Cricut Platters

I finally got a Cricut for Christmas this last year. I haven't used as much as I've wanted to because of everything going on. But I did get a few projects done that I wanted to share with you. The two things I have in mind today are both platters. I got a large stack of old ceramic and/or ironstone platters for $1.00 at an auction awhile back. I used the Cricut to cut some vinyl words and pictures to put on them.

The first one I made as a gift for my sister in law. I used the Sure Cuts a Lot software and played around with different clip art I found online until I got it to look like I wanted. Here's the end result:


I thought it turned out great. My SIL is a big wino (like me) so she really liked it. The next platter I made I used a Cricut cartridge to make this:



I've got this in my living room right now. I was thinking of putting it in my store. But I love it so much, I might have to keep it. If anyone is interested in purchasing one, let me know. I could probably part with this one or else make a similar one with the other platters I have. ;)

I have some rehab projects in the works that I'm hoping to get finished early next week, so watch for those. Tomorrow I plan on showing you the stuff I got garage saleing last weekend.

Happy Crafting!

Nursery Project #2: I love lamp

Today, I'm gonna show you a lamp I made over. I found this lamp at the thrift store for $2. It had a wicker base that matched my wicker rocker (another project I'll show you). The only problem was it was painted 80's mauve and had a hideous floral fabric colored shade. I've been bad about remembering to take before pictures lately. I finally remembered on this project when I had already started spray painting.

The before (or in this case, in the middle):

You can still see some of the mauve color. In the background is the earlier mentioned shade. I started by spray painting the base with a white primer/paint (whatever I had laying around- not sure the exact brand).

Next, I ripped off the yucky floral fabric (and some of the shade). The shade is old, so it cracked a little, but I recovered it anyway.
Then I used the highly scientific pattern drafting method of rolling the shade over some paper while tracing with a pencil. This gave me an approximate shape to cut the fabric out of. I tested the pattern size by rolling the paper around the shade to make sure it would fit. I cut it a little bigger at the top and bottom.

I used some fabric left over from making Maddy's quilt and cut my pattern out from that.
All cut out and ready to glue:

(The fabric is mustard martini from Amy Butler's Midwest Modern line in case you were wondering).

I didn't manage to take a pic of the gluing process, but I just used a hot glue gun and rolled the fabric around the shade, gluing as I went.

Then I glued some yellow ruffle trim I had in my stash around the bottom to finish that edge.


Tada! A brand new lamp that matches the nursery decor perfectly. (In the background, you can see a sneak peak of the walls in the nursery.)

Happy Crafting!

Sharing this at:

Nursery Project # 1 Window to your soul

This week, I'm going to show you a series of projects I did in the nursery. The grand finale of the series will be on Friday, when I reveal the entire finished nursery. The color scheme of the nursery is yellow and gray. First, I'm going to show you a wall hanging my I made from an old window. I found this window in my former neighbor's dumpster. I think he was a contractor.

I've been bad about remembering to take before pictures lately, but here's one of finish on the back. The whole window looked like this until it was painted.

I painted the window frame yellow. Then I used Mom's cricut and some vinyl to make words and die cuts for each of the three panes. I didn't take any photos of that process, but here's the finished product:I thought the green and pink made for some nice contrasting colors. More projects to come this week!

Happy Crafting!

I posting this at this week's CSI project challenge:

Funky Find Friday: This used to be what?

For this week's Funky Find Friday, I thought I would showcase some reduce, recycle and reuse principles I reflected on in a post earlier this week. All of today's finds are from Etsy and are things that take something already in existence and use it for a new and/or totally different purpose.

First up is a beautiful bracelet made from recycled plastic bottles found in Artwork by KD's shop.
Or how about a bird feeder made from old streetlights by Red Yellow and Blue Ink.

I love the colors the two lenses make together! Simply beautiful.

I've always love glasses like these from YAVA Glass.

I located a vintage glass bottle cutter from the seventies, and I'm practicing with it, but man does it take patience. Plus I love these because they are Fresca! (I have an unnatural obsession with Fresca at the moment.)

There is nothing better by recycling using vintage objects! How about using this great wooden crate from Bird In Hand for organizing all your stuff!

It never ceases to amaze me the things people can make out of something completely different. I love the entire principles of recycle, reduce, and reuse simply because of the beautiful transformations that can happen. (Oh yeah, and it's good for the environment too!) ;)

Happy Crafting!

Ugly to Cute...It just needs some spray paint.

I love what a can of black spray paint can do. It can take something that looks like this:

To this:

Isn't that cute! I found it at the thrift store for a steal and deer are so in right now. I love quick easy projects like this.

Happy Crafting!

One man's trash...

My 7 yr. old niece asked me several weeks ago to "please sew my net back together." The net in question is a cute green butterfly net that lives at their lake cabin. The same lake cabin where she catches frogs, moths, worms, fish, and every other imaginable creature she can and then tries to keep them. Of course, being the good auntie that I am, I said I would fix it and bring it back to her next week. This was four weeks ago. She asked me again last week if I had fixed it yet. I had forgotten all about it. I forgot about it as soon as I got home again, too. I thought of it today only because hubby and I are going up to see our nieces and nephew tonight. I realized I better get cracking if I am to get this "sewn back together." So I pulled out my needle and thanked the lucky stars even though I don't embroider and I haven't cross stictched in years, I have embroidery floss. I pick green to match the net. (Although one of my other nieces (8 yr. old) would tell me that it doesn't match because it's not exactly the same shade of green.) So, I managed to get the net all sewn up over lunch break.

During these last few weeks, I thought about telling my niece I couldn't fix the net, and then buy her a new one. But I realized two things. First, that it wouldn't be the same to her. Second, that maybe it's good to teach kids that not everything needs to be thrown away the second it gets broken. That maybe things can be fixed or reused in a different purpose. It's never too early to teach "reduce, recycle, reuse." Especially if you're teaching it in a practical way that's easily understood by all ages.

Happy Crafting!