♥ Guest Blogger ♥

I found another great project to share with you all today! Susan from "Living with Punks" is here to share a very cool Pin Cushion Project. I know you are all going to want to make. I already stashed my can and am going to make mine tonight!

Hi,  I’m Susan from Living with Punks.  I am the wife of the hubmeister for 18 years now, and we have three wonderful punks, 7 yr. old twin boys and 2 yr. old lil’ sister.  On top of loving to sew, craft and bake, I run our family’s garage door company here in Clovis, California. So yeah, I keep busy.   

I have always had a love for creating and making things pretty. I can remember even as a little girl, thinking about home design and creating with whatever I could get my hands on.  I still have so many children’s books (I need to do a post about) that are about crafting and making.  I’m thankful my mom was aware of my desires, and encouraged them early on. 

After our daughter was born a few years ago, I started sewing again and now I can’t stop!!!  I love being able to look at something and think “I can make that” and then actually doing it… and it working!  Makes a person feel very accomplished!  Stop by my blog and check it out.  I have alot of ah-ha! sewing tutorials that are super simple and ALWAYS fun!! Toodle-loo...~Susan

~ Tin Can Pin Cushion ~

When I saw Fireflies & Jellybeans announced a crafting challenge a few weeks back, I decided I would try it...even though the challenge included recycled cans.  Unless you didn't notice, I like to sew  :)  But, I want to expand my crafting abilities and I thought it would be a great opportunity. 

I saved some 6oz. flavored almond cans (we've got lots :)), not knowing how I was going to use it....

Well, as they say, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree (I know that is usually used for a mother/daughter reference, but you get the drift) because although my craft does not involve sewing, I can use it in the sewing room!

I started by cutting a piece of scrap fabric the circumference of the can, basically 11.5 x 2.5, and mod-podgedit to the side.  I stuffed the can with fiberfill and got another piece of fabric and stuffed it down as the pincushion top.  Make sure it's nice and puffy

I didn't want to just throw the plastic top away, so I cut it out in the shape of a funky flower

...and mod-podged some fabric to it.  I used a cute piece of felt for the flower center

And glued the funky flower to the pincushion

I love it and it looks soooo cute in my sewing room

~Susan

<center><a href="http://3punkmom.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img border="0" alt="LivingwithPunks" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4047/4675914951_a0c6cee16d_o.jpg"/></a></center>

Make sure you grab Susan's Button too!


Go Vote for SUSAN!
Susan just got the news too, that she is in the TOP 10 for Fireflies & Jellybeans "Iron Crafter" competition. So please go by and see and vote for your favorite. Which of course would be Susan's Pin Cushion. Show some support and Vote Right Now!

Thank you so much Susan for sharing this fun project with Trendy Treehouse! I look forward to making one of my own. I hope I can find some adorable fabric like yours!

If you loved this tutorial and SUSAN, please go by and tell her so HERE! She would love to hear from your. And if you really love her, Follow her! She has some pretty amazing tutorials. This was just one of them! I am going to try a few that she offers!

Continue Reading ...

♥ Guest Blogger ♥

Sorry that I have missed a couple guest bloggers. End of the school year busies!!! LOL My kids have 3 days left, then it's "School's Out for Summer" Did you start singing the song? I did! 

Anyway, I have a wonderful "Guest Blogger" today! When I saw this project, I knew you all would love it and just had to get Patrice from Lemon Tree Creations over here to share it!

I'm Patrice from Lexington, Kentucky. I am a wife, mother, and teacher and love to spend my free time dreaming big dreams. It wasn't too long ago that my husband and I bought our first home. One of the best decisions we made back then was to only fill our home with meaningful things. Ever since then, I have spent every decorating bone in my body moving, crafting, building, painting and hanging happy things all over our tiny house. I recently started a cooperative crafting blog with some good friends, called Lemon Tree Creations. I'm fairly new to the blogging community, but have been an artist my whole life. I am constantly being inspired by everything I see in the world around me, and have recently embraced the fact that inspiration can be found in even the most surprising of places. 


Book Art

I am a major fan of the book page crafts. I have several versions of "book page wreaths" that you can find hanging throughout my house. However, working with all of these pages from books got me thinking, "what about the book covers?" I quickly started to realize my book covers were laying useless, and I could just not let this be!

So, here was my solution to that problem...

(Now before you cringe, I also have a solution for all of you book lovers out there. Trust me, my husband wouldn't just let me murder good literature for the sake of artwork. We simply reattached the book jackets to the classics, sans hardcover, and they are still very much readable! Mostly only the dictionaries and thesauruses will be used for other crafts later.)

Here is how I did it. I started with about 20 books, most of which were judged by their cover, so that they would look good in my dining room and/ or living room. (Though I did choose about 4 favorite titles to throw in the mix to make it a little more meaningful for our family.) I then simply removed the covers with scissors as seen below.

I used an $8 piece of birch wood from Lowes as the base. I chose this wood because it was light weight and would be easier to hang.

I did NOT glue anything down yet. I went down the side and around the perimeter to make certain their were no edges or gaps of the wood being seen.

When the entire perimeter was complete, I still did NOT glue anything down, but then made a second and third layer to give the piece more visual interest. I was happy at this point that I had not begun gluing, because I had to rework the layout SEVERAL times to make it look the way I wanted it too. I was after an appearance of the books coming out towards you at the center, so the thickness of the hardcover, mixed with its texture had to be played around with a bit.

Once I came up with something that worked, I began gluing down each cover, starting the corner and working my way around the perimeter again in the original pattern I had followed.

To hang it, I simply used picture brackets I also got from Lowes for about $2. I just measured three inches in from the top corners and screwed them in. Then I connected a thin gauge wire between the two brackets.

It only took about 2 hours from start to finish (minus finding the perfect place to hang it!), and cost less than $30.00 for all of the materials. In the end, I was pleased with how it turned out. As soon as I hung it on the wall (without waiting for Matt to help measure it out...oops...) I was pleasantly surprised to see how the piece seemed to bow at in the middle just like I had hoped. It looks great on the wall. After moving from its original place in the living room to the dining room, I have no intentions of taking it down any time soon!

I have been struggling with what to call it. I guess it would be reclaimed art of some kind. I have found myself in the past few days trying to tell people about it and saying, "well, its, uh book sculpture for the, uh, wall?" Makes no sense to me either, don't worry. So if you come up with something better, comment and let me know!

~ Patrice

Thank you Patrice and Lemon Tree Creations for sharing this fun project with us. I was so excited to see this because I am a big fan of books and reading, so this will be a great project for me! I can't wait to make one. And since I am addicted to buying craft books, I think I may make one with a craft look for my work room. YEAH!

Continue Reading ...

♥ Guest Blogger ♥

I normally run Guest Bloggers on Sundays, but my internet was down and I wasn't able to add it in. So I wanted to make sure today I shared with you...

Charity's fun project. She has an adorable blog called "All Things Beautiful"

and she is here today to share a fun stencil project that I know you will love.

Make sure you stop by and follow her and to check out all her other wonderful posts.

Now on to her great tutorial...

I'm Charity from Alberta, Canada.  I am the mother of four little chicklets, and I have one amazing hubby (who, by the way, has any tool I could ever need for my projects *sigh*).  I started blogging because first I found out they are really fun to read, and second because I have all this creativity building up that I needed an outlet for.  Although I have to say I sure get a lot more projects finished now (now that I have an audience waiting for my arrivals!)  I love yard sale-ing and thrift store shopping!  So don't hold me back, because come Spring I am setting my alarm to be the first at a yard sale, and will likely bowl you over in a thrift store if I see something I love and want to get it first!  I love finding cheap things and giving them new life, and I love using odd bits of what I find around me and using them for projects.  I love Anything and All Things Beautiful.  But when you can't find it, you can make it!

His and Hers Hooks

I started out with these two wooden plaques that I got at the Michael's Craft Store.  They were $2.69 each.

I primed them and painted them white.  I figured I would make the project a black and white theme, since that is what she is going with for her wedding colours.

I remembered a stamp I bought that I love, and hadn't used for anything yet, and this was the perfect project to use it for.  I painted the stamp with black paint and blotted on paper towel to make it a lighter more distressed shade.  Although, this picture I have posted below was before I decided it needed to be lighter (I had to make a quick fix!).

I bought these knobs and two back plates at Home Depot for $1.48 (knob), $.98 (back plate).

Of course I wanted these to match too, so I painted them black as well.

I had a friend make some vinyl up to say "HIS" "HERS", and the little stinker wouldn't let me pay for it!  But supposedly it would only cost a couple bucks (so keep that in mind- still cheap)

Lastly, I drilled a hole in the back to screw in the knob and back plate.

Okay...   ahh, are you ready for it!

Voila!

And there you have it!

I forgot to mention that I am putting a thing on the back (I can't think of the name of it - but I know what it is in my mind), so that you can hang these on the wall, and with the little knobs you can hang anything off them... towels, bathrobe, jewelry, ties, whatever!!

I am pleasantly pleased with myself.  Cute!!!  Well, enough of me, I hope you get inspired!!

Cost:

Wooden Plaques: $2.69 each

Back Plate: $.98 each

Knob: $1.48 each

Stamp: Had on hand

Leveling Hanger (the hook on the back): $1.49 (set of 6)

Vinyl: from a friend

Total: $11.79

~ CHARITY ~

Thanks for sharing your great tutorial with us Charity. I love how this turned out and with a wedding in just two weeks, I am so glad I know what to make the happy couple now! Stop by anytime with your great projects.

Make sure you stop by and comment on Charity's Blog and let her know how much you love this project.

Permission was received to copy and paste over this tutorial. Thanks!

Continue Reading ...

♥ Guest Blogger ♥

Another exciting Tutorial from this weeks "Guest Blogger"

Pot Holes and Panty Hose

You just have to stop by Rebekah's site and check it out. She has a very fun way of crafting that I know you will just love, love, love, like I do!

 On any given day at Pot Holes and Panty Hose, you might find me blogging about remodeling one of our rental properties, shooting a photo session for a client, on the road with my rock 'n roller of a husband, or creating some arts and crap for my home.  I am pretty normal by my own estimation.  But no one else agrees with me on that.  Come visit me and judge for yourself.  But please be nice, I am a delicate flower.

~Love Rebekah @ potholesandpantyhose.com

Scrappy Plywood Art

I am not a professional painter, by any means. However, what I do have is plenty of time on my hands, leftover remodeling bits and a little creative inspiration. A small budget and the need to have some crap on my walls is my creative inspiration.

Today, we are going to make a piece of art from cheap plywood. And, it’s gonna be awesome.

What you will need:

Oops paint (this is paint that has been mis-tinted and is usually $5 a gallon at most hardware stores), or leftover paint you no longer have feelings for.

A paintbrush, sanding block or sand paper, a tape measure, a skill saw with a wood blade, polyurethane (I use the fast drying kind) and a scrappy piece of plywood.

I spare EVERY expense when it comes to art that I might burn later on if I hate the outcome. Get the cheap ‘chipboard’. It has a blue edge. A 4x8 sheet of this stuff costs around $10, or go by a salvage store and buy some scrap.

You will need an electric drill and 2” drywall screws (that is, if you want to hang your art directly onto the wall like I do.) Otherwise, you can mount picture hanging devices on the back and hang it the old fashioned way.

Custom measure how big you want your artwork to be. Draw a line with a level and cut that sucker.

I wanted a large piece over our bed, so I went with a 4’x3’ piece of scrap plywood.

Sand the edges and any burrs that are sticking up on the face of your plywood lightly.

Next, draw a silhouette-type design on it. I decided to go for a deer head with antlers.

I know, don’t freak out. If you think you can’t draw, google ‘silhouette’ and find a design you like. Print it off and outline your design like you are in kindergarten. 

Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be perfect. 

Check out my line work below and it will make you feel better.

Use your oops paint to fill in the silhouette. Again, it does not have to be perfect. This is a rough piece of plywood and the paint will not go on in a straight line all of the time. That’s what makes this cool...and easy.

Paint the edges of the plywood and wrap it around to the front of your painting about a half of an inch. This will make a nice border to showcase your awesome talent. 

After your paint has dried, break out the polyurethane. I usually buy one of those disposable foamy brushes, but I didn’t have any on hand. If are applying polyurethane with a paintbrush, make sure that it is an ‘oil’ paintbrush. You will also need mineral spirits to clean it out. Yuck.

Thus the reason why I usually buy a foamy brush.

Let the poly dry. You can apply a second coat of poly if your wood is really thirsty or you want it doubly shiny.

Now is the glorious moment. 

I hung this piece by drilling straight through with 2” drywall screws on the black sections of the silhouette. I then touched up the screw heads with more black paint.

You can also use picture hanging devices that attach to the back side of the plywood and hang it as most normal people do.

But you know I have never enjoyed being normal...

~ Rebekah ~

Thanks Rebekah for a fun project!! We know we will be seeing many more great projects from you! READERS, don't forget to drop by and give a terrific comment to Rebekah and check out her many other great posts!!!

Continue Reading ...

♥ Guest Blogger ♥

Are you ready for a really fun Tutorial for kids! Well, this guest blogger has a great one!!! I can't wait to make these with my kids and proudly display them in my house.

Kalleen from Second Street is here to share Mod Podged Hand Trees. They are amazing. Make sure to stop by her blog for many more amazing ideas and crafts. She is a very talented "Momma"


Hi Everyone, My name is Kalleen from "At Second Street". I'm a mother of four who loves to create and design for my family and home. I grew up in a super creative family with parents who taught me from a young age the joy that comes with creating. I want my own kids to feel that joy and have tried to encourage them to make things themselves. This is my favorite kids craft we've made together, and I hope you and your kids enjoy making them too.


"Mod Podged Hand Trees"

I have to be honest. I love my kids. I love crafts. But I hate kid's crafts. The thing that I hate about them is that five minutes after they have created something, I want to throw it away. I just don't like the clutter.

I knew I had to come up with something I would treasure instead of trash. My kids and I created these beautiful hand trees.

They are personalized with trunks made from their arm and hand. I really enjoyed spending one on one time with each kid as we put these together.

Mod Podge is the perfect medium for kids crafts. You can't mess it up. Since it dries clear you can't see all the mistakes and spills. My kids kept commenting on how much the loved "painting".

What I used:

-Wood Picture Boards -I got mine at Tai Pan Trading Co., they were damaged and 75% off. You could also use a canvas.

- burlap

-scrap fabric

-scissors

- Mod Podge- I used matte, but I think anything you have is fine.

-Permanent marker - to sign name at the end

These are the boards I used. I needed more surface area so I used the back side as my front.

Some of the Fabrics I used: I liked using a heavier fabric, but anything would work. Make sure you have lots of variety. You want the fabrics to work together while still having as many different colors as possible. You don't want all the fabrics to blend together. I used eight different fabrics.

Here is how we made them:

Step 1: I removed the hanger and stickers from the back of my board. I saved the hanger and placed it on the other side when it was time to hang my pictures.

Step 2: I covered the entire board with Mod Podge and layed a piece of burlap, bigger than the board, over the top. Then I used my sharp sewing scissors to cut away the excess burlap till it was straight and flush with the board. If you are using a canvas I would try wrapping the canvas and stapling it to the back instead.

Step 3: Cutting the leaves and hands out. I did all the cutting. I didn't trust my kids with my sharp sewing scissors. I was afraid someone would lose a finger. If your kids are older you might want to let them do this part.

I cut three different sizes of leaves for each pattern.

Tracing and cutting the hands before starting with the Mod Podge, make things easier when everything is covered with goo.

Step 4: Glue everything down.

I helped glue the first four leaves down so my kids had an idea of which direction the leaves should go. Then they took over. They painted the Mod Podge onto the backs of the leaves then placed them were they wanted. I reminded them to cover all the empty spots and to use all the different colors.

Step 5: Once all your leaves are on. They plastered the back of the trunk with Mod Podge and placed it on the picture with the hand in the center of the leaves. You might need to trim some of the trunk so that it is flush with the bottom of the board.

Now they can finish it off by painting over the entire tree with the Mod Podge. It dries clear so don't worry if it looks a little messy.

The leaves dry stiff and look cute if they start to come off the board.

Worthy of being hung in a prominent place my kids are more than happy to show off their handy work. Each tree is different just like my kids.

Thanks you Kalleen for such an amazing tutorial & project to do with kids. I love it. 

Make sure you all stop by and tell her how terrific she is and check out all her fabulous posts!

Grab her button too!

~ What our Readers are Making ~

Thanks for sharing

Look at What "The Cottage Momma" Made!

Continue Reading ...