Sunday, July 8, 2012

Letter Art - The Craft with Many Uses

Tonight I found myself feeling a little bored and at the same time having that need to craft.  Luckily I discovered something that is easy, quick, and fun!  Letter Art!  After cleaning off my bookshelf recently I found some old books with ideas for letter art designs (you can still buy the same one I have here).  Tonight when I decided to work on a project using letter art, I remembered I needed to make a birthday card for someone whose birthday is in a few days.  This was the perfect way to get me started!  After flipping through all the ideas I settled on a flower design.  Here is my process for creating (I think) a relatively good looking card:

Step 1. Fold paper into your desired card shape, I was boring today and went with white, which turned out not to be such a bad choice since my design was busy.
Step 2. Start drawing in PENCIL!  Feeling brave and just starting with marker, pen, etc? I hope you have extra paper because chances are you'll mess up at some point.  Don't try to replicate the book too hard, you do want it to have that handmade feel a little bit.  Your own spin on things will make your card that much more personal :)
Step 3. Go over the letters (not the flowers) with marker, I chose green since to me the letters are kind of like the stems of the flowers.
Step 4. Color the flowers, I followed the color scheme used in the book today but you could easily change it up to match your style or the recipient's favorite colors.
Step 5. Write a message inside, sign your name, and you're done!  Sometimes I like to write something on the back of the card so the recipient knows it is made with love, such as: made especially for (recipient name) by (your name).

After finishing the birthday card, my need to craft was not yet satisfied, so I found the next design I wanted to try and wrote my name.  I chose the Zebra print and did my name in bubble letters, outlined in black.  Then I used purple and blue colored pencils to decorate the rest of the page.

Here are my results and a picture of the book:

I hope you can have some fun with letter art and maybe even come up with some designs of your own! This was a really simple craft that wasn't too time consuming (although it could be...) and made me feel like a kid again!  Let me know how your designs turn out!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Happy 4th of July!!

Hello again,

Sorry for not posting any crafts yet... I have been really busy with school and getting ready for tomorrow's festivities!  So this isn't exactly a craft but I believe most people who enjoy crafts will enjoy this extremely simple tutorial for... The Perfect Patriotic Look!

Pictured above is my celebration outfit and my patriotic nails!  Want to re-create the look?  Here's how:

Step 1. Go to Target (or any store it seems like) and buy flag shorts!  When I first saw this trend I wasn't a fan, but one day at Target I decided to try these on and I fell in love!  What better way to show love for our country than sporting some stars and stripes?
Step 2. Get a navy blue shirt... easier said than done, believe it or not!  I searched many stores to find a simple, plain, navy blue shirt and my final attempt found me at Hollister... success!
Step 3. Buy and/or look around you house for red, white, and (I like sparkly) blue nail polish.
Step 4. Paint your thumbs blue and then alternate with red and white on the other fingers (hey, I warned you it would be extremely simple!).  If you are in a more adventurous mood you could add a star to your thumb or maybe a few stripes here and there (I have done this previously for other occasions using  some thinly cut labels, but thats a whole other tutorial!).
Step 5. Party it up!  Have a fantastic 4th! Have fun, be proud, be safe!

Until next time :)

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

1st Shoutout!

Hello World of Blogging!

This is my first post on my first blog...ever.  So bear with me here.  I basically wanted to start a blog so that I could have a place to write about the crafts I have done, and hopefully someone else will benefit! If even one person (who ISN'T related to me) reads this and enjoys one or more of my crafts I will be thrilled!  Everything I make is REAL and nothing is PERFECT.  I always wish that my crafts would turn out the way they look on the blogs I read... if you feel that way too then you've come to the right place!  Crafting is my hobby, I am not the best by far so there is a great chance that your crafts will turn out just like mine, if not better!  More posts on the things I've made to come... enjoy!