Vinyl Chandelier

I purchased a rather large square frame at my local thrift store awhile back. It's about 18"x18". I bought it when I was obsessed with putting vinyl on frames.... but never got around to finishing it. I even bought the Home Decor Solutions Cricut cartridge just so I could make this frame.... anyway, I am moving so I thought it would be a good opportunity to finish up a couple of projects before I move. I just put the vinyl directly on the glass and I love it that way... but it would be really cute with a fun piece of fabric mounted behind it as well!!!

I think I saw this idea on someone else's blog, so if it was yours... please feel free to leave a comment so people know where the original idea came from!!!

My new obsession!

I don't exactly remember what inspired me to make these... maybe it was that I love patterned paper so much that I want to frame it! Maybe it's that I love owls and this cute owl frame on the Storybook Cartridge for the Cricut. But, one day I came up with this cute frame for my craft room. I put vinyl on the glass and patterned paper inside the frame... I love it!!!

Then I went Black Friday shopping and the Cricut cartridges were on sale at Robert's crafts 4/$100. There were two that I really wanted, but if I was going to get such a good deal, I might as well buy 4. So, I went searching trying to find something I liked and I happened up the "A Child's Year" cartridge and fell in love. It is just full of silhouettes of kids and I love silhouettes. So, I went crazy! I made this frame for my son's teacher as a Christmas gift. I'm participating in another craft boutique tomorrow (or today) and so I thought I'd make a bunch of fun random frames... just because I love them!

If they don't sell, some of these may be up in my Etsy shop soon!!! And I have plans to decorate my kids' playroom with a bunch of these.... stay tuned!!!

-Anisa

Kids Paint/Craft Smock Tutorial

My middle child loves to paint and do all sorts of other wonderful crafts. One problem. He forgets to not only ask, but even tell me that he's doing these things. Needless to say, when his creativity is at work, I'm brushing up on my laundry skills. A few months ago while making this quilt from Little Birdie Secrets tutorial, I was inspired to use a vinyl tablecloth to make paint smocks for my kids. It was SO easy. Supplies: Newspaper Tape (unless your using a Wall Street Journal) Marker 1 Vinyl tablecloth (really only about 1/3-1/2, but who has that laying around?) 2 pkg coordinating bias tape 1 T-shirt Velcro

How-To:

Lay out your newspaper and tape two pieces together (if necessary) and lay T-shirt flat. Tuck the T's sleeves inside the shirt.

Outline the shirt on the newspaper with your marker. Be sure to account for seams when tracing your shirt. Remember to make the scoop in the front for the neck.

Fold table cloth in half length wise and pin pattern piece on. There should be two identical pieces now.

If you want pockets, cut out a rectangle according to how deep you want your pockets. Lay the T-shirt piece on top and trim the sides to fit.

(Sorry about the sideways picture-blogger did that. It was right in my files)

Now-down to the dungeon where I do all my sewing.

Sew the bias tape across the top of your pocket rectangle. Pin the pocket piece to the shirt piece and baste/sew together using a 1/4 seam allowance.

Determine how many pockets you'd like. Mark how far apart you want them with some pins and sew from the bottom of the pocket to to the top in a straight line.

Take the non-pocket T-shirt piece and cut in half.

Lay the two T-shirt pieces right sides together and pin and shoulders and side seams. Sew using a 1/2" seam.

Pin bias tape around all raw edges and sew. I thought this was going to be difficult on the arm holes, but turned out to be quite easy.

Lastly-add some Velcro to the back for an easy, kid-friendly fastener.

"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:

Playroom Project

For the past two weeks I have been busily working on my kids' playroom. I wanted it to be fun and whimsical, but I didn't want to spend a lot of money. One of my main goals was to have a place to display my kids' artwork. I had thought of several different ideas, but none of them really seemed right. Until a couple of weeks ago when I was at my sister-in-law's house. She had a strip of wood painted red with white clips on it. It clicked!!!- That was what I wanted to put in the playroom. So I went to Lowe's and bought some pine that was 1"x4"x48". Then I painted it black. Then the hunt began for the clips. I tried Lowe's, Robert's Crafts, Walmart, etc. I could not find them. Finally someone told me that they would be an office supply product (duh!). So, I headed to Office Max. For your information, they are called Bulldog Clips. Office Max had these really cute colorful ones. They came in packages of Red/Blue or Green/Yellow. Well, I was making 4 boards, so I needed 16 clips. The Office Max that I went to had only one package of Red/Blue and tons of green/yellow. So, I headed off to another Office Max. Luckily they had tons of Red/Blue. After a whole lot of running around, I finally got my boards put together. My sweet husband screwed the clips on and hung the boards on the wall for me. Part 2 of my project was to paint these circles on the wall. I love to browse Pottery Barn magazines for decorating ideas. Whether or not I can afford to buy anything from there, I still love their ideas. And a lot of times, I can do it myself. I loved the idea of painting circles on the wall. So, I made myself a compass. I took a piece of string and push pinned it into the wall. Then I tied a pencil on the other end. And voila!- a circle. It was rather difficult to paint 3 circles in such bright colors, but 4 coats later, I love the finished look. I also loved this clock from Pottery Barn. But, once again, it was too expensive. So, I found a clock at my local craft store- Robert's Crafts. With my 40% off coupon, it was under $20. I used my Cricut to cut out the vinyl numbers for the clock (the clock came with some, but I did not like them). And here is my finished product. Part 3 of my project was to put alphabet letters on the wall above my clipboards. I used my Cricut to cut out vinyl letters in varrying sizes and fonts. It was really fun and I love the finished look. Posted by: Anisa