Canvas Pictures

We all know that even though I have amazing ideas, sometimes Pintrest has equally amazing ones. We all also know that I am over the top organized and before I started my new job I decided it was a perfect time to finish up some projects I had started but not finished. Recently my brother had amazing family pictures by Ruby Peoples Photography and he was pricing photo canvases....they are crazy expensive! But, who knew there was a way to make your own! I stumbled upon a "how to" on Pinterest one night and decided to try a sample one before I ventured on to the big project for my brother.  It's really easy to do...You just purchase canvas from your local store (walmart, kmart, craft supply) and then cover it with Mod Podge or the homemade version (which I also discovered on Pinterest) made of glue and water.  Put a decent layer on the canvas and then print a photo (color or black and white) off your home printer. You can use regular printer paper or photo paper, but be careful with the regular paper because the colors can run if you get it too wet. Lay the photo on the prepared canvas and then coat it with another layer of the Mod Podge. Let it dry! To get the "aged look just take some ink and a q-tip and apply it to the edges. You can either leave the sides of the canvas white, cover them with paper the same way you did with the picture, or print your picture a little larger than the canvas and wrap it around the sides. Hang it up with a nail or some ribbon and Tah-Dah! You now have a $50 canvas print for about $6.



Here are the orginal links to the projects :)
http://pinterest.com/pin/232970377/

http://pinterest.com/pin/257225080/

My New (well kind of) Favorite Thing.

The reason I say well kind of is because I've had this new favorite thing for awhile...I just had not realized how much I loved it yet.  :) So long story short...I got a Cricut Expression Anniversary Edition Machine for graduation ( I LOVE You Daddy!!!). I played with it here and there but over the last month I have realized how much I love this stinking machine. So here are some pictures of my creations so far...oh and believe me, there will be more to come!

I've Been Crafting, But Not Posting...

So...the last few months have been crazy! I graduated from College with my Medical Assisting Degree, have been job searching (finally found one!), sent the boys of to Kindergarten, and even had time for surgery for me and Zack!  But, I have been crafting...just not blogging about it. So I'm going to attempt to play catch up this week and post all kinds of wonderful things! Since Halloween is approaching I figured I would post the wonderful homemade specimen jars created for last year's Shocktoberfest at the College.

Everything in these jars either came from my kitchen cabinets or from the local Dollar Tree. I had empty glass containers  (salsa jar, fruit jar, pickle jar, etc.) in my kitchen and decided to paint the lids black with regular acrylic paint. Then, I started filling the jars. The jar on the back left has a gummy brain in it, the back middle jar has mini skeleton heads, the back right jar is filled with  boiled spaghetti noddles. On the front row from left to right we have a mini skeleton, one of those growing octopuses (when you put it in water it grows to almost 8x it's original size) cut into pieces, gummy bugs, and hot glue. I filled each jar with a "coordinating food colored water" and put the lid on. Oh and if you are wondering about the hot glue...just fill the jar with water and push your hot glue from the gun straight into the jar.  

After the jars were filled it was time to make creepy labels for them. And of course they all had to be about diseases or crazy medicine! We named the hot glue "coagulated blood", the spaghetti noodles were "tape worms" (if you shake the jar once and awhile they look like they are swimming), and so on. After giving each one a name we put some patient information on the label...not necessary but def. gives it some more character. When the labels were all done I took a q-tip and a black stamp pad and "aged" the edges. A little bit of double sided tape and ta-dah!

 Another wonderful feature of our Shocktoberfest table was our cauldron. We filled it individually wrapped candy (body parts of course!) mixed with boiled spaghetti noddles lightly tossed in vegetable oil. Cover the top with a black trash bag, use string to tie the bag on, cut a slit in the top big enough for a hand to go in, and the invite people to stick their hand in and find a piece of candy! We learned a lot about reaction times with this one, and the faces were nothing but memorable. :)

Happy Halloween!!!