4th of July 2016!

AAAAGHHH!!! 

I love 4th of July, sun, sand ,friends, fireworks, watermelon.... its the best. 

And last year some of use decided to decorate some shirts and they turned out like homemade shirts but we had oh so much fun!

Last year...

We had so much fun we are doing it again. 

Check out my pinterest page to see some ideas for all things 4th of July!

https://www.pinterest.com/byjblogger/4th-of-july/

Best Wishes

By -J

Let's Blame Pinterest

Once again I tried to be artsy and do a Pinterest "Easy DIY" yeah, it didn't work. 

And I videoed it but again that is awful so here are some screen grabs and a terrible Pinterest fail. 

I was going for something like this: 

Easy enough right? Washi tape and paint how could I possible mess that up. 

Just watch...

 Okay tape the glass

Already things look sketchy. 

Now spray paint 

And this is where we crash landed. 

So I thought paint with paint. 

Yeah... 

Okay not bad so far...

Hanging in there..

Let's check on the spray paint one 

A little more textured than I had hoped..

Finished product?

Yeah so that was an utter failure and I don't even have tips to do it the right way. 

Best Wishes 

By - J 

Paper Dahlia Wreath

This is by far my favorite creation. 

Finished Product: 

I'm in love, the thing is huge so its hard to find a place for it. 

Step by Step!

Depending on the size you want it, cut squares, I used 6in x 6in. I also used several colors to give it an ombre effect. 
Cut a cardboard circle, again the bigger your circle the bigger you need your squares. I used hot glue to make it faster. 
Size wise, your first layer of squares will hang on the cardboard by 1.5 or 2 inches. 
Like this:

This is row 1 and 2, which we will get to. 
Your first row if you have multiple colors needs to be spaced apart to allow room for the second row. 

(If you are wondering about the interesting photos, I videoed this but lost parts, and didn't feel like editing 40mins of bad footage.) 

Now, add your layers, either changing colors or staying with the same. 

Glue layer by layer, eventually they will stack at a higher angle. 

Keep stacking until you get to the center, this is when you almost have to bend the ends of the cone to stand upright. You will have one in the exact center. 

Best Wishes 

By -J

DIY Felt Fox

My friend's birthday is this weekend so I've been giving her gifts last week and this week. 

So she likes Foxes and I found this really cute fox ornament and decided to make it for my Tutorial weekend. 
I was having some technical difficulties  with my cameras so it ended up being shot by hand which makes it a bit messy. 

Here is the Youtube video. 

Here is a picture of the final product.
 I think it is super cute. 

Fairy Garden Table and chair DIY

I started volunteering at my local 

county fair about 7yrs ago. 

And I honestly love it. 

I work in the creative arts area 

for check in and check out of all the crafts. 

The first year I started I didn't enter anything, 

But on and off since then I have been. 

This year I really got into it. 

Mostly because I really got into making stuff. 

One category is theme table settings.

I entered a fairy garden tea party. 

So over the weekend

 I had to make my table and chair, 

because I wanted to do miniature.

This is my first video tutorial, 

so cut me some slack. 

It took me about 30mins to make 

2 chairs and the table, 

but I cut the video down to 12mins. 

Here it is!

The tray will look like this

I just haven't found a bowl at the 

thrift store yet to make the mushroom top. 

Anyway, I had such a blast making it and

 I loved the end result. 

Best Wishes

By -J

Keep an eye out for my other fair projects, 

including: cake decorating, cupcake decorating, 

sewing, Origami and string art. 

Puzzle Piece

I love puzzles. 

I will show you all the puzzle 

pictures I've taken the last couple of years. 

My family has this thing about putting their 

hands on the puzzle and taking a picture. 

It's weird but we do remember who was there. 

Any way I bought a $1 puzzle at a thrift store, 

I didn't care if it had all its pieces. 

I painted the backside of the puzzle pieces 

yellow and used a piece of wood about 

11" by 14" and painted it bright orange. 

I just couldn't decide which shape I want 

the puzzle pieces to be in, 

but I finally decided after moving around the pieces

a bunch of times in a diagonal, that slowly got bigger

and looked almost like a speech bubble. 

Finished product:

I like it, it might end up in the non displayed pile, 

only because it does not match my bedroom. 

Best wishes 

By -J

Canvas Inspiration

I think this is just turning into a blog 

about crafts. 

Who cares! Crafts are awesome!

My latest canvas piece. 

I found this really cool canvas art on 

Pinterest, where it was painted these awesome 

colors, then they put tape over it and spray painted

it gold. So the colors under came through when the 

tape came off. 

Anyway I am not patient enough to wait for it to dry so 

I just put tape down in different patterns

and painted over it. 

Start with a blank canvas (duh)

I was doing this on my bathroom floor because

I was also coloring my hair :) 

Added some tape and some paint. 

I used different size washi tape to mix it up a bit. 

Finished painting it, let it dry and 

then took the tape off. 

I don't really love the tape design I chose. 

I should have created straight lines and 

tried not to blend it on some parts.

 I also should have really squared the center purple. 

Now I am trying to choose a quote to go in the middle. 

A. "Life is better when you are laughing"

B. Quiet people have the loudest minds"

C. "When it rains, look for rainbows. 

When it's dark, look for stars"

D. "Today is the perfect day to be happy"

What do you think?

By - J

Summer Semester

Anyone taking summer classes?

Fun isn't it?

Yeah not really. 

First, I like to shut my brain down

 when summer comes but,

I need this class before starting college in the fall. 

But I am having some problems with my teacher. 

The "pace" is up in the air except for the first two weeks,

you have to have submitted 6 assignments. 

Which to me sounds like 6 lessons. 

Friday night week 2 I am ready to finish my last two 

lessons when the next three don't have submissions. 

Literally three lessons with 10-16 pages each and 

nothing to submit. 

Ridiculous. 

Mostly because the pace chart/syllabus   

says week 1: lessons 1.01, 1.02, 1.03

Week 2 :Lessons 1.04, 1.05, 1.06. 

But they want you to be on lesson 1.10 by week 2. 

It really is crazy. Then I finally get done with these

lessons and I'm ready for a test, but no. 

I have to write an argumentative essay. 

In a MATH CLASS!

I don't like math. 

So I write it and I use Prezi presentations, 

but my teacher says I can't use Prezi, 

even though the lesson said it was an option.
So I am not doing well in the class, 

But I do this talk to the teacher evaluation

and ace it. 

This is my problem.

I'm really good at (pardon the french)

BS-ing those type of assignments. 

So my summer has been filled with crafts, 

fundraisers, and terrible math classes. 

How is your summer?

Best Wishes 

By -J 

More Crafting and DIY

I've been on this crafting kick lately 

and I love it. 

I am also running out of space on my 

walls for all of my wonderful crafts. 

Anyway I bought a scrap booking paper of the USA 

(cause that's where I live)

and used my Hobby Lobby discount 

to buy some 12" by 12" cork tiles. 

I apologize about the terrible picture taking 

skills. I'm working on it. 

Anyway I bought the map paper and put it 

(using tape) on the cork tiles.
No trimming because they are they same size.

I put some pins in on the places I've been. 

I have a tendency to travel the eastern side. 

I told my sister that the west is settled now 

and we don't have to pack a covered wagon to travel. 

That's what I did today. 

I also am waiting for my brother to finish building 

me a shelf (its been six months, but I'm still hopeful)

anyway I am prepping my room for the bookshelf 

and its a mess. But I am usually a mess :)

Best wishes!

By -J

String Art DIY

My mystery project is done!

I posted this on Saturday on IG 

showing a sneak into my newest project. 

With the holiday weekend 

I didn't finish it until today.  

Painted a piece of wood this wonderful 

yellow shade. 

I tried to print out a diagram 

to follow but it was way to small.

See.

I used ribbon to shape the 

wheels, I guess I should tell you it is 

a bicycle. 

The wheels had to have an inner 

and outer ring. 

I hoped they would be the same size.

But, I'm not the gifted :)

I added the string.

And this is the end result!

I love it!

The yellow and purple are perfect 

for my room.

By -J

Craft Day

I love to craft.

But I'm not crafty

There is a difference.

And don't let me anywhere near paint. 

I will paint everything, even myself.

But I had no plans yesterday afternoon 

and I decided to do some crafting.

I wanted to do those string art where 

you wrap the string around the nails and

it makes an outline of a picture. 

That didn't happen.

So I went to the dollar store because 

It's cheaper and got some ribbon, 

because I love ribbon, 

sticker, glass stuff, and random things.

Also if it is cheap I will buy it.

It's a problem I have.

Then I went to wal-mart,

I really don't like that place.

And got some more stuff. 

And they had paint on sale so I had to buy at 

least 6 bottles.

I was thinking I would try the string thing

until I got home and realized that it was

way to much work and I only had a couple hours.

So I pulled out a canvas I had, 

Only because I bought it on sale, 

and thought up an idea.

My penmanship is bad but I love those canvas art 

where the word is painted in it. 

But I had to solve the letter problem. 

So I used scrapbooking letter stickers. 

And this is what I made...

The stickers were not very sticky, 

I knew that paint would bled under but I painted it anyway.

Blue and purple are one of my favorite combinations.

Good thing I bought that paint, right?

I started the colors light and let them get darker, 

giving it an ombre type look.

Which was just adding water to the first rows and

 more paint to the later ones.

After I painted it and used my blow dryer to 

dry it up and peeled off the letters

Finished product...

I think I'll add a silhouette of a dancer on the left side 

but I love how it turned out. 

By -J