Beers and Brushes--keepin' it country! ha!

You know the new trend, Cockails and Canvas, Sips n Stokes, Dips n Dabs, Dips n Sips, etc.. you get the drift.  Well, these businesses are turning up everywhere!  Basically, every night has a certain painting that everyone learns how to do.  The instructor stands up front and shows you step by step, color by color, how to paint.  Meanwhile, you get to sip your wine and eat your crackers (hence "Sips n Strokes").  It's so much fun to go out with the girls and learn how to paint.  We went for my birthday last year and it was great, however, it wasn't easy on the wallet.  And, was hard to see at times b/c the place was packed.  After spending $30 a person, we knew there had to be an easier way.

So, for my friend Kristyn's bday, we each chipped in $10 for canvases, paint (most of which we already had), and brushes.  We covered the table in old towels and newspaper, cut up old milk jugs and filled with water to clean the brushes, and filled paper plates with dabs of primary paint colors (you know those colors you learned about in grade school...).  We used stands to hold up the canvases (had to get creative on this one).  Then, we googled fun pictures we knew we could paint based on our "expert painting skills."  :)

We found a simple tree painting on google (I think we searched "abstract tree painting), and kept the painting on the computer screen for all to see.  The computer was our instructor :)  Then we jumped right in to painting and worked our way trying to figure out how the painting was done. First starting with the background, then adding the tree, then the white for highlights.

This is what we came up with.....  Considering we had only painted once before, we did a pretty good job if I do say so myself!

Quick and Easy Restoration

Before: dingy, dark, and scratched 

We found 6 antique chairs for $100 at a local antique shop.  Although they squeak a little, it was a heck of a steal!  The quickest way to restore furniture without whipping out the sanders and stain, is some updated fabric, some furniture oil, a staple gun, and some old rags.  And whala, your $17 chairs are brand new again!

Supplies: 
Chairs with separable cushions
About 3/4 yard fabric for each cushion (ironed)
Quilting stuffing to make the cushion softer (found at Joann's near the pillow stuffing)
Finishing Oil (We used "Restor A Finish" in walnut, $6.95 at local antique store)
Staple gun and staples
Old rags
Screw driver
Scissors


1. Flip chairs upside down and unscrew chair cushions from each chair.

2. Remove old fabric if you wish

3. Lay cushion  and quilting stuffing on top of fabric to measure size, making sure to leave at least 4-5 inches around the sides to fold back the fabric.

4. Cut fabric in squares measurement to the cushions.  Fold in corners VERY tightly and secure with the staple gun.  Once corners are staple tightly, secure the sides with staples.


5. Move the chair frames outside or on top of newspaper to prevent the oil from affecting your floor.  Add oil a little at a time to the old rag and buff the chair.  Wipe softly with a clean rag to remove excess oil.

6.  Allow the chairs to dry in a well ventilated area at least an hour.  (We let it dry all night just to make sure).

7. Assemble cushions to newly oiled chairs with original screws.  It helps if someone sits on the cushion to keep it secure.

After: Clean, bright, polished

8.  Cook a nice dinner to celebrate your new chairs :)

Diaper Cakes-->How-To!

I absolutely love making diaper cakes because they're super easy and I get to totally spoil the mom-to-be.  Depending on  your budget, diaper cakes can run anywhere from $40 to $100+ to make.  Whoa!  Of course that has to do a lot with the type of diapers you use.  The specialized Dr. Seuss diaper cake cost about $110 to make (but that's what happens when the diaper cakes are special ordered).  So, I'll attempt to explain how I made this little jewel :) 

Supplies:
1 cake tray ($1 a the dollar store)
60 sz 1 or sz 2 diapers
100+ rubber bands of various sizes (at least 3 giant stretch kind, bought a huge bag of them for $1)
Safety pins to secure fabrics
3 bottles
Onesies or blankets (something to wrap around the large base to hide the diapers and give extra gifts)
bibs for decoration
ribbons
ribbon stuffing (ripped paper stuff)
Cake topper (like my little elephant)
Candy to fill the middle bottles if you want to surprise the mom-to-be

1. First, roll all the diapers like a newspaper and secure in the middle with a rubber band.  Some people unfold the diapers, then roll, but that takes too much time and ruins the diapers in my opinion.

2. Once all the diapers have been rolled, start securing them around a bottle with a rubber band to form a circle around the bottle (as shown in the photo above).   Repeat this step for all three tiers, arranging diapers as needed to create 3 different sized tiers.  Wrap at least one giant rubber band around each of the tiers to secure all the diapers.

3.  Wrap the blanket around the bottom base and secure with safety pins.  I couldn't find a Dr. Seuss blanket anywhere for a reasonable price so I bought this fabric at Joanns and sewed a small blanket myself.  You may also use onesies for this step by attaching them together with safety pins to create length, then wrapping around the base.  You may repeat this step for the middle tier by wrapping washcloths or something, or you may leave the middle tier naked and decorate with ribbons.

4. Stack the middle tier on top of the base.  Let the bottom bottle push the top bottle up to help stabilize the two tiers. Add the top base.

5. If you want to add bibs, the best way to do it is between the tiers hanging on the bottles.

Start decorating!

6. Stuff the ribbon paper between the blanket and middle tier to cover the diapers.
7. Add little lotions, soaps, Desitin, etc.. around the top tier for display
8. Wrap ribbons around the tiers to create bows
9. Add the cake toper and secure with ribbon and/or rubber bands to the top bottle (you might have to get creative on this one...it can be tricky)

 FINISHED PRODUCTS

The bottom of the Princess cake was made with onesies. 

Welcome to BLOGGER

Everyone's been talking about this "blog" thing for quite sometime now so I figured I'd give it a whirl.  I absolutely love to craft everything.  I don't claim to be good or great at anything, but I do want to try and attempt everything that has to do with crafts.  If money and time weren't issues, I swear I'd buy Joanns and spend all my days junkin' and restoring finds from antique stores (and of course traveling in between!).  My dreams are to own a complete wood-working shop (and know how to use it), and a complete craft room, overlooking the river/pond described in The Notebook.  Fabulous... just fabulous.

My blog is an effort to organize my craft attempts.  Most of my crafting occurs around holidays for gifts, so, obvioulsy, I won't be able to post 'How-To's" until after the fact.  Hopefully, I can figure out how to organize the titles by type and not date. hmmm... My goal is to inspire other crafters that crafting CAN be affordable and totally fun.  It's my therapy. 

I'm getting married in June and wish I could post everything my fiance and I have created for the wedding.  Unfortunately, some of it is TOP SECRET :)  Can't wait to share craft pics after the wedding though! Jason, my fiance, is way more talented than I could ever hope to be.  He comes up with the greatest ideas that I can't wait to share with everyone.

My partner in crime is miss Heidi Rose. Maybe with her and my ideas combined, we'll actually be some sort of entertainment! 

Happy gluing!