Spring Wreath

I bought the supplies to make a spring wreath almost a month ago. I started working on it immediately and then it came to a halt. When I would get a chance to work on the wreath it would be about 9pm and by that time I was completely exhausted from the day and just wanted to relax and hang out with my hubby. Yesterday Mia took an unexpected nap so I had about an hour and a half to finish up the wreath. So glad I did because I still had my St. Patrick's day wreath hanging up (oops). I used mustard color yarn, a few cream felt flowers I had lying around, turquoise felt, and some patterned felt I found at Hobby Lobby. I had not seen patterned felt before and as soon as I saw it I just HAD to buy some.

It feels so much better to have this wreath hanging up and now I can leave it on the door any time of the year. Now I just need to put my Easter decorations away and put some Spring decorations up....just maybe.

Halloween Craft? + {A CraftyWood Cutout Giveaway}

Remember how I said I was going to be a Hunter's widow for a few weeks? Since I was going to be hubby-less for a litle while I was trying to think of ways to keep myself busy. Of course I had a few crafts I wanted to make.  It is starting to feel like Fall is headed our way so I was looking for something fallish. I guess I have to come to terms with the fact that summer is almost over. Also, since I can't have a full on "girls" craft night without the baby girl around I wanted a craft that would be a little easier for me to handle. So I headed down to Orem to check out Crafty Wood Cutouts.

 

 

 

Do you ever dread going into a craft store? Well I do. I have a two year old!! I know I am going to have to chase her around and just try to prevent her from touching everything or breaking something. THANK GOODNESS for Crafty Wood Cutout's Kids corner- a room with toys & a movie playing to distract my little one so that I could somewhat peacefully pick out my craft. At the store they have all of their fall and Halloween crafts out. Um Halloween? Still feels forever away BUT as soon as I saw the Halloween banner I fell in love. At the store they have everything you ever need to make the craft. As soon as I had all of my supplies I headed up to Nicole's house for some crafting!

 

For this craft I used: The cutest Halloween paper ever (CWC), black craft paint, mod podge, vinyl, 14 banner blocks, wire, & black raffia

 

First we traced out our banner blocks onto the paper.

Then cut them out. I did get some really cute black Halloween paper but we decided that the vinyl letters wouldn't show up on it. Note to self: Don't pick out black paper to but black letters on.

Next step: Paint your banner blocks. No sanding required- yahoo!

Put a little bit of mod podge down on the block, set the cut out paper on and put a thin layer of mod podge on top of the paper. Let it dry.

While you are waiting for all of the banner blocks to dry now is a perfect time to grab a snack. If you need one. Just don't let your sister in law talk you into trying her favorite Dutch licorice. Dubbelzout - translation=double salt. These were NASTY. Put one in my mouth and gagged, then she tried telling me to keep chewing, it gets better, nope! It just gets worse.

After you have washed your mouth out from the nasty licorice you just tried the blocks should be dry and ready to put the vinyl on. Seriously, this part is so easy if you know how to use a sticker or a bandaid.

I like to use a credit card - or in this case my library card- to push down the vinyl to make sure there are no air bubbles and that it sticks! I did have a problem where the vinyl wasn't really sticking to my glitter paper so I just painted mod podge over those ones- problem solved!

After all the letters were on we put the wire through. We used a small dowel to curl the ends.

Oh my gosh. I was so thrilled with how it turned out. Is it too soon to start putting out my Halloween decorations? My Mother in Law loved it so much she is going to go get her own to make as well. If I was nicer I would have given it to her. Sorry! I'm too in love with it for me to be giving it away.

I couldn't be happier with how it turned out and how simple it was to make.

 

Amazing craft+simple=Crafty Wood Cutouts

 

And GUESS WHAT???? Crafty Wood Cutouts has been so very kind to offer to give one of YOU lovely readers a Halloween craft. One of you will win this super cute Witch Hat:

 

 

Best of Luck to all of you!

 

XOXO,

Whitney

 

Rules: Enter using Rafflecopter. One winner will be chosen at random. The more entries you place the more chance you have of winning. The winner will be able to pick up their prize at the Orem store location or Crafty Wood Cutouts will ship it to you, the Winner will pay for shipping.

 

 

 



 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hunter's Widow

As of yesterday at about noon I officially became a "Hunter's Widow". If your husband is a hunter you know what I am talking about. As soon as hunting season starts, all of a sudden hubby is no where to be seen. Yep, off to campingville he went. We usually go every year and I go camping with him for a week. This year he is going to be gone EXTRA long because he drew out for a special/once in a lifetime {BIG daddy} Bull Elk tag. Love you Hubby, but there is NO WAY I am camping for 3 1/2 weeks. I love to camp and I usually like to go out hiking with him but talking Mia out hiking is out of the question. She would scare all the Elk away!   I will be meeting up with him next week though. In the meanwhile I have to find ways to spend my days & nights as a hunters widow.

 

While he is gone I will:

 

Not be doing alot of cooking but probably eating a lot of Tomato sandwiches. It's hard cook for just me & a baby

Shopping, shopping, shopping. Found these shoes yesterday for only 14.99. LOVE

 DIYing. I have a few crafts up my sleeve.

 

Watching Lifetime movies. Who doesn't love a good cheesy, sleazy, crazy Liftetime movie?

 

And on my list to do:

Pedicure

Craft Night

Farmers Market

 

I've got to keep busy so I don't think about how much I miss the hubby! Is anyone else a hunter's widow? How do you pass the time while your hubby is away hunting?

 

XOXO,

Whitney

Easy Re-Do: Magnet/Chalk Board

For a while now I have really wanted to put up a chalkboard in my home. I see so many cute ideas on Pinterest with how I could use it. I thought it would be a cute way to make a grocery list, tell someone you love them, announce the weekly dinner menu, {when the time cames} take weekly pregnancy pictures, etc, etc. Nicole and I also wanted to make a Summer Bucket List, write it on a chalkboard and each time we completed a list item we would cross it off. So of course we went searching to make our own chalkboard. Our efforts were unsuccessful. Until one evening I was down in my basement looking for some pictures to hang up on my walls when I came across this lovely magnet board:

My mom gave this magnet board to me about 4 years ago. All I needed to do to it was paint it. Well, 4 years later and here it still sits. (Sorry Mom) But once I saw this I just knew that it was the perfect size that I wanted my chalkboard to be. So that is when I decided to re-do this magnet board and turn it into a chalkboard. So I bought some white paint and painted the frame.

I took the metal piece and sanded it down just to give it a smoother texture and so that the chalkboard paint would stick better. Well, actually, the hubby sanded it for me, using a 220 grit. After sanding it I used a tack cloth to remove all dust. Then I sprayed the metal piece. The chalkboard requires two coats of paint and to paint in opposite directions each time. So I started by spraying it horizontally, then for the second coat I sprayed vertically.

I let it dry for a day or two before putting it back in its frame.

I am so giddy with how it turned out. I absolutely cannot wait to use it. This was by far one of the simplest projects I have ever done. Plus it is multi-functional. It can be used as a chalkboard now but it can still also be used as a magnet board. THANKS MOM for giving this to me 4 years ago, it just took me this long to finally figure out what I wanted to do with it and now I'm in love with it. Mom's always know best!

XOXO,
Whitney

St. Patrick's Day Burlap Bubble Wreath

Last weekend I was at Hobby Lobby getting a few extra beads for the necklaces Nicole and I made. While I was there I decided last minute that I wanted to make a wreath to go on my door for St. Patricks Day. Glad I thought of it while I was already at the store so I could save myself a trip! I was originally going to do another yarn wreath but then I saw this Burlap Bubble Wreath and fell in love. Instead of dolling it up with Valentine's day decorations like they had I thought some cute green ribbon and shamrocks would look adorable. One of my friends had pinned this felt shamrock and I loved it!  I finished my wreath the other day and I am so happy with how it turned out:

For great instructions on how to make the bubble wreath go here and for instructions on the shamrocks go here. I added a pearl bead in the middle of my felt shamrocks. I also added some darker green felt rosettes just surrounding the shamrocks.

I'm feelin' lucky!

XOXO,
Whitney

Necklace... finished

I finished my necklace I started last week. I'm thrilled and excited to wear it. The most difficult thing about making my own necklace was planning it out and trying to make it exactly what I want. However I finally decided on one design and stuck with it! So pleased!

Me and Whitney spent about 15 dollars each, and we both made a necklace and there plenty of beads left over which means I can make a bracelet too. All in all I'm thinking this whole home made jewelry is cheaper than store bought.

nicole

Necklace

Today we raided the bead clearance at Michaels and well we found some pretty great things. Now we just have to finish this craft. The plan is a necklace but it may take some time getting the right balance of colors and shapes, but I think we can do it. The finished product will be up soon enough, look for it!

much love,
nicole

Valentine's Day Girls Craft Night

Last night was our first Valentine's Day Girls Craft Night. The invitations were sent out last week and we have been making preparations all week long. Eight of us girls got together for a fun night of crafting and delicious dinner. We served Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup along with our homemade Fabulous French Bread. After we were done eating the crafting began! Everyone was in charge of bringing their own craft to work on. Thanks to Pinterest we all had some cute crafts! Here are some of our decorations:

Pom Poms made out of our Coffee Filter Flowers

Felt Flowers with Brown Paper Table Runner

Close up of our Coffee Filter Flower Pom Poms

Paint Swatch Heart Garland

Gift Bags- Inside our guests found: Valentine's Cake Pop, Paint Swatch Heart Garland, and Ombre Sugar Hearts

Our Valentine's Day Cake Pops that we made:

Table Centerpiece:

Whitney's Craft of the night:

XOXO,

Whitney & Nicole

Sugar for Love Day

Workin on some Ombre Sugar Hearts tonight. Found this cute idea here where you'll also find all the how to on them. I'm obviously not all the way finished yet but when I am I'm going to put them in one of our apothecary jars for some V-Day or what I like to call Love Day decoration that doubles as candy... love the sugar cube? You'll love these. Lots of love today.

Happy Love day,

nicole

Valentines Invites

I'm so excited to share the project I've been working on the last few days with everyone! I made some Valentines Craft Night invitations that I think are adorable. For Christmas this year my mother got a Silhouette Cameo and it may be the coolest thing I've ever laid eyes on. This thing does everything! It really is such a great investment. Back to the invitations, I got the idea from here and then I went to work on the silhouette cameo trying to find something similar and I did! It was close but not quite the same but I was sold. They took some work to cut and past onto the invites but I am totally excited with how they turned out! Valentines worthy? I think so.

Keep checking back for more sneak peaks of our projects we are working on for our Valentines Craft Night.

Much Love,

nicole

stay tuned

This is the beginnings of a project I'm currently working on. Can't wait to show you the finished project! Pictures to follow this week, so stayed tuned!