Door Decoration

For my son's birthday, I made a number 2 to go on the door.

Our local Dollar Tree has some foam board. Part of the party decor was a tree that would go across the room. (We have a beam that divides our rooms.) I painted the foam board with brown acrylic paint. To vary the color, I watered down the paint. Once the paint dried the paper began to peel. So I did what any person would do, I peeled off the paper and used it to decorate the beam. I was left with the foam part of the boards. This "left over" board is what I used to make the number for the door.

I free handed the number and then used an exacto knife to cut it out. It did not matter that I had multiple pencil marks since the whole thing would be covered by streamer.

I used my hot glue gun (low temp) to attach the streamer to the number. The reason for the low temp is that I scrunched the streamer to make it ruffle. While the glue is hot, I pushed it together with my finger. High temp would be too hot and maybe even melt the foam.

I started at the bottom. The first piece of streamer I just glued down. I made sure to wrap it around to the back to cover the foam. I then began to ruffle it. All the pieces wrap around to the back. I also found it easier to just pull it off the streamer roll and cut once I was done making the ruffle.

For the very top, I just glued down a piece of streamer and wrapped it around to the back. To hang it on the door, I used a Command Strip. The number is really light.

While I was doing the number, I got an idea about decorating for Christmas. I made a Christmas tree for my door!!! I used the same technique. I see more door decorations made this way in my future!

How about:
a red heart
a four leaf clover
an Easter egg
red, white, and blue star
a pumpkin or bat

Of course, I have two other kids with birthdays. I am thinking of either their birthday number or their initial.

I will post pictures of my Christmas tree when it is done.

Thanks for coming by,

Birthday Party

Last week we had the 2nd birthday for my son. I love throwing parties. I love having a bunch of little kids running around, having a good time. I do not enjoy the cleaning up, but the other stuff really rocks.

I LOVE Pintrest when it comes to party ideas. I created a board just for his birthday. The theme was Winnie the Pooh.

Since I had the theme for months, I was able to really take advantage of Goodwill and other secondhand stores. I picked up all the stuffed animals that where Pooh related I could find. I then would wash them and put them in a bin. I also scooped up all the Pooh books. Instead of giving the kids a goody bag full of junk toys and candy (that they don't need since Halloween was not that long ago) I decided to give them a toy and book. My sister-in-law gave me some treat boxes she had left over from her son's birthday. Into these boxes I put a fruit chew bag and a cellophane bag with some honey teddy grahams.

One of the pooh books I purchased was older and a little warped. I took advantage of this fact to give myself permission to cut up the book. I used the pages to make a couple of banner. The first banner was for my son's name. The second banner consisted of pages with character drawings. I used this banner just to decorate. Did you know that you can sew book pages to ribbon on your sewing machine? I did not, but thought I would try it. Well, I was surprised when it worked so well.

 

 

I made a number for the front door and some honeycomb pattern to go on the wall. I also used pictures from a Pooh calendar to decorate. I finished it off with a beehive I found at Goodwill (I made bees for it), some picked fence food labels, a barrel for the silverware and I was done.

I will post some of the pictures and maybe a "how to" of the decorations.

Thanks for stopping by!!

All the best,

Been away

Life has taken me away from my blog for a long time. I have really missed sharing some of the fun stuff I have learned. So, I thought that maybe I would come back.

I considered starting a new one, but then I just can't part with the post I have done.

Keep an eye out for new stuff to come!!!


See you soon,

Fun with a book!

My dad is an avid reader. He goes through times that he reads almost a book a day. That said, you can't just buy him a book for his birthday or a holiday. The other day I was in the Goodwill store and they where having a great sale on their books. 5 for $1.00. I picked up a book for my dad...sure enough, he had read it.
So, what to do with a book he had already read that was a great deal?

Have any of you ever watched the movie "The Shawshank Redemption"? Remember what was hidden in the bible? Yeah, I got that idea.

I decided to keep some pages free at the beginning of the book and use the rest to make a secret compartment. First I put a piece of wax paper after my last page of "free" section and after real last page (in front of the back cover). I then used my  mod podge to glue the pages between the wax paper together. After you apply one coat, let it dry with other books or something heavy sitting on top of it. This will insure the pages are pushed together while they dry. Add a second or third coat. Then you can begin to carve out the inside. Let me just say that this is not any fun. I have kept all the page pieces to use on other project as well.

Once I finish carving out the inside, I will mod podge the inside. I will use sand paper to make sure the sides are smooth. I might even paint the inside with acrylic paint just for a "pop."

I will show you some of the other crafts that have come out of this project!

I have two days a week that both kids are in a program at church. Yay for me time!!

Thanks for coming by,

Butterfly Hole Punch 2

My daughter and I go to the dollar store at least once a week. On our weekly trip I ran across some long frames that I thought would be perfect for a project I had in mind.  A while ago I saw this (butterflies in a frame) project featured on the blog One Pretty Thing. (Which I check on almost a daily basis.)

One more thing: Whenever I go to Home Depot, I always have to go by the paint section. I am not really sure why, but it is my favorite. On one of my trips I brought home a booklet with paint ideas for different rooms. I loved the ideas...then I got one more.

I began to punch out butterfies using the paint idea book. There where some beautiful textures and color combinations. The resulting butterflies are stunning. I LOVE them.

The mat in the frame needed to have the dividers removed. I then cut wrapping paper to fit the frame.

Finally, I used small glue dots to place the butterflies. Of course, I am a bit of a freak about them being equidistant. I printed off a table from my word processing software and used it as a guide to punch the holes I needed.

I will  take a picture when I put it up and add it here. I also need to finish the second frame. So, keep an eye out for new pictures.

Thanks!!

Butterfly Hole Punch!

I found a Martha Stewart butterfly punch while I was at either Ross or Marshall's. The price was about $4.00. I picked it up not really knowing what would come of it, but seeing lots of fun in my future.

I had attempted to make a light canvas, but it did not come out like I wanted...so there will be no pictures here. Of course, I had make holes in the canvas to push the lights through. This left a "ruined" canvas. I did not have the heart to throw it away and thought maybe I could just cover the whole canvas in paper once inspiration hit.

Well, call the butterfly hole punch inspiration!! I found it really hard to take a picture of it on the wall. The only time that room gets full light it early morning, and I always forget to take a picture then.

I have some really pretty scrapbook paper. Some of the flowers have glitter on them. I punched out butterflies from a solid color sheet as well. I then just used some hot glue to put butterflies over the holes left from the lights.
Here are some close-ups.

I have a few more ideas brewing...stay tuned!!

Thanks for coming by,

Been away

I can't believe I haven't posted anything in so long. This time of year tends to be really busy for us. Our son's birthday is in May. Our daughter's is in June. Then of course, we have a niece who was born the day after our daughter. My son has a best friend who also had a birthday in June. SOOO I am oficially "birthdayd" out.
Don't get me wrong, I love throwing my children's parties. I love to decorate, make goody bags and the food! I am the kind of person who buys things all year long to go into the goody bags. I begin planning the next year's party as soon as the party is over. I love having the parties at our house. I love having family from out of town make it in for one of our parties. I am just relieved that we are done for this year.
Now it is time for me. I would like to open an etsy store this fall. Come September, I will have 2 days a week when both kids are at preschool for 5 hours. This will be the perfect time for me to really focus on what I want to do. I told my husband that before I open my store, I really want to have more "stock."
Now you know why I have been away. I hope to have a new post once a week from here on out.

thanks for coming by