Do you love tie-dye as much as I do?

I love crafting and I love tie-dye and there is no better time to combine the two into one amazing craftivity than summertime. So here are some fun tie-dye goodies and even some great instructions from Michael's on how to throw your own tie-dye event!

I think it would be fun to pack a picnic lunch, throw on some grubby clothes, and head outside to tie dye/relax on one of these beautiful summer afternoons.

Here are some fun tie-dye goodies you could make at your craftivity or purchase via Etsy.com!

Source: Stefs Creative Jewelry

Source: Read Write Books

Source: Ben Thai

Source: Tillymaison

Source: Handmadens Crafts

Source: Mane Message

Do you love raw crystal as much as I do?

I'm loving all the raw crystal and gemstone jewelry that has been popping up lately! I love the unfinished, natural look and I especially love it when it is combined with a nice, long necklace. Long necklaces are my favorite! But there are also some amazing cocktail rings being made out there in the Etsy world too. I'm really going to work this summer on learning to pull off a cocktail ring. Ever since I got engaged and now married I feel weird about wearing any ring other than my engagement and wedding ring.

But I digress, here are some of the pieces I've been drooling over lately. All of these pieces are $45 or under. I like to keep things on the cheaper side when at all possible and while I don't consider $45 super cheap, it is at least a lot better than the pricing you tend to see in your typical fashion magazines and stores these days. And besides wouldn't you rather support an independent retailer anyway?

Source: Moorea Seal's Etsy Shop

Source: Rozzie's Etsy Shop

Source: Yirweh Jewelry's Etsy Shop

Source: Larkin and Larkin's Etsy Shop

Source: Nubambu's Etsy Shop

Source: CuppaCoffee's Etsy Shop

Source: CyanOwl's Etsy Shop

However, if you prefer to "go your own way" and decide that you want to take on the task of getting crafty and making one of these gorgeous necklaces yourself you can always try out this tutorial from Seablanket.

Old Favorite/New Favorite:Typewriter Display

I love a good ole typewriter as a vintage prop for one's home but with space being tight here in our townhouse I decided that I needed to figure out another use for our old Remington (the photo up top shows it's previous job: doing nothing but holding up a yarn wreath). That's when it hit me...the keys on the typewriter would make a great way to prop up loose photos. Here are a couple shots of a vintage typewriter photo display in progress.

Oooh, I can't wait to make this: Leather Leaf Necklace

I can't wait to pick up some supplies to make this awesome necklace. I mean let's be honest, what a cute, quick jewelry idea! Check out the full instructions at Missie Krissie...

DIY: How cute is this?

Source

Saw this cute bracelet tutorial by following a link featured on Divine Chaos. How cute is that? And it looks pretty simple to make too!

DIY Dress

Image found at Chic Steals

Check out this awesome DIY over at Chic Steals, isn't it awesome!!! I want to make one out of one of Beau's old shirts!

I'm back kinda and a fun DIY

So we are settling in up here in beautiful WNC but not quite used to the day-to-day yet. I'm sorry I've been absent for so long but for those of you who are clicking on still I promise to have up update on our house and such soon (for example, we're planning on making a trip to Ikea this weekend for a cool bed that we've wanted for a long time...won't that be fun?).

In the meantime here is a totally awesome DIY from a Honestly...WTF. I mean honestly how cute is this idea...and how easy!

Quick Craft: Well, this is adorable!

Check out this super cute craft/planter. Have you ever seen anything so darling! I've always wanted a really whimsical garden space and this would blend in just fine. I also think it would be fun to plant a different herb on each level. It could be a living spice rack!

Source: Craftzine.com

Super cute craft from One Artsy Mama

One more thing for the weekend...go check out this super cute craft from One Artsy Mama. It's a cardigan for your phone!!!

Old favorite/New Favorite: Books?

So this is an interesting one...

Old favorite: Books for reading

Source

New favorite: Books for planters

These particular books can be purchased as a kit from this website but I'm sure it would be a super cool DIY.

Supplies:
-Old book (please use one that is not a first edition or rare book...pretty please, I hate when I see amazing books turned into art projects).
-X-acto knife
-soil
-flower
-Some sort of plastic planter that could be used to line the inside of the book.
-Glue-ish substance, maybe mod podge to hold all the book pages together.

If you make one please comment with the link, I'd love to see it.

Easter basket sugar cookies

In case you can't tell, I absolutely adore Easter and all that comes with it. Not only is it an important day for me as a Christain but it also has always been an important day of family, fun and of course food!

This is a cute, little kitchen craft that I read about in my email this morning and I just had to share. Easter baskets made out of sugar cookies...how cool!


To get the directions just go to the Betty Crocker website. Also if you are gluten free like some of the folks in my family, don't count yourself out. I found a great recipe for gluten free sugar cookies by searching the web. My biggest suggestion is to check the recipe ratings and read the reviews. Betty crocker does have a number of gluten free dessert boxes but unfotunately they haven't gotten to sugar cookies yet.

Weekend fun

Hey guys,

It's beautiful in GA today and Beau and I are headed outside with the puppies for some fun in the sun. But just in case you aren't blessed with the same weather here are some fun ideas for the weekend.

1) Make Polymer clay buttons with the help of this tutorial via Craft Stylish.

2) Crochet your own coffee sleeve. I used this tutorial this morning and it was super quick and easy. I'll post pics of my coffee sleeve soon.

Combine the two to make something like this! (picture source)

I plan on adding buttons to mine later.

3) Go see Shutter Island. Beau and I did last night and it was amazing! We are still talking about it. A lot of people have said they thought it would be scary but it really wasn't. It was more of a psychological thriller.

Valentine Love!

This past weekend I got together with some of my favorites to make Valentine's. We had so much fun using paper, stamps, doilies, pipe cleaners to make some super cute Valentines.

Here are some shots of what we were up to over the weekend...

Just in time for Valentine's day!

I just put some fun, Valentine-themed puppy bandanas up in my etsy shop. They are super adorable and fit right over your dog's collar. Check them out!

Gourds pt. 2 (Tutorial included)

I have to say that these turned out a lot cuter than I expected. They were so fun to paint and decorate. I think I'm going to try to make some for our families, they are just so hilarious. I think I'll have us dress up in matching outfits for our next photo shoot with these guys.

(Sorry about the weird green spot near my eye...the red eye reduction thing got a little finicky).

If this is a project that you want to take on simply follow these instructions.

Supplies needed:
Dried gourd
Gesso
acrylic paint
paint brushes
permanent marker or black paint pen
Spray gloss

1.Start out by drawing a simple outline and sketching out what you would like your gourd to look like.

2.Coat the entire gourd in gesso and let dry. This is not necessary but if you start out with a light colored base coat they are much easier to paint.

3.Paint your gourds (they don't take too long to dry so you can do this fairly quickly).

4.Outline and add detail with a paint pen or permanent marker (I didn't like the way the gourds were looking until I got to this step, the personality really came out here. Imagine if I could actually draw!)

5.Spray the gourds with the acrylic gloss to finish.

6.Finally take a funny picture with your gourd and the person it resembles and send it to me. I'd love to see it!

Have fun!

Christmas (or it might turn in to a New Year's) card

I do have one sorta crafty thing to share. Beau and I have gotten so many silly "photo cards" from our friends. Photo cards make sense to me when they feature your children, but when it's just you and your hubby and maybe a dog, it's just a bit silly. In any case as our ode to silly photo cards Beau drew us as a photo card. We'll be sending them out soon!

Pondering gourds

I'm curious if anyone has ever attempted any gourd project? Not just using the squash in cooking though Butternut Squash Lasagna does sound very appealing, but I'm more curious about craft projects. I get a daily update from this really cool website called Care 2. Random aside: Care 2 is a website committed to making a difference. No matter what your cause you'll find something about it on this site. It's amazing!

In any case, today's update had a link to this article on 10 ways to use Gourds. They had ideas ranging from bird houses to body scrubs to candles. I'd love to try some gourd projects!

In addition to the gourd projects listed in the article, I think it would be hilarious to paint gourds to look like Beau and I similar to the ones in this post (pictured below) over at one of my new favorite blogs "A Beautiful Mess".

Things I'm doing these days...

So I just recently found a cool blogging group called Red Velvet Art and I'm currently a tad bit obsessed with all their cool projects and ideas. These ladies run a shop in Missouri of the same name. Missouri has never really been on my list of places to visit but I have to tell you it's creeping up there. Not only because of Red Velvet Art but they are definitely moving it up the list.

In any case, and this is a bit embarrassing to speak of, but I've always had issues with knitting. I would think I knew how but nothing I worked on ever turned out...until now. Inspired by a project I found on Red Velvet's site I decided I would try again and before I knew it, I was knitting (and purling)!

I found some great videos on the web that helped me along the way and this was one of the most helpful.

In any case,here is the end result:



I'm super happy with them and have since made a second pair for a lucky friend.

So what's next? Back to crochet, I want to make a Granny Square Afghan! And imagine my delight when this tutorial from Craft Stylish showed up in my inbox yesterday!



Hopefully I'll have an afghan by the end of the year!

Apples pt. 2

Well I made a delicious apple cake with caramel icing but I was so busy gobbling it up that I completely forgot to take pictures of it.

As a result, Apple pt. 2 became "I made leaf garland". You guys know I love felt and I hadn't made anything felty in awhile so some fun, fall, leaf garland was in order.

Happy Fall!

What a day!

First and foremost I have to thank a very special Texan for being my first ever etsy customer! How exciting! I'm so glad that she liked my little felted bits of fun! She purchased a heart keychain/ornament which just so happened to be one of the very first items I ever made using felt. After that heart I was hooked! I love crafting with felt. It's easy to cut, stich and comes in such bright and cheerful colors.

My craft item "de jour" is another etsy shop item. Some fun and sassy little winged heart keychain/ornaments.


On another fun note I made some homemade pizza dough today so my hubby and I had some yummy pizza for dinner tonight. We tried to eat out on the patio tonight but these crazy winds we've had nearly blew us away. I really hope things calm down for this weekend's camping trip (more on that later).

Anyway, I tried out the wheat option on the crust which turned out delicious. I'm sure using just the all purpose flour would have been more delicious but we are trying to eat more fiber these days. Here are some pics of the pizza.