Where Did March And April Go?

Today is May 1st.

Where did March and April go?

Apparently time really got away from me. For the last two months I have been busy on and off trying to finish up the house to put on the market A.S.A.P. 

It’s just been slow going.

I’ve managed to paint two rooms, one which had lavender paint and a dark green stenciled ivy border. (I was surprised it only took two coats of primer to cover it completely.) 

I also removed the wallpaper from the dining room, though that room still needs painting.

I even managed to change the hardware and hinges on the kitchen cabinets to freshen up the kitchen.

By the time I was done for the day doing whatever home improvement I was doing I was too tired to even thing about blogging.

In fact, my domain name renewal came up in the beginning of April and I almost decided to throw in the blog towel. Truth is I didn’t feel like blogging or crafting anymore. I just lost interest in it. Hubs talked me into keeping it because at one time I loved to craft and post it on my blog.

So I renewed for another year. My biggest problem is that I am tired. And a bit bummed because it’s taking so long to finish the house. 

And I need to be inspired to craft again. I need the crafting fairy to hit me with some inspiration dust.

A Glittery Laugh

So I found this “laugh” on clearance at the craft store but it was a hideous yellow.

I painted a couple of coats of white paint as a primer.

Then I painted a couple of coats of my favorite pink.

I painted a coat of tacky craft glue over the front of the letters and sprinkled pink glitter over the glue. I shook off the excess, let it dry and added a second coat. Once everything dried, I painted a layer of varnish to seal the glitter. For the hanger, I added a hot pink ribbon to the back with thumbtacks.

My Life In Pictures - A Bug's Life

Remember Gigantor the Grasshoppa? 

Well apparently I have an obsession with photographing creepy crawlies!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Be Mine Garland

In my quest to decorate my house all pink and girly for Valentine’s Day I made this garland.

I cut 5” and 3” inch heart shapes out of poster board. I covered the 5” hearts with pink fabric and the 3” heart with white fabric. Here’s the process I used:

Once I had 13 pink and 13 white hearts, I glued the white hearts to the pink hearts. I cut the letters to “Be My Valentine” out of red felt and glued them to the white hearts.

I laid out the phrase and glued a long strand of ribbon to the back of the phrase. I glued on a plastic heart to space out the phrase. Then I tied ribbon bows to the ends for hanging loops.

Now it’s all ready to ask Hubs to be my Valentine!

Mardi Gras!

No new Mardi Gras projects this year. It seems like all the holidays from the beginning of the year were crammed into February and March! Instead I’ll just show you my favorite (and only) Mardi Gras crafts.

Mardi Gras Centerpiece

Mardi Gras Wreath

If you want dessert though you can check out this post that links to two different King Cake recipes. (Not sure why the photo is no longer there. I guess I will have to make another cake and snap a shot of that one.)

The Love Box

At the dollar store last year I found a bunch of wooden boxes. I guess they are more like a wooden basket though, they have an opening where you could store stuff. I bought one that had a butterfly on the front, one where the front was cut to resemble a picket fence and one with a heart-shaped opening on the front.

I decided to go Valentine-y with the heart one. I painted the box/basket hot pink.

I traced the front of the box/basket onto paper to make a template. I used the template to cut the front shape out of red foil paper. After cutting the shape out of the foil I glued it to the front of the box and let it dry overnight.

The dollar store also had some really nice and sturdy Christmas ornament hooks that I thought would be perfect for attaching some letters I found on clearance to the top of the box. I glued the hooks to the back of the glittery letters and let those dry overnight.

Once those were dry I glued the opposite ends of the hooks to the back of the box/basket and spelled out “love.” I propped the box up to keep the letters from sliding off and let it dry overnight. I also added a little jeweled heart sticker bling to dress it up and then my box/basket was done!