Wood Stain and Spray Painted Deers

So remember this guy that I posted on instagram:

My friend Von created these cute little deer and sled kit and when i first saw them i totally envisioned these in my house with mini Christmas trees all set up in my house. There were two images in my head were a stained deer and a gold spray painted one. (because i'm obsessed with gold right now!)

The first thing i did was stained them. I used a lighter color that was similar to this:

My husband had a few in the garage and i choose the lightest color that he had. The first time i stained it, it was freezing cold outside so i decided to do it on my kitchen table. WORST decision ever! If you've ever stained wood, it smells SO bad. Since it was freezing cold i didn't want to open the windows but i had to! However, i did like the result. See below:

The reindeer in the middle was stained twice and i kind of liked how that turned out so a few days later i stained the rest of them again. Here's the result:

They came out SO adorable and i loved them! I think they would look so cute if i added a red little pom pom on one of them too. 

So next i needed to spray paint a set gold! I use this metallic gold spray paint that i found on amazon that i think is the perfect shade of gold. It makes like a perfect shade of gold with a slight sparkle!

Since it was finally a sunny day (but still freezing) i was able to do it outside. I took some cardboard and laid them on top of the cardboard. 

Then i sprayed it all over. I'm sure i overspray sometimes, but i want everything to be gold!

The gold I think came out SO adorable! I'm debating if i should spray some of my glitter spray over them but i like how they are now!

Anyways, i'm in LOVE. I really love how they turned out!

If you want more details let me know, and i can get you in contact with Von!

DIY Gift Tags

Its November, so I get to talk about Christmas right? Well i've been so excited about Christmas, just because i think i dream about pretty packaging or maybe i'm more obsessed about making gift tags. So I decided to show you guys how I made some tags for Christmas coming up. 

The first thing I did was pulled up pages. (Which is mac's version of word) What i usually do is create a bunch of text boxes and typed in quotes. Most of the fonts that i use come from pinterest that are free. Here's my board if you wanted to follow it!

(sorry about the bad lighting. Remind me in my next house to not put my desk in front of a window when its in the basement)

After I made cute little designs with fonts and christmas sayings i printed them on paper. Does anyone else see turquoise and red and think Christmas?

After I printed them on paper I decided to use some of my punches and or just cut the paper and punched out some cute borders. I also made a few tags without the sayings. Here are all the variations i made:

I just wanted to spot light a few of them:

Here are the tags that i used my new Santa stamp:

I'm kind of obsessed with these mini cupcake stamps that i go from this Etsy shop that i stumbled upon the other day. I am also obsessed with the Mason Jar punch that i got from target. Here's one on amazon.

These one i'm kind of obsessed with because i think they look like SANTA! ahaha. 

For these i used Kraft paper, my scalloped punch, and my sizzix big kick. I found some cute embossing plates from the scrapbook warehouse that opened in Salt Lake City. I'm so happy that I was able to use them in something so cute! One of these days I'll write a tutorial on the cute little bows that I added also!

Here's the last one to spot light.

For this one i cut a rectangle and then used my scalloped punch on the edges. I added a small red heart and stamp some snow flakes at the bottom. This present is for my nephew and my son crinkled the wrapping paper a little too much and so i needed to add a few embellishments. 

So there it is! If any of you want the file for the little sayings i created just email me!

Project Life Scrapbooking - Dating

I have actually been scrapbooking for years. I was pretty into it for a while, then kind of lost interest in it. I'm not a big fan of the traditional 12x12 page scrapbooks because I just never felt inspired by them. I felt like it was more about the page instead of the pictures. So then i started feeling like my life didn't have that many important events in them. ahah. However, i like the idea of journaling through scrapbooks so lately i've been feeling like scrapbooking again. So when my computer crashed a few weeks ago and i lost quite a few pictures, i felt like i needed to start doing something physically to preserve our memories. (plus i lost all my wedding pictures and so i felt like i really needed to get physical copies of them)

When i started thinking about scrapbooking again i was drawn to the idea of smash books. I think my style was more geared towards the concepts of smash books because it was more about the journaling. Here are some examples on pinterest of what i mean by smash book. My sister introduced me to project life when i had hadley and i just didn't have time for it. Now that i want to start a journal again i think project life is the best way to go. So i decided to start with when me and my husband started dating and going from there. So here are some of things i've done to start it:

I've only done 3 pages and i've liked how they are turning out. Part of the things i like to do with scrapbooking is mixing my love of sewing. 

I added the stiching around the picture of our hands and to the hearts in the top left picture. I also like being able to actually use all the washi tapes i've been hoarding. 

I also like not just using the stitching to add a decorative effect but also to use in place of an adhesive. I over used double stick tape with my older scrapbooks and some of the pictures have fallen off. So now i think they will last a little longer. 

Well i hope you guys enjoy!

Sewing for your kids!

Four years ago was around the time i found out i was pregnant with my daughter and my husband worked on the weekends and took night classes. I started having a growing desire to brush up on some of my sewing skills. I wanted to learn how to sew for my daughter. My first couple of projects were ugly. I'll spare you pictures of those projects. Eventually, i grew a desire to make children's clothes. It was easier than i thought. It just takes lots of practice and each time gets better. Here's my first shirt:

I loved how it turned out. It was even cuter on my daughter! But it kind of started an addiction! I wanted to make all her clothes. I didn't realize how simple it could be! So my advice on sewing for your kids: DO IT! its not as hard as you think. 

I have a favorite pattern maker. Her name is Kate from see kate sew. Here's her link. Her patterns are reasonably priced and they usually are good for a lot of sizes. They also come in as a PDF and so you can reuse them and reuse them! They are awesome. Today i wanted to show you the recess raglan i made my daughter. Here's some of the first ones i've made:

One of the first things that you have to do is print all the pieces out and lay them on the floor:

Then cut out the size that you need.

Follow the direction on how to cut out the fabric. Then sew it up! Kate had a pattern hack on her blog this week to turn the pattern into a dress. I added 8 inches to the bottom in order to make a long dress. Here are the results. I think it came out awesome and she loved them!

Her patterns are so easy, fun and they come out great! I think you'll love them! 

Gold Dipped Pumpkin!!

So my obsession with pumpkins continue....

This whole project cost around 10 bucks! I bought this spray paint at wal-mart a while back during my gold sparkle obsession phase however, I never used it. I was waiting for the perfect project and when i bought my glass pumpkin i knew i wanted to make a gold dipped pumpkin.

To make one for yourself you will need the following items:

- Glass pumpkin (i got mine from walmart)

- Glitter Blast (i got mine from walmart also)

- Painters Tape

- Clear Plastic bag (not pictured)

First thing i did was put the painters tape all around the pumpkin to separate the parts that i wanted painted and where i didn't want it painted.

After i created the line i put a clear plastic bag over it and held it down with my painters tape. (this part can probably be omitted but i'm not confident enough in my spray painting skills)

Then i got some cardboard to put under the pumpkin and i spray painted the pumpkin. 

I do have to admit, when i started this project i was expecting the paint to be a lot darker and not as transparent. However, when it dried and i saw it without the tape i LOVED it. Here are some pictures of it finished. I wish that the camera would do it justice but it doesn't. You'll have to try it for yourself to see how cute it is!

Happy crafting!

Screen print Wall Hanging Art

I've always been really into creating T-shirts. My friends and i have made several shirts over the years. The only thing is that i usually use iron on transfers. However, what happens after a few washes, is the transfers start peeling off. When i started making shirts for my kids i wanted to create images on fabric that wouldn't peel off. Especially because my kids put everything in their mouths! After seeing one of my favorite bloggers post about screen printing, i decided i would give it a try. Here is the post if you want to see it.

The post will give you information one where to buy things. Here's how i created some wall hanging art for my home. 

First i used my circuit software to create images. Make sure when cutting the images, mirror the image. Then i cut the image on vinyl. After the images were cut i adhered the vinyl onto my screen.

After applying the vinyl, put painters tape on all the dead space so that ink will not get through. When your ready, take some ink and put it on the screen.

After putting the ink on the screen, use the squeegee and swipe the ink over the image.

I usually swipe firmly about 3 times to make sure the ink goes through. I put the extra ink back into the container. When your down pull the fabric away from the screen and you're done!!!

Gold Spray Painted Pumpkins

So I may be a little obsessed with pumpkins! I love decorating them, using them to decorating, and using them for crafts. It's basically my favorite part of September! While i was walking around wal-mart with my kiddos, I made my way towards the fall decor. I found these pumpkins:

They were only 98 cents! So much cheaper than joann's or michaels. So i decided to get them and spray paint them. I bought the gold spray paint a few months back for a different project on amazon. You can find them here. (shown above)

I had to spray paint the top and then let it dry for a little bit and then spray paint the bottom. Luckily the spray paint dries pretty fast. 

The pumpkins came out GREAT i think! Here are some pictures in my house. Sorry about the lame lightening, the lightening in this house kind of sucks! haha.

Hope you enjoy! Happy fall!!