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!

Snowman Candle Holder

Happy New Year!  I hope that your 2014 was fantastic and that your 2015 brings you much happiness!   I had a wonderful 2014 and 2015 has started out incredible as well.  I'm excited to see what the year brings!


One of my latest crafties is this wood snowman candle holder:

I had Hubs cut me a piece of 4x4 and a nose.  We drilled a  hole deep and wide enough for the candle to fit nicely into and then I painted and sanded him and then we attached the nose and scarf.  So easy!

He is perfect to leave up all winter long!

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!

Halloween Trio: Cat, Ghost & Pumpkin

I'm back!  I'm so happy!!!  I've been dealing with some pretty nasty nerve damage in my dominant arm since last Spring.  By about June, it got so bad that it took everything I had just to get through the day, so I had to stop doing pretty much anything that wasn't absolutely necessary.  I had surgery in August and the recovery has been less than fun.  I'm still not operating at 100%, but I'm tired of not being able to do the things that I love.  I didn't realize how big of a part of my life crafting and being able to express my creativity in that way is.  It truly makes me happy, and when I can't do it, I get depressed.  I hope that  I never have to go through another "craft-less" time in my life again!

Sooo anyhoodle, my first project back on the "job" was this Halloween trio for my porch.  My fabulous hubby cut me this wood:

This is what I did with it:

The ghost stands 2 feet.  The cat 18" and the pumpkin is 12":

It looks so adorable on my porch!  I'm so glad to be back to being able to craft again and look forward to getting back to 100%.

Linked to:
one-project-at-a-time
take-look-tuesday
flusters-creative-muster-party
whatever-goes-wednesday
wow-me-wednesday

2x4 Summer Bug Crafts

By now, everyone knows that one of my favorite things to do is make fun crafts out of 2x4's.  I try and do it for every season/holiday.  Here are a few "bugs" that I came up with to decorate my hutch for summer:

2x4 Bumblebee:

2x4 Butterfly:

2x4 Lady Bugs:

And finally,  A 2x4 Flower pot because all bugs like flowers right?!:

I just love my little bug collection!

Reversible Spring/Summer Wood Blocks

Dual purpose crafts are the best!  Awhile back I decided to make a Spring block set with a chick on it and as I was looking at it, I decided to make the best use of the wood and add a Summer theme on the back of the blocks.  The Spring side:

Flip it all over and this is the Summer side:

It sure makes swapping decorations from Spring to Summer easy!

Linked to:
anti-procrastination-tuesday
nifty-thrifty-tuesday
take-look-tuesday
too-cute-tuesday
whatever-goes-wednesday
wow-me-wednesday
flusters-creativemuster

DIY Planter Boxes

I was so excited about our Mother's Day gifts this year!  I ask hubs to cut wood for and assemble four wooden planter boxes.  As always he did a fabulous job!  Once they were all assembled, we painted, sanded, and antiqued them and then added drawer handles.  For a final touch, we cut each person's last name out in vinyl on the Silhouette and put them on the front of each box.  Finally, we put flowers in and filled them with Spanish moss.  I love, love, love the way they turned out!

Everyone seemed to love them!

Linked to:
whatever-goes-wednesday
wow-me-wednesday
flusters-creativemuster
under-100-link-party
Put A Bird On It
made-by-you-monday
spring-crafts-Monday Funday
masterpiece-monday
craftastic-monday

Paper Strip Bunny Art with DIY Wood Shim Frame

I'm loving wood shims right now.  They make darling mini pallets, so I got to thinking that they could also make a pretty cute and easy DIY frame.  I had the perfect project that needed to be framed anyways!  I had made this Bunny Art using paper strips and the negative of a bunny that I had cut out on my Silhouette Cameo:

I painted the wood shims white and then Mod Podged matching strips of paper to the front.  I glued them all together and attached the bunny art:

So very easy!!!

Old Board Welcome Spring Sign

Who doesn't love old wood?  Old wooden signs are definitely big right now.  I have some old pallets that had some really nice weathered wood so I broke them down and decided to make a sign for my Spring porch.  Here is what I came up with:

I cut the boards at two different lengths and then attached them so that they were uneven on one edge.  I cut the flowers and lettering off using my Silhouette Cameo and then used them as stencils.  I love the pink and orange!

It was so easy and looks so cute on my porch!

Linking to:
made-by-you-monday
spring-craft-2
bunny-carrot-projects-block-party
masterpiece-monday
craftastic-monday
anti-procrastination-tuesday
nifty-thrifty-tuesday
take-look-tuesday
handmade-projects
too-cute-tuesday

3 Easy & Super Cute St. Patrick's Day Decorations

I can't believe that it's already St. Patrick's Day!  I feel like I didn't get to make all of the cute decorations that I had planned on!  I guess there is always next year right?  Here are a few quick and easy ones that I did make this year:

1- Lucky Sign with Horseshoe "U":

 This was so easy to make.  I used an old board, cut my LCKY stencil out using my Silhouette Cameo, painted it, nailed the horse shoe "U" in with real horse shoe nails and added the hanger:

2- Shamrock and Burlap Door Hanger:

I actually bought the wood for this at the Wood Connections store in SLC a couple of months ago, so it was super easy to just paint, sand, nail together and attach the bow and little shamrocks.

3- Easy Leprechaun Clay Pot Hat:

 This idea has been around for awhile, I just hadn't ever gotten around to making one.  It seriously took 15 minutes.  So easy!

4- Hand stitched Clover Trio:

Anyone that knows me, knows that sewing is not my strong point, nor is it something that I have ever loved to do, so if I can make this anyone can!  I just cut the clovers out of material using a cardboard template and then stitched them to a thick canvas type material with embroidery floss and then framed it.

I also have to add a picture of 2014's March Hutch all decked out in greens:

Happy St. Patty's Day, I hope you have a wonderful one :)

Linked to:
too-cute-tuesday

 

Mini Pallet Lucky Sign

I decided to put another twist on the mini pallet signs using wood shims.  Instead of making a full square, I decided to make a horizontal sign using only 3 shims.  This is what I came up with:

I used wood glue to glue the shims together and then also glued a large Popsicle stick on the back to hold it together.  I created a stencil for the L, C, K and Y using my Silhouette and then cut out the gold U.

 I painted it green and then filled in the letters and sanded everything down and placed the gold U.  I painted and sanded the clover, added the burlap and button and glued it on:

That's it!  So easy!

Linked to:
craft-o-maniac-monday
show-me-what-ya-got
too-cute-tuesday
one-project-at-a-time
take-look-tuesday
whatever-goes-wednesday
wow-me-wednesday
flusters-creative-muster
creative-inspirations
under-100-link-party

Decorated Wood I love U and 2014's Valentine Hutch

Decorated I {Heart} You:

Looks so cute on my hutch:

Speaking of my hutch.  Here is my 2014 Valentines Day decorated hutch:

I adore all of the reds and pinks!  They make me so happy :)