Hand Cut Silhouettes

Framed silhouettes make for fun, yet elegant decor.  I don't have a fancy die cut machine for my computer, so I thought that I couldn't make silhouettes of my kids.  Then I had an idea!  First I took profile pictures of my boys.  Then I blew their images up as large as I could to fit on an 8x10 page.  After I printed their pictures I cut around their side profiles very carefully.  (Of course, they both have goofy expressions!)

Then I traced the profiles on black card stock and cut those out.  Voila...silhouettes!  I matted them on white 8x10 card stock and framed them in inexpensive black frames.  Peyton looks very serious, but Daulton has such a devilish grin!

I love them on a small corner of my kitchen wall.

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The Girl Creative

Today's Creative Blog

New Old Lampshade

I snagged this lampshade from my mom's basement, but it was in need of some updating.  The shade itself was in good shape, but it had yellowed over the years and it was just really boring. 

I found some ivory cotton fabric, cut from it about 100 three inch circles and glued them around the shade, overlapping the circles to cover the entire piece.

I finished the edges by folding half circles under the shade and gluing them down.  The shade is much more interesting now...don't you think?

Summer Theme Wall Art

My family room is my latest big project and is taking way too long.  I kept changing my mind about furniture arrangements and accent colors, but Saturday I finally decided to go with turquoise and yellow, black and silver, like much of my house.  I have been working on some decorative accents and saw an awesome wall art idea with sea shells and silver spray paint.   For the life of me I can't remember where I saw the idea, so if it's yours please let me know so I can give credit where credit is due:).  
First I spray painted some sea shells we collected on our trip to Charleston, SC last year.

Then I cut out and framed blue and white paper to resemble the ocean.

Lastly, I arranged the shells in columns and rows and hot glued them to the glass.

Inexpensive, quick, lovely wall art!

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Skip to My Lou
Today's Creative Blog
Under The Table and Dreaming

Fabric Flower Centerpiece

I love those organza flowers you see all over and I LOVE the color turquoise, so when I can combine both into one project, I am pretty happy!  I made this centerpiece for my kitchen table a while back, but it is still one of my favorite projects ever.  Of course, it took me forever to make the many petals and flowers.

After I made about 30 flowers and sewed pearl beads onto the centers, I glued them on an old Chuck E Cheese basketball that we had laying around.  I didn't have to cover the bottom of the ball with flowers because it sits on a vase.  I inherited the vintage cut-glass vase from my grandma and I think it looks beautiful with these flowers.

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Tatertots and Jello

Fingerprints on the Fridge

Yard Sale Find

I usually don't have good luck at yard sales, because I'm a late shopper.  I work until noon on Saturdays and, by then, all the good stuff is gone.  I did make it to a sale on my way to work once, and I am so glad I did!   Of course I forgot to take a before picture, but close your eyes and get a mental picture:  a white wicker chair, with faded navy blue cushions.  Now open your eyes and behold the after!

The first thing I did was paint the chair black with a glossy spray paint.  The cushions were in good shape besides the sun-bleached fabric, so I made slipcovers to match my decor.  The seat cushion is a pale yellow and the back pillow is an awesome black, white, and gray outdoor fabric.  I love that pattern!

I put my finished chair in my little sun-nook in my kitchen.  I curl up with a cup of coffee and my Bible in the morning...what a way to start the day!

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Living Room Mantle

Our gas fireplace is HUGE!  It sticks out into the room, so it has the potential to be a sore thumb...and  it was until I mustered up the courage to paint it black!  All of the woodwork in our house is in the oak family and painting real wood used to terrify me...like it was sacrilegious or something!  However, painting my fireplace and mantle was one of the best decorating decisions ever.

My favorite project on my mantle is the gray "m" art and sweater sleeve vase.  The gray material was up-cycled from an old gray sweater that I never wore anymore.  I cut the sleeve off and put it over a cheap glass vase and stretched the back fabric over a piece of plywood.  For the "m" I made rosettes from some scrap black fabric that I had.

Check out the vignette on the side of my mantle.  I took the glass out of a silver frame and filled it with yellow fabric leftover from an upholstery project.  Then I made a large flower out of ruffled strips of denim and glued it to the fabric.  I love mason jars, so I filled this one with shells and sand dollars collected on our beach vacation last year.   The little nest was inspired by my cousin's etsy shop GracieLuv.  My nest is no where near as cute as hers are, but I still love it.

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Today's Creative Blog

Backyard Patio and Fire Pit

Since my boys had outgrown their old metal swing set, we decided to pull it out and build a patio. Well...I decided and recruited my husband. The swing set came out easy, but digging the yard up for the patio and fire pit was quite a job. My awesome hubby did most of the heavy digging, then we leveled the soil and edged the area with rock. 

For the fire pit, we dug deeper and put down concrete blocks. Then we used more rock to outline the fire pit. Lastly, we filled the entire patio with pea gravel. The only cost we had with this project was the pea gravel, as the rock was collected from a roadside near our house.

 

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Under the Table and Dreaming
Craftomaniac
The Girl Creative

My New Craft Room

I am forever changing things in my house. My husband teases me that everyday he comes home from work, something is different! That is so not true...at least not everyday!
One of my latest re-do's was my crafting space. For several years I worked out of our family room, but I was never truly satisfied with my crafting area. It took up alot of my kids play space and never had the look I wanted.I have 2 kids and live in a 3 bedroom house, so really I was lucky to have any crafting space at all! Well....about 6 months ago my boys decided that they wanted bunk beds. In order to do this they would have to share a bedroom...right? So that would free up a bedroom for a craft room ;). Check it out!Now I have a work table and a separate sewing station. My work table is a sofa table from my mom that I spray painted black. For the sewing station, I re purposed an oak laminate computer desk. All it needed was some primer and white paint.
I inherited the chairs from my grandmother. They belong to a patio set. The other 4 chairs and the table are on my back porch. I wasn't too fond of the original pea green color, so a little spray paint transformed the heavy metal frames and an outdoor zebra fabric jazzed up the once green floral cushions.
I have alot of craft stuff, but I don't want to look at it all the time. These boxes are PERFECT for hiding all my supplies. I work in an office, so I was able to claim all of these empty envelope boxes. The heavy cardboard makes them very sturdy. A roll of wrapping paper from Hobby Lobby and viola...lovely storage boxes!I make pendants and other jewelry, so I always have chains laying around. I needed a place to hang supplies and works in progress, so I added cork sheets to these old picture frames for an inexpensive solution. I used the pegboard from my old craft area. I just painted it black.
I need to add some wall art and accessories for the room to really be done, but I have a good start and love my new work room!

Craft Hope Ladies Night

1Peter 4:10 Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.

My friend, Sarah of This Crazy Blessed Life suggested that the "young" crafty ladies of our church use our collective talents to serve. She introduced us to Craft Hope and their awesome mission "to share handmade crafts with those who need them.". Friday night we gathered at my house for Project 12: Orphan Outreach. Our goal: to make bracelets for orphaned children in St. Petersburg, Russia. Over snacks and conversation we made 53 bracelets!

I pray that the bracelets are a blessing to every child who receives one. May they feel God's love through us.