Lovely Birdie Vase

Because I am in total summer mode I forgot to post the link for Tattered and Inked the day I was over there guest blogging.  In case you didn't make it to Tattered and Inked here is the post and project.   I am up to my elbows in schedule pick ups and school supply shopping so reposting this here helps me eliminate squeezing one more thing in.  Enjoy and thanks for readying.


Hi I am Kelly, The Creative Chickadee.  So excited to be guest blogging over here at Tattered and Inked!!  Thanks Kelsey for having me and have fun on vacation.  I am a Air Force wife and the mother of two ever growing boys.  My oldest is now taller than me.  WHAAA!!  One more very important thing about me...I. LOVE. CRAFTING!!  I enjoy using all types of mediums and find happiness in creating on a budget.  I originally found my groove because we were a broke Air Force family and I wanted to be able to decorate my home cheap.  I slowing started realizing that I could copy cat a lot of things for a lot less money than buying.  

My first project was making copy cat Pottery Barn jersey paintings for my boys' room.  I did not have the money to pay $40 a piece so I bought canvases on sale and started drawing a painting.

  

I have since recycled those canvases into these cuties

 That turned into card making, scrapbooking, home decor, furniture redos, etc.  I love working with my hands and altering things to make them more modern or bring them back to life.  I also love the thrill of coming up with a fresh idea.  Nothing beats a project that turns out the way you hoped it would.  I could go on and on, but let me get on with my latest project. I hope you enjoy it.

This too is a copy cat project.  I saw it somewhere out there in blog land and thought, I must do this.  Here is the final project.

 

I love this project for a few reasons.  It was FREE!!, I recycled what I already had, and it was quick.  I love a project a can knock out in a short amount of time.  Here is what ya need.

1.  Vases you have lying around the house

2.  Hot glue and gun

3.  Spray paint color of choice

4.  Your imagination

I started off with 3 vases I have had for who knows how long.  I loved the shapes and never wanted to part with them, but they were all different colors that did not go with my home decor so they have just been sitting taking up space.  Until now. :D

I then printed out a bird and taped it to the inside of the vase to trace.  I am horrible at free hand, and if you are to, don't be afraid to trace or print out images. I even printed out my words but it got to hard to be "perfect" with the glue so I free handed them.

Next step is to apply the hot glue.  The thing I love about using this medium is it comes right off if you mess up.  It took me about 3 tries on the bird before I was satisfied with it.  

Next comes the spray paint, mine bubbled a bit but not enough for me to toss the project.  It took several coats on the colored glass for me to get coverage.

  

There ya go.  I will show you where I put them for now.  I even made some origami flowers to go in one of the vases.  I will have that tutorial in a few weeks.

Entryway before...

 Entryway after.

 Close up on the flowers.  So cute right!!

Don't ever be afraid to alter something.  I think we get stuck in this box that things have to stay the same.  That is always my one piece of advice to people.  It is OK to alter.  Think outside the box!!

Here are pics of other projects I have tackled.  

 cabinet door into chalkboard

 Wreath made out of cupcake holders

 Family gallery/collage wall

Love to have you stop on by for a visit.  I love visitors and making new friends!!  Happy Crafting. Thanks again Kelsey!!

FUN CHALKBOARD OUT OF A CABINET DOOR

 

 Easy, easy project that even a beginner can do.  

1.Find an old cabinet door.

(garage sales, Habitat Restore, curb side, etc)

2.  Buy the following supplies

-chalkboard paint

-spray paint

-drawer knobs of your choice

-paper(optional)

3.  Spray the outer border of the cabinet with your spray paint, or regular paint.

Let Dry completely

4.  Tape off the border section and spray paint the middle portion with the chalkboard paint.

Let Dry Completely.

5.  Paint your drawer pulls.

  I used a cardboard box that I cut slits into it to secure my knobs upright while drying.

6.  Drill holes in your cabinet door.  I measured to get them evenly spaced and I still failed at it, but it looks fine.

7.  After knobs have dried, mod podge pattern paper on them.  

8.  Secure the knobs into the drilled holes.

 

9.  You need to temper your chalkboard by going over it with chalk before officially using it.  Rub the flat side all over it and the clean it off.  You are ready to hang and use the new chalkboard.  

Mine was for my niece to put in her room.  

The paper and paint I picked out goes along 

with the birdie art my sister and I did for her room.  LOVE IT!!!  

Lots of simple steps and with the weather warming up it won't take long for the paint to dry.  I would say this project may take you a few hours for dry time.

Family Collage Wall

Sorry for all of you that saw the finished product of this and have been, probably, impatiently waiting.  School is finally winding down for my boys and I finally feel like I am coming up for air.

For all of you that did not see the teaser photos, I recently did a family collage wall in my hallway leading to my master bedroom.  It probably took me from start to finish 2 weeks to do this project.  I used a lot of frames I already had.  I think I only bought 4 new ones and I got them all from the Dollar Tree.  I spray painted them all the same color and added bit of spa green here and there for an added, but subtle, punch of color.  I hope you enjoy the process.  I stressed over it a lot!  I am not one of those people that levels and measures and takes their time.  I hate dislike exacts.  Because of that it tends to get me into trouble craft wise.  But for this project I measured and leveled a little, just a little.  I made my husband proud.  I asked him for his opinion of my initial floor placement of all the frames and he said, "Looks good."  I am so excited that I did do this all myself and never got so stressed that I had to ask him for his help with all of the "exacts".  :D

Enjoy and let me know if you have ever done a collage wall.  If you haven't or have felt intimidated I hope my "semi-exact" methods make it do able for you.

I first laid all my frames out on the floor and moved them around until I had them generally where I like them.

While the pictures where on the floor I measured width and height for tape placement on the wall.

I thought I took a picture with just the painters tape up, but I can't find it.  I first taped up my basic height and width rectangle and then measured up every 5in and put tape.  I used my husbands laser leveler for all the taping.  LOVE it!!!  This method may not work for you but I saw it on a design show and knew my brain could handle doing a collage wall this way.  The nice thing is this is the only exact part of the process.  You use the other tape lines to keep you straight and even on the frame placement.  I used the tape to help level the bottoms of frames and to level the tops of frames.  Once you have all the frames in place you take off the tape.  I will use this method again and again I think.  Hopefully I have explained it so you get my method of madness.

 

I used napkins to mod podge the M.  Don't you just love it!!! See the bit of green in family?  Just a subtle splash.

I added all of my family photos from earlier generations.  I also added a G for my maiden name.  It was gold(Hobby Lobby) but I used the same green from the family sign.  

 Another splash of green is added through this family tree I had done. 

I used nails and 3M velcro strips to hang up the frames and 

Letter M.  Love 3M!!!

finished project again

There ya go.  My family collage wall.  It still makes me happy as I pass it.  Don't you just love feeling happy in your house, but also feeling happy that a project worked out!!?

Kelly 


linking up and meeting new friends over at...

Wreaths and I are finally friends.

Examples of wreaths the inspire me to try and make one.

I love both of these styles.  They make me smile.

How cute is this!!!!  Made out of marshmallows.  hahahaha

maybe for Christmas...

I hold a deep dark secret that frustrates me to no end.  I agonize over it.  I feel like a crafting failure because of it.  I can't make wreaths.   I throw my hands up in frustration every time I attempt to make one.  Why out of all things, is it the little round wreath that gives me such trouble?  Show me a picture of most anything else and I will pretty successfully copy it for cheaper of course. ;D  I think God forgot to give me a wreath gene.  And of course I refuse to pay for them though.  They are so stinkin pricey and even over priced at that.  So because of my handicap with the wreath I normally hang something like THIS on my door.  With so many of you making the most adorable wreaths this year I decided to give it one last go.  Here are the photos of my attempt.

Painted a styrofoam form from Hobby Lobby.  The paint is called Pistachio, but it's more lime green.

 So far so good.  

I found some cute cupcake holders at Hobby Lobby for 1/2 off.

 

All I did here was fold the cupcake wrappers into flower shapes and hot glued them on.  This got a little frustrating for me because my crafting OCD kicked in at this point and a few didn't look as good as I hoped.  I plugged along in hopes that the more I got on there the less the bad ones would show.  I did a small grouping on each side of the wreath.  Top, bottom, left and right then filled in the gaps.  Trying to keep it balanced.

A better view of the cupcake wrappers and how they looked glued on and bunches together. 

 I was very hopeful at this point.  

I used 150 wrappers for this project. 

I hot glued a pink ribbon down a white one I had to coordinate with the wreath's colors.

And, now I can say the wreath and I are on the road to becoming friends.  Possibly BFFs one day.  Well, lets not get carried away Kelly.  Baby steps right?  My front door finally displays a wreath for the first time.  I am quite smittin with it.  Maybe one day I will attempt something harder but for now I will sit back and enjoy the fact that I can now finally say, "Hello, my name is Kelly and I can make wreaths."  

What kind of projects do you struggle with?  Share with me so we can be joined in our struggles together.  Happy Crafting!!!!

Don't forget to enter my Birthday give away. 

It ends Friday @ midnight!!!

ENTER HERE!!

Meeting new friends through...

Wandering Wednesday