Be my Groomsman?

So technically, this one isn't my craft, it's my fiance's, but I kinda helped, so I'm posting it :P

First of all - did you know that anywhere cigars are sold, they sell cigar boxes for like $1-2?! How has it taken me this long to figure out? Cigar boxes are SO cool!

My fiance came up with this idea to give to his groomsmen to ask them to stand up in our wedding. It was very simple...we just bought cigar boxes, airplane liquor bottles, cigars, cigar cutters, and some filler to go in the boxes.

Everything pictured cost less than $80! 

Once we bought all the stuff, it literally took 10 minutes to throw it all together. I printed out "Groomsmen?" in Old English font to tape to the top of the boxes.

Happy Asking!

Be my Bridesmaid?

Alright, so here's some news - I'm getting married!! So, expect a slew of wedding related crafts within the next year, starting with this one. First step - ask your bridesmaids to be in your wedding. While I don't think that social convention dictates that you give a gift to ask a bridesmaid to stand up in your wedding, I thought this was a great way to take on a new fun project.

As you may have seen in one of my previous posts, I stained a few wine crates to give as gifts. Well, these are the gifts I was referring to. I will have 2 bridesmaids plus a maid of honor. While I realize gifting wine is to bridesmaids is a little trendy right now, I feel my gift has a little more meaning than most - we are getting married at a winery! So, I am gifting wine from the actual winery, which I think it kinda cool.

Materials used: burgundy burlap, hemp cord, dark green excelsior, and decorative gift fill (that is unfortunately purchased at Hobby Lobby since I had a gift card, but I certainly don't recommend shopping there if you support women's rights)

I usually don't go into projects knowing exactly how I am going to put them together, I just collected these items because they all went with the rustic/wine theme I was going for.

Items that would go in the wine crates were tailored to each girl receiving one. Murrieta's Well wine, black stallion cabernet sauvignon chocolate sauce (can unfortunately only be purchased at the winery in Napa!), leaf wine charms, heart wine stopper, vacu vin wine preserver, uncorked champage candle.

The completed wine crates. Links for the specific sizes can be found in my previous blog post. The larger crate is for my MOH, and the 2 smaller ones are for my bridesmaids.

In order to prevent the filler material from falling through the slats at the bottom of each crate, I put a layer of the burgundy burlap down on the bottom of the crates. This could also be accomplished with just a piece of paper or card stock.

I decided to wrap each of the gift items in burlap and tie them with the hemp string. This drew more attention to the wine, which was the feature of the gift. I think all the crates came out really well. I hope the girls like them!

In MOH's crate: The Whip and The Spur wine (white & red), heart bottle stopper, cab sauv chocolate sauce, uncorked candle.

In bridesmaid's crate: The Whip wine (white), vacu vin wine preserver.

In bridesmaid's crate: The Whip wine (white), leaf wine charms.

Happy Asking!

Rustic Wine Crates

We bought a bunch of these unstained, unsanded wine crates from Home Depot not long ago and were using them to store things like wine (go figure), extra blankets, etc. Finally I decided I wanted them to look nicer, so I bought some walnut stain and an orbital sander and got to it! As you may have guessed, it was not my idea to buy a power tool, but I have to admit it made all the difference. It's a relatively safe power tool to use and it makes the sanding so much easier. We plan to stain 9 crates altogether, so sanding by hand would be a pretty hefty task.

Most of the crates we were staining were what I would consider to be the average size. They're relatively cheap, too! Find them here. We also were staining a medium sized crate and 2 smaller crates that were going to be used for gifts - stay tuned for another post on those :).

I really got the hang of the orbital sander. Wear safety glasses while using an orbital sander - no, seriously, trust me. 

We stained the crates using a foam brush, which turned out to be not the greatest idea. If i had to do this again I would use a rag or a regular paint brush. We ended up using way too much stain. 

We really had our hands full with this many crates. We ended up doing 4 of them within a few hours.

You can tell that the stain was put on too thick. If this happens, the stain not only ends up extremely dark, but it's also sticky even when it's dry! To fix this, I just sanded the area that was splotchy/sticky. 

What a difference! 

Overall I would say this was a very positive experience! By over staining the wooden crates, I ended up having to sand them down after the stain was put on. When you do this, it gives the crate a more rustic and nonuniform look which is what I was going for to begin with! This is such an easy project to have such a cool piece in your home. I guarantee you will get compliments on these crates.

Happy Staining!

Be Our Guest

Okay, this one's a simple one, but I think it's too cute not to share. I saw this idea on Pinterest and decided I had to do it myself. I love entertaining. We probably have someone stay with us at least once a month. So, I decided to add a new decorative-ish piece to the guest room. See below.

All I used was a cheap 8x10 frame, a piece of decorative cardstock, and a printout with our wifi information.

This way, when our guests ask "hey what's the wifi password?" I can tell them to check in their room. ;)

Happy Entertaining!

Housewarming Jar

The idea behind this craft was to find a way to give a housewarming gift that was a little different than usual. I liked all the stuff I found on pinterest for gifts in a jar, so I took that idea and I put my own spin on it. I started with a jug that is about 10-12 inches tall and 8ish inches in diameter (those are my very precise estimations...). I got the jug at Marshalls for $6. I would definitely recommend buying larger glassware at Marshalls, they always have an amazing selection for great prices. The reason I went with a jug (is that what you'd call it?), instead of a jar was twofold: 1) It's bigger than a jar, 2) It has more practical reuse opportunities. The gift is for my brother and his girlfriend who live in a 1 bedroom apartment, so space is of the essence, if you will.

I then spent some time collecting items to put inside the jug. Here's what I came up with: an artisinal soy candle in a stemless wine glass that smells like sauvignon blanc, 2 Himalayan salt shot glasses, a gray Norwex kitchen towel, and an orange scrub daddy.

 My next idea was to add a personal touch to this project by etching "Home Sweet Home" on the glass jug! For step-by-step instructions on etching, see my post here. I used all the same materials. This project provided a new challenge since the glass surface was curved. It made it more challenging to hand carve out the letters., but I made do.

Gifts to go in the jug.

I taped the print out inside the jug for easy tracing.

Cutting out each letter out of the contact paper with an Xacto knife.

The result was a little less perfect, but if you aren't looking at the letters close up, I think it looks pretty good!

I might go back and touch up a few of the letters, because it looks like there are a few spots where the etching cream didn't fully set in before I washed it off.

The finished product! I can't wait to give it to the gift recipients!

Happy Housewarming :)

Beer cake

Okay, this is a fun one! My boyfriend turned 30 on Valentine's Day and I decided to make a beer cake as a decoration at the party I was throwing for him. The party was going to be at a bar, so I found this to be a very appropriate decoration. This is a very simple craft, so don't be intimidated!

Materials needed: cardboard cutouts measuring 8, 10 and 12 inches in diameter (one for each tier), 30 beers of your choice (I used tall boy canned beer, but this would work with regular cans, too. I think you could probably use bottles, as well, but might need some extra support between tiers), assorted materials to decorate.

I used a large cardboard box from one of my many weekly amazon deliveries to cut out the cardboard bases for the tiers. I am not the best at circle drawing/cutting, so my cutouts are far from perfect.

I decided to wrap the cardboard tier cut outs in tissue paper to add some color to the beer cake. You could also use wrapping paper, construction paper, or even paint to  add color to the cardboard pieces.

I alternated colors for each tier.

For tier one I used 11 cans.

Tier 2 was made up of 12 cans. You could also put the extra 3 cans I used in the middle on the first tier. In order to truly use 30 beers, I found you have to hide a few in there.

The top tier is made up of 7 beers. 6 go around the outside and 1 in the middle. 

I used some yellow fabric to wrap the top tier. It is tied in the back, which also helps keep the top tier together for easy transportation. I hot glued the bow on the front of the top tier. I printed out the "30 beers for 30 years" and used some black and blue card stock to mount it. I hole punched the card stock and ran a yellow ribbon through it to tie it to the second tier. I used some blue card stock to cut out a 3 and a 0. Using craft sticks, I hot glued the number cut outs to the front center beer. You can have a lot of fun decorating this, as there is no wrong way to do it! I just used stuff I already had to decorate mine. 

Happy beer cake making!

P.S. One of these days I'll have a dedicated craft area in our house so all of my photos won't be on my wooden floors!

In Case of Emergency, Break Glass

I found this idea on pinterest, and I thought it was super funny & cute, so I decided to make it for my best friend for Christmas.

Materials needed: shadowbox frame made with glass (I bought this one), clear contact paper, Armour Etch cream, sponge brush, an X-ACTO knife, print out in font of your choice that reads "IN CASE OF EMERGENCY BREAK GLASS", & lots of M&Ms (I bought one of those large re-sealable bags and used about half).

I used an 8x8 frame which turned out to be a perfect size. Make sure when you print out the template you print it so it fits well on the frame size you choose. I would also recommend using a very simple font. The more swoopy-ness there is, the harder this project will be!

Step 1: Tape the template on one side of the glass so you can read the saying on the opposite side of the glass.

Step 2: Put contact paper on the side of the glass without the template. It is VERY important that in the step you make sure there are little to no air bubbles in the contact paper. If there are a few air bubbles around the outside (not near the lettering) it should be okay, but try to avoid at all costs.

Step 3: Once the contact paper is smoothed down, you can begin carving the letters out of it. Using an XACTO knife, trace the letters and remove the contact paper where the letter should be. On letters like "A" or "R" be careful to keep contact paper where the hole in the letter should be. Letters with cut outs are definitely the hardest!

Step 4: Once all the letters are cut out, set up a station where you will apply the etching cream. Etching cream is highly acidic and can cause serious skin irritation, so take necessary precautions during application. I used plastic gloves, but was careful enough to not need them. 

Step 5: Once your station is set up, use the sponge brush to dab on the etching cream. Do not smooth it, just blot it on. I applied just enough etching cream so that it was opaque. 

Step 6: Review the directions on the etching cream bottle to be sure about the time you should leave the etching cream on. I left mine on for about 15 minutes to be safe. I do not think you need to leave it on for that long, but it doesn't hurt to do so. After washing off the etching cream with warm water, you can peel off all the remaining contact paper. The last thing you need to do is reassemble the frame and fill it with M&Ms!

Voila! It's somewhat difficult to read the etched message in certain lighting, but I think overall this project was a success! The gift recipient loved it.

Happy Shadowbox Etching!