#25craftsofchristmas-nights 3, 4, 5

This past weekend I got my maximum craft on by hosting craft parties on Friday, Saturday, AND Sunday. (I also attended a craft fair on Saturday where I seemed to accumulate multiple objects of the moose persuasion. Shhhh. We're not going to talk about it).

The craft party themes were "Christmas Countdowns," "Ornaments," and "Cards." With the help of my friends, we plowed through 12 more crafts! Woohoo!

Friday night: Countdowns
7. Chalkboard Countdown - (pinspiration from item no longer on etsy)
8. Pocket Advent Calendar - (link to pinspiration no longer working)
9. Santa Beard Countdown (not yet numbered) - this was a shape I purchased from the silhouette online store

Saturday night: Ornaments
10. TMNT filled with glitter - Allison curated project
11. Cement Light Bulbs and Trees - pinspiration
12. String Words - pinspiration
13. Melted Crayons* - pinspiration
Bonus Ornament: Melted Snowman with olaf quote
*Only 1 ornament was dropped and shattered on the concrete floor in the making of this craft.

Sunday ended up being a quiet crafternoon (do you see what I did there?) for Allison and me. We used my silhouette to cut out some simple shapes to make lots of adorable cards.
14. Santa Suit - pinspiration
15. Wrapped Packages - pinspiration
16. Paper Tree - pinspiration
17. Ornaments - (pinspiration from item no longer available on etsy)
18. Ribbon Tree - pinspiration

See projects from nights 1, 2, 6, 7, and 8.

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#25craftsofchristmas - night 2

You know what I really enjoy? Watching my "non-crafty" friends create some awesome stuff. I think they enjoy it too. :)

Last night I hosted my second night of Christmas crafting with "More Winter Decorations."

4. Sharpie Mugs - these are alllllllll over Pinterest. However, we used oil based Sharpie paint markers after I read through a lot of tips. Hopefully this produces some long lasting work, because these ladies made some adorable pieces.
5. Paper Snowflakes - pinspiration. I pre-glittered all the paper (of course), which was slightly messy but mega sparkly.
6. Tinsel Trees - pinspiration. I am totally making a million of these to put everywhere. Soooo sparkly!

See projects from nights 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

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#25craftsofchristmas - night 1

Sunday kicked off the first of eight craft nights I am hosting this year for the "25 Crafts of Christmas" challenge I am completing with my friends.

For night one, I planned three projects for the "Winter Decorations" themed craft night.

1. Puff Paint Window Clings - this was an Allison curated project. The Pinterest inspiration (pinspiration. Is that a thing? I'm going to make it one. So just roll with it) can be found here. (Please note the age group for this... yeah. Kids at heart?)
2. School Glue Snowmen - pinspiration.
3. Painted Kitchen Towels - this has been an evolving project. Tutorial coming soon.

See projects from nights 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.

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craft night

It's no secret I am pinterest obsessed. I just love the overwhelming source of crafty inspiration it provides. So when Allison sent me 3 emails in a row with craft projects she had found, I started formulating a plan.

I love doing crafts, and I love sharing that satisfaction that comes from creating. So as a "Christmas present" to some of my lovely friends, I have decided to work through some of my pins and host "The 25 Crafts of Christmas."

Yes, that is correct. 25 crafts.

I am aware I am insane.

Here's the deal: I'm starting early (typically I am a no-Christmas-before-Thanksgiving kind of girl), I'm spreading it out into multiple craft nights, and I'm keeping it easy. So fingers crossed this works.

I will be hosting a total of 8 craft nights (or afternoons) for my friends to come join me. I've arranged for 3 or 4 projects each night and tried to have a theme for each set. My friends are invited to come to any nights of their choosing and work on whatever projects interest them.

It's going to be a blast, and I can't wait.

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motivational flower pots

I kill everything. Seriously. I cannot keep a plant alive to save my life.

At the beginning of summer I tried planting sunflowers from seeds. I was actually really proud of myself. I had quite a few growing, and they seemed to be going strong. So I bragged to Chris about how well they were doing.

"Well yeah. I've been watering them every time I come over to visit you."

Oh...

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five bucks of fun

I am basically a small child. I should not be left in a craft store by myself. Somehow, Chris didn't get that memo. Even after I told him he had to physically remove me from the section of fall decor with hedgehogs all over everything (omg, I almost grabbed ALL OF IT), he still let me wander off by myself.

In my defense, the cardboard cutouts were 50% off, so the welcome sign only cost me $5. Not bad for going rogue.

I used the same paint from my livingroom to make it pretty, so the entire ordeal ended up being relatively inexpensive.

Seriously, it could've been worse.

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hello!

I have officially now painted every room in my house. So I'm done painting now, right?

Ha. Hahaha. Of course not.

Unfortunately, both my front door and door in from my garage need some serious TLC. I'm not planning on tackling either of those any time soon, so I needed to do something to hold me over for a while.

Silhouette to the rescue!

Simple. Quick. Adorable. :)

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Reindeer

I think I'm developing an affinity for reindeer.

I got this cutie in a kit from target last weekend. He's hanging above the window in my kitchen.

I bought this fella from TJ MAXX when my mom and I went Christmas shopping last month.

And I made this guy a couple of weekends ago when I was on my glitter rampage.

I have the glittery ones displayed on the buffet I recently added to the living room. Do you like my usage of all the random ornamentsi had no idea what to do with?

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must. glitter. everything. (oh JOY)

It's been a while since I've done some legitimate crafting. With the house buying and the painting and the moving and the unpacking and the life-ing (totally a verb... trust me), I've been a bit busy.

Now I've done some small projects, but we all know what makes for an actual legitimate craft. Glitter. Lots and lots of glitter.

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Love Sticks

Random acts of kindness are my favorite. I get a lot of self satisfaction from doing things to make others happy. And since Chris is so easily amused, it doesn't take much on my part to make him smile.

 

Granted, if he's going to buy my roses, bring me chocolate covered strawberries, and stand outside in the cold darkness to replace my light fixtures all in the same week, I need something that's quick and simple to return the love. That's where the love sticks come in. 

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Watch out Kansas

Michelle has arrived.

For those of you that don't know, I am now working and living in Wichita, KS. As a Mizzou graduate, the thought of moving to such a horrible state was never in my plans. But now that I'm here I have definitely been adjusting and getting used to the town. It's honestly not that bad (but I won't deny that the drive here is boring). Fortunately, I haven't crossed paths with too many kU fans, so life here hasn't been too painful.

So far, my favorite part of this transition has been MY NEW APARTMENT. For anyone who has ever met me, you know I'm a crafty, creative person. So naturally, having an entire place to myself is basically a giant blank canvas for me. Which is way fun.

Speaking of blank canvases, I've already done some projects with a few of them. I left my college apartment with a large canvas painted blue that was supposed to go above my bed and a small white canvas with the outline of my face sketched on it. Needless to say, both of these projects were never finished before I moved out. But I brought them here, painted them white, and thought up new projects for them.

And that's how this little beast came about:


I got this idea off of pinterest, and it was too cool looking not to have one of my own. So I literally ran to Wal-Mart my first weekend here (even though I hate shopping there), bought the biggest box of crayons I could justify paying for (which was actually a tough decision), purchased my first official glue gun (I really don't know how I've made it 22 years without having my own), drove home and started crafting.
PROJECT SUPPLIES:
1 canvas
select crayons from 128 count box
hot glue
blow dryer
patience I managed to scrounge up somewhere

Originally, I wanted to do a monochromatic piece. That wasn't working for me, so I decided to pull from my 3 favorite colors. I picked out they crayons, arranged them in the order I wanted, then used a glue gun to attach the labels to the canvas (I've seen people who have peeled theirs first, but I liked the idea of having the wrappers still on). Once that was set, I propped the canvas at an angle and used the lowest setting on my blow dryer to begin the melting process. Some of the colors reacted faster than others, and some of them seemed like the wouldn't melt at all. But overall, I think this project was definitely worth the time it took hovering with a blow dryer to get a one-of-a-kind piece to hang on my bare walls.

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