Paint Stick Scrabble Ornaments

Quite the title for a post, huh?

Actually a quick craft made out of paint sticks and scrabble tiles.

The paint stores are very generous with their free paint sticks, so I usually have a few lying around. 

  I needed some filler ornaments for a small tree in our entry, and came up with the idea

 of painting paint sticks and attaching scrabble tiles with various holiday words.

You can use any paint for these, but I happen to have some extra chalk board spray paint so I went with that which gives the "ornaments" a whole other dimension for use.  

You could actually just write words on the paint sticks.

I used a saw to trim the sticks which required a little sanding on the 

edges, giving the stick a more weathered look.

The scrabble tiles are attached with this photo tape. 

 It comes off very easily if you decide to go with the chalk writing idea.

I love a simple craft.  

Have you been crafting some of your holiday decor this season?

 ~ Petie

I'm linking to the following parties:

Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays @ Coastal Charm 

Handmade Tuesdays @ Ladybug Blessings 

Re-inventing faux flowers

I am not a big fan of faux flowers, but sometimes you just need that little touch of color and softness that doesn't require picking up flowers at the grocery store every week!

I've had this arrangement for several years, but the orange flower wasn't working for me anymore.  I decided to try spray painting the stems. Why not?  I spray paint everything else.

I started by wrapping the branches in foil so they wouldn't be painted and covered the base with a bag.

After a few coats of spray paint, the orange was still showing thru as a faded pink color.

I really didn't want the pink.

With a small paint brush I added a little white paint to the petals to cover most of the pink.

I also added touches of brown paint for the center of the flower (can't remember the name of that part of the flower?).  And, I touched up the "buds" with a little brown paint.

And here is it's new home, my bedroom dresser.

I'm linking to the following parties:

Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style

Uncommonly Yours Link Party at Uncommon Designs Online

Chic and Crafty Party at The Frugal Girls

Thanks for hosting ladies!

Girl Scout love ~

My daughter is going on her Girl Scout spring camping trip this weekend.  Her troop will join several other troops for a fun filled weekend.  One of the special things the girls do is share "swaps" with other troops; little handmade mementos that are a nice memory of the weekend and all the new girls they met.

The girls troop leader came up with a flower vase idea for the 'swap'. 

The vase is a piece of penne pasta wrapped in tinfoil and stuffed with a packing 'peanut'.  

The peanut is needed to hold the toothpick flower stems in place.

Toothpicks are spray painted green and we attached a glue dot to the tip to add the decorative flower.

 Once the vases are filled we hot glued a pin on the back in order for the girls to 

be able to attach it to something.

I think these could also be cute pinned to some fabric and framed.

These hats are what our troop uses to hold 'swaps'.

These are some 'swaps' from last year.  The plastic egg with the ribbon 

is supposed to represent an octopus (cute idea).

This mermaid was made from plastic beads that you iron together.

Our troop did the foam smore' last year.  See the graham cracker, chocolate and marshmellow?

I'm linking to the following parties:

Handmade Tuesdays at Ladybug Blessings 

Get Your Craft on Tuesday at Today's Creative Blog

Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays at Coastal Charm

Hope everyone's week is off to a good start!

~Petie

Teacher Appreciation

It's Teacher Appreciation Week at our school.  As the room parent for my daughter's 4th grade class, I had to come up with some kind of 'mailbox' for the kids to put their notes/cards to the teacher in.  I was lucky to have everything I needed at home, and I hope the basket is something she can re-use.

 I had the basket on hand, and the sign was a metal piece that I spray painted with chalk

paint and drilled holes in the corners to attach with the ribbon.

I also had the wood crate on hand and added these petunias that she can plant later.

Just one more duty as room parent...end of the year class party! 

Who's ready for summer?

I'm linking to the following parties:

Craft Catwalk at Embellishing Life

Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays at Coastal Charm

Running with the Bulls ~

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been staying busy helping my daughter's school with their upcoming auction.  Their elementary school has a bull for it's mascot, and the theme of this years auction is Running with the Bulls.  Anybody familiar with this event that takes place in Pamplona, Spain?  I did my research and this is what I found...

Every year from July 7th-14th thousands pack into Pamplona to start Spain's most famous bull-running fiesta to honor Navarre capital's patron saint, San Fermin.  Young men gather at the bottom of Santo Domingo, which is the starting line. They crowd together and sing to the image of San Fermin which is placed in a niche on a wall. (They are asking San Fermin, as their Patron, to guide them through the Bull Run and give them his blessing.) Then, as a rocket goes off, a number of fighting bulls are let out onto the streets. A second rocket is then let off to make sure everyone knows the bulls are loose in the street. The bulls run along the narrow street about a half a mile to a bull ring. The runners dash along in front of the bulls, aiming to feel the breath of the bull on their backs, getting as close as possible - all while trying to avoid getting gored by their sharp horns. The supposed way to do this is to start off slowly when the bulls are quite a distance behind. Then as they get nearer start running like crazy! You can then go near them for a short time, as near as you are prepared to risk it, and then quickly get out of the way. Runners look for a gap in the fence to slip through or jump over, or a space against the wall of the street.  When the bulls finally reach the end of the street they go into pens.

Honestly, it all sounds a little barbaric to me, and after googling images to get some inspiration for centerpieces, I realized these runners are cRaZy!

The only thing in the images that stood out to me was that all the runners wear white pants and a white shirt, with a red sash belt.   I decided to use my imagination for the rest of the centerpiece and this is what I came up with. 

Keep in mind that I'm trying to spend "next to nothing" on these in order to keep the costs down for the school.  These roses were 2 for $1 at the Dollar Tree.  They are actually very thin wood.

 I downloaded this bull image and sewed it onto the burlap. 

The majority of these vases were leftover from the auction 2 years ago.  They were also Dollar Tree purchases.  I used 3 yds of inexpensive red fabric cut into strips to tie around the vases and added the

burlap bull image with a piece of leather cording.

 The auction is this Saturday, March 12th.  Wish us luck!  The school is hoping to raise enough money to build a running track around the back field of the school.  Hopefully no bulls will be involved :)

I'm linking to the following party:

Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays at Coastal Charm

Creatively drained...

This is what my dining room has looked like all week.  Do all your (and your kids) 

major projects head straight to the dining room table? 

 

 My daughter's school auction is next weekend and I volunteered to do the display boards

for the oral auction items/packages; beach weekends, golf packages, sporting events, etc

 Thank goodness for google images or I wouldn't have had any of these pictures.

 I think I used almost all of the kids construction paper.

 After leaning over the dining room table for a few days my back and neck are in need of a 'spa package'. 

 My creative juices feel a little drained.  

This afternoon we had a 'sunbreak' (that's what they call the sun peaking out in the winter here in the NW),

so I leased up Sadie and we went for a walk.  When we got home, I sat with a BH&G magazine for a few minutes while watching about 15 minutes of Design on a Dime on HGTV.  I feel better 'creatively' already :)

What do you do to re-charge your creativity?

Stamped Tags

I have been experimenting lately with stamps.  

I really like the look of a vintage tag that has been stamped.  There's something comforting about it.

Check this one out from, where else....Pottery Barn!

Doesn't that make you feel good inside? 

Here's my version.

 And, here are some of the ways I'm using them.

 

*Look for these tags and more at my new ETSY shop.* 

I'm partying with:

Cheap Thrills Thursday at Black Kats Design
Winter Blues Wednesday at DIY by Design 

Inspiration Friday At The Picket Fence

A special Valentine ~

See this note?

This note was left on the windshield of my car in 1990.  When my husband and I were dating, I worked at a restaurant and he stopped by and left this under the windshield wiper while I was working.  

It was a nice surprise when I got off work!

I decided to surprise him with it for a Valentine's gift, but first it needed a 'tea bath'. 

Even though it's 21 years old, I wanted it to look a bit more aged.

 It's a little hard to tell in this photo, but it looks like it's 50 years old now :)

This is a frame I had on hand.

Now, let's see if he remembers it?  

Happy February!

I'm partying with: 

Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays at Coastal Charm

Is there a Craft Warehouse near you?

I was in Craft Warehouse this week and spotted these bags of acid free mats.  They are leftover pieces from framing projects.  The whole bag was $4.99.

They had all kinds of colors to choose from.  I think these will be great for shadow boxes, 

framing projects, wrapping fabric around - a multitude of projects :)

 Do you have a Craft Warehouse near you?

Ghost Tree ~

I'm having a good time preparing for the upcoming 4th grade Fall/Halloween Party.  

As much as I talk about "weaning" from these school responsibilities, 

I have to admit the party planning is kind of fun. 

This is a treat for the kids in the classroom and something my daughter could help make.

You start out with a Tootsie Pop. 

 

Wrap the Tootsie Pop with a paper towel, 

(we used the paper towels that pull apart into half sizes).

 Tie a yarn ribbon around the ghosts neck and add eyes/nose with a black Sharpie.

I spray painted this terra cotta pot with black chalkboard paint and added 

the "Trick or Treat" with chalk, what else?

This styrofoam "tree" worked great to poke the Tootsie Pops into.

I carefully tucked the ghosts into the pot and kept adding to the top of the tree.

 

The tree is full ~ 30 in all.

I added a pop of color with an orange Halloween ribbon.

Done!

It was a great craft that I could do with my 9yo daughter.  

She colored the ghosts faces and helped tie the ribbons.

Hope the kids will enjoy their boo-tiful treat!

I'm linking to the following parties:
Sunday Scoop Weekend Wrap Up Party at I Heart Naptime 

Making the World Cuter Mondays at Making the World Cuter

Craftomaniac Monday at Craftomaniac
Your So Very Creative at Me Making Do