Bread Board iPad Stand

	After pinning some recipes on Pinterest I decided, this week... I am going to cook!  Yes, a rare occasion in our home!  So I ran some of the pins by the husband and decided to go grocery shopping.  While spending the week cooking the recipes from Pinterest off my ipad I thought, this is annoying.  My ipad wouldn't stay propped up against the wall and I was kinda of a pain in the butt to keep it out of my way on the counter all while trying not to get food on it.  So I figures there has to be something better.  I have an ipad stand made from rice and it's not good for much. I turned to Pinterest.  I searched DIY ipad stand and this cute little breadboard stand popped up from diyandcrafttutorials.com.  As I continued my search, I couldn't find anything that peeked my interest near as much as this one.  I spent a few weeks looking for just the right bread board and I couldn't find anything that I wanted.  I was frustrated and gave up. Then last weekend my cousin said we needed a craft day.  So I was like hmm?  I can make that stand.  I gave up on trying to find the perfect board and ended up with this one from amazon.  It arrived just in time for craft day and to have my husband make me a "wedge" for the back.  I stole from my scrabble game for the tray the ipad sits in.  I couldn't see buying one online for the price they wanted and I had a scrabble game just sitting there.  I can't say we have ever played scrabble with anyone else but the two of us and I figured one missing stand wouldn't hurt anything.  Plus who plays scrabble anymore with Words With Friends around?  Right?  Anyhow, I just used wood glue to attach the pieces.  Simple enough.  I sanded the whole thing down so paint would stick to it. I started with white spray paint which wasn't covering well so I moved on to regular white interior paint. After two coats of paint, I looked at it and thought this isn't what I had in mind at all. Also the one I was inspired by was distressed and I kind of wanted that feel.  I decided I am going to distress this and if it turns out looking like crap then I will just spray paint it with my glittery rustoleum flat chestnut spray paint.  So off to the garage for stain I went.   First I decided to use some sand paper to rough up the edges a bit and take off the white paint down to the wood.  I covered the entire thing with dark wood stain and lightly wiped it off.  I decided ok, this isn't so bad.  It has character.  Looks better than the solid white.  It has personality.  I like it.  I had bought a W sticker from hobby lobby on sale for 40 percent off in the fall decor section and I slapped it in the middle.  I'm loving it.  Can't wait to use it in the kitchen!

Painted Crown Royal Bottle & Glass Vase

So seeing these cute little painted crown royal bottles from turnstylevogue.com I couldn't resit calling up my cousin to see if he had any empty bottles I could use.  Of course he obliged me with an empty bottle and I set out to Home Depot for some rustoleum flat chestnut spray paint.  It has a hint of glitter that catches the eye. I had or originally bought a black fleur-de-lis but it was too big for the bottle so back to hobby lobby for new ideas. Suggest no more than 3in wide and 4in high.   I made a DIY painting booth out of a card board box and went to town lightly covering the bottle.  I choose to spray the lid separately. By not having the lid on it, I was able to stick my finger in the top to turn the bottle around thus avoiding fingerprints or waiting for one side to dry! I have no patience and don't like to wait.  Good thing it was a nice hot sunny day and it dried quick.  Once dry I was able to affix my jeweled sticker on the front.

Once I finished with the crown royal bottle I decided to paint a vase.  Why not?  I have plenty and I had an extra sticker that was begging to be used on something.  I think the vase turned out cute too. 

And if I get sick of looking at the fluer-de-lis then I can just turn them around! Maybe I will fill the vase with some fall flowers?  Fall is coming soon and it already has a fall tone.

Modge Podge Holiday Decor

Need a little holiday decor?  A simple, cheap, easy DIY?  Could even involve the kids. Choose the words you want to decorate with and go to Michaels or Hobby Lobby and get some letters.  Any kind you want, wood, metal, chipboard.  I chose to buy the chipboard letters since they are $1.99 each.  Once I decided on the letters, I carried them over to the paper isle to pick out holiday sheets that were large enough to cover each letter.  Then all you need is some modge podge, some paint to match your paper and a foam brush or two.  Start by painting the edges of your letters as they will not be covered by your decorative paper.  Once the edges are dry lay your sheets of paper face down and place your letter on top of the paper (backwards of course) and trace around the letter. Next cut out your tracing.  Next modge podge your letter and press the paper onto it smoothing it out as you go.  Once it dries apply another layer of modge podge.  I chose not to attach my letters together for easy storage after the holidays, but you could always do that with a flat bracket. 

Etched Glass

I have been etching everything glass! Wine glasses we by far my favorite. I got a box of 12 from Walmart for $8 which is cheaper than $1 a wine glass at the dollar store. But those work too. I was just buying in bulk for Christmas gifts.

I also bought a large mason jar from Walmart and etched it with a mustache and the words my stache. This was for my brothers gingerbread cookies I make him every year. And he doesn't share too well! ;) I hand cut the mustache from contact paper and used my cousins cricut to make the words.

DIY candle holders. Plain glass from the dollar store can be etched into things of beauty! Fill them with DIY candles or store bought ones. Of course I didn't take pictures of the etched ones I filled with my DIY candles.

So go forth and get your glass items, go buy yourself some armour etch and some Plaid peel and stick reusable stencils then read this post about etching! It's super easy and makes some super cute gifts! 

A DIY Christmas

 Now that Christmas is over, I can post all the things I made and handed out as gifts.  The coasters seemed to go over well as did the salt dough ornament tags.  I think my favorite was the Santa wine bottle covers and etched wine glasses.  I hope everyone liked their DIY gifts!

Most of all I had a really good time getting together with family for the pinterest parties and creating most of these crafts.   It was fun bonding, cooking, eating, crafting and trying new things.  I think I am in need of another pinterest party soon! 

Check out all the things we made

Soy Candles
Coasters
Wine Bottle Covers
Etched wine glasses
Corn Pads with drawstring case
Modpodge holiday decor
Glass Block holiday decor
Salt dough ornaments
Sharpie and dollar store dishes
Stay put dish towels
Crochet hook case

DIY Corn heating pad with a drawstring bag.

One more homemade Christmas Present off the list, corn heating pad with a drawstring bag. Inspired by The Green Wife tutorial. I don't use patterns so I just winged it. It's homemade and the thought that counts right? So quick and easy to make and I already had all the materials on hand.

Materials Needed:
18x21 fat quarter
Approx 4 cups of corn (or you can use rice)
Ribbon for the drawstring
safety pin
sewing machine and scissors

First I cut out for my corn pad cutting and 18x10 rectangle. Right sides together hemmed all the edges leaving an opening for the corn on a short end. Turned right side poking out the corners. Eyeballed chalk lines to make 4 pockets for the corn. (I recommended doing some measurements!) Filled with corn to about an inch below my first chalk line. Pinned the corn back leaving just enough room to sew my line. Continued on in this manner until I reached the end.

Then on to my drawstring bag. Using the remainder of my fat quarter, I folded over about a half inch on the long side and sewed it down for my drawstring top. Then folded the whole thing in half right sides together and sewed up the other 3 sides. Turned it right side. Hooked the safety pin to the end of my ribbon and threaded it through the drawstring hem, tied the ends together and whew! I was done. Only took me about an hour. Now I just need to make a gift tag with directions!

Microwave for approximately 1 minute.  Be careful not to over heat and burn yourself!