Inspiration File

I found a few great ideas from blogland to share this week.

First up,  I have been wanting to make bookshelves for my kid's rooms for awhile now.  Centsational Girl (love her!) made the most beautiful ones.  They are perfect, simple, and exactly what I have been wanting.  She wrote up an amazing tutorial too so there are no more excuses.  Time to make some bookshelves!

Then, Lemon Tree Creations made a fabric and doilie mobile.  It turned out SO beautiful and is the perfect touch in a nursery.  I am loving the color and pattern combinations!  I also think this would make a great party decoration.  Definitely an idea to remember!

And finally, Crafty, Scrappy, Happy made these cute stakes to add to a pot of lavender for the mom's in her life.  I think they turned out so pretty.  What a perfect gift huh?!  I'm thinking this idea would make an awesome teacher gift too.  Love it!

Thanks for the inspiration!  Don't forget to grab a featured button from the sidebar if you'd like. 

See ya next week and...

Happy Mother's Day!

WYLTC at Crafty Sisters

Wood you like to craft? is back!  This month Crafty Sisters is hosting.  They made this adorable toolbox planter.



I know right?!

I'm guest posting today so be sure to head on over to see my version and say hello.  Here is a little teaser.

See ya there!

Temple Art

I just have a simple project to share with you guys.  The other day while browsing the craft store I came across the most beautiful temple scrapbook paper.  My husband and I were married in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple, so I had to snatch it up.

Then I was at TJ Maxx a few weeks later and I found this print.  While its nice, it was the frame I was drooling over. 

And the size was perfect!  So I just modge podged my scrap paper right over the top.  Now I have a beautiful temple art print!

Isn't the paper gorgeous!?

Simple and meaningful.  Gotta love it!

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

Scrumptious Sunday

Yeah, yeah... I'm sure most of you are saying "scrumptious what?!"   Its been awhile, but I do occasionally cook.  And when I find a recipe that is amazing, I'll share it with you....on a Sunday.  ;)

Anyway, for Easter I made this cake.

Photo and Recipe thanks to The Girl Who Ate Everything

And if cakes could kill, then this thing is deadly.  I served mine with a dollop of whipped cream on the top.  Go make it.  You can thank me (or Christy) later.

Inspiration File

Wow... I found some good stuff this week! 

First up, did you see Shanty 2 Chic's mason jar key hook?  Ummmm...I am totally in love and want to run out and buy the supplies to make myself one tomorrow.  For reals. 

Next, The Crafty CPA made this pillow.... as in made this pillow.  Lets just say that a piece of scrapbook paper, a sharpie, and some ink was involved.  Oh the possibilities this opens up!   I am completely blown away!

And finally Liz Marie re-did her nightstand.  I have a dresser sitting in my garage waiting for me to give it some love.  Its been there for...oh...a year or so.  Her's turned out so pretty that I'm thinking about getting it done.  I hope mine looks half as amazing!

Thanks for the inspiration!  Grab a featured button in you'd like. 

And just a reminder, a new round of Wood you like to craft? starts next week.  Eeek, I can't wait for you to see what I've been up to!



Adding a Blog Background

I thought I should add to my blog design series.  This one is pretty simple, but I will show you how to install a background in blogger template designer.

The first thing you need to do is to locate a "digital scrap paper" to use as your background.  My favorite resource for free kits is Summertime Designs.  She has the cutest stuff.  Her products are for personal use only though, so you'll have to contact her for licensing if you use your blog for commercial use.  My favorite place to buy kits is Scrap Orchard but you want to check the designers TOU to make sure you can use it on your blog.  Most are fine with it, but still check to be sure.

So I'm going to download THIS paper from Summer for this demonstration.  Just save it somewhere where you can find it, and then go and unzip the folder.

First you will open the paper in photoshop.  (Or any photo editing software where you can control the size of the document and the size of the file.)

Then go to image-image size- and resize your image. I have found that 1600 x 1600 pixels seems to be the magic number for me.

Then hit Save As.  A box will appear and you can adjust the image size you are saving it at.  You want to be sure it is smaller then 300K.

Next open your template designer in blogger.  Go to background- click the little arrow- and then click "upload image."

Upload your image and hit done.  Then you want to adjust the alignment to be centered, make sure it says "tile"  and also you can choose if you want it to scroll with the page.  I like my backgrounds to hold still, so I unchecked the box.

Hit "apply" and enjoy your new background!

Easy peasy!  The hardest part will be picking out a cute paper to use!

Have fun!

P.S.  If there is anything you'd like me to add to this series, be sure to let me know!

Mother's Day Photo Frames

If you are my Mother or my Mother-in-law, click away now.... or at least act surprised.  :)

Now that Easter has come and gone, and Mother's day is only 2 weeks away, I'd thought I'd show you guys what I came up with for my Moms (and myself) for Mother's Day this year.  If your curious, THIS is what I made last year. 

The only problem is I'm not sure what to call them.  They are so much more then just a photo frame....

They are basically blocks of wood, decorated to look adorable, with little clips so that you have a place to display those "photos of the moment" instead of just sticking them to your fridge.  I just threw a photo in for demonstration purposes, but I plan on printing one of our Hawaii family pictures as part of the gift.  Both 4x6 and 5x7 photos work great.

And yes, I made four of them.

They are all a bit different but I love them all.  I had a hard time deciding which one I was keeping for myself! 

Want to make your own?  Here is the method to my madness.

You start out with a block of wood.  Mine are 9.5" squares and I cut them from a board from Lowes.  You also need a 4" piece of dowel.  Then just drill a hole the size of your dowel in the back of your block so that you have a way of making it stand. (image A)

Then paint your pieces.  I used little clothes pins for my clips, so I took those apart and painted those too. (image B and C)  Then like I do with all my paint finishes, I sanded it down a bit (image D) and put a coat of wood stain over the whole thing. (image E)

Now the fun part.  Find a cute piece of scrapbook paper (mine where those great two sided kind) and cut it a bit smaller then your wood.  Then cut about 1/3 of that off so you can flip it around and have both patterns visible.  Modge podge that in place. (image F)

Then put your clothes pins back together.  I used hot glue when reassembling them so that they would stay together better.  I also used a scrap of paper on the pin.  Then glue those to your boards.  Use a photo to determine the placement.  (image G) 

Then I put a strip of ribbon over the seem where the two papers meet.  I just hot glued it down and to the back.  I didn't worry about the backside too much.  (image H and I)  Then finish it off with a bow and a quote.  I cut my quote out of black vinyl with my silhouette, but you could get creative here.

And that's it! Clip on a cute picture and you have a gift that anyone would love!


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

Inspiration File

This week I want to share...

Landee See Landee Do's spring mantle.  I think this is super cute.  There are a lot of things I like about it.  The Easter egg garland is SO cute and looks like it would be really easy to make, love the paper flowers on the wreath, and I adore the paper covered eggs.  I have mentioned in the past that I have a slight obsession with scrapbook paper, and I love how she used it!

Next, I'm sure you have seen all the rhinestone inspiration around blogland this week, but Heidi's is my favorite.  I love the way she put this pillow together and the "bling" from the rhinestones is the perfect touch.  I've decided I must go buy a rhinestone kit so I can make some pillows for my princesses room.

And finally, have you seen the dresser to desk transformation from Thrifty and Chic?  Brilliant!  I am wanted to convert one of our basement rooms into a craft space and I'm going to have to remember this idea for when I do.  The transformation is really unbelievable so be sure to check it out!

Thanks for the inspiration ladies!  Grab a featured button if you'd like.

Have a fabulous Easter everyone!

Winner!

The winner of the social networking magnets is....

Rebecca!  who said...

Congratulations on 500! I blog for similar reasons and having 500 followers would knock my socks off. Heck, every new follower knocks my socks off.

My favorite of these is blogging. There's no character limit and I can tell a story with my pictures. I do facebook but we have a love/hate thing going. I don't tweet/twitter or understand it but I love the little birdie.

Thanks for the chance to win, your magnets are cute!

I'll email you now.

Thanks to everyone who entered!

Magnetic Banner

Oh yeah, you read that correctly.

So do you remember when I said that all my spring mantel display needed was a banner and I has something awesome up my sleeve?  It was one of those things that I wasn't sure would work but wanted to give it a try.  Well, it worked and it is a.w.e.s.o.m.e!!!

Let me introduce my magnetic banner.

and because its magnetic I can make it say...

or...

or any other word or phrase that's less then 8 characters.  My son is going to love it when it says "birthday" for a week next month! And when June rolls around and I redo the mantel for summer, it will say "summer" or something like that.

I kept the design and color scheme simple so that it would be versatile.  Blues and Greens will always work in my house!

So if you are wondering how I made it magnetic, here you go.

I started with chipboard pennants that I found at the craft store.  I was originally planning on cutting my own our of 1/4" plywood but when I found these, all ready to go for around $3, it was a no brainer. 

Then I painted the pennants with magnetic primer.  I used the kind pictured above.  I originally bought magnetic spray paint but couldn't get that stuff to work for the life of me.  The magnetic primer is expensive.   (around $20) so it is a bit of an investment.  I only used a small amount though and promised myself that I would use it in other projects... which means you'll be seeing more of this stuff in the future!

Edit: I should note that the thicker you paint the primer, the more megnetic it will be.  I did many thick coats..... probably around 6.

I let that dry overnight and painted it with a coat of white craft paint.  I cut my scrapbook papers a little smaller then my pennants so that I would have a bit of a border, and modge podged that on.  I added a little distressing ink to the edges of the pennants.

I just used my hole punch to re-make my holes and strung it up with white ribbon.

For the letters I just bought a pack of sparkly white scrapbook letters.  Since they had a sticky back I put a thin coat of modge podge on the back and let that dry, then stuck my magnetic tape to the back.  Something like this...

I love how the sparkly letters look.

And the textures and colors from the papers make me giddy.

So there you have it!  A magnetic banner that can be used for all sorts of occasions!

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

Paper Party @ Paper Issues