Christmas Star

I saw this pin on Pinterest and I had some supplies so here is my take on Beyond The Picket Fences Christmas Star (http://bec4-beyondthepicketfence.blogspot.com/2012/11/12-days-of-christmas-day-8.html).

Using some left over picket fence boards I cut 3 pieces 20 inches long.  I had some remaining pieces about 8 inches long and used these and some wood screws and attached the boards together.  Completed size was ~16" X 20".  I used black stain to give an old weather appearance.

I had some furniture tacks left over from another project and decided to use these to hold by star points.  making take star centered and the points ever was critical to me so I measured 9" between points. The top point was my starting point and I made sure it was in the center.  I choose a 1" ribbon with white accents.  Starting at the top point and leaving about 10 inches of left over (to tie a bow) I simply wrapped each tack once and moved to the next tack.  At the end I tied a simple bow and hammered the tacks firmly.

To insure that my walls would not be hacked up from hanging I hot glued felt to the back pieces holding the boards in place.  I use I screws and wire to hang the project.

This was an easy and fairly fast project once you have your supplies.

So May 10th was my little man's Birthday.  He has never asked for a birthday party, and since we live 1000 miles from most of our family parties have always been very small (mom, dad and little man).  This year he specifically asked for a party including providing a theme and guest list.  What is a krafty mom to do, but comply with the wishes of a 5 year old to be.

The request was for a Dinosaur party.  Complete with balloons, pinata, cake, ice cream, and kids.  Lucky for me we had some VERY large boxes from some ikea furniture and my mad skills with cutting tools as paint.  See below some awesome dinosaurs I made for decorations as well as a real smoking volcano (fog machine used for smoke effect.

 This is our brachiosaurus before paint

 After poster paint - feet could have been better but it worked

Cody with his finished brachiosaurus to show it's size (Cody is 3"9" tall)

  Cody painting the T-rex

 T-rex got a box for legs.  I considered making feet too but just ran out of time.

You can see the size from this photo Cody is 3"9" tall.

Banner was printed on card stock and triangles cut with a paper cutter used a star punch on each corner and ran 1/2" ribbon behind each piece to sting together.  All the dinosaurs were free clip art found online.

Closer view of banner

This is the volcano.  Cut a large box spray paint, hot glue and tissue paper.  placed a fog machine under neath and the smoke rose out the top perfect.  Added green streamers to open door way to look like vines.  I thought of a great easy way to do this by using a piece of packing take as long as your door way and cutting streamers to the appropriate length, then just stick the streamer end to the tape and you can hang with thumb tacks.  Easy and quick.

 These foot prints were a nice added touch I made them in many color and used sticky tack to put them all over.  I drew out the shape on a piece of paper with sharpie then scanned the image.  Next I transferred the image into my Silhouette Cameo software and created a cut file.  Next I simply cut as many as I wanted from card stock.  This was the first time I had made my own cut template and it was easy just watched some youtube videos to learn.  Also you may notice the blue hanging pterandon.  This was a free pdf I found on line that I also converted to a cut file it was a 2 piece the just slid together and I added a eye and back hole to run thread through to hang.  They turned out great.  Red T-rex was a Party City pinata.

Pterandon cutout in yellow, red and orange cut from card stock.

Well the party went great and all the kids had fun for our main activity I made coloring book t-shirts for the kids to color with fabric markers.  I found dinos for the boy and butterflies for the girls (their choice) as free clip art online.  I printed the line drawings on iron on transfers and ironed them on the shirts.  Then the kids used crayola fabric marker and colored their shirts.  Next I placed the shirts in the dryer on high for 30 minutes to set the ink and all done.

Thank you kids your excitement made all my hard work worth it.

Love you little man, Happy 5th Birthday.

Surname Photo Sign

BACKGROUND:
I saw a similar sign at a wedding I went to recently and I though that is cool then I saw a similar pin on pinterest (where so much of my inspiration comes from; thank you Shanty2Chic  for the inspiration).

I decided this would make a lovely birthday present for my step-father's 60th birthday.  I liked Shanty2Chic's take on the purchased item I saw at the wedding so I merged the two formats and came up with this easy project.

TIME TO COMPLETE: = ~1 hour (this includes drying time)

FINISHED SIZE:  1" X 6" X 33" (W x H x L)

MATERIALS:
Wood Board - (I used a cheap piece of pine 1" X 6" X 33" (W x H x L))
Saw
Sandpaper
Paint Brush
Paper Towels
MinWax wood finish - ebony (Home Depot)
Acid Free Black Core Foam Core
Photo Paper (I used 4 X 6 glossy HP)
Printer (I use a Kodak ESP 7)
Elmer's Spray Glue Permanent
Furniture Tacks
Photo Cutter or Scissors
Yard Stick
Utility Knife
Cutting Board

Medium Picture Hanging Wire about 36" in length
2 Small Eye Screws
Hammer
Small Screw Driver

PROCEDURE:
1. Begin by choosing the photos you want to use.  I used the site recommended by Shanty2Chic for Free photo images of letters.
2. Download the images you choose.  I decided to create my sign in black and white you could chose color or another photo look.
3. Modify photos using your favorite photo program (recently I found FotoFlexer, I really liked it).  Since I was using a 1" X 6" board I went with 4" X 4" photos.
4. Once your photos are cut to size space them out on your yard stick to determine how long your wood board needs to be.  I suggest measuring each letter to make the spacing even for a balanced look.
5. Cut your wood to the desired length (33" = 4" (photos) X 7 (photos) + 0.5" X 6 (between spaces) + 1" X 2 (ends)).
6. Sand edges for smooth look.
7. Stain wood using MinWax stain and a paint brush, remove unwanted stain using paper towels to get desired color. Allow to dry completely.
8. Cut foam core to exact size of your photos.
9. Spray each foam core one at a time with spray glue and attach a photo.  Be sure to line up edges and smooth photo you don't want any bubbles.
10. Repeat step 9 with each photo.
11. Once your board is dry and you photos are mounted you are ready to assemble.
12.  Using your yard stick align your photos on your board, paying special attention  to your spacing, you want the photos to be spaced evenly.
13. Once you are satisfied with the photos' placement begin attaching the photos to your board with furniture tacks.  I choose silver tacks you could mix and match or find decorative tacks.  I also considered spray painting my tacks black, but changed my mind.
14. I looked the look of pressing the tack into the photo a little to create a dimple.

15. Add your eye screws and attach the hanging wire.

That is it a lovely name sign.  I got some nice comments at the birthday party my step-father liked it too.

FIRST POST EVER - disclaimer

So to being I want you to know if you decide to follow this blog it will be sporadic this is not my full time job.  However, with that said, I hope to inspire you to create when ever you have time.  I see many things I think I can do that or I can make that.  Sometimes it turns out great other times it is a bust.  Mostly I will show you my successes, really who wants to focus on their failures.  I will tell you if a method has worked or if more research needs to be done.

I hope you enjoy what you see.

HAPPY CRAFTING : )