Harvest framed pumpkin hanger

Happy Sunday, y'all! I don't know about you but I like to get stuff done on Sundays! You know, stay productive. I work a full time job Monday through Friday so I have little time left on the weekdays for the stuff I really want to do, like crafting!  Today, I decided to take a shot at the calendar craft. 

A month or so ago I found a ton of the Dollar Tree calendars. They didn't have the one with the trucks and if I had thought about it, I would've bought several of this one. Hindsight is 20/20 right!? I saw some other crafters doing similar things with their calendars and today I made one my own!

I also bought some square signs that were the same size as the calendar pages. I sanded the sparkles off and painted the whole thing black. The reason I did that was because the numbers on the other side were visible through the lighter part of the pumpkin picture. Then I used Mod Podge to glue the photo to the square. There were quite a few wrinkles so I took a paper towel and sort of rubbed the wrinkles out the best I could. 

Some wrinkles were too stubborn so I gave up.  I figured I'd find a way to cover it or draw attention elsewhere. To frame it I used the mini Jenga blocks from Michael's. I mixed up some paint to go with the color scheme in the photo and painted the blocks. 

I had a small issue when I was putting the frame together. In trying to fit 5 blocks across the bottom, it wasn't enough to make it all the was across. But if I used 6 it was too many. So I improvised. I had some square wood pieces that solved that issue. The only problem was that it was not the same thickness as the Jenga blocks and it stuck out more. 

I racked my brain trying to come up with a way to either hide that one block or at least disguise it. I decided to add a few more embellishments and just make it work! I glued a few pieces of twine on it to look kind of like part of a fence or something. Then I cut out a cute little truck from a piece of fabric and glued it to a burlap leaf. I also added a little sprig of white flowers. I used a few sprigs in the bow to tie it all together. 

The bow was fun to assemble! I went through my ribbon and chose a few that matched the color scheme, some burlap, a blue and white one and a thin brown one for accent. 

Before I adhered the ribbon I attached some twine for hanging. I used the holes that were already in the square. I had removed the twine that came with it because I felt it was too short. I tripled the strands for stability. The blocks made it a little heavier than I thought they would and I didn't want it falling apart! I also wrapped a little piece of twine around the center of the bow and attached it to a piece of twine on the back that was part of the twine I used to hang it. More stability!! Then I hot glued the bow in place. 

The final touch was to put a few splashes of the paint I mixed for the blocks on the pumpkin in the photo to pull it all together. I probably didn't need to do that but i wanted to.  And lastly, the little metal 'harvest's sign. I glued that on with hot glue. I played with the placement for a few and thought it looked best at an angle. 

Thank you so much for stopping by and reading my harvest framed pumpkin hanger post!! I hope you like how it turned out! Please let me know if you try this or something similar. The Dollar Tree calendars are so cute! 

Hop on over to my Facebook Craft Group page to see some of the crafts I've done live. This particular one I did not do live but there are several others and they're super cute! Be sure to like and share and invite your crafty friends and family to share in the fun too! I really appreciate the love and support and as always, I can't wait for the next crafty adventure!!!

Splatter Screen Pumpkin

 

Splatter Screen Pumpkin magic! That's what I say.  This is another craft that I saw on Pinterest and in some of the craft groups I follow.  I had to try it.  Dollar Tree splatter screens, leaves, metal 'welcome' sign, jute, flowers and a whole lotta fun! I'm in!! 

This was so easy and so stinkin' cute!! I bought 3 splatter screens and used Rustoleum rustic orange indoor/outdoor paint to coat the frame and the screen.

Once those dried, which didn't take long at all.  I initially hot glued a few spots to hold the screens together to form a pumpkin but as I started working with it, that glue didn't hold very well.  So, I wrapped the handles with jute, hot gluing it as I went.  I later put a few dabs of hot glue on the screens once again, just for stability.  I saw in other posts and pictures how some people took the two outside screen handles, flipped them so they were at the bottom and bent them backward to create a 'stand' so the piece could be displayed upright on a table or shelf.  Super cute! But I didn't see that until AFTER I made this.  Ha! Either way, I wanted to hang it on my front door so it worked out. 

For the center part, when I lined it, I just glued the glue right on top of the screen to make it look like it was lining the frame of the overlapping layers under it.  That worked out perfectly. Now it was time to place some leaves and flowers!  I loved the lighter colored flowers with the burlap petals on the inside! So cute and such a great accent!

Once I placed the flowers I decided to create a few little spiral vines coming off the stem of the pumpkin. You know those little green twirly thingys? What do you even call them? I had some green wire and decided to wind it around a pencil to create the spirals. Then I fed them into the twine, and twisted to secure them. 

Because I wanted this to hang on my door I knew I'd have to find a creative way to incorporate a 'hanger'.  So let me back up just a little.  Before I wrapped the stem of the pumpkin with jute, I created a loop to hang it from.  I wrapped the bottom of it around the base of the stem and then kept it centered while I continued to wrap the whole stem with another piece of jute.  The idea was to keep the piece for hanging secured in place for more stability.  I didn't want the pumpkin to teeter back and forth if the hanger wasn't secure.  Make sense? I added some green leaves around the base of the stem as well. 

I couldn't decide easily where I wanted to place the 'welcome' sign.  It's a little metal sign.  I also couldn't decide if I wanted to leave it raw metal or paint it. I decided to leave it raw.  I really liked doing this one and I hope you all like it too! It was simple, not too busy (like I usually tend to be with my crafts) and the perfect size for my front door! 

If you enjoyed this blog post, please check out some of my other posts with other cute, easy, inexpensive crafts that I've done.  My next blog will be another hanging pumpkin craft that I made using the Dollar Tree pumpkin wire wreath frame.  A little busier than this one but so, so cute!! 

Please share with your friends and family and be sure to check out my Facebook Craft Page for live videos and more!! Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today and supporting me in my crafty adventures!! 

Happy Crafting, y'all!! 

Making a jewelry catch all on a budget

Hey there, beautiful!

First of all, THANK YOU! Thank you for stopping by to read my blog that is very much still in the beginning stages and clearly in need of some TLC. Ya gotta start somewhere, right? 

Today I want to go over the fun project I did in my Facebook group last night. But first, a few thoughts.  

I am a married mother of both adult and dependent children, a grandmother, a full time worker outside of my home, as well as a human being with a gigantic heart and a dreamers mind. I have always been one to wear my heart on my sleeve, overthink everything under the sun and feel deeply, even if the burden isn't mine to bare. In my short 45 years I've learned a lot about myself and have learned to deal with things a little differently, for the most part.  But I still have that worry wart, that over thinker, that peacemaker in my soul.  I know that I am only one person and surely not the only one of my kind.  I'd like to believe we all have a big hearted dreamer in us.  When the weight of the world, or maybe just the weight of the day is making life difficult I'm fortunate that I have someone to talk to and somewhere safe to bare my soul.  But sometimes, I recognize that he has burdens of his own that he's trying to overcome.  So I try not to lay my weight on him but instead, find another outlet, another 'safe place' to help nurture my mind.  I pray, I hold my breath a little and I chose to move forward because nothing good can come of moving back or standing still.  For the sake of contradiction I will also confess that I don't really need a reason to craft.  But it's definitely my saving grace in times of heartache. I craft to have fun, I craft to bide time, I craft to release tension, I craft to set my heart free.  I am Samantha, married mother of both adult and dependent children, grandmother, full time worker, super loving human being, dreamer and crafter. 

I got the idea for this project from watching a really awesome girl named Amber. She always encourages her followers and is very educated in all things crafty.  I truly believe everyone has a style or a way of thinking that fits their vision of themselves. My vision of myself changes constantly but the one thing that always remains the same is that I just want to love and be loved in return.  In some ways I feel that need to be loved is like that of a child.  While I'm not a psychologist, I think that need probably stems from my own childhood.  I'll be vague for the time being and just say that when it was good, it was amazing and beyond compare. And when it was bad...well, it hurt me in ways I'll likely never overcome. My art tends to reflect the love of a child, or so I see it.  I joke and say I my style is like elementary school art.  But what I see when I create something, is good.  I see love, happiness, peace and giggles wrapped in a big bear hug.  Art makes me feel good. And to me, that's all that matters. 

I wanted to attempt this little 3 tier tray because I thought it would be perfect for my jewelry on my dresser.  I'm organized in a few areas in my life.  My dresser is not one of them! I decided to take a little different approach but still hold on to the same concept of saving money and creating something tangible. I didn't just want to make it and have it sit on a shelf never to be seen or utilized. I wanted a functional piece.  And I couldn't wait to have fun making it my own!

I'm not a professional by any stretch so there wasn't anyone there with an amazing camera to take pictures.  I took some screenshots from the live video so I could show you as I tell you how this cute little shelf came to fruition. I had to flip all the shots because I still haven't figured out how to get my live video to record from my front facing camera without showing everything backward. 

I prepared a little in advance so the video wasn't quite as long as my videos tend to be by painting the leg pieces first. The leg pieces are mini Jenga blocks. Seriously.  Michael's had them for $.58 online.  I used 6 blocks for each leg.  I painted them with white acrylic paint and then coated lightly with Waverly wax in an attempt to protect the paint from getting scratched.  I'm a novice here so I didn't know it would have a yellow-ish finish.  I'm ok with that this time because it doesn't clash badly with other colors used in this project.

I realized in the first few minutes of the project that my next purchase is going to have to be a better glue gun.  This one is too small for this type of craft and wouldn't stay hot long enough.  I made do with it this time but I may have to reinforce once I get a better gun! 

For the trays I used Dollar Store frames.  They are about 6x6" though I didn't actually measure because I left my measuring tape upstairs during the live video.  Originally these frames had a little embellishment in the center that said "A spoiled dog lives here".  That embellishment popped right out. It tore the paw print paper under it a little but that was ok because I was covering it up with this cute chevron-like paper that I found at Joann's.  

Don't worry. I won't quit my day job to try and become a photographer! Remember, these are screenshots from a live video.  Sorry about the quality. 

As you can see from the photos I just posted, the frames were unfinished wood. I decided to paint them pink, to match the theme of the paper.  I painted the inside walls white to give it some depth.  It's a shadow box frame so it does have depth.  But the white kind of makes it pop a little more, I think. 

After painting the frames I cut the chevron paper to fit inside and cover the existing puppy print paper.  This was a little challenging without that measuring tape! But I did it! No job too big or small for this determined crafty momma! I used mod podge to glue the paper down and a sponge brush to smooth it down and get all the bubbles out.  Not too bad, Sambo.

Assembly was also a big of a challenge. Remember how I told you I need to invest in a better glue gun? Yeah, well, no more wood assembly without one, that's for sure! The legs were coming unglued left and right and I felt like I spent twice the amount of time I should've getting it intact.  But eventually, everything was sturdy and I was able to stand it up on end successfully!

Now I needed to decide what kind of embellishments I wanted to use to dress up the outside of each shelf.  Just painting it pink wasn't enough for this super busy girl!  I could've spent hours 'decorating' this cute little thing.  But I tried to keep it simple. I went through a bunch of stuff I gathered together and came up with a flower, the word 'Love' and a little framed phrase.  This was kind of tough because I had a LOT of ideas floating through my head. As you can see from the pictures, it was kind of driving me crazy! The flowers were silk and I put a little button in the center to accent.  The word 'Love'...well, that is just how I feel about it, ok?! And the framed phrase was cut out of another piece of paper and I backed and framed it with two different colors of paper to make it pop a little. I even used my edging sheers to make a cute border cut. 

All in all it was a fun and cute little project.  It took around 2 1/2 hours to complete but I'm not gonna lie...I'm proud of myself! This could've easily been one of my 6 hour projects!! And I may just end up spending a little more time on it because I have ideas that involve ribbons that may help reinforce those legs!! My dresser is dark so this really doesn't match, but that's ok! Because I know have a cute little nesting place for all my earrings, rings and bracelets! Well, almost all of them. I think I'm actually going to make a second one so it's not quite so cluttered and full!! I still have 2 jewelry boxes, a porcelain dish and 3 jewelry bags with stuff in them! Thanks, Paparazzi!! 

Once again, thank you so much for joining me on this crafty journey! I had a lot of fun and look forward to the next crafty project in the next couple weeks.  Maybe this wasn't quite your style. But if I could do anything for you, I hope I entertained you. Thank you for supporting my ideas, sharing your valuable time and ideas, and spreading the love!!! 

Until we craft again...

Sambo