Friday, April 30, 2010

Watering Can Centerpiece- Part 1

I found this cute little watering can at Roberts the other day for 2 bucks. I thought it was cute so I picked it up and headed home to see what I could do to make it even cuter.
First thing I did was find some really cute paper to cover it. I just wanted it to go around the main part and the handles so I found 2 matching papers to add a little contrast and then got to work cutting around all of the little pieces of the can.
Next thing I did was mod podge the paper on. I left the spout alone, thought it had more personality that way. Then I took 3 distress inks (use whichever you think will look best with your paper) and rubbed it first around the edges (I always just use a paper towel) and then cover the rest of the paper, before finishing with a last coat of mod podge.  Sorry I don't have a ton of pics of the process, but this was a really simple project. And the finished project...

Stay tuned for part 2 :D

Find a full list of our linky parties here! Happy Crafting!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

A little bit of funny

Monday, April 26, 2010

Hey Jute

So I had this plain old boring lamp shade in my living room...
I know, right?
So I needed some inspiration and found this super cute lamp shade at PB
Simple, pretty, and I thought (enthusiastically to myself), "Sammy, you could totally do that!" And so then I did, kind of. I have to admit, though, I like mine better :D

To start out I took a ball of Jute and started by wrapping once around the top of the lamp shade and hot gluing it in place. Then I braided three strands together and glued that underneath the first piece of jute. I then used a single strand again and wrapped it around four times, making sure to glue it all in place, and then did one more braid underneath that.
Then I went to the bottom of the shade and did the same thing working my way up the lampshade, so the top and the bottom are opposite patterns. Make sense? You can probably make more sense from the picture. Also, an easy way I found to do the braids was to tie the ends of the jute with a piece of thread and hot glue it to the lamp shade, then braid and hot glue as you go along.
And when it's done it looks a little something like this...
Well, it was done for a second. But then I thought that it needed a little something extra. So I did this...
Just glued some pieces of jute in petal shapes (except I didn't glue down the top of the top petal onto the jute. I thought it was cute that way), and did a little swirly right in the middle. And I love this...

You can find all of the places we link up to here. Go check them out. They Rock!

Friday, April 23, 2010

We are so excited to be swapping blogs with Sisters' Stuff today.  These guys are so awesome and have some really cute tutorials and meals and tons of other stuff on their blog. We are so excited to have them over today. So here they are!!


We are Whitney and Alish from Sisters' Stuff and we are so glad to be swapping with Scraps N' Strings today! We love meeting new bloggers and seeing all their ideas!
We are going to share our Ribbon Board Tutorial with you today!

I recently made this Ribbon Board for my daughter and also one for a gift. It is used to hold clips and hair bows.

Plain board- I bought mine from Lowe's. They also cut it the size you want for free there at the store.
Cover one side of the board with batting and plain white material. I cut the batting the exact same size of the board. You want your material long enough to pull around part of the back of the board. Pull the material tight and hot glued it to the back of the board. I glued one end of the ribbon to the back of the board and strung it down the front of the board. Then hot glued the other end to the back of the board. I repeated this with all the ribbons until the board was covered with ribbon.
I glued a big ribbon onto the back which will be used to hang the ribbon board up.
Cover the back so that it looks nice and neatLove the finished project!! It is so handy for organizing my daughters bows!



Don't forget to stop over at Sisters' Stuff and check out our guest blog and the rest of the super cute stuff they have!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

And the New Winner Is...

Unfortunately we never heard from our last winner so we have picked a new one and the winner now is.... Pattyjo! Congratulations! We would love to hear back from you within the week so that we don't have to pick another winner! Leave us a comment letting us know how to contact you or shoot us an email at scrapsnstrings (at) hotmail (dot) com. :D

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

May Preview!

This May we are going to be Bringing Spring! We are super excited about all of the great projects that we have going on at our homes whether it's cute planters, putting in a garden, or just taking something outdoors and giving it a little some-some extra. Can anyone say outdoor mod podge? Woo-hoo! We got started with the front of my house this weekend. My hubby got excited and started pulling all of the crap out before I could get a good before shot, but here is a little of the work in progress :D

\
I'll admit, my hubs did a lot (and by a lot, I mean pretty much all) of the dirty work. I'm not a sweating, dirt type of girl, never have been. But the pretty that is going to come through here is going to be all me. Except for the dirty parts, as stated above.
Isn't he cute? All hard working and stuff. So, what are you doing to Bring Spring?  What cute craft have you come up with to help keep that sunshine coming? If you don't have a yard, show us how you are bringing spring into your homes! We would love for you to share your projects with us and we'll feature our favorites with all of our readers out in bloggerville. Feel free to email them to scrapsnstrings (at) hotmail (dot)com. Or link them up if you've got them already.

If you link up, take a button for your blog! 

 

Just copy and paste:







 We can't wait to see what you all come up with!

Friday, April 16, 2010

Blog Swap with The Creative Crate!

We are so excited to have Stacie from The Creative Crate here today! We have been followers of her blog since we started being obsessed with craft blogging. After you finish reading this amazing tutorial, be sure to check out her blog for other great ideas. Here she is with her adorable picture holders!

Hi ScraPs N' StriNgs Readers!!

It's Stacie...the craZy one behind The CrEaTiVe CraTe...and I am ExciTed that Sammy & Ruth invited me to swap with them today!! Don't they have an AwEsOme blog?!!
LoVe those aprons they make! AdoRaBle!
I am a SAHM with 4 beautiful and FuN kids {2 boys & 2 girls}...and wife to one awesome man!
I absolutely LoVe doing crafts in my spare time! I love creating things from nothing...going to yard sales...and browsin' antique and thrift stores in search of treasures that I can transform!
Sammy asked me if I would share one of my favorite tutorials... and I think {by far} this is my favorite :
Cupboard Door Picture Holder!

Here are the supplies that I used to do this project...
and...an old cupboard door!
First...sand & paint your cupboard door. {mine was already white} Then...I wiped stain (Minwax dark walnut) with a rag on all the edges...
Then...drill your holes for the ribbon...

Add your ribbon and tie in a bow...


Then...using E-6000 glue...glue your magnetic clip to were you want it. I used a 8x10 picture...so I glued my clip wherever the picture looked centered. {Tip: If the bottoms of your picture start to curl up...I used a little tape to hold mine down...or you could also use photo corners}


Then...for hanging...I just use the ribbon that is showing in the back...to hang on a nail!
So CuTe...and So SiMpLe!!

Sooo...come on over and check out some other FuN ideas I've got going at the CraTe... I'd LoVe to have ya!!
Sammy & Ruth...thanks so much for letting me take over today!! You guys are awesome!!
Have a Great Day Everyone!!



Don't forget to check us out at The Creative Crate today!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

And The Winner Is...

Rebecca Hermsen!! 
You have been chosen as our Fabulous Follower!! Congratulations! Please contact us and let us know which Fab Prize you would like. We need a response by the 22nd or we will have to pick another winner. We can't wait to hear from you!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Face Steam. YUM!

Oh I needed one of these today. I'm sure that there are a lot of moms and and other ladies who need a little TLC so I thought I would post a face steam that I started doing way back when I was in high school, and grew up watching my mom do long before then. All you need is a small pot, cinnamon sticks (ground cinnamon will work too), cloves, nutmeg, and orange slices.

Now fill your pot about halfway with water. Add in your orange slices, 1 stick of cinnamon, 3-4 cloves, and a few shakes of nutmeg.
Bring it to a boil and then take it off of the heat.
Now set it on a cupboard or table, and grab a towel. Pull your hair back and drape the towel over your head and the pot and take a deep breath and relax. Keep covered until it cools down enough that the steam stops. Your skin will look and feel so much better when you are done and you will feel so much more relaxed. Trust me, I just did it :D
Ooh, and when you are done, you can put it back on the burner on low and just let that aroma fill up your home. I love when my house smells like I could eat it. Mmmmmm. Just make sure that you watch the water level. We don't need any houses burning down!

Linking up to:


Friday, April 9, 2010

The Giveaway

Hello hello everyone! It looks like our giveaway is coming to a close! I can't believe how quickly our following went up. Hopefully everyone likes our blog as much as our Prizes!! We are now at 171 followers and I think we may be able to close it out by this weekend, so watch for us to post the winner of our FABULOUS FOLLOWER'S GIVEAWAY sometime at the beginning of next week. WOO-HOO!! If you missed out on being one of the top 200, that doesn't mean you can't follow us too though, I promise we will keep this interesting, and I can see another FFG in the future! Thanks again everyone for all of your support and comments. YOU ROCK! And I'll see you on the flipside. Yep, I totally just said that... Sorry about that :P

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Fabulously Functional Towel Dress

 Don't forget to enter our Fabulous Follower's Giveaway for your chance to win a super cute Apron or Adorable Car Seat Tent!! Time is running out!!

I love this project! This is my Fabulously Functional Towel Dress. Why? Well, I have 2 adorable little boys. Sometimes getting ready in the mornings can be hectic. I don't like to get dressed until I am completely ready so as to keep the hair, makeup, whatever else seems to be lying around off of my clothing. Problem is, it's tough to keep a wrapped towel on securely when you are chasing 2 busy little bodies around. So this is the solution. Super cute and easy!
All you need for this project is a towel (make sure it is large enough to wrap from one armpit all around to the next armpit), a coordinating hand towel, 1inch wide elastic, velcro, and a sewing machine.
First step is to take the towel and measure from one side of your chest to your opposite armpit. Mine came out to about 13 inches. Now you take your towel and cut 13(or how ever many you measured) inches from each end, leaving the middle of the towel alone for now. This way you don't have to finish any edges.
Next step is to measure from the front of one armpit, around your back, to the front of your other armpit. Now cut the middle piece of towel to this measurement. The next thing to do is to take the hand towel and cut it lengthwise into five 2 1/2 inch strips and then take three of the strips and cut them to the same length as each of your towel pieces as shown in the picture below.
Now fold each of the hand towel strips in half lengthwise and pin to the tops of their coordinating towel pieces and sew across. Do this to all three towel pieces.
Next, take the middle towel piece and lay it out flat. Take your elastic and stretch it from one side of the sewn on hand towel piece to the other. Once the elastic is cut, you want to thread it through the handtowel on top and then sew each end of the towel to secure the elastic into place.
Now take all three pieces and sew them back together. If your towel has a pattern, make sure that it lines up so that it looks real nice and pretty-like :D. Once it is all sewn back together, wrap it around yourself and pin where the crosses over.
This is where you will put your velcro. I recommend getting the adhesive kind so that you can stick it where you want and sew it without having to worry about pins. Make sure that you place the velcros on opposite sides of the towel so that when the towel wraps around you the velcro meets together. I also recommend making sure the rough side of the velcor is facing the outside of the towel so that it doesn't rub on you and irritate your skin. Once stuck on, just sew around the edges to secure in place
Now wrap your towel back on and take your last two handtowel strips and drape them over your shoulder to use as straps and pin them to find the length you need and cut to that desired length.
Now unpin the straps. To sew them, lay them flat and fold lengthwise from each side into the center. Now you take your sewing machine and do a zig-zag stitch down the middle of the strap to close it up. Do this about 7 times to ensure that the strap is closed and also it makes the strap really cute because it flattens down the middle and fluffs up the edges.
Pin the straps back on to your towel and then sew into place, and wha-la! You are done! And don't you feel all secure and ready to conquer the world?
And no, my eggo is not prego in that picture. It's just a bad angle, I swear!

Linking up to: Somewhat Simple - Strut Your Stuff Thursday
The Shabby Chic Cottage - Transformation Thursday
Fireflies and Jellybeans - Show Off Your Stuff Party
Tales From Bloggeritaville - Thrifty Thursday
Life as Lori - Get Your Craft On Thursday
Beyond the Picket Fence - 100 Ideas Under $100


Creations by Kara



 
Simply Yours Designs: Cute Blog Designs