DIY 3 Votive 4x4 Wooden Candle Holder

Hello,  happy Tuesday after a Monday holiday!  I always love a short work week!  I had a fantastic long weekend.  I got some fun Valentine's projects started and also played with some mixed media for Art to the 5th's "Documented Life Project 2015".  It's a mixed media journaling project. Last year, I joined but silently (and probably creepily!) watched rather than participated.  This year I decided to jump in and participate, which has really put me out of my artistic comfort zone and pushed me to try and learn lots of new techniques.  I'm LOVING it!  I plan on sharing some of my journal pages later. Anywho, yesterday Hubs and I went on a road trip to the beautiful Park City Utah and had a wonderful day.  I love weekends where I get to be creative, make cute things and get some quality family time in!

Today I am sharing the votive holder that Hubs and I made for family for Christmas gifts.  It was super easy and I just adore how it turned out:

We used 4x4's, sized and drilled the holes for the votive's then sanded, painted, and stained the wood.  Added the cute twine wrap, candles and burlap flower.  That's it!  So stinking easy!

It looks darling on my table as a center piece.  I get happy every time I look at it!

Joy Block Christmas Gift & Decoration

Each year Hubs and I put a lot of thought into what to make for our friend and coworker gifts for Christmas.  We love, love, love making things and try really hard to come up with a product that is well done and that everyone will love as much as we do.

Last year we made these Joy blocks:

We used 2x6 blocks, Mod Podged scrapbook paper on, then added the 3x3 thin wood squares for the center.  We purchased the cute vinyl "Joy" pattern from the Silhouette website.  To finish them off, we couldn't find any pre-made toppers that we loved, so we just made our own using burlap, berries, pine cones, tree garland and leaves:

They were a hit, everyone seemed to really like them!  Mine looks darling in my hutch:

This is my Christmas Hutch for 2014:

I just adore this time of year!!!

Reversible Santa & Snowman Sign

Hello!  I hope you had as wonderful of a Thanksgiving as I did!  I can't believe how quickly 2014 has gone by.  I definitely haven't blogged nearly as much as I had planned, but it's okay because as I've looked back at my pictures from the last 11 months, I can honestly say that this year has been fantastic.  My arm issues and surgery were not at all fun and although it prevented me from crafting and blogging, I was still able to make some incredible memories with my family and see some beautiful parts of our country.  Soooo, hopefully 2015 can be about balance and blogging more!

Anyhow,  I've done a little bit of crafting and needed something "Christmasy" for my porch. This is what I came up with:

It stands about 4 feet tall.  The best part about it is that I made it reversible, so when Christmas is over, I can just turn it around, add a hat and scarf and I will have this for my winter porch:

He is covered in a an adorable coat of glitter paint, which my camera never shows very well, but he truly is darling and sparkly!

A Few More Snowman Decorations

Everyone knows by now that I adore snowmen!  They are my favorite January decorations.  A few new decorations that I made this year:


Cold Noses Only:

Snowman Canvas:

Snowman made from an old board:

And a picture of my winter porch:

All of those snowmen make me so happy!!!!
Linked to:
craft-o-maniac-monday
made-by-you-monday
gmtg-link-party
nifty-thrifty-tuesday
time-sparkle-link-party
take-look-tuesday

Another 2x4 Snowman

I love snowmen!  They are my absolute favorite thing to decorate with for the month of January.  A few years ago, I made and posted this cute guy:

I love him!  He sits on my porch.  I decided that he needed a buddy to sit with him, so this is what I came up with:

Don't they look super cute together?!

Snowman Door Hanger

This is what I made while watching season 1 of The Walking Dead, (which by the way is AWESOME!):

I needed a new door hanger for my winter porch and I think he is perfect!

And, if I craft while watching an entire season of any show, I don't feel nearly as guilty about it :)

Linked to:
gmtg-link-party
nifty-thrifty-tuesday
ime-sparkle-link-party
take-look-tuesday
whatever-goes-wednesday
wow-me-wednesday
creative-inspirations-linky-party
under-100-link-party

Baby It's Cold Outside Rustic Wood Sign

We are near the end of our first week of January 2014 and I have so far kept my New Year's resolutions!  Yay me!  One of my resolutions is to craft at least once a week.  I find that it really relaxes me and also makes me feel like I've accomplished something.  Another resolution is to blog at least once a week.  Because I work full time outside of my home, this is actually a really big challenge for me, but again, it's something that I truly enjoy doing and want to keep up on it.  So, here is one of my latest creations:

I'm in Utah, so this is truly applicable!  As always, i used my Silhouette Cameo to  design this.

Instead of using vinyl for the wording and snowflakes, I painted them and then antiqued the board.  I love the way it looks on my winter hutch:

Another shot of the winter hutch lit up, as well as my table centerpiece snowmen!

 I hope everyone had a safe New Year's.  2014 is going to be a terrific year!

Sharing with:
craft-o-maniac-monday
made-by-you-monday
rainonatinroof
nifty-thrifty-tuesday
time-sparkle
too-cute-tuesday
take-look-tuesday
wow-me-wednesday
whatever-goes-wednesday
creative-inspirations

Santa Door Hanger

Hubs cut the wood out for this door hanger about 4 years ago!  I finally got around to painting him:

I don't know why it took me so long, but I love him!  He looks darling on my porch with my other decorations:

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Nativity Scene Plate

This is what we gave as neighbor gifts this year:

Super cute and super easy!

More Easy Friend or Neighbor Gifts...

I'm always stressed about what to do for neighbors and my kiddo's friends for gifts.  Here are a few recent and relatively easy & inexpensive) DIY gifts that I made:


Noel Block:

Decorated Wood Letters that are also picture holders (perfect for girls!):

Another example:

Twine Wrapped Star hanger, made from gluing paint sticks into a star shape (this can also be done on a much smaller scale to make ornaments by using Popsicle sticks):

Ice Cream Basket:

And finally, for your dog loving friends/neighbors:

Linked to:
mad-skills-party
give-goods-link-party
coastalcharm./christmas-home-tour-party
time-sparkle-link-party
too-cute-tuesday
take-look-tuesday
flusters-creative-muster
wow-me-wednesday

Christmas Countdown

I love, love, love, Christmas decorations!  I was so excited for Christmas this year that I made this Christmas countdown back in October:

It was super easy!  I used a board that I already had and painted the edges white. Then, I Mod Podged the chevron paper to the back of the board, cut my vinyl from my Silhouette Cameo, painted a square piece of wood with chalkboard paint and then added all of the embellishments.  I also antiqued around the edge of the board.

The chalkboard makes it easy to change the days without having to find the right numbers:

The cute little Santa is just a 3D sticker and the Believe is actually a Christmas ornament:

I liked it so much that I even made one for my sister!

Linking to:
craft-o-maniac-monday
made-by-you-monday-
mad-skills-party
give-goods-link-party
nifty-thrifty-tuesday
time-sparkle
too-cute-tuesday
show-ya-got
take-look-tuesday
flusters-creative-muster
whatever-goes-wednesday
dandelion-wishes-wednesday
wow-me-wednesday

DIY Gingerbread Man Ornament (Tutorial)...

Every holiday, we do a craft for the kids.  Typically at our family Christmas dinner, we decorate Gingerbread houses, my sister lives an hour away, so it is hard for her to get the gingerbread houses home in one piece.  Because of that, I decided to have the kids make an ornament this year.  We have kids ranging in age 4-20 years so we I decided that gingerbread men would be cute for everyone.
This was the demo gingerbread man that I came up with:

Supplies:
Cardboard Colored Card stock
Red Ribbon
Gingham ribbon
White Puffy Paint
Black and red brads
Buttons

Beforehand, I hand cut or each gingerbread man.  The shape is pretty basic, so it was easy to do.  Then we hold punched spots for the ribbon hanger, the eyes and the nose.  This kids placed the black brads in the eye holes and the red in the nose hole.  Then they made their ribbon bow ties, glued the buttons on and tied the ribbon hanger.  We did the puffy paint last so that it could dry without getting smudged.

Super easy, the kids had fun, and they turned out darling!  I ended up making about a dozen extra to use as a garland next year too :)

2x4 Santa Claus...

                                                                My 2x4 Santa Claus:

I think he turned out darling!!!

                                                                 His hat has a pom pom around the bottom of it.

                                                         His belt has a cute gold buckle and the base says Ho Ho Ho...

                                                                    His beard, mustache and hat band are textured...

2x4 crafts are my favorite, I just love to look at a 2x4 and find a way to turn it into a cute crafty!!!

Linking up to:
whatever-goes-wednesday
& wow-me-wednesday
& creative-inspirations-linky-party
& beyondthepicketfence
& freedom-fridays
& rustic-restorations-weekend-linky
& dianarambles/pin-me-13
& a-crafty-soiree

Vintage Ho Ho Ho Blocks....

Hubs and I made these cute vintage Ho Ho Ho blocks for some of our friends for Christmas this year:

We used two different shades of red and therefore, two different ribbons for the bows on top. This is #2:

They totally take me back to the old style Christmas look from my childhood :)

Pleated Book Page Ornaments. Great Neighbor Gift.

This years neighbor gifts.  I made book page ornaments:

                                                                                  Some have stockings on them.

Some have little santa hats.

I made a whole bunch of them and will be attaching them to bags filled with homemade chocolates. I think it's the perfect neighbor gift!

Linking to:
rustic-restorations-weekend-linky-party
& link-up-with-me-liz-marie
& creative-inspirations-linky-party
& dianarambles