Our Latest Project

Hola everyone!  Last week was consumed with the usual family fun/madness.  I also tackled my little princess's room. She is in love with the Disney fairies as are many little girls, so we bought some Tinkerbell and friends decals, butterfly decals, and flower decals off Amazon.  After shopping around, I felt like they had the best prices, especially with Free Super Saver Shipping. :-)

Little lady wanted two colors: green on bottom and pink on top with a swirl where they meet. I will just say free handing with a small paint brush where they meet takes a while. I also added white dots along where the colors meet so that they blended smoothly. The white dots also formed flight patterns for the fairies and butterflies.  There are no close-up shots, but the white dots are there.

Melted Crayon Art

Hola friends!  I hope you're all having a wonderful Wednesday.  I have been jonesing for all those cute melted crayon projects.  The one I really love involves the melted crayons on canvas with a vinyl word in the white.  There are several tutorials available if you type melted crayon art into your browser's search box.  I have a tutorial below if you want to use it.  I used 72 crayons with my canvas, just use as many as it takes from end to end.  I will say I began and ended with the same color (blue) to balance it out.  Other than crayons, you need a hot glue gun and glue sticks, a canvas for the size you want to decorate and a cricut.  I used the cartridge that comes with it (George?) and just chose the silhouette setting to give the outline look. 

First I laid out my crayons to fit the canvas. It took three boxes of 24, so I used three of each color together.  I ordered them so they would blend, starting with dark blue, light blue, blue green, green, light green, yellow green, greenish yellow, yellow, canary yellow, yellow orange, light orange, orange, red orange, red, pinkish red, hot pink, light purple, purple, dark blue.  (These aren't the proper names, but my personal description of the colors.) :-)

Next, I hot glued them  with the crayola label facing up, so they look uniform.  Make sure to keep the bottom of the crayon even with the edge of the canvas.  After this step, I used a embossing gun to melt the crayon from about the middle down to the tip.  You can use a hair dryer according to the other tutorials.  I might use the low blow, high heat setting if you can because the wax with blow around if there's too much force.  I started on one side of the canvas and worked my way across melting it in the drippy shapes I desired.  You may want yours to look different.  Just let it melt slowly and then you can remelt it if you want more drip. 

Lastly, I let it dry overnight.  Then I used my cricut to cut out the letters for creation.  I used the 2 1/2" letter silhouette setting and just stuck them down.  I hope you try it and are as pleased with your art as I am!  Happy crafting....C

Hola, everyone. I have been MIA on my blog for the last few weeks.  It's been crazy fun with the family and all the activities going on in our crazy household, but now it's time for me to take a few minutes and show you a project I finished this weekend.  I found a similar project

on Pinterest and thought: How cute is that?  I couldn't find a tutorial but I will tell you, all you really need is a frame, some broadcloth or cotton white fabric.  I used a second layer behind the embroidered layer so that it wouldn't be sheer.  Just secure the fabric to the back of your frame with staples or adhesive of your choice when you are finished. I traced each family member's arm and hand onto copy paper, then I cut them out, and traced them onto the fabric using a fabric pencil.   I used a simple chain embroidery stitch to trace each family members hand and forearm in their favorite color of embroidery floss.  I wanted it to look a bit like a tree, that is the reason I traced part of our arms.  After you use the fabric pencil lines on your fabric to embroider, just use a damp wash cloth to remove the pencil lines.  You can include the year, which is free-handed and you could even include your family name along the top. 

I hope this inspires someone.  I will chat with you soon. C

Snow Day Roman Shades

Hey everyone! Today was a much needed snow day at the house.  I indulged and spent the day crafting.  With neighbors on the horizon, I knew privacy was a must for the kids' rooms.  So these are the first project in the remodel starting in both kids' rooms. 

These are roman shades made from fabric-covered mini-blinds.  I knew my sewing capabilites are not up to par for roman shades, so I used a mini-blind skeleton and went from there. Here are the results. 

 Little miss just loves the way the shades match her hot pink shag rug.  Next, I need to hang the curtains. (The new pic shows them.)  We are painting and adding wall decals very soon.   Big man loves the fact that he will get to sleep in a bit longer.  He wanted black walls in his bedroom, but the black shades are a compromise with darker green walls and camoflage decor.  Hopefully, this will all come to fruition before his birthday at the end of April.  We'll see.

 Here is the tutorial I used.  It is complete and easy to follow.
  365days2simplicity.blogspot.com/2011/04/easy-no-sew-roman-shades.html 

Keep on crafting and having fun doing it!!!  Today roman shades, tomorrow the world! :-)

I just updated this page and added the pic at the top of the page with the curtains in place.  My hubby told me I needed to show the finishing touches.  I think he was surprised and impressed with the results, although he would never say this. :-)  He supports all the crafting I do, so I take that as a big thumbs up.  I will update with a pic of curtains in Big Man's room when I find some camoflage curtains. :-)  Love ya'll.  Have a blessed night. 

Mod alternative to a wreath

Hola ya'll!! I hope you're looking forward to a fun weekend. I know I am. I just wanted to share a quick project with you before I began my weekend. This modern wreath hangs in my laundry room and I'll just admit I need all the motivation I can get to spend time in there.  



Here's a pic of the materials I used: Paint, a wooden letter from Hobby Lobby, wire pliers, a old metal mirror (I took out the glass part), ribbon, and a foam brush.

I painted the letter C and then spray painted the front and back of the empty frame.  It only took 15 minutes to dry each side.  I used Krylon silver matte.  I love the shine.  You can't see it in the pic of my final product, but it's there in real life!

I hot glued the letter onto the metal frame by just dabbing a bit on the back of the letter where it touches the frame.

Just tie your bow and you're ready to enjoy it.

Have a blessed weekend, everyone!  Leave me a comment or follow my blog if you enjoy the posts.
C.

Heart-shaped felt bookmarks

Hey everyone!  I hope you're having a blessed Tuesday.  I just made the cutest felt bookmarks, heart-shaped, of course, for the next upcoming holiday.  If you're looking for an inexpensive gift, please let me know. They are $3 for a pair.  One is slightly smaller than the other for a nesting look.  The larger one is approx. 3", the smaller 2.5".  I have four pairs of the neon green and fuscia and one pair of the turquoise and fuscia left.  I can always make more!!!  They are hand-cut and hand-sewn with coordinating embroidery floss.

Look at the cute way the fit over your book.   I just thought I'd see if anyone would like to buy them.  Just leave me a comment if you're interested.  I probably will just sell them until Valentine's Day.  Have a great rest of the day!  If you aren't local, I can send a pair to you for $1.99 to ship.
Courtney

Upcycle Christmas Cards into Ornamental Memories

Hola, ya'll.  At the Deco Verde household, we are very into reusing what we have and creating memories as a family.  I like to take all the Christmas cards we receive and make them into ornaments to enjoy for years to come.  It's pretty simple but there are a few steps, so let me know if I need to clarify anything.

First, you need to gather your supplies.  You'll need a 2'' circle template (stencil or something circular to trace), a equilateral triangle template( should fit into the circle exactly (you could just use a ruler, my triangle wasn't perfect), pencil, scissors, hot glue gun, a bit of ribbon (around 8"), and several Christmas cards. 






First, you need to take your circle template and center the circle on a focal point on the card. Examples include, a tree top, an animal's head, a snowflake, a person's face on a personalized photocard, an angels face and wings, a present, etc. Draw your circle on the back, so that your pencil marks won't show.  Notice my little sweetie helping out.  We love to craft together.  She is tracing the 2" circle on the inside of the card.

I cut out the circles.  Make sure you stay on the line or the circles won't fit together to make your ornament. 

Next, draw your triangle on the back of the circles (the white not the pretty cover).







Now you fold the lines of the triangle toward the front of the circle.  The flaps will partially cover the pretty pictures.  This is completely fine.  You'll unfold them a bit when putting the ornament together.  Once, you folded all the circles along the lines of the triangles, you now are ready to begin hot gluing the flaps together.




 Now, glue your flaps together, back sides together.  Make sure the flaps match and one isn't overlapping the other.  You can use white glue but need to give more time to dry.  When you are gluing, glue five circle/triangles together to form a point in the middle.

Important note:  Make sure you have five triangles around each point or your ornament will become mishapen.  Just continue, gluing until you have used all twenty circles with five circles around each point.  You should end up with a nicely rounded icosahedron (twenty-sided, three-dimensional polygon)


Now you're ready for the easy final touch, your ribbon.  Take your ribbon and tie a knot at the end.  Your ribbon needs to be fairly narrow to slide into one of the points in your icosahedron.  Once it's in, put a bit of glue on the point to hold your ribbon in place.

Let it dry, and voila' a upcyled masterpiece.  I love looking back at the family Christmas photos each year.  You can include your own pics and cards for a bit of change.  Enjoy your cards next year without taking up any table or closet space.  Just put them on your tree!!!

I hope you enjoy this craft.  Please let me know with a comment and don't forget to follow my blog if you're interested in more. :-)

C.