A Time for Giving!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!  I hope everyone had a fantastic day spent with loved ones, good food and presents!  Here are a few of my projects and presents that I used as gifts!

Another bracelet made from and antique piece of jewelry!  This time I used two clip-on earrings to make into a bracelet for myself, and my sister!  Also, I'm obsessed with cameos. :)

So obviously I didn't actually make these.  I just thought it was a very cute way to present gifts to my friends!

Last year I made a graduation tassel ornament for myself (the one on the left) & this year, now that my boyfriend has finally graduated, I made one for him!

This was one of the gifts I made for my boyfriend.  I got this idea from pinterest (of course) and decided it would be a cute way to "wrap" Alex's graduation ornament!  It's called an "exploding gift box" and unfortunately the link on the pin no longer works so I can't share it!  Had I not made this box about two years ago (yeah, I've been saving it for quite some time now...) then I would give more detailed instructions!  Sorry!

Welcome Y'all!!

I finally added the final touches to the wreath I made a few months ago! I found this wooden Texas in Canton and went searching for ideas!  I finally found one that I loved and rolled with it!  I think it turned out nicely. :)

Banner!

A co-worker asked if I could make a banner for her grandson's 1st birthday.  I've been in a super creative mood lately, so of course I accepted!

I went off of the invitation that they sent out that had blue chevron and a red wagon on it!  Super cute!  Here is what I came up with!

Obviously the name is supposed to be under the "Happy 1st Birthday" but I
didn't have a space large enough to display it for the picture!

You can actually see the little wagons in this shot :)

Craft night!

So many posts in one week!  Here's the bracelet I made at the craft night my friend and I had last night! I'll post the wreath I made later, once I figure out what I want to add to it!  Enjoy!

Super easy!  I had these metal keys that were originally for scrap booking, with the glue dot on the back and what not, and I decided this would be a super easy key to make into a bracelet!  Hope you like it!

One man's trash is another man's treasure

Okay, so here's the deal with this project...our neighbor down the street is moving and was throwing out loads and loads of junk.  Well, me and my junk-loving self + my mother, decided that this "junk" should not be thrown out for nothing.  We literally got about 50 picture frames that this person was just going to throw away.  Judge if you will, but that's just crazy.  If you don't want them- have a garage sale, give them away, take them to Goodwill, I don't care, but throw them away?!  Just...no. 

Now, while most were newer, more plain picture frames, this one jumped out at me.  It had that vintage/antique feel that I just love!  The only problem was that it was a little chipped and I wasn't a fan of the color.  So I decided to repaint it and make it my own!  Here's how that went...

This was the original frame.  Very pretty, but the color was kind of a yellowy, dingy white with more brownish accents than gold.  Plus the edges were chipped so it needed some help.

This was the frame I used for inspiration.  It's from Hobby Lobby if you are ever so inclined to purchase it!

So to start, I painted it black for the base coat.  My plan was it paint it black, then spray paint it white and sand some of the white off so the black would show.

And here it is after I got the white over it.

Now, as I said, I wanted to sand the white off so some of the black would show through.  Well, that didn't work so well.  Maybe I sanded too hard, or the black acrylic paint that I used wasn't strong enough, I don't know, but it ended up sanding all the way back down to the original color.

SO!  Plan B: re-paint it black using black spray paint this time.  So I did that and about an hour later spray painted the white over it.  Before the white was completely dry, I took duct tape (yes, I got a bit ghetto and used the first thing that came to mind)  and used it to peel some of the white off.  AND IT WORKED GREAT!!  

Final product!  I'm not sure if you can see it, but the paint is a little crackled along the inner ring. I probably didn't wait long enough between coats or maybe the damp air (it had been raining) caused the paint to crackle, I don't know.  But I actually like it!

So that's that!  It took me a while to get it done, but I personally love it.  I hope y'all do, too!!

One last thing...the whole time I've been writing this post I've had the Miranda Lambert song "Old Sh!t" stuck in my head.  If you've never heard it, it's pretty great and expresses exactly how I feel about antiques and old junk.  The link is below; viewer digression advised as it does say the "S word" multiple times.  Listen or don't, I just love it :P

http://youtu.be/wnDiQ-v4D_I?list=UUJQplYDHQjYbmADXC-_y27Q

Crafty, crafty, crafty!

Goodness, it has been another good while since I've posted anything!  Life and responsibilities always seems to get in the way.  Anywho, I've worked on a few projects since the last time I posted so here they are!  I'm going to end up having to post a second entry to talk about one of my projects in more detail, but please check it all out and enjoy!

Painted silver tray for a friends birthday!

My co-supervisor retired this past week!  We threw her a camping themed retirement party complete with airstream camper invitations, picnic blankets, cast iron skillets as serving pieces and mason jars!  I made a few of the decorations such as the invites, food labels, the banner and Texas wood piece!

The lovely selection of food and the banner I made for her!  All of our co-workers chipped in to give her a wonderful cash going away present!

This was a first, I wanted to try out my ModgePodge photo transfer medium to see if it worked out!  Good news and bad news-- It worked great in the sense that it transferred the photo beautifully! It did not, however, dry clear like I expected it to and I had to make a boarder around it so that you couldn't see it quite as well.  Some of the white was removed using nail polish remover, but rather than risk screwing up the picture, I just stuck with the outline idea.  It was a learning experience; now I know! 

We all signed the back so that she could take us all with her to Mississippi!

Been a long time!

It has been quite a while!!  Most recently I made another sign for the soon-to-be newlyweds!

Kiss me, I'm Irish!

I know it's a few days early, but here's my office decor for St. Patrick's Day!

Floating frame with burlap, clover from the dollar store and "luck" written in paint pen!

Love is all you need!

Love is in the air!! Here are a few random projects for February!

Valentine's Day tree from scrapbook paper scraps!

Dollar store "silver" platter chalkboard!

Last but not least, more chalkboard art!  Loving the silver platter with my faux mercury glass :)

Mini Wreath!

Well, I did a little re-vamping on my Texas Tech wreath.  I ended up buying some little metal floating frames and I think the Texas Tech ornament just fits in those better so I pulled out some twine, lace and metal flowers and this is what I came up with! I love it! Hung it in my office today :) Hope you like it!

Love it!

Not the best picture, kind of a glare but tadaa!