Emma's Modge Podge Wall Hanging

So my wonderful friend Melody Ross taught me at Brave Girls Camp how to use modge podge to create art.  I had the amazing blessing to attend as staff-which was just amazing and I hope hope hope to go back as soon as our schedules allow! It was amazing, uplifting, spiritual, fabulous experiance that I will always hold close to my heart... and if you go to the website, she has these fabulous little messages that she sends out every day and you should sign up because they are fabulous!!! (I think I use that word an little too much)...umm back to the point My daughter has been wanting flower painting in her bedroom, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to do some fun, stylized, pop type art. (which is fun but i don't really want in my living room)  And a perfect opportunity to give her something that reminded her whenever she saw it that she is loved and perfect just the way she is. So here is the finished product...

 

First I cut wood to the size I wanted - you can use canvas but I didn't have any ... but I did have wood so I used that -

Then I painted a base layer of paint -

On top of the paint I painted the bottom half -afterwards I wished I had done the top too- with modge podge and layed down tissue paper...

  

of course you put a layer of modge podge on the bottom and the top...

Then I painted another layer of paint.

While it was drying I cut out tons of different flower petals, laying them on the table as I went to see how it would look.

When the board was dry I used more modge podge and started laying down petals with the modge podge...

 ...  The awesome thing about this type of work is that you can do almost as many layers as you want.  This ended up being pretty 2 dimensional and kitchy art but it can also have a lot of depth and movement from all the textures and layers but that wasn't quite what I was going for a fun playful hangin

once I was done laying all that I wanted to modge podge... I added some fun little paint here and there, I did dots on some of the flowers and swirls on the background- which thinking about it now I should have done the swirls before I laid the flowers
 

When it was all dried and done I took about 10ish different ribbon, knotted them together, and stapled them with a staple gun onto the back.  And yes this is a piece of beadboard.  That all I had on hand so I used it and it worked!!   And also yes this photo is out of order, I couldn't seem to move it, so here it is in the middle of the process,...whoops!

Heres the fun swirlies... and some more dots around the swirlies...cause I wanted to..
  

Around the outside of the piece I painted a pink boarder- mainly because I never get things framed and so it helped finish the piece off, But what I was actually going with this is that inside the pink boarder I wrote in silver the many things that I adore about my oldest girl... creative, daring, zesty, adventurous, imaginative, thoughtful, lover of life, girlie... etc  I want her to look at the art and know that life is fun, optimistic and escpecially that she is loved and perfect just as she is.  Here is the pen that I used...
 

Then I hung it on the wall!!  
 

A little detailing... um above⤴   and below ⤵ I just wanted to point out that since i did do it all on beadboard I needed to hang it in a stud, so it has two hooks.  Next week I am going to be switching some rooms around in our house and at that point this will be moved to a new wall, hopefully that wall will have a stud exactly  where I want to hang it, and then I won't need two hooks! positive thinking!!!
  

 

Honestly, emma helped with it a little too much design wise and colors (which don't flow as much as I would like but she likes them and thats what counts) and I ran out of modge podge to do all the different layers and things that I wanted... melody gave an amazing example with soooany layers it was fabulous. But Emma loves it so that's what matters! (and the cool thing about modge podge is if you don't like it, layer over it...so I might fix some issues one day when I get the bug!  

(also i did one for my bedroom, and I'll show you when I get around to it)

Up next this week...jocelyns curtains, a new addition to my kitchen made out of an antique footboard and a tutorial on how to make bread

Brit

Bathroom Cabinets Before and After

I have been wanting to finish my cabinets downstairs to match what I have in the kitchen.  So I woke up this morning with a fire under my rear to finish!   Here is the before...
 I removed the doors and with a hand sander did a light sand over the surface, then painted my base coat of whitish cream...  (yep you dont see any tape, I know Im crazy but I hate taping, so i don't and i just spend the time painting carefully, much more fun than taping)

I gave a nice coat to the doors, remember it doesn't have to be nearly perfect because you are putting a brown glaze on the top to antique it, antiquing is fabulous because it doesn't have to be perfect!
 

here they are all drying.. the other two are for the laundry room

Never a good idea to paint drawers on a toilet seat, the fall off   ...:)

Then I glazed using a damp lint free tea towel and just dipped it in the glazed and brushed the rag across the surface trying to put more in the corners and then I would take the clean side of the same towels and wipe off the excess... quickly! To make my glaze I just bought a quart of really nice satin paint in the brown that I wanted.  I put about a cup of water or so in a bucket and then drizzled a bit of paint in and then stirred, so easy so cheap.  It dries REALLY fast so you have to be ready to wipe up any mistakes pronto!
    

K
 

Lots in the corners then wipe it off...


Replace the doors after a few plus hours of drying and then you have your after.....!!

 

and I'm done-phew!

Brit

Sisters Friday!!!!- Typeface Makeover

Jocelyn's week was such a fun before and after that this post can be put into so many different categories, Before and after, Decor, Tutorial, and of course Sisters Friday!!!

So our fabulous friend told us that This weird box thing that Jocelyn found at a yard sale is an old typeface organizer for a printing press... how cool!!

Before...

 

So we spray painted it,

Made all these little boxes by first cutting out tons of the pieces of cardboard to fit the spaces in the wooden thing.

Glued them together with handy dandy hot glue.

 

Cut a ton of different fabrics into rectangles, then modge podged them onto the little cardboard boxes, the corners were the hardest part!  

We used a ton of modge podge to make it all stick and solidfy.  

Drilled the heavy thing to the studs- booya! with out the men-

And filled it with fun crafting and sewing paraphernalia.

 

So Fun and colorful!!

A Mom's Ruffle Skirt- who said little girls get all the fun??

who said little girls get all the fun??- I don't! I want to have a 

cute ruffly skirt like them- in fact while making this skirt my 5

year old daughter asked the skirt was for her and I was so 

excited to no it's for me!!! (besides it has no pink or purple in 

it- so she wouldn't wear it anyway -believe me - I've tried!

SO I have been wanting new clothes...which really is nothing

new but I decided actually do something about it! I think it is

strange that Kyle is pretty much content wearing the same few 

church outfit every week but I have 20 plus options to wear to

 church and I can't find a thing I feel like wearing. Why is that? 

Okay back to doing something about my pitiful (insert heavily 

sarcastic tone of voice here) clothing selection. I started it last 

sunday before church but realized that the hour I had while 

everyone was still sleeping was not long enough. So I had to 

finish it later, in time for next sunday :)

I pulled out all the long left over selections of fabric that I have

in my ever growing stash and picked out what I had the most 

of that coordinated and was pleasantly surprised with my option!  

Next I organized it from what I had the most of to what I had the

least of so that I could form what fabric I had enough of to cut 

into strips to make the lowest tiers.

Here is what I came up with...

 

The Top tier would be plain white because...well the skirt 

needed to be longer and the plain white would be covered up

with my shirt. The next tier is the tiny brown and white poke

a dot, I didn't have enough to make more that one strip so that

had to be my next selection, Then the turquoise, then the white... 

I had enough to make 2 strips with that and three strips with my 

bottom selection the big poke a dots...what luck-it worked! Of 

course if you are more prepared than I you can go out and buy 

fabrics that you would like in your skirt instead of being limited 

to your options:)

Then I measured my waist and cut an elastic piece that is the 

same size as my waist and sewed it into the white, then I 

gathered the brown slightly to match the white, matched the 

centers, pinned and sewed.

 

I did the same for each lower tier.

 

When the bottom tier was sewn on, I put right sides together and 

matched up all the teirs seems. And sewed in place.  

 

If you have a serger, serge the bottom. If you don't, you can do

what I did and wear it to church or wherever without a bottom

hem or finish... no one will even notice. Now I did bring it to my 

sister's house to use her serger, but while there I forgot to actually

use the desired serger. So I wore it anyway!!

 

Enjoy!!

Brit

Sister Friday!!! Making kids journals & bags

So this Friday we went to Therese's house to work on some very streamlined and simple entertainment for her kids during church service. Her husband just received some responsiblity in their church where he will no longer be sitting with them durin the service. Needless to say 4 children fighting over snacks, crayons and such is not fun to deal with on your own! So we made them each a bag big enough to hold a notebook, a religious childrens magazine, colored pencils, and a snack. Now they can just grab their bag and be done with whole ordeal!

To make the notebook we folded 5 sheets of regular printer paper in half at a time until we had a large stack,

We punched two holes in all the paper

I measured the material to fit the little notebooks and cut with the croc-o-dile holes to match up with the paper and snaped on the little fabulous rings- again with the croc-o-dile!

Therese really wanted a family picture on the front of each notebook, sooo...

We cut the pictures to the size we wanted thn laminated the pictures.

Next we measured from the pictures and cut out a whole in the front of the cover. And cut a piece of fabric just larger than the picture to go behind. At first I was designing it to be a little pocket for the picture, like what they have on je front of some scrapbooks, but that was NOT working! So Therese just sewed the pictures in the pocket...perfect! Done...easy and quick!

Jocelyn, in the meantime made bags for each child ...

First she made a pattern (yep that's the cover from the cord of paper...so rescourceful!) and cut out the bag.

Sewed up each side. Serge

Cut out a strip of fabric 27x3 inches for the strap, serge, folded it into 3rds and pinned down.

Sew down the edge of each side for a nice finished look.

Serge the top edge of the bag, fold over the top of the bag about an inch in towards the inside of the bag.

Pin the handle into the fold, tucking it up and under, do the same for the other side, making sure not to twist the handle.

Sew the top hem down twice, each stitching line about 3/4 of an inch apart.

Press and done!!

The how to of canning apricots

We have been canning like CRAZY GIRLS!!

90 something cans in 2 days... I took a bunch of pictures but for the life of my they would not upload, I seriously have tried 5+ times over the last 2 days and so I give up...so here are the instructions with out pictures,,,sorry :(

So first off the processing time for the waterbath is 30 min between 190-200 degrees.

prep work:

before anything else...fill your dishwasher chalk full with quart jars in counts of 7 (that's how many jars fill a canner)

1.make sugar water by combinding 3 parts water to one part sugar (just make a ton of this...as much as your largest pot will fit..) then bring to a boil and turn it down

2. Fill your canner with hot water and keep heat on low on your stove top

3.count out 7 or 14 lids, place in a Pan with water, bring to a boil, then turn to low.

4.fill left sink with cold water to wash your fruit

5. Fill a large bowl or your right with water and sprinkle "fruit freash" over the top

6. Set towels ourt on the counter where you are going to put your finished canned fruit and put towels on the floor to help contol the absolute stickyness!

Ready!

First place a good amount of apricots in your washing sink

then cut them in half, removing pit and any yuckiness (we put a little bowl below where we are cutting to place the yuckiness

put the yummy apricot halves into the fruit freash bowl

once you have your bowl filled high, pull out 7 quart jars from the dishwasher and fill them up!

(we like the regular mouth for the apricots because the lip holds the fruit in their spot well but we don't have tiny hands like our mom so, use the bubbler ...or a butter knive... As a slide for the apricots, guiding them to the right spot!!

Make sure all your fruit is skin side up, is just prettier

Drain the excess liquid from the jar-otherwise when all finished the juice at the bottom looks cloudy

pour hot/warm sugar water in to the jars, then bubble- that's my favorite part!

Next take a wet wash cloth and wipe off the tops of the jars to remove any stuff- this ensures a nice seal

take a fork or magnets and fish out a lid from the pot place on the top of the jar and firmly tighten the ring around it.

Now you are ready to place your first set of apricots into the canner!!! Makesure you start with the center position so that it stays balanced.

When all the jars are in place, make sure the water is about and inch or so above the jar tops, then place the canner lid on and turn your heat to high. The water needs to reach between 190-200 degrees. When it reaches temp, turn your heat down to medium low and set the timer for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, start cutting again!

Once the timer sounds, turn the heat to "off" take the jars out-ending with the center to keep balance- and place them on the toweled counter. These need to sit for 24 hours before they can be washed and put away.

Add some ice to your canner to cool down the scalding water and finish prepping your next batch. When the water has cooled to 150-160ish the. You can put in your next set of 7 jars!!

Repeat!

Yum!

Sunshine Daisy Quilt Tutorial

Soooo, I found a fun find on craigslist this week, a lady selling all of her grandmothers vintage material, granted what she had was an astounding amount of fabric , most of it was ugly ugly but I found a fun garbage bag full!!!  As soon as I found this yellow on yellow print an image popped in my head and I knew what i was going to make!  I call it the sunshine quilt!  

 

Please dont laugh at my process but this is how I make stuff... I dont tend to be very specific when I am first cutting, I cut more material than I need and then size it down to exactly what I need it to be once I lay it all out.

1. I cut out of the yellow on yellow about how large I wanted the baby quilt to be, (ended up being almost exactly a yard)

2.  Then I cut out of cream on cream print from the little old seamstress a rectangle that looked pleasing to my eye that would fit in the middle.

3. I cut out a TON of 3 inch wide and very long strips of all different creams and some of the yelllow print, and quite a few of long flower petals.

4. Then I laid them all out, with the rectangle in the center and flower petals forming an off centered flower in the middle and switching all the stripes around until I found what worked for me.

 

5.  I sewed the 2 sets of 4 long strips together at 1/4 inch seam allowance), then the 2 sets of 4 short strips, (although this can be done in any order :)

 

6. Next up was the flower, a normal person uses wonder under ( a fabulous material that binds with an iron one fabric to another) but I didn't have wonder under and so I pinned that flower like it was going out of style!

 

7. Then slowly and carefully (which I am terrible at, I like to sew fast) I zig zagged around the petals, (you need to play with the zig zag a bit on some scraps before you find the right width and length and such)

 

8. Once that was sewn together I sewed the short sides to the flower rectangle and then finally the long stripes onto the rectangle (of course ironing my seams down as I went)

  

9.  Then I found the thinnest batting possible to fit between the back and the front  of the quilt.

10. I like the envelope finish the best when it comes to binding quilts, it just looks cleaner to me.  So you do this by laying down the right side of the back of the quilt facing up with the right side of the top of the quilt directly on top of it facing down (so right sides together) then placing the batting on top of the wrong side of the top of the quilt.. I hope that makes sense.. then pin

 

11. Sew along the outer edge, leaving at least a 6 inch gap in the middle of one side so that you can turn the quilt right sides out. I like to double pin the spot that i am going to leave open so that I remember to actually do it, half the time i forget!

12. Trim off all the left over egde, or serge it, then turn the quilt right sides out.

 

13. Once its turned facing out pin the edges so that the edge, when doing the finishing stitch looks straight and even, and clean. Making sure that the opening you left it tucked in together and looking like the rest of the edge, I pin this part really close together so that it says nice and perfect (at least that is the goal)

14. Do the finishing stitch around the outer edge very close (1/4 inch) , beautiful!

15. Then I pinned the center of the flower on top and did a zig zag around that,

 

16. And to keep the quilt from bunching in the wash, I did a bit of stitching in the ditch.

To stitch in the ditch just set you machine to sew a straight line and then as closely as possible stitch along the seamline from one end of the quilt to the other.  I did one row on each side of the quilt.  

 

And done!!!

 

  Wouldn't it just look so pretty in a room like this

or this...

FYI for those of you who live in eagle, this quilt was made for an auction that is going to be held at the Palmers house on Monday the 19th in the evening, it is a benefit BBQ and Auction for a friend that has cancer, to benefit his wife and children with all the expenses they have at the current time, if you want any more info give me a call and I hopefully gave help :)

Brit