Decoupage Eggs

I'm posting about a craft I actually haven't done yet, but I plan on doing for Easter.  I figured if I posted about this after Easter, it wouldn't be very useful.  I think these little decoupage eggs would be so cute in Easter baskets or by each plate at Easter dinner.  The instructions are found here.  Since I haven't made them yet, I don't really have any tips, but it doesn't look too complicated.

(Here's the follow up, I did make the decoupage eggs and posted on my blog how they turned out.  I thought they were really cute, but too much work to just have them broken open again!  Ha, oh well.)

Felt flowers wreath remake

I made a wreath for Valentine's Day with felt flowers a couple months ago, glued the flowers on a grapevine wreath, and hated it. It was huge and bugged me every time I looked at it. And it took probably 5 hours to complete, which only made me like it even less. Something that takes 5 hours should look amazing, right? SO... I decided to redo the wreath. And now I love it! Took the flowers off, wrapped a styrofoam wreath with felt, then glued all the flowers on it. It's much smaller and much more full. And now I only have to wait 10 months to hang it up : )

CD organizer

I've been trying to figure out a good way to organize all of our CD's and finally came up with this. I keep all of our music in a huge CD case, but will keep the ones I want to listen to that week and a few of the kids CD's in this organizer for easy access. We don't really have a place to hang it right now, but eventually I want to have one hanging on the wall next to an old CD player that the kids can use so they can listen to their music whenever they want to. This project was very easy and very quick!




Start out by cutting eight 5.75"x4" and two 5.75"x13" pieces of felt (you could also use vinyl or any other durable piece of material that won't fray).


On one of the big pieces, mark where to sew the pockets... 1" apart.


Next sew ribbon on top of all of the pieces that will be the pockets.


Starting at the top, sew on the pockets (just a stitch across the bottom).


After the pockets have all been sewed on, put the other large piece on the back and stitch all the way around. If you want it to hang, sew a loop of ribbon on to the top.


And there you have it! CD organization complete in less than an hour. I know you can buy things like this, but it's much cheaper to make. And depending on what fabric or ribbon you use, these could be really cute. I just used what I had lying around.

Prayer Chart

Hi Brooke,
Tucker loves saying our prayer every night at dinner. If anyone else says it he's like way confused and just talks over them. ha ha.Good thing Maizie can't talk yet, or we'd probably be saying 2 prayers at night. ha. Here are a few links I found for cute chore chart ideas. Maybe you could make something like one of these but convert it to a prayer chart? You're so creative, I'm excited to see what you make! Good luck!!

http://www.howdoesshe.com/chore-chart-for-multiple-kids

http://www.housewifeeclectic.com/2010/08/tutorial-chore-chart-with-paint-chip.html

http://www.aprilmoffattdesign.com/craft-tutorials/make-your-own-school-chartchore-chart/

http://www.tipjunkie.com/creative-chore-charts-for-kids/

I need HELP!

I need an idea...

My kids fight everyday over who gets to say the dinner and family prayers. I am looking for a cute idea for a prayer chart that we can rotate names around. Please post any links for me that you might know of, and then I'll make one and post it for you all to make too!

thanks! -B

Another Magnet Chalk Board Organizer

So I take ZERO credit for this project but I have this super creative friend Whitney who I've tried using excessive force to have her post on here... but she gave me permission to do it for her... so here I go...
She bought this....

... At the thrift store for really cheap of course.

Its just a picture painted on a canvas with no glass in the frame.  She then just sprayed over it with chalk board paint (I'm sure if it was a real oil painting you would have to sand it down a bit to get rid of all the lumps)... and then she glued some BIG magnets on the back and stuck it on the side of her fridge... like so...

I love the way it looks in her apartment... it doesn't take up any wall space because its on the fridge and it matches the vintage feel of her living room... any framed picture will do as long as its on a canvas... give it a try.
Whitney's Instructions: 
Pretty self explanatory.  Remove picture from frame.  Clean of dirt and dust.  Spray with chalkboard paint.  I did several coats.  Staple the picture back into the frame (or attach it however the frame requires).  For magnets I used about 6 of the biggest one-sided sticky magnets I could find.  These still didn't quite hold the frame onto the fridge (even though it was really light) so I added a really large rectangular magnet that used to be on my fridge as decor.  I think I got it at Target.  Something the size of this...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40386452@N05/5371538348/

Spruced up $1 chairs

This is another Whitney gem.... imagine a chair that has brass metal, and a brown plastic covering that is pealing off with yellow foam showing through... not cute right? RIGHT.  They were only a BUCK each at the thrift store... then she purchased this adorable medium weight material on-line and some silver spray paint and went to town.  She unscrewed the cushions and then cute the material to fit... and then just folded it nice and tight and stapled it underneath and screwed the cushions back on... the chair is like NEW! This is such a great idea for anyone who wants to spice up their furniture for cheap... DIY upholstery.
From the mouth of Whitney (the real instructions... not just me guessing):
I pulled off the leather by cutting it with an exacto knife and prying out the staples with a flat head screwdriver.  Then I wrapped the seats and stapled the fabric onto the underside.  The backs of the chair were more difficult and required wrapping them like a present with the stapled edges on the sides and bottom.  I spray painted the metal with two coats, but recommend priming the chair first or using a sealant after the spray paint as the paint chips easily.