Neighborhood Craft Night - Paper Wreaths

Handmade wreaths are ALL the rage these days - type the word wreath in to Pinterest and you will get hundreds of fabulous ideas at the push of a button!  With Spring on its way (allegedly - it is supposed to snow here on Thursday) I wanted to create something bright and cheery we could all hang on our front doors.

all photos courtesy of Busy Bee Photography

Supplies:
floral foam wreath (we used 9")
several sheets of coordinating patterned paper
Xyron machine (5" or 9" Creative Station or Creatopia)
liquid glue**
scissors
trimmer
assorted embellishments - buttons, flowers, etc

Cut your patterned paper in to 1 1/2" x 12" strips.  I used 25 strips total on mine - some used a few more, some a few less - depending on how closely together you set the strips.  Do not ask Bizzy to help.

Run all of the strips through your Xyron machine.

Take the first strip and loosely loop it around the foam wreath.  Line up the ends and press them together FIRST before pressing the rest of the strip to itself.  The adhesive will hold the strip to the loop.

Repeat with remaining strips, slightly overlapping each strip at the base (the part that touches the wreath).  Once the wreath is completely covered, trim the edges of each strip at a "V" - aka banner cut, fishtail, dovetail, notch, etc.

Decorate with embellishments as desired.

For a quick tutorial on how to create the rosettes used on this wreath check out the video below!

**Note - if you are going to hang this on your porch or have high humidity - keep some liquid glue handy. About a week after I made this a few of the strips popped "open" because of the humidity - so I just put a drop of liquid glue on the ends of those strips and it was a perfect fix!

Little Prince Blog Hop - Create your own Custom Cake Plates!

Hey gang!  Welcome to Day Three of the Little Prince Blog Hop - thanks so much for stopping by!

If you missed the first two days you will want to go back and take a peek - EVERY SINGLE STOP on this three-day hop is giving away a prize!  Check out Day One here and Day Two here - you have until midnight April 5th to enter.  Good luck!

I love to create my own party decorations - but it can be hard (and expensive) to find themed decorations.  Why not make your own?  Today I've got a quick tutorial for you on how to create your own custom cake plate.

SUPPLIES
Xyron Creatopia with Permanent Adhesive
One sheet 12x12 patterned paper
One cardboard cake circle (you can use any size up to 12" - I used a 10" circle)
Coordinating buttons
Xyron High Tack Adhesive Dots (these won't be available until June - sneak peek for you!!!)
Craft knife and self-healing mat
Sandpaper

Set your patterned paper face down on your work surface, then run your cake circle upside down through the Creatopia.

Peel off top film, then peel the cake circle from the backing and place adhesive side down on your paper (remember - your paper is face down on your work area). Use a craft knife to cut all the way around the cake circle, then sand edges to smooth.

Use your Adhesive Dots to apply buttons around the outside edge of the cake plate.  Tip: I only put buttons about halfway around before I put the cake on the plate - just in case!  :)

Place your cake in the center of the plate, add the remaining buttons - and you have your own custom cake plate in just a few minutes!

Are you wishing you had a piece of this cake?  Can you just taste the sweet fluffy frosting?  Well...I'm going to let you in on a little secret.  I was dreading this photo shoot because I KNEW if we brought a cake in to the house we would eat it and I am trying VERY hard to eat healthier.  I shouldn't have worried. If you look very carefully at the above photo you may notice that the frosting at the top of the cake doesn't go all the way around.  This is why.

Our mastidane puppy - Bizzy - is NOTORIOUS for eating things off the table when we aren't looking.  We tried to shame her by posting this photo on Facebook after my husband's last birthday - but it apparently didn't phase her because I had everything all set up for this photo shoot, turned my back for less than 30 seconds and...

Clearly she loves cake even more than I do.  Gotta love her!

As a thank you for coming by I'm giving away a great prize pack of Xyron goodies - including a roll of the Xyron High Tack Adhesive Dots!  You'll be the first to try them! I'm also including an Adhesive Eraser, Tape Runner, Glue Stick for Corners and Magnet Tape. A whole box of craftiness!  To enter simply leave a comment here on the blog.  You have until April 5th to enter - I'll announce the winner on my Facebook Page on April 6th.  Someone is going to be very happy!

Please stop by and visit the other Day Three bloggers (complete list is below) - next stop is the SUPER talented Irit Shalom.  You are going to love her altered frame!

Happy Hopping everybody!

starts at: www.homespunelegance.blogspot.com
Beth Kingston www.aintshecrafty.blogspot.com - that's me!  :)
Irit Shalom www.iritshalom.blogspot.co.il
Jillian Shelton www.paperalamode.com
Madison Womack www.ifeeltheloveproject.blogspot.com
Karen Ladd www.ahomespunaffair.blogspot.com
Elizabeth Mindemann -  http://www.ejoym.blogspot.com
Liz Matsko -  http://www.217Creations.com
Rani Childs - http://www.ldsolutions.blogspot.com

Kids Crafts Saturday - Felt Garlands and Necklaces

Ok...it wasn't a Saturday - but for some reason any time we do crafts with kids I feel the need to call it that. I came up with this idea as a way to entertain the neighborhood kids one afternoon during Winter Break, but both of these projects would be FABULOUS Valentine's Day ideas!  All photos courtesy of Busy Bee Photography.

Felt Garlands
Assorted colors of felt
Die capable of cutting felt - I used Sizzix Circles #2*
Die cutting machine - I used my Xyron Creatopia with Shapez component
Xyron Creative Station with permanent adhesive - any size 5" or larger
Baker's Twine
*For the instructions I will refer to the circles, but they can literally be any shape you want.  How cute would hearts be!!

Using your die cutting machine, cut your circles out of felt (two per color/size).

Run one set of circles (one of each color/size) through your Xyron Creative Station.

Lay the other set of circles out in a line across your work space in the order you want them to be on the garland. Leave as much or as little space between each circle as you like - we left about an inch between each.

Lay the Baker's Twine across the center of your line of circles.

Take your set of adhesive backed circles and "match" them to the set of circles on the table.  When you press down to adhere the circles together, this will also hold your twine in place.

Custom Necklaces
Go to the jewelry aisle of any mass craft store and you can find pendant trays of every size and variety, as well as the glass cabochans (toppers) and chains that go with them.

You can also buy them in bulk on etsy and other online sites if you want to use them as a fun birthday party craft or school activity! I bought (and will refer to) 1" square trays.

Pendant Trays
Glass Cabochans
Photo, patterned paper, cartoon pages, etc
1" square punch
Xyron 1.5" create-a-sticker
Clear drying liquid glue - I used Diamond Glaze

Punch out your image from photo, patterned paper, etc and run through Xyron 1.5" create-a-sticker with image facing up.

Place image in to pendant tray - adhesive on the back will hold it in to place.

Place a small drop of liquid glue in the center of the image and quickly press glass cabochan in to tray. Hold for 10 seconds and then set aside to dry.

Several of the kids made these with their own photos inside for grandparent gifts.  What a wonderful idea!

One of the moms brought a toy catalog and the boys LOVED making necklaces with pictures of their favorite superhero.  I thought that was genius!

Last but not least - our neighbor Eleanor wanted nothing to do with crafts but is so stinkin' cute I'm just going to give her a shout out anyway.  Those sunglasses are the best quarter I ever spent!

Neighborhood Craft Night - Teacher Gifts

When I hosted my first neighborhood craft night in October I knew it would be something fun to do on a Friday night, but I couldn't have imagined how much I would look forward to this "girl time" or what a bond I would feel with these women - many of whom were essentially strangers when we first started. My December travel schedule was a little hectic and with the holidays coming I wasn't sure I'd be able to fit one in (or if anyone would have time to come) - so when all of my "regulars" not only came but brought three new people, I knew we had something special.  This month's project - teacher gifts!  All photos (except the crappy one at the bottom) courtesy of Busy Bee Photography.

We created altered notebooks and post-it note holders using the GORGEOUS Teresa Collins Vintage Finds collection and - of course - my Xyron machines. You can find a quick tutorial on how to create your own notebook (with the lovely Teresa herself) here: 

and I created the post-it note holders using two pieces of 3x3 chipboard covered in patterned paper (and we made our own binding using a smaller piece of paper), but of course AFTER craft night I found an ENTIRE Pinterest page with tutorials that were MUCH easier.  Live and learn!  :)

Bizzy - the official mascot of...well...everything.  :)  She is like the "Where's Waldo" of craft night!

I got so wrapped up in the fun of it all that I forgot to ask Rachel to take a picture of the post-it note holder, so here it is - in all its low light, crummy camera blurriness.  I made it nice and big so you can revel in the awesomeness of the photo.  Ha!

Happy Crafting everybody!  Can't wait to see what the new year will bring!

How To Build A Headboard From An Old Door

FINALLY!!!! Don and I have been talking about these headboards for months, but our schedules and the weather made this much more than a weekend project! We are SO thrilled with the results and wanted to share this how-to with you, so without further ado I am tickled to welcome my first guest blogger...my husband Don!

Hey everyone, this is my first attempt at blogging, and it shows due to my lack of pictures of the process.  Regardless, I hope that you find this blog helpful in putting together your own recycled door headboard.  You can find the instructions here, and if you are unable to download it from the link just contact Beth at aintshecrafty@gmail.com and she can email it to you directly. Please let me know if I can answer any questions if you are thinking about building your own headboard or need some help along the way. Good luck and happy building!

We had been looking for headboards for both our guest bed and our own bed for quite a while. Beth loves catalogs like Pottery Barn and we both like antiques, but we aren't crazy about paying the sometimes ridiculous prices. Beth pinned this headboard several months ago, and after looking at the Anna White Queen Headboard plans that the original poster used we headed out to a local salvage yard to find some reclaimed wood.  What we found was something even better (albeit a little more challenging), some old doors with great distressing and character. We brought them home and after cutting them down to size (remember to see my instructions for detailed information and measurements for each step of the project) I built the legs and cap around the door.

After building the frame, the next step was painting. Since these are headboards that are pressed against a wall I only painted the front facing side, which was much easier and a big time saver because I could just lay it on the ground and paint one side. I painted the entire queen headboard black...

but for the king headboard we wanted to retain some of the original color and distressing, so I masked off the panels with painters tape and some of Beth's scrapbooking cardstock.

After the paint dried it was simply a matter of mounting the headboard to the bed frame - and we had some beautiful new headboards for a fraction of the price we would have paid for buying one.

Thanks for checking out my first blog post, I look forward to your comments or questions. I hope you enjoy building your own headboard! --Don

Make a Change Monday - Spring Cleaning and Pinterest

Like many of you across the country - we are having weird weather.  This time last week it was 50 degrees, this weekend it was 80.  What does a girl do when the seasons start to change?  Spring Cleaning!  Not normal spring cleaning of course - I didn't get out a vacuum or dust rags or anything crazy like that!  Instead I:

purged my Tupperware

cleaned out my closet

organized my Pinterest boards

While this may seem a little less motivated than say - repainting a bathroom or replanting the front yard, these piddly projects actually ended up making a few changes of their own.  Who knew?

Where the @#$% are all the Tupperware lids?
This is a phrase I hear at least once a week from Don, usually about 5am, usually when I am still in bed and he thinks he is talking to himself.   Don has started taking his lunch to work in recent months, which has helped us in a couple of ways.  We save money, it encourages me to cook more and in bigger portions so we have leftovers, and it is much healthier than grabbing fast food or something out of a vending machine every day. Even though the cupboard where we keep the plastic tubs started out looking fabulously organized - this is what it looked like on Saturday.

It took us less than 10 minutes to get everything out, match tops to bottoms, toss out the mismatched pieces, and put it all back in the cupboard.  While I'm sure it won't stay that way - it reminded us that it only takes a few minutes of working together to make life a little easier.

You're not in high school anymore (or needing to wear power suits).
Don and I met my family Saturday night for dinner at Brasa in Raleigh.  Incredible meal - wear elastic-waist pants and prepare to take a meat-induced nap afterwards.  Anyhoo - I needed something "nice" to wear, and all of my warm weather clothes were in the guest room closet. I was dragging them out one by one - picking something out, trying it on, deciding it wasn't the right thing, dragging out another piece...I finally got so fed up that I pulled out EVERYTHING, took it in to our bedroom, plopped it on the bed, and tried on every single piece of summer clothing I own (including - ugh - bathing suits). I took a REAL look at each piece - did I wear it last summer?  does it go with other stuff I own?  do I feel comfortable in it? - and got rid of almost 20 items.  I was so motivated that I went back through my winter clothes, tried on everything I hadn't worn in the last three months, and got rid of even more.  The power suit I bought "just in case"?  Gone.  The skirt I've had since high school that is too tight in all the wrong places?  Out the door.  The sweater my MIL gave me that I would never wear but have held on to for three years?  Donated. I thought long and hard about the "I plan to lose 10 pounds this year" story we all tell ourselves, and realized that keeping clothes that might fit "someday" just made me feel bad every time I went to get dressed. While it didn't always feel good to look in the mirror (my butt has gotten a little larger since last summer) - it DOES feel good to finally have a closet full of clothes I feel comfortable wearing out of the house.  Getting dressed just got a whole lot easier - I even organized my closet by color!

Using Pinterest for good
Jessica Turner (The Mom Creative) shared a great blog post last week about using Pinterest.

While I am already pretty good about tips #2-10, tip #1 really struck a chord with me.  I use Pinterest as part of my job (how lucky am I?) but I only had six boards, so I spent a LOT of time looking for pins I needed and wishing I was more organized.  I brought my ipad with me on our drive up to Raleigh and was able to organize about 90% of my pins in an hour and a half - and learned a LOT in those 90 minutes.  A few tips in addition to Jessica's:

Organize your boards AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  I only have about 600 pins, but I still wish I had done it sooner.  Don't feel like you need to do it all in one sitting - if we hadn't been driving up to Raleigh I would have done it gradually over time.

100 pins maximum per board is a good number. When I started this weekend my "I create" board had over 250 pins.  I created some new boards and moved pins around, and when my I create board had about 100 pins remaining I was able to scroll through and feel like I had a good grasp of what it contained.  Having no more than 100 pins also makes it easier to find (and delete) duplicate pins. I had this recipe pinned FIVE TIMES.  Five!

Look through your board before you start moving pins around. I have a board called "food glorious food" - and I wanted to separate out sweet/dessert items from everything else.  I had about 120 pins on my board and was almost halfway through moving my dessert pins over to a new board when I realized that more than HALF of my pins were desserts! It would have saved a LOT of time if I had just renamed the board "desserts" and moved the other pins somewhere else.

Be prepared to learn something about yourself. I'm not talking about life changing lessons here...but you never know what you might discover!  Don and I love weekend breakfasts, and unless we have our nephews over (in which case we have pancakes) we ALWAYS make something savory.  I never thought anything about it until I created a "breakfast" board - and all but two of the pins were for sweet foods!  Looks like we might try something new next weekend! 

Happy Spring to all - if you are on Pinterest I'd love to check out your boards!  Share your link in the comments section here on on my FB page - let's inspire each other!