Memory Bangles - DIY + So EASY!

I took some scraps to make my sister-in-law a flower canvas out of her late grandmothers clothes, as a memory piece, that you can see here.

Well I still have some scraps left over, so I am going to continue to use them for her, and not let any of the fabric go to waste.

I made 3 of these fun and easy Memory Bangles for her.

 

 

I bought 3 plastic bangle bracelets from the Dollar Tree.

(yep! Just $3!)

I cut the scraps into strips, I really just made sure the edges were nice and clean.

 

I then, took my hot glue gun and put a dot of glue to start of the first strip of fabric and wrapped the fabric piece around the bracelet. I also used a dot of hot glue to hold the end of the strip to the bracelet as well.

I just kept repeating this until the bracelets were completely covered!

 

 She absolutely loved them, and even though they are not bracelets made to wear with an outfit everyday, they are nice to have because it is a piece of her grandmother that she can keep forever. ♥

If you make a version of these, please share a picture in the comments below, or tag them on Instagram using #CreatingVirginiaAnne

I would love to see your creations!

Funny Hunting Decor!

My husband is a hunter, and he hunts up on my cousins property with her husband and my brother. I am out here this weekend to hunt with them for my first time! (in a tree stand) I found this fun quote on pinterest and thought I HAD to make a sign for her. I hopped right into my car and headed to Hobby Lobby. 

I bought:

A wooden plaque, a package of hunting theme stickers, and two packs of glittery gold alphabet stickers.

I also used some clear modge podge to seal all of the stickers in place at the end. 

 

Yes! That is really all you need! Oh and I used a sharpie to sign the back of it! ☺

 

I laid out how I wanted it to look, then just simple stuck the stickers on! When I had it put together how I wanted it to look, I took a sponge brush I had laying around the house and some clear mat modge podge, and I did one quick coat over the entire thing, to help the stickers stay on better!

Here is how it turned out! 

I also bought stuff to make one for our house as well!

My cousin thought it was hilarious and absolutley loved it! It is now on display in their living room! 

If you make one similar, or a version of your own please feel free to post a picture of your creation in the comments below! Or even tag #CVA on Instagram! 

Flowers With a Memory ♥

I made this canvas for my sister-in-law. The flowers are out of her late Grandmothers clothing. Allison (my sister-in-law) gathered a ton of her grandmas clothes after she passed, and I went over there one night to help her cut quilting squares out of it. As we were cutting I was taking the scrap pieces that were too small to use in the quilt and putting them into a jar, that I call my scrap jar. I also took all of the buttons from the clothes to craft up something great for her.

When I got home, I sorted through all of it, and picked out the biggest pieces I had. I matched each fabric I had pulled out with a button, I plugged in my hot glue gun, and I got to work.

I started off by painting and 8X11 canvas a light gray color, and then while that was drying, I made the 6 flowers. My own late Grandmother (Virginia) taught me how to make a few different types of fabric flowers. There are tutorials that are easy to Google or find on Pinterest.

After the flowers were completed, I glued them onto the painted canvas, and I used black paint to paint on stems and leaves. I didn't want the stems to all match and be perfect, because I was going for a wild flower look since non of the fabrics matched.

Here is how the final product turned out..

I love it if you ask me... and she does too!

Here is a close up of one of the flowers (my favorite) 

This was a fun craft for me to do, and it has great memories in it for Allison. I hope that whenever she looks at this canvas hanging in her house, that she will not think of me, but she will think of her Grandma and all of the love and memories that they shared. 

DIY Easter Center Pieces

I purchased everything for this project at the Dollar Tree!

The supplies I used are:

-Peeps & other marshmallow Easter animals

-Fake flowers (orange, white and pink) ((2 bundles of each))

-4 Easter themed buckets

-a pack of kabob skewers

-ribbon (stripes and egg print)

-clear party favor bags

-2 bags of jelly beans

-1 bag of yellow Easter grass

-4 round floral foams (2 packs)

oh! and scissors!

For a total of $24 

(to make 4 centerpieces!)

 

Step 1: Place a round floral foam in the bottom of each bucket.

Step 2: fill the rest of the bucket up to the rim with Easter grass.

Step 3: Sort the flowers into 4 piles to make sure they are all even and matching.

Step 4: Cut off the thick steps to the flowers (the ones that hold the bunches together)

Step 5: Start placing your flower in each bucket by pushing the stems into the floral foam. You may need to trim the stems down a little depending on the look you are going for. I trimmed all my stems way down because I wanted the flower to be low and look like they were almost pouring out of the buckets.

Step 6: After all your flowers are placed in, trim any Easter grass that is hanging out over the sides.

Step 7: Fluff the flowers and maybe reposition any that you want to.

Step 8: Step back and look at the beautiful centerpieces you just created.

           Now onto the next part of the center pieces.. the edible part!
   

You will need to use your peeps, jellybeans, bags and skewers now.

Step 1: Take a kabob skewer and start sliding on peeps, marshmallow animals and jellybeans. Until it is about 3/4 full. 

Helpful tip: I used Pam and sprayed each skewers first, it made it easier to slide on.

Here is a picture of some of the candy kabobs that I made...

Step 2: Carefully wrap each candy kabob in a clear party favor bag and use the twisty ties that came with the bags to secure it.

Step 3: Place each kabob into the floral foam between the flowers to add a fun little edible touch to your already beautiful center pieces.

I also ended up adding a few styrofoam Easter eggs on kabob sticks that I bought from the dollar tree as well. It was just a last minute touch sort of thing that jumped into my mind this morning. (the 1st picture in this post has them photographed in it)

Now your beautiful masterpieces are ready for display!

And a perk of using fake flowers... all I have to do next Easter is just replace the candy kabobs! SCORE!

DIY Pinata

We have a family tradition every Easter, where we have a pinata! We start with the youngest child, and each take about 3-4 swings at it. Well this year I really wanted to challenge myself and make the pinata. So that is just what I did!

Here is How I did it... 

For the base of your Pinata, You will need....

The picture below explains each step I took, but I will briefly explain them again right now. To start off I took my 2 sheets of cardboard and  drew out the shape of pinata I wanted. Since it was for our family Easter party, I chose a Bunny.  (step 1)

After I sketched out the bunny shape, I used a razor blade and cut out 2 identical copies of the bunny. (step 2)

My sheets of cardboard were a little too small for the size of bunny I wanted, so I used a 3rd sheet of cardboard to cut out the tips of the bunnies ears, then I just taped them to the bunny head. (steps 3 & 4)

I then took my 4th piece of cardboard and cut it into 5 long strips. I then used my hand and made them rounded to form the edges of my pinata. (steps 5 & 6) Sorry but I did not get a great picture of me taping on the edges, I tried my best to explain it. The edges are what makes your pinata a little more 3D. (like my step 6. picture below)

After the base of your pinata is completed. Now its onto the messy but fun part!

Paper Mache!

You will need flour, water and a mixing bowl. As well as old newspapers or an old phone book like I used.  

(click on the picture of the steps below to make it bigger, and to read each step)

I did one coat at a time, and let it dry for just about 24 hours before putting on the next coat. 

I ended up doing a total of 3 coats of paper mache on this pinata. And I think it was pretty strong. But next time I might do about 5 coats because we had some really strong kids hitting it this year. Even though it lasted pretty long and roughly through about 12 kids, I would like it to last a little bit longer next time.

After you do your desired amounts of paper mache, and they are completely dry, now its onto the really fun part.. decorating and completing your pinata.

For this part, you will need tissue paper, glue (I used modge podge) and scissors.

(CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO MAKE THEM BIGGER)

I also didn't get any picture of my layering the tissue paper on because my hands were covered in glue and I didn't want to touch my camera with gluey hands. I also ended up getting so caught up in this project that it left my mind. But again, I tried to explain it the best I could. I plan on making another pinata soon, my nephew wants one, so I am planning on video taping that process and uploading to my YouTube channel. and of course I will share that on here as well! hopefully getting it done next weekend!

For the finishing touch I made a blindfold out of a piece of black scrap fabric that I had laying around, and I used my sewing machine to sew on a cute Easter ribbon that I bought from the local dollar store. We made a new rule this year, that ages 5 and up had to wear a blindfold because last year that was no blindfold rule and it was way too easy to destroy!

UPDATE: (4-20-14) Here is a picture of my adorable nephew taking his turn. He had a huge smile on the entire time and he also liked it so much, that he asked me to make him on for just him. (That's my project for next weekend. ha!)

I really hope you enjoyed this short yet long tutorial; and I really hope it was helpful in walking you through a DIY Pinata.

If you make a pinata of your own, please share a picture, I would love to see it!

Look out for a video tutorial coming soon!

Cheap and Quick Kids Easter Bucket

 

I knew my nephew was going to be getting so much candy and goodies on Easter, but I still wanted to do something fun for him. 

I went to the Dollar Tree and got to shopping!

This was such a cheap and easy Easter gift, yet it was fun and full of fun things!

I bought... 

 Squish balls, a growing snake, M&Ms, bubbles, sand bucket, giant chalk, a phone, and puzzles!

 

 For a total of about $15 I got my nephew a bucket full of fun things that he loves and that he will actually use. and Only 1 item was candy! (his favorite ares 'emmas") haha! I cant wait for him to empty this bucket and play with all the fun things inside! 

If you have a Dollar Tree around you, and you have a small gift you want or need to give, I highly suggest going to the Dollar Tree and filling a fun bucket or box with a ton of small and fun items!

Scrapbooking #1

I have been on a major scrapbooking kick lately! On a roll I guess.. haha! I have a TON of pictures printed that are just sitting in a box. So slowly but surely I will get them all scrapbooked and lookin' good! I just wanted to share a few of the ones I have completed recently. A variety! I figured I would share them on here, maybe for a few layout ideas. I went for a very simple layout plan on all of them. Minimal stickers and fun background pages! I purchased most of the background pages from Walmart. I will do a post in the next few days specifically on the paper packets I bought from Walmart.

I am currently working on more and will share them soon!

 

DIY ~ Family Silhouette Plaques

I love our little family. 

This is such an easy craft and it is great because as our family grows, I can easily add to it!

  Here is what you need:   

1. printed pictures from a side view

2. wooden plaques or wood of some sort

3. colored paint (for plaque color)

4. black paint (for silhouettes) 

{ or a bold color would look fun too! }

5. scissors

6. matte Modge Podge

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

  Here is what I did... 

1. Bought wooded plaques

2. Took pictures of each of us

3. Printed the pictures

4. Painted the plaques silver (2 coats)

5. While those were drying, I took my time and cut out each picture

6. I painted each cut out picture

7. When those dried I used matte Modge Podge and put one solid coat on the entire plaque, then before it dried I very gently centered each picture on its own plaque!

8. I very lightly brushed a coat of the matte Modge Podge over the picture and the rest of the plaque. 

9. I let it dry!

tah-dah!! It was so simple and it turned out great!

I am planning on making a few more as gifts... what a great gift idea!

( however, I will use pictures of the people I am gifting of course! ☺ )

Here are a couple of extra photographs of the ones I did of us!

Beer Birthday Cake!

The 21st birthday cake that I made for my cousin. ☺

 First off... HAPPY BIRTHDAY MYLES!

Second...

This cake was extrememly easy to make...

Here are the steps that I did:

1. Buy beer (30 pack)

2. Buy candy, decorations, wrapping paper, ribbon, scissors, tape, cardboard, and anything else you want to use to decorate it.

3. Cut 3 pieces of cardboard into circles. One with a 1.5 foot diameter, one with about 1 foot diameter, and the third one about a half of food diameter.

(I honestly didn't measure them... I just started cutting...) HA! ☺

4. Wrap the cardboard circles in wrapping paper to make them pretty.

5. Start with the biggest circle and cover it in beer cans.... in the shape of a circle. When that layer is done, move onto step 6.

6. Next Place the middle sized circle on top of that layer and cover that in beer cans.

7. Place the smallest circle on top of that layer and cover them in the last couple of cans.

8. Take some ribbon and tie a large piece around each layer of cans. (to hold them together.) I also tied a large ribbon from top to bottom of the cake to hold the layers together.

9. Decorate your cake with any items that you want to add to it. I did lotto tickets, candy, and cigars. 

10. TAH-DAH! It's time to deliver the cake!

I love this project because it is so fun and it always gets fun reactions from people. I also love it because you can do it for so many different occasions. Birthdays... graduations (college of course!)... valentines day... anniversary's... or simply just for fun! :) Next time I make one of these I will try to film it . ☺

Please share your Can Cakes with me! I would love to see them!

2013 Memories Ornament

2013 was full of amazing memories for us.  Hunting. Traveling. Exploring. Laughing. Crying. Crafting. Loving. Living. It was just amazing.

We decided to end the year with making a "Memories Ornament" We simply just took a plain silver ornament off of our Christmas tree, and wrote on it with a sharpie. We covered with it our favorite memories from 2013.

We plan on doing this every year from now on.

Think about it...

Wouldn't it be cool 20 years from now to look back at all the memories written all over the Christmas tree!? 

I think so!

I also love starting new traditions! ☺