Saturday, September 12, 2015

Fall Decor: DIY Beaded Letter Framed Print



Here are step-by-step instructions for creating a beaded letter on a glass frame!  For some reason, I could not get a photo that really shows the beaded letter well!!  It looks much better in person! I changed the leaf background for a picture just to show it better and obviously you will use whatever background you wish!


Alternate version:


SUPPLIES:
Photo frame with glass
Letter printed out in your favorite font and desired size
Variety of beads
Glue or Mod Podge
Dry erase marker
Scrapbook paper, fabric, and/or ribbon for the background


1.  Flip over the letter you printed out so that it's backwards. 
2. Place one side of the glass over top and trace with a dry-erase marker. Flip both the glass and paper back over and align glass with letter. Marker will be on the under-side of the glass. (This is helpful if your image slides around. Another option would be to just tape the letter to the glass.)


3. Pour some glue onto the outside of the glass and begin placing beads onto the glue.  You can also dip the beads into glue and stick them on, but I found that putting the glue on first worked better!

4. When the bead letter is complete, allow to dry for an hour or so.  Glue will be clear when completely dry!  Then wipe the dry-erase marker off of the reverse side.  


5. Cut your scrapbook paper (or fabric, ribbon, etc.) to the frame size and place inside the frame. I used this leaf paper from the Nature Prints Paper Pad - $5.00 from Walmart.

6. Attach back and frame and voila!!!


post signature

Friday, September 11, 2015

About Me: I'm a twin!!!!

ABOUT ME!
I thought it would be fun to share a little about myself once in a while!  For those of you who may not know it, I have a fraternal twin sister! Her name is Sarah and she was born about two hours (yes, HOURS!) before me!  Our parents didn't even know they were having twins until a half hour after Sarah was born and the doc was still waiting for the placenta to come out!!!! In 1977, my hometown's hospital wasn't using ultrasounds and modern-day technology, so during routine prenatal visits, if they heard one heartbeat, they left it at that!! I know, it's crazy!! I was definitely a SURPRISE!!!

As you can see, Sarah is taller than me. The older we got, the more we stopped looking alike....until she began cosmetology school and started cutting and coloring my hair.  I noticed my hair began looking a lot like hers!!!! ;)

My wedding 5/10/03


One of the most special times in our twin lives was when she told me she was pregnant with her second child.  Just a week or so later, I was telling her that I was also pregnant with my second!!!!  Her due date was just 12 days before mine and we had the same doctor to share in all the excitement.  We documented much of the pregnancies on our blog Pregnant Twins, which I still update once in a while. Check it out to see who actually delivered first;)

June 2010 (5 months pregnant) at our youngest brother's wedding:

December 2014 at our parents' 40th anniversary 
With the 4 of us kids, our spouses, and our children, there are 18 of us!! 
(My sister's husband is missing from this pic.)
:

This is the most recent pic of us I could find from May 2015:

Today, she and I live about 15 minutes away from each other.  We don't see each other near as much as I'd like....we're both busy with our lives, family, jobs, etc.  She is a hair stylist and in addition to their 4 year-old daughter, they also have a 13 year-old son.  
We also have two younger brothers...one who was born just 15 months after us, so we were almost like triplets!!!!!

:)Jamie

post signature

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Home Decor Craft Project: Starburst Mirror



I have been craft-crazy lately!!!!!  I'm not sure why my craftiness has its ups and downs like it does, but I have been going from a starburst mirror to a fall wreath to beaded letter framed art!!! My favorite so far is this starburst mirror that I found in a YouTube tutorial months ago and finally got around to making it.



You can find all the details in the video, but here is a little step-by-step by my daughter and me as we made her a small aqua-colored one! This picture doesn't do it justice....it's very sparkly!!!


Supplies needed:
Circle mirror (from a craft store or some Dollar Tree stores)
Cardboard box or cereal box
Lots of sticks!
Glue gun & glue sticks
Optional: Glitter
Optional: Acrylic paint or spray paint
Optional: Command strips for hanging


1. Trace mirrors onto cardboard twice, leaving about an inch around each circle.
2.  Cut about an inch around each cardboard circle.


3. Poke a hole in the center, then cut out the inside of ONE of the cardboard circles.
4. Begin gluing the sticks onto the cardboard circle. Break off any sticks that are too long. This is the fun part....we glued on over 100 sticks and it never got old!!


5.  Allow glue to dry for a few minutes.
6.  Paint with a brush or use spray paint. Sprinkle with glitter immediately if you want a little sparkle!!! Allow to dry for an hour or so.
7.  Use glue gun to attach the circle mirror to your OTHER cardboard circle.
8.  Add glue to the cardboard area around the mirror of that same circle and press your circle of sticks onto the glue. (Sorry I forgot to take a pic of this step!!!)
9.  Attach Command Strips to the back and hang.



-->If you make this craft project, please send me pictures!  I'd love to see your creativity!!!!



post signature

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Free Printable: Sparkle Wall Art

Hi everyone!!!  I know...it's been forever since I've posted!!  Today is my very first day with both kids at school for the whole day!  There were two other days recently too, but my BFF is getting ready to put her house on the market, so I've been helping her out.  More about my not-so-fashionable life down below!  Here is a quick Sparkle printable I'm happy to share!! Great for framing!!



The kids started back to school on August 12th, and we've been back to schedules, homework, dance class, tae kwon do, football, brownies....etc...etc.....!!!!!

I know, I know....I make the cutesy, fancy little signs for my blog and Etsy shop, but my own kids have boring ones!!!! I've used the same exact style since Mya was in preschool (before the days of Pinterest), so I decided to keep them the same through elementary school.




This is the 2nd year that we've done a Back-to-School Party for the neighborhood kids on the first day!  We had an ice cream sundae bar, popcorn, and water balloons!!

We were going to visit family out of town one weekend, so I bought all the supplies to make these nail string projects!  I may have to do a post on how to do this...Mya, my nieces, and I all had a blast with these! 

On August 22nd, I celebrated 13 years as a Mary Kay consultant!!!!  Do you think I look younger than 37?  (I hope so, hehehe!!!!!!) 

Mason began his final year of preschool!!! 

We celebrated Jim's birthday: 

We had our first brownie meeting of the new school year! 

Mya's school is having a 30-Day Challenge! Each day is a different healthy activity that we, as a family, are encouraged to do.  Last night was wall-sits!!!! Ouchhhhhh!!!! ;)


Okay, only an hour left to get the house cleaned up before school pick-up, so I better get busy!!!!  Hope everyone is having a great few weeks left of the summer!
:)Jamie



post signature