The Letter E ~~Map Style~~

E as in Edna, Eloise, Eileen, Eleanor, Edwina, and Ellen!

 

I started with a 25 cent letter E from the thrift store…traced around it onto a map and cut out the map.

My letter was white so I just glued on the map with Mod Podge…

My tracing didn’t exactly fit my letter (of course!)

So I took some sandpaper and trimmed the edges that way…

Just sanded them off and

even took some of the paint off as well.

The next step was easy…I added a few drops of acrylic paint to the Mod Podge and covered the map.  So you get a white washed look (except with blue of course!). 

I painted the edges with a shade darker blue and it’s all done!

Here is my E wall…I keep adding them as I find them, either thrifted or gifted or found on sale (like the dark blue/turquoise one on the dresser).

Looking pretty good!  The little blue jewelry chest is my latest chalk paint project. 

I love the piggy mama and babies that my niece Ruth gave me…they sit on top of my dresser to keep watch!  They came from Italy!

I may be linking to these great parties!

New iPhone Case, or at least a makeover!

Is this not cute!?!

I had a case with this picture on it…very cool I thought, except that it had Nine Inch Nails written across the bottom of the case, OK, well I could live with it, but it was so not me!  Although I did love the ocean view.

So my nieces Jess and Kate were looking at a magazine that showed iPhone cases made over and suggested I try it.  I used a sea shell printed on a dictionary page as my decoration after I had used Valspar spray paint to cover the case.

To protect the paint and the print I covered it all with Mod Podge Dimensional Magic.  It made the case all smooth and shiny and seems to be protecting it. 

It was hard to get it spread out evenly down the sides of the case…I have a drip or two but it is hardly noticeable.  Overall I am quite pleased with the outcome!

I might be linking to some of these great parties…

Butterfly Eggs

These cute eggs came out of the closet for my Easter decorations…I don’t do as much holiday decorating now that my son is older, but I do love these eggs.  This is a repost from last year, but since it’s that time of the year…

Supplies:  Mod Podge (I used matte), dictionary pages (or music or maps or wrapping paper or napkins or any other paper or fabric that would look good wrapped around eggs), scissors, and of course eggs (you could use plastic, paper mache, wooden, or even real blown out eggs for this craft)! 

I didn’t buy these eggs specifically for this project, they were with a pile of stuff I bought at an auction!  They were the most ugly old country colors—forest green, burgundy and odd shade of navy and a mustardy yellow.  Just ugly!  And I almost pitched them!  The more looked at them though…the more I thought about what I could do with them!

So, I cut the dictionary pages into about 1 1/2 inch strips, and just slathered Mod Podge to both the eggs and the paper.  The butterflies(actually I think they are moths) were printed onto another dictionary page.  I cut them out loosely and Mod Podged them on the eggs!

Cute spring decoration in a pretty basket…

I am linking to these great parties!

Paris Love

For Jess’s birthday I made this LOVE project.  I used a new map of Paris…couldn’t find an old one although I looked for several months. 

I used Mod Podge to attach the map to 8 inch paper mache letters , smoothing the edges and trimming as I went…I used plain brown Kraft paper for the back to make it look professional.

I tried to be sure I included all the places Jess and Mike went on their trip to Paris.  You can see the Eiffel tower on the L!

I love how it looks in the nook Jess created! 

I am thinking of covering an E for my letter wall in my bedroom with a Connecticut map since that is where I was born.  And maybe make an S letter covered in a Missouri map for my son’s room.  The possibilities are endless!

I might be linking to some of these great parties.

A thrifted and made-over wooden box

I wanted to show you the end result before I showed you this…

I found this Christmas box at the thrift store…a big fifty cents!  About the only thing it had going for it was that it is all wood and put together well, so it’s sturdy!  I sanded it down a bit, and it took about four days, seems like I sanded off 12-13 layers of paint!

I had been saving a card I got from my package pal Michelle with the cutest owl she had made on the front!  I cut that puppy out and added it to one side of the box, three of the sides I added this…

Yup, a vintage dictionary page with my sister Sarah’s last name on that page…

and her first name on another side…Sarah—Hebrew for Princess!

And on the last side I painted on chalkboard paint.  I painted the inside because you can see so much of it, it’s a few shades lighter than the outside, because I was trying to use up some paint that I had already.

Isn’t that owl cute??  I filled the box with some craft supplies, some washi tape, some stitch markers I made like earrings.

I gave it to Sarah this past weekend with another gift I made which I will post about soon!

I will be linking to these great parties!

Snowy Sparkly Pinecones

 

This is my first Christmas/winter type craft post this year! I have been admiring the sparkly pinecones by Miss Mustard Seed and thought I would give it a try.  I found these pine cones for $1 each on this great craft supply store, used Mod Podge for the glue and bought cheap white glitter at Michaels (I think I paid less than $2 after using a coupon).

I swiped on the Mod Podge with a foam brush and wasn’t careful about how much or where it went on each branch leaf thingy of the pinecones.

Holding it over a paper plate I started sprinkling the glitter.

And just kept going until I was happy with the way it looked.

I dried them outside in the sun all day…we had such a warm pretty day for November.

And that’s it!  So easy…I can’t wait to try this on smaller pinecones too!

Now if you will excuse me, I am going to vacuum 25# of glitter off my living room floor!

I am linking to these great parties!