Easter Craft, Part 1

Easter Arrangement...

....SB Style

For those of you who don't know me...I LOVE Easter. Always have. There are 3 main reasons.

Reason Number One: Family. My mom's side of the family is UBER close. Easter has always been one of the holidays that we all get together. We have some great food (usually kielbasa as we are 100% Polish). My Gram makes a cute little lamb shaped cake (from a mold passed down from HER mother), and at any point someone will burst out singing "Jesus Christ has risen today" to which we all respond "Alllleeellllluuuiiaaaa". Easter is pretty great with my family.

Reason Number Two: Candy. I have a HUGE sweet tooth. I have loved candy since I was a little girl. However, my reasonable, responsible, parents knew that letting an 8 year old control her candy intake would result in disaster. So, my candy intake was closely monitored. However, my mom LOVES holidays and giving to her children, so the Easter bunny always came to our house in full force. Which meant a lot of candy for me! Yay Easter!

Reason Number Three: Last Easter. I gave up candy for Lent last year. Then I proceeded to BEG Jeremy to buy me a HUGE Easter basket. This is what he came up with.

Not bad, huh? So, Easter now holds great significance in our relationship too.

Since I LOVE Easter, I have decided to devote the next couple weeks of crafts to Easter decor.

I am starting simple! Here's this week's finished product.

Yup, that's right. Incorporating my favorite Easter candy (Peeps) into a floral arrangement. Don't judge.

Now, truth be told, I saw an idea like this on Pinterest. I didn't pin it, so I'm not sure if it came with instructions. But, it doesn't feel take a rocket scientist to figure out how it's done. Here's what I did.

Start with a clear plastic or glass container. Then find a small container for the flowers' water. I happened to have a little vase, but a juice glass would work fine. Put the little container inside the big container. If you remember, fill the little container with water first; it's easier than filling it later.

OK, next get our candy out. I thought I'd need to packages of Peeps. Luckily, I only needed one! Hooray! Leftover Peeps=Yummy Snack for SB!

Now, put the jelly beans in that bottom. Try to guess how much room the Peeps will take up, and leave a little room for your flowers to come down over the vase. I ended adding more jelly beans later because there was a gap between the Peeps and flowers. It's not an exact science. :)

Now, put the Peeps in. For two of the sides, I put all four Peeps, still attached to each other in. For the other sides, I could only fit two Peeps in.

Now, cut the flowers down so they just reach the top of the vase, and voila...floral arrangement!

You could really use any sort of white (or any other kind of flower). I'm sure my flowers won't last until Easter, and I'm looking forward to trying a different type of flower.

Oh boy, I can't wait to share the rest of my Easter crafts in the next few weeks!

Until then, keep crafting!

SB

Re-Vamp of Wooden Frame

Antique Store Finds

Oh boy! I'm late on my weekly blog post! But I have a good excuse, I promise! Jeremy and I spent the weekend in Michigan, planning some wedding stuff and visiting with our wonderful friends and family there. We had a wonderful time, and our little guy, Mosby (a 14 lb. Boston Terrier) made a new best friend Frank (a 4 month old, 50 lb. Great Dane pup). All and all, great weekend!

besties resting after a day of playing

Last week was BEAUTIFUL in Chicago...awesome weather. Jeremy and I ran four times (pause for applause). During one of our runs, we stopped by an antique store so I could show Jeremy one of my finds. I had stopped by there earlier, and bought this FABULOUS green vase (see below)

I had found this really cute poster with frame, but wanted to make sure Jeremy liked it, before I started hanging things on our walls. I had a hunch he would...

The quote cracked me up, and we needed some football stuff, to butch our place up a bit.

Jeremy liked it, so we went ahead and bought it. The frame didn't quite match the wood color in our apartment (we have TONS of wood..floors, baseboards, doors, built in hutch) and the frame had seen better days. I decided to paint it black.

I started off by cleaning EVERYTHING (frame, glass) so that I started with a clean surface.

I took the frame apart and used black acrylic paint to paint the frame.

Then, I waited 24 hours. I took my frame outside and painted it with a clear, shiny spray paint that I had left over from my coaster project. I waited a few hours before I brought it inside.

And that was it, I had my finished product!

close up of the frame

Now, I'm sure that people who work with finishing wood would probably be in an uproar that I used acrylic paint and spray paint. BUT, too bad! Part of the reason I like to craft is because it's a cheaper way make your life a little prettier! I already had the acrylic and spray paints from other projects, and know that I can find other ways to use them again.

Until next time, keep crafting

SB

Luck of the Irish

St. Patty's Day Craft

It was another one of those weekends...I had the best of intentions of being really crafty, then just ran out of time. It started with Happy Hour Entire Evening on Friday with a friend from work. Then Saturday was full of cleaning and the Big Ten Basketball Tournament (GO GREEN!), followed by an evening of good food and good friends. Today was GORGEOUS, so of course Jeremy and I HAD to walk up to our fave brunch spot Lula's. Then, it was off to see my sis, followed by some more Big Ten Tourny (again GO GREEN!!). When I finally started on my well-intentioned craft, it didn't go as planned. So...on to Plan B. It turned out really well, don't you think?

And, better yet, it was so simple. 

First, get a 8x10 canvas (they come in 3 packs at JoAnn's for a couple bucks). While you are at JoAnn's, grab some scrapbook sticker letters. Place them on the canvas. I always start with the middle letter, so my letters are placed evenly across the canvas without a lot of readjusting.

Make sure they are stuck on really well. Then, paint over the whole canvas. Be careful around the stickers.

Next, wait for it to dry. Or, if you have no patience (like yours truly), then blow dry it for about 5 minutes. After it's dry, carefully pull the letters off.

You have your finished product. I told you it was easy.

And it's ready for display anywhere in your home. I love my book case/hutch/bar in my dining room for displaying holiday decor and other crafty things.

That's it folks. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Enjoy St. Patty's!

Until next time, keep crafting!

SB

T-Shirt "Quilt"

Sewing Memories Together

A couple days ago, I had a bad day, scratch that...I had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. I could relate to Alexander (children's book joke for the teachers/moms out there). It was one for the books. One thing on top of another went wrong. The students couldn't focus, I had to repeat work I had already done, my NEW phone wasn't working, and everything just seemed harder than it needed to be. It reminded me of....high school.

Now, I should clarify. I was one of the lucky kids who had SO much fun in high school. I was super involved, had friends, boyfriends, everything a teenager should need. BUT, the "the world is ending; my life is over" feeling, the feeling that EVERYTHING was going wrong, reminded me of high school. * Luckily, as an adult, I now knew that everything would work out, and I needed to just grit my teeth and get through the day.

*Full disclosure for those of you who didn't know me in high school. I was even more emotional than the average teenager with raging hormones. To this day, I'm not sure how those around me put up with it.

Anyway, my bad day got me thinking about high school, my wonderful memories, and an unfinished project of mine. Since I was such an involved kid, when I graduated, I had a HUGE collection of high school t-shirts. I knew just want I wanted to do with them. I wanted to make them into a quilt. 

Now, I graduated from high school almost nine years ago (nine years! crazy! time flies!) Back then, I didn't know how to sew. I knew a few ladies I could have taken my t-shirts to, but never got around to it. Then, a little over a year ago, during the GREAT CHICAGO BLIZZARD OF 2011, I had some free time (like 3 snow days worth). I decided to make my quilt myself. 

I took my 36 shirts (I told you I was an involved kid) and cut them into 12 inch by 12 inch squares. I actually used a piece of scrapbook paper for the pattern. Then I sewed them together. (All of my pictures of these steps were lots when my iPhone died). Here's the result of these steps.

FYI If you are not comfortable with a sewing machine, SKIP THIS PROJECT. T-shirts are really stretchy! This makes them really difficult to cut into uniform shapes and even more difficult to sew together. You may have urge to throw your sewing machine...seriously.

OK, for the next step, you need a WASHED full sized flat sheet. I got a black one from Target for about $11. Believe me, this is a small price to pay for the benefits of this sheet:

Benefit #1: If you make a big "quilt" like I have, it's really hard to find cloth wide enough to fit the whole back of the quilt. A sheet makes it nice and uniformed.

Benefit #2. The edges are already "finished" (no raw edges showing)

OK, now you will need to make your sheet into a square. To make a full sized sheet into a square, cut off the TOP 11.5 inches of your sheet. Use a fabric pencil to measure and mark, so you have a straight line.

Now, you will have "finish" the top edge of the sheet, so there isn't any raw edges showing. To do this, I  folded the sheet over itself and sewed a 5/8th inch line. Then, I folded it over again, and sewed right along the edge where the sheet meets my folded edge. Make sure that you are sewing on the side of the sheet where the rest of the folded edges are.

fold over 5/8th inch and sew.

Fold over and sew on the inside edge.

Now, place your t-shirts in the center of your sheet. They should be "wrong side to wrong side" (meaning the sides that show your sewing should be touching). 

1. Pin the bottom of your quilt to the sheet. 

2. Then, smooth out the t-shirts and pin half-way up one side. 

3. Smooth and pin all the way the other side. 

4. Go back and finish up the 1st side.

5. Pin the top.

The t-shirts curl up. Make sure you trying to smooth this out as you are pinning them onto the sheet.

Mosby making sure the t-shirts are in the center.

Pin, pin, pin

Now, sew each side onto the sheet.

all sewn together

Now, here's where those finished sides come in handy. To make a border (and hide all those ugly t-shirt edges), simply fold the edges of your sheet over so they cover your sewing lines from sewing the materials together.

Start with the sides.

Now you see the sew line.

Now you don't! Magic!

Then, fold the top and bottom over the sewn sides, and sew them. There will be a little hole between where the sides were sewn and the top/bottom was sewn. Sew that shut.

And then, your finished project!

Now, you may notice that this was not a true quilt. To be honest, I don't know how to quilt. To be even more honest, I'm not sure that I want to learn how. Shortcutting quilting is enough of a process. I don't know if I have the attention span for the real deal!

But, this might be my favorite thing that I have ever sewn. I love sewing anyway...making something from a pile of fabric is always a great feeling. But with this project, taking all wonderful memories attached to these shirts and sewing them together was extra special. Add in thinking of all of the memories Jeremy and I could make using this quilt (eating lunch by the Logan Square Farmers Market, watching fireworks, wrapping up cold little ones while taking a walk), make this quilt even more special. Combining old and new memories is a beautiful thing!

And it only took me nine years to finally make the quilt!

Keep crafting!

SB

A Framed Toast

A Toast

Are you like me? Are you lucky enough to have best friend who you think is just wonderful? A person who is outgoing, funny, beautiful, strong, and independent? If so, lucky you (and lucky me)!

My best friend, Maggie, is one of my favorite people. She has been since the day I met her, our first day of college. She's a BIG personality, and everyone around her just adores her. All through college, I found myself wondering who she would end up marrying. Who could possible be good enough for her? Who could balance her and let her be herself at the same time? Who deserved to be with the awesome girl? There couldn't possibly be anyone out there good enough for her, could there?

And, boy, was I wrong. Maggie met her husband, Michael. And everything changed. Here was this guy who was so different from Maggie, but still so wonderful. While she's outgoing, he's a little more reserved. He takes her independence in stride, and is such a patience person. He's thoughtful and wonderful in so many ways. He has become one of my other favorite people.  I couldn't have thought of a better partner for Maggie. 

The Finished Product

Then, two and half years ago. Maggie and Michael got married! It was a beautiful, rainy day with umbrellas and imperfect flowers. Maggie looked gorgeous and they were so happy. And I was lucky enough be asked to be Maggie's maid of honor. 

Materials: paper, canvas, frame, mod podge, sponge brush

I was so happy that I could be involved in Maggie and Mike's wedding. I had so many things to say about these two wonderful people. I thought and thought about my speech.

Cut paper down to 8x10 size

When I was visiting my parents that summer, I found a cute little plaque that said "And they lived happily ever after" and knew just what I wanted to say. Maggie is a strong, beautiful woman who has been through so much, and finally found her prince charming, Mike.

Mod Podge the paper to the canvas, and let dry overnight

When their wedding day finally came, I was so nervous and excited to share my speech. I got through it, shaky voice and all. Mike told me how nice it was and that he'd like a copy.

When dry, place in frame.

So, one beautiful baby and two and a half years later. I finally got around to giving Mike my toast as a birthday present. And, in about four and half months, it's Jeremy and my turn to get married. Maggie will be standing up there with me and Mike will be marrying us. I couldn't think of two better people to stand with us on our wedding day.

*A note about how I made the project. It was an easy one! I used an 8x10 frame and canvas and the spacing of a normal piece of printer paper working perfectly with this size. I used Microsoft Word to type of my toast on a plain sheet of paper. I inserted one of their wedding pictures as an image and set the text to wrap around it. If you aren't sure how to do this, just type "wrap around image" into the help section on Word. I changed the words to brown and changed the coloring of the picture to sepia to match the brown frame.* 

Until next time, keep crafting!

SB

Love Deck

52 Reasons

As you all know, Tuesday was Valentine's Day. Jeremy and I are big fans of Valentine's Day. Usually, we take a trip right around this time (over President's Day weekend) and celebrate on the trip. Since we planning a wedding (four and half months!!!), we decided to celebrate in Chicago this year. We decided to go inexpensive on Valentine's this year, and go out to a nice dinner.

Jeremy and I have a different ideas of how to go inexpensive on a Valentine's gift. I decided to hide little Boston Terrier Valentine's cards all around the apartment for Jeremy to find when he was getting ready for work (see the Etsy.com link to the cards Jeremy's Valentine's Cards). And, of course, I decided to go crafty. (More on Jeremy's Valentine's Day to me later).

Here's my finished product!

This project uses a deck of cards and a lot of imagination (and tons of Mod Podge)! Start off by writing a list of 52 reasons you love your significant other...make them silly, serious, and/or full of inside jokes!

Next, print off little squares that have reasons 1-52 on them. I used about 5 different fonts for all of the reasons, so the cards didn't look so uniformed. You are going to Mod Podge them onto the backs of cards (the colored side without numbers). You will actually need 53 cards, as the first card only has the cover on the front (see picture) and "Reason #1) on the back. I used one of the Joker cards in the mix of my cards.

After you Mod Podge, let the cards dry overnight.

Next, you are going to write the 52 reasons on the front of the cards. Here are the different ways I spiced up my cards...

Pictures from the Internet

Use labels from food

Use the content on the card (for you non-euchre players, Jacks are important)

Use your pictures

Use stickers, like the football

Just write on the card

Make sure you punch out two holes before you Mod Podge, so you can put the rings through. Let them dry overnight, then put together your book!

Have you figured out my gift from Jeremy yet? He got me a new camera!!! YAY! Can you tell the difference in my photos? I know I can! He didn't quite stick to our low budget Valentine's Day, but he knew I really WANTED a new camera for my blog. Also, we are looking forward to using it for our honeymoon! He also got me BEAUTIFUL flowers from my favorite flower shop in Logan Square. See if you can spot them in my blog next week!

I was SO excited to give Jeremy this gift, and he said it was the BEST Valentine's Day gift he'd ever received! Who can blame him? Who wouldn't like to hear 52 reasons they are GREAT?? I know Valentine's Day has passed, but this would make a great birthday, Christmas, or everyday gift! I can't take credit for this idea though, I found it on Pinterest. I couldn't find directions on how to put it together, so I hope you other "Pinterest-ers" will find this blog helpful!

I'm off for another fabulous weekend day with Jer and the pup! Next week, a quick, easy, and thoughtful gift!

Until then, keep crafting! 

SB

LOVE-ly Valentine's Craft

LOVE Letters

Last week, I promised a love-ly craft! Here it is!

I saw yarn wrapped letters on Pinterest. Now that Jeremy and I have a cute little apartment (if I do say so myself), I thought it would be fun to start decorating for all the holidays! Luckily, I have VERY good holiday decorating mentors in my mom and future mother-in-law (you should see their houses on Christmas-AWESOME). But, I realized that I have no Valentine's decorations...so I decided a cute little craft could take care of that!

So, let's get started. You will need:

• wooden letters
• yarn
• hot glue gun
• lots of hot glue
• scissors

First, cut the yarn into LOTS of 6 to 9 inch pieces. 

The beginning and ends of the letters are the hardest part. When I was starting and finishing each letter, I put a big glob of hot glue, then tried to make a spiral with the yarn on the tip of the letter.

After you have gotten the yarn onto the letter, make sure that yarn is fitted snug into each other (you don't want to see the letter through the yarn). Then, just start wrapping tightly and snug around and around and around until you come to edge of your yarn. Put a dab of hot glue onto the letter. Put your yarn into the hot glue. Hold it there for about 5 seconds.

Then, quickly put your next strand of yarn into the same hot glue dot. 

While your hot glue is cooling, cut off any excess yarn left over from your first strand. 

 

Then, just repeat. At the end, the back of your letter should look something like this:

Here's a close up of one of the letters.

Some of the shapes can get a little complicated to wrap. In that case, extra wrapping and lots of hot glue work wonders! The back of the O is definitely the prettiest back, which is why it made it on the blog!

This program is really easy, but TIME CONSUMING. It took me a little over an hour per letter. The only other hazard of this project is a lot of hot glue on the yarn, the table, your hands, pretty much everywhere. FYI hot glue doesn't feel great on your hands. Small price to pay...

I really like how this turned out. I actually have the letters on my bookshelf now (it's too dark to take a picture). There's lots of possibilities with this craft. I think that doing a Halloween "BOO" with orange, yellow, and white would be really cute! 

Unfortunately, I had another part of the Valentine's Day project that didn't turn out at all! Boo! I'm pretty disappointed that it didn't work, BUT I'm working on it. Maybe another project for another week. You live and learn, right? 

Anyway, my wonderful fiance has been cooking all the meals, taking care of the pup, and waiting patiently for me all day to hang out with me. Love that man. Next up, his Valentine's Day present. So excited to give it to him!

Until next time, keep crafting!

SB