Thankful

I love this time of year!  The crisp mornings, the fall colors and of course pumpkin flavored everything!  And I really love the decorating for fall.  Our new front porch is much more roomy than the old place and I had a lot of fun with it.  Found this cute little wagon on Amazon.  I loved the green color for fall and it will be perfect for Christmas too!  

 

  So I got crafty this afternoon with some canvas and freezer paper.  Love this technique for transferring ink to fabric.  I started with a burlap canvas I found at Joann.    

  I made my design on the computer, flipped it to a reverse image and printed on the shiny side of freezer paper.    

    I then carefully applied the wet ink face down to my burlap canvas and pressed with a hot iron for a minute or so.  It's important to press really hard and I even use the tip of the iron to burnish over each letter.  Carefully peel off the paper and you're done!  

       

  Love the finished product and the way it looks with the fall display in my entryway.    

      This is a great method to transfer your designs to fabric for pillows, tote bags or anything you can think of!   You can even transfer photos.   Thanks for stopping by and your comments are treasured!  Linking up to these fun parties!

A Little Christmas Cheer

We just got home from a wonderful week on the other side of the country, celebrating Thanksgiving with family.  It was a great time of celebration but I couldn't wait to get started on my Christmas decorating when we got home!

 

I decided to change up my color scheme this year.  Last year I focused on silver, pink and plum to compliment my shabby, cottage décor.    This year I decided to go with bright red~bring on the sparkle and glitter!

 

My first project was using these chargers I found at Michael's for 99 cents!

 

 

 

 

I then took some white vinyl contact paper, (so much cheaper than the Cricut vinyl and often found at the dollar store) and cut out my festive words and some little snow flakes and stars.    I use a software that allows me to use any font on my computer with my Cricut.  Wing Dings and shapes too.  Love it!!    The first font is Curlz.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Merry font is Honey Script.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also dressed up this little bucket of pinecones.  The font is Perpetua Titling MT. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simple, easy and oh so inexpensive!    My favorite kind of decorating!

 

 

 

Thanks so much for stopping by.  I would love to hear your comments and so hope you'll join me at the fun parties below. 

               

 

Shabby Cottage Coasters

"Grandchildren are God's way of making it easier to grow old."  

 

I'm not sure who said that but it certainly is true!  I have been blessed with 8 precious grandjoys in the last 8 years and when I married Mr. Wonderful last March I inherited two more!  Love filling my walls and tables with pictures of their sweet faces.

 

 

I came across these wooden coasters in the dollar bins at Target awhile back and stuck them in the stash for a future project.  Then I found another set with a little wooden storage box at Craft Warehouse and got inspired to create some coasters with the grandjoy's pics.

 

 

I started with my coasters, some gorgeous, shabby scrapbook paper and mod podge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The coasters measured at just under 4"x4".  So I trimmed my paper to the exact size of the squares and started mod podging them to both sides of coasters.

 

 



 

 

 

Some finished pieces ready for the photos.

 

 

 

 

 

Next step was to create my images.  Using photo editing software,  I took  pics of the grands (and my youngest daughter) and cropped them to fit 2 on a 4x6 print.

 

 

Now I added these Painted Polaroid frames from Kayla Aimee over at Slightly Neurotic.  They are a freebie and one I have used many times in lots of different projects.  Love the vintage look!!!

 

 

 

 The last step was adding some word art.  On some I used the name of the little one pictured, on group shots I used words of affection.  The font is Sunshine In My Soul, download it for free HERE!

 

 

 

I printed them at Walgreens for 20 cents a print,  trimmed them up and decoupaged to the paper covered coasters.    Some crafters like to spray with a clear acrylic to seal but others, like myself, just use several coats of the mod podge.  MANY coats later, (be sure to allow a long time to dry between coats) they're done!

 

 

 

 

 

I painted the box with a white wash then added some coordinating paper. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The best part, the grands love to play with them!  They carry them all over the house and name each cousin.  Love this!

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

Thanks so much for visiting!  Please join me at the fun parties below!

 

  

 

 

Happily Ever After...

Where has the time gone? I have neglected my poor blog for so long and if anyone is out there still reading ... thank you!!! What happened? Well~it goes like this:

Widowed mama meets the most wonderful man on the planet and falls in love. Time spent blogging is now spent with Mr. Wonderful, on the phone at night, on dates, all free time is happily devoted to time together.

We married on March 1 of this year on a magical evening. Life is so good, praise the Lord! Then this most amazing of men says "Hey, you know you don't have to keep working if you don't want to."

WHAT?? I can return to the place my heart so longs to be full time? Home? Homemaker? YES!!!! So here we are and I hope to return to blogging. The creative juices are flowing and I am having so much fun! So stay tuned! A few wedding pics...

The whole family: 6 kids and 9 grandkids!

 

All the grandjoys!

 

My youngest daughter was my Maid of Honor

 

My handsome groom!

 

Our gorgeous cake!

 

 

 

My sister and daughter were Matron and Maid of Honor.

Carpe Diem!

I've been working on a few fun projects lately and one of my faves is this clock I made for a special man in my life. It was a gift for his birthday. I really enjoy altering clocks and have shared a few like this one and this one on the blog.
 
 
I started my project by searching for just the right clock to alter. I had hoped to find a vintage clock at the thrift stores because of the weight and better quality in older pieces. But no luck in my search. I ended up settling for a BH&G wall clock I found at Walmart.
 
 

 
 
 
When looking for a clock to alter, take into consideration how you'll gain access to the face.  Some clocks have a glass or acrylic face that will pop off.  This particular piece did not have that feature so I unscrewed the back and removed it completely to be able to get at the hands.  I carefully removed all three hands and then got to work on designing my new face. 


I have a clock face template I found on the web awhile back that I love to work with.  The tricky part is making the exact size of your clock face you are covering.  I use MicroSoft Digital Image Pro software to create my designs and even though it SAYS you are using the exact dimensions you specify on the ruler, it usually is off just a bit.  So let's just say I had a few LOTS of prototypes before I got it as close to perfect as possible.   I printed the new face on a parchment looking card stock.
 
 
 
The other challenge is cutting out a perfect circle for the clock stem in the center of your project.  I used a hollow punch set like this one that I got at Harbor Freight Tool Supply.  Let me tell you, that is a store for boys!  But I have found quite a few useful, crafty items there.  And they always have a coupon in their flyer at the door!

 

When adhering the design to the face be sure to use a dry type adhesive.  You don't want any moisture on the design that might cause bubbling or warping.

Here is my finished piece.  He loved it, by the way!   The design features a favorite quote ~ 'Carpe Diem', his name and the year in Roman numerals.

Thanks for stopping by!  I would love to hear your comments and hope you'll join me at the parties below!