Mom's Christmas Place Mats - DIY

 

I helped my mom make these adorable Christmas themed place mats with my nephew today! They were quick, easy and fun for all of us!

The items you need are:

Place mats (a lighter color works best)

Brown paint

Green paint

Red paint

Black sharpie or black paint

Red Sharpie (optional)

A hand and a foot!

First, you take the place mat, and lay them out. Paint the foot being used green, and place it towards the bottom left corner. Then take the hand being used, paint it brown and place it just above and to the right of the foot print. Then repeat that step two more times. (Or even more if you'd like!)

Next, take the red paint and just use a small amount. Dip in a thumb and a finger tip to make the Santa in the sleigh! Let the paint dry.

After the paint is dry, we then used a black sharpie to draw in the detailing of the sleigh and reindeer. Ropes, antlers, the bottom of the sleigh, and of course Santa's face!

My mom used a red sharpie to write Merry Christmas, however you can also use some red paint if you want to! When it was all done she wrote his name and the year on it, so that they will remember forever.

  

My momma made these as a surprise gift for my nephews parents. This is a fun project to do with kids of all ages! It is also a great way to watch the kids hands and feet grow over the years!

If you make a Christmas place mat of your own please remember to share them in the comments below or even tag #CVA on Instagram! I would love to see your creations! 

DIY Light House Bird Feeder

My Grandma loves light houses.

I am always trying to think of and find light house craft ideas.

Well here is an easy one!

Here is what I bought:
- red spray paint (not pictured)

- white spray paint (not pictured)

-3 different size pots

- 1 small pot tray

- super glue

- E6000 glue

- cream colored multi-purpose rope

- black crafting paint

- 1 bird seed bell

 

I placed all 3 pots and the 1 pot trey on a piece of scrap board from our storage shed. 

 

I then sprayed each of them white with my white spray paint.

(I didn't worry about the tops because you won't be seeing them; why waste paint right?!)

 

After the white paint was dry, I took Frog painters tape and taped off a strip around the rim edge of each pot. 

 

I then took my red spray paint and sprayed the entire rim of each pot.

(NOTE: I had to use a piece of paper to shield the white paint, you don't want red speckles! But maybe you do, so if you do, more power to ya!)

Oh, I also painted the bottom of the small pot tray red.

 

When the red paint was finished drying.

I took more Frog painters tape, and made window shapes on each of the pots. 

 

 I then took my black crafting paint, and painted the window holes.

I let that paint dry completely, and then I slowly took off all of the Frog painters tape.

 

You're almost done!

The next step is to stack the pots on top of one another.

I used E6000 glue (clear) to attached the small pot tray to the smallest painted pot I have. 

(I did not glue them together because I figured it would be easier to store it in the winter months if it can be taken apart.)

Now, take your rope and wrap a piece around each pot, at the lip of the pot and the top edge of the red paint. 

I measured each piece of rope, then glued it using E6000 glue.

I then took super glue and squeezed some in the crease between the pot and the rope to make it more sturdy.

The last part it, place it where you want it, and place your birdseed bell on top!

TAH-DAH!

  

Now you have a beautiful light house bird feeder!

 

DIY Bonfire Plaque

My oldest brother loves to have company over. He loves to have hang out in the garage. Play lawn games. Play darts. All while having a bonfire burning.

It is always such a fun time over his house.

For his 28th birthday this year, I decided to make him some homemade presents that he would truly enjoy.

For the first DIY gift, I bought:

a wooden plaque

white alphabet stickers

a 3D bonfire sticker (came in a camping sticker set)

wall mounts (for the back of the plaque)

black spray paint

a clear coat spray paint

The first thing I did was, paint the wood plaque with my black spray paint.

I ended up coating it about 3 times, I wanted it to be covered, and sometime wood will soak up the paint on the first coat or 2.

 

When the plaque was completely dry,  I then laid out my stickers where I wanted them, then stuck them on one by one.

After the stickers were each in the right place, I then took the clear coat can and put 2 layers of clear coat over the entire plaque. 

I let the clear coat dry, and then I wrapped up the present for my brother. 

 

I thought this plaque and quote would be perfect for my brother to hang somewhere around his house. He loved it! He ended up hanging it in his garage, because that is where we hang out the most at his house.

Other than the paint drying times, this DIY project was fairly quick and extremely easy!

Who doesn't love bonfires? Marshmallows? Drinking?

 

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. 

The Walking Dead Canvas - DIY

My brothers girlfriend is a HUGE Walking Dead fan! ( but hey.. who isn't?!) 

She has been to multiple Comic Con shows in the past year or two. 

Her Birthday was yesterday, and I wanted to make her something special. I was playing on Facebook the other day, looking at picture after picture of her with all of the Walking Dead stars and BAH-BAM! I got an idea! 

I was a little skeptical because I have never actually tried this technique, however... I always tell myself "you;'ll never know if you don't try" 

So I got to printing the pictures! 

I printed each picture out on plain ol' computer paper - then I cut each picture out. When all the pictures were cut and trimmed to their perfect sizes, I took a 8x12 canvas from Hobby Lobby, and I coated it with Mod Podge. 

Before the Mod Podge started to dry I quickly and neatly placed each picture FACE DOWN on the canvas. (Face down means Color printed side down) ((like the picture in the top left corner below) I used a scrap of cardboard to get out as many air bubbles as I possibly could. 

I then let that canvas dry for over 24 hours. 

After a day, when I knew it was 100% dry, I got a water bottle and an old wash rag... I got part of the wash rag wet and began to very gently rub away the paper of the pictures. BE VERY CAREFUL! If you rub too much or too hard in one spot, the ink WILL come off the canvas! If you are careful, gentle, and take your time... the paper will rub right off the canvas and leave the ink on the canvas. This making any sense?! 

This technique makes the canvas and pictures look old and vintage (which I really really like!) 

After I was finished removing all of the paper... I put a thick coat of Mod Podge over the entire Canvas and all of the pictures! After that coat of Mod Podge dried... I got out my black acrylic paint and very sloppily painted a boarder around each picture. 

I wanted it to look somewhat messy because of the whole 'Walking Dead + Zombie' thing. They aren't exactly the cleanest, well put together creatures.  

I let the black boarders dry and then took red acrylic paint and painted the words "DON'T OPEN DEAD INSIDE" which if you are a Walking Dead fan, you should remember that from Season 1! 

I let the words dry and I put another coat of Mod Podge on, let it dry and then it was time to sign the back with a lovely Happy Birthday message and wrap it up!

 

I gave this to her yesterday when I saw her and she seemed to love it! My brothers thought it was great also and I was pretty proud of it! It was fun to make and I enjoyed learned and experimenting with a new ink transfer technique!

 It really wasn't that bad... 

go ahead! Give it a try!

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!

DIY Wall Decor - with Toilet Paper Rolls

Our upstairs bathroom has had an empty wall since we have moved in. I have always known I wanted to put something there,  I just never knew what it was that I wanted to put there. 

I have seen art made from recycled toilet paper and paper towel rolls, and decided to play around with it for a little while. 

I cut the rolls with my scissors and used my hot glue gun to creating flower designs. I painted them black because I thought it was just a nice basic shade for these flowers. 

Then I realized I was stuck. I had these pretty recycled flowers... but had nothing planned to do with them. Then it hit me! Hang them on the empty bathroom wall!

I used 1 inch nails, and a hammer to hang these. Since they are extremely light weight, I just used the smallest nails we had in our junk drawer.

It adds a nice touch to our grey, black and purple master bathroom! And it was so easy and FREE!

Here are some of the AMAZING recycled roll art that sparked my curiosity! 

Flower Wreath     Flower Vine    Just pure amazing!

DAY 19: Halrems Ornaments 2013

James and I buy eachother a new Christmas ornament each year. The past few years, I have been making his and Harlems. Well here are the ones I made for Harlem this year. I talked about playing with salt dough on  December 5th I believe, when I made Our First House Key Ornament. Well I made another small batch of salt dough again a few days back to make Harlem a few Christmas ornaments. The first one I made is so easy! I rolled out a ball, and flattened it. Then I yelled "HARLEM! COME HERE BOY!" Harlem came running to me I asked him politely to sit (and he did) then I took his paw and gently pressed it into the dough. At first the paw print didn't look that sharp but after only one coat of paint it really popped out! So like I said I put one coat of the silver sparkly paint on it after it air dried, then I painted on his name and the year, as you can see below.

After the paint dried I used my hot glue gun and glued a ribbon onto the back on the ornament and then hung it on the tree! Ahh I love it! So easy and now we will forever have a piece of Harlem on our Christmas trees. ♥

The next Harlem ornament I made was just as easy. I used salt dough, rolled out a few different sized balls, and flattened them to form the shape of a bone. I then used the back end of a paint brush and carved HARLEM into it. I let the piece air dry along with the paw print ornament, and then painted it with a water color blue I had lying around the craft room. I was planning on doing more than 1 coat but I really liked the 'washed' look of just the one coat. I let the paint dry and then hot glued a gold ribbon onto the back and hung the ornament by his 2011 ornament of him as a puppy. 

  I am very happy with how these ornaments turned out and they were both made from supplies that I had just lying around our house!

DAY 11: Clay Word Ornaments

 I have been wanted to make chrome looking word ornaments for a little while now. So today I broke out some clay I have had and preheated the oven. I usually don't like baking clay, because it stinks and because the oven sometimes stinks afterwards. And ALSO I have heard a few times that it isn't healthy to breath in the fumes. But I had this clay already (before I heard that) and I really didn't want it to go to waste. (shhh don't tell) I made a few rounded balls and flattened them with the palm of my hand, then I took the back end of a paint brush and carved in the words LOVE. PEACE. and DREAM. Three of my most favorite words. ♥  I baked them in the oven for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees, then let them cool off for about an hour. (I got caught up doing other house work) I came back and painted them with my current favorite silver sparkly chrome colored acrylic paint and let the paint dry. After the paint dried, I used my hot glue gun and glued on some green ribbon as hangers. Then simple hung them on our tree. One thing I really love about these ornaments is that the possibilities are endless. You can make them say anything you want and they are so quick and easy to make! You could even use a type of homemade salt dough and I am sure it would work just as good!

Our First House Key Ornament

 

We are obviously still living in our first house. We did have an apartment for a little while before we bought this house, however, this is our first HOME ♥ We we are planning on staying for at least a few years. I made up a batch of salt dough. (Recipe link is below) I love playing with clay and/or salt dough. I have been wanted to make a first house ornament for a little while now, and so I finally got around to it. I really tried to take a good picture of it, but I failed at that. It is silver and glittery in person, but my camera phone wouldn't pick up the sparkles. :( booo. Oh well. 

So, here is what I did. I made my salt dough (SO EASYY!!) I then rolled out a ball and flattened it. I used a straw to make a hole in the ornament for a ribbon to go through. Next, I took our key and pressed it into the dough. I took the key out and let it dry. After it dried out (I let it sit our for a few days) I painted it with one coat of sparkling silver and let that dry. Then I took black paint and painted our numbers on it. After that was dry I tied a green ribbon through the hole I made with the straw and hung it on our tree! 

YES IT REALLY WAS THAT EASY!!

Click HERE for the Salt Dough Recipe! 

 

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

My mom and dad are two of my biggest idols. They are a main part of my support team, my love and my happiness! They are the reason why I am who I am today. Anyways, I love them and so for their anniversary this year (32 years TODAY!) I painted them a red canvas to match their room décor,  and then I put an adorable love quote "Husband and Wife... Best Friends For Life" ahhhhhh I love it! I just used white scrapbooking stickers in two different fonts, and I also added a few rhinestones glued on random letters. I think it came out so adorable! And my parents really loved it! :) yay me! yay parents! yay love!

 

 

 

When I look at your relationship, I am in awe. I aim to make mine and James' relationship similar to yours because you guys are so in love and are such great role models for love, life, happiness, success and everything else!

 

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

I love you both so much!

 

xoxo Renae

Rustic Glasses Holders

 

James and I both wear glasses. I only wear mine occasionally, but James needs his, so after he takes his contacts out at night he needs to be able to easily find his glasses. 

Over this past summer I fell in love with sticks and crafting with nature. 

I saved some nice sticks to craft with, so I thought this would be perfect for two reasons. ONE: we had an empty wall by our bed and I really wanted to put something pretty there, and TWO: now we will have a place to keep our glasses when they aren't on our faces. 

We can easily reach up and hang them on the hooks. There is no more searching around the bed and the floor and all over the house for our glasses. (as long as we ALWAYS remember to hang them on the hooks!) 

To make these I took one large stick, and two small sticks. I painted them white with spray paint, and then I used a glitter spray paint over that. When they were dry and ready to bring inside, I tied twine onto them to hang them from, and I used screw in hooks (I got at Kmart) So I just used my hands to screw in the hooks and TAH-DAH! 

I did not screw in any hooks on the large stick. You easily could. But I did not. I had a few strands of pearl like beads left over from our wedding (they were accents on one of our cakes) that I was looking to do something with. I thought why not make the top stick just a decor piece?! PERFECT! I loosely strung the strands of beads over and around the stick and let them droop just however they wanted to. 

I loved how it turned out!

One thing I really loved about this craft was that it was practically free... and  also that there are so many ways you can use these. (other than for just glasses!) You could screw in multiple hooks and use it to display jewelry or sunglasses or even male ties or your spring scarfs! The possibilities are endless really.... hang bibs on it in a baby's room. Heck hang whatever you want from it! ☺

Here are some more pictures below of close ups and different angles and what not ☺

Heart in the Clouds ♥

Hey look! Here is the blue canvas! :) 

I saw this online (don't remember where) (( I will try to find it again))

But when I saw it I thought of my friend Melissa! Just a few days ago at lunch she was telling me all about this quote and how much she loves it. So how could I not attempt to make this for her?!

I started off by doing 2 coats of the navy blue background on a white canvas and then after that dried (a few days later..) I used a white paint pen to write everything out and did 2 coats as well with the paint pen. 

QUICK REVIEW: the white paint pen is amazing! I bought it from Meijers just for this project and I am so excited to go out and purchase more colors because I absolutely fell in love with it! It came out so smooth, the color is strong, and it was so much easier to write with a paint pen vs a paint brush (which I am terrible at doing by the way!) 

I am fairly happy with how this turned out and I think she is going to love it! It is a little off-centered but that's part of homemade gifts... their never perfect to everyone's eye but they are perfect to the heart. <3 

Wow. Corny but true ;) 

After I gave it to her, she sent me a picture of it hanging in her room, which  made me even happier, because I was glad that she liked it!

Xoxo Renae

Just Couldnt Help Myself

Yay for fall colors!

I love all 5 of these wonderful nail colors!

Okay, well only 4 colors, but I really needed a new top coat bottle, so I love it as well!

 

 

 

 

From left to right

(271) Extra Shiny Top Coat - (152) Tudor City Teal - (147) Lexington Lilac - (207) Brownstone - (201) Fashion Safari

 

Like I do with all my beauty buys.. I tested them out as soon as I got home.

The top coat works amazingly! The teal is on my nails as I type this! The lilac is neutral and perfect for everything. The brown is perfect for this fall weather! and the beige is great for any day and any style. The neutral nude color is simple yet fun.

 

xoxo Renae 

DIY: Proverbs 31:25 Canvas

 James' grandmas birthday was last week, as I stated in the "My Week In Pictures" post before this.

She is a very strong, independent, and beautiful woman with an even more beautiful soul. We read this Bible verse, and thought it suited her perfectly. So, I painted it onto a large canvas for her.

I started off by spray painting the canvas with just streaks of red. Leaving some white showing through as you can see in the picture below.

 

 

I let the canvas try, then I hand painted the large words on, and the smaller words are stickers that I mod-podged onto the canvas.

The picture below is a finished product while it was drying.

 

 

She seemed to absolutely love this canvas, and it made us feel great, because it was a present from our hearts.

DIY: American Flag out of Twigs!

With the 4th of July just around the corner, this is the perfect craft to do this weekend! Then you can display it to all your BBQ guests on the 4th! This is so easy and looks great!

The How To:
Start off by walking around your back yard, (or anywhere) and collecting sticks and twigs that are about the same width (roundness), it doesn't matter if they aren't the same length, cause you can cut them later. Also, try to collect all straight twigs. I used a few curved ones, and it made it hard to work with.

Next, lay all your sticks out. (I used 13 sticks for each flag.)
and trim the ones that need to be trimmed. You want all the sticks to be close to the same length, but they don't have to be exact.

Now, get your paint ready!
and paint away!!!! (only solid colors, NO STARS YET!)

(4) half red / half blue
(3) half white / half blue
(3) full white
(3) full red

Let the sticks dry completely. Once they are dried, I used a rough twine from Home Depot, but you can use any string you'd like. and wrap the "string" around the end of each painted twig 2 or 3 times.
Make sure your sticks are in the right order so your final product looks like the American Flag! :)

Once the sticks are tied together securely, I then painted some little white stars on the blue parts of the sticks. So that all of the stars can be seen!

Let the stars dry completely, and  Voilà!!

Below are a few pictures that may help you out if you want to try this easy and fun American project!

 

TA-DA!

If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment below!

-OR-

If you try out this project be sure to take a picture and leave it in a comment below, so I can see how wonderful your American Stick Flags turned out!