Football Table for Hubby

This year for Christmas I thought it would be cute to make a Virginia Tech football table for my husband and son. In my mind they would play with those paper footballs (you know the ones from elementary school!) and have little competitions. So I found this perfect folding table in Wal-Mart.

Started by painting the "grass" around the field.

Next I painted the inner field part maroon. This was fairly easy using painters tape to set up the lines. Sorry I forgot to take a picture of the part with the tape attached.

The lines were next. I measured 1.5 inches for each 10 yards. I used a white paint pen (found it in Michael's by accident while looking for some other "stuff") that made adding the lines easy. Unfortunately I made a couple mistakes and had to go over the lines again with maroon paint then the white a second time. The orange goal areas were the last painting part. Again I used the painters tape to set off the parts I wanted to paint then spray painted the areas. I like the way the orange and maroon paints looked IRL. Kinda shiny, but you can't tell in these pictures.

Then I used stamps to add the line numbers. The VT in the middle is a stickers I swiped from my husband's office. Don't think he even noticed! And, it fits perfectly here.

Some final embellishments were added just for fun and TAAAA DAAAA......

The final project!! He was pretty surprised when he saw it finally done! I forgot to make some paper footballs to go along with it, but that is OK because he used it to have breakfast on it Christmas morning! GO HOKIES!!

Happy New Year to everyone!
Thanks for looking.

Cathy

Teacher Christmas Gifts

This year I saw an awesome idea for candy cane candle sticks. Thanks to The Mother Huddle I found my gifts for this year! I loved it and thought my kids' teachers would also love them! So darn easy to make too! Used my hot glue gun and some ribbon to make it look cute. The candles were 10 inches tall.

Made a couple with red candles, and a couple with white candles. Each teacher received 2 candles. They were a big hit with everyone, including the ladies in the office! They really admired them when I walked in the school.

This was the whole batch. I found it was pretty difficult to make the candles stand evenly. Some of the candy canes aren't exactly the same length! As you can see from the picture a couple were uneven! OOPS! But that is how you know they are homemade with LOVE of course! No one complained. Each one took 10 canes.

I even tried to make a candy cane holder with a 3 inch pillar candle. This was pretty cute! So, of course I had to keep it for myself!! Very cute and easy to make. This one took 30 candles, love it!

My second batch of homemade gifts included hot chocolate stirrers. My daughter and I dipped marshmallows in melted white chocolate and sprinkled with crushed candy canes (I had enough of them left over!).

Finally, we dipped Christmas tree shaped pretzels in melted white chocolate and also sprinkled them with crushed candy canes. YUMMY!

This basket held the sweet treats.

Very cute!

Happy Holidays and a very happy healthy New Year!

Cathy

Dollar Tree Stocking Reusable Shopping Bag

On one of my latest trips to the Dollar Tree, I found this awesome oversized stocking. Loved it immediately, and knew exactly what I was going to create with it! This was the original size, forgot to measure it before starting the project but this shows that it is longer than the "average" stocking.
I wanted to create a reusable shopping bag with this! At first I wasn't positive HOW it was going to be done, but I knew there was a WAY of doing it!

I found this FREE shopping bag in my car and knew it would be perfect for my stocking project.

As you can see it fit perfectly in the stocking. It made the bag stronger and I wouldn't have to create a way to add handles.

Next I just folded over the top to see how much it needed to be shortened before stuffing in the bag. At this point I haven't used a sewing machine (of course I don't own one yet - asked Santa for one though. Keeping my fingers crossed!) just a hot glue gun. So after folding over the top and making the bag a little shorter I hot glued the top part over (The remote control is there to give a little perspective on the size, guess it doesn't really need to be there!).

Folding top back up.

This is a close up of the folded over top. You can't even see where the hot glue went! Love it!!
The project is getting there......

Finally I added the red shopping bag and hot glued that in place. At this point I wanted to make sure nothing fell between the stocking and shopping bag so I did hand stitch the top of the bag. Just as extra insurance.

And, TA DAAAAA here is the final project. I LOVE it! The red handles look like the are a part of the stocking, can't even tell there is another bag inside.
My daughter is displaying it for me! I've used it many times already and have received tons of comments on it. I'm just sad that I can only use it for the rest of the month!


I wanted to add MOM to the top of the bag, just like a real stocking. My husband says to add something like I'm GREEN and Jolly! Funny!
Thanks for looking!
Happy Holidays,
Cathy

Can you guess what this is made from???

Come on give it a guess....

I would have never guessed - not even if I had 10 guesses!! Looks pretty easy to make! Leave a comment with your guess for this super creative ornament!

Check it out HERE for more info! Thanks Steph for sharing this interesting craft!

Thanks for looking.

Have a great day.

Cathy

Quote for the Day

No matter how old a mother is, she watches her middle-aged children for signs of improvement.

~~ Florida Scott-Maxwell

Holiday Video - Christmas Can-Can

This is a very funny video for the holiday season!
ENJOY!!

An Angel Gets Her Wings

A dear friend, Xenia, of mine lost her struggle with lung cancer. Her daughter is one of my son's best friends. She is also in my daughter's gymnastics class. It was heart breaking since she hadn't reached her 40th birthday. My heart aches for this family.
For her daughter I created this night light so that her mother is always with her. I cried when I gave her this tiny gift that I hoped would make all her pain go away. Her dad says that she loves to have all the lights out at night so she can see her mother before she falls asleep. Such a beautiful thought. I know this angel has received her wings already. She was an angel here on earth who always had a smile on her face no matter what she was going through. Xenia gave me hope even when everything looked so bleak.

She is missed so much by everyone, especially her 8 year old daughter.

God Bless Xenia.

Yellow Ribbon Rose Shopping Bag

I think I've become an offical "bag lady"!! I LOVE finding reusable shopping bags. It just makes sense to me to use these types of bags rather than the plastic ones from stores.
About 2 months ago, I found this blah bag at Michaels in a clearance rack for only $.99!! I was so excited so of course I bought it with no real project in mind. Picked a up a couple of them for future projects too!! They were only $.99, couldn't pass them up.

Recently I've been wanting to learn to make ribbon roses. Since you can learn just about anything on YouTube, I researched how to make them and found some awesome resources. This one was my favorite one! Check it out! Now that I look back the roses in the video are much nicer than mine - I'll have to practice more! Here is a sample of my roses for the bag. I only put ribbon leaves on some of the flowers.

After practicing and accumulating a bunch of the roses, I remembered the bags that I found at Michaels. YEA!! The two ideas came together so nicely. Add the yellow roses to make a reusable shopping bag. At WalMart I found this green tulle that would make a nice background for the roses.

Using my hot glue gun, I adhered the roses to the top border of the bag and TA DA!! My finished project. I love it. The bottom part is a little boring but I love the roses.

This is the roses upclose. Not the best picture, but thought it would give a better upclose view.

Thanks for looking.

Have a good day,

Cathy

Dollar Store Candle Holder

I've seen this idea in a bunch of blogs and crafty sites, but I had to try it for myself! Bought a Dollar Store candle holder and small vase. I had the E-6000 in the house. Just put glue on the top of the candle holder and press to the bottom of the vase. Easy-peasy!

Now I know you are thinking that I just put the vase on top of the candle holder! So I put the final product on it's side so you could see that it is really glued!! LOL It is so easy to do.

Thanks for looking!

Cathy

Quote for the Day

Mistakes are a part of being human. Appreciate your mistakes for what they are: precious life lessons that can only be learned the hard way. Unless it's a fatal mistake, which, at least, others can learn from.

-- Al Franken

Quote for the Day

Yesterday is a dream, tomorrow but a vision. But today well-lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Look well, therefore to this day.

~~ Sanskrit Proverb

Junk Drawer Pumpkin

I'm borrowing ideas again!!! Saw this AWESOME idea for a pumpkin and HAD to share it with everyone. Thanks to Camilla Fabbri over at Family Chic we have this fun idea for a jack-o-lantern. So super duper cute!! I'm heading out to get a couple small pumpkins to day and then attack my junk drawer to make my own creation! I LOVE this little guy!

Check out this great idea!

Thanks for looking,

Cathy

Check Out this CUTE Idea from Jeans....

I saw this SUPER Cute idea for hair ties, but it could probably be for any type of cute storage. Jill Cairns from Australia shared this tutorial on her blog.

I love this idea, and would love to try it. I've asked Santa for a sewing machine this year. Hopefully his elves can make one for me!

Thanks for checking out my blog,
Cathy

Quote for the Day

To make mistakes is human; to stumble is commonplace; to be able to laugh at yourself is maturity.

~~ William A. Ward

New Bike Basket

My daughter's poor, poor bike basket was so SAD!! It was torn and over used. She can keep some pretty funky stuff in there and I can't see it to throw it out. For almost a week, she had an OLD apple from the neighbor's apple tree in there, I didn't know it until I saw it smooshed up against the side - YUCKO!! That was the actual motivating factor in getting rid of this "thing".

I found this basket in my garage while cleaning it out. At first it was in the donation pile, then I had a better idea! Spray paint it and replace her old bike basket/gross plastic holder-thing!

It was really easy to do, just spray paint and use some Velcro strips to adhere to her bike. The can of paint didn't have as much paint as I thought so there are some bare spots. She didn't care though.

It is a perfect size for her doll! We had a great ride while walking the dog!

Thanks for looking.

Cathy

Quote for the Day

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.

~~ Samuel Johnson

Wine Coasters

I created a couple new coasters with wine sayings. Hoping to sell them in a crafty store nearby. (Cross your fingers!) Made 2 sets to display at the store. I know a couple of them are the same sayings, couldn't find additional sayings to replace all 4. Anyone know where to get more cute/funny sayings?

This last one is just for me! I thought this was pretty funny. Most days neither the house nor me look good!!

The back of each coaster gets a cork backing. Just in case anyone was wondering what I did to the back of each one. Very easy to apply, just use my favorite Mod Podge to adhere. Love that stuff!

Thanks for looking!

Have a great day.

Cathy

Birthday Gift Bag

For my mother-in-law's birthday I wanted to make a FUN gift bag. She turned 81 last week and thought it would be great to make her a special gift bag for her gifts.

Started with a white bag from Michaels (I have a stash of them in my craft room for just this occassion). Then worked with different "matching" papers to make it look festive.


Finally added the buttons to hide ribbon ends and they are just my favorite embellishment! I like to add them to almost everything I create.
Made a matching envelope for her (handcrafted) card too, but, in my haste forgot to take a picture! Bummer!

Thanks for looking, and have a great day!

Cathy

Quote for the Day

If A equals success, then the formula is: A = X+Y+Z, where X is work, Y is play, and Z is keep your mouth shut.

~~Albert Einstein

Quote for the Day

Never fear shadows. They simply mean there's a light shining somewhere nearby.
-- Ruth Renkel

Quote for the Day

Saw this on Facebook.. .
If outside is going to feel like an oven, then outside should smell like brownies.
Made me giggle!!

Enjoy!

Back to School!

How cute is this idea!?!?! Wish I had thought of it myself. Can't believe it is time to meet new teachers again. Found this super-duper cute idea to start off the new year. Someday Crafts posted this idea to share with other crafty moms hoping for a great school year. I love this one and will be trying it before the year starts. Might try it with the silicone cupcake liners, may be too "mushy" though. I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks for looking,
Have a great day
Cathy

Quote for the Day

Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it. Autograph your work with excellence.
-- Jessica Guidobono

I Thought it was a Good Idea...

In June, I promised my 9 year old daughter that should could do a tie dying project and at the time it seemed like a FUN idea!! Yesterday we finally got around to working on the project. However, I didn't think it all the way through. My grand idea was to tie dye a set of sheets for her full size bed. I didn't anticipate the mess it would make to do such large pieces. When applying the dye to each piece, it dye on the grass, then we had to walk around, and sit in the grass to finish each one. Forgetting that the grass was mess, we both got it on the bottom of our feet and on the back of our shorts! OOPS, but my shorts were black, so it didn't show up but hers were ruined. Oh well, live and learn!

These are the four pieces that I used rubber bands for the designs. There are 2 pillow cases, a flat sheet and a fitted sheet. I used 4 different patterns for the whole set. I added a YouTube video for each folding technique because I didn't take pictures of each piece. Didn't think that far ahead! Hope it helps, each video shows the technique used, there is also some other info about dying but it does not reflect my procedure.

She was very excited to get her gloves on and get ready to start dying!
This first one is the top sheet and I used a basic spiral to tie it up. You can check out the procedure here to see how it is done. Just an FYI - I found this person on YouTube, I don't know him just thought he did a good job of showing the technique.
This is one of the pillow cases. I just crinkled up the case, then put rubber bands at various places. That was the easiest one to do because it was so small.

This is the second case. The technique used to fold is found here, then used the squirter bottles to add the dye.

Finally, this is the fitted sheet. I used the concentric circles folding technique to make this one. You can see the procedure here. Again, I used the procedure then used squirte bottles to add the dye.

** Notice I used a tie dye effect with the font color!! :-)

The next post has pictures of the final project. Check it out!!

Thanks looking, have a great day!
Cathy