Craft Night Details

Here are the details and the information I provided the neighborhood girls about the craft night.  They were directed to a "secret" spot on my blog to view all the details about the craft projects and the night. Here is what they saw...  I also included the instructions and crafting 411, in case you were interested.



Hi Ladies,

I hope you are able to come to the first annual neighborhood Craftopolooza. It is going to be Friday night October 19th from 7:00 pm until whenever you want (although I might kick you out at midnight).

We will be doing three craft projects. You can do all three or one or two. It is completely up to you. Here are the projects to choose from.

Craft Project #1 - Girls Jumbo Beaded Bracelets


Price $10 for 3 bracelets.

We will be making a halloween-colored bracelet, a christmas-colored bracelet and then you can choose between a valentine-colored bracelet or a WOODS-colored bracelet.

I will provide all of the supplies, you just need to let me know if you want a Woods bracelet or a valentine bracelet.

The CRAFTING 411:
I got my beads from ebay.  I searched using "18mm acrylic round beads".  or you could search 14mm or 16mm for more selection.  Most beads come from China, so you need to give 2-3 week delivery window.

You can also look at these two sites.
pandahall.com
white mountain gems and beads

Here are the instructions I made for the party.

A FEW MORE SPECIFICS:   The string is elastic I bought at Joanns.  I used 9 beads for my 5 year old and 10 beads for my 8 year old.  I used a coordinating ribbon and tied the bow around the knot.  And to keep the ribbon from fraying, I used a lighter to burn the edges (just ever so slightly).

Some of my beads didn't come in time, so I just let the girls make up whatever color bracelets they wanted to.  We didn't stick to the holiday colors.  I gave them free reign :-)

Craft Project #2 - Tabletop Framed Chalkboard


Price $18 for a 8X10 frame

I will provide the paint and frames and chalkboard paint. We will be painting them in an old white color and I will have stuff available to antique them if you want.

THE CRAFTING 411
I bought the frames from Cut it Out Already.  These frames are awesome and for half the cost.  The frames come with a cardboard backing.  So, you will need to go to Lowes and have some thin wood sheets cut for the frames in the size of the opening.

I used Annie Sloane Chalk Paint.  Here is a post all about this great paint.  I bought Old White and Graphite for the chalkboard.

Here are the instructions I made for the party.

The backing of the frame is the wood you purchased at Lowes.  The Dark Wax is from Annie Sloan.  You don't have to antique the frame if you don't want to.  I gave it as a choice for the girls to do.  And again, painting the frame with the clear wax isn't necessary.  We actually didn't do it.  

Craft Project #3 - Holiday Wreath



PRICE $12 (not including fabric or felt)

There are two choices for wreaths. They both will require you purchasing the fabric or felt before the craft night. The fabric wreath is a very simple and quick wreath to make. The felt wreath will require a lot more time. It is still very easy, just more time consuming.

Fabric Wreath - bring one yard of whatever fabric you want to use. It would be best to use a thinner fabric (not something too heavy, like twill or corduroy). HINT: A light airy fabric will make it look similar to the picture, but it would look good with a nice cotton fabric too.

Felt Wreath - one yard of heavy weight felt. Definitely use a heavier-weight felt. It's more expensive, but well worth it. I found mine at Joanne's for $6.99 a yard. The lightweight felt will require you to use more, which means you'll need to cut and cut and cut more circles. The heavyweight felt also gives the wreath a more quality look.

For the felt wreath you probably won't finish it all that night, so you can either start it at the craft night (and finish it at a later time) or pre-cut your felt circles before the craft night, so you can assemble and finish your wreath that night. If you are interested in pre-cutting and having everything ready to complete that night, let me know and I will tell you what to do. it is super easy, just cutting is involved (like a 150 circles, so you know what you are getting yourself into :-).

I will have the wreaths, pins,  etc. You just bring the fabric or felt.

The Crafting 411

I bought the 14 inch wreaths at Hobby Lobby.   Buy the Extruded wreaths, the pins stick in them better.   And then I bought #17 stick pins.  they are a bit longer, so they stick into the wreath further.

Here are the instructions for both wreaths.

For the ruffle wreath, here is a link to show you a bit more of how to assemble it.

I didn't use a glue gun, we just used the pins to stick in the fabric.  And I didn't tell the girls to bring ribbon for hanging, so it might be nice to tell the girls to buy some ribbon while they are already at the fabric store.

*****************************************************************

What would be a gathering without food. It would be great if everyone could bring an appetizer or dessert to share with the group to keep our energy levels up while we craft through the night.

So, I think that is it. If you are interested in coming to CRAFTOPOLOOZA, please RSVP as soon as you can (or by Sept 30th at the latest) with which projects you want to do, so I can gather up the supplies and be ready for the big night. And if you can make it, please let me know the following:

1) what projects you want to do
2) if you want a WOODs or Valentine's bracelet
3) which wreath you want to do (so I can get the right wreath for your project).

Hope you all can make it... it will be a fun night of crafts, friends, talking and eating. Not a bad way to spend a friday night!

THERE YOU GO.  A FUN CRAFT NIGHT WITH FRIENDS. I WILL POST A FEW MORE PICTURES OF THE NIGHT IN A FEW DAYS.

HERE IS A LINK TO THE INVITATIONS FOR THE NIGHT.

Craft Night

My neighborhood is awesome.  There are so many fun families.  All the ladies, used to get together about once a quarter for some kind of party... mostly as an excuse to sit and talk and eat.  Well, for some reason, those gatherings have stopped.  I think life just gets too busy.  But one of my neighbor friends asked me a year ago to throw a craft night at my house.  Well, I was about a month away from having a baby, so I politely told her "heck no!"  But maybe in a year of so :-)

Well, it had been a year and I thought to myself, that was a good idea, so maybe I should do it.  We haven't really gotten together in awhile, so maybe I should start it up again.  And that is what I did.

I invited all the ladies on my street (and a few others from around the corner) and we had CRAFTAPOOLOZA!  That is what I called the craft night.

I started by designing a "Craftapooloza" logo for the night.

Here are the invitations I made.  I used some cute chevron bags and put a cute tissue paper flower on the front.  (Here is a tutorial for the flowers, so cute and easy).

Then I designed the invite to go inside and punched a hole and strung ribbon at the top (so they could pull out the invite easily).

So, darn cute, huh!  I was in love with how they turned out.

The gist of the night: I provided 4 crafts (originally I was going 3, but I added another craft at the last minute) for the girls to choose from.  They could do all 4 or just do 1 or 2 or 3 crafts.  I would provide the supplies and my house and instructions.  They came with food, money (to pay for the supplies) and ready to craft the night away.

It was so much fun.  Everyone crafted until midnight and then I had to kick them out :-)

Crafts and photos coming soon!

Soccer Season

It is soccer season and we have been all about soccer these last 2 months.  With three kids in soccer, we have 4 practices a week and 3 games on Saturdays.  It has been busy, but a lot of fun.  

Ella - she loves it and is doing a pretty good job.  She loves that her friend Elle is on her team.  And she loves even more that her dad is her coach.  Last week, she got a goal "all by herself" and was so excited.  It is fun to cheer these little kids on.

Jake - he had a much slower warming up period to soccer.  He cried a lot the first two games.  He would cry when the ball was "stolen" from him and whenever he fell.  It was rough.  But each game got better and now he runs and plays and loves it.  He usually falls behind the other players when running and doesn't always have his eyes on the ball, but he runs and runs and is happy, so that is good enough for us!

Hannah - I am still waiting to get pictures of her.  Her season goes much longer, so I wanted to wait until it wasn't 100 degrees during her game.  So, pictures of her are coming soon.

Jack O'Lantern Seeds

Each year this is what I give out to the kid's friends/soccer teams.   Here are this year's jack o'lantern seeds.

The crazy thing is that i probably get 3 emails a day asking for these tags.  The last time I tried to share the labels on my blog, it didn't work.

So, I am trying it again.  Here is a link to GoogleDocs, where you should be able to download the sheet of labels.  And then just print it onto an 8 1/2 X 11 full sheet of label paper (avery or a generic brand).  Then cut them and stick them on tic tacs... it is simple as that.

If this doesn't work, let me know and I will email you the file.  

And in case you are interested, I found another blog that made cute labels and expanded the tic tacs to include more fun halloween treats .... so, I thought I would pass these on to you... click here to see the lables.

Upcoming Halloween

I am have been busy working on halloween costumes.  For the first time ever, we are dressing up as a family.  We have theme for our costumes.  Most of which i have had to make up and figure out on my own.  Luckily there are a lot of good tips and help on the web.

Here is a hint of just one of the costumes.  It started with a yellow dress I got on ebay and I added everything else... not too shabby, for making it all up.

I have one more costume to go (mine) and I will be all done and ready for halloween.  Can't wait, this should be fun.  I hope people know what we are... anyone have a guess?

FIrst Day of School

I can't believe I forgot to post my kid's "first day school" photos.  I was downloading some photos from my camera and these were there.  Oops, how did I miss these?  A big year for me.  Three kids in some form of school.  All of them are loving school and their teachers, so this school year is looking pretty good!  (Now that we are almost two months in :-)

Graham at 9 months

I keep meaning to write a lot of stuff down about Graham before I forget. So, here I go... i hope I don't forget anything.

1) His favorite song is "Here's a ball for baby". Any time we sing it he has a huge smile on his face. Until the second verse. He doesn't love the second verse as much as the first. I even used this song to help wean him to a bottle. It totally worked. He was all upset and mad when I tried to feed him a bottle and then I sang this song and he calmed down and started to suck. Love this song!

2) He is crawling and has been for a month now. He has the funniest crawl. He crawls with one leg tucked underneath him bottom. He uses one leg to crawl and drags his "lame leg' under his bottom. I call it his "lame leg" (he doesn't really have one), but he crawls like he has one. It is so funny and totally makes me laugh.

3) He loves his dad's voice. Every time he hears his dad he looks for him and when he finds him, he smiles like crazy. Each night when I take him up to bed, Chris says "good night Graham" and Graham strains to find him and then smiles his big, big smile.

4) He walks uses furniture every chance he gets. He loves to pull himself up onto anything and walk around the couch, from chair to chair, really anything that is sturdy enough for him. I predict he will walk by 10 months, we shall see!

5) He got 5 teeth in one month. Between month 8 and 9. He got 2 teeth on top and 3 teeth on the bottom. He is a teething machine. So much drool.

6) He finally started sleeping through the night at 8 1/2 months. The longest it has taken any of my kids (by about 5 months). It is glorious!!! I don't know what it was (Formula, crying it out for the 5th time, age, etc).. but whatever it was, I am so happy!

7) When he is a strange place or with strangers, he cuddles with me.  I love it.  He just wants to be close to me for comfort and security.  And isn't the my job :-)  It is so sweet and I will take it any day.

8) He is a big baby.  And I get it everywhere I go.  But the crazy thing is he is only 21 pounds and like 75% for weight.  But you wouldn't guess it by looking at him.  Super chubby face and thighs.  He is definitely a chunky-monkey!

9) When Graham is mad, he now puts his head back, face in the air and scrunches his face, closes his eyes and makes noises that are definitely mad.  He does it whenever he isn't happy about something.  It is so funny, I just laugh at him, even though I know he is mad.

Spider Topiary

I wanted to show a close up of my spider topiary.  I love it.  It is spooky and fun all at the same time.  It still kind of gives me the creeps each time I look at it.  A super easy project.  For those that care and didn't read my other post.. here are the details.

I got a 7" inch ball of styrofoam.   That size matched my pot pretty well.  I painted it black and I painted a wooden dowel black too.  When it was all dry, I stuck the dowel into the ball and into styrofoam I placed into the bottom of my pot.  I used about 200 black spider rings.  I cute each on in half at the ring, so I could just stick them into the styrofoam.  I tried to do them as close together as I could.  To finish it off, I tied a ribbon around the bottom of the ball and used webbing to cover the pot.  And I got that big, glittery spider to put on the webbing to finish it off.

Enjoy!

Halloween Decor

Last year, i was so big and pregnant that I didn't decorate for halloween.  But not this year :-)  I decided to get the decorations out and add a few more items that I have seen on pinterest.  So, here is my entry table and dining room table.  I love how they turned out.  So, fun and festive.

Some of the new projects are the "31" and "halloween" plaques.  I got the idea of "31" from this blog.  And then I added the 'halloween" to make a set.  The great thing about these plaques is that they are made from cabinet doors.  And I didn't have to do any priming, sanding or prep work.  I used this AWESOME paint.  It is the greatest thing.  For a girl like me, who just wants to get going on a project and get it done (I don't like to prep work), this paint is heavenly. It dries super quick, great colors and easy, easy, easy!   It is called Annie Sloan Chalk Paint. Check it out... i will change your "creative" life.

Also, I made the little white garland out of strips of white fabric and just tied it onto a ribbon and added some festive tied ribbon all throughout to add some color.  So, easy and I love how it looks.  

Lastly, I made a spider topiary.    I used spider rings and stuck them onto a black painted Styrofoam ball (i cut the rings so they could poke into the styrofoam).  I used a 7" ball and it took about 200 spider rings.  Again, love it and saw something similar on pinterest and thought... I am going to do that.

The pumpkins are project I did last year. .... here is the link.

Lastly, I put out framed pictures of my kids throughout the years.  I add a few each year.  I love putting them out and see how cute my kids are and how much they are growing up.  They love to see the pictures each year too.  Eventually my whole house my be full of frame pictures each year.

There you go... my halloween decorations.  I would love to have something similar to this for each holiday.  We will see if that every happens. :-)

A little fun

I haven't posted pictures of our day to day for awhile.  So, here is a little catch up.  

A few Saturdays ago, Chris got the girls up bright and early to go watch our hot air balloon launch for our cities annual event.  They had a blast.   They chased the balloons to the field where they landed.  The loved seeing the "fire" in the balloons.

Last week, we had our school's jog-a-thon.  I usually don't love this day.  We don't raise money for it because I don't want to pester my neighbors and it is all super hot.  But this year, they did it in the morning and it was so much fun.

We all went to cheer the girls on and they did such a great job running.  It was fun to be there and be with them and have so much fun with everyone.

Dinner Party

We had a dinner party at our house last month.  I put together a few little party details to go with the theme of the night.  We had a burger bar (since it was still summer weather and used the grill).  Some of the details of the dinner were:

• brown lunch bags cut with scalloped scissors wrapped with some ribbon and the logo of the night.
• brown butcher paper that I wrote on labeling all the different toppings.
• I used mason jars to hold the napkin and utensils.  I wrapped it with ribbon and used the logo of the night.  We used the mason jars for root beer floats for the dessert.
• I created some "burgers" with topping ideas and hung them from the ceiling (to help people create a burger... in case they need some help).
• I used "old-fashion" drive in food baskets for the toppings.

It was a super fun night and to end it, we played a white elephant game.  Everyone brought a white elephant gift.  We had a 30 minute time limit.  Each person rolled dice and any time someone rolled a double they got to pick a gift or steal a gift.  We just played until time ran out.  

The most wanted gifts were a wooden strategy puzzle kit, root beers with mustache tags and singing key chain and picnic basket for 2.  

The funniest gifts were spam and bacon soap and a "fancy" fake corsage from a sister's wedding.  It was hilarious.

Chair re-do again

I don't know what took me so long to jump on the laminated cotton bandwagon. But man, am I glad I finally got on. These are our kitchen table chairs. When we first got them, they were very nice and elegant. But after about two meals with the kiddos, they quickly went from nice and elegant to just plain gross.

So, about a month before I had my third child. I decided I needed to cover the chairs and so I got sewing. I made chair covers for all six chairs. I made it all up as I went and even used piping to make them look nice and "store-bought". I was up against the clock (due date) and I was sewing machine. I got it done and vowed never to do it again. Well, three years later, the chairs covers I slaved over were "just plain gross". But I was not about to sew more of them!

Enter laminated cotton. I found laminate cotton on Pinterest of course and decided that was the way to go. So many cute patterns of fabric and all I had to do was pick my favorite. So, I did (I think) and after some cutting, a lot of staples and a staple gun... I have chair covers that are cute and should last for a while (or until I get tired of the print). I love them.  All you have to do is wipe up the mess with a wet cloth or sponge and you are all set.  I wish I had done this years ago.

SIDE NOTE: I usually go for plain and simple styles, so I was going to go with a simple striped fabric pattern, something classic that would go with anything. But I decided to fight that urge and go for a little color. So, I went against everything in me and picked out this pattern. I am not sure if I love it, but it is playful and fun and adds a little more character to the kitchen table... so BRAVO me for trying something new.... right?

Beads Bracelet Crafts

I saw something like this on pinterest and thought it would be fun to make with my girls. And guess what? It was. Ella loved helping me make the bracelets and putting together the patterns. I made all these bracelets in about an hour. I am not sure the girls will wear them, but regardless they are so fun and cute, i figure some day they will.

and if you are wondering where I got the beads. I got them on ebay. There are websites that sell them in bigger bulk and (maybe) slightly cheaper, but I liked my choices on ebay and the price seemed reasonably, so I went with ebay for my first go-at-it.

Last Day in England

Here is what we did on our last day in the UK. It was a jammed packed trip and way to short... but a lot of fun and definitely worth the trip. Graham even did very well considering he was dealing with jetlag and in his carseat a lot. It was wonderful to spend one-on-one time with Chris' parents and see the beautiful country of Great Britain. We will be back again someday!

Scotland Day 4

More of what we did on our trip.

Scotland Day 3

We headed up to Scotland for a few days and here is what we did the first day there.

England Day 2

Here is what we did on Day 2 of Sight-Seeing.

Our Trip to the UK

We just got back from a "last-minute" trip to the England, Wales and Scotland. We went for 9 days. I know quick huh? We only had so much time between babysitters and days before school started, so we had to sneak it in. We went to England to visit Chris' parents. They are in the MTC presidency in Preston, England. They are there for 23 months and return to the states this December, so we decided it was now of never.

It was a great trip and I wish we could have stayed longer. It just gave me some ideas of what I would do and where I would go the next time we go to the UK. So, many places I want to go back to and really visit. We left the kids (except for Graham, lucky him, he got to go with us) with their Aunt Wendy for part of the time and grandma the rest of the time. It was so wonderful, because I didn't have to worry about the kids at all. They were with people that loved them, so I knew they were in good hands and would be just fine.

We arrived Saturday, August 11th. We were supposed to arrive in the morning, but we missed a flight and had to go through London to Manchester, so we arrived in the evening. Just enough time to eat dinner, unpack and then go to sleep - glorious sleep. I had been up for more than 24 hours (no sleep).

Sunday we stayed at the MTC and got to be a fly on the wall with all the missionaries. It was a great day and I loved being there and seeing the church in action.

Monday, we started our sight-seeing. And here is what we did..

Calling all Moms

So, I am at the point that I need to wean my baby boy. I need to stop nursing and get him on a bottle. the problem is that he doesn't want anything to do with the bottle. he just cries and cries bloody murder. So, i need help and advice from all you moms out there. How did you wean your babies? What tricks did you use? Please, help this mommy out. Each child is different and he is my hardest yet when it comes to weaning.

Pin and Tried!

I have been busy trying recipes from Pinterest. I realized that I might hurt the originator's feelings if I am not so nice about my reviews, I don't mean to be rude or hurt feelings, I am just sharing my personal opinion. I want the originators to know that I am not personally attacking you or your posts, just sharing with other's my take on your recipes. I hope you aren't mad at me :=)

so, with that being said... here we go with the latest pins:

1) Buttermilk Pancakes - these were fine, nothing to write home about. But I didn't use the Buttermilk Syrup and I am sure if I did, they would have been out of this world. I am sure the syrup makes the pancakes.

CONSENSUS: DELETE PIN (I am sure I can find a better pancake recipe out there in the wide world of the web).

2) Rachel Ray's Southwest Chili Co Queso Pasta Bake - I didn't like this recipe. And the only reason is that i have a hard time mixing mexican flavors with pasta. Pasta should be reserved for Italian flavors only. Mixing the two ethnic flavors just doesn't work for me.

CONSENSUS: DELETE PIN

3) Delish Chicken Marinade - I really liked this marinade. It was super yummy and I could taste all the subtle flavors in each bite. It definitely is delish.

CONSENSUS: KEEP IT PINNED

4) Cinnabon Popcorn - this was good, but not my favorite when it comes to caramel popcorn. I loved the flavors (cinnamon, pecans, chocolate, caramel all together - how could you not, right?). But the caramel popcorn part was a little to crunchy for me. I prefer my caramel popcorn a little more chewy.

But what I would do is use my favorite caramel popcorn recipe and then add the cinnamon, pecans, chocolate, etc. Then it personally be the best popcorn ever!

CONSENSUS: KEEP PINNED (but use my own caramel corn recipe).

5) Mashed Potato Skins - I really liked these. They tasted great and so easy (you don't have to peel the potatoes). They were nice and creamy and because of buttermilk, not as fattening. I would definitely make these again.

CONSENSUS: KEEP PINNED.

Trip to Zion's National Park

After some time in SLC, we headed to St. George to see my parents. The weather was beautiful for July in St. George. They had a huge rainstorm the first night and it was crazy. So much rain and wind and thunder and lightening. It caused major flooding around their community and the next day we were going to go swimming in Veyo, but the rainstorm caused so much damage that the pool was closed because the pool was full of mud! So, we headed to St. George to play in their water feature in the middle of town. My kids favorite thing to do.

Then on Saturday we headed to Zion's National Park. It was the perfect day. 82 degrees and overcast. Such a great day to go hiking in Zions. It ended up being a great day with the family. The kids did so great and we hiked a bunch!

Playing at the Reservoir

After the reunion, we went to SLC and played with the cousin. We went to a splash park, had lots of dinners with family, visited BYU campus and showed the kids where we lived and studied on campus and went to Uncle Kyle's family Reservoir on Peterson, Ut. The kids had a blast hunting for frogs, snakes and salamanders. They went canoeing and walked around the reservoir looking for anything living they could find.

Jake fell in love with the frogs and salamanders. He just sat at the bucket full of frogs and played with them for hours. He would pick them up and play with them, but apparently he played with them too hard and squished on of them to death. His cousin came to me to tell me that a frog had white curly things coming out of his side after Jake played with him. So, we had to teach Jake to be gentle with the poor things.

He also loved the Salamanders and kept playing with it and talking about it for days after. Another fun day in utah!

I forgot to mention that the kids ran all the way back from the reservoir. It was 2 1/2 miles from the house to the reservoir and the kids ran a lot of the way. We picked up many of them along the way in our ATV and dropped them off when they wanted to run again. But Hannah was a trooper. She ran most of the way and did it in flip flops. She needed a ride for about a 1/4 mile because her side hurt... but other than that she ran and was a great sport!

Reunion Hike

During the Reunion, everyone went on a hike. (Again, I didn't make it), but it sounded like a good time had by all. My kids loved it. There were rocks everywhere and they came back with a ton of them to take home. My kids loves rocks.

Christensen Family Reunion

We went to Ephraim for the every-other year Christensen Family Reunion. I was sick for the whole thing this year. I don't know what happened, but I came down with a horrible case of the flu (i think) and was knocked out for 2 days. But Chris took some pictures at the family farm (which is the central focus of the reunion)... I will let the pictures speak for themselves, since i don't know what happened that day :-)

4th of July Weekend

We got back from our summer trip to Utah. It started with the 4th of July. We woke up and headed to Moroni, Ut for their parade. It started with a ping-pong ball drop from an airplane. Which the kids love. Then the floats with tons and tons of candy being thrown at the kids. They love that more. Unfortunately, Jake took a dive onto the street road and had a big, fat, bloody lip. It was so sad, but again the candy made him forget his pain.

Then we went to the local park festivities both in Moroni and Manti. We rode rides, played put-put golf, we took a little train ride and made rockets and launched them into the air. We had yummy Italian Ice and wonderful utah watermelon.

Later that night, we went to Manti and saw another parade and then went to the high school stadium and watched fireworks with the beautiful Manti Temple in the background. It was a great small town 4th of July!

Craftopolooza

Hi Ladies,

I hope you are able to come to the first annual neighborhood Craftopolooza. It is going to be Friday night October 19th from 7:00 pm until whenever you want (although I might kick you out at midnight).

We will be doing three craft projects. You can do all three or one or two. It is completely up to you. Here are the projects to choose from.

Craft Project #1 - Girls Jumbo Beaded Bracelets


Price $10 for 3 bracelets.

We will be making a halloween-colored bracelet, a christmas-colored bracelet and then you can choose between a valentine-colored bracelet or a WOODS-colored bracelet.

I will provide all of the supplies, you just need to let me know if you want a Woods bracelet or a valentine bracelet.

The CRAFTING 411:
I got my beads from ebay.  I searched using "18mm acrylic round beads".  or you could search 14mm or 16mm for more selection.  Most beads come from China, so you need to give 2-3 week delivery window.

You can also look at these two sites.
pandahall.com
white mountain gems and beads

Here are the instructions I made for the party.

A FEW MORE SPECIFICS:   The string is elastic I bought at Joanns.  I used 9 beads for my 5 year old and 10 beads for my 8 year old.  I used a coordinating ribbon and tied the bow around the knot.  And to keep the ribbon from fraying, I used a lighter to burn the edges (just ever so slightly).

Craft Project #2 - Tabletop Framed Chalkboard


Price $18 for a 8X10 frame

I will provide the paint and frames and chalkboard paint. We will be painting them in an old white color and I will have stuff available to antique them if you want.

THE CRAFTING 411
I bought the frames from Cut it Out Already.  These frames are awesome and for half the cost.  The frames come with a cardboard backing.  So, you will need to go to Lowes and have some thin wood sheets cut for the frames in the size of the opening.

I used Annie Sloane Chalk Paint.  Here is a post all about this great paint.  I bought Old White and Graphite for the chalkboard.

Here are the instructions I made for the party.

The backing of the frame is the wood you purchased at Lowes.  The Dark Wax is from Annie Sloan.  You don't have to antique the frame if you don't want to.  I gave it as a choice for the girls to do.  And again, painting the frame with the clear wax isn't necessary.  We actually didn't do it.  

Craft Project #3 - Holiday Wreath



PRICE $12 (not including fabric or felt)

There are two choices for wreaths. They both will require you purchasing the fabric or felt before the craft night. The fabric wreath is a very simple and quick wreath to make. The felt wreath will require a lot more time. It is still very easy, just more time consuming.

Fabric Wreath - bring one yard of whatever fabric you want to use. It would be best to use a thinner fabric (not something too heavy, like twill or corduroy). HINT: A light airy fabric will make it look similar to the picture, but it would look good with a nice cotton fabric too.

Felt Wreath - one yard of heavy weight felt. Definitely use a heavier-weight felt. It's more expensive, but well worth it. I found mine at Joanne's for $6.99 a yard. The lightweight felt will require you to use more, which means you'll need to cut and cut and cut more circles. The heavyweight felt also gives the wreath a more quality look.

For the felt wreath you probably won't finish it all that night, so you can either start it at the craft night (and finish it at a later time) or pre-cut your felt circles before the craft night, so you can assemble and finish your wreath that night. If you are interested in pre-cutting and having everything ready to complete that night, let me know and I will tell you what to do. it is super easy, just cutting is involved (like a 150 circles, so you know what you are getting yourself into :-).

I will have the wreaths, pins, glue etc. You just bring the fabric or felt.

The Crafting 411

I bought the 14 inch wreaths at Hobby Lobby.   But the Extruded wreaths, the pins stick in them better.   And then I bought #17 stick pins.  they are a bit longer, so they stick into the wreath further.

Here are the instructions for both wreaths.

For the ruffle wreath, here is a link to show you a bit more of how to assemble it.

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What would be a gathering without food. It would be great if everyone could bring an appetizer or dessert to share with the group to keep our energy levels up while we craft through the night.

So, I think that is it. If you are interested in coming to CRAFTOPOLOOZA, please RSVP as soon as you can (or by Sept 30th at the latest) with which projects you want to do, so I can gather up the supplies and be ready for the big night. And if you can make it, please let me know the following:

1) what projects you want to do
2) if you want a WOODs or Valentine's bracelet
3) which wreath you want to do (so I can get the right wreath for your project).

Hope you all can make it... it will be a fun night of crafts, friends, talking and eating. Not a bad way to spend a friday night!

THERE YOU GO.  A FUN CRAFT NIGHT WITH FRIENDS. I WILL POST A FEW MORE PICTURES OF THE NIGHT IN A FEW DAYS.