Another Pinterest Pallet Board Project

 

I find myself drawn toward rustic wood and pallet board wall hangings these days.  After being inspired by a pin on Pinterest, I decided to try making one myself.  The project cost less than $13, and it only took a couple of hours to construct.  All materials were purchased at Michael's, but my husband told me if I want pallet boards, he has a mess of them left over from a deconstructed goat shelter.  Hmmm, I wonder how much scrubbing and disinfecting it would require for me to hang any of those in or on our house?

 

I didn't have my own pattern, just a pin on my tablet, so I drew my own pumpkin on scrap paper, and then traced around it onto the wood.  Once that was done, I used a sponge brush and some white acrylic paint and gave the pumpkin one coat out back on our picnic table.  Then I took Tippy for a walk while I waited for the paint to dry.  Afterwards, I brought it inside and used my ancient glue gun to glue twine-looking ribbon (the same kind I used to hang ornaments at Christmas) around the pumpkin and to fill inside.  This I did while watching a couple of episodes of Gilmore Girls with my teenagers.  When I was finished, I thought it looked too plain.  I was contemplating adding some silk fall leaves around it, but my kids thought that would junk it up, so I lightly shaded the pumpkin with my daughter's orange colored pencil to give it just a hint of orange.  My boys couldn't understand why it wasn't orange in the first place.  For some reason, I like all the white pumpkins this year.  I wish we had planted some.

This is the first autumn decoration I have hung, and it has finally replaced the old wreath on the front porch.  It didn't turn out as nice as the one on Pinterest, but really nothing I make ever does.  For $13, a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon, and watching the characters in Stars Hollow put on a danceathon while I crafted, I am satisfied.

What fall Pinterest pins are you trying this month?

 

The Glue Sticks are Out of the Attic: Crafting for the Holidays

For several weeks now I have been saving pins on Pinterest, gathering materials, and pulling out my glue gun from a box in the attic where it has been since we moved over 9 years ago.  With the youngest four children in school, I feel like I finally have a wee bit of time to myself to actually do some crafting again.  Since I decided to have a "primitive preppy" Christmas throughout our farmhouse this year, I put together a number of ornaments and decorations that hopefully embody that theme.

It all started with a trip to Michael's back in early November where I purchased plaid and burlap balls, ribbons, pinecones, and more.

I was all prepared to make my own plaid balls with fabric and styrofoam, but Michael's carried these plaid balls with burlap ribbons around them.  All I had to do was attach twine or ribbon so I could hang them on our trees.  Fortunately, this old glue gun still works, and I even found a package of glue sticks in the attic as well.  It's like a rummage sale up there; I really need to shop in my attic more often.

About thirty minutes and two packages of plaid balls later, that craft was finished.

I started out using a bag of regular pinecones for some other tree ornaments.  The children thought I should use the ones in our yard that are free, but they just don't look as nice as the ones purchased at Michael's.  Then all I had to do was glue ribbon on the top and attach a plaid bow to each pinecone.

These would later be hung on our two Christmas trees along with the plaid balls.  I eventually purchased cinnamon pinecones too and attached plain red bows at the top and hung them from the windows downstairs.  The smell of cinnamon and fresh pine just can't be beat at Christmas.

Cross-stitching is a hobby I picked up when I was twenty, and the first piece I made was a Christmas decoration.  I haven't done much of it for many years, but I decided to stitch a new ornament this year.  For some reason, my children find it fascinating to watch me do this.  I think it would be like watching the hands move on a clock.  You'll notice that I did purchase a plaid fleece throw---actually two.  This one is seven feet long and has a special pocket at the bottom to keep your feet warm.  We found them at the BonTon and got a great deal during Community Days.  Sorry for the rather scary photo of me.  No makeup worn or hair styled that day.  Yikes!

I'm not quite finished with this yet, but almost.  I'm hoping the rabbit fits a sort of rustic, natural theme going on here.

If you read my last post, you'll remember I had my husband saw off a sliver of the Christmas tree trunk so I could try a Pinterest inspiration.

We happened to have a can of unused chalkboard paint in the basement (not like a rummage sale down there unless you're shopping for spiders.)  After sanding the one side as best I could, I painted the center of the wood with the black paint.  After drying, I glued a few small pine boughs from our Christmas tree to the top, along with a red bow.

We ended up with this sitting on our kitchen windowsill above the sink so we can count down the days till Christmas.  Since it's erasable, I can always draw a simple winter design on it once Christmas day has come and gone.  But I don't want to think about that yet because this is the most wonderful time of the year.

Happy Holiday Crafting, Everyone!

Attempts at Making Fall Crafts with the Kiddos

Craft #1: Glycerin Soaps

A few days ago, I was in the mood to make some apple-scented fall soaps, which the children shared with their teachers at school.  This led to a weekend of trying my hand at some fall crafts with our children.  Unfortunately, I discovered that crafting is not one of my strong points.

Glycerin soapmaking, however, is simple enough for me to handle.  I like to buy seasonal buttons and scrapbooking items to place inside the soaps.  These can be found at any of your fabric or hobby stores.

All you have to do is take a block of glycerin soap base (I got mine at Michael's,) cut it into cubes, and microwave it for a few minutes until melted.  Then add about half a dozen drops of fragrance oil or essential oil.  I used to buy mine from a company called Lorann Oil's, but fragrance oils can be found in hobby stores.  Pure essential oils tend to be more expensive, but they are of better quality and can be bought at your local natural foods store.

To prevent the soap from sticking, line the molds with vegetable oil or coconut oil.  Then pour enough melted soap to cover the bottom, and place the decorative items in.

Then you just fill the molds with more soap and let cool.  Several hours later, they should be ready to pop right out.  To get rid of the bubbles on the bottom, you can spritz them while hot with some rubbing alcohol.

I had some melted soap left, so I added a little yellow liquid coloring and poured it in these leaf and sunflower molds.  Candy molds will work too.

image from sparkandchemistry.com

Craft #2: Fall Leaf Mason Jar Candle Holders

I found these cute DIY fall leaf candle holders on Pinterest and all over the Internet.  I thought this would be a fun, sticky, and inexpensive craft for the children and me to do this weekend.  We have Mason jars galore in our basement, and we picked up leaves on one of our evening hikes last week, so all I had to do was buy some Mod Podge and raffia ribbon.  I couldn't wait to see how these would turn out and had visions of lighting them up all over the house and front porch.

This was SO much harder than it appeared.  My boys gave up after the first ten minutes, but my girls and I stuck it out a little longer.  We could not get those leaves to stick.  I googled our problem, and the suggestion was to wrap elastic bands around the leaves to keep them in place on the jars.  This didn't work very well either.

The Mod Podge stuck to our fingers, to the table, to the jar, but not to the leaves on the jar.  We couldn't figure out what we did wrong.

We eventually gave up and abandoned this project too, but with much reluctance and disappointment.  With so many pictures and sites featuring these on the Internet, it must be a popular craft.  I would appreciate any reader tips on how to make this work.  If you want to try making these yourself, you can visit this website: http://www.sparkandchemistry.com/craft-it-blog/leaf-mason-jar-candle-holder.

Craft #3: Jack-o-Lantern Candies

After the failed attempt at the previous craft project, I figured we'd do something simple and less messy.  My teen daughter has experience in candy making, and I found these pumpkin spice candy melts at Michael's and wanted to try them.

She and I melted the candy wafers in the microwave and used a wooden skewer to "paint" in the black lines with the black chocolate.  This was more challenging than I expected too because it was such a time-consuming, tedious task.  Or maybe I am just that impatient.

After we finished with the black chocolate, we filled in the rest of the jack-o-lanterns with the melted orange pumpkin spice candy.

Then we put them in the freezer to cool.

And this is what we ended up with.  Not quite what I had hoped for, but they tasted good.  I don't know how those kids at the 4-H fair create those fantastic winning candy exhibits.

My Tried-and-True Oatmeal Cookies

The only way I redeemed myself and saved my self-esteem was by helping my teenage son bake some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for a party he was attending that evening.  Maybe I just have to accept that I'm a much better baker than a DIY crafter.  Unfortunately, that doesn't help my expanding midriff.  I guess instead of spending the weekends trying out the great projects I find on Pinterest, I'll just have to go on more hikes with the kids.