{March} RIGHT OVER

Hello Readers!

Sorry I haven't been writing too often. I have been so thankfully and gratefully busy with commissions for calligraphy and canvas art and THAT my friends makes me so excited! You wanna know another reason why I am so excited... March is National Crafting Month! So... go ahead... get your hands dirty and share pictures of your crafts with us!

   

Madison's Birthday Pupcakes

Hi all! Madison's birthday was last month and I decided to try something a little different. I am so excited about how they came out so I decided to post it onto the blog.

I made pupcakes! 

Yes, that means I made cupcakes for my pup. And she devoured them down to the last bite [she even ate half the paper wrapper too].

They were so easy to make. Here are the ingredients you will need:
- 1/3 Cup Milk
- 1 Egg
- 2 Tb Vegetable Oil
- 2 Tb Honey
- 3/4 Cup Flour
- 1/4 Cup All Natural Peanut Butter [I used Low Sodium Too]
- 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp All Natural Vanilla Extract

Looks yummy, huh!?

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix all the ingredients together and set on Stir for about 3 minutes. This will make sure that all the ingredients have mixed well. Then line your cupcake pan with about 4 liners. Spoon about the same amount of mixture into each one. Pop your pupcakes into the oven for about 15-20 minutes, and voila your puppy is ready to enjoy!

I am very particular with the things I give my baby. She's a westie, and westie's tend to have a lot of skin problems, the majority of which can be avoided by what they consume. For that reason I was skeptical to give her any pupcake, but these ingredients did just fine.

Here is the Peanut Butter I used. It is made by JIF.

Happy Birthday or Congratulations to your puppies! Let me know how it goes! 

I AM SO {chalk}BOARD!

Hey all!

I love chalkboards. I love letters. I love everything about this style. I found this picture on Pinterest {of course}! I always give credit where it is due, but this image had no link to it so I have no idea where this beauty came from, but it is a great example of how chalkboards are being used in everyday home decor.

 I love it and if you have been blessed by the chalkboard gods and find a beautiful chalkboard like the one above, you are seriously blessed and should probably go and play the lottery that same day! because these chalkboards are few and far between. This being said, I have invested a ton of money in chalkboard paint {both liquid and spray} and painted many picture frames to turn them into chalkboards to use at events or around my home.

For example, below I used canvas, painted it completely with chalkboard paint, and painted on one my favorite verses for my best friend, Kat.

I love how this came out! What do you think? Interested in purchasing one? Email me or comment below!

Spaghetti Jar Upcycle

Hello to all my lovely readers:

Have you ever seen the beautiful pinterest posts using mason jars? Well, I have too and absolutely love them! Therefore, I am constantly saving all of my spaghetti sauce jars and I love it! Although I cannot say the same for my husband, haha! Saving these jars, means that I have stacks of them all over!

For those of you interested in doing the same thing, I have some tips on how to prep these jars for crafting.

First clean the jars out with dish soap. {You can soak them in clorox too.}

Then you are going to want to soak them in hot water to get the labels loose enough to peel off.

The paper peels off leaving some glue residue. You can them take your dish sponge {or a scouring pad} and, using the rough side, rub the glue residue off.

Then once you let them dry completely, they are ready for crafting.

 Happy crafting!

Fall-ing in LOVE with Fall

Hi readers!

So it's about that time. The time for boots, scarves, sweaters, pumpkin spice lattes, and cool weather, right? Wrong! If you live in Miami that is. Even though the last couple of days we have gotten some cooler weather- cooler as in not 100 degrees.

Check out our 5 day forecast, thanks to weather.com:

However, I am still determined to feel Fall in Miami. So, yes, I go to work in my cardigans, and scarves, and pray and hope to not have to be outside, at all.

In order to help me get into the season's spirit, I made these printable chalkboards and gave one to one of my coworkers to put on her door. {see below}

 I did the same with mine. Check them out:

I then quickly decided to make them available to you. So, yep, that's right, click below to download.

Chalkboard No. 1

Chalkboard No. 2

Send me pictures of how you used yours, and with your permission, I can post them up. Enjoy!

Gard-In or Out

Hi readers!

I posted a picture not to long ago of a piece of the front of my house with my beautiful little chalkboard, bench, and pillows out there. However, in the picture was also my TERRIBLE landscaping which we let die over the summer. To be honest, we hated the thing when we moved in and therefore didn't really put too much thought to it. {pictured below}

Well, since this post my husband and I got to working. We went to Home Depot and DIYed ourselves a pretty good looking garden, if I do say so myself.

We went to Home Depot and picked some plants that we thought might look good with the style home we have, with the weather we get down here in SoFlo, and keeping in mind that we wanted a variety of heights, and colors.

We brought the plants home and placed them on the bare ground first to see where we wanted to place them. This is great tip because then you don't have to worry about replanting.

And here is the finished product:

So excited now to decorate for fall. Here is a very informational post on creating your very own garden bed by craftionary. So helpful!

Inspire.

Hi all-

So here is what I have been thinking about all day. Inspiration. As human beings, we constantly have the thought going through our heads of "Why am I here?" "What is my purpose?" or "Will I make a difference?" For me, it has always been very important that I make a difference in the lives of the people around me. I think this is the reason God led me to teach. I feel very blessed every day to be able to come to my classroom and touch the lives of the students that come in and our of my classroom every year. This then also leads me to another thought. Legacy. In order to really leave an imprint on the world, we must take a second to look at the legacy we are leaving behind. Not just our reputation, but also our affect on those around us, and how we've inspired them to do something to benefit the world {or not}. This takes me back to inspiration. Over the weekend, one of my students surprised me by emailing me a picture of something I inspired her to do. {pictured below} It got me thinking. The students in my class, your coworkers, or people you run into on the train, at the red light, or at the coffee store. They all are impacted, or inspired, by you. How are you inspiring others? Remember, smiles really ARE contagious, and a random act of kindness DOES bring beauty to the world.

The DIY steps for this are pretty simple and they are a GREAT way to spruce up any wall, whatever room in the house that wall might be in.

First- You need some canvases {You choose! This specific example was made with two 12x12's and one 12x16}.
Second- You need painter's tape, however, if the struggle is real, scotch tape will do
Third- Decide what colors you want {She chose white and black which made it so much easier for her}
Fourth- {If you are choosing a color other than white, this would be the step to paint and let dry, but once you let dry the rest of the steps, are the same} You get to choose whatever designs you want, laying the tape however you think fits your style best
{Remember wherever you lay the tape, that part will not be painted by your next coat of paint}
Fifth- You paint over the whole canvas and set aside to dry {Yes, even the parts that you covered with tape}
Last- Peel up the tape and Voila! you have your design

Try it out and let me know how it goes!

Open house'n it

Teachers! How was your open house? These are pictures of a great idea for a polite way to ask your class parents for donations. "The Giving Tree"! Do you have a cricut? These apple and leaves would be so easy if you did. Email me, I can make some for you!

Freebie Friday

Frozen Party Printables

Good morning readers!

We threw a party recently for my niece that was Frozen themed, and I thought, how cute is this? A Frozen party in the summer! Olaf, of course, approved. Here are some pictures for you to grab any ideas from. This was a collaboration with VIP FD&E and Sweets by Sonia. They are always such a pleasure to work with!

And, if you have a little daughter you know, very well, the FROZEN obsession. Well here is a little freebie for those of you that are planning to have a Frozen themed party this summer.

In this pack there are Food Tents, & Ziploc Bag Tags. Here's what you're going to need:

For these Food Tents, we used marshmallows, and chocolate kisses. We put them each in their own platter with the food tent printed on Cardstock, folded in half, in front. You can get the editable version here. The font I used here is called "Aspire." You will need to download it first into your PC, Notebook, or Laptop. You can find it by "googling" the font name, but there's a great version here. Have never downloaded a font? You can find the How-To here. 

We also had Olaf Noses {Carrots} and these awesome Ziploc bag tags.

We attached the Ziploc Bag Tags to, you guessed it, Ziploc Bags and then put these in their goodie bags. In each Ziploc Bag, there were 3 marshmallows, two pretzel sticks, some brown M&Ms, and a baby carrot. The guests {Baby L's little friends}, chose to either build their snowman or just eat the pieces. It was SO cute and tons of fun for the little ones. 

I hope you enjoy, and remember to share any of your hits or misses on the comments below. 

Enjoy!

- Download Pack Here -

{Studio Life}

Okay... so maybe not your idea of a studio... but every artist needs their space, and this space is ALL mine. it's coming along as you can see here... oh and how can I forget, here {yikes!}. It's come a long way. I would love to hear your ideas or thoughts. Comment below!

I got these two Ikea tables that are a GREAT space for any craft, or project. They are not too bulky, and the way my room is set up, I can put the two next to each other along the wall to make for one really long table if ever needed. {I'm trying to leave a little space for my husband to use his laptop if need be- He's my manager, lol}

I love me some Marilyn Monroe. Okay, so I know she has her story... but don't we all?! AND, she used her story to propel her into a career that although ended quickly will resonate through time. 

 ....work....in....progress....

Tissue Paper Garland

These little garlands are all the rage at the kid's parties, and some of us have spent so much of our time finding the right ones with the right colors. Here is where all the searching stops! Although they will be available on my store soon, you don't need to purchase them from anyone after this quick step by step.

First things first, what will you need? Well you need to determine how many tassles you want to make and what colors? In this case, we made 6 for the studio {2 pink, 2 black, & 2 white}. You are going to need a sheet of tissue paper for each. These sheets are Spritz brand and they are 16 1/2" x 24" {41.9 cm x 60.9 cm}. Spritz is available in the party section of any Target. You are also going to need string, scissors, and I love any opportunity to use Washi Tape, and this is one of those very opportunities.

You need to separate the tissue paper into individual pieces. You will then cut it down the middle {vertically} and then layer the two pieces, fold in half one way and then the other way.

Do you remember making fans in elementary out of paper? Well that same back and forth fold that you used then, you will use now. As seen below.

Then you are going to need to cut slits into your little folded tissue paper. I cut along the folds and then again in the middle. Keeping it folded, so that I don't need to cut so many individual slits. Each slit, leaving about 1 1/2" from the top of the paper. {Tip: For this step you need some really strong, sharp, new, good scissors.}

Then, it is very important that you separate {carefully} the strips you just cut. Be very careful. You want to completely separate them, and open up your tissue paper, like below.

You are now going to refold it. This step is important because it will give your tassel volume. {If only our hair were this easy, lol} Remember that back and forth fold we did earlier? Well do that again, with this larger piece of tissue paper. So that you get something like this below.

Then you are going to fold it in half over your string and wrap Washi Tape around it.

This is important so that wherever you place your tassel you can move it later! See?

Let me know how this works for you? I tries to simplify as much as possible, but if you are still having some trouble, you can contact me about purchasing a custom one. Thanks!