Crafting Fever

Well, I'm sure you can guess from the title of this post what it's going to be about! Let me just start off by saying this is my sister's fault=) The last couple of times I've been in Utah she has wanted me to help her with some decorations for her house. I LOVE doing that sort of stuff. It's crazy the satisfaction I get out of being able to make something for a home. I can't explain it really, I just love being able to look over at something and think "that's so beautiful! And, I actually made it!" So, while I was in Utah last month, Tiff and I worked on finding cute things to go on the shelves of her TV stand. We went to several stores, (we got good at getting Braden in and out of the car) painted shelves and picture frames, used copy paper to trace and cut out outlines of picture frames so we could arrange a collage on the wall, and more. I really enjoyed spending time with her! I love knowing that even though I'm far away, when she sees those things in her home that we've worked on together, she can always think of me.=) This I did late one of the last nights I was home. Tiff was so exhausted! She had worked late several nights and had spent almost every spare minute with me. We had picked out the paper together, and the letters so it just had to be done! It turned out pretty darn cute, and it looks fabulous on her black shelf!

Well, after I got home I continued to have the urge to be crafty. I will be the first to admit that I'm not creative when it comes to making up stuff, but I can sure copy someone's brilliant idea=) On Etsy I had seen this

So cute, right? After shipping it would have cost me $40.00. I decided I could probably make it cheaper, and remember the whole satisfaction feeling I mentioned earlier? I wanted that every time I walked into our apartment and saw it!=)Well, after consulting with my handyman (Joe) we made a trip to home depot, and hobby lobby. We just bought a 1x3 piece of wood, and some unfinished wood knobs. At hobby lobby we bought some wood plaque pieces, paint, ribbon, and vinyl letters. Joe was so sweet to go to our friend's house to use his saw and cut the wood to the right size, then measured and screwed the knobs in for me. He also painted the "welcome" pieces of wood. What a great side kick=) Here's the final product! We made it for about half of what it would have cost to buy it!

Pretty cute eh? I wanted a wreath above it but didn't want to pay $40 bucks or more for one. So, I looked up on youtube how to do it. With hobby lobby's half off sale it ended up being about $10 bucks! I just bought the stick wreath and added the berries! I am going to change out the wreaths with each season. I looked up how to make a wreath out of ornaments to hang for Christmas! I'm pretty excited about it!

The inspiration for my next project was this.

I thought it was a pretty cute way to show some pride for your team. I knew Joe would love it if I showed some Aggie spirit, so I decided to make one for A&M. This involved Joe cutting a 2x4, and another piece of wood I had used for my sister's baby shower, paint, scrapbook paper, ribbon, and scrapbook letters, and vinyl letters again. Here's the finished product! It sits on our tv stand.

My next projects came from an incredible blog I happened to stumble over! One night while I was at Joe's softball games, I was playing around on my phone and some how ended up at this girl's blog. Let's just say I didn't see much of the game after!=) Oops! I've since apologized and done better at just watching the games when I'm there. The blog is decorchick.blogspot.com and she has links on her blog to thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com (which I have also found some cute stuff on) I think I have links on my blog for both. Well, after I saw some things she had made, I had visions of what I wanted to make and where I would put it! The thriftydecorchick said she gets lots of cute stuff at the dollar store. So, I have ventured into more dollar stores the past couple of weeks than I have in years=) I have found a few really cute things!

I got all excited to decorate for fall after looking at those blogs. Here is what I made, and the finished result=)

This cute wreath is made out of a styrofoam wreath form and yarn! Pretty sweet! It did take a while to wrap the yarn around it, but I started it on our road trip to College Station for the A&M game, and finished it while watching tv. I found that I enjoyed being productive while watching=) The tutorial is on decorchick's blog

This tutorial is also on her blog. It was really pretty easy! The leaves and berries were all 40 percent off at hobby lobby! I spray painted the little pot and dowel, and used little foam balls and some floral moss. It was all pretty inexpensive! Joe appreciates that fact=)

Here are our shelves all decorated for fall!

I must say that I still sit there whenever we're watching tv and just stare at it sometimes=) It is so fun to make things! The little harvest thing came from the dollar store, and the pumpkin is actually one from hobby lobby used for wreaths! I just cut the stick off. On sale it was a dollar fifty. Not bad!=)

I made this little arrangement for the coffee table last year. The leaves and stems of pumpkins poked through the bottom last year and minimally scratched the table, so this year I just added a little bit of fabric underneath. I love this!

Next I saw this and just had to have it=) It was pretty dang easy too! The rosettes are made out of lace, the foam wreath wrapped in burlap and tied with ribbon. Several hot glue sticks were used in this project!=)

It's hanging on the mirror of my dresser in our room. Love it!

Well, I'm not quite finished with everything. There are a couple more thing's I've done but just need to add some finishing touches. I will do another post with those. If you've made anything lately, do a post about it! I love seeing what people make!