A-B-C Blocks

I sure have had baby crafts on the brain lately! So I took one of my favorite crafts to make, the 4x4 wood blocks that have been featured here, here, here, and here and made A-B-C Blocks for the baby's room.

Aren't they cute?! I love them!! The only thing I would do differently is use a wider solid brown ribbon but I was fresh out of those so I used what I had :)

I painted the blocks "Lemonade Slush" by Glidden and used brown vinyl for the letters because this is the main fabric in the baby's room...

Click HERE to see all the coordinating fabrics

The A-B-C blocks are made out of 4x4 pieces of wood. I can't wait to make more for baby gifts!

I am linking this project up to THESE fun parties!

Mother's Day Sign

I have really enjoyed making wood signs lately.

I thought it would be fun to make one for Mother's Day !

I searched and searched for quotes and finally asked my facebook friends for their favorites. My friend

 Meleah came to my rescue with this,

 "A Mother's love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible" ~Marion C. Garretty



I had to shorten it though for it to go on my sign.

Here is the result....

I am really digging this color right now and I might be obsessed with fabric rosettes so of course I had to add a few of those :)

I am adding this project to these link parties

Happy Birthday Shauna!

It's my BFF Shauna's Birthday today! We have known each other 10 years, so crazy! We met at Ricks College and were roommates for 1 semester. We had oh so much fun!! Her birthday is today and here is what I made her....

It's a pink shirt (her favorite color) with an inside joke in brown writing. "Are you wearing your roommates clothes" is one of those stories that make us laugh every time! I wish I could have seen her face when she saw it.

Shauna is a teacher and I have been wanting to make her something for her desk for a while. You know I love those 4 inch blocks! I put a "K" on one side for her last name and an apple on the other in vinyl. I had some super cute ribbon from Hobby Lobby that I wrapped around it.

I hope she has a wonderful day!

Family Name Board

I have wanted one of these Family Name boards for years!

 I am way too cheap to buy one though. Finally I figured out how to make one and I'm in love with it!! It was very easy and I will be making more. When I do, I'll take photos so I can make a full tutorial. But until then, here's a short tutorial:

Step 1: Pick out a piece of wood.
Mine was 50 cents at Habitat for Humanity.

Step 2: Paint the board what color you want your letters to be. I think I did 2-3 coats. Let dry completely,
if it's even a little wet, it will mess everything up.

Step 3: Cut your wording out of vinyl.
 I used the program SCAL and my cricut.

Step 4: After smoothing down the vinyl on the piece of wood, I mean really making sure every little piece is stuck down, paint the board a different color. I used 2 coats.

Step 5: Once completely dry, peel vinyl letters off the board.

Step 6: Sand the edges of the board and top.

Step 7: All Done!

HERE are the linky parties I will be joining!



St. Patty's Day Wood Block

Can you tell I am loving these wood blocks that my Aunt and I cut? :) This is my 3rd project with them and I have already done another one that I will share next week.

This time I took pictures for you along the way!

 I downloaded the Shamrock image for free HERE

 and cut it out using SCAL on my Cricut.

HERE are the Linky Parties I will be joining!



Pedestal Bowls

The Speckled Dog made these gorgeous pedestal bowls and shows us how to do it ourselves! Here is the before and after shot of just one of the bowls. 

before

after

Barnwood Ladder

"Just Drink A Coke" has got to be the greatest
blog name out there! I love that she took old barn
wood from her families barn and turned it into a ladder
 that is no only beautiful but also useful! I just moved
onto my grandfather's old property and there is wood everywhere, I really want to make one of these!



H Block

Remember THIS post? Well I made something else with all those blocks my Aunt and I cut.



I think it's such a fun little block! All I did was paint it brown and add an "H" with white vinyl. The ribbon is from Martha Stewart. I still have lots of those 4 inch blocks and I am working on coming up with more ideas for them! 

Click HERE to see which link parties I am joining.

Lost Socks Tutorial

We always have at least 3 socks that don't end up having matches after doing the laundry. It drives my husband crazy. He was thrilled when I decided to make a "home" for these lost socks until they find their mate.

For this tutorial I am going to do something a little different, I am going to feature TIPS! along the way so that your project turns out better/easier than mine did. :)

First I started out with a little board I got at Hobby Lobby for a little over a $1.00, it's about 12 by 6 inches. (This was before I knew about Habitat for Humanity Stores where wood is 50 cents or less)

I thought at first I would paint it....

But then I thought it needed something else. Oh and please know the yellow wasn't that bright but I cannot figure out my camera settings to save my life, keep this in mind throughout all the other photos...



So I modge podged my favorite paper onto the board,

right over the paint. It's called Bo Bunny Double Dot Paper, Sunflower. You may not be able to see, but there are cute little dots on the paper.

How to Modge Podge:

1. Apply a medium amount of modge podge with a brush (i use those super cheap foam ones) to the board. Make sure that the board is COMPLETELY covered. But don't take so long that the modge podge starts to dry.
2. Put paper on top of modge podge. Use an old credit card or bone folder to smooth down all of the paper. You may have some modge podge come out on the sides, that's okay, just wipe down with a paper towel. Keep smoothing until there are no bubbles.
3. Let dry for approx. 10 minutes. Then you can put vinyl on top of the paper.
4. If you are going to "ink" the edges, this is the time to do so.
5. After applying the vinyl, put a very thin layer of modge podge on top of the vinyl
6. Let dry 15 minutes before handling again.

I "inked" my edges with Tim Holtz' brown ink. All you do is hold the ink pad at an angle and go along the sides of your sign. You will get a thin layer of brown on the edges. Depending on how you tilt the ink pad, you can get more or less ink around the edges. If you don't have an ink pad, you can use a brown marker!

I used the program SCAL and my Cricut to cut the brown vinyl. Click HERE if you would like to download my SCAL file to use for your own sign.

After modge podging, inking and putting the vinyl on the sign, I whipped out my hot glue gun to attach the clothespins.

TIP! Measure the distance between clothespins before you hot glue them so you don't end up with some being closer than others and being super annoyed.

While you have your hot glue gun out, use it to attach the picture hanger to the back of your piece of wood.

TIP! Do not use the little nails they give you on this thin of a board, they will go through the board.

(btw, this is the real coloring of the sign and my laundry room walls)

Your done! Now go collect your lost socks and give them a new home. They (and your husband) will be thrilled!

(see the difference in coloring? crazy camera!)

2x4 Heart Tutorial

Under My Umbrella made the stinkin' cutest 2x4 wooden heart decoration ever! And there is a tutorial to boot!

 Love that. Check out their website!

I heart you

Iron Violet Designs made this adorable Valentine's decoration! I definitely have to make one, if you need to as well (i wouldn't blame you!) go to their website for a tutorial. 

L-O-V-E Blocks

The Crafting Chicks recently posted these LOVE blocks and I think they are so cute! Go to their website for instructions on how to make them for your home.



Valentine's Block

A few weeks ago my Aunt Tanis and I had a Craft Day. I recently introduced her to the world of craft blogs and her head almost exploded. She runs her own cake shop and makes AMAZING cakes! Just because I like to brag, go HERE to take a look.

Back to the point, On our Craft Day we made lots of fun wood blocks. Here is what I did with a few of them....

Recipe:

1. Cut a piece of 4x4 wood from the hardware store

 (approx. $10) into lots of 4 inch blocks.

2. Sand your blocks

3. Paint your blocks (we painted our several different colors)

4. Decorate! I added a pink vinyl heart and a ribbon (from Hobby Lobby)

It was really easy to make and a great inexpensive decoration for Valentine's Day! Come back next week to see what else I made with my wood blocks!

Please click HERE to see what parties I am linking this project up to!

Laundry Sign

After I made my sister her laundry sign I decided I needed one too. I had one more cabinet from the Habitat for Humanity store and a perfect spot for it in my laundry room. It was meant to be! :) I used my Cricut to cut out the brown vinyl and that was it. The door was in such good condition all I did was clean it with a wet rag.

Click HERE to see what Linky Parties I am joining.

YW Value Letter

Under My Umbrella made this super creative (and cute) personalized value letter for Young Women's. I know the YW I used to work with would flip for it! Oh, and did I mention that the burlap is printed on? That's not vinyl!

Recipe Holder

Everytime I cook (which let's be serious, isn't often) I always think to myself, "I need something to hold my recipe!" Well, Life's Sweeter with Chocolate has come to my rescue! I love that this recipe holder doesn't take up your entire kitchen counter but yet does it's job!

LOVE Frame with Tutorial!

I have been sick in bed with a cold for a few days but my mind has been going full speed thinking of cute Valentine's Day decorations! Here's a little tutorial (my first) on how to make this craft from a Michael's $1.00 Frame. This is a perfect project if you have never modge podged before!

 

Step One: Pick a cute paper to modge podge onto your frame. The thicker your paper is, the easier it is to modge podge.

Step Two: Gather supplies.

Modge Podge, Paper, Paint Brush, Bone Folder (or old credit card), Exacto Knife, Scissors, Pencil, Wood Frame

Step Three: Trace around frame and cut paper out.

Step Four: Apply thin coat of modge podge all over frame

Step Five: Line up the edges of the paper and the frame, when straight, put paper down and smooth onto frame with bone folder or old credit card.

Step Six: After letting dry for 3-5 minutes, take exacto knife and trim any paper that is hanging over the edges.

Step Seven: Color in edges and sides of frame with black marker (I used a Martha Stewart marker) or paint the sides. Oh, and I've used a sharpie before and it works great too!

Step Eight: While waiting for your marker or paint to dry, cut out 6 hearts. I did mine in a program called SCAL (then later cut with my cricut) starting at 2.5 inches and going smaller. But if you don't have a Cricut, you can use Word or just free hand it! That's what I used to do. I cut 2 red, 2 with vellum and 2 with pink.

Step Nine: Your marker should be dry now. Put a THIN layer of modge podge over your paper that is now attached to your frame. Put frame somewhere you won't touch it.

Step Ten: Glue paper hearts together. I did 2 at a time with zig glue, straight down the middle. Then after they were dry I attached all of them together.

Step Eleven: Plug hot glue gun in.

 Step Twelve: "Fluff" the heart layers up.

Step Thirteen: Remember the frame you put out of your reach? Well your allowed to touch it now that it's dry. Take your hot glue gun and attach your heart to the frame with it.

Step Fourteen: Cut a piece of pink (or color of your choice) card stock into a 3.5 x 3.5 square to cover the opening in the frame. I used my big-bad-ATG gun (but a glue stick will work too!) to attach the card stock right to the square piece of cardboard Michael's already put in the frame.

Step Fifteen: Are you still awake?! Good. Now, cut out the letters L-O-V-E. I did this in SCAL. But if you don't have that program, don't fret! Use Word or free hand it! The font I used was Bookman Old Style. Tilt the "O" and glue your letters down on the pink square you just made.

Step Sixteen: Put pink square into frame and your done!

I hope that you will try this project, especially if you are a beginner and don't modge podge often. It's incredibly inexpensive and if you follow the steps it should only take 30-1 hour to complete. If you make one, please let me know,

 I would love to see it!