Leaf Stamps and Stencils

Fall is here!  Pumpkin treats, sweaters, boots, football, candy corns, and colorful drives through the canyon make this season my favorite.  My dear cousin Jeannine found this cute idea for fall decorations so we decided to try it out.

We used acrylic paints, and whatever we had on hand to paint with.  I think foam brushes worked the best.  We painted the leaves and then pressed them onto the paper like stamps.  Isn't Jeannine's black paper with the bright leaves so stunning?!

We also tried using the leaves as stencils.  We used a glue stick to keep the leaves down, and then painted over the top. The only problem was that when we peeled the leaf away, it left glue stick marks in the shape of the leaf's veins.  I doubt that would be as much of an issue if you used white paper, and it actually looks kind of cool.  

Then we put the picture in a cute mat (which we also painted), added some buttons and embellishments...

(Jeannine has a lot of buttons)

mmmm... candy corn....

... and ta-dah! Cute fall decor.  This would make a great activity for kids. My 2-year-old loved collecting the leaves, although the painting and stamping part was a little over her head. It was a pretty messy project, but overall a great success!  Happy Fall, y'all!

school desk makeover

Back in my 3rd grade-teacher-ing days, our school was getting rid of a few "outdated" desks... the type of desks I sat at as a kid complete with a little dip at the top to put your pencil in. There wasn't anything wrong with the desks, besides several years worth of marker, #2 pencil, sticker goo, and other school-y stuff on it. So I convinced my husband to take one from the dumpster and put it in our itty bitty 1992 Nissan and take it home because after all, they don't make 'em like they used to. Probably.  It has actually been an enormously useful desk, because we store all our AV equipment inside (which we only use if we are watching a DVD) so we don't have to see all the ugly cords everywhere.
Unfortunately, it is a little grungy.  I have been wanting to do something about it for a long time, but I have been sort of indecisive about what to do. Enter: Claire's outlet store.  They had 4 rolls of paper tape for $1.  Yes! I'm not sure why Claire's had paper tape, but they did.  I'm not sure I love the colors, but it was a buck!  And it's removable which means that indecisive me can always do something different later.
I didn't think to take a picture of the desk before I started, so here's a picture half way through:

 This was a super easy project. I didn't measure anything and I just eyeballed it to make it straight.  I alternated colors, but I think it would be super cute to do colors in a more random order, or use more than just 4 patterns.  I just made sure to cut it with enough tape at the end to be able to wrap it underneath the top of the desk.

 As I said before. It's not permanent, so I'm not sure how long it will last with little fingers playing/spilling stuff on it, but I'm sure you could varnish over something like this to make it more durable.

Annual blogpost

When I started this blog, I really intended to do weekly posts of crafty goodness, but turns out, I'm not much of a blogger.  But I did want to show off some of the latest projects.  My newest obsession is crocheting.  I've made several baby blankets for some of my friends, as well as a few amigurami projects, hats, and scarfs.  Here are the latest:

The hat is called a Madeira hat (pronounced Ma-day-da).  When I served as a missionary in Portugal, I had the opportunity to serve on the island of Madeira, and they wear hats like this. The chevron blanket was from a pattern that I tweaked a little bit. I wish I had made it bigger, but I didn't think I would have enough yarn.  The colors make me happy, though.

This blanket was another pattern that came with the pound of love yarn.  The hat is a trickier pattern that I tweaked so I could add the ribbon.  I need a baby head that I can borrow so I can see how it looks on. Any takers?

Well, I'm hoping to add more things soon... if anyone still sees this.  Ha!
Hope you all had a wonderful mothers day!  Have a stupendous week!