2 Years and 50 Posts Later...

So it's 2015 and all of my walls are still intact...for now. You know the builders of this house kind of boxed me in with the design. They didn't leave much room for things like knocking down walls. It is also another great milestone. This is my 50th post! Yayy! I can not believe I have written 50 blogs. When I first started this thing 2 years ago, I wasn't sure what would happen. So to see people still interested is nice. Now, let's talk about this 50th post, which also happens to be my first post...Calendars. I know technology is all the rage these days. Call me old fashioned, but I still like wall calendars. It just helps my brain to see things hanging up in front of me. The typical ones they sell in stores are a little big for what I need. Last year I found one that was a great size, but the design repeated each month. It was nice at first, but by May/June I was OVER IT. So this year I went back to making my own. 

Last time I made a calendar, I designed everything on the computer in Photoshop. This go round I decided to use scrapbook paper. They've been having crazy sales in the craft stores lately. Sometimes as low as 7 sheets for a $1. I used a mixture of pieces I already had in my stash and some new ones I bought. 

The average piece of scrapbook paper is 12" x 12". I didn't want my calendar to be that big. I cut off an inch on both sides to make an 11" square. For the actual calendar portion I bought a new 9" x 12" sketch pad and cut each piece to 9" x 9-1/2".

I glued the white piece down to the printed piece to create the base for each page. 

Then repeated the process with the other 11 pieces.

To create the actual calender portion I used my Sharpie Markers. I don't know what it is about these markers, but I get excited every time I get to use them. I grabbed my ruler and measured each space evenly to create the boxes. I contemplated doing the whole design portion on the computer, but I thought just free handing would be easier.

Once the lines were set I added in the dates, days, and month.

I was quite impressed with January, and at this point quite inspired. The remainder of the months I designed one at a time as an idea came to me. You know I couldn't just make all of the months the same, so I took my time coming up with a different design for each one. It took me about a week to complete all 12. 

I have to say I love them! I had my doubts on whether or not I could create 12 font designs that all looked different, but I pulled it out though. I will probably never buy another wall calendar again. Especially when I can make such fancy ones myself. I put them all together with a clamp and hung it up at my desk. 

Now I just need to actually write on it. It's so pretty though. Honestly, I'm still slightly reveling in it. Well until then...It's on to the next projects. Yes, projects plural. I'm in total redecoration mode this month. In other words, trying to find a way to satisfy my creative craving that comes from binge watching HGTV. 

An intervention might need to happen soon...maybe. :)

Making Presents Everywhere!

And just like that, Christmas 2014 is in the bag. Can you believe we are at the end of 2014 already? Where did the days go. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, and that Santa was good to each and every one of you. I went to Boston to visit family and friends. Good times. I even ran into one of my high school crushes. He is still just as dreamy as he was when I was 18. Now comes the oh so fun task of putting everything away. Its all fun and excitement putting up the decorations. Taking them down is another story. So, now that the holidays are done and gifts have been given, I can talk about my last project. It seems like every year I find making gifts is just easier and more personal. This year was no different. 

First was my aunt. The last couple of years I got her something butterfly related. She recently has started collecting Wine Bottle Stoppers. I was going to buy a monogrammed one, but in the midst of my Googling I found that Hobby Lobby actually sold the blank piece. That was all I needed to know.

I was originally going to paint right on it, but then felt it needed some extra pzazz. So I made a trip to Michaels and found an embellishment to use in my design.

The pieces were to go on either side of the bottle stopper. The back side I knew I wanted a little sparkle. I brushed the inside of my piece with glue, and filled it with pink glitter (Which happens to be my aunt's favorite color). 

Now for the monogram. I tried out several techniques. First I decided to freehand with markers, but it looked a little too crafty. Then I attempted to create something in Photoshop, but I didn't seal it properly so it blurred when I added the pendant gel. Then it hit me. I could use more glitter. That would let me freehand, but without the marker look. I attached my pen size tip to my glue bottle and wrote her initials inside

Then I covered it with a dark pink glitter

To attach the pieces to the actual stopper I spread the backsides with E6000 glue, gave them a firm press, and let the whole piece set overnight.

Now for my uncle. He is probably one of the easiest people to get gifts for. He loves t-shirts and hats. He wears them all the time, so you can never go wrong with either one. (Well unless the hat is a bright color, or the shirt is argyle.) I looked around for a hat, but couldn't seem to find one that was plain or the right color. I did however have a hat that I got from an event I attended. The only problem was that it was already embroidered. Yeah, let's just talk about how much you have to love someone to unstitch a heavily embroidered item. UGH! My uncle is totally worth it though. 

 I thought about a lot of different and cool things to put on the hat, but somehow settled for a simple monogram. He has a lot of hats, but none with his initials. I purchased some hard felt fabric from Michaels. I measured the size of the front and cut out the letters to size. I almost got fancy, but I kept it pretty simple with a thick block print.

I turned them over and gave them a generous layer of fabric glue before placing them on the front. 

I put several pins to hold the letters down while they dried. However the fabric glue did not create a secure enough hold so I applied a a little bit of E6000 for extra security. Once the letters were fully dry and secure, I brushed some black fabric paint over them to deepen the color. 

The last gift belongs to my sister. My sister really loves writing in journals, and for the last few years I always get her one. This year I wanted to find a journal and customize the front. However it was a little harder to find the journal that really worked for my idea. It did cross my mind to just make one, but that still wasn't going to give me what I wanted. I did buy one with the intention of recovering until I realized I actually kind of liked the front. The inside cover was totally fair game though. 

This is before,

and this is after. 

All in all it was a good Christmas. Everyone really enjoyed their gifts. My aunt and uncle both really loved theirs. My uncle wore his hat Christmas day. He said it matched what he was wearing...gray. Go figure. My sister was quite happy about hers as well. She found my doodle to be "So Awesome!". It just makes me happy to know that they are happy. I always wonder about giving handmade gifts. However people seem to really like them so I must be doing something right. 

So I guess this is my last blog for 2014. It's been an amazing year. I appreciate everyone's love and support. 2015 is going to be busy say the least (I already have projects for January all lined up). I ended up having quite a bit of down time while I was home and binge watched HGTV for several, several hours. It was sooooo dangerous. So needless to say my creative brain is on Hyper drive. If I had a wall to knock down, it may have already happened. I mean, I started last year with demolition. Why not make it a yearly tradition? No...I can picture the mass *smh* from all of you. HA! Until 2015...it's on to the next project!

It's Christmas Time!!!!!

It's the most wonderful time of the year....(In my smoothest Andy Williams voice). Christmas is indeed my favorite holiday. So, it's only fitting that I do a Christmas project. Last year I made an Ornament wreathe. (Check it out here if you haven't already). This year I was thinking something a little more artsy. The wheels began turning, and I decided to make my very own mini Christmas tree. A tree with all different patterns. I got the idea when I volunteered to help with the White Elephant party at work. I was in charge of the gift exchange and thus assigning the gifting order. I tried to think of a cool way to do it other than throwing folded up pieces of paper in a basket. I was already thinking of doing a Christmas project, so this could be a way to kill 2 birds with one stone.

Now I know I should, but I'm not even going to try to explain what is going to happen because it would make absolutely no sense. So, I'm just going to get right into it. The tree is made up of 5 tiers. The largest being 24" wide and the top one being 4" wide. I cut out 10 circles. 2 circles for each tier.

To make each tier I placed the larger of the 2 circles down, glued down some spacers, and then added the second circle to the top. 

I probably could have started the paper mache here, but I wanted to add more structure to the sides. I cut large pieces of poster board and hot glued them to the edges.

I added the poster board all the way around until I got the full shape. 

For the top piece, I took my smallest circle and used the poster board to create a cone shape.

Not at all pretty, but it didn't have to be because it was just the structure layer. It wasn't hard, but definitely time consuming. Somewhere in mid construction I had one of those *What is really happening* moments. What am I really doing right now? Am I really sitting here building a tree? Why can't I be one of those normal people who buys things from the very extensive holiday section at Hobby Lobby (that has been out since September)... Noooo I have to be the one who buys craft supplies so I can make my own holiday decor. Sometimes I just shake my head at myself.

I continued until I completed all 5 tiers.

So for those of you that still can't see it. This is the basic shape and look of what I'm going for.

Is it starting to make sense now? How many of you just went "OHHHHHH"? Once the shape was done it was time to move on to the Paper Mache. The poster board just helped create the shape. The Paper Mache will actually harden it and give a proper surface for painting. 

1st Layer - I concocted a mixture of flour, water, and glue. For the paper I used small torn up pieces of brown Kraft Paper. I let the layer dry completely before moving on to the next. It's best to apply thin layers and let the Paper Mache dry fully or you could end up with mold.

2nd Layer -  I mixed a new paste mixture of just glue and water to create more of a smooth shellac like surface. I also used bigger pieces of paper to do a little reshaping. Even though I applied the poster board first, the layer of paper still got a little wrinkled and misshapen once it dried so it needed a little repairing. 

3rd Layer - This time I used even larger pieces to create extra smoothness and decrease the amount of paper edge lines. I let all of the pieces dry for 24 hours. After that it was definitely looking nice.

I must say I was feeling quite accomplished with what I had done so far. I definitely wasn't sure how this would turn out when I was imagining it in my head, so I was pleasantly surprised when it started coming together. I brought the pieces in the garage and sprayed them with a thin layer of primer. 

Now it was time to paint. I picked up 3 large bottles of red, green, and a lighter green acrylic paint.

The design of the tree I had already thought about. I sketched out a few rough ideas first before starting. I was going for an eclectic look, so each layer would have a different design. There was no rhyme or reason I just did designs that I thought would compliment each other. I started with the top and worked my way down.

The first piece I painted the whole thing green, and layered it with red polka dots. The second tier down got stripes.

3rd tier

4th tier

Bottom tier

 When it was all said and done, this is what they all looked like together. 

I stood back and marveled at my creation. I was quite in love with it by this point. I couldn't marvel for too long though because I wasn't finished yet. No tree is complete without a trunk. 

I actually had all of the pieces I needed in my craft stash already. I cut a small circle out of matboard, and a larger circle out of foam board. The tube I cut from a large mailing tube I had in the closet. I glued the tube down to the smaller circle.

Then I covered the trunk in brown paper. I was going to just use regular brown scrapbook paper, but then I saw this bark textured paper at Michaels for $1 and couldn't pass it up.

For the bottom, I hot glued the 2 half circles of foam board together and made a hole in the middle for the trunk to sit into.

So now to put the whole thing together. I glued the 5 tiers together, then glued the trunk piece to the underside of the tree, 

and set the whole thing inside the bottom piece.

For the final touch it needed a "skirt". I grabbed some extra red fabric from the fabric bin, wrapped it around the bottom piece, and then tied it together with a green ribbon to secure.

And that's it. My very first mini Christmas tree.

I am absolutely in love with it! It's sooooo much better than I could have imagined. I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into as I discussed this out with my best friend Fatima. Well really I talked it through out loud to myself, and she listened pretending to understand exactly what I was thinking. As for the White Elephant Party, it was a total hit! People loved the tree. For the numbers I was going to make ornaments and stick them on the tree, but then I didn't want to mess up my paint job. So instead I made little mini presents and put the numbers inside of them for people to take. The funniest part was that there was quite a bit of talk about what the outside was made of. Apparently people found it hard to believe that I painted it. Someone thought it was duct tape, someone else thought it was wrapping paper. WHAT?! Wrapping paper? Those people obviously don't know how I roll.

 I'm kind of thinking of doing a mini tree every year. When I first got my tree last year, I wanted to do a themed something. I was originally thinking a tree, but that could get expensive every year. Besides I always grew up with an eclectic tree, so that's what I like. Then I thought what about a themed wreath. That was the plan until I thought about this. I think it could be fun and I could express my creativity each year. The possibilities are endless. What do you think? I could make a new one and then sell the one from the previous year. Or just keep them all and make my very own Christmas Forest! We'll see. For right now I'm content reveling in my fun new decoration. So with that...it's on to the next project! Can you believe Christmas is next week? I guess I better get moving.