Typewriter art

This idea is really cute. I don't know that I would do this exact thing, but the technique would work for other ideas as well.

From http://nikkicleary.blogspot.com/

a close up shot of the chiseled groovemom, using a paintbrush to really get in the grooves with the antiquing effect
antiquing the squares with the rag and paint
lori, dragging the chisel to create the grooves
our finished product


I have been receiving requests from women who googled "typewriter key wall art" (and from there they found my blog) and they have wanted to know how I made my Pottery Barn replica.
Well, here is how we did it step by step...

• found the typewriter font FREE here http://www.typadelic.com/typekeys.html, downloaded it and then created a document in photoshop, typed the letters/numbers in and blew them up to the size we wanted (if you dont have photoshop and are planning on making your board 25x25", e-mail me and I will send you the jpg files). We printed them out on cream cardstock and then cut all the circles out.
  
• cut a piece of plywood board 25x25" square
• marked a grid 5 lines evenly spaced horiz and 5 lines vertical. Then we used a metal straight edge ruler and dragged the corner of a chisel down the lines to create the grooves
• take a rag, wet a corner with odorless mineral spirits, dab where its wet onto the top of a tube of dark brown oil paint and use that to antique each square...making sure it really gets in the groove to make them stand out. (Hint: if you make it too dark, just wet a clean corner of your rag with the mineral spirits and wipe off till you get the desired effect.
• adhere your letters and numbers in the center of each square using either spray adhesive or a quick dry tacky glue. Brayer over them to make sure they are stuck down good.
  
• hammer tiny black nails (we found a box of 100 at Lowe's for about 3 or 4 bucks) into the four corners of your squares
• cut frame to size and nail together
• hang and enjoy!!

Magnetic Calendar / Chore Chart

from http://allthingzrelated.blogspot.com

Here is our project that we made exclusively for Everyday Mom Ideas, just in case you missed it ;)

Today we have a project perfect for busy Moms! I have 4 kids and Rebekah has 3 so we know what its like to juggle Dr. appointments and school programs…we think this might help! Or at least be a beautiful way to keep things straight!

Magnetic Calendar and Chore Chart

We both started our projects with a sheet of metal from $ Tree!

We found this metal mixed in with the matted art at $ Tree…It was a little tricky to find but worth the trouble! They are 12in.x12in. so this makes them great for a sheet of scrapbook paper! You might have to trim things up a bit but still…perfect!

I chose to draw out my “grid” for the chore chart…

but Rebekah found some beautiful paper that already had the grid on it at Michaels! Good find Rebekah!

For the chore chart…after I drew on my grid, I just took some tags I had printed out and glued them down and used some stamps to embellish each child’s square! I chose to stamp my girls initials on their square instead of doing their whole name. I also printed the days of the week off and cut them out for the top. Everything here has been distressed with an ink pad!

Time to decoupage this down on the metal! While that is drying we can make magnets!

We both chose to print off what we needed for our magnets…months…numbers…chores and a little bit of clip art!

Now you can decoupage them to what ever you choose to make your magnets out of!

Rebekah chose to use pieces of wood (painted) for her magnets!

I chose to use strips of adhesive magnet strips and stick my print outs right to it.

Then we both decoupaged over them to give them a nice finish! So by this point your background should be GOOD and dry! It takes a while to make all these magnets! Lets see if the work paid off!

This is the chore chart all finished! The older kids get 3 rows and the younger kids get 2. I am going to reward my girls for every magnet they have on the chart at the end of the week!

Check out this beautiful calendar! Rebekah made cute magnets for holidays!

The heart is for anniversaries and the balloons is for birthdays! She used a Crop-A-Dile to punch holes at the top so she could hang her calendar with a ribbon! Wow…this calendar is going to make each month FUN!

Thanks for having a look at our fun with magnets! Please let us know what you think!

Scrabble Tiles to Jewelry

So cute! I love this idea. Mod Podge scrapbook paper onto scrabble tiles and you get these cute things!

From http://cuegly.blogspot.com

Paper Mache Earrings

Cute and cheap way to make new jewelry!

From infarrantlycreative.blogspot.com/

Here is a twist on paper beads. They are paper mache beads…

They kind of look like hunks of turqouise don’t they? Fun, Fun and cheap, cheap!

Supplies:

Newspaper

Boiling Water

Small Saucepan

Acrylic Paint

Mod Podge

Fine grit Sandpaper

Drill with small

Sealant or Polyuerethane

Toothpick

Upside down pop can for drying the beads

1. Rip up newspapers into small pieces. I used one cup of paper (smashed down to fit as many as possible).

2. Bring water to a boil and then add newspaper.

3. I stirred it using a wire whisk to speed up the process of breaking down the paper fibers. Then I turned off the stovetop and let it sit for a half hour stirring every once in a while until it was mush.4. After the fibers are broken down and it turns to mush rinse it with cool water. Take a handful of the mush and squeeze out the excess water and put it in a plastic bowl.5. Add some Mod Podge to it and mix it a little.6. Next take a hunk of it and smoosh it into a ball. It doesn’t really work to roll it in your hands. You want to press and squoosh it into a ball squeezing out excess water and glue. You really want to compact it or when they dry and you go to drill them they will crack.

7. After you roll a trillion of them cook them at 200 degrees for two hours. It may take more or less time if you have bigger or smaller beads. After you take them out lightly sand them with a fine grit sandpaper. Drill a hole through the bead with a small drill bit.8. Now the fun begins. PAINT THEM!!! Experiment with layering of colors to get more depth of color to the bead. I used about 3-4 colors on each of mine. I didn’t use a paintbrush. I found it was easier to finger paint them and roll them in my hand to distribute the color. I really like adding silver or gold-it adds a little bling. Let them dry.

9. They won’t look all that pretty now because the color is matted.

But here is the shine…

I used Krylon Triple Thick Crystal Clear Glaze because that is what I had on hand and I love how shiny it is. I added a few coats and it really gives it a pretty finish. But you could use any polyurethane, dimensional adhesive or sealant. Let them dry…

10. String them onto a necklace or bracelet. Embellish them with some metal findings. Make earrings or something fabulous. Cheap, easy, versatile, and light weight. LOVES!!I will add more pictures of my creations once they dry.

Mod Podge Earrings

So cute! Great way to transform old ugly earrings into cute new ones!

From cuegly.blogspot.com

Awwwwwwwwwwww........

I'm back.

Back to busy bees and never seeing my husband due to school/homework/church callings/work/and blogging. But Blogging is what keeps me sane in the whole process. I cant even tell you how hard it was to stay away from Cuegly.

And I think the best thing to do is start off my new year with

MOD PODGE!

I transformed 2 pairs of earings that I didn't wear often but WANTED to wear.

THESE:

Gold colored metal earings that are rusted and leave a green streak on my cheek if I wear them longer then an hour.

***

and THESE:

70's floral earings that don't go with a darn thing.

***

So with fun paper and Mod Mopdge, I spiced it up. I cut out the shape of my gold earings and modpodged them on. But then I covered the front AND BACK with 'Tripple Thick Brilliant Brush on Gloss Glaze' so that I didn't rust my face!

(The same paper I used on THIS project)

New spiffy earing!

But Vintagely Old Looking!

And I took my 70's 'peace-out' earings and toned them down a bit with an ivory paper with a green/blue flower print. I modpodged several strips onto these earings.

RESULT:THANKS FOR TUNING IN ;)

Ribbon Can

Or holding anything else, too! Look how cute!

{from naptimecrafting.blogspot.com}

I was getting tired of storing my ribbon scraps in a shoe box. It was messy, unorganized, and not cutely stored. So I cleaned out an empty Cocoa Mix container and Mod Podge'd scrapbook paper on it. I cut the letters out of cardstock on my Cricut, then Mod Podge'd those on too. Sealing it all with another layer of Mod Podge.

I had cut 80+ sheets of vinyl for my Church's "Super Saturday" craft day, and each tube of vinyl came with a giant popsicle stick to rub the vinyl on with. I saved all those and quickly found a use for them. I wrapped my ribbon scraps around them and then stored them neatly in the cocoa container.

I still have smaller scraps that weren't really worth wrapping around the stick a couple times, so I'm going to cover another container soon and toss all the tiny scraps in there. I've started saving them if they are 2" or more now . . . in hopes of making a scrap ribbon belt like Ashley did at Lil Blue Boo.

Halloween Countdown

This is so cute! And you could do it for any holiday or just for the date!

{from naptimecrafting.blogspot.com}

Halloween is my favorite holiday - maybe because of the colors associated with it. So I wanted to make a countdown to Halloween. One of my past co-workers had a perpetual countdown like this, but just basic white with black numbers.

My husband cut the base wood for me (2"x4") and I bought the 2" blocks at Michaels. It took me forever to figure out the numbers for each block. I knew I needed a 0, 1, and 2 on each block, but the rest of the numbers left one number without a side. It took me a while, but then I found that the 9 and 6 would be reversible as the same number (so I had to choose a font that the 6 and 9 worked out as the same number.


Here's a pic of the vinyl I cut out for the blocks:


Then, paint blocks, sand the edges to distress them and cut and mod podge them to the blocks.



When attaching the vinyl letters (you could also use regular paper and glue them on) make sure the 6/9 number is on a paper square that doesn't have writing or an image that can't be upside down.

For the base block, I distressed it with black ink from a stamp pad - then applied mod podge to all 3 pieces to seal the vinyl and paper.

Haunted Houses

So cute! I love this idea, and those bird houses are only a couple bucks!

{from sistersstuff.blogspot.com}

This was a fun Halloween craft I did with my kids. We took bird houses and spray painted them black. After they dried, we added white paint, scrapbook paper, stickers and ribbons.

Fourth of July Snack Holders

These are cute and really convenient for small snacks!

{from skiptomylou.org}

I am thinking a stack of these sitting next to a bowl of snacks is great—–makes nice portable containers for backyard guests.Print out the template and fold into a cone. It overlaps at the top about about two inches to no overlap at the point. You could easily use tape to fasten, but I used hot glue. My local printing store was running a special so I saved the file to a flash drive and had them print directly from the file. They did look much better than if I had printed them on my printer, plus the color copy paper is heavier with a nice sheen.Cheers to you!

Tissue / Cough Drop Holder

So cute! And I love cough drops when I'm sick, so this would be perfect to carry them around in!

{from stampasweetimpression.blogspot.com)Hi everyone! Laurie here, and I've got a fun little project to share...with a tutorial! During the May's release Sneak Peeks, I shared THIS tissue holder that I made with the new Doctor's Orders set. I received many requests to share a tutorial, so here it is! :-)

To start, you will need a piece of cardstock that measures 4 5/8" x 8" and another piece that measures 4 1/2" x 6 1/2".First, you will need to score both pieces of cardstock. The 4 5/8" x 8" piece needs to be scored at 1 1/2", 2 5/8", 5 1/4", & 6 3/8" (make sure that the c.s. is horizontal).Score the smaller piece of c.s. at 1" on all four sides as shown in the picture below.Using a bone folder, crease each fold well (this makes for a neater box).Next, make four vertical slits to create little "flaps" in each corner as shown in the picture below.This next step is optional, but one that I think makes for a nicer end product. Cut part of each flap off (making diagonal cuts) as shown in the picture below.
Finally, assemble boxes using strong adhesive (like Taylor's Sticky Tape) and place a small folded ribbon on one end of the bottom box (this will be the ribbon pull that is used to open the box).For my finished box, I placed a piece of layered and decorated c.s. measuring 4 12" x 2 1/2" on the top. The adorable tissue box (from Doctor's Orders) is stamped on Choice Buttercream c.s. and colored in with Copics. The decorative layer underneath the tissue box was created using my Labels Four Nestabilities. For embellishments, I added some Stickles and buttons!