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Showing posts with label Crafts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crafts. Show all posts

DIY Paw Print Sign Tutorial

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BeyondSnacks #CollectiveBias

If you know me or have read this blog for any length of time, you know that I love my dog! Like, I really love my dog. She is my child and best girlfriend, and she brings so much joy into our lives. She gives McKayla Maroney a run for her money with her unimpressed demeanor and likes to hunt any furry things she can get her paws on. She loves playing with other dogs, hunting, and us (probably in that order), and we can't imagine our lives without her!

Here's the little beauty making sure we capture her best pupper angle.


When we moved to the new house, I knew I wanted to create a little sign to go above her water bowl. I had an idea of what I wanted and knew a basic color scheme I wanted to stay within so that it would match our house, but other than that, I pretty much winged it. For once, winging it has paid off. I absolutely love how it turned out! I took an imprint of her little paw, which was one of the better ideas I've had if I do say so myself. You know you're an obsessed dog mom when you think your pup's paw print is the cutest thing ever. I thought I would share a little step by step tutorial for any other furball-obsessed friends out there, so here we go!

First, gather your supplies. You will need a picture frame, a piece of scrapbook paper, white card stock, sticker letters to spell your pup's name, burlap, a foam brush, Crayola washable paint, and baby wipes. A quick trip to your local craft store, and you will be good to go. 


I removed the glass on my frame, but that's completely up to you. I liked the look without the glass and wasn't really worried about protecting my sign, but feel free to add the glass at the end if your little heart so desires. 

First, cut your scrapbook paper to fit your picture frame and place it inside your frame. 



Next, cut out the shape of a bone in your burlap. I Googled "dog bone clipart", printed out the shape, and traced that onto my burlap, but if you can freehand and still come out with a halfway decent end product, then by all means. I rolled clear tape on the back of the bone and stuck that to the paper.



Now, add your sticker letters to your bone and spell your dog's name. Be mindful of how long or short the name is when selecting your stickers. 


And now for the fun part. Or, I should say, the "fun for me" part. Jenny was not impressed, but what else is new? Cut out a square of white card stock and set aside. With your foam brush, brush the washable paint over the pad of your dog's paw until the paw is well covered. Gently press the paw to your card stock, remove, and wipe thoroughly with the baby wipes until the paint is completely gone. 


Obviously, Jenny is not a fan of arts and crafts. I would call up Grumpy Cat and see if he wanted a canine counterpart if Jenny wouldn't try to eat Grumpy Cat the minute she saw him. 



Tape your card stock paw print onto your frame, and you are done! Step back and admire your creation. 


Since Jenny was such a trooper, I rewarded her with a new yummy treat I snatched up at Target. I picked up a bag of Purina Beyond White Meat Chicken Cutlets Natural Dog Snacks and am so glad I did! I am a big label reader when it comes to my dog and avoid giving her "junk food" as much as I can, so these treats sold me when I saw they were grain free with no corn, wheat, or soy, and chicken is the first ingredient.

These natural dog snacks are also crafted in small batches in Arkansas with no poultry by-product meal. To me, that just screams quality. I think Jenny could tell a difference too, because as soon as she smelled them, she went nuts. She needed that treat in her mouth pronto, and I obliged.



If you find yourself roaming the aisles or Target, stop in the pet aisle and pick up a bag of these treats for your furbaby. Make sure you remember the Target Cartwheel URL offer: 10% off Purina Beyond Dog Snacks, available 10/4-10/31. And as a snippet of advice from me to you, if you have not yet downloaded the Target Cartwheel app, please do it now. It's free savings on the stuff you were already going to buy anyway. It's a no-brainer, yall.



Have you made any fun pet-related crafts recently? Any go-to dog treats? Do tell!


DIY Chicken Wire Frame

I always display the Christmas cards we receive on our kitchen cabinets throughout the month of December. It's fun to have our families and friends plastered all over the kitchen, and I get more than a little excited when opening Christmas mail. I never want to take them down, but I don't like that my kitchen looks so cluttered. I decided to save a few Christmas cards to display year round and decided a chicken wire frame was just the way to do it. I also grabbed a few notes and invitations from the refrigerator to de-clutter that space, and I am really pleased with the final result! The entire project cost me under $15, so I thought I would put together a quick little tutorial in case you are interested in making one yourself!

Materials:
Empty Frame- I purchased one for $0.99 at a thrift store, thoroughly cleaned it, and gave it a fresh coat of paint. Hit up your local Goodwill or thrift store or use an old frame you have laying around the house!
Chicken Wire- found at Home Depot ($13 for the smallest roll I could find)
Wire Cutters
Staple Gun
Clothespins (optional- $0.97 at Walmart)


Directions:
1. With your wire cutters, cut a piece of chicken wire to fit the size of your frame. This is the most time consuming part, and I finished with quite a few pokes on my hands. Not fun, but avoidable if you take your time!
2. When you have your piece of chicken wire cut out, use your staple gun to attach it to the back of your frame. Pull it taut and make sure it is as smooth as possible. 
3. Hang and use clothespins to attach your favorite pictures/cards/etc!




Easy peasy!


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DIY Personalized Mugs

I had seen tutorials all over Pinterest and blogland for personalized sharpie mugs. They all seemed to say different things, so I combed through each tutorial and picked out what seemed to work and what didn't. If I am going to sit down and craft, I want the craft to last and be well-made. I originally bought these mugs to decorate for a Christmas gift, but then I got greedy and kept them for myself. Oopsies! Seriously though, I am so pleased with how they turned out! Even the husband loves them, and he's not usually all too thrilled with crafting. Now that I have the technique down and have found the method I used works, I really can't wait to make more! This will be so fun to do with kiddos one day too!

Below is one of the mugs I made that I will be using for this tutorial. Want to know how to make one too? Then follow the steps below!



Supplies:
Ceramic mugs from Dollar Tree- The cheaper mugs work better for this project, and they only cost $1 per mug. Winning. 
Sharpie oil-based paint pens- I bought mine on Amazon, but they can be purchased at any craft store. Make sure it says non-toxic.
Oven


Directions:
1. Make sure the mugs are clean. I ran mine through the dishwasher and let them completely dry before I worked with them. 
2. Start designing your mugs. For the design I chose, I placed letter stickers on the mug and then drew around the stickers. To achieve this look, firmly press your stickers onto the mug. Next, take a sharpie paint pen and draw dots around each letter. Place the dots close together around the letters and farther apart as you navigate away from the letters. The dots need to touch the edge of the sticker in all places. When you peel the stickers off, the letters won't look right if they are not completely outlined by dots. Let your first color dry (it will dry within a few minutes) and begin dotting with a second color. I didn't follow a set pattern. Let your creative juices flow and just keep working until you think it looks good. 
3. When you have finished designing your mugs, let them sit and dry for about 24 hours. This helps to set the paint for the baking process. 
4. Place the dried mugs onto a cookie sheet upside down, and set it in the middle rack of the oven. Do not preheat the oven! Once the mugs are in, set the oven to 425 degrees. Start timing 30 minutes once the oven reaches 425 degrees. 
5. Once your 30 minutes is up, turn off the oven and leave the mugs in there to cool. You want to avoid sudden changes in temperature as that can cause the mugs to crack. To be safe, just leave your mugs in the oven for several hours while it completely cools down to room temperature. 

That's it! This method does make them dishwasher safe, but I really would recommend just hand washing them. 

I also made one using our Taylor Grace's name that I am pretty obsessed with! Here's a 360 view of the mug. I included the date she went to Heaven on the back of the mug. 


I had a lot of fun with this little DIY. I look forward to making more in the future!

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DIY Burlap Banner

You know all those cute burlap triangle banners people display in their homes or at parties? Well I think they're adorable. And I wanted a Fall one for my mantle. Being the cheap-o that I am, I didn't want to purchase one for $40 off of Etsy. I stared long and hard at a picture of the banner and finally realized after modifying this tutorial, "hey, I can make that". It probably won't look as perfect, but I think it's worth a shot. I am happy to report that it is incredibly easy and fun to make. Here's a quick little tutorial to make a burlap banner for your home!


Supplies:
1 yard of burlap, ironed if wrinkled
Pennant template, click here
Sharpie
Scissors
Hot glue gun
Letter stencils
Paint 
Twine

Directions:
1. Cut out the pennant template and trace it onto the burlap for each letter on the banner. In my case, I needed 11 pennants. Cut out the pennants.
2. Stencil one letter on each pennant with a Sharpie. 
3. Fill in each letter with paint. Black paint is the easiest because it will cover up any Sharpie that would have shown through. White paint will work as well, but you will need more coats to cover the Sharpie. Let the paint completely dry.
4. Cut your twine. The length will depend on how long your mantle, how many pennants you will have, and how much slack you want. Measure your mantle and cut your twine accordingly. 
5. Space out your pennants over the twine to get an idea of where they will be placed. Next, flip each pennant over so the letter is facing down, and place your twine over it. Fold the top 1/2 inch of the banner down and secure with 3 dots of hot glue. Trim the sides of the folded over piece so you don't have any burlap sticking out (see image below).




Easy peasy!
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DIY: Toilet Paper Pumpkins

 
 
Yep, I have pumpkins sitting on my mantle that are made of toilet paper. It's a great little conversational starter. Seriously though, this craft took about 5 minutes to put together and cost about $5. I wanted to do something fun for Fall that wouldn't cost me an arm and a leg, and these toilet paper pumpkins were the perfect answer. You will spend more time gather materials than you will making these, and I think they turn out pretty cute! Here's what you need to make your own toilet paper pumpkins:

Supplies:
Toilet paper rolls
Fat quarter of fabric
Sticks for stems
Tissue Paper 
Scissors

Directions:
1. Lay out your fabric, and set a roll of toilet paper in the middle. Wrap 1-2 sheets of tissue paper around the sides of your toilet paper roll.
2. Tuck on corner of fabric into the center of the toilet paper roll. Continue tucking in the fabric, folding in any fabric under that won't quite meet the center of the toilet paper.
3. Fluff your pumpkin sides and work with the fabric until you have a nice round pumpkin shape.
4, Add your stick to the center, and voila! You have a toilet paper pumpkin.






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DIY Chalkboard Charger Plate

I have been wanting to do something with chalkboard paint for a while now. I kept seeing all these cute crafts on Pinterest and Etsy involving chalkboard paint and decided I'd give it a try! The great thing about the chalkboard art is you can use it for all seasons. I love that this can be a year-round decoration for Valentine's Day, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. I originally planned to use it as a Christmas countdown but who was I kidding? I'm too lazy to change out the number of days until Christmas every morning, so a simple Christmas message that would last until the end of the year was the answer.

I would love to say I am one of those people with picture-perfect handwriting on any surface, but that isn't me...at all. I wrote out a message, erased, tried again, and after several tries decided it wasn't going to look perfect and that's okay. Thankfully Parker isn't a handwriting critic because he loved it when he saw it...bless that sweet husband!


Want to make one too? It's super simple and cost me under $5 to create. Here's what you need:








Materials:
Plate charger (available at Hobby Lobby for $1)
Chalkboard paint
Foam Brush
Chalk









Directions:
1. Use the foam brush to paint your charger with chalkboard paint. It will take several coats to completely cover the charger. For your first coat, paint in a horizontal direction. Let dry an hour. Paint a second coat in a vertical direction, and let dry an hour. I chose to do a third coat in a horizontal direction and then be done. I would probably do a fourth coat if I had it to do all over again. The more the merrier with this project.
2. Once paint is applied and completely dry, lightly color charger with chalk. Leave chalk on the charger for 48 hours to condition the chalkboard. After 48 hours, gently wipe clean with a damp paper towel.
3. Grab your chalk and get to work on your latest masterpiece!


Tips:
  • Don't press too hard when using the chalk on the charger. It may be harder to wipe clean.
  • Make sure your charger is completely dry each time you write on it.
  • All I could find at the store was the big chalk pieces, but buy the smaller ones if you can. They are much easier to write with!



DIY Invitation Ornament

Brides spend hours picking out the perfect wedding invitation. If you're like me, your groom couldn't have cared less (I don't even know that I showed it to him before ordering), but it was important to me. I love receiving wedding invitations from friends and family. Weddings are of course a blast, and invitations are usually a preview of the color scheme and style the wedding will have. I have saved some invitations I have received over the last couple of years and decided to get a little crafty. I loved the idea of making something out of the invitation to commemorate the special event around Christmas time. Thus, the invitation ornament was born.


The first one I made was for my twin sister. I gave it to her over Thanksgiving so she could display it on her Christmas tree this year vice having to wait until next year. The results turned out beautiful, and she just loved it!

Want to make one too? Here's what you need:




Materials:
1 clear ornament with removable top
wedding invitation
ribbon (optional)
jute or twine for hanging (optional)
ribbon (optional)
monogram sticker (optional)






Directions:
Cut your invitation into strips, line by line. Curl each strip around a pen or pencil. Place curled strips into the ornament. At this point, you can give the ornament as is and it will still be precious. I wanted to do a little extra, so I added a monogram sticker to the outside, tied ribbon around the ornament, and used a piece of jute to hang it. It's as simple as that!


This makes the perfect love gift for your recently married friends. I had most of the materials lying around from previous projects, so each ornament cost me about $1. I love giving special, sentimental gifts that won't break the bank, and this ornament was simply perfect. 




Home Is Where The Navy Sends Us

If you are in the military, you know truer words have never been spoken. When I was younger, I always imagined settling down in a Dallas suburb with my husband and raising our kids. The great American dream, right? I love the idea of our children growing up in the same town and being close to their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. That's the way I grew up, and it was amazing. Parker's career has meant we get to live out a different dream. While we aren't settling down and buying a home in the great state of Texas, we are getting to travel the world and experience places we otherwise wouldn't. Now that we are living this crazy Navy life, I wouldn't have it any other way. A house doesn't make where you live a home, the people you live with do. So for us, home is where the Navy sends us.

I saw a cute little sign craft on Pinterest a while back that I had been wanting to try out (a few of my friends have already done this), so this past weekend I finally decided to do it. I didn't want to copy any of the designs I saw, so we love that no one else has one quite like it. I'm no Vincent Van Gogh, but Parker and I are pleased with how it turned out and are excited to hang it on the back porch in our next home.





So there you have it! Home is where the Navy sends us, and as long as I have Parker and that sweet furball, I'm home! :)

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