Easy DIY Canvas Photos

I absolutely love the look of these photos mounted on canvas. Simple, clean lines really allow your photo to pop and not be distracted by a traditional photo frame. If you have some photos to show off, definitely give this easy, inexpensive technique a try. It's so easy my 4-year-old made one all by herself!!

I first saw a tutorial for DIY canvas photos at one of my favorite craft blogs, Gingersnaps.com. Ginger's tutorial was the easiest I've found, and I love how she simply painted the edges of the canvas black. I've seen others who Mod-Podged scrapbook paper to the sides, but the painting is much more simple and (I feel) doesn't distract from the photo you're wanting to show off in the first place.

To make your own canvas-mounted photo you'll need:
8x10 Canvas
8x10 Photo Print
Black Paint
Mod Podge (matte)
2 foam brushes

I found canvases to be cheapest at the local Hobby Lobby ($4 for a 2-pack). Sometimes you can catch them half-off, but if not, just use the handy 40% off coupon they normally have on their website (or access it from your smart phone and show it at the cash register). The photos I used were inexpensive reprints. We purchased a CD of photos with reprinting rights, so I don't feel bad permanently affixing a 50-cent picture to canvas. :O)

First you will paint the outer edges of your canvas black with one of the foam brushes.
After that has dried, use the other foam brush to apply a coat of Mod Podge to the top of the canvas.
Then carefully lay your picture on top and smooth it out with a soft cloth to make sure there are no bubbles.
Once the picture is glued in place, go over it with another layer of Mod Podge to give it a brush-stroked look.
Let it dry and then you're ready to showcase your creation!!

My favorite way to hang pictures is with Command Picture Hanging Strips. The strips have adhesive on both sides, so all you have to do is place it on the frame and then stick it on the wall. Skipping the hammer and nails is definitely a plus in my book. :O)



Here's a look at my little canvas photo collection:



Oh, and my 4-year-old seriously may have done a better job on the canvas she made than the ones I did. She wasn't as focused on getting even, straight brush strokes like I was. And although you can't tell from far away, up close you can see the nuances in brush strokes and it gives a great look to the finished photo. She's getting crafty, that one. I wonder where it comes from? :O)

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"Tye-Dyed" Easter Eggs

Easter is getting close and it's time to start thinking about how to decorate those eggs!!

 Last year we tried the "tye-dyed" method and some of them turned out really cool. Making them is easy; just make sure you have gathered up some fun silk ties first.

We used the awesome Silk-Dyed Eggs tutorial at Our Best Bites.

Here's how our first try at tye-dyed eggs turned out:

The ties we used.

Have fun making your own tye-dyed eggs!!

Baby Bib Card

If I haven't mentioned it before, let me just say I LOVE MY SILHOUETTE!! My sweet husband got it for me as a Mother's Day present last year. One of the things I like to use it for is to make personalized cards. I made this cute Baby Bib Card using paper that matched the baby blanket I gave at a friend's baby shower. It was fun to give a matching "collection" -- LOL.

Here's the pink, black, and green card:

And here's another made with yellow and teal:

 
Isn't it great when things get all matchy matchy? :O)

If you love scrapbooking, crafting, sewing, etc., you'd probably love a Silhouette as much as I do. It cuts paper, vinyl, and fabric, and the kinds of things you can make are endless. I have some more projects in the works using my Silhouette I hope to show you soon!!

Baby Blankets 3 Ways {#1}

Our neighborhood has been blessed with three baby girls right in a row. That means I had an excuse to sew up three baby blankets -- yay!! I absolutely love fabric shopping (yes Mom, you heard that right) and had lots of fun picking it out especially for each baby's blanket.

For Baby Blanket #1 I chose a bright pink and green color pallete to match baby's room. This blanket is a simple 36"x36" square. I simply cut the front and back fabric to size, sewed right sides together, then turned out and finished the seam. On top I sewed on some white and sparkly silver ric-rac about 4" inside. Then I finished the edges with a pretty embroidery stitch on my machine.

I also made some coordinating burp rags out of cloth diapers and flannel fabric. On one of them I got a little crazy and added some green ruffles to the pink flannel to match the blanket. Someday I will get one of those weird-looking ruffler contraptions that actually fits my machine and ruffles will take less time. Someday.

I like these types of blankets because I think they're great for baby to sit and play on or for easy cover when it's not cold enough for a thick blanket. Add in the useful (pretty) burp rags and you have a great shower gift.

Alltogether this was an easy project. The hardest part was waiting on my sewing machine to do all its lovely embroidery stitching around the edge. Lucky for me I have a wonderful chiropractor to realign my neck and back after a long stretch of using bad sewing posture. :O)

Stay tuned for Baby Blankets 2 & 3!!

Jewelry Board Pile-Up {Organize & Unclutter!!}

If your jewelry drawer/box/whatever is anything like mine, its contents are unorganized and cluttered all over the place. I finally got tired of digging for things, trying to find matching earrings and all that mess, plus I thought my jewelry deserved to be taken care of just a little bit better, so I decided to do something about it. As you can see, there was an "attempt" in my jewelry drawer to keep like things together, but the menagerie of misfit boxes just wasn't cutting it anymore.

 

See the random assortment of boxes and containers, and my poor bracelets squished together?

I headed to my local craft store happy place and found a few items to try out my idea -- a foam-core insert fitted to my drawer. The whole thing turned out quite well and I'm very proud to say that eight months later, it is still in use and looks the same as when I made it!!

Here's what I used:

• Foam-core board
• Spray adhesive
• Fabric
• Map push pins
• Scissors

Here's how to make your own jewelry board:

First, measure the inside of your drawer or area to put the new jewelry board. Cut your foam-core and then place it in the drawer to make sure it fits. Keep cutting until it fits snugly.

Shake up your spray adhesive and spray a good layer onto the front of the board. Lay your fabric on top and smooth out any wrinkles. I used a solid light-colored fabric so I could still see my jewelry well (i.e. no busy prints).

Flip over the board and fold down the excess fabric (trim if necessary), using spray adhesive just like before.

Now you are ready to do a little design work to figure out where you want everything on your board!! Put in some push pins to hold earrings, necklaces, bracelets, charms -- whatever you want to keep in place. Regular push pins will work fine too, but I found some pretty map push pins on sale and just had to get them for this special project. :O)

For necklaces I used one pin at the top and one at the bottom; bracelets one at the top; earrings one for a pair of hook style, and individual pins for others. Basically do whatever works best for the type of jewelry you have. I had a few necklace slides and other things that just wouldn't work with a pin, so I kept them off to the side in a tray. I kept a place for rings and my watch off to the side as well.

Put the board in your drawer and admire your neatly-placed jewelry!! Open and shut your drawer and leap for joy because your pretty things are still in the same place and not all squished in the corner!!

The nice thing about this board is it's always changeable. You can add and move items around as you have more to put on there, or if you switch jewelry with the seasons. Most importantly, you can SEE all your jewelry at a glance and not have to dig through a mess to find something. You might even wear something more often now that you have uncovered it.

This is a thrifty, easy, and quick way to battle the jewelry drawer pile-up. Now go grab some supplies and organize your shiny loot!!

Note: These pieces are not expensive baubles, just your everyday fun jewelry. If you are lucky enough to have very expensive jewelry, I'd suggest finding another way to organize it other than with push pins. :O)

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Boo Boo Packs -- Save the Band-Aids!!

All kids inevitably get owies, ouchies and boo boo's, and these Boo Boo Packs are an easy, cheap, quick way to make the little ones feel better in a flash.

All you have to do is take some scrap fabric and sew up three sides, fill partially with rice (regular, NOT instant) and sew up the fourth side. I added a ribbon loop to these just for fun. Then put them in the freezer and use it next time there's a boo boo.

And for the husbands bigger kids, make large ones to use for muscle aches. They're even great relief when warmed up in the microwave. You can make these as fancy or plain as you like, but either way they work just the same. And believe me, we've saved lots of money skipping the Band-Aids. :O)

Rainbow Crafts {Fruit Loops & Jell-O}

At our rainbow playdate the kids all did an amazing job with craft time. The projects were both very sensory and the kids really enjoyed doing them. I found lots of great ideas at Making Learning Fun, but chose two specifically for the playdate.


The first was making rainbows with Fruit Loops cereal. Some of the kids put all one color on each row, while others mixed up the Loops. Either way you get a beautiful result!! Go here to download the Rainbow Fruit Loops printable.

Rows of a single color

  
Mixed colors

The first time Haleigh Ann did this activity (before our playdate) she had fun picking out the different colors of cereal and counting how many of each she needed per row. It also was the first time I let her use glue from a bottle and (thankfully) it wasn't quite the messy experience I figured it would be.

Grace ^ and Izzy making pretty rainbows!!

TIP: Have extra Fruit Loops on hand -- they are yummy and hard for kids (and adults) to resist!!

Our next craft was Scented Rainbows. The kids spread glue onto the page and then sprinkled on powdered Jell-O with spoons. The result was a beautiful, fruity-scented rainbow!! Go here to download the Rainbow Scented Jello printable.

Dante's finished scented rainbow

Haleigh Ann ^ and Ella making scented rainbows!!

 

Props to our 5-year-old crafter Ella who combined the two projects by adding blue Fruit Loops to resemble clouds on her scented rainbow page. :O) She finished by putting her name at the top in Fruit Loops and added some cotton balls for clouds at the top. She's quite a creative little girl!!

Ella with her pretty rainbow creation!!