Custom Dry-Erase Board

I made this in about 20 minutes and it cost less than $10!  I found an old picture at Goodwill (with a glass pane) and found some fabric that I liked and went well with the colors in my room.  I covered the cardboard that was behind the picture with fabric and put it back in the frame.  I used hot glue to secure the fabric on the cardboard.  Dry-Erase markers wipe off of glass really easily!  This is a great and easy way to keep track of reminders.  You could even paint the frame to match the fabric or other decor. 

Scrapbook Foliage

Here's a fun project that I finished recently.  I actually started it last summer and didn't get around to finishing it until now.  I found the vase from Goodwill and painted it with a color that matched some other things in my room.  I found a few branches in my backyard and broke them down so they were how I wanted them.  

The leaves are made out of scrapbook paper that I keep around for many various projects.  I used thin cardboard to make a few different leaf patterns and then traced them onto the paper.  Each leaf is two pieces of paper (I traced the pattern, and then turned the pattern over to get a mirror image on the same paper).  Then I used rubber cement to glue a pice of floral wire between the two sides.  After I finished the leaves, I carefully wound the floral wire around the branches.  This can be difficult and I broke a few twigs in this process.  

I love the final product!  I think if I used a vase with a bigger mouth I could have made the bouquet fuller.  But I am really happy with the way it turned out!

DIY Sandal Flowers

This was an extremely easy project and cost next to nothing to do.  Everything I used to make the flowers I already had laying around and I bought the shoes from Payless for $9.00.  I had been meaning to make these for a while and it was a lot of fun to do!  Here is the finished project!

I found some scrap white fabric in old craft supplies around the house.  Other supplies you will need: hot glue gun, cardboard (I cut up an old soda can box), sharp scissors, and a pen that writes on you fabric.  I used a quarter to make my flower pattern--I traced five half circles to form a flower.  This doesn't need to be perfect by any means (mine wasn't) because you can't tell when its finished.  If you want a bigger flower use a bigger circle--its that simple!

I traced my pattern 9 times onto the fabric and cut them all out.  I had to cut inside the lines so the pen didn't show up on the edges of the flowers.

I cut a small square out of the cardboard to use as my base.  Then I folded four of the pedals in half twice and used the hot glue to attach them to the cardboard in a full circle.  I used a dot of glue inside the second folds to keep them in place. 

I folded the next two pedals in half (I used a small dot of glue to keep the folds in place) and glued them on top of the first four.  Then, going the other direction, I added the next two in the same way.  

With the last pedal, I folded it twice, put a dot of glue in the center of the flower and stuck the center of the pedal straight down.  While the glue was hot, I tried to mold the flower like I wanted it.  

Four finished flowers!  

I bought a pair of sandals from Payless for $9.00 for this project.

I used hot glue to attach the flowers to my sandals.  I thought about glueing them onto hair clips or clip-on earrings so that I could detach them if I wanted, but I wanted something more permanent.  This was so easy to do and took less than two hours!

You are my sunshine

This is a painting I did last summer based off of a Pinterest finding.

Knit Happy

I love knitting, and in the winter that is usually how I spend a lot of my free time... even if I don't have it.  These are some projects that I finished in the last year or so.  The pink hat and the mittens were done without a pattern.  I'm not really an experienced knitter and I haven't spent much time learning how to read patterns.  The white headband, however, was made using a pattern and took basically no time at all (a couple of hours?).  The flower on it was crocheted.  Unfortunately, I don't remember the website that I took the pattern off of.  If I find it again I will be sure to post it though.  

Put a bird on it.

I made these bird coasters BEFORE the Portlandia craze (click here to watch the video).  I wanted coasters for my dorm room to prevent the fake wood of my end table to become warped with water rings.  My mom had some glass coasters that had customizable inserts (which I took off).  I’ve seen some coasters similar to this at thrift stores as well.  If you didn’t have coasters, you could use tiles and attach little rubber feet to the bottoms.  

The only other materials I used were scrapbook paper and Mod Podge (every crafter’s life saver!).  I cut out the birds and designes that I wanted, including the back grounds, and then glued them to the glass with the Mod Podge.  I was sure to get water resistent Mod Podge from the store (obviously, they are coasters) and it was fairly inexpensive.  after I had the design glued down, I coated the whole top and sides of the coasters with Mod Podge.  I think I did two or three coats as well.  Follow the directions on the Mod Podge, because mine had to dry without exposer to water for about a week before I could really use them.

Dream.

Here’s one idea stolen straight off of Pinterest.  I painted a blue background over an old picture that I didn’t like, and then blow-dried crayons after I glued them on.  Its a pretty simple process and there are tutorials all over the internet.  But honestly, all you need to know is do it somewhere that wont matter if it gets messy.  The wax from the crayons tends to blow off of the canvas so you have to be careful 1. where you are aiming the blow drying and 2. not to put the blow dryer on too high of a setting.  This project takes a lot of patience, so don’t give up!  I apologize for the quality of the picture, like I said, I’m not a photographer.. yet!