a little pick-me-up

This one year old pot had seen better days. 

I gave it a face lift by spray painting it orange and adding a happy little herb garden to it.

D-liver D-letter D-sonner D-better

For Mothers Day I have decide to do a little project from Family Fun Magazine.  http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/home-garden-projects/gardening-nature-crafts/nature-crafts/leafy-letter-topiary-994891/

I thought it would be neat to do the last name as an initial for my mother in law and sister in law.  I would do it for my own mother but she's not into keeping plants alive!:)

 I had planed to do a few but one ivy plant per pot worked.  It was a very simple project only required an 45 minuets or so start to finish.

Hope they like the present! 

i hart art

My little budding artist finally getting a chance to play outside in the beautiful weather.

i hart my husband

For my husbands 40th Birthday I made (with help) him a vintage looking subway sign.  I originally got the idea from Pottery Barn then I saw a diy version here http://www.younghouselove.com/2010/01/show-me-a-sign/

 So with the great help from my sister (who is good at illustrator) and my cousin( who owns a printing company)..............they made me this!  It's a collection of places that have special meaning to my husband and I but in a subway sign style. 

 So I measured wood and had Lowes cut it down to size for me.  Then I glued the back to the wood and mod podge'd the paper to the wood.  (It's in the drying phase right here)

Voila!  A personalized gift for the man I love!  Oh and that creepy coconut shell that looks like a skull.......it's from Brazil and is supposed to bring good luck.

 Here is another view.  It is hung in our dressing room.

i hart bargains

Scored these items at home goods on the clearance rack.  I think I did good considering they are in perfect condition.  Not sure where they will go just yet.  $5 each for a vase and two flour de les pillars.

Spring Fever

Happy Hart Day

How to make a gift for the hub's with out spending money?  I looked around the house and found a few things I could work with.

burlap, string, and an old canvas already gesso'd.  And of course one of my little munchkin's wanting in on the action!

I ended up messing up with the string and used yarn on hand.  I had a think tapestry needle and went to work.  The four hearts represent all the members of our family.  Wonder if my husband is getting sick of homemade gifts?

I hart silhoutte's

Kinda proud of myself on this one.  I don't own photoshop and only took one class in it 10 years ago.  Needless to say I would have to start from scratch.  But I did this without photoshop.  Just basic computer paper, (however I think tracing paper might be easier) enlarged the image on my computer, traced it than retraced the image on to black paper.  The result.........

Crocheting Once Again

I used to crochet a lot more and since my girls are 16 mo apart I have not done anything in 3 years.  I am finally getting back it to it and it feels so good.  I forgot how therapeutic it can be!  Here is my first scarf.

busted hand prints (part 2)

So we try this once again, this time with real table salt and a larger pot so we have less mess.

 

Didn't exactly work this time either.  Instead of using an entire cup of salt I used 1/2 cup.  First 1/2 cup worked second 1/2 cup did not.  It was taking so long I decided to multitask and steam my broccoli for dinner.  So we again have a busted hand print but this time I decided not to throw it out and let the kids have fun with it.

Napkins

For a gift idea I thought about napkins.  I love a nice table with cloth napkins.  I was on the hunt for napkin set's.  I finally found a set of 12 at Home Goods for $14.99.  I was making them for my aunt who always has a nice table scape and I knew she would appreciate them. So to add a little pizazz and personal touch I decided to do a fleur de lis to go with my Aunt's French country kitchen. All you need is fabric paint, paint brush, and stencil.

i hart flags

Maybe it was all those years of doing the backstroke in the pool, counting the flags for my flip turns!  But I am currently loving flags.  Fist it was the nursery.  I was so scared to put anything heavy that may fall on the little lass's while sleeping in their crib.  Call me crazy, but I kept thinking what would happen if an earthquake hit New England.  So I decided to do this one afternoon.  It was just a pack of craft paper and ribbon I already had on hand.

Then I was inspired by one of my daughter's friend's room.  Her Grandmother is a talented dress maker and sewed her a beautiful flag banner with her name on it.    The downside to this is I don't sew.  I decided to make one for some of the new babies I know that are coming into this world.  First was Bodie's no sew flag.

Things I needed. 
Stencils
Fabric
Felt
X-Acto knife
Scissors
Ribbon
Iron
Stitch Witchery
Craft cutting board

make one flag and trace all the others so they are the same size

Trace the letters backwards and on the opposite side of the fabric

Cut out letters with scissors, use X-Acto knife to help for any difficult parts, for example the inside of the letter O.  Then use Stitch Witchery to iron the felt flag to the ribbon and the letters to the felt.  I had to glue gun the zig zag ribbon border because it was too thin for Stitch Witchery.

Happy New Year 2011