My On-Going Project

Ever since we moved into our current home (just over two years ago) I have had a craft room. It's just a non-livable space that the hubby granted to me and I've been really happy about, but it has never been decorated or organized or anything special.

I got tired of that a few months back and have been trying to make it a comfy, cute place where I'm not completely embarrassed to have Angie or Anisa come and craft with me.

It has not been easy.

Little things help, like Anisa recovering a cute chair (here along with a spray paint tutorial) for me and giving me a matching lamp that doesn't fit her decor any longer, but ther real issue is clutter and so much crafty stuff that I don't know what to do with it all! Yikes!

I have before pics that i'm not quite ready to share yet, but here is the first thing I did for my room to add some personality.

I love playing with words so I thought it would be fun to make cross-word puzzle looking wall decor.

I used Making Memory's Simply Fab foam stamps and simple acrylic craft paint. The letters are just under 3" in height, I believe.

I used two pins and a thread with a level to give me a guide to follow and did the long, horizontal phrase first. The rest was just eye-balled.

I love it.

I love it because it didn't cost me anything, but time, as I already had these supplies for scrapbooking.

I love it because it's a piece of me in a room of my very own. How's that Virginia Woolf?

So, I have a lot more that I'm going to be posting about my craft room improvement in the upcoming weeks (months? Yikes!) so keep a look-out for those. Lots of fun!

-C

Lucky You!

This shamrock pillow is a cheeky way to let your husband know that he might not want to wear green on St. Patrick's Day this year... To make your own draw a heart. It can be any size, but it should be broad with a shallow middle dip. Here's mine with my hand to show scale.

Take your heart and rotate it as you trace it as each of the leaves (you can do three or four). I used a disappearing fabric pen. Then I cut it out with a rotary cutter.

Here is the whole cut out. You can kind of see the traced lines here. This green felt was left over from a Christmas craft and was purchased in a package I got at Roberts Craft. The wrinkles steamed out easily.

Next I stamped my message (as I am probably the only crafter who has not yet used freezer paper) with white acrylic paint.

Next I added a little decorative flourish with white embroidery floss. I used one of my favorite stitched called the split stitch.

To balance out the flourish, I added a red heart button. You could add a leprechaun-themed charm or gold buttons here instead.

To finish off the pillow, I pinned wrong sides together and used a zig stitch around the edge. Stuff this pillow lightly or it looks all warped and you lose the shamrock shape. I had to work a bit to get the stuffing to look just right. I closed it with the zig stitch when I was done.

From start to finish, this easy project took me just under two hours. If you have any other fun ideas for a good phrase for this pillow, leave it in the comments. -C

Santa's Cookie Tray

Santa Cookie Tray

The other day I found an old frame I had purchased at a thrift store with the intention of making it into some sort of serving tray. With Christmas fast approaching, I thought the perfect idea would be a fun tray to leave Santa's cookies and milk on. (I apologize for the glare on some of these. Rotten time of day to get a good picture.) Supplies needed: 1 thrifted frame (with the glass still in) big enough to hold a small plate of cookies and glass of milk Paint-acrylic or spray Scrap paper in Christmas colors/themes Letter stickers, die cuts, or computer to make title Adhesive Trim, stamps, embellishments as desired First rough up your frame for easier painting. I lucked out that the gold trim on this one was just painted gold. :) Next paint your desired color. I used Ebony from Americana paints (which you can find at Hobby Lobby, Roberts Arts and Crafts, etc.) While that's drying, take the cardboard backing and start piecing together your paper. It was easier for me to think of this part as making one giant Christmas card. When you're doing this, remember to leave yourself a slight margin all the way around to prevent your work from being covered up by the frame. I used only supplies I had on hand and got to revisit a favorite technique-embossing. I didn't have any sparkly ribbon so I found a snowflake stamp in my collection. First stamp the image with Versa Mark ink (a clear pigment ink) then sprinkle with silver embossing powder. Gently tap the board over a scrap paper to remove excess powder and melt the powder with a heat gun. Repeat the process for the stars on top of the Christmas trees. When you're satisfied with the way it looks, pop it into your dried frame. When I was finished, I discovered a pleasant surprise. Not only will this make a darling tray to hold Santa's goodies, but will be a fun decoration to use the other 24 days of December! (I bet you could come up with something fun for a cute Thanksgiving tray, too!)

The Start of Something Big: Countdown with Crafts

With the holidays just 'round the corner and tight budgets everywhere, we thought we'd do something that will help you fill your Christmas gift list with fun crafting ideas.

Each week on Tuesday, we will feature a craft with products featured in the ads of various chain craft stores. We realized that using the ads isn't going to be helpful for everyone, but the inspiring craft ideas will! As a kick-off, I offer the following:

Wooden-framed magnet boards often go on sale (or you can always use your large percent discount coupon). I used an inexpensive red spray paint (after removing the steel insert).

I am using this in my craft/inspiration room as a home for all my Magnetic Poetry. I love the stuff, but haven't had a place for it, especially since I've been raising little ones.

I wanted to use rub-ons in poetic flourishes as an embellishment. Not only were there no rub-ons on sale, I couldn't find any I liked well enough anyway.

However, the acrylic stamps were on sale at Michael's and they had a great selection of said flourishes.

I was a little doubtful as to how they'd turn out because the only black ink I had was StazOn, but as you can see it turned out well! The clear stamps are Inque Boutique brand. The nice thing about stamps like these is not only can you see when you stamp with them, but you can place them where you think you might want them before you stamp.

Here's a stamping detail.And the finished piece (sorry about the bad lighting) and I'm really pleased with it.

Remember to check us out on Tuesdays for our Countdown with Crafts posts, all the way till Christmas after we get a chance to check the ads. Look for our other posts as well.

--C

"Be Mine" Valentine Blocks

Traditionally Wednesdays here at Twiddle Thumbs are reserved for a seasonal and/or holiday craft. Well folks, it's January. Not much going on. I'm not big into snowflakes and snowmen (unless I'm using the former to make the latter). What else do you make? The big holiday of the month happens on the first. I opted to start our Valentine projects a little bit early with my "Be Mine" blocks, and I'm very happy with the final results. Here are the supplies:

1. Wooden blocks (mine were 2 x 3)

2. Scrapbook paper

3. Paper trimmer

4. Corner rounder-optional

5. Paint

6. Sand paper

7. Modge podge

8. Letter stickers or stamps

9. Embellishments

Here's the how-to (but don't worry they are super easy):

1. Paint your blocks on all sides.

2. Trim your paper, 1/4 inch smaller (all the way around) then your block

3. Round your corners if you want

4. **Modge Podge one side of your block.

5. Lay a paper on and modge podge again over top the paper. Push bubbles out starting from the center working your way out.

6. **If you are using stamps, stamp your letters on the paper before modge podge-ing. Otherwise continue: Put your sticker or vinyl letters on the block.

7. For an antiqued look go ahead and sand the block edges now.

8. Modge Podge over letters.

9. Add embellishments if you want them.

10. Display on a shelf! You're done!!

Here's my final result:

Bird-days

Anisa mentioned the other day that she wanted to do some cards. That got me thinking. I have lots of stamps which I mainly bought to do cards. Then I got the itch to do some stamping. So, thanks Anisa for helping to inspire me to make what is one of my favorite cards!

I made the scalloped circles with my Cricuit, but I'm sure you could find a stencil/template to do the same thing. Better yet, you may even be able to find them precut somewhere. The pink scallop is attached to the green one with a brad. Swivel open to write a "bird" day greeting!

Supplies: Card stock: Provo Craft; Patterned Paper: from my stash; Stamps: Happy Spring (Stampin Up); Ink: Pink Passion (Stampin Up!); Marker: Pink Passion (Stampin Up!) Idea: paper trends magazine march/april 2008

I also have spent a little time beading. My friend and I actually made the colored beads on this necklace with sculpy clay and polished it with sparkly nail polish. It was a very simple necklace to make even with having to make our own beads.