Happy Halloween

Have a fabulous and safe Halloween!

-Emily

Something I Whipped Up: Monster Eyes

Here it is the day before Halloween and I didn't have anything little for the kids' teachers.  I wanted something easy and that didn't require any baking.  I searched through Pinterest and came across this idea from The Fickle Pickle.

I used her free printables for the eyeballs and the gift tag.  The idea is to glue/tape the "eyeballs" to one end of a mini Reese's cup.

Give Thanks

I have to admit, now that we're this close to Halloween I'm ready to begin thinking about Thanksgiving.  This post is part one of two I have planned.  I needed some sort of framed art and now that Hobby Lobby has just opened in our area, I knew I'd get some inspiration from walking through the aisles.  Can I just give a huge shout-out to Hobby Lobby...totally Michael's and Joann's on steroids.

Not long ago I gave canvas art a try.  When I purchased the canvas squares, they came in a pack of 7 so I had some extras.  I knew somewhere....somehow I'd use them up.  

Here are the materials I started with:

I began by spray painting the canvas.  I went to the cupboard to pull out Rustoleum's Espresso, but I didn't have it.  I did have a "hammered metal" can in there so I used that.  The canvas actually ended up with a very smooth finish.  The next step was to adhere the scrapbook paper to the canvas.  I (very carefully) added Elmer's glue to the back of the paper and made my way around the edges.  All was good until I reached the 3rd side and I began to get some buckling in the paper (see below.)  I worked with the paper and eventually got it looking pretty good, but not perfect.

After realizing that the edges wouldn't lay completely flat I decided that I would put some ribbon along the edges of the paper.  Then, to mask the corners I applied some silk flowers.  I picked out "Give Thanks" from the wooden letters and painted them the burnt sienna color.  I used hot glue to attach everything and called it a night.

Stay tuned to find out how this is going to be tied in to part II of my Thanksgiving idea. 

Thursday Thoughts

Ten Thoughts This Thursday

1.  I wish...my legs were longer.

2.  I want...stylish fall shoes.

3.  I think...I take too many things for granted.

4.  I laugh...at some of the poses my cat sleeps in.

5.  I appreciate...friends that are genuine.

6.  I enjoy...a good massage (but need them more often.)

7.  I watch...Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (there, I said it.)

8.  I am proud...of my son's intrinsic motivation towards school.

9.  I recommend...Marcona almonds w/rosemary from Trader Joe's.

10.  I hope...I can win over the students at today's assembly.

Felt Flower Pillow

About a month ago I found some great pillows for our couch, which meant I could get rid of some old pillows.  Once I did that, it look bare so I thought I'd try my hand at covering a pillow with some felt flowers.  I had success with my felt flower wreath so I decided to do something similar.

I bought 4 pieces of felt (4 for $1.00) to add to my existing supply of felt and a plain pillow from Walmart for $9.00.  I had looked around other stores for something plain and came up empty handed.  I knew "Wally World" would have simple inexpensive pillows.

My goal was to tie in the colors of our curtain material.

I started by cutting out the felt to make different kinds of flowers.  For the pom pom flowers, I followed the directions from Lines Across My Face--the rest I just free-handed.

It took me a long time to arrange the flowers to get them in a placement I liked.  I ended up not using  some flowers I had initially made and then I had to make some flowers to fill in spaces.  

Not too shabby for a $10.00 project!

Scrapbook Paper Pumpkin

I recently tried my hand at some scrapbook paper canvas art.  After completing the project I began to think of other things I could create with paper and Modge Podge.  Since pumpkins are seen just about everywhere now, that's where I got my inspiration.  

The materials I needed for this project were scrapbook paper,

 a fake pumpkin, and Modge Podge.

The first thing I did was cut the paper into strips.  I didn't measure them, just eyeballed it using my scrapbooking paper cutter. 

I plopped myself in front of the TV with the pumpkin, warm water, a dish of Modge Podge, a paintbrush, and the paper.  Before applying the paper to the pumpkin I lightly dipped the strips into the warm water, one at a time.  It did make the paper fragile to work with, but it stuck to the pumpkin wonderfully.  I ended up painting small areas of the pumpkin with the glue before putting the strips on and then again, brushed more glue on top spending a lot of time on the edges to get them to lay down and look smooth. 

 Here we are...all done!

Because the paper had straight sides and the pumpkin was round, it was difficult to not have any creases.  

Last month I purchased the "Trick or Treat" decal from Group Dealz for $2.50. 

Thursday Thoughts

Ten Thoughts This Thursday

1.  I wish...I had 2 more hours today.

2.  I want...new shoes for fall weather.

3.  I think...coffee dates with friends are priceless.

4.  I laugh...at what comes out of a first grader's mouth during my volunteer time at school.

5.  I appreciate...technology.

6.  I enjoy...a particular bird that's been visiting and chirping in the morning.  It's just beautiful. 

7.  I struggle...with sometimes just letting things go.

8.  I feel...creative.

9.  I am proud...of my son's success with baseball.

10.  I hope...the gorgeous fall weather sticks around for a while.

I've Been Featured!

 My wreath is being featured at Serenity You.
 Thank you, Natasha!

My dresser is being featured at Thrifty101!  Check it out...

Thank you, Michelle!

Canvas Art

Last weekend I was cruising around my favorite blogs and came across THIS post from The Girl Creative.  I've been working on updating our front room now for a few months.  I haven't been 100% committed to it, but as I see things that motivate me I redecorate.  The canvas art in the link is something that I thought I could accomplish, it was inexpensive, and I had wall space that needed some filling.

Here is the picture that motivated me.  However, I don't have that much wall space to fill.  I thought 3 squares, hung vertically, would do.

I headed to Michael's to get what I needed, which was only a pack of the canvas squares.  I purchased a package of 7 for $14.99.  I would love to save this idea and do it in Rose's room when we redecorate it...someday.

The only other things I needed were scrapbook paper and matte Modge Podge, which I had on hand.

Each canvas measures 12x12 as does the scrapbook paper.  I didn't want the edges of the canvas to be white so I spray painted the edges Rustoleum's Espresso.

You can read in the link at the top of this post for all the details about applying the paper to the canvas.  I followed her tutorial, but discovered a couple of things.  The first was that I trimmed the paper down just a bit so that no part of the paper folded over the edge.  When my paper got wet, it seemed to somehow stretch out.  Also, some of my paper was heavy duty, which I wouldn't work with again because it caused some bubbling--the thin paper works best.

So after getting my fingers all sticky with glue, here it the outcome of my canvas art project.