Easily Adding an Accent Color

So, as I mentioned in this previous post, I am re-doing my living room in grey, white, black, silver, and my pop of color... which is this emerald-turquoise color. Because I have been having difficulty finding items to decorate my living room in this color, I decided to craft some of my own items. I found this basic wood frame at Michael's and used my 40% coupon  (woo hoo!) to purchase it. 

I already had some acrylic paint at home, so in order to get the perfect color, I mixed green, blue, white, and black until I found the perfect mixture. 

(elephant inspiration)

I then used a foam brush and applied two coats of paint to the basic frame and let it dry.

I love the way it turned out and how easy it was! Slowly but surely, I am acquiring more and more items in my "pop" of color!

Yarn Wreath for Baby's Room

A good friend (and co-worker) was having a baby shower and I wanted to do something special. Her and her husband had been in the process of adopting a baby from China for over a year and a half and finally the time was coming near for them to pick up their baby girl! Once I received the baby shower invitation and found out the colors, I decided I should make a yarn wrapped wreath. The baby's room is grey, coral, and turquoise. Using those colors, I purchased supplies:

1. 8 in styrofoam wreath

2. grey/silver yarn

3. felt sheets (coral, turquoise, and white)

4. colored cork sheets (I found them a Michael's in a little book)

5. hot glue & gun


I decided to do something a little untraditional and wrap the wreath in the grey/silver yarn. I made coral, turquoise, and white felt flowers (go here to see all of the different flower types you can make). 

To finish the wreath, I traced out a "W" (baby's initial) on a coral cork sheet, cut it out, and glued it onto a square piece of turquoise coral. 

I love how the wreath turned out. It meant so much to me to be able to give my friend something that came from my heart, that was personalized for her precious miracle. 

Two Colored Yarn Wrapped Letter

I will be moving soon into a new apartment and I have decided I would like to completely re-do my living room. Everything out...the armoire, the coffee table/end table, the couch, the lamps, the curtains…everything. With a trip to the furniture store, my inspiration began. I absolutely fell in love with this sofa:

Hadly Grey Sofa

I love the color, I love the chevron accent pillows, I love the 60's style lines it has. I LOVE THIS SOFA.

Thus my living room colors began to form…grey, white, black, silver…and I knew I needed a POP of color. I was walking around a local home decor store (Garden Ridge) when I spotted this vase:

I knew instantly that this was my color. Sort of like emerald and turquoise had a baby…amazing. A few aisles into the store, I found this elephant and I knew these two pieces were destined to live together in my living room:

As I began planning my new living room, I quickly discovered how difficult it was to find this emerald-turquoise accent color. Nothing I could find was quite like it…nothing. Luckily, I have my crafting abilities to rely on so I decided I would make some things myself. :)

The first thing I wanted to make was a large cardboard letter "C" wrapped in the emerald-turqoise yarn. I couldn't find a yarn to match perfectly (yes, I actually took the vase INTO the store with me), but a friend helped me pick out two green yarns that if mixed together would work perfectly!

My supplies:

1. wooden letter (I prefer the blocky cardboard ones because they are easier to wrap and I like the look of them better. Any wooden letter should work. Because I want my letter "C" to be a big accent piece in my living room, I bought a 12 in. letter.)

2.  Mod Podge glue (my standard is matte)

3. yarn of choice

4. foam brush

To begin, you simply apply Mod Podge to the end of your letter and start wrapping, adding more glue along the way as you wrap more and more.

Curves and ends can be difficult to wrap, but just continue working carefully until you have the area covered. It is okay if the yarn wraps in different directions and is bulkier on some parts of the letter. 

When I finish wrapping a letter, I always turn it over and put a lot of glue on the backside to hold it all into pace. I also cut the extra yarn, tie it into place back there, and glue it down.

I love how my accent "C" turned out and I can't wait to put it in my new place!

Quotes on Canvas

For Christmas presents to close friends and family, I try to do something thoughtful. I had the idea of making a canvas for my sister, mother, and best friend that included meaningful quotes.

First, I used a stencil and pencil to draw out the letters. The canvas below is one I did for my sister. I free handed the stars.

Then, I took a permanent marker and traced the pencil markings.

I blended colors to choose the base coat for each canvas and used a wide brush to apply the base coat of paint.

I then used a thin angular brush to color in the letters. I used two coats of paint and finished up by outlining the letters with a black sharpie to make them pop.

For the blue canvas above, I decided to add photographs. I applied them using Mod Podge and then used a foam brush to coat the entire canvas with horizontal and vertical Mod Podge streaks. This gave it an linen effect.

I'm very happy with the way all 3 canvas turned out and my mother, sister, and best friend loved them! :)

"Must Love" Sports-Themed Canvas

For another teacher on my team (who absolutely loves the Dallas Cowboys), I made this cute sports-themed canvas for her classroom. She has already hung it on her wall! :)

Here is a previous post where I describe how I make these canvases:
http://ihaveacraftproblem.blogspot.com/2013/12/must-love-pet-canvas.html

"Must Love" Pet Canvas

As a gift for two of the teachers on my team, I wanted to make them something special. I used smaller canvas (9x12) that they could hang in their classrooms. One teacher really likes dogs and the other really likes cats, so I decided to go with that theme. :)

First, I used a pencil and lower case stencils to trace my words. I drew the cat and dog paw print free hand. I then traced over the pencil markings with a permanent marker.

I mixed paint colors to make my background and used a large brush to completely cover the canvas with the background color. I then used a smaller, angular brush to paint in the letters. My last step was to outline the words and paw prints with a black permanent marker.

My teammates really liked the pet canvases and I enjoyed making something personal for them. :) 

Holiday Duct Tape Bracelet

Last year, to raise money for Sierra Leone, my class decided to make items out of duct tape to sell. Long story short, we raised a ton of money because duct tape items were so popular AND I learned how to make several items from duct tape. One of the most popular items was a the duct tape bracelet below. Because you can use three colors, you can really personalize it and make it fun. I've made sports-themed ones and school-themed ones. 

Because duct tape items are so popular, I always try to make each of my students something for Christmas. For this bracelet, I decided to use red, white, and metallic silver duct tape. You always want to make sure you use the DuckTape brand. Scotch makes duct tape in all kinds of fun colors but it is difficult to tear by hand, cut with scissors, the quality is not as good, and it is not as adhesive.

I won't go into too much detail about how I made the bracelet because I'm attaching a YouTube video below that taught me how to make them. You basically measure out a strip of duct tape, tear it in half, and then fold the halves. You will eventually have several little strips like the ones below.

You then braid the three colors. 

Here is the tutorial video on how to do the bracelet specifically:

I close my bracelets with a piece of duct tape. The sizing is not always perfect. If it is too small or large on a student's hand, I can peel the closure off and readjust it. I love the way the bracelets turned out...they make me think of peppermints :)