Linky Parties

Since I am a new blogger I had to do a little research on linky parties. I had no idea what it was, but they are wonderful! What is a linky party you ask? A linky party is put on by other bloggers; you link your project up to their blog! Why is this awesome? If you link a project to a linky party other bloggers are able to view your projects and hopefully they will start to follow you and use your inspiration. Another great reason is to see others creative projects which gives me inspiration! I have to give a huge thanks to C.R.A.F.T, she lists all of the bloggers who host linky parties! Keep checking out her website because she always adds more!

Monday:


Making Monday Marvelous @ C.R.A.F.T.
I made the world cuter today @ Making the World Cuter
Just Something I whipped Up @ The Girl Creative
Make it for Monday @ Cottage Insticts
Motivate me Monday @ Keeping it Simple
Marketing Monday's @ The Trendy Tree House
Made By You Monday@ Skip to My Lou
Brag Monday @ The Graphics Fairy
Muffin Tin Monday @ Muffin Tin Mom
Metamorphosis Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch
Made it Monday @ the Persimmon Porch
Photo Challenge @ I Heart Faces
Mad Skills @ Mad in Crafts
Made with Love @ Sew Chatty


Tuesday:

Tutorial Tuesday @ With Hope Studios
Sweet Shot Day @ My 3 Boy Barians
Shutter Love Tuesday's @ The Trendy Treehouse
Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays @ Coastal Charm
Anything related @ All Thingz Related
Sew cute Tuesday @ Creative Itch
Take a Look Tuesday @ Sugar Bee
Letting the Creative Juices Flow @ These Creative Juices
Teach me Tuesday @ The Girl Creative
Tip me Tuesday @ Tip Junkie
Toot Your on Horn @ A Silly Little Sparrow
Tot Tuesday @ Delicious Ambiguity
Twice Owned Tuesdays @ Creating a House of Grace
Get your craft on Tuesday @ Today's Creative Blog
Amaze me August @ Bella Before and After
Show me What ya got @ Not JUST a Housewife


Wednesday:

We're Organized Wednesday @ Organize and decorate Everything
Penny Pinching Party @ The Thrifty Home
We Did It @ Sew Much Ado
Power of Paint @ Domestically Speaking
Make it Yours Day @ Backyard Eden
Hoo are You @ Night Owl Crafting
Work in Progress @ Creative Crochet
Show and Tell @ Blue Cricket Design
The Board Walk Bragfest @ Bobbypins Boardwalk
Sugar and Spice @ 733
Show us what your working with @ Me and my Bucket
Whatever goes Wednesday @ Someday Crafts
Spotlight yourself @ Santa’s Gift Shoppe & Ideas
Gettin’ Crafty on Hump Day @ Nikki's Nifty Knacks
Wallet Friendly @ Bargain Shopping Paradise
Pajama Party @ Life in My P.J.’s

Thursday:

Strut your stuff @ Somewhat Simple
100 Ideas under $100 @ Beyond the Picket Fence
Transformation Thursday @ The Shabby Chic Cottage
Make it Wear it @ The Train to Crazy
Get your Craft on Thursday @ Life as Lori
I made it @ Everything Etsy
Tablescape Thursday @ BNOTP
Hooking up with HoH @ House of Hepworths
Treasurista's Treasures @ The Treasurista
Show your stuff off @ Fireflies & Jellybeans


Friday:

It's a Hodgepodge Friday @ It's a Hodgepodge Life
Feature Yourself Friday @ Finger prints on the fridge
Look at Me, I'm so Crafty @ It's Fun to Craft
Favorite Things Friday @ A few of my Favorite Things
Friday Fun Finds @ Kojo Designs
I'm Lovin' it Fridays @ Tidy Mom
Frugalicious Friday @ Finding Fabulous
Flaunt it Friday @ Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
Show and Tell @ My Romantic House
Frugal Friday @ The Shabby Nest
Home and Family @ Home is where my Story begins
Fab Friday @ Frugal and Fabulous
Fabulous Friday @ Frou Frou Decor
Fabulous Friday @ Saving Money Living Life
Feature me Friday @ Clickable Party
Lovely Crafty Weekend @ Lovely Crafty Home

Saturday:

Saturday night special @ Funky Junk
Check me out Saturday @ A vision to remember
Saturday Is crafty day @ Along for the Ride
Weekend Wrap Up Party @ Tatertots and Jello
Saturday Spotlight @ Craft Envy
Saturday Soiree @ A Little Lovely
Show and Tell @ Be Different Act Normal

Romantic Letters

                                

Here is my tutorial on how to make wooden block letters for gifts or to add a nice touch to any room in your home. I buy my letters at a local store called Wood Connection; if you don’t have Wood Connection near you then you can buy your letters at any craft store.

Items you need:
#1 Wooden letters
#2 Mod Podge
#3 Razor knife
#4 Scrap book paper
#5 Paint or wood stain
#6 Credit card
#7 Paint brush
#8 Accessories to add to your letters


The first step is to gently sand down the letters and remove any rough edges. Once that is complete I paint or stain each letter; I use craft paint for the letters since it is inexpensive.

Once I have painted the letters and they are dry it is time to apply the scrap book paper. Take the wood letter and apply mod podge over the surface area of the letter; then place the scrap paper on top of the letter. Turn the letter face forward and use a credit card to smooth out the paper on the letter and remove any extra glue or imperfections. Do this to all of your wood pieces and let it dry. ***Keep in mind the thicker the paper the better your project will look, thin paper bubbles and ripples when it is placed on top of mod podge.***



Once the mod podge has dried you need to cut the paper to match the lettering. I found the easiest way to do this was to take razor knife and cut around the letters. ***At this point the letters should be painted or stained the color that you want before you apply the paper.




If you have completed all of the steps up to this point your letters should look like the picture below.

Next step make sure to apply 1-2 layers of mod podge to seal the letters to the wood.

Easy right?!? After the mod podge has dried I distressed the letters and added a stain for a vintage antique look.

IMPORTANT TIP: make sure you have your design for the project picked out before you get started. I am a very inpatient person and I ended up redoing this project 3 or 4 times! Pick out a few letters to add more accessories or art and leave the other letters plain. (This is completely optional; you can go all out on each letter if you want!)  Since my word was only four letters my focal point was the heart.

For the last step put together the word to see how it will look, you may end up adding or taking away accessories.

As I already mentioned my focal point is the heart so I didn’t want to add too much to the other letters. My inspiration=romantic elegance.

                                 

***The rose are made from streamers/tissue paper (cost $0.67!) I got this idea from Shelly at House of Smiths! I will post a tutrioial on how I made my roses soon!

I love how these letters turned out, just the look I was going for:)

See other great ideas at the linky parties this week that I submitted to!

Someday Crafts

The Thrifty Home

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

Block Letters

Block letters make great gifts, they are personal, and easy to do. Here are a few wood letterings I have done in the past. I will apologize right how horrible the pictures look, I am still in the process of learning and saving my money for a new camera.

Beginner mistake #1- no matter what type of project you make be sure to set the stage. Take pictures of your projects in a setting where they will stand out.

Beginner mistake #2- You need a good camera if you are looking to sell your pieces. I have my eye on the Nixon, hopefully ebay will have a few good deals. Anyways with anything, interior desing, makeup, hair, photoshoots or taking pictures of a simple project lighting is key.


Here are just a few I have made, I finally finished up one for myself last night...stay tuned to see how to transform wooden letters.

Subway Art

A new trend that I see everywhere is subway art and I am lovin it.

My inspiration came from a very special person in my life...my sunshine, my angle, my newphew.



To this day he will only hold on to my finger. :)


He is turing the big ONE on Feburary 20th, for every occasion I try to give someone a gift that is hand made, his is going to be subwary art, this will be a gift to him and his parents. Note...I'm not skipping out on getting him the best toy ever, thats what aunts are for!



My sister Ashley, her Husband Spencer, their son Cluff


It is beyond difficult to describe this little boy that came into our life and has blessed us more than I ever thought. His personality is undescrible; there is never an hour that goes by that you don’t see a smile on his face, he is my sunshine.



My Dad is a BYU fan, but my Aunt Sas is a U of U Grad...I think I will be a baby Ute!



Ok back to the subway art. Like I said I wanted the gift to have meaning so I asked Cluff's parents the first word that comes to mind when they think about their son. I then asked this question to his grandparents, his aunt Marquie, Uncle Eric and my word, sunshine; this is my inspiration for making my first piece of subway art.

To make this an easy and time saving project it would be very helpful if you had a silhouette or circuit. I am keeping my eyes open for one that I see on sale, in the long run it would be a great investment. Unfortunately I don’t have $300 to drop on one of these life savers so I did mine the hard (but cheap) way.

I started out my project in word document. I typed the words in Ariel, Ariel Narrow and Ariel Bold. I didn’t want to do my art in the black background and white lettering because I wanted it to match his room. So I typed the words and highlighted it in blue and made the letters white, printed them out and cut out each word with straight lines.

The biggest challenge was trying to match the canvas color with the blue that printed on my words. I had to mix two blues to get close to the same color and I still could not get the colors to match, but I went with what I had. I almost started the project over because it didn’t look like the subway art I see in the designer magazines and then I realized that this is my project and I can make it unique to me.

I used a canvas panel 11x14; I like the box canvas better but I had the canvas panels on hand which is why I used the panel. Once the canvas was painted and the letters were printed out I used Mod Podge to apply the letters to the canvas. Another error I made is I used regular printer paper. If you Mod Podge paper to something it will go on much better if you use thick paper. (Using thin paper causes a lot of bubbles when you apply the paper to the surface.) After I put on the letters I used a credit card try and get out all of the bubbles and extra glue to help the paper lay flat. And last but not least applied Mod Podge over the letters to seal it and you are set to go!

You can really see the lines in these pictures, but they actually look better in person and you cant really see the color difference. These will look great if you hang them on the wall vertical, or framed in a dark brown wood, or even place them side by side.
 I really like how they turned out, now I need to make a few for my home...stay tuned!

Valentines Decor

I have never decorated my house for Valentines Day until I came across a few blogs whose ideas I had to try out myself! How stinkin cute is this from Craftily Ever After! If you go to her blog she will send you a 8x10 printable version for free! Thanks Jessica!

I just cant get enough of the reds, pinks, whites, roses and candy...ahhh I am in love. House of Smiths always seems to get it right.

Shadow box bouquet

I haven't even come close to finishing our master bedroom! Grrrr!  I have painted the walls, picked out the bedspread, hung up the flat screen, but that is about it. I still need a headboard, drapes, side tables, accent pieces you name it I need it. Since I am waiting on a few things for the bedroom I thought it would be a great time to start my renovations! First project my wedding bouquet shadow box. I like the black distressed look, but I want it to match my bedroom.

Before renovation



First I sanded down any scratches or dents in the wood using 80 grit sandpaper. Then I applied Kilz spray primer to lessen the amount of paint I would have to apply. You can buy the primer by the gallon and apply it with a paint brush, but I prefer the spray to save time.

The primer leaves a rough type of finish; to smooth out the finish from the primer I gently sanded any rough spots or drips using 220 grit (very fine) sandpaper. Alright now its time to apply the paint.

I chose to paint the shadow box Creamy White by Behr, no special reason for the color I just had left over paint. I applied 2-3 coats of paint and since I took the time to add the primer it saved me from adding another 2-3 coats! I let it dry for about 3 hours before I began to distress.

I used 80 grit sandpaper to distress the box. I love the look of distressed pieces, but sometimes I take it to far so I start of small and keep adding until I like it. There is no right or wrong way to distress, it is up to you and your style.

Now comes the glazing which I love because it adds a antique feel to the piece. I used Ralph Lauren Faux Technique Glaze in Tea Stain, but you can use any glaze you prefer. There are different ways to apply glaze it all depends on the look you are trying to achieve. I wanted something subtle, I let the glaze sit for a couple minutes and took a damp rag and gently wiped off the applied glaze.

Sorry for the blurry picture but it reflects the true color of the shadow box. And for the last step I applied polycrylic spray to prevent any yellowing since the box is white.

I hope you all enjoy my first renovation! More to come!

Master Bedroom Redo

If I could have my dream room it would be all white, silver, crystal chandelier, pure glamor.

Unfortunately the husband doesn't dig the Kim Kardashin bedroom look so I have to compromise. Here are some designs I have found to help me transform my... our master bedroom. Let the project begin!