Pinterest Review: Using Shaving Cream to color Easter Eggs

Pictures from Easter weekend 2013 - Trekker's chalk creations!

The first thing he did when he got to Grama & Grampa's house was pull the chalk out.

I needed a breather by the time Easter came around last year - that's quite a long time between holidays from New Years to Easter - and I needed not only away from work, but away from Wisconsin!  So I went to Mom & Dad's requested the pleasure of Trekker's presence, and we colored Easter eggs!

While I got the stuff together, he drew.  I think some of those creations are magnet monsters.  Not sure.

I had, of course, seen something on Pinterest about using shaving cream to dye eggs.  You put shaving cream on something, like a cookie sheet, put the dye in the shaving cream, roll the eggs around, let them sit for a while (I let them sit for a good 20 minutes).  

The results:

Okay, so only the three on the left were done with this process.  You see, we didn't have shaving cream.  We had shaving gel that had been under the sink since I was in college.  We gave it a shot, but I was skeptical, so I didn't do many eggs that way.  Plus, Trekker wasn't interested, and dying eggs alone isn't as fun as you might want it to be...

For the rest of the eggs, Trekker and I dropped the eggs in dye - old school.  Some of them were dumped in more than one color, and I think were a nice subtle mix of colors (see the little hints of pink on that orange one in the front?).  My favorite is that super bright orange-red one.  In fact, I think it sat in both orange and in red dye...

I would definitely do my Easter eggs again this way.

Did I mention that you have to wash the shaving cream off of the eggs?  I would hate to leave off a step...

One of the girls from work dyed her eggs this way too, but only after she and her mom had an extremely long conversation about whether or not they would be edible after sitting in shaving cream.  

I think they ended up using whipped cream instead.

Trekker is not exactly what one would call "gentle" with his Easter eggs.  He gets very excited when he finds eggs, and just kinda tosses them into the basket.  But boy, does he get some use out of those eggs.  I think we must have hunted the eggs at least 5 times.  That's why I wasn't worried about if they were edible or not.  They really were smashed up by the end...

He even gets excited when someone else finds the eggs!  If he hides the eggs for you, he gets so freaking excited, and ends up finding them for you!

Oreo did not accept our invitation to help find eggs....

Do you have Easter egg plans?

Easy Update to an old frame - Glitter Tape

I took this picture of the Washington Monument when we visited in 2010:

I'm very surprised and happy that I took such a pretty picture!

I had framed it a year or so ago, but only finally finished and hung it.

I purchased a set of two tall, narrow black framed prints, very much on clearance, from ShopKo.  I think they were $7.50 for the set of 2.  I took them apart, turned the frame a quarter of a turn, and replaced the picture that they came with my picture.  The first one broke when it fell, but the second frame worked.

I used the same cable staples as on my mom's seashell monogram hanging, putting them into the back of the frame.  Then I used gold self-adhesive craft tape around the outside only - not the face, just the sides.  I hung the picture with a wide black ribbon.

Results?

The gold is a nice compliment to the lights in the photo, and I think the craft tape will hold the frame together if it decides to break like the first one.  :-)

Rhyanne's love of glitter sure has rubbed off on me...

Just Beachy Monogram Shell Decor

Mom & Dad bought a place down in Florida in 2012 and have been fixing the place up ever since.  Perhaps some of the "Florida style" has rubbed off on me; I had a Pinterest-inspired idea for a Christmas present!

I have a board for all kinds of "monogram decor*" and I've made monogram gifts and have 2 projects in the works at home as well.  One of the styles I've seen is where you put buttons on a decorative background.  That gave me the idea to put shells on a canvas!

I started by using paint to make a beach scene (air-quotes) by using 5 different paint colors and basically blend the colors together for an ombre effect.

While the paint was wet I dragged the brush through a little to give more depth.  Not sure it worked.  :-)  Also, the blue paint has a pearl finish while the sandy colors are matte.

When the paint was dry, I hammered a couple of cable staples on the back so that the ribbon to hang it from could be changed easily, if so desired.  I ended up using a tan/gold thick ribbon.

I actually really love this now, and will probably add these to all the things that I need to hang, it if works.  I put these on the back of a black frame that I glittered, and it works very well (more on that in a later post).

I found the shells I wanted to use at Michaels and bought them on sale.  While I had initially wanted to use all-white shells, I'm glad I wasn't able to find that kind of an option, because I like that some of the shells I used have some color, some striations, etc.

I used Alene's glue (and have since fallen in love with it for other projects) and so far it appears to be holding the shells well.  I guess we'll know otherwise if Mom calls me because falling shells woke her up at night.  :-)

I got opinions from a few different people on the shape of the letter, but it was Rhyanne who suggested making the "B" a serif letter by adding the little shells at the top and bottom on the left.  Think she was right.  Without those, it looked like an "8".

The result:

This shows the depth of the shells from the canvas.  I especially like the starfish.  Someone said that it looks like it's running away!

Maybe we can convince Mom to send a picture once it is hung in her Florida house?

*I use an asterisk because I don't consider it a "monogram" when it's just one letter.  I always thought a monogram was all 3 initials...  But what am I going to call it?  "Letter decor"?  "Initial decor"?  Neither of those options are really the best...  So "monogram decor" it is.  <sigh>

New Christmas Stockings

I haven't gotten the Christmas stuff out yet, but wanted to hang stockings for the girls on the new silver Command hooks (I love them!), and when I was at Hobby Lobby I saw that Christmas stuff was 50% off, and one thing led to another...

There are sequins in the red fluffy fabric, and I grabbed the letters from the scrapbooking section.  They are just stickers, and so far (by that I mean for the last 5 minutes) they are sticking to the white fluffy stuff.  Which means for $7 (each) and minimal effort, I have new monogrammed Christmas stockings!

Merry Christmas!

Crepe Flower Boutonnieres

This is the story of how the boutonnieres for our wedding came to be...

Not too long before the wedding, maybe one month or so, I had not yet figured out what I was going to do for corsages or boutonnieres.  There were so many ideas, but all the research and trying out I had done had not led me to anything workable.  And I was starting to freak out about it.

As I spent hours upon hours of making flowers for the wedding, 

I suddenly realized that was the answer.  Make flowers.  I was using organza, or dressing lining in most cases, to make those flowers.  But I also had some thin crepe in off-white.  So I set to cutting circles.  And when it melted, it didn't crinkle so much as slightly bend.  Which mean the flower I was making a feeling of more classy, less crafty.  Perfect!

Once I put all the flowers together, I needed a center.  For the women, that was easy.  I had learned of the joy of shopping in the jewelry-making aisles of craft stores.  I was able to pick up jewelry pieces that I knew either fit the personality or the clothing choice of the woman it was for.

But for the men?  Jewelry?  Not so much.

As Tina and I were at JoAnn's, waiting at the cutting counter, there were sale-priced buttons on the counter.  And they had anchors on them!  Perfect, I said!  Dad had been in the Navy!  So I was off to the button aisle to find something for the other two boutonnieres I was making.  Finally!  The centers for the bouts were bought!

Dad's boutonniere 

So, here's how they were assembled:

(all by hand, no machine sewing b/c I don't own a machine.  yeah, you can tell that these are not done by a master craftsman.)

I hand-sewed the flower layers together, not including the top, as well as the leaf.  Then, I cut a hole in the center for the button post to go through.  If I'd been brave, I would have cut the button hole of Jeff's suit open and added a button to the back of this.  But, I just couldn't do it.  I just couldn't take that pair of scissors to his lapel.  

The button needed to be held on though, so I pushed the stem of the feather through, added the floral tape, and hand-stitched it on.

The leaves were green dress lining.  I cut them into leaf shape, used a good ol' candle to melt the edges, and then melted a little of the inside like the stem on real leaves.

I was so happy with the results.

I added a picture of Jeff's Dad to his boutonniere, so he was there with him on that day.

Kiaj pinned it onto Jeff's lapel.

so nice, if I do say so myself.

kinda rustic, kinda fancy, Americana initial wall decor

My cousin Daniel returned from the Middle East in April, reunited with his wife, and all within a couple of months had completed his enlistment and moved back home to Ohio.  All just in time for a Fourth of July party at his parents house.

Little did Daniel & Bethany know, it was also a surprise housewarming shower for them!  I decided to make a holiday wall hanging for them.  Which holiday?  Fourth of July of course!!!

I started with...

...their last name initial, a flower like I made for the wedding, some lace, red paint, Mod Podge, seed beads...

I mixed the seed beads with Mod Podge and put that in the middle of the flower.  

When it dried all you could see were the seed beads and they all stuck together.

I had beads left over, so I covered it with cling wrap, just in case...

I sanded the S down and painted it red.  It wasn't quite what I wanted I wanted, so I dry painted some gold onto the edges.  It gave it an "aged" or "shabby chic" look to it.

Using the Mod Podge, I put the lace on part of the S.  

I was disappointed that once it was all dried, the lace was kind of translucent.  

But it was still there, and I did like it.

I put some of those seed beads in the Mod Podge that I had left over, and put them on the edge of the letter, for a little extra shimmer.

I used super glue to glue the flower onto the the lace.

All in all, I think it turned out great.

And, guess what?  Bethany said that she is decorating her kitchen in red, white, and blue!

Wedding decor - lace covered bud vases

As I'm trying to come up with ideas for daily blogs, I've turned to the most wonderful, amazingly photographed day in my life - our wedding.  Pair that with the fact that I've spent too much time on Pinterest, and I found myself looking for pictures that would make a good pin...

And this is what I came up with:

One weekend my sister came to visit and do wedding crafts.  We spent more time that I would care to add up glueing lace to glass.  It was really quite easy.  We used parchment paper on the table as a work space, cut the lace to size, painted glue (white glue, graft clue, whatnot) onto the glass with foam brushes, and placed the lace.  It was really very easy.

And we didn't solely use round glass containers.  Nope.

 There were also rectangle containers.

And square bottles.  And even a lace-covered drinking glass or two...

In fact, I even ended up covering a few pieces with fabric:

The container with the candy sticks was covered in some of the fabric left over from the table runners.  I think it's so cute, it now holds my make-up brushes.

That picture also reminds me, now is the time to purchase "Thanks" signs.  The one above was purchased from the Thanksgiving section of Hobby Lobby.  It was close to the wedding so I asked my mom if she would please paint it for me.  She had silver, and I think it's lovely.  It looked great on the guest calendar / gift table.

Now, anyone want to suggest what to write about tomorrow?

Very, Very Pinteresting... Pinterest makes me want to spend my life crafting.

Yes, yes, I've joined Pinterest.  There's a little "follow me on Pinterest" button at the bottom of the page.  I can't figure out how to make a "Pin It!" button on my blog posts, so I've made pins from some of the stuff on here.  Obviously, if you'd like me to make a Pin, let me know.

I know that I have a tendency to have a compulsive personality.  

Freshman year of college I spent more hours than I would care to imagine in the computer lab on chat 

(chatting with someone just across our very small campus, btw).  

I was obsessed with checking the Cookie Lee site when I became a consultant.  

I find something new and I'm All About It!  It's a small reason I'm not on Facebook.  I've tried very hard not to spend too much time on Pinterest, but, well, yes, I have pinned things that I will probably never do.  I really wish, however, that I'd known about Pinterest when I was in the early stages of planning the wedding.

What I've learned since I joined Pinterest is that I really wish I could spend more time doing crafts.  

I would spend my life crafting if...

...money were no object.  

Crafting can be expensive.  Even if you are up-cycling, it costs to buy the stuff at thrift stores, as well as anything else that you need to complete the craft, like glue or paint.  Also, I have to work.  We are not independently wealthy  so I can't live a life of crafting leisure.  But I'd sure love to try.  :-)

...I were sure I could turn crafting into a viable business.

Yes, I would love to be able to make all these cool things (sweater pillows!  itty bitty glass magnets!  puffy balls made from t-shirts!) and sell them in a store for a profit, but, hey, let's face it, I can't imagine a world where I could do it.  Not even on etsy.

...I had the space to put all the stuff.

We live in a 3 bedroom condo.  Sounds big, right?  Sorry, it's not.  We have about 850 square feet (or "sqeet" as CR once accidentally called it when she was shopping for carpet).  That's a couple of 11x11 bedrooms, a 9x11 bedroom, and a fairly small living room/dining room.  I have a 2x4 table against the wall in the bedroom-turned-computer room.  There isn't the room for the projects or all the stuff needed to make those projects.

...all the ideas in my head weren't already all over Pinterest.

I like to think that I have original ideas.  But I don't.  Pinterest has shown me that.  I had that idea to turn a sweater into a pillow like 8 years ago (also, flannel shirt - very worn and comfy flannel shirt), and it's all over Pinterest.  Is it just me, or has the Everything Must Go On The Internet mindset we all have forced all people everywhere to realize that we're not unique, we don't have unique ideas, and yes, we are succumbing to trends even if we don't realize it?  Who else here put a bird on it without realizing how trendy it was?  Yeah, me too.

So, how would you finish this sentence:

If I could, I would spend spend my life _____________.

Create-A-Craft: A Headband for Homecoming

Did you see the pictures of Rhy all dressed up for the Homecoming Dance?  Didn't she look great?  And how about that pink with black lace mardi gras mask headband that matched her dress?  Didja see it?  huh?  huh?

Well, I assume you did, otherwise why would you be here for...

...create-a-craft:  a headband for homecoming!

We bought quite a few supplies:

And, yes, we did use all those items!  Spray glitter, glow-in-the-dark paint, pink paint, silver metallic paint, mod podge, black lace, the mask, paint brushes, and a feather accent.  And, yes, we did bring her dress into the store to try to match colors.

First was figuring out a mix of paints for the mask.  We tried to mix the silver metallic paint with the pink, but that just turned it purple (but metallic, which was cool!).  In the end, we used straight pink paint...

...which we then covered in the glow-in-the-dark paint (which really lightened the color - sad) and spray glitter.

And we stopped for a snack.   Mmm, apples....

What's next?  Well, to cover the mask in black lace, of course!  For this we used

parchment paper - yes, from the kitchen - as a base to protect the table as we

paint the mod podge onto the lace.  That stuff can make a mess.

Here's a bit of advice:  This is when you want to take the time to try to really glue the edges down to the mask.  Rhy's mask had rounded or beveled edges.  I thought I would more easily be able to glue those down once I cut off the excess lace

stupid night-time photography and its bad quality!

but the lace was so stiff from the glue that was already on it, it just wasn't cooperating.  It's not too noticeable  especially since it's for her hair, not her face, but still.  Hindsight and all.

We had 2 black headbands that we could chose from - nice to use what we already have! - so I selected the narrower of the two to attach the mask.

I used super glue to attach the mask, and used the large binder clips to hold it overnight just to make sure it was good and stuck down.  We had discussed the headband behind the eye holes, but knew with it being in her hair, it wouldn't be that noticeable. 

Finally - the last step!  Attaching the feather accent!  Rhy took advantage of the curve of the feather and the curve of the eye hole to determine placement.  Again, super glue was used to attach.

The final result...

This was definitely a Create-A-Craft WIN.  This reminds me that you don't have to settle for what's in the store.  You can make something that you imagine.  You can make what to want to match a theme and a dress.  And, you can make it glow in the dark.  :-)