Our Eternal Family 2x4

2x4 Tuesday!

I got this idea from How Does She... I loved the idea and wanted to do it for awhile now.

A few months ago a young man in my ward (church) died. He was the son of a friend of mine. He was the youngest, 17 years old, of her children and a sweet young man. I wanted to make her food and comfort her, but she had plenty of food. So I thought to myself, "What else do I do well that I can share with her?" CRAFT! So this is my gift to her. A family tree of sorts. The wires hold pictures and are removable. Corey is the young man that died, and I decided to do his name in white because he is now with our Heavenly Father.

I started with a 2x4 and cut it into six pieces; 8in, 7, 6, 5, 4, and 3in. pieces.

I sanded the edges and drilled holes in the ends to hold the wires.

I chose paper and cut it to the correct sizes.

I used Mod Podge to apply the paper. After it dried I sanded the edges again to rough up the paper a bit.

TIP: Use a ruler to press the paper into the Mod Podge.

Here they are all done.

Next I cut the names out on my Cricut. I used the Kristen font.

Then I applied them. Sometimes I applied the letters one at a time so that they were all crazy and off center.

Here it is all done. I added a dot of hot glue between each board to keep them in place. It won't hold forever. If you want it to hold forever than make sure you use wood glue.

Next I cut and twisted my wire. You can find this wire at Home Depot/Lowes. I found mine in the rebar area. It is called rebar wire. Mine is a huge roll and only cost $4.

Grip the end of the wire and twist it around the tip of your needle nose pliers.

Pull out your pliers and pinch the swirl together. Now it will hold a picture.

All done. I put a wire in every hole but they are removable.

I added a ribbon around the stack to hold it together and to add a bit more softness.

I hope my friend enjoys it. She is going through a rough time, one that I cannot even imagine, but maybe she can put some pictures on this and remember all the time she had with her son. Most importantly I hope she remembers that this is not the end, she will see him again.

Fall Wreath

My Fall Wreath.

I rarely ever use wreaths. It is just to windy here in Vegas. It always bangs on the door and we end up taking it down.
But all the wonderful wreaths you all have been making lately made me want to make one of my own.

I guess I will have to find a way to secure it so it won't bang
because this is way to cute to keep inside!


I started with a grapevine wreath from Walmart for $3.00.


I got three colors of felt and three colors of burlap cut at Joann's. I only got 1/4 Yard of each so it was really inexpensive.

I cut my burlap into strips and sewed them together to make one long strip. Then I did a ruffle. I did it by hand, not using the longest stitch on your machine. I tried to but burlap is just too difficult to gather.

I looped it around the wreath and secured it down.

Then I made lots of felt flowers. All different kinds and techniques.

I also made a little pumpkin out of my orange burlap. I cut a circle, hand stitched a gather stitch with ribbon around the circumference, stuffed it with pillow fluff and pulled it closed. I added a felt stump in the top.

I like it! Perfect for Fall.

Crafts Kill!

Sorry for my absence.

I have been a bit incapacitated.

It all started when I decided to make myself a lightbox.

Easy enough. All I needed was a cardboard box, paper and white material.

I have all that stuff already so why not do it?!

I got my box and my brand new box cutter.

As I cut I reminded myself, "cut away from my body". Duh!

Then it happened...

SLICE!

I have posted a current picture.

Please be advised... it is yucky!

Almost cut my tendon. Very deep. Only about an inch long.

So....a message to all of you. Cut with caution.

Or as my husband said when he posted my wound on Facebook,

"Crafts Kill!"

Saturday Super Savings - Homemade Magnets

My sister just got a job this year as an elementary school teacher. Yeah! Big blessing, long story.

So I asked what I could do for her to help her get her room ready. She came over and we cut a ton of stuff on my Cricut for her walls. She also asked for some magnets. It has taken me awhile, but here you go!

This is my favorite. Cute cow!

Instead of going to the store and spending a few bucks for one magnet make a bunch for a few bucks. Super Savings!
At Michael's I got a bag of glass marbles. They are flat on one side, round on the other.

Depending on the size of your marbles, mine are huge, cut a circle to fit on the flat side. Use anything you want. I used pretty papers and stamped images.

Use Mad Podge and glue it to the back. Be very sparse with the glue!

I got some magnetic buttons at Walmart. They were about $2.00 for 50. You need to use a good magnet, none of that strip stuff. They just aren't strong enough to hold the marbles up, let alone hold up papers.

Once the glue is dry, hot glue the magnet on the back.

Ta Da! Cute cow!

Here is a bunch I made.

Have fun!

Cricut Crop Friday - Countdown To...Whatever!

Everyone seems to be making these Countdown things. So I jumped on the bandwagon!

I decided to make mine universal.

Now we can use it for anything exciting that we have coming up.
I started with two blocks (I cut mine from a 4x4 post) and a 2x4.
I painted a rough coat of white over the wood.

I cut all my paper to fit within the sides of my
blocks and them using Mod Podge I glued them down.

Here we are all done.

TIP: Try to use papers that go well together. I used a line of paper that is made to work together. This way no matter what sides of the blocks are showing they look good.

Using my Cricut (Cricut Crop Friday! Duh!) I cut vinyl numbers.

This is what you will need:

Block 1: 1,2,6,0,7,8

Block 2: 1,4,3,5,2,0

Doesn't matter what order just as long as they are on the right blocks.

Stick my vinyl on the blocks.

I sanded down my edges to add a bit of texture.

I added a little clip on the end. This is so I can put a slip of paper to show what we are counting down to.

Yeah! 3 days till Dylan's Birthday and 9 till Logan's!

Fun to do and SUPER easy!