Stop If You Dare

This is the easiest and cheapest craft I've done.

It all started when I spotted this witch at HomeGoods. She was only $20 and has four metal prongs that allow you to stick her in the dirt.

When Jon and I tried to stick her right outside our door we had to move one of the alarm adverting stakes to accommodate her. We didn't really know what to do with it so we left it on the ground. I actually thought I could it for a Christmas decoration but the universe had other plans.

A few weeks later we were at Target in the dollar section perusing the Halloween goodies when I spotted this sign. Thank you Halloween spirits for sending this my way!

After letting sit on the counter for a week (typical) I decided it was time to get my craft on. I washed the stake off and wiped it dry. Then I liberally applied some tacky glue to the front of the preexisting sign and carefully centered the new one over it.

I did try to use my glue gun at first but that really didn't work out so I used the tacky glue. I weighed it down with some old bookends and let it dry.

Once it was dry Jon stuck in the ground on the opposite side from the witch. I didn't get a good photo of it outside since it was already dark but you get the idea.

One more time, side by side.

 Annnnnnd we're done!

Haunted Mason Jars

Today I got my Fall craft on.

Yes, I know its still feels like summer outside! But if stores already have Christmas stuff on display then its not its  not too early for fall stuff... right? Labor Day is kind of the unofficial official end of Summer anyway. Fine! I know its early but I can't help that I'm excited for the holiday season. 

I digress, back to the Mason jars. Since its still too early for Christmas decorations I've been focusing on fall decorations. I wanted to make some sort of Halloweeny craft with candles. After scouring Pinterest and blogland I decided to take some old spaghetti jars and paint them. All I did was take a some basic craft paint and painted the inside of jars. Its pretty simple. You just drop some paint into the jar and roll it around. Once its completely covered you flip it upside down so the excess paint can drain out. 

I didn't do a good job with the paint in the jars on purpose because I wanted to look old and cracked to go with the Halloween theme. Once it was dry, I took a black paint pen and outlined "haunt" on the jars. Then I placed some tea lights inside and light them up!

Only to find out that the effect I was going for with the paint didn't turn out as I expected. Ugh. Its frustrating but its an easy fix. So I added more paint and the jars are dying as I type... 

Wee Wee Take Three

Remember the wee wee dance canvas I made for our guest bath? I made two more for a couple of friends!

One of my friends loved it and asked me to make her one a while back. Well she recently got married and moved to DC with her new husband so I knew I had to get it to her by the wedding. While I was making it my friend who in town asked me to make her one. 

Both of the ladies requested a black and white version. So I painted the canvas white. Yes, the canvas is white but its good to paint a base color to work off because I think it makes the other paint look smoother.

I was really lucky to have a coworker and her husband make me the stencil on their Cricut machine. My back plan was to cut out a template on a piece of card stock with an exacto knife. You could also draw the figures but I'm not that talented. 

I centered the stencil and then used a paint pen to color in the people. I highly recommend the paint pen since regular craft paint will run, your lines won't look as clean and it will required many coats.

Then I took the white paint to touch up the outline.

I went back over it with the paint pen to make sure the outline was as dark as the inside since I'm not really good and painting straight lines. I was waited until it was dry before going back and filling in some of the lighter areas with the black paint pen.

And that's it. I was able to finish the one for my (recently married!) friend as I was getting ready for the wedding. I finished up the other one over the weekend. Its going out to Oregon on Friday!

Welcome

Consider our entryway done!

Jonathan had already painted so all we needed was some kind of art on the wall.

Remember how we originally wanted to frame out the old mirror in the half bath but totally failed? Well, I didn't want to throw it out. I hoarded kept it in a closet because I wanted to reuse it. It's been in there for about six months just hanging out. Waiting. And then inspiration struck!

I had the mirror and some leftover trim from our framed monogram project so I decided to make a welcome mirror. I've seen a lot of vinyl sticker crafty things all over Pinterest and decided that would be perfect for my project. Most of the people who do those vinyl cutouts have a cricut or special die cut machine. I don't. So I shopped around on Etsy until I found one that I liked.

Another visit to my BFF, Home Depot and I picked a can of frosted spray paint. Then I gathered up my supplies and got to crafting.

First I centered and applied the sticker. I eyeballed it and as a result its a bit crooked but that just gives it character. Right? Getting the sticker onto the mirror was a little tricky. You only get one shot so I tried to go super slowly... BUT I messed it up a bit. I accidently stretched out one of the letters but managed to drag it back into place.

Then I taped off the middle part that was going to be frosted. I initially eyeballed that too. Thankfully my sister was here to tell me that it was really off and I was about the make a huge crafting boo boo. So I redid it the right way.

After that it was time to spray paint. I totally overdid it with the spray paint. I should have done thin even coats and waited for them dry. I didn't. Blame it on the heat and my impatience. As a result there are some drips. I thought that I had completely ruined the whole thing. I told Jon that I was going to have to scrape the paint off and start over. Jon said it was fine but I was feeling pretty bummed (and dramatic) about the whole thing.

When I looked at it in the sunlight the next day I felt a million times better about it. Jon said "Babe, I told you it was fine!" and I left it on the dining table for a few days....

Then I peeled off the sticker using tweezers. I had tried to use my nails and accidentally scratched off some of the paint. It's not that noticeable but I would like it better if its wasn't there. I don't really know how to fix that. I don't want to spray paint more because I think it would ruin the whole thing. So it will remain as is.

Then I built and assembled a frame for the mirror in the same way we did the monogram one but this time I did all by myself! Naturally since Jon wasn't there to help/oversee I cut the wood a little short because I measured off the broken corners of the mirror. Oops.

Next it was Jonathan's turn. I asked him to hang to the mirror but we had no way to do it. It had previously been up in the bathroom with cheap clip things. Obviously that wasn't going to work since the mirror was so much thicker now. I found these hook things at (where else?) Home Depot and got Jon's seal of I-think-this-will-work approval. He measured and marked when the holes should go.

The way they are supposed to work is by hammering in a plastic pin that acts as a nail to hang the hook. It looked really easy to do on the instructions but, of course, it wasn't. Jon had trouble with the first one and punched a hole with the second one.

Once Jon got all the yelling out of his system and patched the wall, he finished the two on the bottom.

Then we added two on the sides instead of on top. We did it that way so we could slide it in and out. It took us a little bit of effort to jam it in there but its there and we've checked off another item on our to do list.

'MERICA!

In spirit of America's upcoming birthday I decided to made a 4th of July wreath. It's super easy and probably only took about 30 minutes to make while Jon and I watched TV. I used deco mesh to make the fluffy wreath part and then added the stars and flag bow after an impulse purchase at Michael's. The red and blue deco mesh ribbon is from Hobby Lobby.

The whole thing probably cost about $12 to make. I already had the white ribbon and the wreath frame. You can get them at any craft store but I recommend Hobby Lobby because they always have a good selection of colors.

First I grabbed the white ribbon and attached it to the wreath frame. To start you bunch up the end and secure it to the frame. This frame came with silver pipe cleaner-ish things attached in multiple places around the frame to hold the ribbon in place, but in the past I've used ornament hooks or any easily bendable metal. Then you just make a pouf (kinda like Snooki would do) and, once you like the size of it, secure it with the wire thing.

I wish I could explain better but here's a video from Better By The Bite to show you what I mean. I didn't follow this tutorial (I do what I want, there's no wrong way in crafting!) but I think she does a really good job of showing how to attach the deco mesh to the wreath frame. And her wreaths are super cute. I started to take photos but stopped because they're not really that helpful (can you even tell what I'm doing?) and I was in the crafting zone.

For the white ribbon, I attached it in a zig zag fashion until I hit all the pipe cleaners. I twisted the wires, securing the ribbon but still leaving some extra wire exposed to attach the red and blue ribbons on top. You could skip some of the pipe cleaners to leave it for a different ribbon but I wanted to add lots of white since it makes the wreath look fuller and provides a good background for the other colors.

Then I grabbed the blue ribbon and attached it on top where I started with the white. This time I jumped around to every other wire to leave room for the red. Once I was done with a pipe cleaner I made sure to twist it really tight around the deco mesh and the wreath frame so it didn't slip off.

When it was time for the red ribbon I just used the wires that didn't have any blue ribbon attached to them. I also made sure that the ribbons all looked good together and weren't crushing the other colors so it didn't look flat.

At this point I thought I was all done, sent a picture to my mom and hung it outside.

But the next day I went to Michael's (for a totally unrelated crafting errand) and I saw an American flag bow as soon as I walked in. Immediately I knew it would look good in the center of the wreath and it was only $3! Next to it were red, blue and silver stars picks. Those are picks that are usually placed into floral arrangements. I grabbed one in each color. I think they were each $1.29? I wish I had taken a photo before I added them to the wreath but I totally spaced. Blame it on my crafting high.

Back home (where Jon was probably wondering what took me so long) I secured the bow by safety pinning the top two corners on either side to the wreath.

I placed the stars around it and tightly wound the pliable metal base around the wreath frame. Then I moved the bunched stars around until I like the way it looked.

Then I showed Jon, sent a picture to my mom and hung it outside.

Happy Birthday America!