Hurricane flowers!

Happy Friday everyone. I bring you hurricane Sandy flowers! Yep, I made these while wind and rain were lapping at our house on Monday and Tuesday.  After I made mom her flowers for her birthday here, she wanted me to make something similar for her friend who just moved into a new house. She bought all the supplies and let me have at it. I think it turned out pretty neat- I took some risks and I think they turned out pretty cool. The thing that scared me a little was painting the big burlap rosettes. I took a silver paint and mized with a weird shade of blue and this is how it turned out. I really like the finished look. And, recognize the button from last night's picture? I just loved them too much.

Mom was also lucky enough to find a pretty cool drawer to place the jar vases in. This one is painted white and kind of shabby chic looking to me and has a pretty cool drawer pull.

 


















I think she did a really good job finding something fun for these jars to go in. I also took a nice little close up of the leftover fabric I wrapped around the jar for a little added interest. I realize that they are crooked and don't match up and I decided that it was more fun that way. The friend is a quilter so I think she can appreciate scraps and fun edges.

Last but not least I have included a picture where you can see a little more of the variety of flowers in the boquet. Unfortunately not the best coloring or lighting because I was in a little bit of a hurry this morning, but you get the idea.

I think they all turned out pretty cool and I have to admit I like the green burlap quite a bit. I also used lots of buttons from my stash to cover the ugly sticks at the center of each flower. Even though I tried my best to keep them down inside the cloth a little, they definitely still look much more finished with a pretty little button in the center.
So there you have it, my Hurricane Sandy flower arrangement. Did anyone else do crafts while the hurricane ran its course?

Linkin up today at   and



My love affair with buttons

Ok tomorrow comes the real post I wanted to do.. not that this one is a figment of your imagination... just not that next post I had in my head.
Anyway, for the project I am working on (which will be presented to you tomorrow) I needed to, once again, sort through my button supply. I am most often attracted to the silver metal buttons or ones with sparkle. These two mason jar lids are filled to the brim with such buttons. These are just a small sample of the awesome buttons that I am thankful for every day. They were all free and allow my creativity to go wile without killing my budget, which buttons sadly can do.
What do you like to do/craft with extra or old buttons??

Craft arrest update

Alright. So at the beginng of the week I said I was not doing any crafts all week in an effort to get my house cleaned and back to where it should be.  Here is how that has been going. I just started being a consultant for marykay (www.marykay.com/jstuber) and met with my director and friend on Monday to get started.  Until I got home and had dinner, the evening was pretty much gone. Tuesday night was GREAT! Cleaned the kitchen and living room including dusting and vacuuming. Wednesday was non productive because I went to my parents for dinner and stayed there until almost 10:30pm- oops!! Yestersday started with a bang when my husband called at 7:30am to tell me he had been in an accident on his motorcycle on the way to a training for work. Thankfully he hadn't gotten too far and was still only a few minutes from home.  He was ok as luck would have it but the bike was towed to a local shop until the insurance company could get out to assess it today. That being said and being completely exhausted from all of this, I took some felt to work and was able to make these flowers (and a few more done after I took this picture) in my downtime.. even got an inquisition on how much I charge for them.. WOWZA. Who would have thought? Maybe I will make more and see where it takes me. Either way this was sadly my only craft for the week so far. I am trying to think of something fun and exciting to make next week because I am off work Monday and Tuesday and have a nice chunk of time to devote to a nice project. Needless to say, the bottom half of my house is clean, and the top half not so much. Once I get all my MaryKay products this will probably spur a huge house reorganize so that's ok too :)

What has everyone else been working on this week?



CRAFT ARREST

Okay- I do have things I can share, but unfortunately these things are going to be limited to gradually sharing some of the scrapbook pages created for my nephew, Aydan's book. With the whirlwind of projects I was working on for different reasons, my housework has suffered (and by that I mean really nothing got done). That being said I am taking the next few evenings after work to try to play catch up and get my house back to where it should be! I will be doing a guest post for Keri @ Shaken Together  early November, so rest assured, there will be some crafting as soon as my house is sparkly again :)
I will do my best to post a few layout pages later today or tomorrow- until then, have fun!

Cigar box upcycle

Alright friends- here is a project that sadly got put to the last minute but one I was SO excited about. Over the summer, my mom and I visited Olde Factory Antiques (which, yes, I visit somewhat regularly) and I saw different types and sizes of cigar boxes. These are great because they range from $3-7 for the most part and vary in condition, color, etc.  Well on that trip, I picked out this little guy. (On subsequent trips, I have picked up a few more)

So there you have my starting point. From here, I decided to spray paint it, but later regretted it so I don't recommend it. It didn't allow the spray adhesive to adhere the way I would have liked and combined with the curves in the box, this was a source of frustration. So with that being said, I reveal the final product. I did realize that I didn't get a great picture of the overall look of the box, but tried to take some detail pictures of my favorite parts. I did use the Timeless Type - DCWV stack which I picked up at Michael's and love to pieces. Loved the character of it all. Also used a tiny bit of a Recollections pack (from Michael's but can't find online to link)  There are of course more pictures than included here (because I am super duper picture taker with EVERYTHING!!!) but I didn't want to bore anyone to tears.  



"Whole" box view




Clock set to 10/17, our date!!

      

Totally in love with this clock & the initials for hubby



Fun ribbon and upholstery tacks on the sides

  

Inside with felted bottom

 

Inside Close up



 

 

The only thing that I would do differently and will in the future is not use a box with the rounded sides(although very cool so maybe this is a lie) and not spray paint prior to using spray adhesive. As hubby so lovingly pointed out, spray paint is hydrophilic (or was it phobic??) so it doesn't allow it to stick. Silly me?? I never did like chemistry! His response to his gift was "So does this mean I can buy more watches?? I haven't been buying any because there was no more space." Oh my. Whatever makes him happy, I guess.

So, what do you all think??? Has anyone else ever upcycled cigar boxes- if so for what purpose?