Halloween Flash Back!

With Halloween right around the corner we thought it would be fun to flash back to some of our favorite Halloween crafts we've done.  Above is my all time favorite Witch Shoe Craft!

Witch Shoe Cake Stand

                           

Halloween Haunted Village

Halloween Lollipop Tree

                           

Trick or Treat Topiaries

Witchy Wreath

                       

Boo & Halloween Wood Letters

Beware Banner

Eyeball Wreath

Last week Beckie over at Infarrantly Creative featured a tutorial we had done for her with our DIY Knock Off Pottery Barn School Utility Boards.  They were such a fun project to do!  Make sure to check out the full tutorial here!  It was such a fun surprise to wake up to on my Instagram feed!

Beckie asked me why we weren't blogging anymore.  Good question and it has a simple answer. Candace put down her crafting gloves and had a baby.  Best reason ever right!  It's not as fun to craft when your favorite crafting buddy is no longer available.  Life happened, and ya know what, it's okay.  We've both been busy with family, our kids, church, carpooling, sports, you name it -- it's happening.  I'm trying to summon the courage to blog about our recent home renovation on the tightest budget ever.  With a broken foot.  Yup, the thought of recounting it is a little daunting but I think I'll try, hoping I can share what I learned the hard way so it might help someone else.  Which is why we started blogging in the first place.

So, until then....enjoy all the Halloween fun!

A Giveaway With Mel!

Yup!  Look familiar?  Some of my wood letters are being featured in a GIVEAWAY over at one of our very favorite blogs MELS KITCHEN CAFE!!!

How cool is that?  Mel is one of our very favorite Bloggers that we've been following for years!  Candace just about died when she met her wonderful Aunt Marilyn when she moved here to Idaho recently and she is pretty amazing too!  So included in these gift boxes are a set of my WISH letters, some of Aunt Marilyn's Sagebrush Soapworks fabulous homemade soaps, Jessica from JessicaBe's Jewelry (one of our local favorite crafters!) and an adorable apron from Mel herself!

Make sure to head over and enter to win one of these babies!  The giveaway runs through this weekend with winners announced at the beginning of next week!  A huge thank you to Mel~she is A.W.E.S.O.M.E!  I got to meet her last week and she is the most kind, down to earth gal!
Best of luck!:)

Teacher Appreciation Door Decorations 2015

Hooray for Teacher Appreciation Week!
We got some really fun doors this year I just had to share with you!
This is our last year in Elementary school~I'm a bit tearful about it, so I took on doing 4 doors to decorate this year!  I know, I'm totally crazy, but I totally love it!
First up is my Ode to Yoda~for our Librarian Mrs. Mortensen.  I just love her!

I always try to personalize my daughter's teacher's door and since they have been learning all about U.S. History and the Constitution, this seemed fitting with Mrs. Webster as the Statue of Liberty.  She's done an AMAZING job teaching our kids about National pride.  We adore her!

This door is for our wonderful Principle Mrs. Gourley.  She has watched over my kiddo from Kindergarten and I'll be forever grateful.  I got my ideas for this door from a couple of differenct chalkboard artists I found on Pinterest totally from 2 amazing shops~make sure to go check them out Chalkboardhouse and Lily & Val!  Very cool stuff!

This door is for our School Safety Officer Mrs. Christianson~she does so much for our school and keeps our kids safe! 

Here are some more of the doors~there were some really great ones this year!

Check out the cute martian!  Look familiar to something I did a few years ago?

I got such a kick out of seeing this!  This is exactly why I post pictures of these doors each year, hopefully to inspire and help others out with what sometimes seems like an overwhelming task.  This made my heart just happy!

                           

My husband asked me how much time I put into my doors and it's several hours honestly.  I am not an over achiever, I am not a mom that has too much time on my hands, I'm a mom who is honestly so grateful for these amazing teachers and people that have such an impact on our kids.  I wish I had a hidden camera to capture the look on these teacher's faces when they see their doors, or even more so when their door isn't decorated.  It's like a kid on Christmas morning.  So if a few hours of my life is given so that they know they are loved....well, that's hardly anything compared to what they give to us.  Now, let me step down off my soap box...:)

Have a great weekend friends!

WYLTC? Spring Theme Wreath Hanger

Make sure to pop over and check out the fun "SPRING" themed wood crafts this week over at

WOOD YOU LIKE TO CRAFT!

We are up today with our Picket Fence Wreath Hanger!

As you can see it holds signs too and is so easy/inexpensive to make!

From The Crafty Sister Vault~Bunny Silhouettes

Picking from the Crafty Sisters vault today is our fun Bunny Silhouette Weather Vanes we did a few years ago.

Make sure to go HERE for the full tutorial!

One of our fun readers Tracie and her craft group just did 15 of these beauties and sent us a picture!  We love getting pictures from our readers!  I love how they did some in black!  Aren't they great?

We have the best readers!  Thanks again Tracie for sharing!

I've finally downloaded most of my pictures for our Church Talent Show from last weekend.  I was so grateful for Pinterest and the ideas I got there.  I'll have a post up soon!  Have a great weekend!

Fireplace Built Ins

I finally finished my fireplace built in's and never got around to taking a picture to share.
I can't even begin to tell you how much I love them and they were worth all the hard work!

I was trying to find a couple of pictures of before~honestly I don't have hardly any because I hated this room.  It had an awkward feel with no light and a fireplace that was ho hum.  So, we never took pictures in there.
About 1 1/2 years ago my hubby and his friend installed the windows....which was a chore since the whole wall was actually 12" thick.  It had the original wall, then a wall of solid pinkish brown brick and then a faux wall over the brick to hide it's ugliness from the unsuspecting new home buyer.....me.

This room was dark and dreary.  It made the golden tan paint I loved look olive green at night.  Not the good olive green either.

So I thought about ideas for a while, begged my contractor brother-in-law for ideas and finally settled on the one I liked best after searching endlessly on Pinterest for ideas.

I found stock cabinets at Home Depot on sale that I got for my birthday.  I had to use upper cabinets because I had only about 16" to work with before I hit the sliding glass door.
I built a base from 2x4's to sit the cabinets on.  That's when I realized the original mantel for the fireplace wouldn't work either and had to rebuilt it from 3/4" MDF.  It actually wasn't too bad since they are basically boxes put together.  The key to making them look professionally done was investing in the right router bit for the edges.

The best part was the top piece of the mantel.  I couldn't find anything that was thick enough without buying a huge big board to cut a 6" wide mantel.....so......I took two pieces of 3/4" MDF and using a lot of Gorilla Wood Glue, glued them together and clamped them overnight for a snug fit.  The next morning I was then able to run it through my table saw for a perfect clean cut and then run the router along the edge for a custom look.  It turned out better than I could have hoped!

 My Dad helped me to put together the basic shelves that sat upon the cabinets that I then trimmed them out with 1 1/2" MDF molding.  I spent a whole day filling in with wood strips and then caulking all the nooks and crannies from my old home which was very evidently not level.  The base boards went back in and covered the bases perfectly.

Dad also gave me a great lesson in electrical work as we moved the electrical outlet for easy access for the DVD player and HDMI cords to run up behind the TV which my hubby and I installed without any swearing if you can believe that.:)

I then painted the whole thing with Behr self-priming Interior Semi-Gloss Enamel which was delicious to paint with. I painted the room as well with Kilim Beige, a Sherman Williams color that you can't go wrong with.  It is the perfect warm neutral beige.

 I found the perfect rug at Home Depot in their random return section located in the back of the store that tied in the black fireplace and brown brick for only $100.  We installed a ceiling fan that makes all the difference in the summer.  Yes, I still need to tackle the popcorn ceiling.....eventually.

I'm just so happy with the result!  I have so much light in my family room now, it's my favorite room in the house!
Cost Breakdown:
Cabinets $150
MDF boards $72
New Router Bit $20
New Outlets $10
Paint $30
Caulk $5
Misc. $10
Grand Total: $297

Not bad for about $300 right?

Next project.....where do I start?  Have a great weekend friends!

The North Pole Sign Holder

I just had to share this quick and easy North Pole Sign Holder I created for our school holiday celebration with you.  It's super easy and is so cute to put on display.

I made a base about 11" square from a 1x12" board.  For the pole I used a 6' 2x2" post.  Then I topped it off with a 3" knob ball from Hobby Lobby.  I think I made the whole thing for about $15!

I painted each part seperately and knew I didn't want to tackle stripes going up it, so I picked up some cute holiday ribbon I wound up the pole.  I secured it with hot glue.

I screwed 2" screws along the board where I wanted my signs to hang askew.

For the signs I cut out arrows from 3/4" thick MDF that were about 18" wide.  This size easily accommodates cute scrapbook paper with letters cut from my Cricut.  I attached little D rings on the back for easy hanging.

Easy and fun!  You could personalize it any way you want!

I have some great Posts I created to partition off the area for Santa too I'll share next!

Happy Monday Friends!

Wood You Like To Craft Baby Jesus Ornaments

We are so excited to kick off the week over at Wood You Like To Craft!
This month the gals decided to do an Ornament Exchange with a Baby Jesus theme.
(enter SQUEAL of delight here!)

Make sure to head over and check out our full tutorial at Wood You Like To Craft.
Then make sure to check back each day this week to see what Wendy, Melinda and Krystal will share!

Also, I joined in this year with an online ornament exchange. I haven't done one for years and this was so much fun!  Do you do ornament exchanges too?  We'd love to hear your tips and fun stories!  Here's the first one I got in the mail~isn't it so cute?  I'll keep sharing them as they arrive~it's like Christmas every day when the mail comes!

Happy Monday friends!

Two Weeks Late Halloween Fun!

I know, I'm more than 2 weeks late sharing Halloween pictures.

Plus, we Crafty Sisters have basically fallen off the edge of the planet.

I was going through my pictures today and couldn't help but smile looking at my little girl who is not so little anymore.  Stop growing!:)

 She was Winnifred Sanderson from Hocus Pocus this year.
Trying to find a pattern that would work.....impossible.  Trying to find the right colored material......even harder.  I was pleased with the result even after scrapping the gold printing that should have been down the front of the jacket.

We found all of our fabric at JoAnns. The shoes were an absolute lucky find at the thrift store for $4!  Her necklace I put together from bead sets and a brooch from Hobby Lobby that was all on sale 50% off.  The wig was found on ebay for a steal~it's actually Disney's Queen of Hearts wig.

I got such a hoot out of her getting into character.  We had Candace's youngest with us that night since Candace and the rest of her boys were running a room in their local neighborhood haunted house.  They spent the night autopsying aliens while we begged for candy.  We hit my folks neighborhood this year and used their house as home base.  I'm not sure which I enjoyed more, watching the kids dump their stash out on their floor to count it or watching my parents watching them,  It was a sweet night and the most beautiful warm weather!

As for Crafty Sisters......The last few months and even the last year have really been one of personal retrospect.  I turned 40.  Yikes,  That seems like a swear word almost...hee hee.  I celebrated 20 years of marriage to my man, that's even more eye brow raising.  Our families are the most important and when you start to feel like they aren't, it makes you take a step back.  When I have more pictures on my computer of crafts than my kid......it makes you take pause.  I've actually taken time in the last few months to craft for myself.  And I haven't taken any pictures of them.  Candace and I and our Sweet Little Mother have all been put back into serving the youth in our church~so we've got lots of fun projects we've been doing and want to share...they just might not have a picture by picture tutorial, but it's the idea that counts right?  We've loved being able to share with you and we've missed you!

We've got a few Christmas ideas to post this week even!  Hooray!

Happy Wednesday...school is almost out for Thanksgiving!

Crafty Sisters WYLTC June

Just in case you missed last week's Wood You Like To Craft "SUMMER" theme~make sure to head over and check out the fun ideas!

Wood You Like To Craft

We shared our super easy and quick Garden Stakes made from cedar wood fencing and other spare parts.  We made ours in the shape of our feline friends but you could do just about anything.  A great project for the summer with the kids!

Happy Monday!

Teacher Appreciation Door Decorations 2014

Finally as promised~Teacher Appreciation

 Door Decorations for 2014!

This year I got to do 3 doors, one for my daughter's teacher:

                                        

This year they have been learning all about Idaho State History~so Cowboys, Indians, Pioneers and all things cool about Idaho the famous Gem State and producer of Potatoes!  Mrs. West has been phenomenal and I'm glad that my girl got her for a teacher since she is retiring. I found an old movie poster for my inspiration and painted a version of her.  It's really quite hard to do something~paint, paper~whatever on a scale this size.  I've learned to "GO BIG OR GO HOME"!  My daughter helped me paint and I cut all the letters out with my Cricut.

One for our Librarian:

This one was easy~just the idea since we were seated near our favorite librarian when we went to go see Wicked a few weeks ago.  Can I just say~WE LOVED IT!  There is no other music played in the car or house right now except Wicked music.:)  I cut everything out of paper and painted on the skin color for Glinda and the facial features.  Letters I cut out with my Cricut.

One for our Head Janitor/Mr. Does Everything for our school:

I painted this one again.  Paint sounds crazy right~it actually is a lot easier than trying to cut all that paper to scale.  I cut him out of paper first and then painted him.  Mr. Ernie collects all thing Ernie, as you can imagine, and knew this would be perfect for him.  I was delighted to hear that he was going to have it laminated to hang up later.  Cool!

Here are the other doors this year~some really fun ones!  I especially liked the Rock Star one, The Minion was hilarious and still makes me smile every time I walk by it and of course the Taco's for the Lunch Ladies.

We decorate every staff members doors for the week and they keep them up until the end of the year.  It doesn't seem like a very big deal but our teachers absolutely love it!  I have offered to do all the door decorations next year~sorta like my parting gift to the school as my daughter will move on to Middle School~oh, that sounds like a curse word to my ears!  I'm thinking I'm a bit crazy and I didn't think the PTO would take me up on it!

I'm always loving to hear what everyone else does for Teacher Appreciation Week.  We provide a potluck lunch every day for our staff, usually with a theme like Baked Potato Bar, Soup, Salad Bar, stuff like that.  We do gift card drawings each day for our teachers.  We decorate their doors and then each class has their own list of things to do each day~anything from a sweet treat, bringing in a flower or even just a thank you card.  It's really a tender week for all involved and it feels so good to give back.

What do you do at your school?