Dollar Store Craft: custom geometric vases

A few months ago, I found some great glass vases at the Dollar Store. I filled them with free seasonal decor. When we moved, I had to find a new place for my vases, and the best place was in the living room. But I needed five more vases.

Rather than filling them all again, I decided I wanted to paint them to match our new living room decor. I picked up some acrylic paint and masking tape ($2 and $1, respectively) and sat down to make some awesome designs with the tape. 

I turned this into a kids' craft, too, because I laid out the newspaper and let my kids loose with the foam brushes!

Some tips on getting this right:

• Use (at least) two coats of paint, and allow the paint to dry fully between coats.
• Apply the second coat carefully and quickly, and lay it on thick. Try not to paint an area more than once. If you don't, the paint will ripple and pull off!
• You can use the acrylic enamel made for glass--it'll be dishwasher safe and it might work better, but I don't know how well it works with masking tape.
• Be careful when pulling off the tape! The acrylic doesn't want to adhere, especially at the point of diamonds or triangles. If I did it over again, I wouldn't do those shapes. A razor blade can be helpful in holding down the paint while you pull off the tape. (Or you can do what I did and use your fingernails. Wayward!).

I still have three plain vases. What should I do? I was going to leave them blank, but my husband thinks they look . . . well, blank. My two ideas would be to borrow a page from Jaime's book and do a glitter vase, or to fill them with something cool. Glass beads? Autumn leaves? Colored water? (Ha--asking for trouble with four kids 8 & under!)

What do you think??

Valentine craft roundup!

It's time to start crafting for Valentine's Day....but some of us haven't started yet. So here's some inspiration to get you in the mood for pink, red, hearts and chocolate!

Paint your nails with hearts like Jasmine did

Get your home ready with ideas for some Valentine's Decor

Jaime's

Brooke's

Need a treat for your Valentine? Why not try Hazelnut Creme Puffs or Marble Chocolate Cheesecake

 

Here's a Valentine that will last forever: Clay Conversation Hearts

 

Is your Valentine a little young? Maybe very young? A Valentine's Day Onsie could be perfect!

Hope you found some inspiration! Happy Valentine's Day!

Tulle, Tulle, Tulle!

So I really like tulle. The skirt of my wedding dress was a whole lot of tulle. And we bought 400 yards of it...for decorating. Ok so decorating...a lot of times in the Latter-day Saint church wedding receptions are held in the church building's cultural hall and our wedding was no exception. It's big with tables and plenty of chairs. What more could you ask for? Except, well in the church building closest to us, it's not the prettiest thing in the world. I wanted to transform our cultural hall and make it a romantic and elegant setting. With heavy duty wire, Christmas light strands, tulle and some nails, we achieved exactly what I wanted.

We bought a spool of wire, a dozen light strands, 400 yards of tulle (online is far cheaper than going to Michael's or JoAnn or anywhere really) and had some nails handy. We, and by we I mean my brothers in law, strung the wire from the basketball backboard to the other one then on the sides of the wall. Then, starting from one side, we strung the tulle from wire to wire, draping it slightly. We secured some of the sections with nails if it was necessary.

Then, we hung tulle down the wall and tied it in the middle with a decorative bow with wired ribbon. Between the sections of tulle, we strung the light strands. We didn't drape those down the wall though.

We also had a couple strands of swagged Christmas lights from Brooke's wedding that we hung on one wall with Command Strips and hung tulle down the wall from an additional wire. We didn't turn on the cultural hall lights. The Christmas lights offered enough light for a romantic setting. It was completely transformed into the perfect wedding reception hall and it was beautiful!

Valentine's Day Round Up!

It's time to start crafting for Valentine's Day....but some of us haven't started yet. So here's some inspiration to get you in the mood for pink, red, hearts and chocolate!

Paint your nails with hearts like Jasmine did

Get your home ready with ideas for some Valentine's Decor

Jaime's

Brooke's

Need a treat for your Valentine? Why not try Hazelnut Creme Puffs or Marble Chocolate Cheesecake

 

Here's a Valentine that will last forever: Clay Conversation Hearts

 

Is your Valentine a little young? Maybe very young? A Valentine's Day Onsie could be perfect!

Hope you found some inspiration! Happy Valentine's Day!

Guest post: Vintage Dressed Up Bottle from The ArtsyGirl Connection

Hello lovely friends.. I am Super EXCITED to have an opportunity to be

sharing with you today from my space next door via The ArtsyGirl Connection.

......................

I am Marilyn, the heart and creator of The

ArtsyGirl Connection and really thankful 

to be a guest here at the INCREDIBLY 

Creative and Inspirational Space 

Wayward Girls Crafts.. I am very excited 

to get to know you all and hope to

stop in your blogs sometime ;))

....................................

I'm a mother to two beautiful mini Moon's,

 engaged to my very best friend, craft

addict, pixel lover, upcycling junkie and a

 DIY trial and error chef in my own world!!

I love indulging in creative outlets from

crafting to enhancing our home over the

season's and creating unique items for my children.

I craft for cause and totally light up at any opportunity to help bring awareness where needed to various issues close to my heart.  I will LOVE to get to know you all and an opportunity to indulge in more future blog shenanigans sometime.. Hope you can all stop in and say hello..

...................................
I came across this beautiful burlap lace dressed up bottle that TOTALLY inspired my

featured item here today.. Hope you enjoy.. I had fun playing dress up.. Join in...

*Vintage Dressed Up Bottle*

Pin It

This dress up was FUN and very easy..I Love the way the bottle turned out.. I think

it'll be great to bottle up wine or some sort of fun cocktail for a nice spring picnic..

*What YOU Need*

Fabric Of Choice (Strip)

Lace Strip

Glue

Rope (I used a natural twine/rope with metal rod in it)

....................................................

*Lets Play Dress Up*

To begin, I cut a strip of the cloth I wanted and measured it up to where I wanted to 

fit the bottle. I glued the fabric to the bottle carefully. Afterwards, I did the same with the 

lace. I cut it smaller than the fabric for an added vintage feel to the fabric (cut lace
about half the size of the actual fabric.). I glued that on as well accordingly.. 

After the fabric was in place, I decided to add a natural feel to the bottle by decorating

it with some natural tone rope/twine. I started at the top and worked my way around to
the bottom. I used a pair of pliers to tighten the end in a little hidden loop at the bottom
to keep the rope in place. (This was the hardest part of this creative piece! The twine is
a bit hard to keep in tact so hold on tight as you wrap around until you are at the bottom!)
Really ---lt;<<<<<<<<<< YES, THAT'S IT!!!!! 

I LOVE The New Look Of The Bottle.. 

Pin It

I created another and hope to use them sometime soon to serve around 

the house.. What a fun way to decorate and jazz up a bottle! Will certainly 

add a fun touch to any dinning table..My family LOVED It!!! 

...........................................

Thanks SO much for having me here today ladies.. Wishing you a great week..

Hope you can all stop in sometime! I have a great linky party I would LOVE
for you to share in every Thursday ~ Pin'Inspirational Thursday's {For the 
LOVE of Pinterest!}.  Would LOVE to join you on facebook, twitter
and hop along your linky tool's as well. Lets follow each other!
~STAY ARTSY!~

Fall Leaves "Canvas" Art for $1

I have a hard time with seasonal decorating. One reason is I'm picky. Another reason is I'm thrifty (aka cheap).  This year I decided to make some fall decor to go in my home. I headed to my trusted friend: Dollar Tree. There I found a pack of 50 fall leaves. From there, I made my Fall Leaves "Canvas" Art.

Materials:
Leaves (from Dollar Tree)
Lid to a shoe box-- yes that's your canvas!

Tools:
Scissors
Glue gun

First, map out your "canvas," This is to make sure you have enough leaves. 

Next, start gluing!

This is the fully covered "canvas"

I didn't like the little specks of white poking through on the bottom. I only had a few leaves left and they were all red. I chopped them up like so:

I slipped the pieces in the bottom to fill up the white:

I also scouted out any white spaces I left and filled them in. I wanted a more finished look for my canvas, so I glued the edges of the leaves to the sides. This is the final product:

Fall art for $1. What do you think?

Guest Post: Blog Swap with Kristine from J&M's Eye Candy Blog

Hi Wayward Girls' readers! 

Kristine here from J&M's Eye Candy Blog and Shoppe!

My SIL Britney and I created our blog as a place where we can collectively archive our projects and share it with others like you. We hope that you are taking the time and enjoying crafting, whether it's during nap time, after work, and/or late at night like we do.

We blog about crafts, our families, recipes, fashion and we love us a linky party or two! Check us out on Tuesdays for "Help a Momma Out!," where you can link up and read fun mom stories, advice, crafts anything relating to helping a momma out! And our fun "Strut Your Stuff Sundays" party where you have a chance to show off your latest creations and of course browse amazing talent from other bloggers!

I'm so excited to be blog swapping with the talented Brooke today!
Be sure to check Brooke out over on our blog, and show her some comment love!

I have a little girl M who is turning the BIG 1 at the end of this month! To celebrate we are throwing a Pink Elephant/Circus theme celebration! I will be posting about all the decor and DIY projects I've done for the party, after the party, on our blog. One of my faves is how to make tissue ball poms. Since I didn't want to post the exact ones I've made for the party just yet, I'm posting the tutorial and pics taken from our family's blog from February of this year. It was my first time attempting these beauties on my own. Read on!

Notes:

I promise these are super easy!! By cutting the tissue paper in half I made two "small" poms out of the fuchsia pink tissue paper. As you can see the other poms are "large." No cutting necessary. The black and white pom I switched up a bit. Instead of rounding the edges, I made a point. So instead of scalloped circles, I made triangles.

You can see a HUGE difference once the pom is all done. Don't be afraid to try different cuts. Remember those crazy scissors that use to be so widely popular?! Of course I couldn't find mine, but that would be awesome and make that step so easy!

P.S. Never again will I photograph a tutorial with M's Princess play mat as the background. Ha! Sorry ya'll! I didn't even notice while I was creating and snapping pictures along the way. A momma can't be picky tho! I made these with M playing beside me. Perfect! No complaining here! Did I mention how big she's getting?! A year this weekend peeps! So crazy! She is so good-natured. We are blessed.

Below is a picture of some tissue ball poms I made, that we hung in M's nursery. I had the hubs put up some hooks and then hang the poms on them using fishing wire. Can't wait to post about the ones I made for M's party!! SO many different ways to use these fun tissue pom balls!

As usual - Happy Creating!! If you use this tutorial please let me know, I would love to feature you on our blog and/or FB page. Email me at jandmseyecandy@hotmail.com. I would love to see what you come up with! Thanks so much Brooke for swapping with me today!! We appreciate it! We hope you Wayward Girls' readers will hop on over and party with us too!!

State Canvas Art

This post was originally featured on She Wears Flowers. 

So I've seen a lot of state-loving on Pinterest lately and the bug has bitten me! I love my home state, North Carolina, and am sad I can't live there right now. I thought a North Carolina print would be perfect for my home, but you can make State Canvas Art with any state or country. This is what I created:

First let's start with the materials:

1 Stretched Canvas (I used 11 x 14)
Three different colors of acrylic paint (red paint is not pictured)
Paint Brush
Scissors
Cardstock and Printer (not pictured)

I started by giving my canvas 2 coats of blue acrylic paint (Folk Art 2555 Deep Ocean Blue):

I tried to make sure the paint was even, especially in the middle where the state would be seen. The first coat I went across my canvas. For the second I went up and down. 

 Then this happened....I couldn't have done this if I tried! My scissors just landed this way!

 Next I printed out a map of my state on cardstock. I measured it to make sure it would fit well on my canvas.

I took my scissors and got to cutting. I decided to skip trying to cut out the island chain on the coast of my state (The Outerbanks) and left them on there. I like the shape better.  At this point I started remembering my 4th grade state project, where I used salt dough to make the Ol' North State. Good times. Back to the project!

 I applied removable adhesive to the back of my cardstock and stuck it on my dry canvas (I let it dry overnight just to be sure). 

I used a contrasting paint color (Folk Art 2561 Steel Gray) and started in the middle and painted OUT from my state. I didn't want to try to push the paint against the edges and have the cardstock curl or the paint get underneath. 

I gave the canvas two coats but didn't wait until the second coat fully dried before removing the state.

 I wanted to make sure it would come up easily.  I used tweezers to pull the side up so I wouldn't hurt the paint. It looked AWESOME. So awesome I forgot to take a picture. But I decided to put the final touch, a little heart over my home town.

I cut out a stencil from cardstock of a heart and dabbed a bit of red paint in the heart. Voila! I love the results. This project was really easy, a little messy and pretty cheap.

What colors would you use?