Fire Crackers

I have seen a ton of adorable wooden fire crackers around blogland, so when I needed something to balance out the red on my mantel vignette, I decided to make myself a set too.

They are fun, easy, and super cute!

Here's how they were done.

A.  I cut my blocks out of a 3x3 post.  They are 7, 8.5, and 10 inches tall.
B.  Paint your blocks. I did red, white, and aqua, but whatever colors float your boat.
C.  I then did a coat of wood stain over the paint.  I really like the way wood stain antiques the paint colors, but this is optional.
D.  Use modge podge to apply cute scrapbook paper.  I left a fingers width of wood on the top and bottom exposed because I wanted the paper to look like wrappers.  I found it was easiest to cut the paper and apply it one side at a time.  I then sanded all the edges to expose some bare wood.
E.  Make some curlies with wire.  I love the red wire I found!
F. Drill little hole in the tops of your fire crackers and hot glue in the wire fuses.

That's it!

For real...easy.  A nap time project for sure.  Hurry and make some!

(Disclaimer: these are not real fire crackers and you can't blow them up.  My hubby was a bit disappointed.)

As always I'm linking to these great parties and events:

Summer Mantel

As promised, I finished my summer mantel!  Like I said earlier, my goal here was to create something patriotic with an Americana feel, but not so "4th of July"  that it couldn't stay up for the whole month. (And maybe even into August)  By taking some creative liberties with the traditional American colors, I think I nailed it!

 

I'm totally loving the aqua and red color scheme!  Of course, the "team usa" on my magnetic banner will be switched out to say "summer" once the forth is over.  

My lantern is the perfect summer accessory.  Combine that with the slat star and its a fun and festive duo. Then to balance out the red, I jumped on the wooden fire cracker bandwagon.  Aren't they cute?!

They were fun and easy to make too!  I'm sure its fairly self explanatory and there are several around blogland, but I'll post a quick tutorial on my fire crackers tomorrow.

I also added some red ribbon to my candles. 

Throw in some foliage and you have a fun, festive, summer vignette!

As always I'm linking to these great parties and events:

Web Albums and Scheduling

For today's part of my blog design series, I'm going to share how to use Picasa web albums and how to schedule posts.  These are more blogging tip then blog design, but whatever.  :)

 
First up, using Picasa web albums.   Does it drive you crazy how slow blogger is to load pictures?  And you are stuck and can't be writing while its happening?  It drove me bonkers!  Since figuring out this trick, it has saved a ton of time!

First up, you need to download Picasa.  I edit all my pictures with Picasa before they go on my blog anyway.  Editing photos makes a big difference.  If you don't do it, you should!  Open up Picasa and go to the folder of pictures you want to use.

Then do any editing you want.  Once your photos are blog ready, go back to the main folder, hold down the CTRL button and select all the photos you want to use.  Then hit the "upload" button.

A pop up box will appear.  You can select the folder you want the photos to go into (or create a new one) and also select the size you want to upload.  I just use the recommended setting.  Then hit "upload' again.  The upload is really fast, but the best part is you are not stuck.  Feel free to log-in to blogger and start writing!

Once you are ready to add a picture to your post, hit the load image icon and then hit "from Picasa web albums."  Select the album where your pictures are located and then select the picture you want to use.

No more uploading!

That's it!  Super easy huh?!  It will save you a ton of time.

I also wanted to show you guys how to schedule posts if you don't know how yet.  I like to schedule because I usually will write a couple of posts when I have time (aka nap time) and then schedule them to post throughout the week.  That way I can spread my content out.

All you do is hit the "post options" link below.  A box will appear.  Select "scheduled at" and then put in the date and time you want your post to publish.  Then publish the post as usual.  Easy peasy!

So that's it for today!  Have fun blogging!

Slat Star

I'm in the process of creating my "summer" mantle display.  I have a few finishing touches to add before the full reveal but I wanted to share with you my slat star.  My goal with this display is to give it an Americana feel, without it being so "4th of July" that it can't stay up for awhile.  I think my star is the perfect addition.

Fun huh!?  I took some liberties with the American color scheme in order to make it fit with my decor, but I love how it turned out!

I also love the shabby finish.

So if you want to make your own, here is the method to my madness.

 

A.  Start by making a paper template of a star.  Then lay out some scrap slats and trace your star.

B.  Then carefully cut each slat following your traced lines.  It's a pretty easy task as long as you do it in order and not let yourself get confused.

C. All cut!

D.  Then paint the slats.  The top third I painted a light blue and then the rest I alternated red and white.  Once again, don't let yourself get confused.  Lay your star out and mark what color each slat needs to be before you start painting.

E.  Take all your slats outside and give them a good sanding.

F.  Finally, hot glue the slats together to form your star.  I finished mine off with a coat of dark wood stain also.  And that's it!  

A super cute slat star that will look great with any patriotic or summer display!

 

As always I'm linking to these great parties and events:

Inspiration File

Hello!  I hope you all are having a wonderful day celebrating the Dad's in your life.  We sure are! Its been a busy week and I hadn't had a chance to do an inspiration file but I have a few moments so I thought I'd fix that problem.

First, my cousin Jen send me a picture of a menu board that she created.  The top is a folder that houses all your recipes and the bottom is magnetic.  Brilliant!  I love how the whole thing can live on the inside of your cabinet.  One of my 2011 goals was to organize my recipes and come up with a meal planning system.  I need to get on it!  Jen has a food blog, Something for Dinner, so be sure to check her out if you want some great recipes to go in your folder!

Next, I came across this pallet wall art from Love of Family and Home and I am in LOVE!  She actually built the pallet (which looks super easy) and then modge podged on the family motto.  It is so beautiful!  I'm thinking if I ever get around to doing my bedroom I'll have to make something along these lines for in there.  Great job!



Then, Brown Paper Packages shared her family blocks.  Aren't these the best?!  What a great gift or craft group idea!  I want a set.  It's only a matter of time people!

 So that's it!  thanks for the inspiration ladies!  Grab a featured button from the sidebar if you'd like.  Also, if you are looking for more inspiration, you can see what's catching my eye by following me on pintrest.

Have a great day!

Penny Key Chain

I know this is a little late in coming but I wanted to share with you a little somethin somethin I made for my husband for Father's Day.  It was pretty easy and quick to make so if you are looking for a last minute idea, here ya go.

The other day I was browsing Pinterest (there has been a lot of that lately) and I came across this penny key chain and thought it was perfect for Father's Day, so I recreated it.  Here is mine.

 The first washer I stamped with the text "Lucky Dad"...

Then I have pennies from the years our kids were born...

And the last washer is stamped with the names of our kiddos.  Cute huh?!


Here are some tips if you want to make your own.
1.  Hammer your stamps on a hard surface, like your garage floor, and give it several hard whacks without moving your stamp.
2.  Color the stamped washer with a sharpie and then wipe with a wet rag.  This will help your text stand out.
3. When drilling your holes, just keep steady pressure and let your drill do the work.  I was nervous about this part but it turned out to be fine.

4.  To keep the coins still while drilling, I taped them to a scrap piece of wood.


And that's it.  A Father's Day penny key chain.

My Lantern

In case you missed it last week, here is my Wood you like to craft? project for this month.  The link party is going on now on the Wood you like to craft? blog.  You can link any project that was inspired by this month's craft or any "star" wood project.  Be sure to head on over and check out all the inspiration! We sure hope you'll join in!

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Hello everybody!  It's Krystal here from Sassy Sanctuary.  I'm so excited to be visiting Craft Goodies today!  Wendy is just amazing and its been a blast getting to know her through Wood you like to craft?!  Her talent is incredible but she really out did herself with her lantern!  I think its about the cutest thing I have ever laid eyes on!

Anyway, as much as I wanted to just copy it exactly, I decided to try to make a lantern that wasn't seasonal... just to mix it up a bit.  Here is what I came up with.

I think its a lot of fun and I'm sure it will show up in different vignettes all over my house.  It has a bit of a beach cottage vibe which is fun for summer!  But my favorite part is the etched glass.

It was quite the internal debate deciding what pattern to use on the glass, but in the end I went with a honeycomb pattern.  I think its perfect!

The key to this lantern's construction is 5x7 picture frames.  I found a bunch on clearance and went from there.  Here are some basic instructions.

Obviously the exact sizes will depend on the size of frames you use, but you need wooden posts for the corners, 2 squares for the top and bottom, smaller posts and a smaller square for the little "house" up top, hardware, and of course, your frames.

Use wood glue and finishing nails to construct your lantern.  I started by connecting my frames to the posts (leave one frame off) then attaching that to the base.  Then construct the "little house" part.  (really not sure what to call that) Drill a large hole in the top peice, then attach the "little house" to the center of your top.  Finally attach the top to the main piece.  It should look like this when its done.

Give it a good sanding and then finish it however you want.  I had a little fun with the finish.  I painted it white, distressed the heck out of it with my sander, and then I put a coat of blue stain over the top.  (You should have seen the look on the face of the paint lady when I asked her to mix me up some blue wood stain! hehe)

To etch the glass I made a vinyl stencil with my silhouette. 



Slather on the etching cream and let it do is thing.  The bottle said to leave it about 5 minutes but I probably let mine sit for more like 20. 

Depending on your frames, you may have to use hot glue to put your glass back in.  (Like I did)  Just put a small dab in each corner and set your glass in place.  It works like a dream.

Last step is attaching your hardware.  You want a handle for the top so it can hang, a knob for the door, and little hinges so it can do this...

(Oh, and I should mention that although it would probably be fine, I went with one of those battery powered candles.  I worry about wood and fire.  I would hate to have someone burn their house down!)

And that's it! My fun summer lantern!

Thanks so much for the inspiration and for having me Wendy!  I can't wait to see what everyone else does this month!

As always I'm linking to these great parties and events: