Lesson 120- Pumpkin in a Jar

I've seen these all over the blogosphere and wanted some for my own.  I used the mason jars I bought thrifting a while back, tissue paper left over from a gift bag, scrapbook paper, and acrylic paint.  Oh, and don't forget the Mod Podge.

 

 I cut the tissue paper in to strips about an inch thick and glued them to the inside of the jar with Mod Podge.  This wasn't easy!  Don't use mason jars!  Your hands may get stuck inside the jar.  And yes, I'm speaking from experience!

 Then I painted the rim of the jar with green acrylic paint.

Don't worry!  The white Mod Podge will dry clear.

Then I cut out faces from black cardstock.  I looked up Jack-o-Lantern faces from the internet for inspiration.

They're cute, but I think I'll stick to ol' fashioned punkin carvin!!!

Lesson 118- Planting Candy

Last year Husband and I had way more Trick-or-Treaters than we anticipated.  This year we are prepared!  We bought a big ol' bag of candy from Costco (and are doing our best to not eat it all before Halloween.)  Perhaps we should have waited a few more weeks to buy the candy.  But anyway, I digress.

Here is what we're hold the candy in for distribution to cute/scary/funny kiddos.

So very festive, right?!  No worries my friends!  I didn't leave it this week.

I first spray painted the planter with $0.98 black spray paint from Wally World.  

 

Once it was dried (and wiped off, and then dried again) I added some Halloween stickers found in the scrapbooking section of Hobby Lobby.  The stickers needed some extra love to stick, so I reinforced them spray adhesive.

Once the stickers were sufficiently stuck, I went over the entire thing with a couple of coats of Mod Podge.  Finally, I sprayed the entire thing with an acrylic sealer.  Now it was ready to be loaded with candy. 

Yummy!!!!

Anyone wanna share what their favorite candies are?  Any else like me and are not a choc-o-holic?

Get Your Craft On

Lesson 115- Mod Podge Pumpkins

I found these ceramic pumpkins at Hobby Lobby and decided to turn them into my version of designer pumpkins.  I know decorating pumpkins with scrapbook paper and Mod Podge is nothing new, but I love the way mine turned out.

 
 I picked out five different patterns in black and white, tore them in pieces, and used Mod Podge to put them on the pumpkins.  I liked that they didn't look like your stereotypical pumpkins.  But I was worried that they might not look too great with our other fall or Halloween decorations.  So...

I bought a metallic copper acrylic paint and put a very thin layer of paint over the pumpkins.  To keep the ridges defined, I painted a thicker line in the crevice.  And those are my pumpkins.

 

Lesson 105- Wedding Week III

My parents gave me a fairly small budget (compared to the *average* wedding) for our wedding.  And although they did give me some wiggle room, I had to be creative on how the money was spent.  My two biggest expenses were the venue+food and drink and the photographer.  Looking back I have no qualms about the money spent on either.  This week I’m going through some of the projects I competed to stay on budget.

I’m not a big fan of the traditional guest books at weddings where you’re given a line to sign your name and maybe a little more to squeeze in “Congrats!”.  I wanted something more personalized and unique, without being super popular of the photo matte. 

We opted to making a hardback photo book using our engagement pictures.  On the pages we included prompts like:

• Ideas for a fun date night
• Advice for a happy marriage
• Favorite memories of us
• and then I put some cool Bible verses in too

This way besides just signing their names they could write a little message just for us.

 

*****

Centerpieces were a tricky element of the wedding planning process.  I didn't want flowers, one cause that's the expected centerpiece.  Two, because it can quickly get expensive.  I like the ideas of candles on a mirror, but for a daytime wedding that just seemed silly.  I just couldn't decide on something I really liked.  In the end I had flower centerpieces.  Here's the secret: they were fake.  The vases were from IKEA ($2.99 I think).  The fillers came from the Dollar Store.  We placed them on a piece of scrapbook paper that I covered in Mod Podge.  My mom's BFF offered to make cookies decorated in our colors.  Our vendor provided the black table cloth and the pink runner.  I really like the way our tablescape turned out, even if I did use flowers.

 

I hope you’ve enjoyed my little budget-friendly wedding projects.  I know there was nothing too unique or extraordinary about it, but it worked for us.  And more importantly we loved our wedding and the opportunity to share the day with our family and friends.

Come back the rest of this week for more wedding DIY projects!
Wedding Stationary 
Card Box

Lesson 98-Sad, But True

Earlier this when I was planning for our Superbowl party I came across this

Ok, technically this isn't what I found.  I can't find what I found anymore.  But it's close enough!

I really liked it.  Cause it's true.  It sums up my marriage.  I wanted one for my house.  So I made one.

I started with a plain tray from Hobby Lobby, green, yellow stickers, white paper, yellow paper, and Mod Podge.

I painted two coats of green paint on the tray.  

Once in was dry I used Mod Podge to glue white cardstock strips resembling a football field (5 vertical and 2 horizontal).  

While it dried I stenciled letters on to  yellow cardstock to spell our "We interrupt this marriage to bring you football season".  This is the part where all you cool kids with a Cricut (or the like) will end up with cooler versions than mine.  The little letters ended up doing my head in, so I used yellow letter stickers instead.

Once my 'football field' and letters were in place, I covered the whole thing in a layer of Mod Podge.  On the outside of the tray I put some football stickers, cause I had 'em and they fit.  

 It now resides on our coffee table.  

 I like it.  But I'll be glad when I'm the coolest thing about Sunday afternoons again!  And if you're one of the cool kids that uses a Cricut, I'd love to see how it turns out!!!

Lesson 80-Letters to Baby

Our friends H & C have been super blessed this week and adopted a newborn baby boy. Husband and I had our 'Last Dinner' with them this past weekend complete with presents.  Here is the part the I crafted for his nursery.  But first I'll share the nursery decor, which obviously was my inspiration.

Ahoy Matey Bedding

With those colors in mind I headed to Hobby Lobby to pick up my necessities.  Here's what I purchased:

• wooden letters
• blue paint
• coordinating scrapbook papers
• ribbon

And here's what I already had at home:

• Mod Podge
• paint brushes
• staple gun with staples

My first step was painting the back and the sides with the navy blue.  I knew that since the edges were kinda beveled it would be difficult to the the paper to cover the edges nicely so the paint would tie the whole thing together.

Once the paint was dry I traced the letters on to my scrapbook paper.  I kept the letters face up thinking it would provide a little extra paper to cover part of the edges.  I was right!  Once the letters were cut I covered the front of the letters with Mod Podge and smoothes paper on top.  I then smoothed the extra paper over the sides of the letters.  Once the paper was successfully on the letter the top was covered with Mod Podge and left to dry.

 

Once the front was dry, I flipped the letters over and covered the back with Mod Podge as well, one to give it a glossier finish, two to make it a smoother texture.  Finally after the fronts and backs were completely dry I attached the ribbon loops to the back center of each letter with a staple gun.  To make the loops, I took 4 inch pieces of ribbon and folded it into a loop.  Here's the final product.

 

I hope H & C and baby Logan enjoy the letters as much as I do!

I hope you all enjoy your weekend!  I'll be back next week with more Baby Logan gifts!

Linking to these Friday fun parties!  Go check em out and get inspired!

Lesson 35- More Nesting

Our table needed a little updating for the upcoming celebration of Jesus' life. I added some eggs...but not just any eggs. I tried having just the plain plastic eggs in a vase, but the colors were too bold for the rest of table. I didn't like it. So I took said eggs (left over from this project)

and covered them in strips of newspaper using Mod Podge (isn't that stuff great!).

When they were completely dry (about 24 hrs later), I added them to a vase with Spanish moss at the bottom.

I love the look. It's very simple and different since it's not your usual Spring colors.