Raising Kids and Crafting Too: 2013

Crafty WoodCutouts

I am very excited to announce that I will be joining up with Crafty WoodCutouts team! Haven’t heard of Crafty WoodCutouts? Well, it is a small, but rapidly growing wood craft supply company out of Provo, Utah. I can’t tell you enough wonderful things about them! I absolutely love their unfinished wood products that allow you to create the perfect craft of your design choosing with ease! If you are a fan of Mod Podging, painting or making all things pretty, then you have to go check them out! The quality of their products is simply amazing!!! Fantastic customer service and outstanding attention to detail! Not to mention, Megan is probably one of the nicest people I have ever talked to on the phone. :) And their prices… WOW! If you haven’t heard enough yet, and you still haven’t opened another window in your browser to go look, DO IT NOW!!!

Here are a couple of pieces I made using their wood cutouts:

When the wood cutouts come to you, they will be UNFINISHED and look a little something like this:

The sky is the limit from there! Your creativity and craftiness will guide you the rest of the way. “Hold up Dawn,” you say. “I ain’t got no craftiness or creativity. But I still want something pretty.” No need to worry my friend! Crafty WoodCutouts can help. They have a blog right on their website with fantastic tutorials and pictures to guide you every step of the way. Still stumped? I’m always here to help too! I can either help you with ordering products, or help you with creating the craft you invision.

So what are you waiting for! Go check it out! They have something for just about everyone, every holiday and celebration. And tell them Dawn set y’all from way down yonder in Louisiana! :)

See you again soon! Until then... I'm off to The Craftcation Conference in sunny Ventura, California!

Have a happy and safe Easter everyone!

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Moss LUCKY Letters

Ahh, I just love this time of year! Spring is in the air, so many holidays but so little time to craft! The story of my life recently. I have been up to my ears in projects for customers and teaching craft classes that I haven’t had a moment of time to craft for myself. Well today I said the heck with the household chores. It's time for a little proCRAFTination! The dishes and the laundry… eh, they can wait. This lady needs to craft!

Let me start by saying I am a proud Irish girl!!! In my family, being Irish is celebrated year round, not just the month of March. Some of my greatest memories as a child are with my mother’s side of family, (McManus, just a wee bit Irish huh?) and the millions of cousins running around to the sound Peter Yates Irish Folk music playing in the background. With all these happy memories floating around in my head, I just had to make something to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

So I got to work and gathered the supplies I needed:

3D letters, Spanish moss, forest green acrylic paint, paint brush, some accessories, scissors and a hot glue gun.

Paint your letters and let them dry.

Hot glue the moss to the letters. Trim and shape moss to your desired look.

Glue down your accessories for the finishing touches.

And there you have it! Wasn’t that easy?

So glad I decided to do a little proCRAFTination today! But as you all know there is always laundry and dishes to be done. Boo. Especially in a house full of boys. Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! Until next time!

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What a Great Week!

What an amazing week it has been! I feel so blessed! Oh my goodness! My Burlap and Pearls project was featured over at Craftionary and at Create, Craft, Love. Oh, and it has been repinned on Pinterest over 2,000 times!!! Ok, ok, ok…, I know I am just a start up blogger and this isn’t really a big deal in the great big world of blogging… but this is a HUGE accomplishment for me, and a girl has to start somewhere! I feel like I’m on top of the world!

Ha, ha, ha... so not quite.... but you get the idea!

In other exciting news, I am going to be offering craft classes out of my home. I love crafting and I miss teaching so much…, it was a no brainer to put the two together! My first class is next weekend!

This is the first project we will be making in the adult class:

I loved a project that I saw by Angie over at Burton Avenue.

I was inspired to teach a class based on her design.

I will also be offer a kid’s craft class as well.

This is what we will be making on February 23 for that class:

Many new and exciting opportunities are happening for this lady and I am just so darn excited I can barely contain myself!

Craftcation is coming up! Are you going? I AM!!! Haven’t heard about it?

Check it out here!

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Burlap and Pearls

What a week it has been in my house! I really don’t know which to tell you about first because I am so excited about both! I guess I’ll start with the youngest first. Little D is off and walking ALREADY!!! Can you believe it!!! At only ten months old! Mommy and Daddy could not be more proud and more terrified at the same time. This little guy will definitely continue to keep us on our toes.

Now on to my BIG BOY! After what I can only estimate was close to 15 or so hours in the bathroom last week with my three year old Big D, potty training was successful! Wahoo! Oh yeah, did I mention that my husband was out of town for work last week, so I tackled the majority of this potty training fiasco on my own!

Mommy bragging aside, after last week’s project I couldn’t stop thinking about Valentine’s day and all the pretty things I could make. So I decided to make another Valentine themed project. Most of the supplies I already had sitting around in my craft room, so I jumped right in! Here are the supplies I gathered:

An old frame, spray paint, staple gun, foam board, burlap, pearls, lots and lots and lots of pearls, hot glue gun, and a preprinted or hand drawn heart shape to glue your pearls to.

Second Hand Rose Antiques Minden, Louisiana

I got this old frame at a cute little antique store called Second Hand Rose Antiques. Milly Rose, the owner is such a sweet little lady. I love going there just to visit with her. Not to mention look through her enormous four story collection of antiques and collectables!

I gave the frame a coat of spray paint in Cherry Red, let it dry and set it aside until I was ready for it again.

I cut the foam board down to the size I needed it to fit the frame and covered it with the burlap fabric using my hot glue gun to secure it in place. Then I attached the foam board to frame using a staple gun.

Now on to all those pretty, pretty, pearls. Anytime I find myself at garage sales, estate sales or flea markets I HAVE to go check out the old jewelry. I don’t know what it is about it, but I love it. I have a nice little collection of yellow and orange costume jewelry going and I can’t wait to get that project started once I have enough pieces collected! Going to be so pretty! :) The pearls I used in this project came from various estates sales, and antique stores that I collected over the past few months. The pearls are different colors, sizes and several even have some noticeable flaws. Each of these pearls has a different story or memory that is very special to someone at some point in time. I just love that, and is easily my favorite thing about this project. I didn't have near enough when I took the supplies picture above, so I had to go out and find more.

I started gluing...and kept on gluing; in no particular order or pattern for five hours. Until it looked like this:

Totally worth it though!! Isn’t it GORGEOUS!!! I love it! The lighting in this picture made the pearls look much lighter than they actually are, but you still get the idea. :)

All there was left to do was glue the pretty pearl heart to the burlap frame and find a new home for it on the wall. In my initial crafting brainstorm, I had planned to add a little lace around the pearl heart. In the end I decided that it looked beautiful and elegant just the way it was.

What have you made for Valentine’s Day? I’d love to see! Please share your link with me so I can take a look a your beautiful creations as well! Thanks for stopping by!

Labels: Old Jewelry, Spray Paint, Valentines Day | 13 comments

Valentine's Day Subway Art

If I were to sum this project up in one word it would be flexibility. It didn’t go at all the way I had originally planned, but it still turned out pretty neat in the end. And I even learned some valuable lessons along the way.

I wanted to a project that involved my new Silhouette Cameo my husband got me for my birthday and since I put my Valentine’s Decorations up this week. I decided something pink was in order. I settled on a Valentine Subway Art project.

Now, in the beginning, I had planned on doing a crackle paint project. This is Plan A, and the supplies I gathered:

I gave the wood plaque a coat of the Americana Acrylic paint in Carousel Pink and let it dry 24 hours. Then I applied the Martha Stewart Crafts Fine Crackle Effect in smooth even strokes and let that dry and followed it with a coat of Americana Acrylic paint in Warm White. Now…, if you have been following the weather at all, Louisiana and most of the southern states have been getting dumped on with rain. As a result, the LESSON I LEARNED the hard way, this particular crackle effect medium does not work in high humidity conditions.

So on to Plan B: I gave it ANOTHER coat of the Americana Acrylic paint in Carousel Pink and let it dry and followed with a coat of Americana Acrylic paint in Warm White. Nothing another coat of paint can’t fix, right!!! ; ) After it was dry I sanded the edges and distressed it up a little.

I found a file on the Silhouette website that I liked (hey, I’m a rookie, I’m not about to create my own just yet) and cut it out. Let me tell you that machine is ridiculous! Even my husband is in awe of the Cameo! It is so awesome! To quote Woody from my son’s favorite movie Toy Story, “If you don’t have one, GET ONE!” hehehehe, I just love that movie :)

Once your letters are cut out, grab a cup of coffee, or wine, diet coke whatever you like and pull up a chair because this part takes a little bit of time. With a glue pen, attach the letters to your wood plaque using the images on the cutting mat as your reference.

Add a little Mod Podge and let it dry to seal everything up and give it a shine.

And there you have it! What do you think?

As always, thanks for stopping by and come back and see me again!

Labels: Acrylic Paint, Lessons Learned, Subway Art, Valentines Day | 9 comments

Ugly Duckling Stand

I get so excited when I find something ugly in a store and I know that I can fix it up into something beautiful! That’s exactly what happed with this pretty little thing!!!

Ok, ok. I know. It’s hideous. But nothing a little paint and elbow grease can’t fix!

I wanted to paint this in ASCP Antibes Green, but I had a customer in mind that I knew would love to have it in Duck Egg Blue. And why wouldn’t she? It’s a gorgeous color! ; )

I paired it some accenting details in Old White and gave it a few coats of Clear Wax.

I finished it off with a creative touch by Mod Podging some of my favorite scrapbook paper into the drawers of the stand. I love how it turned out! A striking difference from what it once was!!!

On a side note, this past week I celebrated my 29^th birthday. Wow! To celebrate the last year of my twenties, my husband got me the most amazing gift! A Silhouette Cameo!!! I can’t wait to see all the trouble that baby is going to get me into! ;) Come back and see me soon!

1 comments

Crafty WoodCutouts

Moss LUCKY Letters

What a Great Week!

Burlap and Pearls

Valentine's Day Subway Art

Ugly Duckling Stand

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