors
• Embellishments: rhinestones, seed beads, etc. Whatever you want to put on your headband.

1. Measure and cut ribbon according to be able to fit from at least ear-to-ear (the elastic will provide your stretch to fit over your head).
2. Braid ribbon after securing the beginning knot to your elastic and secure at the end AFTER checking for an appropriate length and fit for your head. **For extra flair, braid different colors together (as seen in my photo above on the left)**
3. Once your braid is complete or your ribbon (if not braiding) is cut, then ensure a good fit with the elastic for your head and make sure you test out the length before you cut to eliminate frustration. Make sure both knots of the ribbon and elastic together are tight and secure.
4. Very carefully, run a strip of hot glue on the back of your headband. Try to make it a smooth line and not let it settle in clumps. Let dry flat before continuing. This step really helps to keep the headband staying in place on your head.
5. Use the tacky/craft glue to put on the ends of your ribbon and elastic to prevent fraying. Make sure it dries clear and let it sit overnight or at least several hours.
6. I like to add the embellishments last. Use small increments of hot glue to glue rhinestones on if desired- use tweezers to place on if you want to decrease the amount of glue burns you get. **for the seed bead and pear clusters I put on my headbands, I used the tacky/craft glue and sprinkled them on for a clustered effect. Allow for at least 24 hrs to dry.**

Seed beads on black braided headband

Happy Headbands, love Lindsey

Rhinestone design on flat headband