Belated Mother's Day: A Scrapbooked Home Collage

A lot of the crafts I make, I make as gifts... Therefore, I have to be mindful of when I post pictures to social media or the blog so I don't give away any surprises...

Here's a glimpse at my mom's Mother's Day gift, a week late.

"Wherever we are together, that is home."

My mom and I saw this cool frame/shadow box at the store a few weeks ago and she really liked it. They come in lots of sizes and arrangements but I picked the biggest one I saw because the small ones felt "limiting." The company is 7Gypsies and their website has lots of ideas and products, but the products are also available in a lot of craft stores.

I decided to go with a home theme but another friend of mine made one with a graduation theme, featuring pictures from her parents', her sister's, and her own college graduations.

Other theme ideas include: first days, wedding, birthdays, seasons... GET CREATIVE!

I included pictures of many generations of homes within my family. Like the 7Gypsies slogan says:

"Collections from the journey." 

This collage captures many places that have been a part of my mom's and my family's journeys.

My mom and I at my sorority's "Mom's Day Event!"- A Tiffany's Themed Tea Party!

Experiences as Gifts: Paint Your Own Pottery

My favorite 5 year old's birthday!

The people we love the most are often the hardest to give gifts to… because we want to find the perfect gift. We want one that is unique, that shows how much we love and appreciate the person, and something that is meaningful. But we often are thinking about the things we can buy.

I think one of the best gifts for someone you are close with is the gift of your time. The gifts of memories, moments, and experiences. Those are meaningful. Those are unique. Giving the gift of an experience can include a wide range… Planned or spontaneous. Expensive or free. It could include a surprise destination, or a cozy day at home. 

Back in March, I gave my niece an “experience gift” and it was a blast! We went to a paint-your-own-pottery studio called All Fired Up. She didn’t know where we were going. She just knew that Aunt Megan was picking her up to go to a surprise place. When I arrived to pick her up, she had a surprise for me- flowers she picked from the yard in a cute little vase! So thoughtful at 5 years old!

So sweet! So thoughtful! So beautiful!

So we went in the studio and she got to pick something to paint from all of the pottery pieces. There were lots of cute pottery figurines and characters but for some reason she was not happy that they were all banks… she didn’t want a bank. So we settled on a plate, one that she would be able to use. Then she got to pick colors of paint and we began painting- together.

 I loved that she kept saying, “This is relaxing.” Even when you are five years old, life can be stressful. I loved that she was able to have a relaxing evening. We painted stripes and added more colors and used stamp shapes. Finally we got to write something on it. She wanted to write, “Kennedy and Aunt Megan love each other forever and ever.” When she said that was what she wanted to write, my heart was touched. But because that phrase was a little long for a small plate, we settled on “Kennedy and Aunt Megan Best Friends Forever.”

So much concentration!

Once finished, I explained to her that the artists who work there had to “cook” it and that we could come pick it up in a week. I said they had to put it in the kiln but apparently she misheard the work “kiln” because she replied with, “They are going to kill it?!” In her defense, the word kiln is not typically a part of a preschooler’s vocabulary. The artist on staff let us go in the back and see the kilns and the pieces waiting to be fired. After waiting a week, I was able to pick it up and take it back to show her. She was really excited to see the finished product, the result of her hard work.

The final product! Before going in the kiln. 

Giving gifts that are things can be great, especially if it is something the person wants or needs. But things collect dust. Things wear out. Things get outgrown. 

Experiences and memories can last a lifetime. 

Consider gifting an experience sometime. It was a blast for Kennedy and me. (I enjoyed it, too!)

source*

Have you ever given or received an experience gift? What was it and who was it from?

*This picture was found on Pinterest. After efforts to find the original source, it looks as though the original user is no longer active on Flickr. I do not take credit for this image.

Desk UpCycle!

I wanted to share with you a little "up cycle" I did this summer! Moving into an apartment, I had to decide what I wanted to do with the furniture from my room at my parents' house- take it with me or leave it behind...

Well this desk was something I debated about. But I decided I wanted to give it a face lift and take it along with me. It started like this...

Well actually, rewind... 

This desk has been in my room for most of the time I have been growing up. At least 10 years... probably more. But I actually never knew the story behind it. Here it is:

When my mom was a kid, she really wanted a desk. So she saved her money up and bought a desk. This desk! Anyway, this desk has gone through many transitions. It used to be bright red. Then it was plain white. Then white with a blue top and colored knobs (as seen above). It was my mom's. It was my brother's. It was mine. 

Here is the up-cycle and what it looks like now: 

The saw the idea on Pinterest and the idea linked back to here. It was pretty easy! I loved picking out the paper to cover the drawers... I got a scrapbook paper stack from Joann's so the pages all coordinated nicely and I picked out my four favorite sheets. I have since used the paper for several other projects. I also considered my room's colors and which papers would look best with the rest of my stuff.

 After painting the desk top white and touching up the rest of the white surfaces, I added the paper with mod podge, both to glue it on and coat the top. As a finishing touch, I added the little birdie on the surface. The original knobs had several coats of paint on them so I decided to replace them with some nice but inexpensive metal ones from Lowe's. 

This was a great desk to use for trying the mod podge project and it worked well! I was happy to be able to keep the desk legacy alive!

AND this semester, finals week, I finally broke my habit of sitting on my bed to study and used my desk for what it's for...rather than as a shelf to hold piles of stuff! 

Wood, Yarn, and Nails... A Quick Craft Post!

A friend of mine made me something similar to this with wire and that is where I got the idea. But for this one I used yarn. This was a gift for my Grand Little (my Little's Little!) and I used yarn instead of wire. Of course it is blue and blue for Kappa and I made our sorority letters but you could spell out any word or name. It's a multi step process but not too hard! Forewarning: a hammer and nails are involved.

I bought this wood at Joann's but you could use any piece of wood you have laying around.

Hopefully you don't get paint on the carpet like I did but if you do, immediate water does wonders to get it out!

I painted the board and let it dry.

Print or draw letters that you can cut out and trace. I traced them with dots, only where I wanted to put the nails.

This pack of nails was from Target but you could use any nails from around your house. This really is a good project for using up miscellaneous hardware!

  

Pound the nails into the outline of the letters leaving about 0.5-0.75" raised up. This doesn't look like the letters now but it will with the yarn. 

Tie the yarn onto one corner and start wrapping around the outline. When the letter outline is as thick as you want it (I went around about 4 times) tie it off around a nail or to the tail of yarn from where you began. I tied two tails into a bow. Do this for the whole word, each letter separate. I also added a key charm for an added touch off the last letter. 

Finish embellishing in anyway you like! I used puffy paint to add the statement, "Kappa is for Life!"

If you made one of these, what word would you make?

Sewing Adventures!

FINALLY posting the product of my sewing adventures a few weeks ago. I don't sew often... but my mom and grandma both love sewing. I guess my love for crafting is genetic. My grandma taught me how to sew one weekend when I stayed with her on her old black Singer sewing machine, similar to this one:

image source

I think we made a small little purse with a flap closure and I remember she told me not to sew over my finger.

A few weeks ago, I think Pinterest gave me the sewing itch. It was my roommate's birthday, who also happens to be my sorority Big.... So I went to her Pinterest boards for ideas of what she might like. I had lots of options because she has an astonishing number of pins... 7,603 to be exact! I chose to use this tutorial. Mine looks a little different because I added the ties hanging down.

   

Final Product: A cute pillow and a happy roommate! 

She even recognized that it was from her Pinterest!

Sticky Note Desk Frame

My supervisor at my internship uses sticky notes ALL the time! Last week was her first week full-time there so I made her a little sticky note holder. I saw it here via Pinterest and it is such an easy gift idea!

I bought a plastic frame from Joann’s for $0.99 (Don’t worry, I had a 20% off coupon on top of that!), and used paper, glue dots, and embellishments I already had.

I cut a piece of background paper the size of the frame. Mine was 3.5×5 inches. You could use any size and mix it up with different sizes and numbers of sticky note pads. You could also include a quote or picture if you used a bigger frame. I used her initial, a piece of ribbon, and a few little flowers, trying to coordinate the paper and decorations with the colors of the sticky notes. I wanted to keep it small so it wouldn’t take up too much room on her desk.

The sticky note pads were attached with glue dots. One in each corner- nice and secure!  It was accompanied with this card!

 These would make great gifts for teachers, college-bound students, and anyone who loves making lists. I guess it would be perfect for someone who is forgetful but I hope you approach this one carefully!

My Crafty Weekend!

I had such a crafty weekend! Something I haven’t had time for in a long time!

I have trouble relaxing and resting, trouble not being productive. Crafts are a good balance for me: fun, expressive, and give me a sense of accomplishment.

I took several snapshots of the craftiness this weekend! Here are a few:

I
had to got to go here twice! I had a 20% off your TOTAL purchase, INCLUDING sale items the first trip! The second trip was only because I forgot something but there are worse places to have to return… and I still had my 10% off student discount card! — If you are a student anywhere, ask for one of these!

Pink, black, and white fabric, pins, and an online tutorial..

My grandma’s sewing machine… The one my mom learned to sew on!

Sewing isn’t always my craft of choice… but I did really enjoy making this. All straight lines. Not too difficult. And I cut out the fabric on the living room hard-wood floor while getting to spend time with my parents. Bonus!

I can’t reveal what this fabric creation is yet because it is a gift… But I will share a picture of the final product soon and my other two weekend crafts soon!

We also had beautiful weather! A much needed break from the cold and ice. It seems we haven’t had too much snow but lots of freezing rain lately- So I was excited to be able to wear an outfit like this:

No socks! Rolled up jeans! I even wore a pair of my favorite shorts the next day!

And I loved the walk I took with this sweet 5 year old, my niece!

 We had races (she’s fast!), played “don’t step on the crack,” and jumped across some rocks. Fresh air and great conversation!

Can’t wait for spring and summer!