Wedding Subway Art

My friend Sarah got married in October. I was a bad friend and didn't bring a gift...but I FINALLY finished her Subway Art I started months ago. (If you've ever made Subway Art, you're probably laughing at me because it really isn't hard) I am Mamma has a good tutorial (click here) for how to use picnik.com (for free) to make your own printables.



I would be more then happy to fill in your name/date/colors and e-mail you a copy!

I am linking up here:

Valentine's Day Collage

This year for Valentine's Day I wanted to make the hubby something that included our little man. So I came up with the idea of making him a onesie that said "My heart belongs to daddy". I used my cricut and freezer paper to make it. Click here for a tutorial on freezer paper.

After I made the onesie, I had my friend Kim take a picture of Travis and I.



Then I used Picnik.com to make a collage. (If you aren't familiar with picnik.com, I am Mamma has some great tutorials!) It turned out super cute! I printed it 12"x12" and bought a shadowbox frame to put it in. Fun, meaningful gift for $12!



I am linking up here!

Wedding flowers

So...did you think I died? Or did you not notice I haven't posted anything new in AGES? Either way, here I am! My little sister got married in January and my dad was out of work for 1 1/2 years before that. So I was busy, busy, busy making stuff and doing things for the wedding. My mom is a chronic DIY'er (yes, where I got it from), and I learned when she said "We will just do it ourselves!" in reference to the wedding, what she meant was "Melissa will do it!" So, when my mom said we were going to do our flowers, I was quite worried. I don't know how to do flowers!

Luckily, Kyla's mother-in-law (yep I know Kyla in real life-she's amazing!) has done flowers in the past. So we went over to her house one night and she taught us what she knew. She taught my mom and I the basics of making corsages, boutonnieres, and bouquets. Luckily, I took ONE DAY of floral class in High School before switching electives, so I knew how to wrap stems with floral tape. That is all I knew before this experience! But, somehow, my sister's flowers were absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I don't want to brag (seriously) but I was impressed!

So, here is how you can save $1000 (or more) on a wedding. Either find someone you know who knows the basics of doing flowers, or YOUTUBE! I went on YouTube and found hundreds of videos for how to make a boutonniere, corsage, or bouquet. Then I googled "yellow wedding flowers" and found hundreds of ideas. Then I found a local flower whole seller that you are actually able to pre-order flowers from. And worked up a ton of nerve and spent all day the day before the wedding slaving over flowers. Luckily I had a few handy ladies who came and helped me otherwise I would still be working! (and the wedding was 3 weeks ago) I made:
-7 bouquets
-13 boutonnieres
-5 corsages
And 13 flower arrangements for centerpieces.
And all the flowers cost...$200. Seriously.
I am still kicking myself that I didn't take a picture of all the flowers I made. SO MAD! But, it was a wedding, right? So we have hundreds of pictures, so just click on them to see them big so you can appreciate the flowers!

Here is my sister's bouquet close up...she didn't want ANY greenery added to it. Only flowers!



And here are us bridesmaid with the beautiful bride and our beautiful flowers!





And the groomsmen boutonniere's...


And here is one with the parents and grandparents and you can see their corsages and boutonniere's. (Ignore my mom's corsage that is upside down. The roses were TOO heavy and wouldn't stay up the other way. She said she liked it up-side down :O) )



And here are a few I cropped so you can better see them...

Snowman Onesie

When I saw these snowman shirts, I knew Travis needed one! So I made it into a onesie.



I used freezer paper and (not) puffy paint since I didn't have any fabric paint on hand and am on a no-spend budget. Here is a quick tutorial just in case anyone hasn't used freezer paper-which is amazing by the way!

(Freezer paper was hard for me to find. I went to 3 grocery stores before I found it at Vons. My aunt said she found it at Wal-mart too.)

Supplies:
-Onesie or shirt
-Paint brush
-Freezer paper
-Exacto Knife
-Cutting mat
-Pencil
-Some type of fabric paint (I used puffy paint and made it non-puffy)
-Iron/ironing board



Draw the snowman face on the non-glossy side of the freezer paper.



Place your freezer paper on your cutting mat, and begin cutting out with your exacto knife. I wasn't worried about it being perfect since it was supposed to look like coal eyes and a carrot nose anyway-which aren't perfect!



Make sure you save the insides of the eyes to cut out smaller circles.



Place the freezer paper shiny side DOWN on the fabric. Use an iron to attach it to your fabric. Keep ironing until the edges are well attached to the fabric. You don't want the paint to seep under.



(Make sure you put newspaper or something inside your shirt or onesie otherwise you will end up painting the back also.)

Then, paint! To use puffy paint and make it non-puffy, just squeeze some onto a plate. Then you paint it on just as you would any other paint.



When you are all done painting, you should have something like this:



Let your paint dry for about 20 minutes and then peel off your freezer paper. You don't want it to be totally dry or else it will be hard to get the freezer paper off.

Next, if you are using fabric paint you want to heat set it. I was unsure if I needed to do this with puffy paint, but I decided I would cry if I washed it and it came off, so I did it anyway. Just put a towel over your design, and iron it.

That's it! Super easy, adorable shirt!



I'm linking up here:

TheTrainToCrazy.com

Where will you be this weekend?

I will be here!



Come check out the 40+ vendors that will be at the boutique, buy some homemade gifts for people on your list, and shop for yourself!

Christmas card wreath

So when I saw this tea wreath, I knew I had to make one to hang Christmas cards on. I love getting Christmas cards in the mail, but they usually just end up in a basket at my house. So I figured if I had something super easy to attach them to, maybe I could actually show them off!







I made them a little different then the tea one...I put a lot less clothespins on mine. I only used 8. I decided I wanted them spaced out so the Christmas cards weren't jumbled together. But I can always put up more then 8 Christmas cards. Also, I wanted my background paper to show more. I also used a diapers box instead of thin cardboard. I also didn't put clothespins on the top because I wanted to put some words to make it a little more festive.

I made two...one for my little sis (I am making her different decorations for different holidays for a bridal shower present) and one for me. Now the hard part...deciding which one to give away!

-Melissa

I'm linking up here:

Gift exchange!

Have you signed up for Linda's Christmas gift exchange at Craftaholics Anonymous? It is so much fun, I can't wait. I was so excited when I saw she was doing it, and I almost didn't do it. I am swamped with school (did I mention I am in Grad school??), baby, hubby with bronchitis, and crafting for an upcoming boutique, I thought "When will I have time to make yet another thing and send it off???" And then I realized...What I really need to help me chill is the anticipation of getting some wonderful surprise in the mail. So tonight is the last night to sign up. So do it now!