Baby Boy and Dachsund Dog Love

The husband's sister is having a baby boy!  She thought of the cutest nursery idea!

She's going to decorate it with Dachshunds!  Of course, they own their own, Miss Daisy!  Steph and I are bound by our love of shopping and cheapness.  She'll see something super cute...and I usually say "We could make that!" So we did.

Steph thought of the idea of doing the dachshund dog...and then extending her belly!  She saw it on these chairs.  So she projected it onto the canvas (between her and my mother-in-law and being a preschool teacher they have almost all things crafty that you need)

I just basically helped her paint.

Turned out pretty cute...she really wanted a pop art style. Like this pin.

Took us about 2 hours to finish...between waiting for the paint to dry.

I'll have to get a picture of a canvas we did for my sister last Christmas...

Ideas stemmed from similar Pins Here and here.

To see Steph's Pinterest Board of Dachshund click here.

Fort Kit for Christmas

 

 Who doesn't love a good fort? But who hates ripping off sheets and blankets from all the beds? Then, having to put them back ON?

 

 Fort Nelson consists of:

3 thrifted sheets with ties sewn on

clothes pins

clamps

3 flashlights

glow sticks

suction cups for those hard to hold window areas

bungee cords

My little sister, Hali, happened to be there when the nephews opened it. Immediately, she and my nephews ran downstairs to play. Afterwards, Hali asked when she was getting one. 

She is almost 21.

Saw this here on Pinterest

Magnetic Scrabble Board. DIY

My sister Hannah is super smart.

She loves Scrabble.

Too many words in her mind. 

I found this idea on Pinterest...of course!

Obviously, someone needs to use an Official Scrabble Dictionary.

I remember even thinking while taking the photo..."wouldn't it be funny if I spelled it wrong, ha, good thing I've double checked the spelling." Yet, still got it wrong. 

Things you'll need to create along with some approximate pricing.

Scrabble Game : Free from lady at work or $10 at Walmart.

Magnets with sticky back : Free because I am a crafting hoarder.

Scissors to cut magnet.

Large Frame with super ugly photo in it :  $5.00 Thrifted.

Metal Board : For some reason, I couldn't find this anywhere in the craft shops. I even had my 40% off coupons...yet I improvised. Came to me one night...an oil pan.  So, I bought one from Walmart for $10.  But it's so big, I can get another large magnet board out of it. (I have something super in mind.)

Tin Snips : for the oil pan/or this is completely unnecessary if you find the right board initially.

Official Scrabble Dictionary : I bought mine on Half.com for $4.00

Paper to cover the Official Scrabble Dictionary and a sewing machine.

Craft paint to antique : Already had

Metal Letter Stamps : I got these from Artbeads.com $15 for another project...but had a brilliant plan mid making.

a Hammer : Already had.

Water and Paintbrush : Already had.

About $29.00 to make if you don't include my metal stamps.

Took me about and hour to make.

Cut the sticky magnets into strips and apply to all the letters.

We took out the ugly print in the frame and traced it on the oil pan.

Then, we took the tin snips and chopped it out!

Watch out, this is super sharp metal edges.

We then placed the cut oil pan into the frame and put the ugly print flipped backwards back in the frame.

I wanted to antique frame, plus it already had some pretty good dents...so I took my letter metal stamps and stamped the wood.  After, I went over the entire frame with some water downed craft paint and wiped it off  after it bled in the wood. I tested it first on the back to make sure it would still kind of look like letters.

Which is did! 

A true Scrabble player would never play with out the trusty Dictionary.  I didn't care for the cover, so I decided to make my own.  I found some paper strips and material and sewed it right onto the original cover.  I loved how retro it looks.

i love how the antique look is actually letters, so unless someone is paying particular attention, they would never notice!

I put on a tag and Viola!

Hope you had a jolly Christmas!

Pinned here

Merry Christmas!

It's a Small World Ride in Disneyland

Back Rub Shirt for Christmas

I love Pinterest you guys...I may lack the initial creativity, but I love to create!

Found this beauty on Pinterest. 

Made it for the Father-in-Law and Brother-in-Law for Christmas.  It's for the grand boys to play their cars on and also rubs the person's back.

Derek's sister stayed up late to help me one night. Much too late...we were a little crazy!!! 

The original pin had a template which I had a hard time printing for some reason...so we improvised and created our own that was similar.

A few notes...use white shirts...we tried the gray shirt and had to hand draw...it was not quite as good as the template.  Make sure to use "Puffy Paint" as I'm told its called.

Original Pin Here

Giving Back

My little Etsy shop has been keeping me busy. 

I wanted my customers to know how we really appreciate their business.

Especially because it's going to help fund out adoption!

So I made some little bookmarks, which include a thanks and my blog.

Which, you know... I didn't buy a thing.

I used some paper and thread from my mother-in-law.

My favorite is the blue with roses.

And that, my friends, is the extend of my scrapbooking abilities.

Tea, Wreath, Pinecone, 20 minutes and Santa

This wreath had definitely seen better days. . .

Little smooshed with a little red bow... outdated.

So I searched my house for something to spruce it up.

Like some vintage ribbon lying about.

Found a doily from my gram in Iowa.

Took off the bashed pinecones, added some pinecones from my fallen Christmas tree, 

(see here)

flipped it around and glued it back in.

Found a Santa in my ornament box. 

(You know how the neighbors always give you little gifts...and you don't know what to do WITH THEM? This was one of them.) 

I found some crocheted snowflakes that we were given last year. 

Which I really liked....

but they were a little too white. 

I really wanted an antiqued color.

So I put the snowflakes in some Celestial Ginger Snap Tea.

(You know it had a orange clearance sticker from Smith's)

Gave them a nice color along with a super delish smell!

Up - cycled some old cranberry strands.

20 minutes later.

I had quite a lovely new wreath.

What do you think?

I really love the Santa Claus Ornament, oh and the snowflakes...really, I just love it. 

(You know this chair is thrifted)

Christmas is almost here...

are you ready?

I have so many projects that I want to post...but see,  they are people's Christmas gifts...can't ruin my surprise!

It was magical.

Happy Shoes

I really like Toms...

 

there are many styles, colors...all so wonderful.

But I just can't justify the cost for slipper looking shoes.

So...I bought some knock-offs.

Which are pretty comfy.

And I don't feel bad coloring the bottoms when i get bored.

 Ü

Once they get a little bit more worn...i plan on coloring the tops too. Soy Excited for the future!!!!