Graffiti Table

Our coffee table was in need of a makeover, so I have been painting away. We had some of this chalk board spray paint I bought to use on a wall in our old basement, but I never got around to painting it. I thought the table was the perfect use.

The paint gets a thumbs up, with one exception - no table tops. I was feeling pretty good about my project until the kids actually started to use it... I imagine it would be great for vertical surfaces, but the kids set things on the table, including their little bottoms, and walk away with chalk all over. Guess I should have thought that one a through a little more - now the chalk is going to have to "disappear".

Make Your Own Little Ribbon Gift Bag

I needed something to put a little gift in and, of course, didn't have anything, so I found a piece of ribbon, got out the glue gun and a minute later I had a little bag for the present. Want to make one? Just cut a piece of ribbon twice as long as you would like your bag to be (if it has a wires in the sides pull them out), fold the ribbon in half, starting at the bottom of the fold run a bit of hot glue along the sides stopping just short of the top, then carefully press the sides together.

Winter Projects

Where to begin? Things have been very busy! For some reason, I thought the cold weather would bring lots of time. I guess I thought that because the kids wouldn't be playing outside as much, I would have more time to work on my inside projects. WRONG! What was I thinking? Inside time for the kids means more time for their projects.

I have been able to squeeze a few of mine in, though. Owen's school hosts an auction as a fundraising event, so I thought it might be fun to do some painting. Well, after this massive little project, I can't imagine Catherine painting giant pieces of furniture - I would get the door done and that would be the end of that. Anyway, here is what I did get done (you can click on the pictures to enlarge them if you like).

The Step-Up Stool:

All packed up and ready to go:

Each got a label like this:

The Whatever Bin:

The Off My Mind Dry Erase Board:

That's all for now, and, most likely, for a while; maybe a summer project? HA!

The Big Event

As promised, here are some photos from the tea party, a few pages from the scrapbook I put together and the goody bag:

Tea Time

It's tea time - I'll leave you with a little something I drew for the party. Have a great weekend.

Ten-Hut

Don't they remind you of soldiers standing at attention?

For the last two days my knitting project has been on hold because I have been working on these small baskets - favors for an upcoming tea party. I bought the natural baskets at Michael's, painted them white and added some frilly decorative painting. I have some individually wrapped vanilla cookies to go in them. They will be packaged up with a small box of tea, honey spoons and a tea rose candle tin. For now, the baskets are dismissed. They won't be assembled until just before the party, so I'll have to show you the finished product later.

As for the real soldiers, God speed.

Make a Mug - An Unoriginal Idea for You

I found these thermal mugs at a local store. They are super cute as they are, but I thought they might be even better personalized. The bottom of the mug unscrews so that another paper can be slipped in. I made a couple for Mother's Day and I am making a few more for the coffee toting dads. I decided to look on-line to find more mugs and, while doing so, I found that my bit of genius was not an original idea. Copco sells kits to do the very same thing, BUT I could not find them.

So, if you want to make one, you can go to amazon.com and order a mug or two and then use this Word template. This is a very vanilla layout, but can be embellished - you can always make your own too. To use the template, click on the link and save it to your computer. It can then be easily customized in Word with your photos. This project would also be a great "kid craft" with a drawing from the household artist.

Here is one of mine...

Tips:

• Note - the picture boxes will be angled since it is a square being wrapped around a circle.

• The gentle use of tweezers helps to get the paper in and out.


• The replacement paper can't be too thick or it won't fit.


• Push one corner of the paper in first - do not try to shove the whole thing in at once.


• Don't put anything close to the edges - it will get covered and you won't be able to see it.


• You can add clip art, add color, change the frames, or change the font.


• Stickers work well.

It is small, but it's something...

I covered a box this weekend to hold a little present for an upcoming birthday. I think it sort of qualifies as a craft, it is small, but I think it counts. Actually, in this house, no project is little. Between the snacks, trips to the bathroom, diapers, picking up toys, etc. something like covering a box becomes a days work. I am still knitting away on the Irish Hiking Scarf and I started a small Sugar n'Cream project. I really want to start a big color project like this, but first things first. Plus at the rate things get done around here, it probably would not be finished for 10 years.