Craftily Ever After

Christmas cards

2012-01-11T11:23:00.000-08:00

We didn't want to pay someone to take our Christmas card pictures this year, especially since I knew neither little daughter would cooperate! I had to be creative to think of something where I didn't need to rely on a two-year-old or a newborn to cooperate! We don't have a tripod, so I set the camera to 'timer' and put in on the backyard BBQ. I used an idea I saw of an engagement picture where the couple held Polaroid photos of themselves. It turned out nicely! :)

Then I designed the card in Photoshop and had it printed through Costco.

What do you guys do for Christmas cards?

NOEL

2011-12-22T21:13:00.000-08:00

You may remember my Pottery-Barn inspired NOEL wall art from last Christmas:

(Tutorial HERE.)

This year it got refashioned into a photography prop!

Merry Christmas!

A "Visit" From the Jolly Guy

2011-12-06T00:53:00.000-08:00

For the few short years that I believed in Santa, it was a magical delight. The excitement I felt when imagining him on the roof with his reindeer was enough to do me in. I can't even IMAGINE what I would have thought if my parents could have "caught him" in the act! I probably would have died on the spot. And come back to life screaming with excitement! So I thought- how fun- Annalise can have just that!

Photoshop can provide a Christmas miracle! :)

Our living room before:

Our living room AFTER!

I can assure you he was only there in spirit (and that Annalise might be a bit young to appreciate his visit anyway!) but she will never be the wiser!! What a fun stocking stuffer, or framer to put on the mantle for Christmas morning! :)

Want Santa to pay a visit to your house too? Click HERE!

Annalise's Rainbow Birthday Party

2011-08-29T20:25:00.000-07:00

My sweetest little munchkin turned 2 on August 16th, and we celebrated by having a rainbow-themed 2nd birthday party! We had about 50 guests so our little home was full and happy. :)

I made rainbow invitations,

and she wore her first nail polish! (With which she is now obsessed.)

The front door had a rainbow welcome wreath (I adapted MADE's acorn wreath with kidney beans because that's what they had at the dollar store!)

There was another rainbow welcome sign to greet the guests as they came in.

Rainbow letters spelled out 'TWO' to go in the frames I like to switch out for holidays and special occasions.

There were rainbow paper pom poms for the ceiling and the cat helped a lot with that part. He laid on the tissue paper I was trying to use.

Annalise helped by discovering the Windex somewhere and cleaning things that didn't need cleaning.

With the scraps from the bigger pom poms I made little ones to scatter on the mantel,

which also sported a cardstock pennant banner with Annalise's name on it.

The rainbow pinwheels came in two packs from the dollar store, and poked out of thrifted milk-glass bud vases.

The cardstock banners adorned windows and sliding doors too.

The treat table had lots of yummy rainbowy goodness.

There were Rainbow Twizzlers,

rainbow Otter Pops,

and a fruits-and-veggies dollar-store tray with that had six compartments which would have been perfect if I'd added the pineapple and blueberries like I'd planned. :)

The party favors were giant rainbow lollipops from the dollar store that got decorated with a customized rainbowy message I printed on sticker paper.

Chips and beverages were served in rainbow platters and pitchers we happened to get for our wedding,

and you had your choice of plenty of colors of plates and utensils!

I decorated plain cups with personalized stickers,

and for those just wanting water, there were customized water bottles! (Water-bottle label tutorial HERE)

I'm a sucker for details- the bottles sported personalized nutrition facts with her name, age, and birthdate too. :)

Dave barbecued hot dogs and hamburgers and there were other goodies too. (Including rainbow goldfishfish crackers- which actually only come in three colors.)

And the yummiest part- the cupcakes!

They were piled up with fluffy white (cloud-like!) frosting and sprinkled with rainbow sprinkles.

The handmade cupcake toppers on lollipop sticks matched the theme.

The cake itself was Pillsbury's Rainbow Funfetti.

Annalise danced and conducted the music as her guests sang to her,

but was strangely wary of her rainbow candles. She let Daddy do the honors of blowing them out.

Thanks to all her friends and family, Annalise had a blast at her rainbow party!

And it ended the way any good party should. :)

(Please note she cuddled off to sleep with daddy's iPhone like a teddy bear.) :)

Customized Water Bottle Labels

2011-08-17T18:12:00.000-07:00

Annalise turned two yesterday! The theme of her birthday party was RAINBOWS!

One of my favorite things to do for parties is customized water bottle labels. You can buy vinyl waterproof labels to print on that are over a buck apiece, or you can make them for free if you have clear packing tape and some paper! I think they add such a cute touch. I designed mine in Photoshop and printed them out, but you could use scrapbook paper and stamps or stickers, or a simpler program like Word too. This time I used Aquafina bottles, but usually I go with the Kirkland brand of water bottles from Costco. Any brand would work and the labels are generally about 8 inches long. I printed out my labels on plain printer paper and sliced them apart.

In my opinion, the key to making the labels look good on the bottle is having them appear shiny and vinyl-like, the way the real ones are. To achieve that effect, I use a technique I learned years ago- clear packing tape! It is 2 inches thick, so I made my labels a bit thinner than two inches, so the tape can extend beyond them all the way around. I laid out the tape and put each label face-down on top of it.

Accidental ripples or bubbles can be easily smoothed out with your fingers. You can see that the label is a little less wide than the tape, which allows it to stick to the bottle all the way around.

Much better!

And I like to add "nutrition" facts and bar codes to make them look more authentic. :)

More Rainbow Party details to come! :)

Diaper Cake

2011-07-27T00:03:00.000-07:00

Dave's mom called me up a few weeks ago and asked me if I knew of a good idea for a centerpiece for a baby shower she was throwing.

"DIAPER CAKE!" I shouted into the phone. Because I love them. About two years ago, I threw my friend a baby shower and made my first diaper cake then. The picture I have of it isn't that great.

(To see the details of the rest of the shower, look HERE on our family blog.)

I've improved my technique a bit since then and Dave's mom Becky and I had fun putting it together on her dining room table. While we worked, Grandpa taught Annalise how to garden.

(In the end he said she did very well, except that she didn't quite understand the concept of leaving the flowers IN the ground after they were planted there, and also apparently thought it might be helpful to stomp on them after the planting was through to make sure they were really securely nailed down.)

Inside the house, Becky had assembled the list of dollar-store goods I'd suggested. The shower was for boy/girl twins (like Dave and his sis!) so the colors were pink and blue.

We used an entire jumbo box of Costco's smallest-sized diapers- all 216 of them. We started rolling,

and put a tiny rubber band around each to hold them together. It didn't matter that all they had were black rubber bands (or that the diapers weren't the right colors) because they got covered up later.

For the base, we tied six rolled diapers in a circle with curling ribbon. Then we added another layer of rolled diapers around that and tied it again. We did that a bunch of times until we had a huge circle.

We made the smaller layers the same way and plopped them on top.

We wrapped wide blue and pink sheer ribbon around the outside of the layers (NOT-sheer would have been better but the dollar store only has what it has!) and used the crinkly paper to look like frosting. Becky had only bought one bag of it though and it wasn't enough because we wound up making the cake so big, so we made do with putting plain white paper through the paper shredder and it worked great! We did that with some pink crepe paper too, arranged the baby blocks, and put some cute stuffed animals on top. Yay!

The little hugging bunny and monkey were so sweet. :)

I heard it was quite a hit! To transport it, they slid it onto some sturdy cardboard and carefully drove it away. :)

A Homemade Toddler Gift

2011-07-25T00:02:00.000-07:00

In late May, I had not done or thought about any crafts in months. Dave's mom's birthday was approaching though and for the first time in what felt like forever, my nausea, fatigue, and general weariness and misery gave way to a tiny crumb of crafty interest. Annalise had never done a craft before but I thought perhaps it was worth attempting. I baked some sugar cookies and made some icing in colors that wouldn't look bad if combined and set up a little cookie station for her.

She had never used a paintbrush before and became very grumpy when I tried to guide her hand. So we stared at her would-be project for a few minutes and I thought perhaps she would reject the whole idea. But then she picked up a brush and started off tentatively.

After a tiny swipe she took a cookie break.

Newly replenished, she forged on with gusto.

The final product:

And what is a birthday without a bouquet of flowers? My original idea was to trace Annalise's hands a bunch of times on a paper, have her color them, and then cut them out to make a bouquet of handprint flowers. Unfortunately she screeched and resisted so intensely upon the first tracing attempt that we settled for one handprint flower and several others that didn't require tracing or in any other way bothering her highly headstrong self.

I stabbed pipe cleaners through her flowers, tied them together and paired them with the cookies and her homemade card. Her first little art project was a success! Grandma loved it. :)

I'm Alive!

2011-07-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

I haven't checked the blog or my emails from it in five months. I owe millions of people responses and answers and replies. I am getting to them now! :) I have some crafts to share. I am excited to make a comeback!

Announcements!

2011-01-27T10:32:00.000-08:00

1. The winner of the Classy Cosmetics giveaway is Jacqueline of Wingledings! Please contact me to collect your prize! (I don't know how to get ahold of you because there is no email address in your profile and your blog doesn't have comments enabled! :) )

2. My husband turned off the computer in the middle of the "system" I had going for emailing people the Valentine Subway Art listing so I know a few people who posted about it still don't have it yet (but I don't know who)! Please email me at craftilyeverafter@gmail.com and I will send it to you.

3. A lot of people asked if they could still have the Subway Art even if they didn't have a blog and the answer is YES! It's available in my Etsy shop- just select the 'Personalized Subway Art' listing and tell me in the notes you would like the Valentine version.

4. I am pregnant! Which I write with an exclamation point to try to feel excited about it but really all I feel is ridiculously miserably incapacitatingly nauseous. Like out-of-this-world sick day and night and even in the middle of the night so I haven't been near the computer which is why my responses have been slow or non-existent. I'm sorry! Please bear with me and hopefully I will feel human again soon. My poor husband has been having to take off work to take care of Annalise while I spend my days writhing about on the couch and crying. Prayers/good-wishes/loads-of-pity gratefully accepted. :)

Free Valentine's Day Subway Art Printable

2011-01-19T14:09:00.000-08:00

I have been sick sick sick but I managed to carve out some time from my busy schedule of moaning on the couch to design some printable Valentine Subway Art!

(Felt Rosette Decor Balls tutorial HERE)

This 8x10 printable is available in my Etsy shop, or if you would like to have it for free (!) please write a post about it on your blog, linking back here so that your friends can know about it too! In the comments, leave me your email address and the link to your blog post and I'll email you the image!

(You might notice that my version is personalized with 'Dave &Jessica' which will be substituted with 'red & white' for everyone else!)

Felt Rosette Decor Balls

2011-01-16T18:03:00.000-08:00

I love candlesticks, but I hate putting candles on them- too boring. So inspired by Eighteen25 who was inspired by The Idea Room who was inspired by Design Sponge who was inspired by a designer on Etsy (see how inspiration spreads?!), I decided to make some rosette decor balls to adorn the tops of my candlesticks for Valentine's Day!

I used a pack of small styrofoam balls from the dollar store, some pins, and a yard of red felt from Joann's ($2.99 with coupon and it was WAY more than I needed- a quarter of a yard would probably suffice for two balls).

I traced one of those kid's cups from Ikea (I LOVE those cups!) that is approximately three inches across onto the felt about thirty times per ball...

...and cut them out just inside the lines so the ink wouldn't show.

I folded the circles in half,

and in half again so they looked like triangles.

I stuck a pin through the tip of the triangle, making sure to pierce through all the layers.

Then I stabbed it into the ball!

I continued pinning the circles into each ball,

until they were all filled in.

Tracing and cutting the circles was tedious, but pinning them- wow! So much fun! That part was strangely satisfying. :) I have absolutely no other Valentine decorations so I really have to get to work!

Classy Cosmetics Giveaway!

2011-01-12T14:07:00.000-08:00

Okay, I have a funny story. Which leads to a great giveaway for you so bear with me!

Now, who doesn't love makeup? I luuuuuuhve make-up but have always been just average when it comes to my application techniques. A couple of years ago, an old roommate of mine posted a link to her friend's make-up tips blog, Classy Cosmetics. She really raved about it so I clicked on over. AND FELL IN LOVE. Jenni was adorable, stylish, perky, and a GENIUS when it came to make-up. And her blog had advice and tips and video tutorials for every kind of look you could ever imagine. It was like nothing I'd ever seen. Finally I was grasping why the professionals looked so much better than I did! You can spend all the money you want on product (and I had) but if you don't know how to put it on right, what's the point?

I was in heaven. I took studious notes in a tiny notebook. I wrote down all the brushes Jenni recommended and what they were used for. I made shopping lists for the best basic colors in eye shadows and lip liners. I watched the tutorials intently (a few every day) trying to sear the knowledge into my brain. Of course I called my friends and told them all about the fabulous new blog I'd found. They were all excited. A group of us decided to get together the following weekend to have a "Classy-Cosmetics" party, where we would bring our make-up and watch the blog-tutorials and learn how to transform ourselves into make-up artists and beauty-queens.

You might imagine my shock when in church the next day, a new girl stood up to introduce herself. IT WAS JENNI FROM CLASSY COSMETICS. I'm not kidding. This story is true and it was astounding. (And she came to our party and not only did we get to see the tutorials IN REAL LIFE but she gave us all makeovers!!!) Jenni and I became good friends and this is where it gets good for you. In addition to your good luck that I am pointing you in the direction of this blog, Jenni is also offering Craftily Ever After followers a free ULTA-brand 108-piece makeup set! Sold individually the contents of this kit are valued at $200!

There are GrEaT colors in it and all are highly pigmented. All you have to do is be a public follower of Craftily Ever After (click the 'Follow' button in the upper right sidebar if you aren't already) and leave a comment telling me you are. For another entry, visit Classy Cosmetics, become a follower over there, and leave me another comment telling me you did. This collection includes:
60 eye shadows
24 baked eye shadows*
8 eye liner pencils
6 cosmetics brushes
5 cream eye liners
4 liquid eyeliners
Mirror and Makeup artist travel case

*Baked shadows are pressed and are literally baked. It can go on both wet and dry and is more dramatic wet. It usually has more than one color swirled into one and you can create lots of different effects.

This giveaway will be open for a week, at which time I will pick a winner via random.org! A note from Jenni: Good luck and remember makeup is supposed to be fun, inspiring, creative and you! It doesn't come overnight so practice and enjoy the journey!!!

*** For something really hilarious, go to this post on Jenni's blog and see a little hair-removal video tutorial I did for her blog 2 years ago! Very embarrassing and yet... the product is rad. :) ****

Mod-Podged Baby Plaque

2011-01-05T23:51:00.000-08:00

My good friend is in the hospital TONIGHT having her sweet baby girl (!!!) and I recently had the pleasure of window-shopping through expensive baby stores with her where I got to see what she liked. Turns out she loves plaques and wooden signs that say 'Always Kiss Me Goodnight'. This was her favorite version:

The problem though, was that it was pink and brown and vintage-y, and her nursery is red and sky-blue and modern. Also you might notice the $48.00 price tag stuck to it (also a problem). I was secretly giddy with excitement because I knew I could come up with something perfect for her!!

This is my version!

I started with an 11x11 plaque from Michaels, regularly $8.99, but $4.49 with my coupon. (A certain grabby gal wanted to hold it once I laid it down to take a picture of it.)

I designed the image in Photoshop to fit the roughly 10 1/2 inch plaque-top and had it printed as a 12x12 photo from Costco. Then I painted the edges,

trimmed off the photo's excess,

and Mod Podged it on!

Yay!

(In its real home it won't have a pink wall in the background.)

I wouldn't have thought I'd like red and sky-blue so much for a girl but I think it turned out lovely! If you would like to make one for yourself, feel free to download the image! (And if you'd like it in a different color or with a different quote, feel free to check out my Etsy site!) :)

3rd New Year's 'Keep Calm' Printable

2011-01-02T23:01:00.000-08:00

Here's the third one to complete the set! I'm thinking I'll hang them and leave them up until Valentine's decorations take over. :)

Feel free to download it for yourself! It's an 8x10 image and if you click on it twice you'll get it at full-resolution. Then right-click and save and it's yours! It will be available for free for a week, and then afterwards for purchase in my etsy shop! Click on over there if you're interested in personalized versions of the 'Keep Calm' signs as well! :)

2nd version of New Year's 'Keep Calm' printable

2010-12-30T22:38:00.000-08:00

Here is printable #2. I am going for a winter/icy color scheme. :) For printable #1 in the New Year's set, go HERE.

Feel free to download it! It's an 8x10 image and if you click on it twice you'll get it at full-resolution. Then right-click and save and it's yours! It will be available for free for a week, and then afterwards for purchase in my etsy shop! Click on over there if you're interested in personalized versions of the 'Keep Calm' signs as well! :)

Free New Year's 'Keep Calm' Printable

2010-12-29T19:10:00.000-08:00

I'm getting ready to take down my Christmas versions of the 'Keep Calm' prints *sniff sniff* and so some New Year's ones are in order! Here is the first of the three! :)

Feel free to download it for yourself as well! It's an 8x10 image and if you click on it twice you'll get it at full-resolution. Then right-click and save and it's yours! It will be available for free for a week, and then afterwards for purchase in my etsy shop! Click on over there if you're interested in personalized versions of the 'Keep Calm' signs as well! :)

Side-Table Building Tutorial by Not JUST a Housewife

2010-12-28T00:42:00.000-08:00

Please welcome a guest-poster for today... STACY!

Hi! I am Stacy from Not JUST A Housewife and I am so happy to be here guest-posting on Craftily Ever After :) One of the things I love to do is build furniture. Today I am going to show you how to build a simple side table.

I bought a board that measured 18" by 36". I measured and then drew a line down the middle so I would have 2 table tops measuring 18" by 18". You obviously only need one, but I was planning on making a bunch for my esty store. I used a jig saw to cut the wood.

Then I used 1"x4" boards for the front. I wanted there to be a 1 inch lip or overhang so I measured and cut 2 boards 16 inches long. That is one inch taken off for each side.

Then, since 2 of the boards will go inside the other two boards to form a box, you need to subtract the width of 2 boards together. In this case, 1 1/2 inches. So the second 2 boards I cut were 14 1/2 inches.

Do you see how 2 of the 1x4s fit inside the other 2? That is why 2 needed to be shorter.

Add a little wood glue and then use a brad nail gun.

The next step is to determine how high you want your table. I wanted mine 2 feet tall. I cut some 2"x2"s for the legs. Add some wood glue and then nail them into the corners of your box. It is very important to make sure it is flat before nailing on the legs. If the legs are not flush with the top of the box then your table top will not lay flat on your base.

Your base is almost done :) You just need to add some 1"x1" to help hold the top on. Measure in between the legs and then cut your 1x1 that size.

Add some glue and nails. Do this all the way around the base - all four sides.

Then add glue to the top of the base, flip it over onto the table top, and nail through the 1x1. This will attach the top to the base.

You will need to fill the nail holes with putty. Pick one that is sandable so you can sand it smooth when it dries. I HIGHLY recommend Elmers stainable, paintable and sandable wood putty. Not only do I sand where I added putty, but I sand the whole thing. Especially the edges and corners. I try to round them a little. Use a fine grit sand paper or you will end up with lines (scratch marks) in your wood.

I painted mine and then (this is optional) sanded it to give it that shabby chic look. I love that! You can see it a little in the close-up shots. It looks better in person, but you get the idea :)

You could use it as a bedside table, in a kid's room, next to a sofa, as a plant stand, or pretty much anywhere! Thank you Jessica for letting me share this today! Come visit me at my blog anytime for more ideas.

*******

I am VERY impressed at this furniture-making business! Cutting wood, nail guns, putty- all of that is out of my comfort zone but this tutorial makes me think maybe I should try it! I could use some extra cute (and cheap!) tables around my house! (And don't you love the color she painted hers?!) Thanks for the tutorial Stacy! :)

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T08:24:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful day with family and friends! From our home to yours, Merry Christmas!

PB-Inspired Christmas Card Holder

2010-12-20T22:51:00.000-08:00

*NOTE! If you left a comment but haven't received the Christmas Subway Art from me yet, please email me directly at craftilyeverafter@gmail.com . I've sent out all I could, but some people forgot to leave an address, and some addresses were refused by the Mail Delivery System! :) *

I love the idea of making wall-art from your Christmas cards. Since all of mine were sitting in a stack not being admired, I decided to try my hand at displaying them. I saw this picture from Pottery Barn a while back and liked it.

I started with some old unwanted art of my husband's. The frame was ugly and the picture inside didn't lay flat. (I can not do one thing without Annalise hovering over me- she is quite the busybody. Hence, she is in my picture, in pajamas, one church shoe, and blowing a snot bubble.)

Soon enough, it looked great though!

All I did was remove the glass and spray paint it (don't tell my husband- I may or may not be having an affair with Rustoleum's 'Heirloom White')

and hot-glued dollar-store twine across the back of it. I swiped some dollar-store poinsettias and a little dollar-store bird off my Christmas tree and attached them with pop-dots to the frame to make it look Christmas-y.

As I was looking for my box of clothes-pins to spray paint silver and hang the pictures with, I ran across my box of silver clips I use to make Annalise's hair bows. Even better! So I used those instead. This project cost me a grand total of NOTHING! I had it all around the house. :)

Clay Pot Nativity

2010-12-19T14:42:00.000-08:00

This week for Scouts, we had the boys work on their 'Artist' badge by making a little Christmas nativity. My partner had been given a gift of a nativity made from simple clay pots and wooden beads so we used that for an inspiration. We went from this...

...to this!

First we painted the heads and pots,

and then painted (and re-painted) on the little faces and hot-glued the heads on the Mary and Joseph bodies. I used the wrong end of my paintbrush to dot the eyes on. I had to re-do it a few times until I was satisfied. This picture shows one of the very UN-satisfying versions.

I hot-glued scraps of burlap to their heads,

and now possess my very-first Nativity!

Isn't the little Jesus-bead so cute?!? He's plopped in his manger atop some of that crinkly paper from the dollar store.

50-Cent Ornament Art!

2010-12-18T00:38:00.000-08:00

Did you guys see these chic little reindeer ornaments

at the dollar store this season?? Two for a buck!

I plopped one on the tree and paired the other with a piece of scrapbook paper and a frame. Who doesn't have that around the house?? And I got some cute little $0.50 ornament art!

I put the paper inside the frame, but attached the reindeer to the outside of the glass with two tiny dots of hot glue. When the season is over I'll be able to easily pluck him off the glass and re-use the frame.

Super simple, super cheap! YESSSS!!!

'JOY' Alphabet Photography Printables

2010-12-16T21:37:00.000-08:00

I truly love alphabet photography. For our wedding, Dave and I received a beautiful gift from his sister of our last name spelled out with photography. It was the first time I'd seen this kind of artwork and I was immediately a huge fan. Since then I have put my own "alphabet" together and I decided our home needed some holiday cheer, spelled out!

If you would like some JOY in your home, feel free to download my letters! And if you are interested in personalized words or more letters, visit my etsy shop!

These images are cropped to a 5x7 ratio. To download them at full resolution, click on each one separately two times, once to take you to another screen and again to enlarge the image. Then right-click and save and they're yours! :)

Pottery Barn- Inspired Potted Pines

2010-12-13T22:17:00.000-08:00

Once I saw the potted pines in this Pottery Barn picture,

I knew I would have to make some. So I did.

I made them before Thanksgiving and since then have seen a few tutorials for making pine tree topiaries that are much more complicated. Mine are disposable but super-easy and practically free! In Oregon there are ten million pine trees per neighborhood block (approximately) and therefore I certainly couldn't see actually buying pine (or fake-pine) from a store. Besides, haven't you noticed how the tips of pine tree branches are shaped just like the tops? There's a mini-tree waiting to be cut from the edge of every branch!

Step one: snip off some tree-branch tips. Step two: Make sure to keep them high above the realm of grabby reach-y chubby one-year-old hands.

I bought tiny terra cotta pots for less than a dollar, and to keep them natural-looking but a bit more interesting I lightly dusted them with white spray paint. If you hold the paint nozzle down gently, slightly bigger blobs of paint come out than the regular fine mist.

I hot-glued some dollar-store twine just under the lip and affixed a twine bow. Then I stuffed some floral foam inside (Four chunks for a dollar from The Dollar Tree).

I stripped off the shoots and needles from the bottom part of the branch,

and stuffed it in the foam!

With a little dollar-store Spanish moss to hide the foam, it was complete. So cheap. So easy. Just the kind of project I like. :)

Pottery-Barn Inspired Noel Wall Art

2010-12-10T18:31:00.000-08:00

In case you missed my guest-post on Lil Luna last week, here it is!

If you're anything like me, you have Pottery-Barn taste on a garage-sale budget. So when I saw this fabulous bit of word art a few weeks back, I immediately knew I would have to recreate it.

Here is Pottery Barn's version, for, like, a million dollars:

Here is my version, almost twice as big, and for less than $20!

First I gathered my letters. These ones are from Joann's. I got the huge paper mache ones they sell because I knew I was putting it in our living room with the vaulted ceiling. They're about two feet tall each.

I got each letter for $4.99 with coupons, except for the N which had a little damage.

So they gave me that one for 75% off. $2.50! Score! The damage doesn't show a bit. To stick the letters together, I knew I had to use my trusty E-6000 glue, which takes 24 hours to cure, and has to have something applying pressure to it to hold it in place for that time. Since I have the patience of a flea that was not going to work. Instead, I first applied the E-6000,

and then squeezed hot glue inbetween the E-6000 globs. The hot glue dried immediately and held it together while the other stuff dried. This way I could keep right on working!

Next is my favorite part- the spray paint. Pottery Barn's wall art has a hand-pounded bronze finish. To mimic that, I used Rust-oleum's Hammered Finish Bronze.

It gives it a cool metal-y looking sheen and texture. And the texture hides imperfections, like in the top of my 'N'.

All done! As soon as the paint dried I plopped it up on the shelf and the glue cured as it was displayed. Multi-tasking decoration!

Email addresses!

2010-12-07T01:58:00.000-08:00

Quick note- if you've left a comment for me to email you the Christmas Subway Art printable and haven't received it yet it's because there was no email address in the comment! (Or because I messed up somehow since I'm sending them out most nights at two in the morning!) Whoopsie! (Totally something I would do. :) ) I've responded to everyone I could so just leave another comment if you haven't heard from me. Make sure to leave your address!! :)

Blog Swap with Lil Luna!

2010-12-06T08:36:00.000-08:00

I am so very happy to be blog-swapping with Kristyn from Lil Luna! It's so fun to find another crafter whose style you like so much and I love hers! We are Bloggy-BFFs so enjoy her tutorial here and then go check out her blog today to see my tutorial for Pottery-Barn inspired 'Noel' wall art!

***

Hi there Craftily Ever After readers!!

My name is Kristyn, and I blog over at Lil' Luna.I'm so happy to be here today.I Love Jessica, and I LOVE all that she does.She's amazing!!! We've become Bloggin' Buddies and
decided it would be fun to do a swap!Today, I will be showing you how to make an EASY, INEXPENSIVE, and FUN Christmas Centerpiece.I made a similar one for Halloween and knew I'd have to make one for Christmas because they're so whimsical and easy!

Here is what you'll need:

SUPPLIES:- Box/Vase/Cart to use as Centerpiece Base
-Floral Foam (Found at the Dollar Store)
-Paper Shred(Found at the Dollar Store)
-Skewers
-Paint
-Foam Brush
-Scrapbook Paper
-Hot Glue
-Embellishments

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Begin by picking out your Centerpiece box. I just bought one for a buck at my local grocery store and painted it red. I also cut some vinyl dots and added them to the box, just because I am OBSESSED with polka dots! :)

2. Put two strips together and fold back and forth until you are all the way through. Then, hot glue the two ends together as well as the other ends so it makes a circle.

3. Push edges of strips IN to make an accordion flower. Hot glue center and hold, and do the same on back. For another tutorial on these flowers, I used one HERE.

4. Paint skewers the desired color you'd like and let dry. I stuck mine into the floral foam to dry.
5. I wanted to add a little something to the skewers, so I cut out .2 inch white strips of vinyl and twisted them along the skewer. My hubby is super smart and suggested I stick them in his drill, turn it on, and let the drill do the twisting. It takes seconds (isn't he smart?).
(And don't look at my nasty glue gun - the poor thing has been my right hand man through thick and thin - ha!)

6. Add buttons or other embellishments to your flowers. I also added some scrapbook embellishments I found at Joann's with some vintage Santa Claus pics as well as some scalloped circle punches I made.

7. Hot glue skewers to backs of flowers. I also cut out a 1 inch circle to add to the backs to cover the ugly

8. Stick skewers through the moss and foam into your base and arrange as desired.

Voila!! A super cute and easy centerpiece. I had most the supplies at home, but with the box, paper, and everything else you could make this for about $7 or less.

Thanks, Jessica, for letting me take over for the day, and thanks for all the fun inspiration you have on your blog!

XO-

Thanks so much Kristyn for showing us this awesome centerpiece! I LOVE accordion flowers and your arrangement is just fabulous!!

Free Christmas Subway Art printable

2010-12-04T08:33:00.000-08:00

My love of Subway Art continues...

and I like to share!

To get this high-resolution Christmas Subway Art image for FREE(!) be a public follower of Craftily Ever After via Google Friend Connect (if you're not yet, just click the 'Follow' button in the right sidebar!) and leave me a comment here with your email address. I will email you the image!

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Check out My Shop!

Poor-Man's Vinyl

2010-12-03T02:23:00.000-08:00

Awhile back I bought a large delightful frame at Ikea that I love so much that it has sat unused for three months because I didn't want to put something unworthy of it inside! I couldn't figure out what to do until trolling the closest Walmart recently (30 minutes away- boo!) and found this sheet of window clings for one dollar.

And inspiration hit! Poor-man's vinyl! Poor-man's subway art! So I took the back out of the frame, stuck the clings to the glass and YAY! Finally something worthy of my beloved frame!

I positioned the cut-outs pretty much how they were positioned on the sheet.

How's that for a cheap and easy project?!

And for the final step: Hand the empty sheet to your pantless toddler, who delights in such things.

Pasta Angel Ornaments

2010-12-02T01:03:00.000-08:00

In case you missed my guest-post over at Under the Table and Dreaming, here it is! I'm showing you how to turn this...

...into these!

Pretty little Pasta Angels are cheap, easy, and you can eat the left-overs! This craft reminds me of Christmases when I was little- my mother would make these ornaments for our trees and as gifts for her friends. So fun! You will need a 20mm wooden bead for the head, Rigatone (the big tubes) for the dress, a wagon wheel for the collar on the dress, elbow macaroni for the arms, stars (Stelline) for decorating the dress, a bow-tie for the wings, and Ditaline for the hair.

First, hot-glue the wagon wheel to the tube. (Craft glue works too, but I'm impatient enough that I will put up with having to remove all the pesky hot-glue strings.)

Next, glue the head bead to the center of the wagon wheel.

Then attach the bow-tie to the back of your angel, just underneath the collar.

Glue the elbow macaroni either to the sides of the dress or to the underside of the collar, whichever works best for your particular macaroni. Because mine were so twisty, I tried both ways and they both looked great.

For the hair, glue a row of Ditaline on the head-bead. In this picture, you can see that I have the holes in the Pasta facing sideways. I also made some with the holes of the curls facing frontwards. Both were cute!

Fill in the back of the head with curls.

Decorate the dress with stars! Here I put one star in the center of the collar and also used them as a trim.

Now the fun part! Seeing them turn white! To spray-paint them evenly, I jabbed some pencils and take-out chopsticks into the frozen ground and stuck the angels on top of them. They got shot with three coats of glossy white spray paint.

After they dry, use a fine-tipped permanent pen (I used a scrapbooking one) to draw their faces.

And there's lots of room for making them your own! If you like a demure all-white angel, you could run a ribbon through one of her curls and stop there. You would have something like this!

Or for a little extra sparkle, you could paint the stars gold (I did mine with a paint pen) and attach some gold seed beads strung on a wire to look like a halo.

And that's it! A fun and easy project that won't break the bank. And I have a budget for craft supplies, but when they come from the grocery store, you don't even have to count them, right?!

'Keep Calm and CAROL On' printable!

2010-11-29T15:30:00.000-08:00

I have received a ton of great ideas regarding different 'Keep Calm and Carry On' versions that people have thought up. One that popped up a lot (includng by a nine-year-old who was inspired when her mom printed out my Thanksgiving versions!) was 'Keep Calm and Carol On'! LOVE it! 'Carol' sounds like 'Carry'! Keep Calm and CAROL On! Perfect-o!!

(If there a personalized version you would like to have made, with your own words, colors, or sizes, email me at craftilyeverafter@gmail.com and I can make it for you! 'Keep Calm' printables are $5 each and I can invoice you directly through PayPal.)

Yay! I have my three frames filled for Christmas now!

This printable is available for $5.00; if you would like it, please email me at craftilyeverafter@gmail.com and I can invoice you directly through PayPal. Then you have to send me a picture of how it looks in your house! :)

'Keep Calm and Merry On' printable available HERE.

'Wise Men Still Seek Him' printable available HERE.

Guest-Posting at Under the Table and Dreaming!

2010-11-25T21:06:00.000-08:00

I am so excited to be a part of the 6 Days of 24 Ornaments event going on at Under the Table and Dreaming! I ADORE that blog and Stephanie Lynn is an absolute sweetheart. Today I am sharing a tutorial for Pasta Angels!

Click on over there to check it out!

'Wise Men Still Seek Him' printable

2010-11-24T09:14:00.000-08:00

The time has come to switch out the three frames above my dining room table. It's time for the Christmas versions of the 'Keep Calm' posters! Here is the second installment! (Find the first one here and the third one here.)

(This picture doesn't do justice to the printable's background color, which comes out a delightful shade of metallicy-looking gold on my home printer.)

Christmas Version of 'Keep Calm" Printable

2010-11-22T23:40:00.000-08:00

First, of course, there was 'Keep Calm and Carry On'. Then for Halloween there was 'Keep Calm and SCARY On'. For Thanksgiving there was 'Keep Calm and CranBERRY On'. I sure love a good rhyme, so what would Christmas be without 'Keep Calm and MERRY On'?!

Thanksgiving's not even here yet but I can't wait any longer!

'Wise Men Still Seek Him' printable available HERE. 'Keep Calm and CAROL On' printable available HERE.

Pilgrim Hat Cookies

2010-11-20T14:28:00.000-08:00

My go-to treat in October is Witch Hat cookies. In November, it's Pilgrim-Hat cookies!

I first saw this idea a few years ago at Woman's Day. So quick, so simple, so easy! Right up my alley. The ladies I visit teach don't get many treats or baked goods (trust me- it's better that way) but when November rolls around, I can always be counted on to plop a candy on a cookie and call it good!

The only problem is that apparently I was unaware of how tall my little toddler has gotten. After I made three plates full, I turned my back to transfer the first plate from the table to the counter and there was a CRASH! Annalise had reached her newly long-enough arm up and swiped a plate of them down!

As I gasped she grabbed as many as she could hold,

stuffed them in her mouth,

and was very pleased about it.

LUCKILY they were easy to re-do. :)

Beaded Turkeys

2010-11-18T22:29:00.000-08:00

I enjoyed making my Beaded Spiders for Halloween so much that though I am by no means a beader, I perused the bead section of my local Michael's (exactly 1.5 miles from my house and like unto a second home to me) to see if any inspiration felt like knocking on the door of my brain. And it did! All bought on sale for 50% off, these four bead strands...

...turned into a flock of these!

And you'll notice that some gold wire is pictured in the first photograph. That is because I thought I would be using wire. Alas. After a good solid go at it though, the picture in my head just would not be achieved when wire was involved. We had an ugly wiry mess. So I nixed the wire completely in favor of my trusty glue gun. Triumph! This little turkey is like my Pinocchio- I can just hear him singing, "I've got no strings to tie me down..."! :)

For Tom the Turkey's head and body, I glued two sizes of brown glass pearls to each other, the bottom pearl with its holes on the top and bottom, and the top pearl with its hole pointing out. This way their holes would get covered up by other beads.

I hot-glued a yellow "beak" bead over the hole on the front of the face (doesn't it look like he's squawking with an open mouth??) and the wiggly-shaped red bead next to it for the dangly red thing they have on their faces.

Using the same yellow beads as for the beak, I glued two underneath the body bead, for Tom's feet.

For the tail, I glued five red beads together with their holes touching.

Then I glued it to the back of the large brown bead.

And that was it! Once I figured out what to do, it took maybe two minutes per turkey to complete. And crafts like THAT are something we can all be thankful for! :)

I made these thinking I would use them to decorate napkin rings, but plans have changed and since I won't be hosting Thanksgiving dinner anymore, it's a good thing these little cuties are so versatile! They perch well on a mantel,

make a fun Christmas ornament,

and look great on your lapel when you glue them to a pin-back!

Annalise took a two and a half hour nap yesterday (unprecedented!) which allowed me to make these. Just another thing to remember to be grateful for. :)

Winner of Say It On the Wall Giveaway!

2010-11-16T23:44:00.000-08:00

It was so fun to do a giveaway! Thanks to everyone who entered! Say It On the Wall's vinyl is so cute and I'm excited to announce the winner!! Random.org picked #5!

Congratulations to Carol from The Answer is Chocolate! Yay! I'm excited to see what you buy with your gift certificate!

Faux-Burlap Thanksgiving Printable

2010-11-12T00:12:00.000-08:00

When I saw Domestically Speaking's Burlap Laundry-Definition Sign I fell. in. love. She printed from her printer right onto her burlap! And then framed it! Genius! I planned to go right out and get some burlap so I could print my own definition onto it. But...I haven't done it yet. I still plan to. In the meantime though I have big burlap dreams but no burlap. But that can't stop me! And thus the Faux-Burlap Thanksgiving-definition printable was born.

What I was especially cognizant of was that I didn't just want to type regular text over the digital burlap background, since that wouldn't look realistic at all. I wanted a type-writer-looking font that looked distressed and shabby, the way text would really look if you printed it on such a coarse surface. And I struck gold. Seriously, how great is this text?! It's perfect!

Funny side-note: As I went to Domestically Speaking's website to get the link to give her credit, I found that she had created another burlap sign, this time with the definition of Thanksgiving, the same as I had! Great minds think alike!!

If you need some festive 'burlap' in your home as well, this printable is available in my etsy shop!

'Christmas Present' Frame

2010-11-10T22:31:00.000-08:00

In case you missed my guest-post at A Little Lovely the other day, here it is! For less than $2.00/apiece you can make a pretty little frame for your friends that still looks like it belongs under the tree even after it's unwrapped!

These are a great gift because they are so easy, fun, and CHEAP! The main ingredients are one unfinished wooden frame from Michael's ($1.00), a scrap of Christmas wrapping paper, a bow, and some craft paint.

And one of my favorite things: MOD PODGE! There's not a thing in the world I haven't thought about Mod Podging. :)

And if you're like me, you already have most of this stuff around the house anyway! First paint the sides of the frame and the inside ledges. Don't worry about making it perfect! The front will all get covered up anyway. I used acrylic paint that's less than a dollar a bottle.

Roughly cut out the shape of the frame from the wrapping paper. You can see here that my cutting job was VERY rough. :) It doesn't matter though because we'll just file the excess away later.

Spread a very thing layer of Mod Podge on the frame and place the wrapping paper on top of it. Smooth away the bubbles and ripples that will apear as best you can. Let it dry for a bit and then take a sanding block (or in my case what was handy was an emory board) and file downward on the edges at a 45-degree angle. The paper will be sluffed right off and you'll have a perfectly-fitting design on your wood.

Paint another layer of Mod Podge over the wrapping paper. Doing it in this order helps lessen the ripples and rumples in the paper. Print out a festive message to put inside the frame,

and hot glue a bow in the corner. That's it! A perfect little frame that looks like it could be a gift under your tree! These would be ideal for your friends to put their yearly family Christmas picture in!

Don't forget to check out and enter my Say It On the Wall vinyl giveaway, going on now!

My First Giveaway!

2010-11-09T12:26:00.000-08:00

***GIVEAWAY CLOSED!***

I'm so excited to be able to host a giveaway for some FABULOUS vinyl from Say It On the Wall. (If only I could win it myself! I am vinyl-less! Darn that missing Cricut cord!!!) Laura has some really cute designs. There are Thanksgiving-themed designs,

Christmas-themed ones,

and great ones for every day.

I love this faux-missionary-tag design.

There is tons of great stuff to choose from, and Laura is giving away a $25.00 gift certificate to a follower of Craftily Ever After! (If you are not a follower yet, click the follow button in the right sidebar!) There are three ways for followers to enter: Become a fan of Say It On the Wall on Facebook, follow the Say It On the Wall blog, and/or visit the site and say what you would buy. Put a separate comment for each entry in the comment section of this post and the winner will be picked through random.org in one week!

{PS- Say It On the Wall has a "New Product of the Week" Promotion, where every Monday morning Laura opens it up on Facebook for people to guess what the new product of the week is. Around 1:30 Pacific Time, she posts the new product on her website and the person that guesses the closest gets a $5.00 gift certificate. Then that new product will be 40% off for everyone for the entire week with promo code! This week it's Pilgrim Hat Placemarkers for your Thanksgiving table. (Lift up the hat and find after-dinner mints!)

So cute! Go check it out!}