DIY Chalkboard Water Pitcher

Having just moved in to our new apartment in preparation for going back to school, all of my crafts have been "DIY Home Decor" orientated. This idea actually originated from the boy out of an old GQ issue. Basically we bought a small Brita water pitcher but we knew that we drank too much water to use such a small pitcher. So the boy suggested that we use old wine bottles, fill them up with the filtered water then re-fill the Brita so that we are never without water. Since the idea was so cheap and involved drinking wine I was all over it! I came up with the idea of painting the labels with chalkboard paint as not to confuse it with the wine in the fridge (not that, that would be such a bad thing). I have been dying to try the chalkboard paint and was soooooo happy with the result!

Materials:

• Empty Wine Bottles
• Small bottle of Acrylic Chalkboard Paint (in any desired colour)
• Foam Paintbrush
• Masking Tape (I'm sure Painters tape would work even better but I am cheap and prefer to use things that I have around the home)

1. Use the masking tape to tape around the outside of the label. I used little ripped off pieces to tape off the rounded corners. You can skip this step if you prefer an entire painted bottle look.

2. Follow the directions on the acrylic bottle with regards to painting. I painted the wine bottle vertically first, then let it dry for an hour. Once dry I came back and painted it in the opposite direction (horizontally). I sponged over some of the lettering to get maximum coverage.  I found the raised lettering was the most difficult to cover.

3. Leave the bottles to dry for 24 hours. After 24 hours, peel off the masking tape. 

4. And PRESTO! Go ahead and write all your new Chalkboard Water Pitcher.

NOTE: This would also be a great way to label table numbers for a wedding. 

Here Comes the Bride

Wow! Long time no post. Sorry for the lack of posts but it has not been due to lack of crafting. We have had three weddings (one still to come in Maui) within a very short period of time. At least I have been able to "research" for our own wedding. Anyway, The inspiration for the layout of the wedding cards is from Mojo Monday, however I did not post them on the site because we have been away for some of these wedding.

Another Menu Board for a bridal shower I attended recently. To see how to make one check it out here.

Stamp = "Happy Couple" by Stampendous

Red Paper = DCWV Bright Cardstock Stack

Patterned Paper = Recollections

Black Glittered Paper = Recollections Precious Metals

I found this stamp in the $1.50 bin at Michaels. I think it was a mistake but it was good for me.

Stamp = Wedding Cake by Inkadinkado

Not too bad! I have already completed one more but the wedding is still coming up in two weeks. I will blog then.

Happy Crafting!!

Viva Las Vegas Wedding Invite

Whenever I am not crafting I am probably running. Recently I have been training for a half marathon, which is why my posts have been lacking. In excitement of my first half marathon coming up this weekend I found another half marathon in Las Vegas. It is called "Strip at Night" and is part of the Rock n' Roll Series. Basically you run from one end of Las Vegas Blvd to the other at night in December. However, I will be going back to school this September so trips to Vegas will be a no go. So while dreaming of running this half marathon I came up with the idea of combining running this half marathon with my wedding. We had discussed having a Vegas wedding already so the run just made the wedding even more "us". 

So what does this have to do with my paper projects? I found a great Las Vegas typography wedding invitation set on minted. However, being a crafter I wanted to see if I could replicate this using Microsoft Publisher. This was my first time using Microsoft Publisher but I am pretty happy with the result.

Of course the date, location, and time are all arbitrary. This won't be our wedding invite for sure but I had a lot fun playing around with Microsoft Publisher in order to complete this. I simply used clipart, shapes, and textboxes to create this invitation.

What do you think? Would you use an invitation like this? How would you change it?

Happy Wedding Planning!

A Very Cricut Christmas

Happy New Year Crafters!

I have been very bad about updating my blog but it is not due to late of projects. Just to keep you updated I did finish my 22 Christmas cards. Everyone seemed quite impressed! I was just excited because this was one of the first years that we started receiving our own Christmas cards. I was included in some of the Christmas cards addressed to the boy's family too.

Santa was very good to me this year and brought me..... a CRICUT. I know you are jealous but that is only normal. But seriously, the boy's mom gave it to me. I was so shocked! It turns out she almost gave it to me early in order to finish my Christmas cards.

Here are a couple of experiment's with my new cricut:

"Happy Birthday"

Cricut Cartridge: Paper Lace

"Birthday Blessings - Cupcake"

Cricut Cartridge: All Wrapped Up

"Just Married"

Cricut Cartridge: Sweethearts

It definitely took some getting used to. Trying to find the right pressure, speed and blade setting to cut through the paper but not tear it up too much was difficult. However, once you get use to it it becomes much easier. My card making has been taking up much less time! 

Here are a couple bits of Cricut advice:

1) The Sweetheart cartridge only cuts all layers at one time. You cannot choose which parts you would like to cut out of a particular colour or pattern. *To reduce paper waste make multiple images using all the scraps at one time. This is what I did with the "Just Married" card.

2) If you would find it annoying to have all the layers cut out at once then choose a cartridge like All Wrapped Up. This cartridge allows you to cut each layer separately rather than all at once.

3) I highly recommend you pick up a set of the Cricut tools. These tools allow you to peal the paper off the mat, make extra cuts in your image, poke out delicate cut outs, etc.

If you have any cricut advice please let me know.

Oh and check out this new blogger: Christina Mynen

Newbie Blogger

Hello everyone out there in the crafting world!

I am been wanting to start a craft blog for a while. I haven't been able to decide what type of blog I could have or what I would possibly write about. However, after much consideration I decided that having a blog to display the projects I have been playing around with and discuss them with other bloggers would help to motivate me with my crafting journey.

While I have been playing around with scrapbooking for a while, I would still consider myself a newbie. I don't really know any of the techniques nor have I taken any classes. The only things I know are those lessons that my sister has taught me.

I love to play around with both paper and digital scrapbooking. Card making is pretty brand new for me. I have been working on them but I haven't been too thrilled with all of my results so far. My newest interest in paper projects though is any DIY wedding project. The boy and I recently got engaged. Could there be any better excuse to start perfecting my crafting skills?

Therefore all of this brings me to my goal. I am a strong believer in goal setting. Goal setting makes me accountable to follow through with my desires and create my own life.

Goal #1: Publish a post at least once a week until my birthday (in March).

Crafting crew: What is your best advice for a newbie paper princess?