Valentine's Day card

It's no secret that I am a procrastinator...so it's no surprise I ended up making my Valentine's Day cards on the actual day. I've been seeing a lot of projects using masking fluid to block out letters and just recently I used white crayons to mask out hearts with my kiddos on their Valentines. But with no masking fluid on hand, the need to make a more grown up Valentine and time of the essence, I had to improvise...

Enter Mod Podge to save the day! It was a little tricky to write with it since I was writing it with a paint brush but it worked pretty well. Then I just had to let it dry all the way, add a wash of watercolor on top and stitch it to the card. I will definitely be experimenting more with writing in Mod Podge! 

I also decided to carve up a pencil eraser for a quick heart stamp. These are everywhere but somehow I had never tried making my own before. I used Esther's tutorial to make mine and they were really easy and gave the card/envelope a nice little graphic pop!

doily purse - round 2!

After the last doily purse I made, I've been on the hunt for more dainty little doilies and leather purses to make over. I stumbled onto these lovely little ones and the purse at a yard sale a month or so back. Yesterday I figured it was time to dig them out of my pile of future projects, aka the ever growing pile in the corner of my closet...

Adding doilies to a purse is also ridiculously easy, and doesn't require a lot of supplies. 50 cent purse + 1.50 worth of doilies + mod podge = a very happy crafting me! 

Materials: mod podge (lots!), a paint brush, purse and doilies!
Optional materials: clips, if you're wrapping the doilies over edges...helps to hold them in place while the mod podge is drying.

First, figure out where you want the doilies to be on the purse. Position them then start mod podging! You will want to be pretty liberal with the podge. I found it best to start in the middle of the doily and really saturate it with the podge so it stays put, then work your way out to the edges of the doily. 

Go slowly, you don't want to move the doily out of position. Also be careful to not go over the edges onto the purse too much, just enough to fully seal the itty bitty edges down. 

On this particular purse, there were some curves and folds on the front. In this case, you still slowly add the mod podge from the center to edges but use the brush to push M.P. into the strands and crevasses and to fit it to the shape of the curve. Once you have it fitting to the curves, leave that doily alone! Wait a little bit for it to set if you have more than one doily to apply. 

 If you're going over edges, liberally apply the M.P. to that spot of the doily then use a clip to keep it folded over the edge until you've finished painting the other side. Take it off the clips once it holds on it's own. 

Then my least favorite bit. Wait and let it dry fully. I gave my purse overnight to dry, so it was a lovely thing to wake up to this morning! 

dinos, doilies, paper bags & succulents!

An odd assortment of materials...likely my strangest combination since wine, twine and paper! 

First off, DINOS! I saw a version of a plastic dinosaur planter on Pinterest and had to give it a go! Plus I've been craving to have some succulents on my desk so it was a lovely, fun and easy combination.

On to doilies! I've had a little leather purse lying around for quite some time, and it need a little improvement. After a quick trip to the thrift shop, and a LOT of Modge Podge, I have this cute doily purse!

Paper bags and succulents...I recently started working with a non-profit called Arts Outreach, where artists are contracted out to local elementary schools to teach art lessons! I'm teaching a collage class and trying to focus on repurposing materials with the kiddos. After preparing for the first lesson, I was left with tons of paper bag scraps and handles. After a little inspiration from Design Sponge and some weaving, my birthday succulent plants found a new home.