Salt dough ornaments

My very least favorite part of winter is how early it gets dark outside!! Gone are our evening walks to the park and hello to more time in the house. It can really make a person feel cooped up and it's easy for a toddler to get bored and antsy.  So I decided it would help to have a few activities. As I was thinking of things to include doing with our advent calendar ornaments seemed perfect. Enter ... salt dough ornaments.

I used the recipe from Mommypotamus which simply consists of flour, salt and water. It comes together quickly and easily and is fun for the little ones in your life. 

I ended up giving Emersyn her own bowl with flour and water in it to stir and play with and she happily made a giant mess :)  We made the dough and baked them one day and then completed them the next day with glittery paint. Emy's favorite part!

Happy toddler Christmas crafting!! 

DIY: Chalkboard mugs & wine glasses

Okay, you guys … it’s finally time once again for a DIY project!!

As I mentioned last time with my DIY frame key holder, I’ve found so much inspiration for my non creative brain on Pinterest! Without it, I don’t think I would be able to think of any cool projects to tackle. That being said, this particular DIY project comes straight from Pinterest and more specifically, Wit & Whistle blog. I take no credit for the coolness of this idea! But I wanted to share my own post about it because it was just that fun.

See??



DIY: Chalkboard paint mugs & wine glasses

What you need:

• Mugs and/or other dishware
• Chalkboard paint specifically made for dishware (As per Wit & Whistle’s blog, I ordered Pebeo Porcelaine paint in chalkboard black via Amazon and was very happy with it!)
• Painter’s tape
• A soft bristle paintbrush

Note: The above paint is microwave and dishwasher safe once baked.

How it’s done:

1. Place painter’s tape on the areas of the dishware you do not want to paint (make sure the dishware is clean and dry!)
2. Apply the paint to the area you’d like your “chalkboard” to be. Once covered completely, remove painter’s tape. It’s important to remove the tape before it dries so that paint is less likely to rip off with the tape.
3. Follow paint bottle’s instructions regarding baking and drying. If you’re using the above mentioned paint, first you need to let your dishes dry for about 24 hours.
4. Once 24 hours have past, bake in your kitchen oven at 300 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Let cool a little bit before you remove them from the oven.
5. Now you’re ready to decorate!!

Note: If you mess up while painting or if some paint smudges when tape is removed, simply wipe it off with a wet paper towel, or scrape it off if it has slightly dried.

As you can see, I painted porcelain mugs as well as the bottom of wine glasses. I was a little worried about the glass baking but they turned out perfectly.

It’s a great way to keep track of whose glass is whose!

 

Once you get the right paint, this project is so simple and fun! The options and designs are limitless. It’s a great way to get creative, not only with where and how you apply the chalkboard paint but how you decorate them differently with chalk!

Love it.

Happy DIY’ing,

DIY Frame Key Holder

Time for my first official DIY post ever.

Let me start off by saying I do not consider myself to be a crafty person, though I aspire to be one, ha. I have a mom who can do about anything crafty there is to do. Growing up, she managed a fabrics and crafts store, taught craft classes, sewed tons of our outfits, fixes band suits in high school, took in and hemmed prom dresses, etc etc. If you don’t believe me, she has a quilting blog to prove it!

That being said, I hope at least a little bit of that is in my blood, and that someday it will come forth.

But we will start simple.

Very, very simple with a frame key holder, inspired by Pinterest. (I posted this iPhone photo on Facebook and Instagram the other day, so it may look familiar!)

DIY Frame Key Holder

Things you will need:

• A frame.
  • It’s quite easy these days to find neat vintage or upcycled frames at antique stores. You can either find one already upcycled for you, or simply buy a frame from anywhere and paint it to your likings. I happened to have ordered some already painted frames off Etsy that I hadn’t put to use yet, so this is one of them.
• A screw driver with appropriate size screw (the box of screw hooks will tell you which size).
• Screw hooks.

What to do:

• Take your frame and plan out where you’d like your hooks to be placed. I decided to use four hooks for my frame.
• Once decided, drill correct sized holes into the frame.
• After holes are drilled, screw in each hook, and you’re ready to mount on wall and hang keys!

Yes, it’s that easy!

To some, they may not even be considered a DIY project due to it’s level of non difficulty, but it was a definite start for me.

Now I need to get pinning and find my next project!