St. Patrick's Day Stuff

The last few days I have been on a St. Patrick's Day decorating, crafting, pillow making kick. Here are some of the things I've made:

Crafts:

Mr. Leprechaun. I found the idea HERE.

Mr. Leprechaun Sr. This one is 4 ft tall. I made him the same way I made my Uncle Sam.

A giant shamrock.

I made a pallet with cedar fence slats, then spray painted around a shamrock.

Here again, I made a pallet and then stenciled on the word "Lucky" with green acrylic paint.

#17 cut out of wood.

Pillows:

You can purchase any of the pillows in my Esty Shop

The Front Porch:

I made the shamrock last year.

Craft Show Prep: Booth Sign

For this craft show, I wanted to make sure everyone knows my shop name and my Etsy Shop address. Along with fabric labels, and business cards, Matt designed a banner for my booth. Did you know that Staples.com makes banners for pretty cheap? Well, they do, and luckily we caught the sale they had going on for a vinyl 4'x 2.5' banner. In the end we got the banner with shipping for $20.

Since I wanted the banner framed, we had to find some kind of backer board. At Home Depot we found a sheet of 3'x 7' 1/8" thick backer board for $11.75. Matt cut the backer board to the length we needed.

Next, he cut the frame pieces out of cedar fence slats. We used three boards.

While I was staining the boards, Matt sprayed spray adhesive onto the board and smoothed the banner into place.

Next, after the boards were set in place, Matt stapled the frame to the backer board from the back of the sign.

Then we turned the sign over and Matt stapled it a few more times from the back.

For around $30 we got a huge awesome sign!

It is going to look great in the booth! Only a few more days until the Simple Treasures Craft Boutique... September 18-21.

Craft Show Prep: Purse Tree

For the next few weeks all my blog posts are going to be on preparing for a craft boutique and the craft tutorials on some of the merchandise I am selling at the Simple Treasures Craft Boutique on September 18-21. Hopefully some of my suggestions and pointers will help someone out.

One of the things I am selling at the boutique are these awesome owl totes:

Instead of laying them on a table, I decided I needed something to hang them on. I found a great tutorial for a coat rack on Ana White's website.

Matt built my purse tree out of 2"x 2"'s.

Today, I painted the purse tree turquoise. The next time you see this tree, it will be in my booth with my owl totes hanging from its branches.

Signs of Spring

I am so happy it is spring! The weather is finally warming up, the flowers and trees are blooming and the birds are out. All this also means, It is time to decorate for Spring. Today, I am going to show you my Spring shelf and a tutorial for the flower signs I made.

During winter, I came across THIS cute flower sign. I knew I had to make one (or more) just like it, so I did...




Wood Flower Signs Tutorial:

First, I designed some stencils with my SCAL program and cut them out of vinyl.

Next, out of 3.5"x6' cedar fence slats, I cut three lengths out: 23.5", 18.5" and 12.5".

I then sanded each board.

Next, I painted the boards a cream color.

After the paint dried, I stuck the vinyl stencil on top of the board. I used clear Contact Paper to make sure the stencil went on straight.

Next, I painted the letters on. For all my stamping needs, I use Martha Stewart sponge stampers. The colors I used for the sign lettering are: navy blue for hollyhocks, red for geraniums, and orange for marigolds.

While cutting the boards for the signs, I also cut side slats to frame the signs. This wood is 1"x4' lathe boards. You can buy a bundle of them at Home Depot for $12.

I then painted the side sign slats brown.

After the paint dried on the signs, I distressed each sign by sanding the edges and front of each sign. I also distressed the side slats.

Finally, I nailed the slats onto each side of each sign.

Here is how they turned out...

This is how I decorated my shelf for Spring. I bought the metal vase at the thrift store for $1. I filled the vase with twigs I got from my sister.

I added a bird house and nest I had to the display.

I saw this bee print on a website, so I had Matt Photoshop the image to my liking. I had it developed at Costco for $6. The size is 14.5"x14.5". I put the print in a frame that Matt made me some time ago.
I love how everything came together!


If you are interested in purchasing the vinyl flower name stencils or bee print, send me an email and I will add them to my Etsy Shop.


Happy Spring!!!