DIY Chalkboard

One of the wedding crafts I was working on earlier this year was a DIY Chalkboard.
The initial plan here was to just buy a chalkboard, but have you scoped the scenes for them?!?
I could not believe how much $$$ people wanted for something as simple as this, when you can easily make it yourself.

So if you're looking for a simple wedding craft, a little extra pizzazz for that birthday or holiday party, or just want something to throw in the playroom to let your kids have a creative outlet, this is right up your alley!

You'll Need:
1, piece of MDF, Shelving, whatever kind of wood-ish board that fits the scale of how large you want your completed piece.  My board is approximately (16 x 24)
Wood glue
Clamps
2, 2x8 pieces of wood, optional
Primer
Chalkboard paint, I used Valspar
Paint rollers
Stain or alternate paint color (if framing your chalkboard), optional

Let's get started...

Prime all your pieces and let them dry 100%. 

 If you're framing your chalkboard, I recommend using a thicker piece of wood.

 Once all the pieces have been primed, paint your main "chalkboard" piece with chalkboard paint.

After the chalkboard paint has dried, you are ready to cut out your frame.

Which I should say - "Thank you, husband."

Apparently, he didn't trust me with his power tools.  Sniff...but really...I don't blame him.  Haha

He 45'd each end piece so that the seams would be, well...seamless.

  Since mine was for a wedding, he also routed to outsides for me, to give it a higher end look.

I heart it.
*Squee*

Once all the pieces are cut to size, paint or stain the "frame" in the color you'd like.

Dry completely, then attached the backside of the "frame" with wood glue to your completed chalkboard piece, and clamp down around the sides to keep it in place.

Wood glue, if you've never worked with it before, does take awhile to dry.
I love this stuff and use it for everything tho, because it works so awesome!
Just make sure you dry it completely.  I left mine overnight and the entire next day.

 Once it's dry, remove the clamps.

Sit your piece upright, slap on a message, and enjoy your new piece of art.

Bacon Rose Bouquet

Let me start off by saying that I wasn't originally going to post this.
I found the idea on Pinterest, BUT, after posting my final creation on my personal Facebook page, I received so many responses with compliments, questions, and "Will I make them one?"

As you can see, they were all welcomed responses, so I figured this is a service you all NEEDED to be provided with!

Now...apparently, I didn't read through the whole PIN on my pinterest board.  I just thought they were cute and did them.

After having several people ask me if I ruined a muffin pan creating them, I was like "Huh?"
The original PIN says you need to drill holes in a muffin pan.
While that's creative, there is certainly no need to do that.

Now...I do not have step by step pictures, because like I said, I was not planning on doing a blog post on this.  However, I will try my best to provide you all with as much information as I can since tomorrow is V-day and this would be absolutely presh to give your man!

I did go back through and try to take some snap shots of dissecting your flower pieces. That and how to build the roses were by far the most popular questions.  Again, I will do my best to explain, but feel free to comment or ask questions.

Let's start.

You'll need:
1 package of bacon - Whatever flavor you like.  (Note - I have not used turkey bacon.  Let me know if you try!)
1 faux flower bouquet
toothpicks
cookie sheet with lip - I used a jelly roll pan
foil


To start; begin by taking off your faux flower heads off the stems.
Most come off with a gentle tug, but the reenactment, which will hopefully benefit some. FYI: I did not do a reenactment of the roses.

Gentle Tug

Flower Detaches from steam

Pull Plastic Nub Piece Out, Remove Flower

Reattach the Nub to the Greenary

And there you have it.

Alright - Time for bacon!
Preheat your oven to 350.
Line your cookie sheet with foil.
Lay your bacon out flat. (I worked right on the cookie sheet)
Roll bacon into a spiral, keeping it nice and tight. Fat side of bacon will be on the bottom.
Tip: One thing I wished I would have done was focus more on the bottom of the "rose"  make sure it stays nice and tight.  I found that they're not easily transported if the bottom (the fatty side) doesn't have a nice "seal" (I guess we'll call it) on the flower steam.  Mine stayed fine for presentation purposes, but I wouldn't have wanted them to ride solo in the passenger seat of my car.
Fat side (bottom) you will secure with toothpicks in a criss-cross fashion.  I put one closer to the bottom and one right through the middle.
Continue same steps with the remaining pieces of bacon.
Tip:  If you plan to use just the amount of bacon you need - I highly recommend doing a couple extra's in case some look better than the others.
Cook bacon for 20-25 mins or until cooked through.
Let the bacon cool before handling.  About 5 min's.
While you're waiting for the bacon to cool, grab your vase and your stems.
Tip: If you're doing a small bacon bouquet, like I did, I couldn't find a vase small enough to hold them upright, so choice to use a decanter.  Worked fabulously!
Once bacon is cool, attached the individual pieces it to the tops of the stems, and Present.

I gave this to my husband for our 10 year.
His reaction?  At 1st he thought they were real flowers!  He had to do a triple look!!
A week later, he is still talking about these and even told the girls at work, they  needed to do one for their husbands.  I'm going to go out on a limb here and say he liked it ;)

I know the men in your life will too!

Enjoy,

Cool People Care

I saw this message floating around and I thought it was quite appropriate for all of those trying to make themselves anew for the new year. 

So, what resolutions did you make for yourself this year?  Did you take the plunge?

I personally used to never make resolutions.  That is until my daughter came along.  

Since then, I seem to always make some type of resolution that has to do with self improvement.  They're mostly along the lines of...

 - Don't be so hard on yourself.  You're doing the best you can! Don't take others 2 cents to heart.  YOUR opinion and beliefs matter most!!

- Organize, Organize, Organize!  It is absolutely insane how much beautiful chaos (especially Toys and Clothes!) enters the household once you have a child.  I feel I'm always swiping out clothes sizes and trying to find a new spot for the grand toy item of the week.

This year, I'm going to continue my 1st two resolutions, as I have for the past 2 years.  

I still battle with the "Don't be so hard on yourself"  I think every Mother comes across this at some point in time.  We all only want what's best for our children and sometimes it can be an inner battle with yourself.  Am I doing the right thing?  What would my Mom have done? Was I too hard on her/him/them?

Organize!  Good grief.  I think this *might* be the year I let go.  My daughter is 2.5 and I still have EVERYTHING from her baby years.  Clothes, sippy cups, bottles, shoes, bibs, blankets, toys, you name it.  Instead of hoarding these things in my basement, why not give them away to someone who can really use them.  Again, this is an inner battle with myself, but I'm going to try.  I always go back n' forth on "Well what if we have another...then I have to start all over" but ya know...if and when we do have another, they will get a fresh start.  Besides, if we have a boy next go round, he wouldn't exactly look like the hunky bubby he should in a frilly pink dress.  Just sayin'. 

This years resolution is to print more pictures and put them in photo albums.  I have a MASSIVE photo storage outlet, thanks to Shutterfly, but sometimes it's nice to flip through a book to see and feel those memories again.  Part 2, is to keep recreating memories.  I feel I have done a very good job with this, thus far, but I want to instil the importance of travel, the earth, and culture into my daughters veins.  The world is a beautiful thing.  Why not start with our own city?!  Yep.

So go ahead and share with me your tips, tricks, and resolutions.  2013 is going to be a great year! 

All aboard!

 

Traditions - Santa's Cookie Plate

 

When my daughter came along, like most mother's, I couldn't wait for her 1st Christmas!  I adore this time of year; and Santa...oh, there's so much to be said about this jolly ol' fellow.  He and his helpers prepare all year long and then, when Christmas Eve comes, he travels all over the world in one single night to deliver special gifts to children.  There's something to be said about that.  Especially this time of year.

Like most families, we leave something special for Santa and his reindeer to keep them going strong for their long night of travel.  What do you leave for Santa?  What about his reindeer?

We typically sit out a tall glass of milk, cookies, and carrots.  Mmm!

This year, since my daughter is old enough, I wanted to create a cookie plate for Santa, that we can use for many years to come.

If you're a traditionalist too, or just like to have plain ol' fun; Head on over to Holiday's Homemade for the full tutorial.

This project is perfect for you, and this idea would be great to do for birthday's too!!

Menu Tags

Here is a menu I created about a year ago.  The inspiration came from this pin I saw on Pinterest around that time. 

I loved the bright colors of Yellow with the pops of Green and Red, so I was on a mission to make my own.

This menu has been great for our family over the last year, but the menu items were starting to become a hassle.

I had made up and printed out menu tags with a rotation of items we go through on pretty paper, but over time, I realized that sometimes I want to make something that isn't printed, and they weren't laminated, so I always had to be cautious as to where I was sitting my menu tags.

To this day, I still don't have a laminator.  So I took the color of construction paper I wanted and covered it with a page protector and created my menu tags that way.

Today, my menu planning is easy and simple. I just mark the menu tag with my items for the next two weeks, and when the time comes, they easily wipe off with a dry erase pad.

Did you know they even make dry erase markers with erasers and magnets already built in.  Yep!  They're really nice!

So there you have it.  My little tip to make every day life a little simpler.

Do you plan a menu?  Do you do a monthly, bi-weekly, or weekly rotation?  Do you have any helpful tips to share?  As always, I love to hear your feedback.

Happy Planning,

The Artful Year - My Autumn Crafts EBook!

Have you seen or heard of The Artful Parent's - My Autumn Crafts EBook!?! If you haven't you're really missing out on something special this fall. 

I've seen and heard this trickling around a few places now, but it hit me like a ton of bricks when I saw it on Momma Harvey's page where she mentioned it here and here, then today while rummaging through Facebook, I found a wealth of information, but more on that in a sec.

This book is stuffed full of wonderful arts & crafts you can do with your kiddo's.  The bonus? It's all combined into one little place, so it's great to come back to reference for future years to come.  How fantastic! 

You wouldn't think it couldn't possibly get any better than that, right?  Well...you'd be wrong!

Today, through October 22, 2012, Jean Van't Hul, The Artful Parent, is having "A Pay What You Can Sale".  Say Whaaa???  Is she MAD?!?!!  *Shugs Shoulders* Must be! ;)

All I can say, is take full advantage of this sale while it lasts, and  please be truthful about what you can and can't provide.  This ebook is absolutely beautiful, and I promise you when I say "You won't be disappointed" that you won't be! 

To sum things up, take advantage of this fantastic offer.  Otherwise, you'll be regretting it when the kids are coped up, stir crazy, in the house, driving you mad, and all you want is a little peace & quite, and for them to "Turn that TV down!"

Not that I'd know from experience of anything... ;)

SO...what are you waiting for?

Cookie Monster Camera Bling

Good Morning sweet blog'lies...

Today I have a special treat that is sure to get your kiddo's smiling!  

Cookie Monster Camera Bling!! *Nom, Nom, Nom*

 

I haven't ever met a child that doesn't love Sesame Street, and I know mine is slightly obsessed.  

Like all kids, she has her favorite characters, but I absolutely adore how she says Cookie Monster. It's an extremely loud "COOKIE!" and then she'll whisper "mons-ter"

Ah...I swear that girl makes my heart grow bigger each day!

So this one's for you buttercup...

When Mommy says "Smile" you can flash those pearly whites not only at me, but at COOKIE! monster too :)

To make your own, its really quite simple...

One blue scrunchie (didn't think I'd ever repeat that word, once we left the 90's) and 2 XL googly eyes.  Hot glue the eyes into place, having one slightly overlap the other, and let it dry.

Once it's dry, attach around the lens of your camera, and get started with your very own photoshoot.

Click, Click - Horray!

Personalize -It Tumbler

Who doesn't love personalization?!! Especially if you're a kid, someone who just got married, a Parent, Grandparent...you get the point!

This would make a great gift for Mother's Day, Father's Day, or even Grandparents Day gift, which just so happens to be THIS Sunday!

Let me start, by saying that this project was really just a fluke.  In fact, I didn't even come across this.  My daughter is the one who found it and exclaimed that we "needed" it.  Hmm...I can see her becoming a Hobby Lobby addict like her Mother :)

Anyway...This find is great!  I mean, who knew you could personalize these adorable cups...

You'll Need:

Personalize-It Tumbler Cup

Vellum or Scrapbook Paper

Your favorite 4x6 Picture (optional)

Scissors

Pencil, if desired

Double sided tape or glue stick (if using a picture)

To start, you're going to open up the bottom end of your glass (just twist), and remove the paper...

On a flat surface, trace and/or cut out your scrapbook paper,

I chose a see through piece, as I like to be able to see how much liquid is in my cup

To add a picture:

Line your picture up at the top of your pre-cut paper and trim in a half circle like fashion, so that the paper and picture are consistent

I flipped mine to the backside so it was easier to see what I was cutting

 

Then you're finished cutting, it should be seamless

On the back side of your photo, add some glue or double sided tape, and adhere to the paper.

Roll your pictured paper into a tube like fashion and insert back into the cup.

This was such a fun and easy project!  Hope you enjoy it too!!