Wall Art for Sienna's Room

First off, let me just say, I really love photos printed onto a canvas. Really. I knew I wanted a set of them in Sienna's room, but as most of you know, we are still students so our decorating budget didn't exactly cover printing four 8"x10" photos onto a canvas. It's pretty darn expensive for just one let alone FOUR!!! I had seen a few ideas online about getting pictures printed out, then just mod-podging the picture onto the canvas, and sanding the sides a bit, which I liked, but I still really wanted that "printed on canvas" texture on the picture itself. Then, while looking around online one day, I found out that you can actually print from your computer onto tissue paper! *Brilliant!*

Thus, my idea was born. I would print out four pictures onto tissue paper, then mod-podge it onto the canvases! The tissue is thin enough to where the texture of the canvas comes through, and I was very satisfied with the end results! Are you curious now? You want to try it? Well here's what you do:

What you need:

Canvas (however many you are using, I used 8x10's)

White tissue paper (I only needed one regular sized sheet for four pictures)

Printer *with ink* :)

Regular printer paper

Scissors

Tape

Mod-Podge

Brush

Step1:

Take a piece of printer paper. Place it on a corner of the tissue paper, and cut out around it. It doesn't have to be perfect, but will need to be trimmed up later. Cut the length one inch longer than the length of the printer paper.

Step 2:

Trim up the side of the tissue paper so it's the same width as the width of the printer paper.

Step 3:

Put printer paper in the middle of the tissue paper so there is one half inch overflow on each side. Fold each end over, and tape. I used double sided tape underneath, but regular tape on the edges will work fine too.

Step 4:

Perform a test on your paper in your printer, if you don't know what side it prints on. I drew a star on the side that I was going to put in face-up. I printed out the word "test" to see what side it printed on. It printed on the opposite side of the star, so I knew when I fed the special paper through, I would need to make sure the tissue side was down. If you already know how your printer feeds, ignore everything I just said.

Step 5:

Print off your picture to however big your canvas is, stand there while it prints to make sure it feeds through right.

Step 6:

Separate tissue from printer paper, once ink is completely dry. I just cut along the fold where I folded the tissue paper over.

Step 7:

Mod-podge a layer onto the canvas.

Step 8:

Very carefully, lower the picture onto the canvas, making sure the sides all match up. Then starting with the middle, gently rub the tissue down in a circular motion with your fingers to get it to adhere to the canvas better. Start in the middle and move your way out until the whole picture is glued.

Step 9:

Cut the excess edges as close to the canvas as the scissors will allow you. mod-podge just under then, and gently with your fingers once again, rub the edges down onto the mod-podge. You won't be able to see a definite line (except for where the picture ends and the white begins, but that's normal for the regular photo canvases too).

After that, you are pretty much done, unless you want to embellish them. I put a couple of ribbon embellishments on mine!

*And it totally has the canvas texture on front!*

Here's how I displayed 'em.

My Amazing Dad

So I just want to take a post to brag about my awesome Dad. My mom has joked "Between you and your dad, you guys have a completely handmade house!" Ummm, yeah, but I can only wish that my stuff was half as cool as the things my dad makes! He just whips up furniture, just because he feels like it. But I just wanted to take a post to show you some of the amazing things he has made for us. This doesn't even include everything he's made, just the things he's made us.

My Hope Chest

My graduation present when I was a Senior in high school.

(sorry no picture!)

Our Dining Room table

A place of many fine feasts!

The Kiddie Table

A place of refuge for the kids for coloring, crafts, puzzles, book, and occasionally, snacks.

Hall Clock and Hall Shelf

Yes, he made BOTH of these!

Recipe Box

He made this box, while my mom got all of our classic family recipes printed off to go inside!

Breck's Bed

Yes...I said the BED...He actually MADE it!!!

Sorry for the lack of decor in the room...we're working on that...

Love,

Lamp Cord Cover

Photo courtesy of Ballard Designs

I saw this idea in Ballard Design's catalog, and really wanted them. Except for the fact that they are 30 dollars a piece. I made mine with under half a yard of fabric for about 2 dollars. Right on. Here's how:

What You Need:

1/2 yard of fabric

Scissors

Sewing Machine

Step 1:

Measure your cord. You want your cord cover to be at least 2 times the length.

Step 2:

lay out your fabric and cut out several strips of fabric that are about 3-4 inches (or just big enough to allow the end of the cord to feed through, plus hem allowance) wide. My cord measured about one and a half of these strips, so I cut three strips to make twice the amount. If I were to do it again, I would probably do closer to 3 times, but it still looks nice and uses less fabric when you use twice.

Step 3: Attach your strip together by sewing.

Step 4: Hem the ends BEFORE you sew it in a loop.

Step 5: Sew in half length-wise (wrong side of fabric facing out) and reinforce hem.

Step 6: Now all you need to do, is turn it inside out (to reveal the right side of the fabric), feed the cord through it, and you're set with a very classy looking lamp cord! Yahoo!

Love,

Featured at Tip Junkie Today!

Well, this is pretty much the coolest thing ever. I started this blog over a year and a half ago, not really knowing that there was a whole community of craft-bloggers. When I started looking around at the different blogs, Tip Junkie was my absolute favorite, and one that always got my creative juices flowing!

Well what an honor it is to be featured on Tip Junkie today!!! Laurie, the writer, has graciously featured my "Painting Scallops on a Wall" tutorial! Wahoo!

If you guys haven't been on Tip Junkie before, i highly suggest you do it now!!! You will love what you see!

Thanks again Laurie!

VICTORY!!!

I've been trying for FOREVER to get a button with the scroll box for my blog. I am proud to say that I have officially FIGURED IT OUT!!!! So if you want to let your eyes wander over to the sidebar, you will find my button with a code if you would like to display my button on your blog. Thanks for all your support!!!

Love,

Pretty Little Thing

I was in Forever 21 this Summer, and I saw these necklaces that were so adorable, but the kind where you immediately say "I could make that". I have since seen them literally everywhere, and have been dying to make one. So I thought the perfect opportunity to make one would be for Christmas, as a gift for my sister! I was so in the zone of making it, that I decided just to keep on going and make myself one too! They're really simple, and I'm sure just by looking at it, that you could figure it out too, but just to be nice, I decided to post a tutorial.

You'll Need:

Pearl Beads (These can be as cheap as you like, you can't tell once it's all finished)

A Spool (you won't use it all) Satin Ribbon

(In a width that's fairly close to the width of the pearls)

Needle and Thread

Step one:

Thread your thread into the needle

Step two:

Leaving about 6-8 inches for a tail, place needle through the middle of the ribbon from bottom to top, not pulling the needle out.

Step three:

Put a pearl on your needle, then feed the needle and thread through. Then tie a knot with the ribbon and the thread, to keep the necklace secure.

Step four:

You may need to look at the picture to do this step, as it may be hard to fully explain. But you then fold the top of the ribbon back over the pearl (making a "c" with the ribbon), and push needle through in the middle of the ribbon where it hits the top of the pearl.

(Sorry, this was really hard to photograph one-handed, so it's not exactly how I explained, but hopefully you can look at it, and follow the thread to see what I'm talking about.)

Repeat these steps over and over and over until your necklace is the length you want.

Step five:

Tie off both ends of the necklace in a knot for safe keeping. Tie the two ends together in a bow, and your necklace is officially done!

P.S. I like to burn the ends of the ribbon to seal them so they don't fray, but you don't absolutely have to.

Painting Scalloped Trim in Sienna's Room

For awhile now, I've wanted to paint a scalloped trim on Sienna's walls. But when I'm painting at least, I don't have the most steady or consistent hand, so I often would get scared, thinking it would look horrible, even if I tried to draw on the wall first as a guide. And since painters tape wouldn't exactly work for the small curves of scallops, I came up with a new idea for creating scallops on a wall using a homemade stencil!

What you need:

Paint in desired color

Paint Brush

Freezer Paper

Something circular to trace (plate, bowl, large can, etc.)

Pencil

Scissors

Iron

Directions:

Step 1:

Measure the length of each wall you are painting.

Step 2:

Cut a sheet of freezer paper the length of each wall you are painting. You should have a seperate piece of freezer paper for your two biggest walls. One sheet makes two stencils, so if you need to, then cut it down for a shorter wall.

Step 3:

Measure and draw a straight line (use some sort of straight edge, or make a fold down the middle instead) down the middle of each sheet of freezer paper.

Step 4:

Trace circular object onto freezer paper side-by-side until it reaches the end of the sheet. Make sure that your line or fold cuts each circle exactly in half. Do this for all

sheets of freezer paper that you have.

Step 5:

Now with your scissors, cut along the middle line so you have 2 separate pieces per sheet. Then cut out around the circles halves, all the way down the sheet. This will give you your even scalloped edge. Repeat until finished with all sheets.

Step 6:

Now, bring each sheet of freezer paper to it's corresponding wall, meanwhile, heating your iron up. It's easiest if you have someone help you with this part, though it's not totally necessary.

If someone is helping you, have the oth

er person grab one end of the sheet, and hold it at the corner of the wall, while you hold yours at the other end. (Making sure the side that is shiny is facing toward the wall)

If you don't have someone helping you, just tape it in place temporarily at both ends, making sure it's straight and taut.

Step 7:

Now with your heated iron (you may need an extension cord depending on how high up you want your scallops) iron the freezer paper to the wall. Make sure you pay close attention to the scalloped edges, that they're sticking well to the wall, as these are your stencil. (You may need to hold the iron down awhile to get a good stick)

Step 8:

With your stencil in place, you are free to paint, and reveal those beautiful scallops! Once the paint is dry, remove the stencil (it will come right off), and admire your work!

Good luck!

$2 Dollar Book Wreath

I found this fabulous idea over at "Living With Lindsay" and just had to make it. Many of you have probably already seen this done, because it's gotten pretty famous on the web. Not only is it a super-cute idea, but it's 2 dollars to make!!!! Well, here is my version of it. You can click here to get the full tutorial on it.

By the way, With this post I'm taking a poll. I decided to try this wreath with a ribbon, but I'm not sure if I like it. I think the ribbon might be a little dressy, while the wreath is a bit industrial, but my husband likes it with the ribbon. So let me know what you think,

with the ribbon, or without?

Josten's Christmas Gift #2

Here's the 2nd of Josten's handmade Christmas gifts. I made him a camo scripture case to take with him when he goes to trainings. I kept it simple so it's "approved" to take with him, and so it blends with the rest of his gear.

Sienna's Christmas Present #2

Here's the 2nd of Sienna's homemade gifts... her very own purse! It's even reversible!

Breck's Gift #1

Josten's Gift #1

This was the first of two gifts for Josten. I know it seems like a cop-out to make a hat, but he really wanted this, I promise! He specifically asked me for it! Anyway, here it is!

Sorry It's not a better picture, I haven't taken a better one yet.

Christmas Cards!

Finally got Christmas cards done!!! What took so long this year was the fact that Josten was at school for about 19 hours everyday for the last 2 weeks, and we didn't have time to get our Christmas pictures taken! Well, we finally did them yesterday, and I finished them up this morning! Here they are!

Sienna's Christmas Present #1

This is my first finished Christmas gift, more to come very soon!

Sienna's little caplet: