Relaxing From Crafting?!?!?!?!?

Relaxing from Crafting?........ Have you ever heard such a thing! HAHAHA

Once in a while I will get asked what do you do to relax from crafting. Well I can't really say that I ever actually take a break from crafting. Sometimes we will go fishing or camping, but I still take my yarn with me. If I had to say there was one thing I love to do when I just want to clear my head from all the crafting and that is painting. I picked up painting as a hobby about a year ago and found that it is so relaxing to me. Whenever I get stressed out I have my husband build me a canvas and after I prime it I put my feelings into the brush and let it go.


A few days ago I wasn't stressed but I just needed a break from filling Christmas orders and working on Christmas gifts. So I pulled out my paints and decided to make my family a nice Christmas Painting for the wall.

I think its important to have something that you can just relax with. What do you do to escape?




Happy Crafting
Stephanie

Recycled Christmas Ornaments

For those that know me I love to upcycle just about anything. I love to give old broken things new life.

If you are looking through your parents or your grandparents old Christmas decorations you might come across those old Christmas lights with the bigger bulbs. You might also be able to find a cheap set at your local thrift shop.


These bulbs make for great recycled Christmas Ornaments.

Supplies Needed
Christmas Bulbs
Glue
Paint Brush
Glitter
Wire

The first thing I did was take the wire and wrapped it around the bulb so that the bulb can hang and you can hold on to the wire while applying the glue. I have to say that I am a HUGE fan of the Crayola School Glue. It doesn't drip and its very easy to work with. Then I  took my paint brush and brushed some glue around where the wire wraps around the bulb to help hold the wire in place, when you go to work on it later. 

After you wrap all your bulbs in wire and glue the wire in place its time to start gluing the bulbs. Take your paint brush and give just the bulb part a nice thick smooth coat of glue.               

Once you get the bulb covered in glue take your glitter and sprinkle an even coat over the entire part of the bulb that you just glued. 

After you go through and do all your bulb colors go back and just glue the part of the bulb that you would screw in and then coat that with gold glitter. When I finished all my bulbs I sprayed them with a clear coat lacquer. This will protect the glitter from being scratched or wrecked.


This little craft makes for a beautiful addition to any tree.









Happy Crafting
Stephanie

More cutting with vinyl

As much fun as I had over the Halloween season using my Silhouette,I have to admit that starting to work on Christmas stuff has been even more fun. I know it may sound silly but I don't know how I survived all this time without my Silhouette Cameo. I have also been getting ready for a craft show coming up this weekend. I wanted to share some of the fun things that I did this week using vinyl cutouts

 I honestly never imagined that I could do all the things that I do on my Cameo. It is simply the most user friendly electronic cutting machine that I believe is on the market. If you are a designer or even if you are not a designer I highly suggest getting the designer deluxe package. Having that package allows you to  create, alter, basically draw up anything you can think of and cut it out.


Recently I have started working with vinyl and it's very easy to work with on the Silhouette. I have used it on walls, windows, wood, and best of all I love to use it as a stencil for other projects like glass etching

These past couple weeks I have been involved in a couple craft fairs and I was even able to make some of my tags using the Silhouette.

Here are just a few other things that I have made recently 

 Look for more Silhouette project ideas to come in 2013.

Happy Crafting,
Stephanie