Two new obsessions

So, if you know me even at all, you know I sometimes get "obsessed" with things. Yep, obsessed. And, right now, I am obsessed with two things; my new iPhone and twine. The first being a gift I bought myself after a two-year self-imposed restriction on all smart phones. I had a dumb little flip phone that I kept breaking....so, I decided if I could keep the little flippy safe for two years, I deserved an iPhone. AND, iPhone, you have completed me.

My second obsession is twine. Recently, I created yarn letters (read previous entries), which are indeed fantastic. HOWEVER, I then tried twine cover letters...even more amazing (I'll show you pictures soon). So, I have been hearing all the craze about yarn balloons, where someone blows up a balloon, covers it in glue-soaked yarn, lets it dry for a day, then pops the balloon. That's all fine and dandy, but I didn't want a balloon-shaped hanging thing. I wanted a circle and I wanted it covered in twine....

Behold and see what I have created!!! With inspiration of course from the many balloon yarn balls and such I have seen on pinterest (I stayed away for awhile, but I can't anymore...this is due mostly to my iPhone). Anyway, the twine balls await you...seriously, they are AMAZING!!!! (read on to see how they are made...amazing)

This is the completed twine ball. I will eventually hang this up from the ceiling with clear fishing line.
Probably a cluster of twine balls will hang from my ceiling!!

The bouncy children's ball covered with glue-coated twine.

The magic that holds this project together!!!

The children's ball (deflated to remove from the twine ball) with the magic pump!

Okay, so how this project was made. I went to the store and bought a children's play ball (about $3), a roll of twine (about $5) and a tube of tacky glue (under $2). I drew a circle on the top of the ball with magic marker...this was a two part plan. First, I thought I might someday add a light bulb into the twine ball and needed ample room for the fixture. Second, I needed enough room to defeat my ball and remove it. Anyway, after the circle was drawn on the ball, I went to town!! I set out a trash bag, poured a lot of glue into a little bowl (it was easier than constantly pouring out more glue, trust me!). I covered my fingers in glue and went over every inch of twine as I was winding it around the ball. I tried to make the twine go every which way and fill the space equally. You will use an entire ball of twine and an entire tube of tacky glue (small size...not mini, but small). You can pretty much tell how it'll look as you're going. I was then out of twine and my ball looked great. I sat it down and let it dry for 24 hours. I then deflated my children's ball and removed it from the twine ball.....it held it's form perfectly and I love it!!!

This is something you must try, as it's so easy, so fun and looks so original. ALSO, you can reuse the children's ball again and again!!! Good luck! Stay tuned for my other fun twine creations! :)

L.O....E. Wait a minute....

I am blonde. I am constantly multitasking. I am sometimes preoccupied with other things than the task at hand. I am daydreaming about something much bigger than myself that is out there for me! I am getting older every single day. I am a woman. Whatever the reasons are, I am forgetting everything lately!! Anyway...the lesson for this blog is: if you at least start something, you are more likely to finish it than if you never start it at all.

Hmmmm, let me explain that whole first paragraph and introduce ya'll to some yarn art!! Let me take you back to last Friday. It was a rainy little day and I had nothing in the world to accomplish except some errands. Since we live in a smaller town, my errands consisted of an hour-long drive to the 'bigger' town down the road. I adore these days. I cherish my alone time on the way up there and just love looking around all day at some of my favorite stores.

I was in Hobby Lobby (sigh of contentment!) and I had been inspired recently to cover some chipboard letters with yarn. Standing in front of the letters, I was trying to think of what word would look good. "EAT" in the kitchen...hmm, no good...I don't need a reminder to do that. "ALEXANDER" in the hallway...hmm, too long of last name. "SLEEP" above our bed all cutesy-like....nah. "JOY" somewhere in my house....no, this wonderful word reminds me too much of someone I used to know named Joy. "LOVE"....this word can never be overdone. It's perfect! So, I grabbed my chipboard letters and then scooted over to the yarn aisle to buy four of my most favorite colors of blue and green to cover my letters.

I arrived home, got out my recently purchased supplies to start making my project. OH HEAVENS!!! In front of me lay an: L, O and E. I messed up and forgot my V. You can NOT have LOVE without the V!!! I went through the whole array of emotions in literally two seconds (from frustration to humor) and started to work. Part of me wanted to just wait until I had my "V" in hand, because I wanted a finished project. However, I knew that I had the time, energy and gusto to work on my little yarn letters right then, SO I DID.

Have I made it back up to Hobby Lobby yet? No. Did I put up the "LOE" in my hallway already? Yes. Did I have lots of people over to my house to see the "LOE" in my hallway? Ha, yes, I did! But, I figure that if I walk by it everyday, I won't forget to finish this very fun project. So, people, start something, even if you don't have all the stuff to finish it right there!!

Lastly, here's how you do this quick little masterpiece. Buy letters, cut them out yourselves, whatever you would like to do...then get some yarn and just tie a knot in the back to start it and then start wrapping. It takes a few minutes, but it's easy and oh so cute!!!

A closer look at these letters wrapped in yarn...sorry for the HORRIBLE lighting!

I have the letters sitting on a small shelf in my hallway that is surrounded by pictures. The "V" will be a darker teal than the "L" and it will make a lovely little "LOVE." Until then, "LOE" your neighbors!!

Good luck my friends and Merry Christmas!!!

Give me an "A"...or an "a"

Hello blogging world (all sevenish of my friends and family that I encourage to read my blog)....I have been MIA for a bit due to an abundance of projects taking all my time. I was actually going to wait a few more weeks before I started sharing all these ideas again, but I can't wait!! I have the cutest little idea that would be criminal for me NOT to share! AND, my sweet husband often times doesn't notice when I put something new up in the house (because it's an ongoing process that doesn't end)...HOWEVER, he noticed what I'm getting to share with you! This morning when he came to say bye to me at 4-something am, his words were, "I really like that thing you made in the hallway." Me, jumping up that he noticed, instantly awake "Really? What do you like about it?! I like it too...Ooooh, I'm glad you like it." Looking back now, I can see why maybe he doesn't compliment all my projects, ha! SORRY, I digress! Back to this oh-so-fun project!

So, I saw a picture recently of something similar to this (it's not my very own idea, sorry!), and LOVED it. They made a "k" out of all the same exact color of orange buttons and it was super cute. I realized that I should of course make an "a" for our awesomeness and our last name is Alexander...but when exploring my button collection yesterday, I realized all my buttons were different! So, all different buttons (which turned out fabulous I think) is what I used for this little project!!

How I did it: I had an old 8x10 frame that I no longer used, I covered it in batting and then fabric. They didn't have the exact type of fabric I wanted in my small little town, so I cut up an old shirt for the fabric! I got out my staple gun and went to work!! Once the fabric was secured, I just starting putting buttons in the shape of an a. You could draw it out beforehand if you desired, but I didn't. If you were really ambitious, you probably could actually sew any button on. Ummm,I used my handy dandy hot-glue gun! Once I glued them on, I got some white ribbon (I will probably just use solid color light teal ribbon when I buy some) and attached it to the back and hung it up with an over sized push-pin!!

Ahhhh! I just hung it up and just stared at it last night, feeling all creative! It's a quick project that is inexpensive (if you have the buttons). I always see jars of buttons at garage sales for cheap and I always buy those bad boys up! Anyway, I am back little blogging world....be prepared!!

Hanging up in our hallway for all to see.

A close-up view of all my random buttons.

My favorite thing about this button project is the texture of all these BUTTONS!!!

Simple and Cheap...

Hello world...I have been MIA, because I have had some fun-crazy stuff happening lately....SO here I am!! Anyway, now to the blog: When living in an apartment (and NOT allowed to paint the walls), one must come up with creative ways to fill the wall space. It must be simple, cheap and most importantly fill a lot of this empty space on the wall!!!

Low and behold...the project below for under $20!! (the stuff on the wall...please ignore the stuff on the table).

I high-lighted this briefly before, but people have requested I give a quick how-to.

I bought six random size frames at my favorite local thrift store, went to Lowes and bought those itty bitty sample paints (I bought them in two colors, one light aqua and one dark aqua. They are behind the paint counter and around $2 a piece) and then I bought four peacock feathers from a craft store. I took the glass out of the frames, sanded them down lightly (so the paint sticks better), then painted them random shades between my light aqua and dark aqua. I hung them on the wall (a level is key here, unless you have a perfect eye!)...and then added the peacock feathers afterwards...I just added them by taping them to the back edge of the frames. KEY: I laid this little collage out on the floor first to figure out where I wanted each frame to save my wall from multiple holes.

Lastly, you can use anything...not just peacock feathers.

Good luck and hopefully you have a bare little wall, this might be an idea for you!!

This is in my dinning room and adds the perfect detail to an otherwise blank wall.

My sister's favorite thing...

I've highlighted my dear sweet sister's creativity before, but here is yet another example of her being creative! A little background that seems necessary on my sister. She's obsessed with pens. YES, pens! It seems odd to the average person, but if you knew how much this girl writes, grades college papers, doodles...you could then maybe understand her love for the pen. In her house, she has an entire drawer (not a little drawer mind you) saved for her pens. So, you get the picture, she likes pens.

NOW while I am on the subject of pens...I am sure that almost all of you have seen those pens with big flowers or sometimes a random spoon on them at banks, grocery stores, etc. It took me a while to figure why these were necessary, but it's so people won't keep taking these pens that belong to these businesses. My sister, loving pens as she does, clearly took note of this and thought of this brilliant idea!!

My parents never have pens laying around then they need one (to take a message when someone calls, etc), so my sister made them an adorable little container of flowers that matches their kitchen PERFECTLY that are actually pens!!! YAY! What a perfect little idea that I wanted to share.

You notice a cute little pot of flowers on the counter...never do you think it's actually pens!! WOW! LOVE IT!!

Best thing about these flower-pens is they are very cute flowers, not cheesy lookin ones!

I just LOVE it!!

Handmade gifts. From: Shena

For my mom's birthday a couple weeks ago, I made her a handmade frame. I know what you are thinking, does your poor family get anything actually bought from you?! Ummmm, yes, they do! HOWEVER, I like to make them things!

AND, as you may or may not know, I have a thing for flowers. No matter what type of project I am working on, I always try to add a flower to make it more 'me.' A few months ago, I saw a 'how-to' on making fabric flowers by cutting circles out of fabric and then burning the edges (silk-based fabric), so of course I tried this. I tweaked this process a little bit and I absolutely LOVE what I came up with.

Anyway, I only took a picture of this frame on my horrible little cell-phone camera, so pardon the HORRIBLE quality of the picture. You can get the idea though. Soon (October), me and two of my good friends are going to 'teach' a class to a bunch of Air Force spouses about making these frames, so I will whip up many more examples and have some much better pictures.

What I did: bought a wood frame from Wal-Mart (for 2.97...but Hobby Lobby also has wood frames for 1.00...however, I live an hour from Hobby Lobby, so you see my dilemna!), glued a piece of scrapbook 12x12 paper on to the frame...cut to fit, sanded down the edges to give it a worn look, then stained the edged with my dauber (see previous entry for my going-ons about the dauber), then attached these FABULOUS silked burned flowers I made and added a few little pearls in the flowers and in the corners of the frame....and waaalaaa: homemade birthday present frame done!!!

You can do all sorts of fun things with these cheap frames to personalize them. Hope this gives you some ideas!!

No thank you, I'll make that myself!

Have you ever walked into a store and absolutely loved something? I mean, you see it across the store and ahhh, your heart skips a beat...you just know that that object is meant to be in your home!! THEN, you see the price tag...and the love for this used-to-be-amazing-object vanishes and you can't believe the nerve that someone would actually charge that much for something! Yep, I have been there! I always say to myself, "NOOO thank yoooou, I will be making that myself!" By the time I actually purchase all the equipment and tools to make these home-made objects, it probably ends up costing the same, but it's the concept!

Anyway, back a few years ago, I spent a good solid week in my hometown, doing absolutely nothing but helping mom with her projects. It was the perfect therapy for me! She had ideas, I had ideas...but mainly she had the ideas and I had the labor! She wanted to replace the shutters on the outside of her house. We went to one of my favorite stores (Lowes....don't judge me, the store is AMAZING) and looked at shutters...whew, EXPENSIVE! So, we decided with authority and confidence that we could make em...so that's what we did.

We bought pieces of wood, cut them to the size she wanted (they could do that for you at Lowes, but she has her own power saw, so she did it herself...obviously), painted them the perfect color of grey-brown and then attached these awesome over-sized hinges that she had bought...then placed them beside the windows for some picture-perfect shutters! Every time I am lucky enough to go back to my home sweet hometown, I see these amazing shutters and feel a sense of pride because we made that ourselves!

Tag, you're it.

Ha, I am still giggling on the inside of my creative little title of this entry. So, I'm going to talk about tags today. I like them. I love how you can go into a store and right beside the gift-wrapping is all sorts of little matching tags. Ah, glorious! But, if I ever see something in a store that I like...well, you best be believing that I think I can create it! So, this little entry is about some homemade tags...well, kinda. Some of my friends here in Mississippi have been inside my 'craft closet' and seen my boxes and boxes of home-made tags I have made, just waiting to go on presents someday. I have issues people! I create things by the masses...seriously! I don't just make one really cute tag, I make thirty of the same one. People think I am kidding, I am not. If you have ever read "my intro" to this blog, you will understand, that working with my hands is my therapy...so if I'm in a 'mood,' I generally can be found hunched over working on something. And, then I go overboard and make thirty of the same thing. SO...wow, long rabbit-trail there, but my point is: this entry is NOT about all those tags, but one other tag in particular. Whew!

Anyway, for me and my favorite's wedding reception, we had the task of assigning people to particular tables for dinner. For all those who have had weddings, I am sure this is a task you might not have relished. I LOVED IT! I could not wait to make these fun little place cards and tell people where they were to sit....maybe it's the bossiness in me! Either way, I decided to make our place-cards into 'place-tags.' Our colors were black, white and that fun little apple green, so that is the colors I used. What should tags be hung from? Well, a home-made mini-tree of course!

What I did and how I did it: I bought some manzinta branches at a local whole-sale flower shop, zip-tied them together (zip-ties are AMAZING...and if you have never used them, I insist that you try someday) and spray painted them black. Bought a little bucket-of-a-thing to put them in, mixed up some concrete to pour in the bucket and hold the branches into place. I then covered the concrete up with some moss. As for the tags: I cut them out to the size I wanted, cut out the numbers as well (by cut, I mean use the amazing cricut that cuts anything I want for me), bought a white-pen so I could write on the black tag and there you go! Then, I got green and black sheer ribbon to hang them with and waaaLaaa, place-tags done! I am sure the pictures will explain this MUCH better than I am attempting to.

I don't know if I will ever throw a party in the future that will require place-cards, but if so, I will have my tag idea ready to go!!

A far-away view of the tree with the 'place-tags' hanging from it. I will try to find a better picture!

An up-close view of the tags.

And, mad props go to my sweet, sweet husband for assisting me with the creation of the tree...he doesn't always see my vision when I explain it, but he's always there supporting it!