Some of my Craft Projects from 2014

Here is a summary of some of the fun projects I did during the past year:

 A Hanging Carseat Cover

 Made Especially for Kelsi's baby…. and kept in mind the colors of their favorite university in the process… ;)

This is a Christmas Cookie tin that I repainted for their little one (to hold all of her goodies). 

 Baby Bow-ties and Suspendered Onesies in Preparation for baby boy

My Inspiration (as seen on makeit-loveit.com )

(bow-ties in progress)

Completed Onesie and Bowtie Combo. 

The thing that makes me happiest about this project was that I was so happy to discover that you can "dress up" and make stylish things for boys too… not just girls.  Right now I am super obsessed with making stylish skinny leggings for little man in different prints…. he already has like 7 different pair…. but those will have to be for another post as they are TECHNICALLY a "2015" thing and I just so happen to STILL be behind and blogging about 2014.  LoL.

Nursery Vinyl Tree
I designed the Colors and prints of the scene… but knew it was super unrealistic to try and cut it with my little machine…. so I found someone on Etsy to Print it :)

 Baby Shoes and Bows (for a ward member's baby shower)

Nail Polish Rack

 I read a tutorial on Pinterest that made it seem pretty easy….. It was a lot more difficult that I thought it was going to be…. but I did it! Wahoo!

Vinyl creations via Silhouette Machine

A Saying for my Craft Wall

Just Painted

Plus Dark wax and gold paint accents

A quote on a canvas, also for my craft room 

Above the headboard in our bedroom

I am a child of God

I made this to match the nursery for the baby girl of our besties in Phoenix

I am a child of God-2nd Edition

I ended up switching it up and making baby boy's like this… more of a subway art style… and in a color theme to match his Nursery too of course :)

Door Numbering for the rooms upstairs

I felt like it was too boring to call it "the craft room"… and since technically I also have my nail polish and a few other not directly "craft related" items… I decided this was a more appropriate title.  Not to mention I found it humorous to have "all things feminine" directly across the hall from "The Man Cave"--insert chest thumping audio clip here-- :)

Item Revival: White Mirror to a Cork Board

Yup…. No before Pictures…. Curses. It started out as a plain white frame around a mirror.  I painted it SeaFoam green and took out the glass and replaced it with Cork Board. Once I added ribbon, I started using it right away to pin up projects that were in process

 Then as I thought about it… the SeaFoam green was cute, but I wanted it to have a little more character, so I painted in the crevices with a shade of light blue to add some dimension...

And then  I antiqued it with dark wax. NOW I absolutely love it and still use it all the time in my craft room!!!! One of my most used, if not THE most used craft I've made to date!

Item Revival: Refinishing a D.I. Table
I'm sad I didn't do a TRUE before/After Shot. I sincerely just didn't think about it because I was just so excited to transform it!  I found this super plain wooden kitchen table at D.I. for $15 and thought that if I refinished it, it would make a fabulous addition to my Craft Room…. and I was right :)

As you can see by the unpainted leg here…. super plain at first. I painted the whole table olive first (as you can see by the back leg), and then painted the top a teal color.  Afterwards I distressed/antiqued it with sandpaper and wax.  These pictures were taken on my phone at night…. so the coloring is off and doesn't really do it justice….. but I am so happy with the finished product!

And this picture is to document that I was able to lay down plastic and paint right in the house! Gasp!  However, you should know, I only felt comfortable doing this because I was using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, which is super fun and easy to use (after you've taken a class to learn its idiosyncrasies)… and my favorite part is that the paint is organic so it doesn't give you a headache from fumes and you can actually use water to dilute OR clean up any spills, so long as you haven't already applied the wax. It has fabulous coverage so you can layer and sand to reveal, or not sand if you decide you didn't like original color and just want to repaint down the road. When I paint mirrors or picture frames with the chalk paint, I don't even use tape or plastic because I know that I can just use a damp cloth to wipe up any spills….. #AMAZING.  Seriously… I feel like it has totally boosted my confidence to refinish things.  Before painting was always scary and felt so "permanent"…. but it doesn't have to be…. so between taking the class and using this product, I feel like I have a complete boost of confidence in my transformation abilities :). 

The Hulk

Because I already talked about this in the October blog… not gonna go into explicit detail-rather a quick summary… but yes. I made baby's costume…..
-Went to Joann's and picked out the fabrics I liked
- Drew on a piece of paper the way/size I wanted the muscles to be
- cut out the individual muscles in the pattern and traced them onto NuFoam.
- took a pattern from a 3-6 month onesie (as he was only wearing 0-3 at the time) for a little extra space
- Cut out the muscles and using a washable gluestick, I adhered them to the appropriate pieces of the onesie (before it was all sewn together).
- Placed a piece of soft knitted fabric on the back of the muscles to enclose them, and then sewed along the outline of all of the muscles.
- Sew the onesie pieces together with muscles already attached, then make a quick pair of leggings, shorts, and hat.

 I was SO SCARED I was gonna mess up and it wasn't gonna work out…. but I was so determined that I just gave myself plenty of time (a few weeks) and was so pleased when it actually came together. Granted…. there are things I would have done a little bit differently in hindsight… but for his #firstcostumeever….. can't beat myself up too much :)

Item Revival: Hope Chest Refinish

Yup….. You guessed it…. Also an Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Special!!!
Another Before/After Fail….. As evidenced by the fact there is only an After picture posted here. Haha.  Background on this piece: It is actually a Hope Chest that was given to my mother by her parents (my grandparents), but the exterior was destroyed when my parent's house flooded around 2012 (I think?).  My mom gave the piece to my older sister who was going to give it to DI or toss it.  I took it and refinished the outside, but preserved the original cedar wood on the inside :). LOVE.

A kid fort

I made this for Joe/Jillian's baby John for Christmas (we drew them for gift exchange this year).  She told me her nursery colors were going to be a light green and grey, so I found this print and thought it was perfect. I also made him Suspendered Onesies and several baby bow ties, of course…. and then we did glass etching on 8 mugs that said their last name.  We were pretty proud of ourselves…. Okay, correction…. I was pretty proud of myself, and Jason was happy that I was proud of myself. Haha.