Yard Sale find!

I work for this AMAZING organization, Free Wheelchair Mission.  We donate wheelchairs to the disabled poor in developing countries.  I was out last week visiting churches and telling them about us when I lucked up on a church yard sale!  One of the churches I was visiting was hosting it as a fundraiser, so I was happy to do my part.. haha.  Here was my haul:

These were clip-on earrings that were missing their mates and one pin.  I picked them up for only 10 cents each!!  This is a crafters' dream!  I can't wait to make something with them.  Ideas???  I'm open to suggestions!

Family Tree

Life has been pretty busy lately, so I'm afraid my new blog has suffered :(  My husband and I moved into a new house, so that means... DECORATING!!  I had this large blank wall near my dining room table that I wasn't sure what to do with.  After a trip to Pier One looking at things that were WAY too expensive for me to afford, I decided that it was time for a little creativity.  One thing that I was able to afford at Pier One was the peel and stick applique tree

I also picked up some green drawer pulls.  My husband helped me arrange the tree on the wall and screw the knobs in.  The green knobs were actually my husband's idea.  He wanted them to look like apples.  Here is a pic of the tree with all of the knobs:

I also spent some time looking at picture frames and realized how absolutely cheap I am... haha!  I decided since I wanted them to be simple that I would just purchase some from Dollar Tree.  I also picked up some push pins from the Dollar Tree and some chain from Jo Ann's. 

Now to assemble!  The pins pushed fairly easily into the frames, so I didn't have to use a hammer.  Depending on the frame you get, you may have to use one.  My frames are plastic, so they assembled easily. 

Once this was done, all that was left was placement and viola!!

Obiously this is NOT my family, but that's my next step.  I think we're going to use black and white photos, but we haven't gathered the photos yet.  Here are a couple photos of the finished product:

I love the way it turned out!  And the best part is that there is no more blank wall! 

Scrolled Initial Tutorial

Hello friends!!  This is my first Blog!  I'm so excited to get this thing started.  I wanted to start out my blog with a fun tutorial.  Today we'll be making this:

Obviously you would make your own initial! Here is what you need:

• Your initial (This one is made out of cardboard.  I purchased it from Jo Ann's)
• Glue (I used Elmer's Craft Tacky glue)
• Accent paint (I used a seafoam green.  If you want it to look more antiqued you can use black)
• Marker (to make your scroll pattern)
• Here is where you have a choice:
• Aluminum foil (I used foil with Mod Podge for this project but if I had it to do over again I'd go with the second choice!)
• OR you can use your choice of spray paint.  The foil has a nice effect, but is REALLY hard to work with.  I'll include directions for how to do it for those of you that are DYING to use foil instead of spray paint :)

Step one:
Find a scroll pattern that you like and draw it onto the letter with your marker.  I went online and googled "scroll pattern" and found one that was fairly easy to draw.  I don't have a pick of this step, but you'll see my pattern in the next step.

Step two:
Using your glue, you will draw your scroll pattern.  Be careful to lay the letter on a flat surface so that the glue doesn't drip.  The glue dries like puff paint to give you the raised pattern.  I outlined mine twice so that it stood out really nicely.

 Let your glue dry!  If you're like me, you don't like to leave a project.  I want to start and finish in the same day.  This is not one of those projects!  Its best to let this dry overnight.

Here is how it looks once the glue has dried.



Step 3 (spraypaint method)
If you've chosen to use spray paint, you'll simply take your letter outside and spray paint it!  Be sure to pick a spray paint that will adhere to non-pourous surfaces.  It will lay better on the glue.  Once the spray paint has dried you can skip to step 4.

Step 3 (foil method)
I tried this several different ways and the easiest way I found to do this is to start out with the sides of the letter.  You can cut strips of foil and use mod podge to glue them to your letter.  It is much easier to use medium size strips (so that the foil doesn't crumple or tear) but you have to be willing to live with the seams showing.  I found that it made it look more like a metal letter.  Once your sides are dried on (you can wipe off any wet Mod Podge that got onto the top of the foil with a wet rag... don't wait until it dries to try to wipe it off!) you can trace your letter onto aluminum foil to cover the top.  This was hard because you're dealing with a bigger piece of foil, but I didn't want any seams on the top of my letter.  Cut the letter out of foil, spread mod podge onto the letter and line up the foil to paste it on.  Once you have it placed, you can either use your fingers or a q-tip to press the foil around your scroll pattern to really make it POP!

Here is a pic from my first go-round when I decided that I could just cut the foil once i had it glued... I don't recommend that method... my foil tore all over the place.  I definitely recommend cutting out the letter before you glue the foil on, but I didn't have a pic of that so... you get the gist:



Step 4:
Use a sponge brush to brush on your choice of paint and use a dry paper towel to wipe off the excess.  You can play around with this a bit to get the exact amount of pain that you want. 

And viola!  You have a beautiful initial!  You can use this for so many different things.  You can hang it on your wall, use it as a door wreath (just add some embellishments and some ribbon to the top to hang it with), attach long ribbons to the bottom for a little girl's bow holder... you get the idea!

Happy Krafting!!!  Oh.. and yes, I know that crafting is with a C... I'm just keeping with the Kristy with a K theme.  Thanks for looking!