Tutorial: Washer and Ribbon Necklace

     School has been back for a month, which explains why I haven't been updating recently.  I have lots of projects in the works, but I haven't finished most of them yet.  Here is a fun 15 minute project.   Try it out and let me know how it goes!
  
     I love going to the local hardware store and looking for fun materials to use.  The other day I was on Pinterest and saw a cool jewelry idea.  This is cheap, easy and, most importantly, cute!  I have made two of them, but with all of the customization options (ribbon color, washer size, lengths, number of ribbons, etc) I know that I will be making many more in the future.


After the jump you can see the full tutorial.

Tutorial: Jurassic Frame

Rawr!  Isn't this fun!?  And the best part is that it cost me $2!

After the jump you can see a full tutorial brimming with photos and helpful hints so you can make your own prehistoric photo holder.

Tutorial: Etched Glass Bakeware

    I worked on this today after realizing that so much of my bakeware is missing or has to belong to someone else because it doesn't look familiar at all.  After this project, my bakeware will be a memorable item that will get back to me even if I forget it at a friend's house.

    If you saw my paper pendant tutorial, then you might be thinking, "Dang, she likes the pi symbol."  It's true.  I'm going to attribute it to missing my students and classroom.  In this case though, I think it's pretty clever.  A pie pan with a pi symbol!

After the jump you can see a full tutorial with pictures of how to make your own.  It's so easy and inexpensive!

Tutorial: Paper Pendants

    If you have been reading my blog for a while, then you are well aware that I reallllly wanted a Silhouette Cameo.  Back in May, I finally ordered one.  I wasn't anticipating that it would be back ordered until the beginning of July.  The Cameo came in the mail the other day, and I got down to business right away.  Time to make a nerdy necklace.

    Before you say, "What the heck?"...  Let me tell you two important things about me.  I am a math teacher.  Beyond that fact, Pi Day is my favorite day of the year.  Pi Day is celebrated on March 14th.  Wait for it. Wait for it.  Pi is approximated by 3.14.  March 14th is 3/14. 

After the jump you can see all the steps to make this beauty (or a paper pendant of any other design).

Tutorial: Make Lego inspired Boxes (Giftwrap or storage)

    I am going to a birthday party for my friend, Jana.  Being that she is one of my craftiest friends, I wanted to make her something.  It's a no-present kind of gathering, so I made something small that I thought she would like.  I originally wanted to make her tea towels with Legos appliqued or printed on them, but I came up against some obstacles.   Instead, I decided to make her a gift box that could be used to store lots of different things.  Here is the finished product!  What do you think?

After the jump you can see exactly how I made it.

Jazzing Up My MacBook (Semi-Tutorial)

    Ahhh!  Look at this!  Target has a relatively new line of great supplies in the kids crafting section. (Think where chalk, Crayola kits, pipe cleaners and the like would be.)  Yes, I'm 27, but clearly I like bright, fun stuff.  I'm excitable.  I have been looking at these things as well as some crazy color crayons which I plan to create at a later time.  I have been looking at the contact paper and paper tape for about two weeks.  Today was my day to purchase them.

 So naturally I wanted to stick this stuff all over everything (not exaggerating), but I opted to try it out on my MacBook.  Awesomeness follows.

After the jump you can see how great these products are!

Tutorial: Tile Coaster

This is a very easy, highly customizable, and super budget project.  Plus, now you won't have rings on your wood table from your sweating glasses and bottles.  Cheers to summer!  And to coasters!

I saw this project idea on Pinterest and decided to try it for myself.
After the jump, you can see the full tutorial.

Tutorial: Metal Milk Crate Coffee Table

   New coffee table for the living room: check.  Recognize those metal crates? They are from the Kane Country Flea Market from last month.  I got them for $5 each specifically to make a table like this.  This was my first time staining wood as well as my first time using polyurethane.  (Aww, she's growing up so fast.)

    I got this idea while I was on Pinterest a while ago.  It's from a great blog called A Beautiful Mess.  Once I found the metal milk crates, I knew that it was time to make this project a reality.  The full tutorial with lots of pictures and copious explanation about how to make this yourself is after the jump.  Enjoy!

Make a Record Notebook

Good morning!  Checking in after 6 hours of amazing crafting time yesterday. It was so fun, per usual.  At this Ladies Craft Day my craftiest friend, Jana, taught me how to make a notebook out of a vinyl record.

Hall and Oates "Private Eyes",

Average White Band "Self Titled",

Steely Dan "Pretzel Logic"

I made three of these beauties today.  It was so easy, I was ready to make two more after my first one.  Jana is so amazing, she made almost 20 in one day!
The front is the cardboard album cover.  The back is the actual vinyl.









After the jump you can see the full tutorial with lots of pics.

Etching Glass Tutorial

Earlier this week, I raved about Armour Etching Glass Etching Cream here.  I promised a whole recap of some of my favorite ways to use it.

After the jump, you can see my full tutorial of how to make some glasses like these for yourself.

Pipe dreams

So, here is a picture of a pipe shelf that I made last year for my bathroom. 

I originally got the idea from Apartment Therapy last year.