Book pages wreath

I've been loving all the new craft blogs I've discovered and started following.  What great ideas and inspiration.  I have no idea who started this!  But it's all over the place!  So easy too, especially since I had everything I needed at my fingertips!


Book?  Check.  I had this old dictionary lying around.  Really with the internet who needs a dictionary?  AnywayI used my black stamp ink pad I blacked the outside edges. 

Hanger?  Check.  This was actually a surprise because I hate these wire hangers and thought I threw them all away.  I'll have to remember to hang onto a few because I have a few other craft projects that need wire hangers.


I was looking at the many different wreaths.  Folded paper, accordion style paper and rolled paper.  I decided I liked the rolled style the best.  So I start by rolling each page...


Then I fold up the bottom.  One to keep the point from getting in the way on the other side, but also to thicken up the base of the roll to keep it secure on the wire and keep the pages from sliding around on the wire wreath.


Stick the hanger though the papers.  I actually used a paperclip to start a hole, but a thumb tack would work well too.  I have a blister on the tip of my pointer finger from pushing the paperclip through the 6 layers of paper!


Slide  it around to the other side.  Keep going until...


You get back around to the other side.  Re-hook the hanger closed and then I bent down the hook so it didn't stick out above the paper rolls.


Finally hang it on the wall!  Back to my same old same old problem.  My lack of space in our half of my in-law's basement!  But I found an empty wall.  It's not the best place, simply because I can't see the wall, it's around the corner from the main living room, but it's up.  Someday I'll once again have my own space and can find a great place for it.  Most walls have low hanging vents from the heating system and I didn't want to risk hanging it low enough for my kids to destroy it.  It would take them less than a second I think!  Luckily I still have about half the dictionary left, so I can either make a gift for someone or fix mine if my kids find a way to reach it!  Anyway, I LOVE it!

Nuts for St Patrick's day! #69 Seasonal wreaths

I, like many others, saw this wreath that Dana made and fell in love with it.  Since most of us don't have access to so many and such pretty acorns all us fan's have used other nut's and items.  Here and here are some examples.  So I started looking around for what I might use.  I thought the beads were a great idea because you don't have to worry about them rotting.  But I couldn't find the same beads easily and I was at Costco and saw their huge bag of Almonds and thought it might work out well. 

The wreath I found at DI for $1 so I was ready to go.  I went with 18 inch, even though it's too big for the doors here I want to make sure it's big enough for where ever we live next.  I set about hot gluing the almonds to the wreath!  I have a pretty cool hot glue gun so not burns, but at the same time they didn't stick as well.  I'm still nervous they'll fall off too easily.  When I put the wreath down to take a picture of it George, our micro mini pot bellied piglet, started eating on the bottom nuts!  I had to put him in his room to get the shot.

I knew I was going to go with a dark color to start off, and I could have just painted it right away, but I wanted to prime it first hoping it would help seal it a bit before starting.  So here it is primed (I think I'll do what Dana does and keep changing the color to match the season, so I'll use the primer again). 

Finally I went with a dark green for St. Patrick's day!  I'm running out of space in our half of the basement and don't have a good door to place it on where it won't get hurt by the kids.  Plus with our low ceilings it hangs WAY too low.  So I put a nail up at the top of the wall (only a few inches higher than my head) and hung it there.  With the panel behind it's pretty ugly.  I'm still hoping to find a better spot for it.  If only I had a front door!!!

#68 a picture frame dry erase calendar

Yeah!  First goal completed only 100 left!  I'm new to blogging my crafts and I completely forgot to take a picture of the frame and picture before I started!  You'd think after blogging for almost 3 years now I would be better prepared! 

Anyway I saw this idea and fell in love, Here and Here.  They both have great tutorial's, I didn't take enough pictures.  I'll do better next time.  Anyway we're in my mother in law's basement without a lot of room.  So I decided on a 16x20 frame.  I found this awful yellow one at Thrift Town for $2.  First I spray painted it Crimson red.

Then I sprayed over it with Semi Gloss Black, while it was still wet I took a cloth and lightly wiped over the top.  The places where it was rubbed the red showed through.  It matches the other frames in the room very well now.  I was really pleased with how well it turned out actually.

It's so hard to get a picture of the details, especially with the glossy finish.  But here is the best close up I was able to get.  It's a nice subtle look and I love it!

Then Following the directions from the other blogs I drew the calender and days of the week on the inside of the frame with permanent marker.  When I went looking through my fabric box I couldn't find anything light enough for the back of the frame.  Apparently I like dark colors, so I'll have to keep any eye on the sale and scrap items at the fabric stores.  But for now I used some tan craft paper.  It's a bit wrinkled but it will do for now.  So next just fill in and enjoy!  I put it right by the door that leads upstairs so we can all see it and add to it anytime we leave the safety of our basement.


I linked this post to Make your Monday's here.