Cricut Vinyl Big Sister/Little Sister T Shirts

Allow me to begin this blog by stating that I LOVE MY CRICUT MACHINE!!! While I have the most basic version that Cricut offers, I am astounded by how many options this wonderful contraption gives me. I recently purchased adhesive vinyl to be used with my Cricut. While I can't even imagine how many new craft options this will now give me, I decided that my first project with the vinyl would be to make temporarily decorated t shirts to celebrate our upcoming arrival. Since our first "baby" has always been our dog (and I assure you, we don't actually treat our dog like she's a human, but we do love her to death and can't imagine life without her), we constantly joke that her "little sister" is on her way. As someone always looking for a new craft project, as well as a photo op, I went ahead and purchased a large, pink t shirt at my local dollar store and got out a matching pink onesie that we had already gotten for baby. Using the "Alphalicious" Cricut cartridge, I cut the phrases "Big Sister" and "Little Sister" out and adhered them accordingly to the t-shirt (yes, for the dog to wear) and onesie. Since we are just using them for a photo, we can simply remove the vinyl letters when we are done and reuse the shirts. Stay tuned for pics of the "sisters"!!!

Melted Crayon Canvas

These creations might be the coolest things I have ever seen! If you have never seen them, simply Google "melted crayon canvas." You won't regret it!

Here is a pic of a melted crayon canvas made for my niece Camdyn by her aunt Heather.

My sister, @Kyra Tanner, decided on a shades of orange theme for her melted artwork in honor of my cousin Dustin, who is a leukemia survivor!!!

The options are limitless, but here is a link with a tutorial for one awesome example

A Nursery for Claire Bear

It is hard to believe that, in just a few short weeks, our baby girl will be here to meet us! On one hand, it feels like just yesterday that my husband and I discovered we were pregnant! On the other hand, I am going MAD waiting to see who she looks like and which features of mine and my husband's she bears. I can't wait to dress her up in the adorable outfits my relatives and friends spoiled her with, take her for walks in her stroller, and even change a gazillion diapers per day and comforting her on restless nights. Mostly, I just can't wait to have her in my arms and call her my own.

Needless to say, I have been desperately trying to keep busy in any way possible. Here is proof of my busy-ness in the form of pictures of  Claire's room! Enjoy!!!


My amazingly artistic sis-in-law, @Tiffany Beaver painted the tree and I added fabric leaves and birds to match the crib bedding. We're hoping  baby Claire comes out with lots of hair so that she can put the owl barette holder to the right of the tree to good use!

I painted the wooden letters to match Claire's bedding and hot-glued them to ribbon. Each end of the ribbon was then tied around a nail in the wall and covered with fabric-covered, wooden birds.

This plaque was featured in a blog post about a month ago, and we have finally found a home for it in Claire's room

Can't wait to put this glider to very good use. Notice the beautiful afghan on the glider, made by my fabulous mommy, @Jane Beaver!

Bird puzzle completed by shower guests assembled and displayed in baby's room. Love it!!!

For those of you who don't know me, I am obsessed with the use of Scrabble tiles in craft projects! I am passing on this obsession to my child!

Since Claire's cousins all live hours away, I decided to incorporate them into her room for her to think of them fondly when she can't see  them. Each one used their hand or footprints to create an adorable little character to add to her nursery decor! Also of note is the adorable picture frame to the left of the windowsill made by my aunt, @Julie Heckman and featuring the 3-D ultrasound pic of Claire!

A closeup of Alison's and Camdyn's nursery contributions-a birdie and an owl

Royce's, Derek's, and Adrienne's creative contributious-a butterfly, a frog, and a bouquet of flowers



Wine Bottle to Beach House Vase

While I'm not a huge wine drinker (particularly not in these past 39 weeks at all, haha!), I love all of the options that the use of its container provides! The list of projects you can make out of their corks is limitless, as are those you can make out of the bottles. In my case, I really liked the pale blue color of this particular wine bottle, so I wanted to do something that would still show bits of that color (which happens to be my favorite) and give it a sort of distressed feel. Using Modge Podge and square pieces of tissue paper, I simply applied a layer of Modge Podge bit by bit then covered the bottle in tissue squares before applying another layer. I repeated this process two more times in order to get the textured effect shown in the picture. Currently, I use it as a decorative flower holder displayed on my bannister.

http://webecoist.momtastic.com/2011/02/28/booze-it-up-13-rad-recycled-bottle-crafts-projects/

Make Your Own Mustache Necklace




Mustache necklace

Yes, I am well aware that I have created at least two other posts involving the use of a mustache or multiple mustaches (which I can't promise won't get worse in the upcoming months, as my nephew's first birthday theme is "Mustache Bash"), but come on....they're just so much fun, and I will never be able to grow my own, so I must find creative ways to use them artificially!

This particular necklace is easy to make if you have some basic, jewelry-making knowledge. In fact, I found the hardest part to be finding the awesome mustache pendant (for those of you interested, this one was discovered at Hobby Lobby), but now that you know where to find it, this should be smooth sailing!

Tam modeling her very own mustache necklace

Materials:

-4 split rings
-lobster clasp
-chain link (size and style is your choice)
-mustache pendant
-wire cutter
-needle nosed pliers

Steps:

1. Wrap chain around neck and use wire cutters to cut on each side according to how far down you wish the pendant to lay
2. Using needle nosed pliers, open a split ring and put through one end of the open chain
3. While still attached to the chain, place the split ring through one hole of the pendant and close the split ring with pliers
4. Repeat steps 2-3 on the opposing side of the chain
5. Using wire cutters, cut in the middle of the chain opposite the pendant (If necklace is long enough, clasp may not be necessary and you can skip this step altogether). Attach one split ring to one side of the open chain and a split ring with lobster clasp on the opposing side.

TA-DAH!!!

Wedding Jewelry

2010 was certainly the year of the wedding in my family, and I had the privelege of being the official wedding "jeweler" of three of those weddings! Here are some pics of the jewelry made for the weddings of my sister, brother, and cousin. If you know anyone looking for their very own "wedding party jeweler," please let me know, although I do require advanced notice, as my upcoming months will be very hectic, haha!



Jewelry (necklaces and earrings) for wedding #1 of the season (my cousin Elizabeth's) modeled by her beautiful bridesmaids Rebecca, Kyra, Sarah, and Jill




A closeup of the jewelry, modeled by two of the beautiful bridesmaids, Kyra and Rebecca

The lovely mother-of-the bride, my Aunt Rene, looking gorge in her necklace and earrings set

Three of my sister-in-law's bridesmaids modeling their necklaces, Katelyn, Leann, and Naomi (matching bracelets were also made but are not shown) for wedding #2

Myself, my mother, and my sister modeling the necklaces made for them (also for wedding #2); mom wore a really cute black, white and turquoise dress as the M-O-B, so her jewelry was made to compliment her look

My beautiful sister, Kyra, modeling the  jewelry (necklace and earrings) made for her for wedding #3

The spectacular Tammie modeling her bridesmaid jewelry (my sister wanted a different set of earrings and necklace for each bridesmaid featuring pearls and silver, so this was a really fun wedding to "bejewel")!

Kyra and three off her bridesmaids, myself, Sarah, and Tammie modeling their jewelry

The lovely Elizabeth modeling her spectacular bling!

 

Showered with Love (and Creativity)

I am including some pictures from one of my fantastic baby showers, hosted by my mom, @Jane Beaver, sister, @Kyra Tanner, sister-in-law, @Tiffany Beaver, and best friend, @ Tammie Gloss! These ladies put so much time and creativity into planning a fabulously handmade shower, and I could not have been more appreciative and honored. Claire and I are VERY lucky girls!!!



A view of the adorable shower tables, based on my nursery theme of birds and trees, fashioned by my awesomely creative mom, @Jane Beaver and sister, @Kyra Tanner



Favors were bags of delicious popcorn and labeled "Ready to Pop" Adorbs!!!



A view of the delicious popcorn-kettle corn drizzled with white (in this case, pink) and milk chocolate. Mmmm!!!



How cool is this? A cupcake tree made by the fabulous @Tiffany Beaver



Owl cookies made by my amazing BBFF (that would be "Baker Best Friend Forever") @Tammie Gloss



Tam also fashioned this AWESOME Elmo fruit tray (Elmo is my absolute favorite character from childhood and, let's be honest, adulthood, too)!



One of the shower games encouraged guests to cut apart pictures of my husband, Jason and myself and glue together what our child might look like using our "best features". Yikes! Let's hope life does not imitate art, because the "child" on the right is definitely rocking a MULLET!



More views of Baby Eyer...poor kid!



Another shower activity encouraged each guest to write a message on a puzzle piece, which eventually formed a large bird to be proudly displayed in baby's nursery. @Tiffany Beaver cut out the bird outline and each of the puzzle pieces using pink foam core and an Exacto knife! How amazing is she?!?!

Beautiful pram cover made by my Grandma Dalby, the original crafter of our family!

Very Hungry Caterpillar (one of my favorite children's books)-themed knitted hat and peapod, created by my fabulous aunt, @Patricia Beaver. Is this not the coolest thing you've ever seen?!?!?! Man, I love creative people!

Another amazing example of creativity! My cousin, @ Kristin Pastva created these awesome baby leggings by sewing together two, adult socks! If this baby is not the most fashion-forward chick in all of Pittsburgh, I'm not sure who is! Did I mention creative people are the best?!?!