Cottage & Family [Search results for projects] 

I have always loved to take craft classes ~ they are always so much fun !!
But... sometimes it is hard to get to them because of the time they are offered or various other reasons ~ so I have been thrilled to find wonderful E-tutorials of beautiful projects ~

These are 2 ladies that I have purchased tutorials from and can tell you that the projects are great and the instructions are so good and very easy to follow ~ best of all is that you can do them on your time frame and see the pictures and directions as many times as you want ~

The first place that I just adore is Dawn at "Lessons from the Nest" ~
A few of the lessons she has to offer are silver sugar bowl pincushions, a fairy in a jar artwork, altered compostion books and many more ~

Margo at Robojunker.com has just started offering E-tutorials and she has soldered jars, china swags and wreaths and more ~

Make sure and check out both of these fun sites !!

Have fun crafting !!

I just love crinkled dyed ribbon for using on my projects ~

This is a tutorial on how to make it yourself ~

First you get whatever color ribbon you want to use ~

I use seam binding for the ribbon because I love how it feels ~

Then you soak it in either tea or instant coffee ~

I scrunch mine in a ball and wrap it in about 3 rubber bands ~

Then I sit it out in the sun and as it dries it gets a wonderful aged look especially on the outside edges ~

After it has dried about 3/4 of the way, I take the bands off and kind of loosely spread the ribbon out to dry in the sun ~

Every once in awhile I go and turn the ribbon until it is completely dry ~

Then it is ready to use on your projects ~

I just love love crinkled dyed ribbon !

If you don't want to try it, I do have some for sale on my website here ~

I was all inspired this afternoon and have a gazillion projects all over the house and none of them are complete ~ Right in the middle of my gazillion projects I decided to read blog updates and saw Diane Knott's mini file folder tutorial ~

I just had to make one right then ~ then I remembered reading on Lisa's blog about the cute little bubble thingies ( it is not a tutorial but as cute as can be ) so I had to do those while I was at it ~

Ummmm that is pretty much how my brain works ~ It is always going all over the place and at one time ~ Isn't that how right brained people are ??? I tell myself that at least ~

I bought this wayyyy cute paper at Anthologies and wanted to use it so bad so I did ~ I did my first mini file folder upside down ~ HMMMMM there goes one piece of paper down the tubes ~

Then I used the other piece to make my other file folder and the magnets ~ I cannot wait to make more because they were easy as can be ( well after I figured out how to make them not upside down ) and fun too !

So one of my biggest hang-ups

with taking the Chalk Paint plunge

was the fact

I really don't like to brush

paint furniture and it is kind

of pricey ~

(I do adore all of the gorgeous

pieces that everyone has done though!!)

Most everything I paint are little

pieces that I sell on my website ~

IF I ever paint furniture it is

in my paint booth with a huge

air compressor sprayer ~

But....after reading about it

pretty much everywhere I decided

to give it a try and see what all

of the hoopla is about ~

I went around and grabbed some little

pieces in my workshop and "played"

with my new paint ~

It is so fun to work with because it

truly feels different to me ~ It covers

very well and has the neatest look

pre-waxed and after the wax ~

The Annie Sloan book shows tons

of stuff you can do with it that

I am anxious to learn ~

Here are the steps and looks that I did

on an old frame ~

This is the first coat

of Duck Egg Blue

( I LOVE this color )

Then I did a coat of Old White

This is how it looked sanded

and waxed with clear ~

This is with the dark wax ~ I am not sure

which I like better with or without the

dark wax ~ I think they have their own

really pretty distinct looks ~

I actually love the look without

the wax too ~ but the wax brings out more

of the color and gives it a

wonderful feel ~

These are two other pieces I did ~

The Fleurs Pocket has a

Paris Grey base coat ~

I am pretty sure I will be doing

my kitchen cabinets but

has anyone used it in a sprayer ?

I am working on a frame that is

ready to be waxed ~

See ya soon!!

Ohhhhh I just got more paper roses in a gorgeous soft white ~ they are sooo pretty !! There are also some pretty forget me nots too ~ I just love all of these flowers ~ they are wonderful for creating bouquets and for all kinds of craft projects ~ You can find all of the flowers in our Paperie category starting later today Feb. 12th ~

This year I attended and presented at the 2010 AENJ conference. I always have such a great time! The convention is a wonderful opportunity to "recharge" my teaching batteries and get some great new ideas from the fabulous art teachers in our crazy state.

Here are some pictures I snapped of the cool projects I saw.

Recycled Robot---Used scraps of cardboard boxes and other recycled items to make a robot collage

Hamburger Assemblage- I have seen this one on the Internet before-- students help themselves to a fixins' bar and stack up the layers!

Spooky pictures-- Silhouettes with googly eyes, a quick and easy project!

Gargoyles- This was my favorite project! Students created a gargoyle head out of model magic and painted it with watered down grey tempera. Then they drew the gargoyle body and created a wall for the gargoyle to sit on.