Established 1992

A couple of weeks ago, I came across this project on Today's Creative Blog. I thought it was awesome so I contacted Emily and ordered the vinyl from her company, The Piccadilly Peddlar. She made her family sign using old wood.

I didn't have any wood around my house, so I went out and bought a canvas to put my vinyl on. I purchased a 24" x 24" canvas at Michaels.

I used Valspar Suede spray paint to paint the canvas. Then I applied the vinyl decal. I will admit that it was a little tricky because the canvas does not have a hard back. I cut the vinyl into three parts...our name, the tree, and established to make it easier. Then, I rubbed the vinyl onto the canvas using a ceramic coaster behind the canvas while I rubbed.



Not as cool as Emily's, but not too shabby! Everyone who comes in my house comments on it and they can't believe I made it! The best kind of craft project!

I'm linking up to these parties today: Made By Me Mondays, DIY Project Parade, Just Something I Whipped Up, Making Your Home Sing Monday, I Made the World Cuter Today, Motivate me Monday, It's A Blog Party

Peace Out

I have always loved kids' artwork and my office is covered in masterpieces that my kids have created over the years. Ammy, my 8 year old, is always creating, cutting, drawing, painting, gluing, etc.

Recently I came across a photo project on someone's blog. I can't find the link right now, but the person took old black and white photos and used a circle punch to cut the photos. She then made a collage out of them in a shadow box. I decided I wanted to do that with old family photos and pulled my circle punch out. It's been sitting on my desk for several weeks.

The other day, Ammy got my circle punch and started creating. She, along with every 8 year old girl, is totally into peace signs. She made an entire pile of peace signs and then I had an aha moment.

I gave her the shadow box and here is the end result: I love the colors!

It will be hanging in her bathroom...she just informed me that I have to paint the bathroom before she hangs it up in there!

We are linking to: The DIY Project Parade, Making the World Cuter, Between Naps on the Porch , Made by You Mondays, Keeping it Simple, Today's Creative Blog

Sugar Overload

Tristan's 18th birthday was this past weekend so we had a party for him yesterday. Family from as far away as North Carolina came, as well as family members that we rarely see. I have wanted to do a candy bar for a long time and I figured this event with tons of kids would be the perfect opportunity.

Allie made the golf hole cupcakes. She was going to do a golf hole out of multiple cupcakes like The Funambulist Damsel, but it looked like too much work! Instead, I googled images of golf hole cupcakes and then she created these. Green frosting, a black dot, a small spinkle for a gold ball and a red flag that she made out of paper and toothpicks. Ammy added the number 18 to all of the flags.

At 2 a.m. I came up with the idea to use astro turf for the base of the buffet. I purchased this lovely indoor/outdoor carpet at Lowes. I was going to cut it to fit the top of the table, but we liked the way it looked hanging down.

Kellen, Allie, Ammy and I picked out the candy at Fresh Market. They have M & M's and jelly beans separated by color. I wanted to use colors that you would see at a golf course (green for fairways and greens, white for balls and sand, blue for water) . The lollypops, pixie sticks and gold coins were just extras!

We used a bunch of vases, mason jars and candle sticks to put the candy in.

"Look out Mom/Aunt Kim! We are all sugared up and we have silly string!"



I am linking up to:
The DIY Project Parade,
Making the World Cuter
Tatertots and Jello Weekend Wrap up Party

Fourth of July T-Shirts Through the Years

It used to be that we would be at the beach for the Fourth of July with our extended family. It was always my job to make the Fourth of July t-shirts with all of the kids.

In 2002, we made shirts with rubber stamps and paint brushes.

In 2003 , we tie-dyed t-shirts.



It looks like we rubber stamped again in 2004.

Not sure what we did in 2005, but in 2006 we tie-dyed again!




We haven't been back to the beach over the 4th since 2006, so I haven't done shirts since then.

With all of the blog parties I've been checking out lately, I came across this blog about reverse applique and this tutorial on how to do it. I was at Michaels and t-shirts were 2 for $5. I am not much of a sewer, but even I could make these! I asked the twins (they are the only ones who will still dress up for the holidays) what they wanted on their shirts. Ammy wanted a peace sign (semi-patriotic) and Kellen wanted the Raven's logo (not in the least bit patriotic)

I whipped these up in no time and they wore them to Oregon Ridge to see the BSO and the fireworks on Saturday night.

Ammy sporting her peace shirt.

Kellen in his red, white and blue Ravens shirt.

I am linking up to these parties today:

I Love Wordle

Have you heard of Wordle? ( It is another new obsession of mine. ) According to the website, "Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends."

We were looking to create some cheap art for my sons' rooms. Since they are both golf fanatics, we entered in a bunch of golf terms. Note: I have had trouble when I used the paste in text box. Half the time is doesn't work. I prefer to use the advanced option where you enter in your weighted text. Give the words you want to be bigger a larger weight. (Golf is 1345 on mine.) The numbers I used for each word were totally random.

One result. Once the wordle comes up, you can hit randomize and another wordle with the same words will appear. You can also change your original wordle by clicking on the menu options.

Another one.

In order to save your wordle so that you can manipulate it, you need to download a third-party software program like CutePDF. You also need to download the converter. Once you have done this, select print on your wordle and change the printer to the CutePDF. You can then name your wordle and save it.

This is the wordle that Tyler wanted for his room. I opened the wordle in Photoshop and enlarged the wordle. I made it slightly smaller than the finished size that I wanted. I then copied it and placed it on an 11X14 black background. I did this because Wordle places the words all the way to the edge of the box and I wanted a little more black around it.

I then printed the wordle and placed it in a cheap frame from Walmart. (not the best pic, but you get the idea)

Total cost was around $6.

I also used Wordle to make invitations for Tristan's 18th Birthday!

The possibilities are endless. Now go forth and create!

I am linking up to these blog parties today:

Show Me the Money Lei

Last week my brother-in-law turned 21 and we went to a surprise party for him. Rather than write him a check, I decided to make a money lei for him to wear at the party. It was super easy to make, but took awhile to assemble. It's the perfect thing to do while sitting around watching tv.

First, cut a 10 foot piece of ribbon (this will seem really long, but trust me when I say that you can always cut some off and you don't want to realize that you don't have enough ribbon when you are half way through.) Fold the ribbon in half. Tie a knot leaving a loop at the top.

Take a dollar bill and lay it flat.

Fold the dollar bill in half horizontally. Then unfold the dollar.



Then fold the dollar vertically. Fold the end in about 1/2-3/4 inch.



Continue to accordian fold the dollar bill until you get to the other end. (Kids love to do this part--the folds don't have to be perfect.)



Fold the folded bill in half. (this is where the horizontal fold makes it easy to fold in half)

Place the dollar bill in between the two ribbons.

Tie a double knot at the bottom of the dollar bill.

Take a plastic drinking straw.

Cut a small piece (1/4 inch) of the straw.

Thread the piece of straw onto the two pieces of ribbon. The straw will serve as a spacer and will give the necklace some structure.

Tape one side of the dollar bill together.

Tape the other side together.

Repeat with another dollar bill.

Keep adding bills until you have the amount that you want on the necklace. The necklace above has $62 on it--I was going for $100, but it would have been too long. $50 is probably the perfect amount.

When you are finished with the necklace, tie it together and cut off any extra ribbon. You can add a medallion if you want. I printed a 4" x 4" white 21 on a black background. (I used photo paper so it would be glossy) I then used my circle cutter to cut it out. I attached it to the lei using clear elastic thread.

It was a huge hit!

I am linking up to these parties today. Go check out all the great crafts: