wood craft week: twinkle, twinkle little star

Starlight, star bright, first star I see tonight . . . Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket . . . Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are . . .

Decorating and adding color to the walls of a house you don't own is a challenge.  This is the challenge I face.  All of the walls in our house are as white as the snow that never seems to go away outside.  It didn't seem to bother me that much until I saw my oldest daughter's little profile shot on my third ultrasound.  All of the sudden I had an urge to add color, design, dimension to the walls of a room in our house that this little bundle could call hers.  

That brings me to my explanation for why nursery rhymes about stars and wood craft week converge into one post.  I used both stars and wood to add much needed color, design and dimension to the walls of a room with white walls.  This is a great way to decorate a nursery or kid's room in a rented apartment or house.

I bought wood star shapes in various sizes, wood letters to spell a variety of words and my daughter's name, painting canvases, super strong sticky tack, paint and sponge brushes all from my beloved Hobby Lobby. 

I chose letters to spell dream, laugh, love, play, hope, believe and painted them with various colors.  Then I used massive amounts of stainless sticky tack to adhere them to the wall.  I also painted stars in various shapes and used them to accent the words, the mirror, a window and the door.

I painted canvas rectangles and tacked the stars on them for wall art.  These also require a massive amount of sticky tack in order to stay on the wall. 

Okay, technically these square canvases painted in solids and stars don't really use any wood, but I really like them.  Each canvas is ten by ten, and it was super easy to draw and paint the stars on them.  Cheap and easy wall art at its finest (okay, maybe "finest" isn't the most accurate descriptor...maybe "mediocre" would be more accurate). 

So . . . if you (like me) live in a house or apartment you don't have the freedom to paint or perhaps you (also like me) are sort of fickle when it comes to decorating, a little visit to the wood craft isle at your local Hobby Lobby, Michael's or other craft store may give you a little decorating inspiration.  Grab some paint, a few brushes, some wood shapes and letters and . . .

craft on!

**I'm linking this to the CSI Project for the week of June 22.  Please click on the button to check out some great ideas for wall art, frames, etc.

wood craft week: cravings

A friend dropped off a cheesecake on Sunday.  It's not just any cheesecake it's a cheesecake by Lori.  You really can't get better cheesecake.  In fact, CheeseCake Factory doesn't even compare.  So I've been on a cheesecake diet for the last three days.  You should try it.  One thing you should know about me is that I'm typically a little bit of a health-food junkie.  I don't eat meat.  I love my fruits and veggies.  I like locally grown food.  But all of these healthy habits are rendered powerless in the presence of Lori's cheesecake.  So . . . I've eaten cheesecake for lunch, for dinner, for snack . . . I've somehow been able to keep myself from eating cheesecake for breakfast.  (Maybe eating cheesecake for breakfast is something akin to having a drink before noon.)  I crave Lori's cheesecake.

As you know, I've also been craving something crafty that doesn't involve sewing.  My crafty version of cheesecake this week is wood.  So I've been looking for wood-related crafts that I can actually do in all my crafty laziness.  I'm not going to be like my friend Luke, and I'm not trying to be.

Tonight I came across this great idea (click for link) from Serving Pink Lemonade.  I am definitely going to be trying this.  You could use this idea for anything - a message board, a recipe card holder backsplash, a picture holder on your wall, or the obvious art gallery.  I love it.  And for tonight, just looking at it somehow satifies my wood craft cravings.  If only the same could be said about cheesecake.

Craft on!

wood crafts week - painting people

Welcome to Wood Crafts Week!

Okay, I decided that I couldn't wait until next month to do something besides sewing.  So this week I welcome you to a whole week of wood crafts . . . wowzers!  (Check out the excessive use of the letter "w" in that sentence.) 

Since January I've been blogging about crafts I've been working on that I will be giving my kids for Christmas 2010.  However, I've also been working on some other crafts on the side.  I'm in the process of making two fabric doll houses that I will be giving them for Easter.  Check out some of the details on the houses I'm working on.  

These two doll houses have been a crazy amount of work.  Right about now you're saying to yourself, "What does this have to do with wood crafts?"  I'm getting there.  

As I was in the process of making the doll houses, I was inspired to make some dolls to live in these cute little bungalows.  I wandered aimlessly around Hobby Lobby - on one of my super rare trips there - hoping to be inspired by something.  Lo and behold . . . I found little wooden people.  I also found wood bobbins and little wood balls.  I figured I could paint the wooden people and/or glue the bobbins and balls together to make people.  However, after working so hard on the little houses, I decided to go the incredibly easy peasy route that did not involve using glue and waiting for it to dry.

First, let me say that I realize I'm not the first person in the history of crafting to do this.  I don't claim to be original.  Obviously, if someone makes these little wooden people, they expect people to paint them.  So take this little tutorial as a starting point to create your own unique masterpieces, but there are probably a plethora of other great ideas and tutorials in blogs across the web.  

What you need to get your hands on before you begin:

• acrylic paint in a variety of colors
• paint brushes in different sizes and stiffness
• paint markers in medium and fine point
• wood people in various sizes
• toothpicks (not pictured)
• modge podge (not pictured)- if you don't have modge podge on hand, another nontoxic paint sealer would work

1)  Choose skin color and paint two or three coats on head and neck. (I recommend doing a variety of skin colors - dark, light, in between.  That way your little dolls reflect the beauty of all sorts of people.)  The number of coats will depend on the skin color you choose.  Let each coat dry before painting the next.

2)  Paint main body.  Again, count on doing at least two coats - possibly three depending on the color you choose.  Let each coat dry thoroughly before adding the next otherwise you will be dealing with yucky clumping of paint.  I learned this the hard way.  I'm impatient, so it's REALLY hard for me to wait for anything - especially paint drying.  But in this case, waiting is totally worth it.  

3)  Add hair.  I kept the hair pretty simple as you can see from these pictures, but you could experiment with painting ponytails or curls using different colored swirls of paint.  I'm sounding like a broken record here, but you will need at least two coats for the hair as well.  And yes, let the first coat dry before adding the second.  

4) Add body details.  There are endless options here.  Probably the three most useful tools for this stage in the wood-person-painting process are the following:

• toothpicks - Use these to add the fine dots you see in the floral pattern on my people or the details on the pants.  Toothpicks would also be great for adding facial features - which I didn't do.  I was planning too, but when I looked at my little people, I liked the idea of leaving the facial features open to the imagination of my girls.  If it freaks them out too much to have faceless people, I'll paint on some facial features later.    
• fine-tipped/medium-tipped paint markers and permanent markers - Also, great for adding details, but gives the option of wider lines and larger details.  If you wanted to paint on arms, paint markers would be a great tool for that.  The medium-tipped paint markers draw on a pretty thick line, so don't plan on using these for little dots, fine lines or other intricate details.  Permanent markers, like Sharpies, are wonderful for drawing designs on clothes.  
• q-tips - These weren't included on my list of supplies; however, I brought them in mid-project to wipe away little, or more accurately in my case - huge mistakes.  Do it quickly though; acrylic paint dries fast.  And obviously the permanent marker route leaves no room for mistakes. I ended up having to paint about three more coats of body paint over a major permanent marker mistake, so use with caution.

5)  Seal the entire doll with modge podge or another nontoxic paint sealer.  I actually did two coats of this as well.

Wa la!  Delightful little dolls done and ready to be played with by any little hands in your house.

Enjoy and craft on!

messy family room or holy moment?

Well, I guess it doesn't have to be an either-or answer.  As I pulled the sheet out of the drawer and drug the chairs into the family room, I have to admit that I was fighting the neat-freak within me knowing what a mess a there would be to clean up.  But as the girls and I worked to make our little fort a home, a messy moment was transformed into a holy moment right before my eyes.  

I think we often see the big moments of life as holy or sacred - birth, a new beginning, marriage, a wrong forgiven, the first/second/third child, death, etc.  (Hence my first post on holy moments.)  But the reality is holy moments happen right before our eyes every day - the laughter of a child, the kindness of a neighbor, a quiet moment in the midst of a busy day, a delicious cheesecake dropped off by a friend (a holy moment I experienced today), food on the table . . . a messy little fort in the middle of the family room.

Usually on Sunday night, my girls and I drag out some craft supplies and create something with glue, fabric, markers, toilet paper rolls, egg cartons, whatever.  But tonight we created something different, something that we will take down, put away and only see again in photos.  But it was still fun to create together - not just a messy little fort but also a holy moment - a memory that I'll never forget . . . and hopefully they won't either.  

Craft on! 

saturday spotlight - shining on sarah

After a break from Saturday Spotlight last week, I'm super excited to shine this week's spotlight on a friend of mine from college, Sarah.  Sarah is a busy mom of a super cute three year old who fits in a craft here and there when time allows.  She hooked up with my blog through Facebook, and she crafted her own crayon roll a month or so ago that I'm so excited to share with you because I think it's beautiful.  Check it out, and if her crayon roll inspires you to make one refer back to my blogs from January for links to a few different tutorial options.  

This week's Saturday Spotlight is a "two-fer" because Sarah also just finished up an absolutley adorable little clothspin doll that I have to share with you.  I have to admit that this doll looks a bit daunting to me, so I have to give Sarah a huge round of applause for taking on this task - especially since she had a set of three-year-old hands helping her all along the way.  You too can follow in Sarah's crafty footsteps by checking out the tutorial for this little doll at Going Sew Crazy.    

If you, like Sarah, have recently tried your hand at a craft, please drop me an e-mail at lizbeth694@aol.com and let me know.  I would love to show off your handiwork on a Saturday Spotlight in the future.  Thank you, Sarah, for letting me show off your work this week, and thank you for inspiring me to try something new and . . .

craft on!

tenth craft till christmas

Well, I tried and I tried and I tried (extra emphasis intended because I like to exaggerate) to find a craft that did not involve any sewing.  I would really like to stretch my crafty-skills by trying something different and new, and I think my sewing machine and I need a little break in our relationship.  You know the saying, "Distance makes the heart grow fonder"?  I think that applies to objects too - like sewing machines.  But as I was searching the endless supply of crafting blogs and websites for a nonsewing-related craft, I came across this easy little tutorial for a kitchen towel that I couldn't pass up.  I immediately thought of all the possibilities this idea could lead to:

• a tea towel gift for grandma and grandpa with the girls' handprints
• a beach towel gift for each girl with their name ironed/sewn on rather than a handprint
• a hand towel for the girls' bathroom with their name
• a handprint ironed/sewn on a fabric rectangle and framed for wall art

So . . . two things I need from you - please, please, please (extra emphasis intended because I'm begging):

1) Does anyone know if the heat and bond stuff used in this project is washable.  I guess my assumption is that it is washable, but you know what assume means . . . if you don't, you're probably better off. 

2) Does anyone have any good ideas for nonsewing-related crafts?  I would love for my ninth craft till Christmas to not involve sitting at my sewing machine. 

 

Craft on!

i finished a marathon

Not the 26.2 kind.  I had you going there for a minute, didn't I?  I had a little vacation day today - home alone with the day to do whatever I wanted.  So, what did I do?  I had a Molly Monkey/Lost marathon.  As you may remember, I still had one Molly Monkey to finish in order to complete my eleventh craft till Christmas.  You may also remember that I started watching Lost in an effort to learn some sewing tips.  However, even after I realized that Lost has nothing to do with sewing, I kept watching it.  In fact, I started at the beginning with season 1, and even though I feel just as confused and frustrated watching Lost as I do learning to sew, I'm addicted and can't stop watching it.  So today I logged on to Lost on Hulu and drug out my sewing supplies.  Then I spent the day in the sewing/Lost zone. Now, I've never run an actual marathon, so those of you who have are going to be offended by the next statement . . . I'm sew (pun intended) mentally exhausted after working all day on Molly Monkey and watching the most frustrating show ever made that I feel like I actually ran a marathon - the 26.2 kind.  

BUT . . . I have a lot to show for it . . . two completely finished Molly Monkeys.     

I made some changes to number two - no hat, a bow in the back and no double bias tape on the skirt.  I wanted them to be different - more reflective of the little girls they are going to be given to next Christmas.  If you haven't tried making Molly (click for pattern) yet, I urge you to give it a whirl.  It's a fun and frustrating adventure that is completely worth it in the end . . . probably much like running an actual marathon.

I'm a little sad to be closing this page in my twelve crafts journey, but this wraps up my eleventh craft till Christmas (even though technically it's now March).  Stay tuned for Wednesday's reveal of my tenth craft till Christmas and . . .

craft on!