Fall Wreath

Today is housework day, on top of my dinner date night with my Pawpaw so I had nothing on the agenda to post about. But to make sure I get in a routine of posting, I still wanted to post about something. I'm gonna pull out a craft I did back in November. When we moved into out house in June of last year and when I started childcare in my home I decided I would decorate the house every month much like people do for Christmas, Halloween, and Easter. Part of this decorating process meant coming up with different door hangers for each month. Oriental Trading Co. was instrumental in a few of the ideas I chose. The great thing about their ideas is you can order kits from them and make several, but you can also just use your own materials and make one. Which is what I did, I already had the things I would need and I didn't need 12 door hangers. :) The first one I made was one for November. Along with the typical Thanksgiving day decorations I also threw in some fall/harvest type things. One of this Fall items was a leaf wreath. I used foam sheets(you can choose your colors), googly eyes, a marker, hot glue, yarn(this can be changed to rope, string, etc. or not used at all), and a piece of insulated copper wire(it would probably be easier to use an actual wreath form). I started by finding coloring pictures online of leaves and acorns that I liked and printing them out. I then traced the shapes on to the foam sheets and cut them out. After that I glued eyes on and drew a mouth on each leaf, you don't have to do this but for my house it made it a little more kid friendly. Next I shaped the wire into a nice circle and glued the leaves onto it, this helped it to hold its shape. I do wish I would have just used a wreath form because I don't do well working with wire, but it still came out good. The perk of not ordering a kit and just doing it yourself it the personalization you can add to it. You're not limited to colors or patterns, lay out, or anything else. Lastly I placed some small acorns randomly around the wreath on top of the leaves and nice bow at the top for some extra pop. I loved the way it turned out and fully intend to use it again this year! 

Silhouette Photos

Here's a little update on the a fore mentioned homemade window clings. My tester was dry so I gave it a go. The design peeled off of the page protector pretty easily, and it stuck to the window nicely while looking good from the outside as well. However when I went to pull it off the window, it had stuck too well. Again I don't think I got the best paint, so I'll try another kind and update again. The project of the day to day was a little mother's day gift. I have 3 step-children and 2 children I babysit during the day so needless to say I had to get a jump start on these gifts. For my 2 I babysit for I decided to re-create something I had done in kindergarten. My mother received mine and still has it, so it is something to hold onto for a lifetime! It's a silhouetted photo of your choice subject. There are 2 ways to achieve this outcome. The one I did was by sitting in front of a large piece of paper with a projector shined at me. My teacher then traced the outline of my profile; after that she re-traced my profile onto a black piece of paper and then layered that on to a white piece. It had the classic cameo feel. I however do not babysit a 6 year-old, instead I have a 17 month-old and a 3 year-old. To solve the sitting still problem I took a profile photograph and printed through Walgreen's in the desired size I wanted. As beautiful as the classic cameo look is, I wanted to update the look of this project. So after cutting out the children's profile photo I traced it on to a piece of scrapbook paper and then layered it with working colors. As a finishing touch they will both be framed to hang on the wall. You can personalize this project simply by changing the paper choice. I love it so much I think I might try to make one of our three girls! :)

At home window clings

OK so I watched this YouTube video from the early 90's that showed you how to make your own window clings. The video did not specify what kind of paint to use so I bought so fabric paint from Oriental Trading Co. and it didn't seem to work so well. But the tips were not exactly what I needed I think. Anyways here's the deal: print out or use some pictures from coloring books. Any image you want but I think ones that aren't filled in will work best. Place them into a page protector. I bought a 25 pack of Avery, the brand supports box tops for education which my children turn in at school so, BONUS! :) Place the picture in the sleeve and just paint over it. When dry the paint should peel off and have a bit of tacky stick to it so it will stick to the window. Now the video said to outline the picture in black, but I did not do this. I am also trying to do fireworks so I realized that the whole thing wouldn't connect so I'm not sure how the final result will be. I also can not say how long they will last as far as sticking to the windows. If anyone has any tips or a better way to achieve this project feel free to share. My 2 that I did are not quite dry yet so I will post later as to how they turned out for sure.

Introduction

So I am always doing something be it a craft project, writing, trying a new meal, etc. I decided to share my things with the masses! I must give my friend Adie her credit, for she inspired me to do this! Check out her blog: Crazy Adie's Creations. Also I am going to attempt to start couponing soon so I will be posting some helpful hints and good deals. I'm looking forward to sharing my inner thoughts with everyone and hoping to help you create your own magic in everyday life! :)