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!

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

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/



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