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Friday, December 3, 2010

Poor-Man's Vinyl

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.







                   

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Pasta Angel Ornaments

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?!

Monday, November 29, 2010

'Keep Calm and CAROL On' printable!

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.


Thursday, November 25, 2010

Guest-Posting at Under the Table and Dreaming!

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!




                                                          UndertheTableandDreaming

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

'Wise Men Still Seek Him' printable

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.)




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! :)

Monday, November 22, 2010

Christmas Version of 'Keep Calm" Printable

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!







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! :)

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

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Pilgrim Hat Cookies

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. :)





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