States Book Project

This week the little one and I are starting a new project. We are assembling a "States Book." It will be magnificent, lovely, fun, educational, and super interactive. OK, OK, OK so maybe I've got big plans for this and they may be unreasonable but I'm excited about it and the munchkin is too (and being excited about learning is a GREAT thing). Here's my vision:

• laminated coloring pages to include
• an outline of the state with major river and tributaries
• a star to mark the capitol
• the state's flag
• FUN facts about the state (including admittance to the union, state bird, state tree, state song, and any scientific findings found in that state.
• an outline map of the USA where each week we will place a colored in state onto the map to track our progress.
• For dinner that week we will try to include cuisine from that state.
• at the end of this whole project we will assemble a binder of all the states we've studied so that once school starts she can reference it!

We are going in Alphabetical order and are starting with Alabama. At one state a week this time next year we should have a completed "States Book". I would love ideas from you! If you know anything special and wonderful/ unusual about your state please leave me a comment. I'm going to be posting my printable pages as we go so get ready for ALABAMA!

New Up-cycling to come!

Hello all! I haven't been posting for the last few days because I have a BUNCH of neat projects in the works... but none finished :(. My hubby decided to jump on the crafty band-wagon this week and while I LOVE all the help it means that my house is a complete wreck as he finishes his projects. Here are a couple coming your way!

 Hubby working on the coffee table he found (free = awesome!) Can't wait to show you this one!

 We got this entertainment center from a friend of mine hoping we could use it as an entertainment center. Once we got it home we realized that our tv doesn't fit... what to do?!?! UP-CYCLE! It's going to become many AMAZING projects (a chalk board, a wooded background for sayings in the little one's room, a laundry folding table, shelves, etc...)

Then surgery began...

 He's so handsome!

 This is the glass door from the cabinet of the entertainment center. I'm almost done painting the border and after that I'm going to paint the glass with homemade chalkboard paint complete with flowers and everything!... Much more to come on this one!

Tater decided he needed to help, isn't he cute!

So that's it for now, I'll be posting lots of fun pictures and how to's very soon!!!

Crayon art

My daughter wanted me to post a picture of the crayon art she did several weeks ago. She is very proud of it! It really came out nice with the metallic crayons mixed in!

Canvas Painting Made Easy

So my brother-in-law got married this past weekend and the crazy person inside me decided that I should make them and wedding present. I painted this in the living room and its a good thing I decided to roll up the carpet because I made a BIG mess :) Here goes...

You'll need:

a Canvas

Vinyl lettering (I chose 2" high in Helvetica type)

3-4 colors of paint

A hairdryer (if you're as impatient as I am :) )

 I started by measuring the height of the vinyl letters I bought and made pencil lines across the canvas 1/2" taller than the letters. Then I lined up the top of the letters to the pencil line and started applying letters.

 So at this point is where I realize I don't have enough vinyl letters... FAIL. So back to the store I go and start over :)

All the vinyl letters are on and at this point I erased my pencil lines and started painting. 

I chose to paint this the colors of my Brother-in-law's wedding so for the background I painted the canvas silver and went over it with black. I used a wide and relatively dry brush to get the effect I wanted. (This is where the hairdryer comes in handy  because you want the dark colors completely dry before you start adding more colors in)

Next I added in some pops of color!

Once you're happy with the look of it CAREFULLY remove the vinyl letters (and touch up as needed).

BRAVO! Not nearly as difficult or time consuming as I thought it would be :)

My First Blog Post!

Hello there! My name is Beth and this is my first blog! I'm a mommy (to my beautiful step-daughter), a wife (to my amazing hubby), and a crafter/DIYer/baker/cook/gardener! I absolutely LOVE trying new crafts and can't wait to share my endeavors with you! Thank you for stopping by!