Halloween Mummy Wreath

I don't know how many of you watch Craft Wars, but sometimes it can be incredibly inspiring.  There was an episode a handful of weeks back that had the participants make Christmas wreaths.  One of the ladies made a two layer wreath and that is where my idea for this one began.

I started with a styrofoam wreath, unfinished wood circle, unfinished wood letters, Modge Podge, craft paint, crepe paper streamers, scrapbook paper, and some decorative spiders (mine were actually brads from the scrapbook section.)

I took the scrapbook paper and modge podged it to the styrofoam wreath.  I painted my wood circle and my letters (B-O-O).  I used glow-in-the-dark paint mixed with white craft paint for my mummy eyes and flat black for my letters and the face of the mummy.  Then I coated the circle in Modge Podge and wrapped the crepe streamers around the circle to form my mummy head.  I hot glued the mummy head to the center of my wreath.  I used Modge Podge to attach my letters to the wreath, and then I hot glued some of the brads to the face of the mummy.  The other brads I stuck into the styrofoam around the wreath, and voila!  Easy Halloween wreath that is cute and not too spooky.... as my kids request.  :)

 

 

 

 

Super Mario Matchup Game With Free Printable

I'm not really sure how this idea came to me at this point.  Somehow in the midst of redoing the boys' room in a Super Mario theme this game idea just popped up, and the next thing you know I am working on it at my kitchen table.  It is a little twist on the old game, Memory, we all played as a child.  The only real difference aside from the pictures is that if you get one of the "bad guy" cards you lose a turn.

If you would like to make your own Super Mario Matchup Game this is what you will need:

• foam board
• printer & paper
• craft knife such as Xacto and scissors
• decoupaging medium like Modge Podge
• Mario Game Printable

The first thing you need to do is print out the free printable from the link above.  Then you are going to cut all of the images out into squares roughly the size of the question mark boxes.  Next you need to use your craft knife to cut out your squares from the foam board.  If the edges are rough you can use your scissors to straighten them some.

Now you will glue all of the question mark boxes onto one side of all of those squares.  I believe there are 18 pairs in all.  The character squares will go on the opposite side of all of these squares so each one is two-sided.  Set up an assembly line and enlist your children to help cut out the squares (using safety scissors) and glue the paper to the squares.  Crafting knives are extremely sharp, so I would advise you do that part, though.  When all of the squares have had a chance to dry you will put a top coat of your decoupaging medium onto both sides of the squares (letting one side dry before coating the second side.)  The red color tends to bleed some so make sure to only do one light coat across it.

When they have all dried it is time for your kids to have fun!  And they aren't even glued to a video game, woohoo!

P.S.  Don't forget to check out our giveaway for some awesome handcrafted jewelry!  Entries end August 2!

Birdhouse Wreath Alternative

Well, now that the 4th is behind us and I never got around to making my patriotic wreath or any of the great flags or candle holders or banners that I saw around bloggy world I figured it was time to at least bring some summer to my front porch.  I didn't want to make a wreath, though.  I wanted something different completely.  Looking for inspiration I went to the craft store and walked around until I found myself in the unfinished wood aisle.  30% off signs no less, too, so that was very encouraging.  This is what I came up with....

I bought the unfinished wood birdhouse and had my husband cut an opening in the top.  I then decoupaged it with scrapbook paper and painted the top to match.  I created my little floral arrangement from gerbera daisies.  They are some of my all-time favorite flowers, but I always end up killing them, because I forget to water them, so this solves that problem, too.  :)

Aren't they nice and cheery colors, too?  This says summer to me in a major way.  The problem came to how we would hang it because it is a little too top heavy for a normal door hanger, and having a metal door rather than wood we didn't want to go banging holes all into it, so I came up with the idea of heavy weight magnets.  They worked like a charm!!  We just superglued those things onto the back and voila!  The birdhouse does not move an inch when the door is opened or closed.  Awesome!  And no holes in the door!

The little bird was my son's idea, and it worked out perfect to cover the floral styrofoam block in the opening.  Smart kid I have there.  :)

Seascape Photo Shadowbox

Finally I have a new project to post.  This idea started brewing while we were on our Orange Beach vacation.  One thing my family loves to do is travel together and we love our annual beach trip.  We like to try out new beaches, too.  The only thing about vacations is they are NEVER long enough, so this year I wanted to bring the beach back with me.  Thus the Seascape Photo Shadowbox is born....

I did them in two varieties because I wanted to do them in a set, but not have them identical, so we have surf and sand.

What I used:

• 2 premade shadow boxes (50% off from Hobby Lobby)
• Modge Podge in matte
• 2 - 8 x 10 vacation photos
• Sand (I used the real stuff from the beach trip, but you can buy it at your local craft store, also.)
• Shells - same as above
• Acrylic craft water
• Foam brush

The first thing I did was paint my shadow boxes, because unfortunately they were out of the white, and I wanted this to feel beachy.  You can definitely skip this step if you are fortunate enough to find the color you want.  I don't particularly love painting.

Next, I took the Modge Podge or other decoupaging medium of your choice and coated down the back interior portion of the shadow box with a foam brush.

Then I layed the photos down onto the shadow box back and rubbed them down so that there were no bubbles underneath.

Once you have let the glue dry you can start coating down the front of your photos.  Don't worry it is supposed to look funny.  It will dry clear.

Do NOT touch them while they are drying!  I let mine dry over night and cure so that when I started the next step foreign objects would not stick to the surface of my pictures.  My photos were not tacky at all when I started putting the shadow box together.  For both types of shadow box you will put your back onto the shadow box and take tape, duct, packing, or whatever sticky variety you have and tape across the bottom outside portion of the back so that your sand or craft water do not leak out.  If you do not do this you will have a mess.  Since this is on the back of my shadow box and I will be hanging mine anyway I just used clear packing tape.

Then I just pulled the top portion of the backing open just a smidge so that I could pour some sand down into the shadow box.  When I got the amount I wanted into the shadow box I put in a few of the shells we collected and closed up the back securing the latches.  The sand will move around so you will want to keep it sitting upright.

For the surf variety I started the same way by taping across the bottom back portion.  I then prepared the Craft Water as directed on the packaging.  I pulled the top back open slightly I put in a small amount of sand and shells in the very bottom.  Then using oven mitts I poured in a little of the Craft Water and closed the back, securing the latches.  Be careful not to tilt your box or you will have waves and splashes in your shadow box, which can also be a neat effect if that is what you want.  Then just let it sit and cure.  Every variety of craft water is different but the one I used started to turn to gel within 15 minutes.

Now go make your own. :)