Justified

Yesterday I was browsing on the Pottery Barn website. When I got to the Photography Wall Art section I came across this photo:

Source: Pottery Barn

For a moment my heart stopped because it looked so similar to these photos I took:

Great minds think alike, huh? For some reason I feel somewhat justified in thinking of my photos as art, just because they are similar. I think my photos are just as good as the Pottery Barn version. All I have to do now is figure out how to get my photos sold on their site.  Should be easy enough... :-) Which ones would you recommend? Point of View Creations

DIY Button Heart Collage

It's time for Tried-it Tuesday. I fell in love with this Button Heart from the Crafty Texas Girls blog. A couple months ago I won a Rit Dye starter kit. Let me tell you, this kit rocks!!! It has 8 or so full-size liquid Rit dyes, a scarf, some fabric squares, rubber-bands, and a big package of buttons. (Did you know that buttons were dyeable??!!) Those button immediately came to mind when I saw this project.

Materials:
Buttons  - all shapes and sizes, but flat-backed will work best
Craft Glue
Glitter
Canvas or scrapbook paper
Picture Frame

I cut a piece of scrapbook paper to fit the 5x7 frame I was going to use. Then I free-handed (OBVIOUSLY) a heart and the word "Love". I wasn't too worried about perfection because both would be covered up by the materials.

Next I covered the heart with craft glue and started gluing the buttons, working from the middle to the edges.

I layered the buttons until there was no more paper showing within the heart. Then I traced the wording with glue and sprinkled with glitter.

 

After everything was completely dry I removed the glass from my frame and added the collage.

This is piece one of my Valentine's Day vignette I am creating. I have several other projects I will adding along the way. Watch for the tutorials!!

Dress Obsession

I am back on my dress kick lately. For work, I primarily wear skirts and blouses or dresses. I think dresses are my very favorite. There is no stress over what to pair with what other than shoes and jewelry or a cardigan. And I think dresses are figure flattering on my body-type.

I love poring over Pinterest to find new favorites. Here are some of my most recent pins:

1. via Pink Peonies  2. via ShePiner   3. via Nordstrom

4. via Pinterest  5. via Hello Fashion  6. via Pinterest

Which one is your favorite?

DIY Gemstone Statement Necklace

These last few days at work have been crazy and stressful. After a particularly trying day, I headed to Michael's to find a project. In the past I would deal with my stress by a good junk food binge. Since I can't do that anymore I've starting finding projects to relax me. (Along with buying a new pair of heels. That ALWAYS helps too!!)

I have seen several different versions of this statement necklace project on Pinterest and ended up using a idea from each one to create my own.

Materials:

• Felt
• Plastic Canvas
• Gemstones
• Ribbon
• Craft Glue

First, I cut the plastic canvas into a crescent-style shape. (You can create any shape you like, the possibilities are endless here)

I ended up changing the shape of the necklace at the end...

Next, I cut the felt to match and glued them together.

The next step was to determine what pattern I wanted to create with the gemstones. As I mentioned above, I changed the shape of necklace at this point. I didn't like the full crescent shape so I trimmed it to a semi-circle. I experimented with a few designs and finally decided on covering the entire area with the gems.

Next, I glued the stones to the backing by applying a drop of craft glue to the back of each gem and placing it back in position on the felt. (This was a fairly tedious process but thankfully, I had a good episode of NCIS to watch while I worked.)

The last step was to attach a length of ribbon to the outer corners of the backing after the gems had dried overnight. I attached with craft glue but also added a couples stitches to make sure everything was secure.

I really love how this turned out. And you get such bang for your buck! Excluding the craft glue, I only spent $5 for all the materials. I used half of the gems and have enough felt and backing to make at least four more necklaces.

I want to try this project again with jewel-colored stones of varied sizes. Maybe this weekend!!

Mint and Black Chevron

I have been saying for a while now that I'm ready for Spring. I'm pretty sure this dress is evidence of that. When I saw it I fell in love with it. The chevron... the minty color... the shape... and the adorable tie closure at the back of the neck.

Dress: via Ross // Shoes: via Ross // Necklace: via New York & Company

Linking up for:

DIY Valentine Hair Clips

I'm always looking for fun projects I can do as surprises for my nieces. For Valentine's Day I wanted to make them some cute heart hair clips. This is another super-simple, 5 minute project but the result is adorable. And the sky is the limit when it comes to decorating the clips.

Materials:
Felt hearts (varied sizes and colors)
Ribbon-covered hair clips
Craft glue

I started out by creating a few designs. I wanted to combine different sizes and colors.

After that, I was ready to glue the pieces to the clip. I started with a strip of craft glue down along the ribbon, then glued down the foundation piece of the design.

Next I added the finishing pieces.

After drying, the clips are ready to wear.

Linking up with:

 

DIY Flip-flop Wreath

My sister, the craft-goddess, is really talented. She is a mom of two super-awesome girls (I'm not the least bit prejudiced!!) and a teacher, so her creative juices are constantly flowing. A while back she made some wreaths out of flip-flops, silk flowers, and a large wooden letter. Of course, when I saw them I went crazy over them and knew I had to share what she had done.

Here is the one she made for her house:

Such a fun, fresh concept. Can't you just smell chicken on the grill and freshly mown grass?

Here is one she made for her friend:

I also love this one... Despite the fact that it is Gator colors. I'm pretty sure she mentioned something about it burning her fingers as she made it. We won't hold it against her friend though. This just goes to show my sister can make anything beautiful!!

Here is the last one. A slightly different take than the others:

Below is a list of supplies for making a  flip-flop wreath for yourself.

The basic materials include a wreath base, flip-flops (she got all of hers at Dollar Tree), silk flowers, rhinestones, glitter, wooden letters, and hot glue. From there it is completely up to your imagination! There are so many different ways you could arrange and decorate this wreath. So get your creative juices flowing and make one for yourself or a friend (or a SUPER-AWESOME sister!!)

*** Has anyone noticed how many times I used super in this post??? Super-crazy...***

A Hit and a Miss

Do you want the good news or bad news first? I'm going to give you the bad...

 I bought this beautiful dress. I LOVE IT!! But it just was the tiniest bit too snug in the shoulders. I thought about keeping it as a goal dress but decided to just return it. There will other fabulous dresses right?? Right??!!!! This one was a miss. (The photo really doesn't do it justice)

On to the good news! These shoes... I mean, do I even need words? Here are a few: gorgeous, sexy, fun, colorful, perfection. Need I say more? Obviously these are a hit.

Dress and Shoes: Merona via Target

DIY Rustic Picture Frame

It's time to share another fun project with you all!!! I saw this project on pinterest. I wasn't able to find the original source or steps but I'm crafty enough to "wing it." (Mostly because this is a super-simple project!!)


Materials:

large picture frame (glass removed)
twine
tiny nails or tacks
small clips (clothespin or gator)

I measured the twine against the back of the frame and cut several pieces. Since I didn't want my version to be quite as rustic-looking as the one I pinned, I tacked the pieces onto the back of the frame.

Check out these tiny clothespins... Aren't they just the cutest things?? I simply clipped them to the twine.

Next I clipped my photos onto the twine. It's as simple as that. It was a 10 minute project, tops. You can space the twine and space the clips to fit almost any size photo. These are 5 x 7. 

I looped a long piece of twine through and around the frame and tied a bow to use as a hanger.

Paleo Progress - 4 pounds down!

So I have been eating paleo for about a week now and wanted to share how it was going. I have lost 4 pounds so far :-)

 I thought the no sugar part of it was going to be hard but it really hasn't been. I don't miss it for the most part... except when drinking my morning coffee. I tried several recipes for paleo creamers, adding a bit of honey as a sweetener but it just didn't cut it for me. I finally just started adding coffee to a banana chocolate smoothie in the mornings and it has been great!

Another problem I have had is with breakfast. I don't love plain eggs. So I have had to try to find other options for breakfasts. Thankfully there are lots of wonderful blogs out there for inspiration. On a work day I have just been grabbing a larabar and having my smoothie. But over the weekend I experimented with a sweet potato hash (which is amazing!!) and banana pancakes (also really great). I found a new recipe for a breakfast "bread" that I want to try this weekend so I will let you know how it is.

Lunch has been a salad with chicken, apple, almonds and my homemade dressing; or a sweet potato, pork roast, and spinach. Dinner has been a variation of those same foods with cauliflower "mashed potatoes" and broiled grape tomatoes.

I can see that I'm going to get bored eating the same foods over and over so I'm going to have to get creative. I'm a lazy cook so I like to cook something big over the weekend and eat it all week. We'll see what I can come up for next week.

P.S.
The one thing I have been craving is bread!! It's odd, though, because I only ate it now and then. But it's all I can think about these days. Garlic bread, crusty ciabatta rolls, jalapeno-cheddar bagels... Sigh. I'm going to have to find some substitutes for these!!!

I have a photographic memory... or two or three!

I really love taking photos. Especially when they are landscapes and nature. I love trying to capture a little bit of the beauty I see all around me. Sometimes I leave the photo as-is but I do have fun editing and can create a completely new piece of art.

I have been going through some of the photos this week organizing, editing, and remembering so I decided to share some of my favorites.

DIY Glittered LOVE Mirror

Sunday was a rainy, gray day perfect for crafting so I hit Michael's on the way home from church in search of a project. I had several in mind but when I came across this mirror, I knew I wanted to make something special for my Valentines... my nieces! I think it turned out pretty cute.

Here are all my supplies from Michael's:

2-inch wooden letters: L, V, E
2-inch wooden heart
Unfinished wood-framed mirror
Gold, Pink, and Purple Glitter
Mod Podge
Sponge brushes

After I removed the mirror and the back, I mixed the gold glitter with some Mod Podge and painted it on. I knew it would take a couple coats the get the coverage of glitter I wanted. I tried to keep the coats even but I didn't worry about leaving brush strokes because it dries clear and smooth.

Next I mixed the pink glitter with Mod Podge and painted the heart I was using for the "O" in LOVE. I piled the mixture on pretty heavy because I really wanted it to it shine and be extra glittery.

Then I mixed the purple glitter and Mod Podge and painted the letters. I laid this on pretty thick too but I still had to go back a couple times to fill in the "gaps" in the glitter. I didn't want any wood showing through on these. **

** I was still not happy with the coverage of the glitter so I gave everything a last coat of plain Mod Podge and sprinkled the glitter over that. I achieved maximum glittery-ness!!!

Finally, I put the mirror and back on, arranged the letters on the frame, and glued them with tacky glue.

Hopefully, every time she looks in this mirror she will remember she is LOVED by Aunt Cheryl!!!


Linking up with:


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