Fun Snowman/handprint CRAFT with the kids!

The kids are home from school for winter break and bored to death. You'd think they would be playing with all their Christmas presents! LOL! But no. So I thought it was a great opportunity to do a craft with them. With the snow falling outside today I was inspired to do this craft. (I also want to say that I saw this done on another craft blog somewhere but of course I can't find it. So if this was your idea please let us know so we can give you credit for this cute idea!) 

To start off I cut some wood. I used some old fence slats that I had and just cut them in the length I wanted.

Next I had the kids paint the front piece of the wood sky blue (for the background)

Sorry hard to see it in the picture.

 After the blue dried I had the kids dab their 4 fingers (no thumb) in some white paint.

 And then push their fingers down on the wood.

 I then helped them add some extra white at the bottom of the "snowmen" to make a small hill for them to stand on.

 Here is our cute little snowman on their hill.

 Then I just let each of them decorate there little snowman fingers! With a hat, eyes, nose, mouth and buttons!

 Here is Mckenzie's she did great!

I LOVE how they turned out!!! They are each so different! I was thinking I could easily drill some holes in the tops of these and add some wire to hang from the Christmas tree next year.. But for now they are going to sit on my kitchen window sill. Great January decoration! I love these kind of decorations definitely my favorite!
Happy Crafting!



-Heather

It's amazing what a little vinyl can do!

Cutting vinyl on the Cricut using Sure Cuts A Lot is so much fun!

The possibilities are really endless.

Heather was trying to come up with a cute but simple neighbor gift.

She had a 4x4 wood block and decided to create the manger scene.

This is the end result:

It's amazing what adding a little black vinyl did to this plain ol' wood block!

I know her neighbors are going to love these!

Heather also had a glass block she came across at the thrift store.

It already had a hole drilled into it and someone had put a string of white lights inside.

Super cute but it needed a little something extra.

She found another beautiful manger scene and cut it out and stuck it on:

I love all the intricate details!

It gave the glass block the little something that it needed.

Merry Christmas!

Heather's Front Door

I just had to share Heather's cute front door.

It's so welcoming and it instantly adds style to her whole house!

She painted her door a glossy burgundy then added a white vinyl "Welcome".

The white really pops against the burgundy.

Then she purchased the wreath at Real Deals Home Decor.

It's actually two wreaths that she secured together with wire.

I am also totally in love with her copper barn star which is also displayed on the front of her house.



countdown to Christmas blocks

Heather and Clarissa teamed up for this project.

We have seen a lot of blocks counting down the days to Christmas,

so we had to make some for our own homes!

They are such a fun and cute holiday decor item and kids love them!

It's so fun for them to change the numbers everyday for the big countdown.

To start this project, we cut a wood fence post into two 4x4 cubes.

Then we cut a 2x4 so that it was about 8.5 inches long:

Then we cut out 12 different 3'' squares in coordinating scrapbook paper

and one longer one (8.5''x 1.5" or so)  for the bottom piece:

Then mod podge those babies onto the wood block:

We found a cute font and used Sure-Cuts-A-Lot with the Cricut to cut out our numbers

Ours were 1.5" high. Be sure to use a 6 that can be flipped to be a 9 as well.:

 IMPORTANT:

Make sure you use the following numbers for each block:
Block 1 - 0,1,2,3,4,5
Block 2 - 0,1,2,6,7,8

Now you can either ink or chalk the edges of the numbers, but it's totally optional.

Then mod podge them right on.

It doesn't matter in what order, as long as you put the right numbers on the right block.

For the bottom piece, we cut out the word "Countdown" in vinyl and just stuck it right on.

Now you are ready to display your blocks!

Heather and I went with totally different styles of paper, but each turned out awesome:

and mine:

Our kids have loved changing the numbers everyday!

 

--Clarissa & Heather

candlestick holder redo

I was browsing around Ikea a while back and fell in love with some silver candlestick holders.

They were very bright and shiny and looked so classy!

I wanted the candlestick holders, but I didn't want to pay that much for them.

So I found these at the D.I. (thrift store) and decided I was going to attempt to redo them...

First, I spray painted them a metallic silver:

And they looked like this:

They didn't turn out quite as shiny and brilliant as I had hoped, so I decided to give them a shabby-chic look.

I wiped them down with a glaze that I concocted:

water

brown acrylic paint

a touch of black acrylic paint

a teaspoon of mod podge

Then I wiped off the excess with a rag.

Here is the finished product, displayed on my newly revamped shelf!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I am so in love with how they turned out!

Thanks for the inspiration, Ikea!

--Clarissa

Linking to:

http://lifeaslori.blogspot.com/

http://www.somewhatsimple.com/

http://firefliesandjellybeans.blogspot.com/

http://733blog.blogspot.com/

http://www.creationsbykara.com/

http://www.yesterdayontuesday.typepad.com/

http://www.paisleypassions.blogspot.com/

http://www.houseofhepworths.com/

snowflake Christmas wreath

I whipped up this cutie last night with some leftover snowflake ornaments I had.

I bought this wreath at the D.I. for a buck:

I also came across this fabric and grabbed it for also only a buck:

I had a feeling I could use it for something Christmasy!

So I cut it into wide strips and wrapped it around the ugly wreath:

I used lots of hot glue as I went to hold it tightly in place.

After I got it all wrapped, it looked like this:

Not too pretty, right?

Well, this is when I added the green and gold snowflakes.

 I just hot glued them on, every other.

Then, after I got the first layer done, I slipped the opposite color behind and hot glued those into place:

Very simple process and it went fairly quick!

I was surprised how well the hot glue held the snowflakes into place.

Then I spray painted a cardboard barn star that I bought at Michael's, black and suspended it from the top.

I just used an ornament hook and poked it through the fabric.

I added on some long ribbon that I had in my ribbon box, and here it is:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I love how pretty and sparkly it is!

--Clarissa

Linking to:
http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/
http://www.thethriftyhome.com/
http://www.centsationalgirl.com/
http://www.mybackyardeden.com/
http://thetrendytreehouse.blogspot.com/
http://www.nikkisniftyknacks.blogspot.com/



thrift store shelf makeover

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I found this little beauty at the D.I. (thrift store here in Utah).

I loved the fact that it was beadboard, which goes perfectly with my beach-themed bedroom

(still a major work-in-progress).

I can only assume this was in a girl's bedroom, but that didn't stop my creative juices from flowing! =)

I tried to take off the hooks so they wouldn't get paint on them, but I could only get one off,

so I taped off the other two.

Then I took her outside and gave her a good spray painting.

This is Rustoleum Painter's Touch in Aqua (love this color!)

Then I gave it a good roughing up with some sand paper,

paying close attention to the edges.

Then I painted on some stain, then wiped it off with an old rag and got this:

I love how the stain stuck in the beadboard cracks--so rustic and beachy!

The middle hook just happened to bust off mid-sanding--weird.

I am going to hang this in my bedroom tomorrow!

--Clarissa

Linking to:

  http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com/
http://www.luckystarlane.com/
http://todayscreativeblog.net/
http://www.sillylittlesparrow.com/
http://www.tipjunkie.com/
http://www.craftedition.blogspot.com/
http://amy-newnostalgia.blogspot.com/
http://www.domestically-speaking.com/

cute snowman blocks

I had some leftover wood blocks from another project, so I decided to make a snowman.

I was inspired by this blog post. 
I customized it a bit so it would work with these wood blocks:

(I bought a large wood post at Home Depot and had them cut it down into these blocks for me).

First, I painted them a thin coat of white so the wood grain would still show:

 
Then I sanded down the edges really well to rough them up.
I mixed up a little bowl of brown paint and water to make a sort-of glaze.
It was about two parts water to one part paint.

I then painted it on and then wiped it right off with an old rag.
Pay extra attention to the edges so they get a really good antiqued look.

For the eyes, I used carpet tack nails.
They are black and look really rustic, bought at Home Depot.
I just hammered them right in.
I hot-glued on three buttons on the middle block:

For the nose I picked up this small pack of little pickets from Michael's.

 
I cut it down a bit so it wasn't so long:
 
I painted it orange, roughed it up, then glazed it with my brown paint/water mixture.
I hot glued it on.
I tied on a "scarf"--just a spare piece of fabric lying around and hot-glued on some letter tiles.
Here is my cute snowman!

--Clarissa

Linking to:

http://www.somewhatsimple.com/2010/12/blog-link-party-holiday-ideas.html