Christmas Gingerbread House for the Library

So I get the privilege of decorating the library I work at for Christmas and the holiday season this year! I have the idea to build a book display for a while now and decided I wanted it to look like a gingerbread house. I ran the idea past my mom in August/September and she was excited to help. We drew up some plans and spent about a month shopping for materials (who knew you could buy fake donuts and cupcakes?), cutting and framing (my mom got a jigsaw for her birthday), painting, gluing, etc. Below are pictures of our process and the finished product. I hope you enjoy.

Initial Design

Framing

Windows

Handles

Painting

Shelves and Lights (Thanks Mom!)

Wooden Shingles

Fake Candy & Glitter

Vinyl Sign (Thanks Alissa!)

Completed Project!

I want to give a big thank you to my Mom for all her help on this project as well as to my Dad, Ryan, Kenny, Kevin, Grandpa & Grandma, Aunt Loi, and Alissa. You all contributed to this project and were critical to seeing it completed before the Christmas season. Thank you!!

Once I get it set up at the library, I will post another picture!

Wishes

Mom and I are addicted to Pinterest as I assume many of you reading this are as well...

Well we stumbled upon this cute print and decided to make our own version...

Forgive me I'm uploading this via my phone and they don't always cooperate. ..

It's Christmas Time!

It's my favorite time of year!

Cuddled up in sweaters and blankies with my hot cocoa or chai tea reading a good book.... mmmmmm... As long as I don't have to go out and shovel snow, I'm a happy camper!

This is also the time of year that is jam packed full of activities. Christmas concerts, family, traveling, searching for that perfect gift.... It's easy to get carried away... I'm trying really hard this Christmas to take the time to be thankful for the many blessings in my life even though it's been a rough year...

One of the many blessings that I am thankful for is my talent and love for creating things! 

Here's a couple of the Christmas Projects I've been working on! :)

Boss's Day

Tomorrow is Boss's Day!

Now I just started a new job and at my old job we just got a new store manager... sooo... what to do?

Well I do all my bestest brainstorming with my mom (Thanks Mom!) and she had been surfin' Pinterest and stumbled upon a homemade chai tea mix recipe. One of her friends loves chai tea, so I thought, "Hey, let's make a double batch!"

Now I feel really bad because I can't find the recipe we used, but it you search on Pinterest chai tea mix or chai tea recipe you will get a whole bunch of recipes that all are basically the same.

We found some cute jars at Walmart (the lack of craft stores in this area is appalling!) :( 

I made this label using Publisher:

Then I cut some cute vinyl lettering for the jars and slapped on a bow... 

Wah-La!

One cute Boss's Day gift! 

Happy Crafting!

And a huge shout out to all those "bosses" out there! 

Thank you for your leadership!

Be Still...

For a while now the first part of Psalm 46:10 has been playing through my head... "Be still and know that I am God..." A good reminder for anyone... Especially comforting for all the chaos in my life right now...

Since I'm craft and like visual reminders, I thought I make myself a board... Surfing on Pinterest I found a new technique for staining or "ebonizing" wood... Basically it's a way to make new wood look old and weathered... Here's the blog I followed:
 http://ourlittlegreennest.blogspot.com/2013/07/weathered-wood-crates.html

So basically you need:
Wood
2 Jars - I used old spaghetti jars
Tea
Vinegar
Steel wool

In one jar, fill 3/4 full of vinegar. It kinda depends on the size of your project. I had PLENTY left over. It just needs to be enough vinegar to cover your chunk of steel wool. I used the super fine stuff 0000. Then you just let it sit for at least 24 hours.

Is it done yet??

Now some people's vinegar turned brown... Mine never did and I let it sit for days..... It still works...

Oh and you may want to strain the vinegar before using it. The steel wool will disintegrate and leave little pieces all over. I didn't have much to do so I just dipped my brush into the jar... 

ANYWAYS... In your other jar, brew like 3 bags of tea... I let mine sit over night as well... Now the blog I was following said to use black tea. I don't like black tea, so I bought some flavored yummy tea. Did it work any better I couldn't tell you, but it smelled nice :)

So after waiting........ (looks at watch)......

You paint your board with your tea and let dry..... more waiting..........

Then you paint it with the vinegar..... and wait......

Some of the websites said you can see if change after a couple mins. I waited a couple mins and nothing happened.... So I thought it was a flop and let it sit on my table. 

HOWEVER!! 

After work the next day, I came back to check it out and it had weathered! Woot Woot!

I did a second coat with the vinegar and here is my board:

TA-DA!!

I realize now I should have taken a before picture of the wood for comparison, but I'm not very good at this tutorial thing yet... So just trust me that it looks awesome! :)

So I cut out my stencil using my handy dandy Cameo and painted the words "I AM GOD" on my board. After MORE WAITING........ I sanded my letters to also give them a worn look.

I think cut the words "be still" from some white vinyl and slapped that on the top... 

And here's the finished product!

Super hero tees

Wanted to do some more super hero stuff.... here are some tees I painted and/or ironed vinyl to:

Captian America is painted on blue tees

LOVE the vintage feel :)

Ironman is glow in the dark vinyl on dyed tees

Superman is layered vinyl on a dyed tee

Still have to perfect the layering of the vinyl. If you look closely the red shrank differently than my black did... not bad for my first attempt... we'll just pretend its supposed to be that way!

Checkers

Finished my latest project this weekend. Ryan and I don't have a checker board and I thought it would be fun to play at my family reunion in a few weeks with the kids. So, I quilted a checker board and made bean bag game pieces. The pieces have a crown on one side and are plain on the other. I got the idea from Pinterest at http://pinterest.com/pin/176695985353038653/. 

King Me!

Red Bean Bag Pieces.

Checker Squares 3.5" 

Finished Product!

T-shirt Makeovers

Wednesday I attempted to take the day off! Gasp! I know!

I've wanted to do this t-shirt for myself for a while... and I wanted to try freezer paper stenciling (thank you Pinterest) which was an adventure...

First up... My Slap Bet Commissioner T-shirt because I love me some HIMYM :)

My Trusty Cameo at work

TA-DA! 

 Next I had to try this stenciling project I saw on Pinterest and I had the perfect little boy to make this super cute shirt for...

 I cut out my design from the freezer paper on my Cameo and ironed it on to the shirt (shiny side down).

 I wanted a vintage-y feel... So I used a Wal-Mart bag to dab the paint to the shirt. Didn't need to be perfect  (my kinda project) :)

 Definitely an experiment and I think I have a better idea of how to do my next one. But not bad for my $2 Wal-Mart tank for my little man! :)

Finished Project!

Reuse and Recycle

Working in the hospitality business, I have a plethora of old/stained sheets, towels etc. Instead of throwing them all away I snagged a couple sheets. I then ran to Wally world to pick up some dye. After hours of dying, washing, and ripping, I finally had enough to crochet a rug for my kitchen. :) Hooray for recycling!

Now I have something to keep my tootsies warm while doing the dishes :)

The Giving Plate

Saw this idea on pinterest and couldn't wait to make it. A friend of mine is moving to West Virginia and I thought this would be the perfect going away gift. The plate was a find in the clearance aisle at Wal-mart and I used my Cameo to cut the words from brown vinyl.
I filled it with these yummy cheesecakes and away it went! Spread the love!
http://www.annies-eats.com/2010/08/06/raspberry-swirl-cheesecake-cupcakes/