October 2014

Posted by Valerie Earnest I’m getting hooked on washi tape. It’s really kind of adorable, and there are so many fun things you can do with it. I am trying to resist the urge to buy one of every color and pattern I see.  Target even has some.  Did you know that?  I found black polka dot in the scrapbook section, and a few multi-packs in the office supply area.

Both Very Jane and Groopdealz are featuring a washi tape deal today.  Did you see?  Go over and check them out!

Anyway, I’ve been wanting to make a version of this Birthday Countdown Frame by Love and Sugar Kisses.  Now that I am in possession of washi tape, I decided to try it out on a frame, and came up with this:

I was going to create a tutorial, but I somehow stopped taking pictures halfway through.  So you get half a picture tutorial, and half words.  Sorry about that.  It’s been a crazy week.

Frame (I used an 8×10 from the dollar store)

Washi Tape- I used three different patterns

Mod Podge or Sealer (optional)

Craft Glue and Glue Stick

Cardstock and/or patterned paper

Mini Clothespin

Embellishments

Chipboard numbers or large number stickers (optional- I used my Cameo to cut my own)

Estimated Cost:  no more than $10 (much less if you have supplies on hand)

Estimated time:  30 minutes

I started with a frame from the dollar store.  I picked out some washi tape that fit well for a birthday theme, and simply pressed it onto the frame.  As you see in the 2nd picture, I did cut the corners on an angle so it lined up with the frame and didn’t overlap.

You could certainly paint first, or use a white frame, if you don’t like the natural wood showing through.  This was meant to be a quick and easy project, so I don’t mind the wood.  As you see in the third picture, I did, however, use a third washi tape on the outer edges of my frame, pressed down onto the back so I didn’t have to trim or anything.

Here’s how my frame looked at this point.  

Next, I took it outside and sprayed a good coat of sealer all over the empty frame.  Some of my washi tape doesn’t adhere as well to the wood, so the sealer helped it stay in place.  A thin coat of Mod Podge would work, too.  But if your washi tape is staying in place, you can skip that step.

Okay, here’s where I stopped taking pictures.  

1.  Use the back of the frame as a template and trace a rectangle onto heavy cardstock of your choice to fit the frame.  I used white, and actually Mod Podged it on to the cardboard piece for extra stability.

2.  Choose a contrasting color of cardstock and cut a smaller rectangle.  My pink rectangle was about 5 1/2 x 7 1/2, but you can just eyeball it.

3.  Use a glue stick or a very thin coat of Mod Podge to adhere your contrasting rectangle to your base cardstock.

4.  Attach your mini-clothespin to the upper center of your smaller piece of cardstock with a dab of glue.  Let dry, then cover it with a torn strip of washi tape.

5.  Embellish as desired.  I used an old party hat from a birthday card I got years ago, and cut the “happy birthday” from yellow cardstock using my Silhouette Cameo.  I just used a glue stick to adhere the words, and craft glue for the party hat.

1.  Choose a cute piece of patterned paper or cardstock.  Cut into 1.5x 2.5 inch rectangles.  Use scalloped scissors to embellish the edges, if desired.

2.  Use number stickers, chipboard numbers, or your craft cutter to cut numbers as desired.  We only count down about two weeks before a birthday, so I went up to 15.  You can cut as many as you want.

3.  Adhere numbers to your rectangles with craft glue or glue stick.

Now I have a cute way to count down to our birthdays!  

I’m linking up to some of these great parties- come along with me!

Also, don’t forget to enter all the great giveaways happening this week.  They can be found here.  You won’t want to miss tomorrow- a final giveaway and a BIG announcement!  See you soon!

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Posted by Valerie Earnest It’s been a big year for Occasionally Crafty.  We have a new co-author, a new blog design, and lots of new readers. It’s fun to look back at where we were in January and how our year has gone.  Having my sister join me in writing has really helped me find a better balance between blogging and real life.  I don’t think I’m all the way there yet, but she’s been a great help!  I hope you are enjoying her posts too! We appreciate all our new readers, and even those who just pop by for a visit.  Here are the top 12 posts YOU enjoyed this year- if you missed one, we’d love you to take a look!

12.  Thrifted Frame to Earring Holder

11.  Stenciled Wall Sign

10.  Ballerina Party

9.  Bow Tie Baby Shower

8.  Stenciled Bathroom

7.  Lego Man Shirt

6.  Winter Bucket List and Clipboard

5.  Chocolate Peanut Butter Caramel Rice Krispy Treats

4.  Sour Apple Bars

3.  Sheet Music Wreath

2.  Ballet Vinyl Wall Art

And your favorite post of 2012?

1.  The Best Snickerdoodles Ever!

Huh- maybe we should have been dessert bloggers? Actually, it’s fun to look at this list because I always say we do a little bit of everything here at Occasionally Crafty.  This lists sure proves it- it has home design and decor, printables, party planning, crafts, and recipes! Thanks for being part of our community this year.  We hope 2013 will be a wonderful year for you and for us.  Cheers!

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Posted by Laura McBride

Remember my bare beginnings of a craft room? At least it was some work space, but it needed more.

Here she is without all my craft supplies.

And here it is all set up!

And here’s a close up of my favorite part, the peg board. This 2′ by 4′ section was only $6.99 at home depot, and it is SO versatile. I can use it how ever I want. I found some awesome baskets and hooks on Amazon.
And here I am actually crafting and loving my room. It could use some decorations, sure, but I have more space to work than I’ve had in my life! No more setting up on the kitchen table and then having to take it all down to serve dinner. No more using the top of a dresser to store my paper. And the best part? I can even lock the door and then the kids won’t come mess up a project I’m working on!  I’m so happy with how it turned out, and I couldn’t have done it without my husband who helped me turn my ideas into a reality and helped install it all. It’s GREAT!!!

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Posted by Laura McBride

There’s just something about candy corn! I love the vibrant colors. I love how it makes fall feel real. I love how it tastes, and I love decorations that have to do with candy corn! I just knew this had to be our starting material for our Halloween Sister’s Challenge!


Yesterday Valerie showed us her super cute Candy Corn Shadowbox. I love how she used the candy corn as the ground and it looked like the trick-or-treaters were walking on it! It’s so cute, so if you missed it you can click above to see it! 


Last year I made these yarn wrapped candy corns, but this time around I wanted to use actual candy corn.

It had been awhile since I’d crafted with vinyl or glass blocks so I quickly came up with this decoration! 

I got the vinyl image from the Silhouette Online Store and sized it to fit on my glass block. Then I filled the block with candy corn, added some fun ribbon, and now it’s ready to be displayed along with the rest of my Halloween decorations!

What should our next Sister’s Challenge material be? 

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Posted by Valerie Earnest

Oh, I love Butterfingers!  Today, I went to Culver’s and had a Butterfinger Concrete Mixer (kind of like a Blizzard for you uninitiated- only with frozen custard- yum!).  Then I made these Butterfinger cookies for church. 

 Butterfinger Ice Cream and Butter Finger Cookie Dough….. how many times do you think I can say Butterfinger?

Anyway, versions of this recipe are all over the internet.  I decided to try the shortening version instead of the peanut butter version.  I found the recipe on Food.com, then followed some of the suggestions on Cookie Madness to personalize it.  So, here is my version of the recipe:

Butterfinger Cookies:

1/3 Cup butter-flavored Crisco shortening

3/4 Cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 Butterfinger candy bars, chopped

1/2 cup butterscotch chips (optional)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Beat shortening and sugar together until smooth and well-combined.  Add in egg and vanilla and mix well.

3.  In a separate bowl, stir together flour, soda, and salt.  Add to shortening mixture and mix until well combined.

4.  Chop Butterfingers with a large knife.  You’ll want chunks and shards, so don’t be to exact in how you do this.  Add to dough along with butterscotch chips.

5.  The dough will be quite dry.  Form into rounded teaspoonfuls and drop onto greased cookie sheet.  Bake one sheet at a time for 12 minutes.  Let cookies rest on the cookie sheet for about 3 minutes before removing them to cooling racks to cool completely.  Serve when fully cooled.

6.  Makes 2-2 1/2 dozen.

So good……I have a leftover Butterfinger bar.  Maybe I should eat that too and call it a night.

Linking up to some parties found here: Please go check them out and join in the fun!

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Posted by Valerie Earnest

Man, I wish I had a rotary cutter. Consider that next on my “to buy” list.

I had this old stretched out shirt that I never wear, so I thought it would be perfect for a refashion.

Enter the Knot-Tee from Brassy Apple!

I certainly don’t have the cute figure she has, and I did a horrible job on the neckline. But I really like how the knots turned out.

Good thing I have another shirt I can do this to when I get my cutter. Or learn to cut a straight line with scissors.

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Posted by Valerie Earnest

You know how I talked about how I wanted to focus more on  my home this year?  Definitely one thing I need to do is organize better.  I’m pretty good at keeping the areas guests see clean and uncluttered.  But if you could peek inside my bedroom, or even worse, my office/guest room/craft space, you would be shocked.  Shocked, I tell you!

So, out of this desire, we’re starting a new series here on Occasionally Crafty. Just like Ben and Jennifer, or Brad and Angelina, we’re putting two great things together:  crafting and organization.  Don’t just organize it:  Crafternize it!  You’ll see this series on Wednesdays, so I hope you’ll tune in each week! So, the first project is an easy one.  Ever wonder what to do with all that ribbon you have?  I’ve tried several different ways of organizing them.  One idea I thought was great in theory was putting the spools on a pants hanger, like this.

Source

Unfortunately, I do most of my crafting out in the kitchen, since I don’t really have a separate craft space.  That means if I wanted to use a specific ribbon, I had to walk back and forth, and either had to measure it and cut it right from the hanger (no good since I usually need it for wrapping or something that’s not precise), or take all the other spools off to get to the one I wanted.  Not to mention my spools would just roll around, spilling the ends down into the closet. This ended up not really working well for me.  And I quickly ran out of room.  So all my ribbon ended up in a drawer in a tangled mess.
So how do you get from the “before” shot to the “after”?  Well, all you need is some of these and about an hour. Take your ribbon off the spool, and tightly wind it around the popsicle sticks.  I put wider ribbon on the bigger sticks. When you reach the end, secure with a piece of tape. My ribbon went from taking up a whole drawer and a pants hanger, to this. Besides being organized, I was able to find ribbon I forgot I had.  Let’s just say, I don’t need to buy any more green ribbon for awhile. What is my problem?!? Now, I had the bucket ($ section in Target) and the popsicle sticks already, but even if you had to buy them, this would be a really cheap purchase. Now, I just have to figure out where to keep my bucket o’ ribbon……

Linking this up to some of these parties:  Come party with me!

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Posted by Laura McBride

It’s time to see the first half of the results for our Metal Star Challenge! I loved having Valerie visit us in Colorado over the Fourth of July. It was while we were roaming through the Brass Armadillo, an awesome antique store, that we came up with this idea to start with the same materials and see what we each could come up with!
Drumroll please….

While we were still at the antique store, I found some old plumbing fixtures. With the metal stars already in my hand I could see a patriotic theme arising with the help of red and blue handles! 

All I needed to do was get the right hardware, and find a way to put holes in my stars. I used this super handy punch that I found at Michael’s. It’s meant for heavier materials and it said thin tin sheets would work, and boy am I glad that it did!

With the holes in place I attached the plumbing fixtures with a simple nut and bolt. Then I attached my stars together with this decorative red wire I had used in the past for some accents on a Christmas card. Then to give it a little softness I added ivory ribbon bows.  I call it my star-spangled banner!

I can’t wait to see what Valerie did! Look for her results soon!

And have you entered our GIVEAWAY??? Over $950 in prizes are up for grabs. Check it out here!

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Posted by Valerie Earnest

Don’t forget to enter the Piece of Cupcake giveaway!  I know you want some!

Click here or scroll down to enter.

*This was originally my guest post at Funky Polkdot Giraffe- but since we’ve grown since then, I thought I’d share it again here.

 I was browsing the Pottery Barn online catalog for some ideas.  I love their stuff, but I am way too cheap frugal to pay for it.  When I saw the “Cottage Frames”, I figured I could make a version of my own.

Here’s a picture of theirs:

Photo:  Pottery Barn Website

And here’s mine:

I made mine a little more 3-D, and I have more little pieces in mine than in the original.  That’s just personal preference.  I like how it has kind of a driftwood, beach-y feel.  It would look great in a room with that kind of theme.  

Want to make one of your own?  Here’s how:

Supplies Needed:

Frame

Wooden Shims or other scrap wood

Sandpaper

White or off-white paint and paintbrush

Brown/Black paint or distressing gel

Wood glue

Fine-tipped marker (like a Sharpie pen)

1.  Gather your supplies.  I used a document frame from the dollar store.  You need something fairly narrow, and if you want to match the original, it needs to be flat and square.  I’m not patient enough to scour the racks of thrift stores and yard sales, so I just went with this one.

For the wood pieces, I used wooden shims we had from constructing  a doorway.  These come in a bundle at the hardware store and are very rough. 

I only used six or seven pieces from a bundle. You could use all sorts of scrap wood to create this.  You’re just going to have to cut it, so make sure the wood you choose won’t splinter and break when cut.

2.  Take the back off the frame and take out any thing inside, leaving only the glass and the frame.  Secure your glass  (temporarily- you need to remove it later) to the frame so it won’t move around.  Mine was already pretty still, but some cheap frames move around a lot when taken apart.

3.  Measure your opening.  I used the fake “document” in the frame to mark where I wanted my photo opening to be.  I made mine to fit a 4×6, down from the 8×10 frame.  That means I had to measure 2 inches from the top and bottom, and 2 inches in from each side.  I taped my 4×6 paper to the backside of the glass so I could build around it on the front.

4.  Lay out your wood pieces to fit around your photo opening, cutting as necessary.  I found that with standard wooden shims, if I cut them in half lengthwise, I needed three pieces on each long side of the frame.  I then measured the length I would need on the short sides, and just cut a bunch of pieces to fit.  Then I cut THOSE smaller pieces into the acutal assorted pieces I wanted on the frame.  Use the picture as your guide, and adjust as desired.

5.  Sand and paint your wooden pieces.  If you want them to lie flush with the frame, you’ll have to sand them quite a bit.  This is another reason mine are more 3-D- I do tend towards the “lazy” crafting.

6.  Remove the glass from your frame and paint the frame.  Allow frame and wood to dry.

7.  Distress frame and wood pieces as desired.  I used a squirt each of black and brown paint in a cup of water to form sort of a wash.  I then used a sponge brush to wash all my pieces and frame, then used a paper towel to blot most of it off.  Allow to dry again.
8.  Put the glass back into your frame and secure it again.  Using wood glue, adhere your wooden pieces directly to the glass and let set a few hours or overnight.

9.  Remove your “photo opening guide”, print out your favorite photo, attach it to the back side of the glass, and replace the frame back.  Congratulations– you have a striking new frame!

Oh- I almost forgot!  The original has “real nails” in the small pieces of wood.  I could not manage this without splitting the wood, so I simply put small black dots in random pieces of wood with a marker.  If you try this and have success with the nails, let me know how you did it!

Cost of original:  $29 for this version.

Cost of mine:  $1 !!!! (I had everything but the frame) If you give it a try, let me know.  I’d love to see your version!  Have a great weekend, all!

I am linking up to some of my favorite parties here- go check them out!

*Update*- thanks for featuring me!  


 


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Posted by Valerie Earnest

Last weekend I threw a baby shower for my best friend of 10 years.  

That’s a high quality picture right there….

She is expecting her FIRST baby, and we are thrilled SHE is finally making her arrival in our world soon.  This little one has been long-awaited, hoped and prayed for, and soon (end of October) she will be here!
So, I wanted to go all out for this shower.  I told my friend “You tell me what you want and I’ll make it happen”!  
There was no theme per se, but we did everything around the colors purple and green- or more accurately, lavender and sage.
I set up as brunch for our guests.  I made purple and white tissue poms, then covered the table with a sage green tablecloth.  

I also made a fun little banner and attached the letters with mini-clothespins.  

It was so fun to have a crepe and yogurt bar for the brunch.  I made crepes at home the day before, then whipped up a few fillings.  The first was a chocolate whipped cream, and the other was a cream cheese mousse.  Guests got to choose their filling and then we had fruit available as well.

We used a similar idea for yogurt parfaits.  I had both strawberry and vanilla yogurt, their choice of fruit, and granola to mix in.  It was perfectly delicious.

We also had a delicious salad and cinnamon roll pops to round out the menu.

Drinks were served in paper-wrapped mini mason jars with stripey straws.  I served water and orange juice.

Of course, no gathering is complete without cupcakes, so I made French Vanilla cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting, embellished with fondant flowers and sugar pearls.

My mantel was the perfect place to display a banner for gifts.  I included some flowers and a printable that matched the decor.  I’ll have that for you in the next post.

For games, we did a candy matching game, where you match a phrase to a candy (Triplets are 3 Musketeers for example).  We also did a “Price is Right” game where they had to guess the cost of baby items.  

Finally, I sent the guests home with a little gift: Sweet Pea hand sanitizer PocketBacs from Bath and Body Works.  We saw the idea on Pinterest, but it was only a media upload with no link back, so I have no idea who came up with it!  I thought it was the perfect, sweet but useful favor.

The shower was a wonderful success- I am just happy to do what I can to celebrate this new little baby.  I can’t wait to meet her!

I’m linking up to some fun parties- come check them out with me!

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