Crafts and Crafts

In high school, I went on a choir tour every summer with my awesome church choir, Revelations. One year, two crazy girls who were best friends brought a bunch of construction paper, scissors, pipe cleaners, etc. to entertain themselves on the bus, making silly things and hanging them above their seats.

They told everyone, "It's crafts and crafts. No arts, just crafts."

I had a big postpartum nesting impulse last Friday (is that a thing?) and went on a little spree at Michael's.

Project 1: A set of four wall frames to display together in a grid. I found the cheapest frames I could (black) and painted them gold. I also got a couple plain wood frames in the dollar bin to save for future projects, but since Kate wants to do whatever I'm doing, I let her paint them. She made one for her room (which holds a 4x6 of her and her friend Becca), and one for my office (with a pic of Kate and I in it).

Project 2: Catch up on scrapbooking. Saturday afternoon, Matt took Kate with him to a meeting and out for a Daddy-Daughter Date so that I could have some crafty time. I did my annual page for housing all the photo cards we received over the holidays. It looks a little vintage-y, I think, and has the headline, "Sending You Holiday Love."

 I also did the spread for Claire's baptism, and got started on Kate's birthday pages.

Matt and Kate returned home while I was still working, and of course Kate was interested in what I was doing. I handed her some extra pics and stickers and let her go to town. I put it in the scrapbook, since it's Kate's first scrapbooking page!

Project 3: Felt hairbows. Easy, cute, and wintery. I pinned this tutorial a couple weeks ago and practiced with the felt I had on hand, but since Claire doesn't really have any hunter green or tan clothes, I had to get a better color before attaching one to a headband. It's a no-sew thing, just felt, scissors, and a glue gun. I glued a triad of pearls to the center of the bow, but one came off even before church on Sunday, and the other two came off once we got home. (Only two have been found.) Claire looked so cute wearing this with her red valentine dress. I'll get a pic when she wears it again on Tuesday!

 

Project 4: Mantle art. The wall above our mantle has been blank since we moved in last May; I had been planning to wait until Claire was born and get a good family pic on a canvas, but none of the ones from the newborn/family shoot really suited me (better to have one when Claire is big enough to look at the camera and show some personality), plus it needs to be vertical because of the paneling. Maybe a pic this spring will work. 

Anyway, I decided to get a canvas and do something crafty to fill that space for now. I used scrapbook papers in the color scheme of the living room and repainted a big K that was hidden away on a bookcase. Just a papercutter, ModPodge, and a vision produced a decent work of art!

I wrote significant dates for our family into the collage.

The quilty-look is a little folksy for my taste, but it'll do for now! Here's our whole mantle, including the Valentine heart garland I made a few years ago.

Hope you can enjoy some crafty time this weekend—or whatever activity relaxes you and brings you joy!