Father's Day Jewelry Boxes

For Father's Day this year I thought that I would make a Jewelry Box

for each of the "dad's in my life...  My husband... my son and my "bonus" dad

I found this one at Hobby Lobby ... it's just plain wood and I made sure to sand it all

down before I stained it with Minwax Provincial stain.

 I applied 2 coats of stain with a craft brush 

making sure to let each coat dry thoroughly... the wood was

pretty good at absorbing the stain so I didn't cover up the grommets...

but if stain did get on them... then I just wiped it right off with a rag.

After the stain was completely dry... I measured out some self adhesive felt

I had found at Michael's and cut it to fit in the bottom of each chest. 

Since my family are Cowboy's fans what better color than blue for the felt.

I sprayed 2 light coats of Plaid Clear Acrylic Sealer in Gloss

to help it have a little bit of a shine.

My husband loves his and it sits proudly on our dresser holding his

rings...tie tacks and watches.

It may not be a "fun" gift but this year it was very practical!

Happy Crafting!

Stickles ~ On A Dress...?

 What happened after it was dry cleaned for the first time... no more gold...

It's been a while since I blogged... lots of "life things" have happened in the last year... my son got married... I got married... my dad passed away and I finally after years of pain got my left knee replaced and looking forward to the right one in August! Enough about that... I figured I better get caught back up and show you some of the crafty things I have done in the past year!

I bought this cute knit dress and the thing that I loved about it was the gold shimmer on the palm trees.  This is the front of the dress and there is also a cute palm tree in a smaller version on the lower right side of the jacket... I was sick when I picked the dress up from the cleaners to discover the gold was missing.  One day while I was playing with my stickles I thought... I wonder if it would work on the dress... you can see in the first picture there was still a "dried glue line" so I just followed that... and let it dry over night... just like new!

Wood Roosters...

I'm doing a guest post over at the Wood Creations Blog 

showing how I made these super cute roosters!

Yellow It Is...

The "new" lamp...

I almost forgot to take a picture before I primed it

 

Basket...

 Wood frame...

Lately I've been in the mood for some color... I really like the purple/yellow combo and so yellow was my choice to go with my new bed spread that I got for my birthday from my family. I have to admit it might not be the perfect color of yellow to go with the bed spread... but hey for $5.00 for 2 cans of yellow spray paint I'm not going to complain and to be honest... it really is growing on me!  The lamp I've had for years and well as the wicker basket and greenery.  The frame was one I had on hand... I'm still trying to find the perfect quote to put into it... but all in all I really like my new pops of color!

Altered Clipboard...

I'm sorry there are sooo many postings today... I've been so far behind and finally decided that it was time to make blogging a priority!  I've been super busy at work!  "Work is the place that we are supposed to be able to go to and work hard for 8 hours to make a living so that we can live life"... instead the last 7 months "I have been living at work and having no life" - I'm not going to lie... I'm BURNED out! I've worked over 190 "comp" hours (since I'm salary) that I will never get back... I still have 240 hours of vacation to take before the end of the year or I lose them... Thus far I have taken 7 hours off... 7 hours in 7 months and that time was part of my "comp" hours.  What am I thinking... what am I doing... Does anyone at the office appreciate my personal sacrifice for the company... I don't think so. I called my dad the other day when I left work at 3:00 and he said "Did you get fired"?  He's used to me calling him at 8:00 at night.  I had some injections in my knees a few months back... I didn't take sick leave... I went right back to work and worked straight through the day with ice bags on both my knees. I am so tired of coming home at night and being mentally exhausted... I'm too tired to go down the stairs to my studio for days at a time. Weekends... I just want to be a bum... I don't want to go anywhere or do anything!

I made a big decision this past week... I am no longer going to work more than an 8 hour day... and I am going to use my vacation... all 30 days before the end of the year. I'm going to make sure that I make it to my studio each and every night... if for nothing else but to "catch up" on my friends blogs.  I've got so many projects I want to get started on... I'm hoping by putting this in writing I will make sure to follow through on my decision... and not feel pressured to have to stay at work to complete the next project handed to me... if it can't work it in to my 8 hours... oh well, I guess someone else will have to do it instead...

With all that said... we have all new pricing which gets really confusing.  I made us all binders with all of the pricing in it... but it's so big and bulky and the customer feels like we really don't know what we are doing or talking about.  I remembered I had bought a clip board years ago and one night decided to hit the studio and make a board that I could put a "cheat sheet" on that would sit off to the side of my computer and away from the customers... so I can actually quote prices and sound like I know what I'm talking about. 

First I painted the edges and in about an inch all around with purple paint.  Then I traced the board onto the back of my scrapbook paper and cut it out.  I used Mod Podge to adhere the paper to the wood on both the front and the back and let dry. I ended up cutting a little too much off of the top in the front... so I used some sticky backed mesh over the top...  I can't decide if I like just the ribbon on it... or if I am going to go back and put silk flowers on instead... since I'm OCD... I'm betting I will be adding flowers later... lol.  But can I just say... it works like a charm.

 

Smiley Face Bucket - Redo...

As many of you know who have been following me for a while know I have OCD... When I gave this bucket to my friend a few months back... he was tickled to death... however, I hated the smiley face... it didn't have the little doohickey things in the corner of the mouth and the smile part was too wide... (see bottom photo). So when Silhouette came out with their new "cute" smiley faces I asked him for the bucket back... and cut him a new face... (the top picture is the newest version)... I'm now very much happy with it now... I told you I had OCD...

Keep smilin' and...

Smiley Face Bucket...

I have a friend at work who is the happiest person I know... his name is Clayne.  He always wears a smile... if you are feeling down... he always knows the right thing to say to bring a smile to your face.  Clayne is our biggest cheerleader at work.  We have High-Five Friday... which now includes the entire building! He starts in the back with display... jogs through the break room... to the girls in the front office... into the publishers office... out to us in Classifieds and then ends with editorial! Everyday he makes his rounds asking if we are Happy Campers and when he is headed back to his desk he will say Keep Smilin'.  So a few months back Kendra found a bright yellow bucket at work and they were going to toss it out... she asked if she could take it and then brought it to me (she knew I would love to vinyl it up).  I told Clayne about the bucket and what my idea was. I decided last week I was going to work on my "procrastination issues" and I wanted to get this project done.  I found the smiley face worked better on the black bucket instead... so I used the bright yellow vinyl and cut the face. I wanted to have keep smilin' on the top of the bucket too. I had found the ribbon a few weeks ago... and thought the colors would be prefect... and they were.  I used 8 different ribbons (the yellow and black flowered one pretty much took over).  Josh saw it and said... "it looks to girly" for Clayne. I filled it up with lifesavers and off to work it went.  Clayne loved it... girly ribbon and all!

I made these magnets for him for his birthday two years ago.

 Clayne... I know you will never read my blog... but I hope that somehow you will know just how important you are to The HJ and that all of think the world of you!

Keep Smilin' friend!

Free Paint...

Ever since I moved in to my home 7 years ago... I have wanted to paint! The almost "x" husband didn't think it was necessary... "white walls sell" he would always say!  In my opinion... not so much! I am so tired of white walls... and since he no longer lives here... I'm going to color my world!  Every paint sample order is shipped with a paint roller and tray for each sample; a paint chip of each sample color ordered; an envelope of coordinating color chips; instruction card; and a coupon for your next Valspar paint purchase at Lowe's. What's not to love? Go to Valspar to get your free sample too! I just ordered Funshine #C1232... I want to paint my laundry/mud room yellow... it will be perfect!

Gift Exchange...

Do you ever sometimes just plain have a mental block and can't seem to complete anything that you feel like is "worthy" of giving away... I joined a gift exchange for Christmas and thought... this will be so much fun! Everything I tried to do... I didn't like how they came out... I know it must be my OCD kicking in.  So this is what I FINALLY came up with. Everyone needs to be reminded that the "cook" needs some TLC every once in a while... and the clothes pin can be used to hold their favorite picture or to hold that special recipe... it's up to them! On the green clothes pin I made it double sided... some people like stripes and some don't so again... she can pick which side she would like to use.

Family Graffiti Board

Have you ever played on Wordle? If you haven't... you are missing out! It's fun to make word "clouds"! Last year I did one with our favorite players from the Dallas Cowboys (you can see this one on my personal blog) So I thought... why not try and make something with all of our family names... now mind you... I am an only child and Josh is an only child too... so I decided to start with my dad's parents... Arthur Lawrence Johnson and Clara Wilhelmina Speth and my mom's parents... Boyd LeRoy Larsen and Carole Ione Nielsen then my parents Blaine Loyal and Sharon Kae then me Vicki Carole (since Carole was already on the board I didn't use it again) Since Josh's dad and I were divorced when he was 2... I didn't put any of "his" side of the family... but I did include his first, middle and last name and last, but not least... my sweet boy Joshua and that is our family "graffiti" board. I started out with a 16 x 16 white painters canvass I have had laying around for a few years now...and painted it black. I didn't like the blue colors of the vinyl I had on hand... so I decided to use Bazzill cardstock.  I did cut the lettering with my Silhouette... have I told you... (I know I've been saying that in all of my posts lately...lol) The "fun" part was trying to decide where to put each name. After I had that figured out... I started at the corners and glued those names down... then I moved to the bottom and worked my way up the canvass. Since I didn't use vinyl... I used the blue painters tape to put my letters on so that they would be somewhat straight and put the glue on the back of the letters and pressed down... and slowly pealed back the tape while trying to make the letters stick to the canvass.. again... not easy when you don't have anything to press down on in the back of the canvass... Does that make sense?  After all of the letters were applied I added 2 light coats of  Modge Podge...if nothing else... it helped keep the letters attached! Voila!

New Receipe Box

 Here are the pics of the old recipe box... and here are the

NEW ONES!

 Ta..da... It's finally finished... I LOVE it

Since I am now doing the "single" thing again... I have decided that I need some major change in my life.. Starting with the kitchen... I want something besides the white walls... tan tile and black appliances. I want COLOR... COLOR is a good thing! After much thought... I have decided on...

RED!

I have always like the saying of "kiss the cook" and with my new found friend (my Silhouette) I came up with this super cute idea! I love the lippers and the checkerboard corners... I think it turned out pretty dang cute!

Recipe Box

This has been my recipe box for the past 15 years.. I love it...  however...  it's a little dated and I thought that maybe a change would be nice.  Check back in a few days and see what I came up with...

Mothers Day Magnets

I have been blessed with amazing friends

Who have held my hand - given me encouragement -

and got me through the good and the tough times!

I have been blessed with special aunts

who have taught me by example - who have helped mold

me into the mom - daughter and friend I am today!

I wanted to make something fun that when they saw it -

they would remember just how much they are loved!

I cut out a circle with dotted pattern paper - Modge Podged it to the marble. Let dry. Use E-6000 glue and smear it on the back of the marble and adhere it to the top of the flower. Let dry. Then I smeared more E-6000 glue to a large magnet and stuck it on the back of the Bazzill flower - let dry. I found a cute poem - printed it onto cardstock - trimmed with decorative punch. I then put the flower in the bottom of a regular white lunch sack - folded down the top - punched holes through the sack and the poem - tied with some speckled pink yard... and...

Voila!

Smiley Face Magnets

 

 One of my friends at work is always saying...

"Are we happy campers today?"
"Keep Smiling"
He has a smiley face that is 12 inches round on his desk...
he's NEVER is in a bad mood and always has a smile!
So for his birthday... I made these smiley magnets just for him!
Clayne... thanks for ALWAYS making me smile!

These magnets were made with my smiley face Quickutz die

Magnets

 

The "Pop" magnets... Coke is my favorite

  

The St. Louis Ram magnets

  

Pretty purple magnets ... they just look pretty!

 

These were my first try at magnets.
I made them for the Relief Society and didn't realize that
it's better to use a thicker paper... then the glue doesn't
seep through... since the "magnet" showed through the
paper... I added a Quickutz flower in vinyl to the top
and added some Stickles to the center.

Dallas Cowboy Magnets

Magnets for my boys... my favorite is the "D"