Friday, February 7, 2014

Cute Little Valentine's Blocks

Well it's exactly one week until Valentines Day! I found these cute little Valentine Blocks over at Simply Kierste's Blog. Follow the link to her Blog and see how she made these cute Valentine's blocks.


I love visiting other Blog's and getting inspired to CreAte!
~Happy Valentine's Crafting, thank you Kierste~

Personalized Baby Blocks- A Baby Gift


I saw this post over at Lookie What I did Blog and I think it's just too cute, would love to do this the next time someone has a baby! Stop on by her blog and take a look! :)



I have been waiting to make the perfect baby gift for my friend's cousin and when I came across these cute blocks over at Brown Paper Packages and I knew that this was exactly what I wanted to make. I love it when I can get inspired from another blog and her blog is chalk full of amazing ideas. If you have never visited Kierste's blog, please go to Brown Paper Packages as soon as you can. You will be amazed at her creativity!

Here are the blocks I made...finished, packaged and ready for delivery...


Here is what you will need to make these cute baby blocks...

Blocks (Any Size)
Vinyl
Spray Paint
Sandpaper
Metal Flower (or any other embellishment)

Here are the blocks before they were painted...



I used Rust-Oleum Painters Touch in Sweet Pea and Green Apple. This spray paint is the best spray paint I have ever used. It provides great coverage and doesn't run...I get mine at Home Depot and there are so many colors to choose from too!


Blocks after two coats of spray paint...


I used my Cricut to cut out the vinyl and I used the Songbird Cartridge.

Here are the blocks after applying the vinyl and gluing the metal flower I spay painted with the Sweet Pea color. I aslo distressed the blocks with a 100 grit sand paper. 


As Ella gets older, she can just take away a couple of the blocks and just have her name in her room...


This was a super easy project and I am so thankful I saw Kierste's blog to get the inspiration. I packaged these cute blocks up with some clear cellophane and pretty bow. I know that any new Mom would love to have these blocks as a gift!
















Turn a Shadowbox into a Charging Station- I found this over at www.lookiewhatidid.blogspot.com and I thought it was a very good idea.

Several months ago, I had an "AHA" moment when I came across a shadowbox in Michael's on clearance for $9.00 (original price was $60).  I snatched it up quickly but at the time I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it until I got home and discovered it would be a perfect charging station if I just flipped it upside down...Let me show you what I did....



I started with a shadowbox just like this from Michaels, except mine was a burgundy color that I painted grey.....



Below are the steps I took to transform a simple shadowbox into a charging station....

{The pictures below were taken after everything was finished.  I lost my camera card with all of the before pictures...sorry}

Step 1 - Take the back off of the shadowbox and flip it over (glass is facing down)


Step 2 - Drill a "pretty" hole in the back for the power strip cord to fit...


Step 3 - Install a power strip through the "pretty" hole you have drilled.....


Step 4 - I used 3M Command Velcro picture hanger strips to the back of the power strip.  Now the power strip can be securely placed on the back of the shadowbox.....




Step 5 - Plug in all of your electronics...


Step 6 -  I replaced the back of the shadowbox with a flat wood platform to hold the cell phones, etc that my Dad built.  He cut 5 notches so the cords could fit in but now slip down and he even built a stand to place the iPad on.....

BEFORE
Here is the ONLY picture I have of it before it was painted....


AFTER
Here is the picture after it was painted and simple labels added.  I got the labels in the scrap booking department at Michaels.


Closer picture of labels.....




Picture of the back of the shadowbox (not the prettiest)..


More pictures......







I even had room to add a decorative little bowl to hold my car keys and loose change.....




I am so happy that I had an "AHA" moment and could not be more thrilled with this project.  The charging station sits on a small kitchen counter and doesn't take up any working space in the kitchen.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

BFF's Birthday!

Last Saturday was my best friends birthday! On a budget sometimes we have to be clever and  creative...well as much as I can be! Anyway, I decided to make her a pretty bottle to sit next to her kitchen sink with dish soap in it. I think it came out pretty.

Here's how... I went to Home Goods and purchased a pretty glass bottle, went to the Dollar Tree and purchased some flowers, ponytail holder and some dish soap. That's it!





I put the ponytail band around the bottle, hot glued one flower under the band and filled the bottle up with the dish soap!

And here is the finished project!
And she loved it! 



We celebrated her birthday at a Crab Feed. The Crab Feed was really good, they had wine, bread, shrimp salad, clam chowder, pasta and the crab was excellent. We had a really good time and after the Crab Feed they had a dance, that was fun too! :)