Easter

Even though it's spring time it's still dumping rain here in the lovely Pacific NW, but with Easter on the way and my honey actually going to be here this year I figured I would make some decorations and enjoy our time together. Since last year he was away working a car show all the way in stinky PA. I say stinky b/c he complained the whole time of it smelling like cows and even the chocolate factory didn't cover the smell.

This year I found on pinterest egg shaped twine balls. Now this lady had them made a certain way and I tried them out and I just didn't like how they looked. They came out very dull looking and just blah, plus I sat for hours cleaning all of the extra "starch" off the lines that built up and I was not ok with that! So I used my own knowledge of arts and crafts and came up with my own concoction. So with no further ado here we go. 

Items you'll need:

• water balloons b/c they are egg shaped when you blow them up
• white school glue
• water
• container
• vaseline
• embroidery floss or any kind of string
• scissors
• TIME to kill

 First step is to blow up your water balloons, the bigger you make them the more egg shaped they become. Next you'll cover them in vaseline. The vaseline helps the glue mixture not stick so you don't have to clean up the string once it's all dry, believe me it was a pain in the butt if you don't use it!

Now to make the glue mix its 3 parts glue to 1 part water(cold or hot doesn't matter) now MIX MIX MIX!!

Take whatever color floss or string you'll be using and slowly thread it into the glue mixture. Don't just toss it in b/c it WILL get in a knot!!! now I cut my floss in half but now that the projects done I probably should have used the whole string to give a little more support .

 (I went to Joann's and bought a 36 count of embroidery floss for $4.99, it had a great assortment of colors very bright and even some pastel colors so awesome for Easter/spring.) 

Use your straw to get the string all dipped in. (your liquid will be white, mine's just in water b/c I did pictures after.) Make sure to hold on to the very end off your string or know where you put it.

After it's all in the glue grab the end and start pulling out of the water,take off some of the extra glue while you are pulling.

Now wrap your balloon. Go in all directions. If you go in just one direction it won't work and as soon as you pop your balloon it WILL FALL APART!!

This is what it will look like when you're all done wrapping, but again use the whole thing of string on the egg. So aim to have more string on it then mine does. 

Let dry for 24 hours, rotate them so the glue doesn't stick to the wax paper. That's how I had mine, you could even hang them if you wanted to but make sure to have something under to catch the glue drips.

This is what it will look like when you pop the balloon after they dry. 

TADA!!!

See the one on the far right, yeah that was the first test and it came out way dull and yucky and i had to sit and clean out all of the squares b/c of the build-up. 

I hung mine all together and made it into a garland to put over my window, the original pin I found she had them in a glass bowl/vase and they looked wonderful! 

Happy crafting and enjoy your Easter crafts!

Hello crafting world!

So I have decided to start a blog ever since I became ADDICTED to Pinterest.

I cannot get enough of that website. I can sit in front of my laptop for hours just looking at everything under the DIY tab and just get ideas and oogle going "ooooo I can make that" or "OMG I must make that!!"

And that is exactly what I have done and why I am doing this. I have a fair amount of projects that I have seen and "pinned" on Pinterest and I just figured might as well put them up here so I have a place to reminisce and have other people see what I have done. I guess I'll start off with I think my favorite one so far.

I saw this sign on Etsy.com and fell in love with it, but I wanted to do it myself instead of pay the $40 or whatever it was for and then I could add my own flare to it. Which I did believe me. I also took another pin to make your own crackled paint affect and I was all over that.

here is all that you need:

•  Piece of wood- you choose the size, I had some wood left over so i made it about 2'x1'x1/4" 
• white school glue
• 2 colors of paint- 1 for letters other for background 
• big paint brush
• detail brush for letters
• shells or starfish 
• hot glue
• twine and drill(aren't in pic it was an after thought)

First paint on the backfround color I decided I wanted to have the same color under the crackle look you can do different colors or just leave it as wood. Let it dry It took maybe 15 minutes.

Next step is add the white school glue to the wood. You want to let it dry but not completely. It still needs to feel tacky. The glue is what causes the crackle affect so do however much you want. I did a lot! 

 Once it is gotten to that tacky stage paint on the other layer of paint. As it dries it cracks and spreads apart. CRACKLE AFFECT!!! Because I did the same color underneath its not quite as drastic looking as other colors would cause, but I still like how it looks

Now it takes a lot longer for this stage to dry so just be patient. When it does FINALLY dry you can start your quote. I did mine free hand but you could use a stencil if you like. 

 Sorry my pics are blurry my camera did not like the light that I have.

So I waited for the letters to dry and I hot glued on the starfish that I bought at michael's for 4.99 but I had a coupon. I just went crazy with them and I loved how it looked. 

I did however feel that something was missing, so I added the "and" in them iddle. I am no good at doing the punctuated sign of and so i painted it in cursive and I really liked it. 

So as I sat looking at my work I was really impressed and happy that I did it, but then I realized I didn't know how I was going to hang it. I went through options in my head and said well I could use a picture hanger but since my wood is so thin I thought it would come through and split so that was a big NO! I called my mom and told her what I did and she was like drill some holes make some knots in the front and use twine to hang it. I hung up the phone and said "God she's brilliant!" 

Well my boyfriend and I drove to Harbor Frieght bought some twine and came home and I drilled the holes and he ties the knots and now it sits happily over our bed! It looks great if I do say so myself.

Here is the finished project. THANK YOU PINTEREST!!