Thursday, November 26, 2015

The Best Things In Life Aren't Things

Ok, I just got married, and I was looking for a new creative way to display pictures. So here is my first craft (The best things in life aren't things).



So here's how you do it

What you will need

1) 24"x9" piece of wood
2) Five clothespins
3) Red ribbon (3/8 inch)
4) White letter Stickers
5) Black acrylic paint
6) Wood Glue
7) Modge Podge (matte)
8) Hot glue gun
9) 80 grit sand paper
10) Foam Brush
11) Five 4"x8" black and white photos (I printed them through Walmart)

How to find all of it

I couldn't find a piece of wood that size to save my life. So I got creative and went to Home Depot. They have Bigger pieces of wood but they will cut it for you if you ask them. I paid three dollars for mine and they cut it to the size I needed and I had extra wood for other projects. It was a win, win!  

The rest of the supplies I picked up at Hobby Lobby. They have reasonable prices, but if you have time ordering some of the things off of amazon can be cheaper (if you have free shipping, that is!)

Step One-Sand it

Use the sand paper to smooth out the wood a bit. The wood I got from home depot was great but definitely needed some sanding.

Step Two-Paint it

Apply the black paint. The easiest way to do this is just to squirt it right on the board and spread it around with a foam brush. Wait about 15 to 30 minutes and then flip it over and do the other side. (be careful if you are doing it on newspaper because it will stick to it if the paint isn't completely dry.

Step Three-Apply letters and Modge Podge

So I just got some cute sticker letters from Hobby Lobby. (I had to get two packs to make all the words) Stick them on to the board where you want them to be. They aren't going to stick all that well because of the paint. That's what the Modge Podge is for!
So for anyone who is not that familiar with Modge Podge, It is basically just a clear coat. When you first apply it, it will go on milky but it will dry clear!
So apply the modge podge and once it is all clear and dry, you are ready for step four!

Step Four- Apply clothespins

While the modge podge is drying tie 5 bows out of the red ribbon and use the hot glue gun to glue them on the clothespins. Once everything is dry use the wood glue to apply the clothespins. Space them out evenly (I can't remember the exact measurements that I used)

Then just clip on the photos and you're done!!

Burlap & Bows

I am all about easy Crafts. Wreaths are so easy to customize! Here are pictures of two of the wreaths I've done and instructions on how to do them.

                                       Number 1                                                   Number 2




Number One Instructions

What you need:

1) Chevron print burlap
2) Wooden letter
3) Wreath
4) Long stem of fake flowers
5) Hot glue gun
6) White spray paint 
(I found all of these things at hobby lobby.)

This is very simple to make. Once you gather all the supplies

1) Start by spray painting the wooden letter (wait about 30 minutes, then turn over and spray paint the other side)
2) Tie the burlap bow and hot glue it to the wreath

3) Hot glue the long flower stem (in a couple different spots along the top of the wreath)

4) Then depending on the letter that you are using you can either hot glue it and or tie it with ribbon or a bit of burlap (since the J was kind of awkward shaped I just hot glued it.)


Number Two Instructions:


What you need:

1) Wreath
2) Burlap
3) Wooden Letters
4) Fake Sunflowers
5) Hot glue gun
6) White spray paint
(all of these things I bought at hobby lobby except the fake flowers, they are much cheaper at the dollar store)


This is just as easy to make as the first wreath.


Just tie a burlap bow, cut the fake flowers, spray paint the letters.

Then hot glue it all on and you are done!! (I tied on the letters with a bit of extra burlap this time)

And there you have it ... customized wreaths!