Heartbreak In Craft World

I had this fabulous post all planned out about my first day of sewing class at JoAnn's last night.  It was beautiful, me and my sewing machine by the front door with a self-timer picture.  My fabulous argyle an polka dot pillow case that I was taking to a wedding this weekend to show off.  Life was going to be just right.

Until the phone rang.

Class canceled.  JoAnn's you have broken my heart.  Truly. 

My fabulous post will have to wait 11 days, until my class we rescheduled. 

Don't even THINK about canceling on me again. 
I have big plans for you sewing class - including some fabulous new curtains for my downstairs bathroom re-do that I will start showing you pictures of tomorrow!  Until then, we are off to a wedding in NC! 

Updated Bulletin Board

Last time my parents came to visit, they brought me my childhood bulletin board.  Hooray.  It was old, stained, and colored on... the only piece of property I ever defaced.  It was sad, but I couldn't throw it away.  I have a soft spot for it. 

So, it needed some spiffing up.  Some SERIOUS spiffing.  It sat in the garage, awaiting a brainstorm.  And then, I saw this fabulous upcycle of a bulletin board from Amber at I Saw This Going Differently In My Mind.  It was beautiful and stunning and I was determined to make one of my own! 

Here's how I did mine:
1) I painted the background white.  With the stains and fabulous invitations written to tea in Crayola marker it took about 5 coats.  I used acrylic paint and Kilz. 

Gus helped... 

2) I cut out a diamond the size I wanted on my Cricut and came downstairs to trace it.  My Craft Rescue Hero said he had a better way to do it.  It used about 11 tools.  I abdicated my place with my stencil and marker and did the dishes.  It came out like this.  I have no idea how it came to be.

3)  I used leftover gray paint from when I bought a sampler to do see if it was the right color for the room.  I put a dot in the center of the diamonds to be painted and then did the outline of each diamond.  Finally, I painted them in.  I did do extra coats on a few so there were no stroke marks. 

Final paint job

4) I used a ruler and a level to create dashes across the board.  Because my diamonds aren't exactly perfect, I just shot for the center of the line I was doing.  It didn't take a super long time, maybe 30 minutes.  I used the fine end of a Sharpie. 

5) I covered the center, took it out back and spray painted the edges black with leftover spray paint.  This is the final result, hanging in my craft room!

I did add a black bow across the bottom and made some fancy pushpins, just for the board.  I hot glued pearl beads onto dressmakers pins.  This was the only thing I spent money on... a grand total of $5! 

I am super proud of it... some more pictures for you!

Pearl Pushpins

I think it is way awesome and I am so proud of it... what do you think?

Nature Made... Lesley Made

Yesterday, I went out to check my garden and look what I found...

That is 3 HUGE stalks of romaine lettuce.  About 50ish leaves.  And 4 meager green beans.  Way to go backyard garden... but a little pacing would be nice. 

This week's dinner menu:

Sunday - Caesar Salad

Monday - Taco Salad

Tuesday - Chef Salad

Wednesday - Salad Leftovers

Thursday - Car Picnic

Friday, Saturday - Wedding!

And while I was in the backyard, I got a little painting done.  Okay, a lot of painting.

Count 'em... six things checked off the list.  Lots and lots of projects coming to a close and a handful more getting ready to get started!

My little artists in training were working hard on not inhaling paint fumes, while sunning!

Get excited - tomorrow I have a big reveal of a project long in the making!  It started as a sad, old bulletin board... and I can't wait to show it to you!

Before...

Come back tomorrow for after!

Field Day

On Tuesday, we had field day and awards day for the end of school!  It was a super special day and I have some great pictures to share... Don't those tie-die shirts look good?

Decorating Shirts! Go Yellow Dragons!

And then we went to awards!

The Auditorium does not lend itself to high quality pictures!

No pictures of the awards, I was handing them out!  But, these are our African Drummers at school who came to serenade the sixth graders.  They were in awe and I know my kids cannot wait to be 7th and 8th grade drummers!

Then... FIELD DAY!

The whole gang!

Egg-on-a-spoon!

Egg-on-a-spoon Relay

Put on those pants!

Clothes Relay!

Longest Hula Hooper

Wheelbarrow Race aka Push your friends face into the grass relay

Wheelbarrow Quitters

100 Yard Dash - with the Eastern State champion runner

My Team!  Go Yellow Dragons!

Over-Under Sponge Relay and the event directly before I got a bucket of water on my head!

It was a wonderful experience and the kids loved it!  Their behavior was spectacularly good and they had a great time!  Definitely want to do it again next year!

Caterpillar Card

Last summer, I talked my mom into creating a handful of cards.  We whirled into one of my favorite stores and picked up some awesome supplies... she got a handful of these pre-made pieces and I made a few cards.

Little dark... sorry, cell phone camera picture!

Then, I promptly forgot about them....
Until Mom called about a compliment she got on one and I figured, in my crazy, over-self-estimating way, "I can do that again without the card - no problem!"  And off I went, to make another one.  I used Baker's Twine, hot glue, and my Cricket... okay and a few ribbons and a red ink pad with some left over paper from my "stash."

I am making a few for different things, but I just got one finished last night for an assistant principal at my school who is leaving for a new job at a local middle school!  I will miss her... and perhaps one day call on her for a new job, with less crazy kids!

Anyways, without further ado, the card... what do you think?

A close up of the text

So, my caterpillar might be my crafting pride and joy for creative thoughts.... he is a thick line of hot glue squeezed onto wax paper and allowed to cool... Then I pulled it off and wrapped him in Baker's twine!  I think it gives a unique look.... I did try to make feet and antennae, but they looked like deedlyboppers (those headbands with trinkets on springs) and a bad broom.  But I think it is clear enough it is a caterpillar!
Anyways, I have about 5 more half-finished upstairs.  Perhaps I should get started on those!

And PS - School is out for summer!  Watch out for CRAFT PRODUCTIVITY!

This weekend, I am linking up to the Tatertots and Jello weekend wrapup and the CRAFT blog!  Check out these wonderful blogs to gather some great ideas!

I LOVE my Job!

And you can tell because I spent my weekend making projects for my kids!  That's right... tie-die-ing (sp?) and making bean bags all for FIELD DAY!  It might be really fun or it might be eternally miserable.  I'll report back tomorrow!
Until then, these pictures will have to do! This is an abbreviated picture tutorial on how to tie-die a t-shirt a single color!

STEP 1: Put rubber bands on t-shirts in any pattern you want.  I did 17 shirts... in total, we did 65ish shirts as a group!

STEP 2: Put die into a large bucket - if you are not dying in the washing machine.  This is a kitty litter bucket!

STEP 2 - PART 2: Stir well.  May I recommend a garden stake.

STEP 3: Dump in your t-shirts.  A morsel of experienced wisdom.  I put in all of my dye and half of my t-shirts.  The second half came out much lighter than the first half.  I might recommend dumping them all in at first for the initial coloring and then giving each an additional fifteen minutes (ish) of soaking time.  Stir t-shirts, allowing each to be colored completely.  Use gloves to prevent hand coloration.  Use well-fitting gloves to prevent all coloration.  I had about a gallon of water in my glove when I was finished... and yellow fingernails.  

STEP 4: Shoot the breeze with your co-workers while the t-shirts soak.

STEP 5: Remove the shirts and lay out to dry... I do not have any pictures, because at this exact moment in time, our 95* sunny day began to be overcast and rainy.  So, I will post pictures of the finished shirts tomorrow... hopefully on children!  They turned out super awesome!

I'll be happy to answer any questions about my meager tie-dying experience!

My second weekend craft was these sweet bean bags for the beanbag toss!

I think they turned out really cute - especially with this polka-dotted fabric from the Hobby Lobby!

Latch Hook Bath Mat

So, how did I do it?  It was pretty easy in the long run... the steps are simple and very repetitive!

I bought a Latch Hook Canvas at Hobby Lobby and trimmed it down the size I wanted.  I did not measure... just eye balled it! 
I followed the directions from THIS blog.... with a few alternations.  My fabric strips are1/2 inch by 4 inches and there are a lot of them!  The blue is about 2/3 of a full size fitted sheets and the white is a queen size sheet (and a little more).  I used sheets because it is a huge amount of fabric for a reasonable price.  They are WalMart sheets. 
Latch hooking is pretty simple.  I used a You Tube tutorial to remind myself.  I latch hooked in elementary school and it did come right back to me. 
The biggest investment in this project was time.   It took me a lot of hours.... my Craft Rescue Hero estimates 48-50 hours!  However, I would definitely do this again!  Perhaps next time in bright colors for a floor rug.  It makes a huge price difference if you are making a large rug... maybe not for a bath mat!  However it does feel just fabulous on my toes out of the shower!

From Zero:

To FINISHED!  Try it out!  Let me know how it works for you!  I would love to hear your feedback... drop any questions or comments below!