New Built-Ins

We were having dresser problems in my boys room. This meant that we were having major mess issues, like piles of folded clothes sitting on top of drawers that were always sticking out because I broke the tracks trying to shove too many clothes inside of them. I admit, I have an addiction to Old Navy. But, it is easier to fix the dresser problems then the addiction problem which to me is not a problem, just don't ask my husband about it ;).

(And this is after it was cleaned off and moved to start our project! EEK!)

So I think I have mentioned on here before that I have a small house and my boys room was in desperate need of some floor space.  My dad (he's awesome) and I came up with a plan to give me a place for all of their clothes and to store their toys in too! Here is what we have so far...

And Mr. Finn loved "helping" Grandpa fix the shelves!

So for the rest of the week I'll be working on painting and arranging, working on pulling this all together. Hopefully I will have a finished project to show by the end of the week! I hope you all have a productive week too!!

Blog Swap with Mod Podge Rocks!

Holy Cow! We are so excited to have Amy from Mod Podge Rocks! here with us today! She is the absolute know it all when it comes to mod podge, and I'll admit, I'm a little obsessed with her blog. So here she is showing us a little some of her awesome skills!

Hi there - I'm Amy from Mod Podge Rocks! I'm pleased to be your hostess today, and I have to start by giving major kudos to Sammy and Ruth. This blue polka dot background is completely awesome. Yes, I love polka dots, I love the color blue and I LOVE Mod Podge. The name of this blog actually inspired me to do a Mod Podge project with fabric scraps that I had laying around. I call it "Mod Podged plate in the grass."

Ha! The reason I took a picture of this plate outside is because the nature colors and textures of my green fabric give it a natural feel. This decorative plate can be hung on the wall or as a candleholder, centerpiece plate to serve food at a party, etc - you see, it's Mod Podged on the BACK of the plate. It's a great beginner project, and I used many small pieces of fabric which lends itself to avoiding wrinkles, the bane of a Mod Podger's existence. If you've never had success with Mod Podge before, give this project a try. All you need is fabric, Mod Podge, a plate and a brush. Oh, and scissors. Let's begin.

If you have fabric scraps, they are probably already washed and dried, but if you haven't done that then you should. Take some Fabric Mod Podge and prepare your fabric. Make sure the fabric is ironed so that it is relatively flat. If you are like me, then you are the worst ironer in the world and so it will never be perfect. That's okay.

Make sure you are on a non-stick surface (wax paper works well), and spread the Mod Podge in a medium layer onto the fabric with your brush. I did this with a few different scraps. Let them dry.

Here's the background piece - it's a very neutral color. Give it the same treatment.

I decided that I wanted to do a flower-esque shape on the back of my plate, so I cut one petal out of one scrap. I then used that petal as a template to cut five more petals for a total of six.

Cut the background fabric into small squares. These don't have to be perfect because you are going to layer them.

Spread a layer of Mod Podge down onto the plate and place your pieces where you want them. Repeat until you have the right pattern and then allow to dry for about 15 minutes.

Once your flower shape is dry, paint Mod Podge over the top of the flower shape. Give it a few minutes.

Now that you have your design, layer the background pieces on top, all over the back of the plate. Put down some Mod Podge, lay the piece down and then Mod Podge over the top. Keep repeating over the entire back of the plate. It's safe to overlap the edge of the plate, because you are going to cut around the edge when it's dry with your scissors. The fabric cuts easily. It will take overnight for your fabric to completely dry.

It's that easy! Note that if you have a die cutter (for example, a Sizzix Big Shot like mine) you can run Mod Podged fabric through it to make shapes. Replace my large flower shape with other shapes or letters - really anything. After you complete your plate, don't forget to share it with me in the Mod Podge Rocks Flickr group!

Thanks to Sammy and Ruth and to all of the Scraps N' Strings readers - you've been awesome to have me. Swing by Mod Podge Rocks any time for project ideas or advice. Hope to see you soon!

Once again thank you so much Amy for swapping with us and make sure that you head on over to her blog and check out all of the amazingness there! (Oh yeah, and we are also hanging out over there for the day, so go check us out too :D )

Hutch Rebeautify

So I have this hutch. It used to be cream and really tall, like, it almost touched the ceiling in my living room, granted we have really low ceilings, but still.  So last year while my hubs was gone to AIT with the national guard I detached the top and painted it this really cute green color (it's not quite as harsh of a green as it appears in the pic).  It has been like this for about a year now, and since the hubs is gone to AIT again, I thought it needed a change. So I thought back to the tissue paper wall boxes I made earlier in the year and decided to try the same kind of thing.

I wanted all of the pieces of paper to be the same size so I measured the top of the hutch and it was 15 3/8X40 3/4". So I decided that I would cut each piece of paper to 5 1/8X10 1/4. So I had 3 rows across and 4 rows long.

Then I started applying the mod podge, enough for one piece of paper at a time,

 

and laid the paper down, flattening it with the side of my fist to prevent bubbling.

and worked my way all the way across the top.

Then I took 3 colors of distress ink, a dark brown, a lighter brown, and a green and worked it around the edges of the hutch with a paper towel, darkest on the outside and lighter as I worked my way in.

I then started applying the tissue paper. I crumple it first then flatten it back out and lay it onto a thick layer of mod podge. It's important to put enough on that the tissue paper can absorb it to make the tissue paper see-through. And then apply another thick layer of glossy mod podge to the top.

Once it was dry I used a craft knife to cut the excess tissue paper off of the hutch.

I then rubbed a little more of the dark brown distress ink to the finish using a paper towel to give it more of an antiqued look.

I then used the same distress ink and worked it around all of the edges and crevices on the rest of the hutch.

It's like a new piece of furniture!! I wonder if my hubs will even notice the difference. (I didn't even notice that Mr. Finn helped decorate with his blocks while I went to get my camera. Oh well, this is a more accurate representation of my house I guess :D )

And find all of our link-to's here!

Lace Hair Flowers

I've been loving the look of lace flowers lately, so I thought I would do a quick little tutorial on how to make a lace hair flower.  The first step is to take your lace and sew a basting stitch (the longest stitch) along the edge of the lace.

Then you want to take the flat thread and hold on to it and pull the lace over to scrunch it up.

Next cut out a circle out of some felt

Now starting in the middle put a hot glue dot down and attach the end of the lace. Now take the lace and wrap it around the end piece, gluing as you go.

Once you finish wrapping it, fluff it up to make a poof or you can flatten it down and glue some beads or a cute flower in the center.  Then you want to attach it to a hair clip. I usually use ribbon and just glue it right to the clip, but I recently saw an idea on V and Co. to make them interchangeable and did that instead. You can do whichever way you prefer, and can find that tutorial here. Here are a few of my finished project. I love them, they are so girly! (Sorry, I have failed to perfect the "myspace pic". Bummer I know).

Make sure that you check out the linky parties here!

Blog Swap with Fun to Craft!!

 We are so excited to have Stacey from Fun to Craft here with us today. Her blog rocks and has a ton of fun ideas to try out. So without further ado...

Hello Scraps N Strings Readers!

Thank you SO much for having me over here today. It is always fun to take over a blog!! Here are the detes about me:

That is me, Stacey.I am the crafter over at Fun to Craft.

I blog to share tutorials, crafts, sewing projects, recipes,
frugal finds or tips, and host giveaways.

I have two crazy kiddos and a darling hubby who just graduated from law school!!!! We have been on a thrifty budget so I try to make creative things that don't break the bank. I craft as my creative outlet because I think it helps keep me sane! I definitely dig home decor, sewing, crocheting, hand embroidery, spray painting, hot gluing and anything else I have to do to make that project just right.

Some of my favorite projects I have featured on my blog are:
I whipped up this bag to be prepacked each week to take to church. It helps occupy the kiddos and makes my life a lot easier.
I made these Luggage Tags to add a little pop of color on my luggage and to help me id my bags quicker! I whipped up this Camera Strap Cover with frills to sport my camera in style, plus it has a nice padded minky fabric for my neck!I made this Art Smock out of a vinyl tablecloth. Very cheap and a great way to keep my kiddos clean during those crazy art projects.
I made this nice Book Momento for my hubby's 30th birthday filled with admiring thoughts from others.

I made this damask tray to add a bit of flair to my decor. I am LoViNg it!!

I have a LOT of fun over at Fun to Craft and would love for you to join me! I have a 'Look at me, I am SO Crafty!' Link Party every Friday.
I love making new blogging friends and love to find new inspiring blogs to check out too. So come by, leave me a comment and I will come check out your blog too!! Thanks again to Ruth and Sammy for having me here today. It's been great!!

Isn't she awesome? So go check out her blog and we will see you all again very soon!

Magnetic Busy Boards

We are getting rid of our TV.  Yes, it will be gone, finito.  We are finally having some beautiful weather and all my 2 year old wants to do is watch cartoons. Well no more. So I have been trying to come up with some fun things for him to do to keep himself entertained and this week I came up with these...

And I am in love! They were so fun to make and Mr. Finn absolutely adores them (A+ for mom!). And they were super easy. 

Materials Needed:

Dry erase board

Pencil Case

Clamp

2 Metal Clasp Rings

 Sheet Magnets

Face Print out

I started out with a magnetic dry erase board from Walmart. These measure 11X11".

I used a ruler and found the middle of the board and used a dry erase marker to draw the shape of the face and then traced over the dry erase marker with a sharpie.

Next step was to drill 2 holes in the top (mark where to drill using the holes on the pencil bag)

And then I used E600 to glue a cute bulldog clamp right in the center of the top.

And use the metal rings to attach the bag to the dry erase board.

 Next thing I did was freehand some face parts (eyes, nose, mouth, ect.). I also made a second board that was for animals. I laminated all of the drawings and then cut them out.

Then I placed all of the pieces onto the magnet sheets and cut them out.

All of the pieces are easy to store in the pencil bag, and I also put some colored pencils in each bag so that we can attach some paper to the clip and they can have a cool little coloring board. These keep my boy entertained for quite a while, and trust me, that is saying something.

If you don't want to freehand the magnets yourself you are more than welcome to download the ones that I drew. Keep in mind these were all done with pencil and markers so they are by no means professional, but I think that it adds to the charm!

Download the Face Pieces here

And the Animal Pieces here

*Make sure to set the pages to letter size when printing (or 8 1/2X11)

And don't forget to check out all of the awesome places that we are linking to here!