Easy DIY Sign

Hello!  I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We went to my husband's side of the family yesterday and today we are heading to mine.  That being said, I will make the chit-chat brief!  I made this sign to hang up during the holidays.  Right now it is sitting on a stand, but as soon as I figure out where to hang it, I will drill two holes in the top and attach a cute Christmas ribbon.

It's easy to do and can be completed in less than 20 minutes (including drying time!)

{Materials}

You only need a few things. 
{1} An unfinished wood sign.  These can be found at most any craft store or online.
{2} The vinyl design on your choice.  The kissing couple in the middle is from the Silhouette store.  The man in the picture is kissing her on the forehead.  I just found this so sweet that I had to have it!
{3} Paint

{How to Make it}
{1} Paint the wood, let it dry.
{2} Cut on design in vinyl, attach to wood.

(optional) {3} Apply Mod Podge to the edges and sprinkle with Diamond Dust. (This WAS done on mine. I think it looks really pretty but it's up to you.)
(optional) {4} Cut holes in the top and string some ribbon through it to hang.

{Your Turn!}
Isn't that easy? You can make these for any occasion or design. I just LOVE that red color (it's called "Santa Red"- perfect huh?) and the sweet mistletoe message. Perfect for my Christmas decor!

Happy Crafting,
Kelsie Ann  

LINK LOVE! Linked up to: Every Day is an Occasion and Chick-n-Scrap

Fall Decorative Balls Made From Nature's Materials

It is Monday again- another week begins and we start to create our weekly to-do lists with starry eyes and hopeful intentions.  Monday brings a clean slate for our week, so we have got to make sure it is a good one. If you are still looking for some easy to do and inexpensive fall craft ideas to decorate your home, you have come to the right place.  Make a note of this for your week and in no time at all you can "check" it right off your list (after all, isn't that the best part of making the list?)

I want to pre-apologize for this post's pictures.  They turned out alright but I promise you, these decorative balls look MUCH better in person; especially the corn kernel one.  You will just have to trust me on this one long enough to make your own and see!

{Step One: Gather Materials}

For the materials in nature I tried three {3} different types: leaves (in greens, reds and yellows), indian corn kernels and some of those wild wheat sprays (I keep wanting to call them cat tails, but that's not right!).  Anyone know what these are called?

{Step Two: Glue on the Materials}

For the (oh, let's call them...) wheat sprays, I wrapped them around the ball in an angle but lined them up next to each other.  After finishing the first layer, I glued another layer on top of the previous one to help cover the bare spots.

For the corn kernels, I started by gluing them on in a straight line, then continued by filling in empty spots.  This was my favorite one to make!

For the leaves, I simply layered them around the ball and on top of each other.  Using a variety of leaf shapes and colors will create a unique design.

{Step Three: Place Around Your Home!}

These decorative balls can be used to fill up a basket, hang on the walls, or anything else you can imagine.  Since they are made from christmas balls, they already have a hook for hanging!

I love the ones covered in indian corn kernels, so I plan to make more of those for table decoration.  Imagine a variety of kernel shades all mixed together in a small basket or mini-milk crate!  How fall-esk!

{Your Turn}
I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial and are excited to make your own.  This craft is easy to make, takes no time at all, uses free materials AND is so perfect for fall!  Best of all, you can make them look however you want:  tighter leaf wrapping, brighter corn kernels, thicker "wheat sprays"... whatever your heart desires!

Happy Crafting,
Kelsie Ann

LINK LOVE!  Linked up to: Every Day is an Occasion

Decorative Clothes Pins (Not Just For Clothes!)

What is small, handy and totally cute?  Did you guess clothes pins?  Well the truth is... they are!  There are so many ways they can be put to use.  We made these adorable clothes pins for our wedding "guest book" .  They held up the small cards where friends and family wrote messages for us.  It was a clothes drying out on the line sort of sweetness.

{Above Wedding Photographs taken by jhendonphotography}

Want to see them close up?
We made over 150 of them, but here are some of my favorites, separated into a few groups.  Each one was made using scrapbooking rub-ons; either pre-bought or made at home:


PERSONALIZED

{These were made at home (really!).  All you need are the printable sheets of rub-on paper and an ink-jet printer!  This is a great option if you don't want to be limited to the rub-on packages at the store}

WEDDING THEMED WORDING

{These are so perfect for a wedding.  I especially love the brackets around "Marriage Vows"}

"THE DEFINITION OF MARRIAGE"

{These are some of my favorites.  How darling are these tiny word definitions?}

FULL DESIGN

{Many store-bought sets of rub-ons have a row or two of long designs.  For these pins I just cut that line into 3 or 4 pieces and voila!  Beautiful, decorative clothes pins that can be used for anything!}

BEAUTIFUL LETTERING

{These just make my heart melt.  The lettering looks so vintage (and a little circus-ey) while the coloring makes it really fun!}

INSPIRATIONAL WORDS FOR ANY TIME

{These are all marriage words too, but could also be used for hanging pictures of family, friends, or just for a little inspiration in your day}

THIS ONE MAKES ME CHUCKLE...{It was supposed to say "Committed"... you know, like a husband and wife should be.  However, after I put it together all I could see was "Commit Ted".  I don't know who Ted is, but I didn't figure that it fit our wedding theme!}

I love these clothes pins!
I plan on turning some of these into magnets so that I can hang notes, the grocery list or whatever on the refrigerator.  I think I will also keep a few to hang pictures in my craft room, and maybe keep a few to use for gift wrapping.  Who knows?!

How would you use clothes pins?
What would you do with them?  Hang pictures, notes, or (let's get crazy here), clothes on the laundry line?

It seems that there are hundreds of ways to use clothes pins and when they can so easily be made this cute, why wouldn't you?

With Love,
Kelsie Ann

LINK LOVE!  This post is linked up to Every Day is an Occasion, go over there & check them out as well!

Sharpie Art

Welcome back and happy Wednesday!  Can you believe the week is half over already?  These summer days seem to just fly by.  Anyways, during my warp-speed-like week I played around with a craft idea that I have been seeing a lot lately on places like A Beautiful Mess and Kyoko.  I can't express enough how much I LOVE these mugs!

Only problem is, I really don't need any more mugs.  Besides my close-to-obsession with them, I have started to collect a mug in each state that I visit.  It's my version of the postcard/ magnet/ tiny ringing bell sort of collection.

See that "Historic Route 66" mug?  That takes the place of the 8 states that Route 66 runs through.  I figured that would be better than carting all those mugs home (Okay, I bought the Grand Canyon one behind it on that trip too- still pretty good I think)

The point is, I didn't need to make a mug, so instead I made a decorative piece using black and yellow sharpies.

After around a dozen designs, I finally settled on this one.  So simple.  So beautiful.  Plain yellow flowers and a few choice words that I think everyone should be reminded of.

My intent was to hang it on the towel rack in the upstairs bathroom.  The walls are a vibrant yellow and since it is the guest bathroom, I thought it would be a good way to let our loved ones know how special they are.

 

I baked it for 20 minutes (which was around the time suggested by other blogs) and when I pulled it out... the flowers were ORANGE! Oops.  The wording had also lightened up a bit.  

Since it didn't fit the yellow upstairs bathroom anymore, I decided to place my decor on our china cabinet.  The brown color in the wood looks nice against the new orange color. 

 

 

Funny how crafting goes isn't it?  Things did not quite turn out like I planned, but they still worked out just fine.

A few things I learned that will hopefully help you:

1. The sharpie design WILL come off (at least on a glazed porcelain) with warm water and gentle scrubbing with a soft brush.  That's how I managed to go through a dozen designs and only one hanging piece.

2. Be aware that colored sharpies may change color after baking.  Start & stop marks may also show up on the image that did not in the original color (see the "dots" on the petals of the flowers?!)

3. I used an extra fine point sharpie for my wording and it faded slightly during baking.  However, the regular sized black sharpie I used for the center of the flowers stayed crisp and dark.  Keep that in mind if you desire a deep color.

...............................................................................................................................................................

That all being said, I really enjoyed this project.  It allowed me to try something new and it didn't turn out too bad; in spite of my total lack of artistic ability!

I hope you will try this project for yourself- on a mug, a plate or a hanging decorative piece!  I would love to see your creations and hear your thoughts on this project and others.

With Love,

Kelsie Ann

{Linked up to: Jaihart- Sundays Are Lovely #11 }