Rock boot tray

For December, I made a new spot for our wet shoes!  I saw this idea on Pinterest.  I bought and inexpensive boot tray and used hot glue to secure rocks, which I purchased at the dollar store. 

Simple Wall Art

 

Here is a simple way to decorate your wall.   I have seen something similar in a design/décor magazine with a wall filled with a simple multi-color block scheme which I am sure cost hundreds of dollars. Here, is a less costly approach.  With the inexpensive three wooden frames from IKEA I used water color paper and water color paints to complete this project.  Use as many frames and different color patterns as you wish. (My lines are not as even as I hoped but for a more precise division cover one half with paper as you paint).      ~JM

 

Polymer Cupcake charm

For November, I tried making/baking something with polymer clay.  I made this little cupcake and used beads for the sprinkles.  I attached a small ring so that it could be a charm on a necklace or bracelet.  I watched a video on u-tube to learn how to do this and look forward to trying more ideas.

Holiday Cards

Every year I enjoy making holiday cards.  There are so many possibilities with blank cards!  For my first card I used water color crayons which can be dipped in water to get a water color paint feel. I played around with a design as you see below.

 

~ JM

Fall sign

This month I made a Fall sign.  I used stencils to cut out the letter shapes from pictures of my favorite Fall places and attached a real dried leaf.  I  used modge podge to cover the photos and leaf and then attached string to the back for hanging.  -NB

Fall Wreath

Having not touched a piano in over ten years I used old piano music to create this wreath.  First, I bought a circular cardboard from Michael's along with felt leaf stickers.  Using a stencil, I cut leaf patterns from the sheet music and glued to the cardboard.

I then layered the felt leaves on top.

~ JM

Reading lamp

For my September goal....I decorated a lamp shade.  I found this lamp at a garage sale and on the way home, it tipped over and the shade ripped.  So, to cover up the rip I decoupaged it with book pages. Now I use this lamp to read by and it feels so cozy!

Cork Crafts

Here is what I made at another craft happy hour.  This time the focus was cork which is easy to work with and gives many opportunities to create different crafts such as key-chains,  brooches, necklaces, coasters, and photo holders.  Plus, you can carve letters or shapes on the bottom of corks to create your own stamps!

One of projects was a key-chain.  Materials: screw eyes, cork, key ring.

The second project was a brooch.  Materials: pin-back, cork, glue, box-cutter and embellishments (wire, buttons, sequins, beads, etc.)

~ JM

Dragon flies

For my August goal I made dragon flies out of sticks, twirly birds and googly eyes :)  I found this idea in a Family Fun magazine.

Stencil

Here is another project where I used paint.   This time I had help from some fancy stencils that I bought at Michael's.   I used water color paper but any heavy type of paper will do.  With a nice stencil design, you can spruce up anything from homemade greeting cards to a bigger picture you can frame.  - JM

Beautiful books

For my July project, I decided to jazz up some books.  I have books I want to keep that aren't cute, so I covered them with fun scrapbook paper.

Sumi-e Sunset

I finally ordered the Sumi-e art book in time for my June goal.  I used both Sumi-e ink,water color, and rice paper  to create a serene picture to hang on my kitchen wall.

Bookmarks

For my June goal I made these bookmarks for my Mother-in-law.  I took pictures of the kids with their arms up and laminated them.  When they are in a book, they will look like they are really holding onto her spot! I found this idea in Family Fun magazine.

Weaving

Oh, fond memories.  Going back nearly 30 years I remember my 1st grade teacher taping rows of string at the corner of our desks.  The students would weave different color yarn when there was downtime.

I tried to do the same thing--creating a make-shift loom and weaving embroidery floss.  I predict that thicker yarn is probably better to use but the floss is all I had and I am satisfied with the results.  ~ JM

Book page decoupage heart box

For my May goal, I decided to try decoupage.  This is a wooden heart box that I covered in pages from an old book.

A walk on the beach

April 30, 2012

For April this was my project.  I saw this saying on a framed piece of art at a store and loved it.  So, I decided to make my own with this saying!

Hanging Branches in the Sunset

This idea came from a wallpaper design I saw.  This project is not hard at all.  I painted the background yellow with a lighter shade towards the bottom to create dimension.  The branches are squiggly lines with smaller lines branching out.  To compliment the yellow-orange-brown color I added blue flowers.  A simple project that will brighten your day!
- JM

Food Jar Into Vase

Happy Spring!  I turned an old salsa jar into a lovely vase.   I mixed green and yellow acrylic paint with a little bit of water and swish the contents around leaving a swirl of color.  I wrapped the jar with decorative straw and placed flowers inside!  Who would of thought it once had salsa in it!  -JM

Beautiful Day Window

For March I made this window to brighten up our basement that has only one small real window. This could also be used as a 6 section dry erase board!

Paper Birds

I have wanted to make some simple paper birds.  These would be fun to send in the mail or add to a wrapped gift.  They are easy to make and fun because you can use any design of scrapbook paper you choose.  The feet are made with a paperclip so they stand :)

Needle Felting

My hope was to order the Sumi-e instruction book by now to learn how to draw chrysanthemums, but that hasn't happened quite yet. 

So for this month I learned more about needle felting than I ever knew before --I never heard of it.   I love trying new things and I attended a craft happy hour at an art museum.  The combination of sharp needles and beer consumption left my fingers a little tender but I had fun.  Needle felting is a craft that definitely takes practice (as you will see in the picture better examples are on a sample sheet in the background).

Needle felting is the act of forming shapes or designs out of loose wool.  This is done by taking a special needle that has a textured shaft.  The needle catches the wispy fibers and tangles them together.  By repetitively poking the needle into the loose wool, a shape is formed.

-JM

4 season tree

My January goal was to make a 4 season tree for a birthday gift for my sister, Julie.  With the tree, I included decorations for each season.  I made snow/snowflakes for winter, green leaves/flowers for Spring/Summer and colorful leaves for Fall.  The picture posted is the tree decorated for Valentine's day!

-NB

Sumi-e

My January creative goal was to take a Sumi-e art class.   This is a form of Japanese ink painting using rice paper, sumi-e ink, and a bamboo paint brush.   Below you will see the practice paintings.  The whole two days of the art workshop focused on bamboo, stems and leaves.  It was much harder than I thought!  I wish to continue practicing and buy a Sumi-e book that comes with an instructional DVD by Shozo Sato.

  (I still have a lot of rice paper left over).

- JM