Fun Friday Fascinations #26

#1.  Missie Krissie's tutorial for a lovely Leather Leaf Necklace looks amazing.  The instructions look simple, but yet the end result is this stunning statement necklace.  Perfect for the fall.  

#2.  Henry Happened made some cute Clay Disc Earrings.  I've been wanting to use clay in a DIY project.  I used to make tons of jewelry with it when I was in Girl Scouts.  Maybe this is just the top of project to get me back into it!

#3.  I Love To Create whipped up a fantastic halloween themed DIY T-shirt.  Love this dip dyed look with the full moon and bats.  Ya know how much I love to combined dip dying and stenciling on a t-shirt, so this tutorial is just calling my name out.  

#4.  Another halloween inspired DIY by Lacquer and Linen.  I know we've all seen painted pumpkins before, but these are simply marvelous.  I love the chain on the ghost, and even the bling is awesome, and I am so not a bling kinda girl.  

#5.  Made With Love shares how to make your own notepad by hand.  One of my college printmaking teachers would do this with all the scrap pieces the students would throw away.  I still have one kicking it around, but I've been thinking I need a new homemade notepad.  

Well that's it!  Have a lovely weekend, and happy DIYing, chris!

DIY Tombstone Decor Part III

One last update on how the Halloween tombstones are going.  Ok, that's a little lie.  The last one until I have them up outside my house, and looking awesome.  I finally got a stencil complete, and I spray painted one of the tombstones!  I started off by taping down the stencil, and some extra paper around the edges so there wouldn't be any overspray.  

Then using blue painters tape I traced, and cut out the inside pieces for the As and Rs.  

I carefully placed the little pieces inside the letters using the point of my razor knife.

Finally I was ready to spray paint.  I used white paint by Valspar.  

There was a little overspray around the letters, so I helped define the edges by going over the letters with white nail polish.  I did the last two words, 'at last' with a coat of nail polish.  

This is how the final product looks.  I'm pretty pleased.  I think the overspray under the nail polish helps make the letters look a bit aged, so it doesn't look quite like a brand new headstone.  

That's all for today, happy DIYing, chris!

Tombstone DIY Part 2

I worked more on my Tombstone DIY when I got home from work today.  I searched the internet for some good headstone epitaphs.  Then I found some decent gravestone type faces, and worked on the font sizes that would make for the best design.  Finally I printed them out on some card stock paper, and set to town xacto knifing the letters out.  

After an hour and a half I broke the tip off my blade, and only made it through four and a half of the seven words, on one of the tombstones.    I pressed the knife to hard into the plastic I was leaning on, and that's why it broke.  I have back up blades, but I didn't feel like digging them out.  Plus it's getting late, and I have another early work day tomorrow. 

This is the longest epitaph I found.  I hope I find the time to cut it out, because it would look great spray painted on there.  

Have a great night, and happy DIYing, chris

Tombstone DIY Halloween Decorations

With fall in the air, I'm ready for Halloween.  So while working on the house today we took a little break and did a fun project.  We made foe tombstones for outdoor decorations out of some leftover OSB.  We started off by sketching out a cross shape on the wood.  Then Aaron used a circular saw to cut the cross out.  

Next we used Valspar's Stone spray paint and sprayed the pieced of cut out wood.  This stuff does a fantastic job covering the wood.  We only needed one coat to get this nice thick grey color.  

Now we have to let the spray paint dry, and I'm going to work on what I would like to stencil on to the front with some black acrylic paint.  I'll have to share the final outcome whenever I'm able to finish them.  This week is going to be busy though, because we are going on a long trip up to the tippy top of Vermont for our good friends' wedding.  We will be leaving on Thursday, and I know I'll be extra busy with work from Monday to Wednesday.  I hope ya'll had a great weekend, and happy DIYing, chris!

Fun Friday Fascinations #20

Happy Fun Friday Fascinations!  For this week's addition I have all DIYs, and mostly home decor related.  

#1.  This is The Lil' House That Could's Polka Dot Stencil, which she used to paint a closet.  I love pattern, and using it in a small space will make a powerful statement.  

#2.  Girl In Air's Pottery Barn Knock-off Giant Map.  I love maps and large statement art pieces, and this DIY is definitely all that and more.  This would be fantastic to do with reclaimed wood.  I love her clock too!  

#3.  Taking Time To Create's Patchwork Headboard.  Love this DIY, so simple, and it would look dramatically different depending on what fabric you used, and how you laid out the pattern of the squares.  

#4.  This DIY could make a great wedding or home warming present.  Grill Fusion's DIY Name Plate Sign.  I wonder if I know someone that would appreciate this as a gift ...  

#5.  Remember how I was saying on tuesday how I'm already thinking about Halloween?  Well here is another fun Halloween related DIY.  Dana from Made's paper bats.  I love Dana's blog!  I'm a long time fan of hers, she has great tutorials, lovely photos, and her writing always gets me to chuckle.  

Hope ya'll have a great weekend, and for my US readers Happy Labor Day!  Have a safe holiday, and happy DIYing, chris!  

Halloween Rats

Halloween is my favorite holiday, and I know it's still more than two months off, but since this is the first halloween Aaron and I will get to spend in our house (hopefully!) I want to make a bunch of decorations.  When I got home from work today I went to work on google looking for some simple Halloween crafts that will  be easy to pack.  Of course I found a ton of cute crafts on Martha Stewart's website, and I decided to start cutting out some of her fun black rats. 

They are going to look amazing on our steps!  I need to cut out a few more rats to fill our staircase, but I have plenty of time.  :)  I used black construction paper, and was able to get six rats out of one sheet.  

Do you love halloween?  What is your favorite holiday?  Happy DIYing, chris!