Quote Sunday

 

Silly Saturday

Have a TERRIFIC weekend!

"My Times are in Your Hands" Scripture Scrapbook...

Happy Monday, friends! My spring break is officially over and I'll be heading back to work this morning. Not that I'm counting or anything, but only 52 more work days for me until I'm on summer break - LOL!! ;)

The project that I am sharing with you today is a scripture scrapbook that I created using some of my very favorite snapshots of my son Justin during his growing up years. Each page of this scrapbook includes a snapshot or two, along with a favorite scripture that relates to the snapshot. (To view the photos & scriptures better, please click on each photo to enlarge it.)

I kept the album fairly simple; wanting the focus to be on the photos and the scripture and not the "foo-foo" on the pages. The cover of the album is simple as well...

And here are the are the album pages...

Have a TERRIFIC week!

Blessings,

Quote Sunday

Silly Saturday

(Photoshopped image found on the internet)

Here's a giggle for you today thanks to the magic of Photoshop!! Have a fun and safe weekend, friends!

Sharing My Love of Crafting with a Child...

Happy Friday, Friends!! My spring break is winding down, but I've enjoyed a week of nice, sunny weather and have been able to work on a few projects around the house. I cleaned out my linen closet and pantry, wiped down all of the shelves, and then re-organized them. To many, that probably sounds like a pretty boring thing to do, but I actually enjoy organizing stuff - lol!

Yesterday I invited my favorite young, crafty friend Heather F. over to spend some time crafting with me. (Heather is in the 3rd grade, and such a cutie!) We started the morning off by eating some blueberry muffins that I baked...yummy! I then taught Heather how to turn an artist's canvas into a display frame for her favorite photo or artwork. (See my canvas post/tutorial HERE on how to make one.)

Check out the fun photos of Heather working on her project, starting off with one of her painting a canvas her favorite color, blue:

While the paint was drying, I showed her how to stitch up some simple little flowers from strips of scrap fabric and buttons:

Here's how a couple of the flowers turned out...pretty cute, eh??

Heather then painted some pink and yellow polka-dots on her canvas. Once all of the paint had dried, we added the clips at the top and the stitched flowers at the bottom...here she is with her finished masterpiece:

I LOVE how cute it turned out...it kinda reminds me of a Mary Engelbreit piece! (Notice the fun little painted flowers that Heather added in the lower right corner of the canvas?? She's so creative!!) We had such a fun time together, and decided that we'd have a weekly craft day while we're on summer break so that I can teach her how to make more fun projects! :)

Before I close, in celebration of yesterday being the first day of spring - WOOHOO!!, I thought I'd show you a photo of a few of the beautiful daffodils that are coming up in my front flower bed...so pretty!!

Thanks for dropping by today to check out my blog! Wishing you a FANTASTIC weekend!!

Blessings,

Little Fabric Birdies...

Hi, friends! Today my pals Jamie M. and Megan F. are flying to New York City with their daughters Kennedie M. and Hailee F. to enjoy a fun spring break get-away. Kennedie and Hailee will be graduating from high school in May, so they have been looking forward to this trip for several months now! With all of that being said, my pal Jamie is soooo afraid of flying. Although Megan and I have told her not to worry, she has been very anxious about the flight for the past few weeks. I decided to make her a little fabric bird to hold while she flies to hopefully help ease her nerves:

I used two different fabric patterns for Jamie's little bird; a tiny green gingham and a coordinating floral print. I added a couple of buttons for the eyes and then tied a pretty yellow polka-dot bow around the bird's neck. I think that it turned out pretty cute, and Jamie loved it when I gave it to her last week! If you would like to make one of these cuties too, you can click HERE to get the free printable pattern at Lavender's Blue Designs website. (Be sure and check out all of the other FANTASTIC free patterns and crafty ideas while your there!)

While looking for a pattern to make Jamie's bird, I came across another little bird design, so I decided to make this sweet little bird for my 3rd grade friend, Heather F. I am going to give to her when she meets her next Accelerated Reader (AR) goal at school. (Heather is the youngest daughter of my friend Megan F., who is in NYC with her oldest daughter Hailee this week.) Heather has been working really hard on her reading goals, so I told her that I would make her something special!   

I used a polka-dot print piece of felt and a bright pink piece of felt to make this little roly-poly bird. I hand-stitched it all together with lime green embroidery floss and a blanket stitch. The eyes are simply French knots made with black embroidery floss and the beak was stitched with orange embroidery floss. This little bird came together really quickly...I whipped it up while watching TV with Mike one evening! The free, printable pattern for this little felt bird can be found by clicking HERE.

Thanks for dropping by today! Have a SUPER week, and if you are on spring break like me, take time to relax and do something that you love to do! If you've got kiddos at home, do something fun with them...paint a picture, read a chapter book together, bake some cookies, make a simple clay bowl, visit a museum, weave a pot holder, plant some seeds for a flower garden...the list of fun and inexpensive projects are endless!!

Blessings,

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day...wear green and have a good one, friends!

Silly Saturday

Now this is a FANTASTIC idea!! :)

Letter Tile Wall Art and Crackle Finish Frame Tutorial

A while back, when I was cleaning out my craft room to make room for my new/old Hoosier cabinet, I came across a little plastic container full of alpha-tiles that I had completely forgotten about. I decided to put them to good use on a fun wall hanging project for my pal Megan F. Here's what I came up with:

Here's how I made this project...including a step-by-step tutorial on how to create a crackle paint finish using Elmer's glue:

I started out with a black, wood frame that I picked up at Hobby Lobby. I only paid $1.99 for the frame because it was missing the glass and had a small chip in one of the corners. Using some Apple Barrel paint that I had in my stash, I painted the frame a beige color. (Yes, I know, I end up painting the frame black again, but I wanted the crackle under the top finish to be beige...see, there really is a method to my madness - ha! ha!)

The beige paint job didn't need to be perfect...just needed it to mostly cover the frame. Once the beige paint dried, I then painted over the frame with basic Elmer's glue:

When the glue has almost dried, but is still tacky to the touch, paint the top coat in the color of your choice. Don't paint over any area more than once, or it won't crackle properly:

Now the magic begins!! As you can see in the above photo and the next photo, the dark paint begins to separate and crack from the glue covered beige paint, giving your frame a really cool, antique look:

While the frame is drying, cut a piece of cardboard to fit inside of it. Cover the cardboard with a piece of scrapbook paper or fabric of your choice:

Lay out your letter tiles in the pattern that you like. Once you've decided on the layout, take a picture of it so you don't forget what you've done when you have to move all of the tiles to start the gluing process. Using a ruler and some E6000 glue, line up your longest word with the tiles and begin to glue them down:

Keep building on your main word to create a cross-word puzzle of sorts:

Once all of the letter tiles are glued down, you can decorate any open spaces as desired. I chose a little grapevine heart that I picked up for $.59 in the miniatures department at Hobby Lobby. I tied a simple bow out of a scrap piece of lace and tied a wooden button to it using hemp twine:

Once everything has dried you can place your work of art into the frame and hang it up for all to admire:

Wouldn't this be a cute gift for grandparents using the names of their grandchildren?

Thanks for dropping by today to see what's going on in my little world. Have a GREAT week!

Blessings,