Crafty Business

Those of you who know me, know that I LOVE crafts. Perhaps even so much that if I wasn't called to be a nurse... I would definitely be a "professional crafter." The benefit of nursing is that typically nurses were three days a week. So if I work three days a week... that leaves FOUR days for crafts. Perhaps my full time job will be crafting after all.

I've always loved arts and crafts: from coloring books to collaging to drawing.

The summer after my freshman year of college, I saw these gorgeous kiddy paintings by Mary Jack Studios displayed at Costco. I quickly glanced at them and decided that I could easily paint them. How? I don't know. I never really had painted outside of school... but something inside of me told me "YOU CAN DO IT!" (Now, I realize that this something was God.) So that's exactly what I did. I mimicked several of her paintings on my own canvases. I freehanded everything and when I was finished, you could not tell the difference between hers and mine.

I was pleased. I think my parents were astounded by what I actually did. Although, creative genes run through my mom's side of the family. My grandmother is an exquisite quilter. She makes seriously gorgeous quilts; a lot of them are super modern and use some of the latest and greatest sewing technology! My mother is an interior decorator. She and her friend Missy have their own decorating business in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex. She has an eye for style in a house and with clothing. Both of my aunts are super creative too! Andi can definitely paint and scrapbook. Actually, she could probably do anything that she wanted to. Mimi writes stories, scrapbooks, and paints as well. She actually has written/published a book titled Zooey June,which will be released to the market this summer! So presumably, creativity runs in my blood...

So, I took this new found love of painting and exploded it. My favorite project of the summer was my jewelry chest (pictured above) that I painted all by hand. I was so excited! I have since painted picture frames, more canvases, little decor items, and another jewelry chest (pictured below) for my best friend Aly.

Inspired by MacKenzie-Child's Garden Awning Headboard
I put various great knobs on it that Aly had found in Europe; however, they are not in the picture!

Painting is not the only craft that I enjoy... I actually love anything that I can get my hands on like scrapbooking, making hair bows, really anything. This summer, my dear friend Julie is teaching me to sew. I can not wait to get started!

Yesterday, instead of studying for my biomedical ethics final, I spent the day looking through the world of craft blogs. I found so many ideas that I wanted to try this summer! So today, I went out and bought some of the necessities for the projects. When I got home after a fabulous lunch with Libby at Mi Patron, I started on two summer projects.

Glass Framed Letter F

This was rather simple... 

Found the inexpensive glass frame at one of my local stores

Pick out cute paper at Michael's that goes with my decor

Chose a font in which I liked the letter F and made it as big as it could be

Printed the letter F in black ink

Traced the letter F onto the backside of my cute paper while holding it up against my window

very important to make sure the letter is backwards from normal...!

Cut out the letter F

Apply double sided tape to the letter F and stick in the appropriate position on the glass frame

Fall in love with the letter F.

Book Page Wreath

discovered on: Living with Lindsay

The supplies used to create the beautiful wreath.
I found a paperback book written by a Christian author that was on the life of Jesus to make up the pages of my wreath. I believed this to be the perfect fit for our household

Upclose and personal to my wreath; rather Anthropologie like if you ask me!

Here is the finished large wreath (14") and the smaller wreath (12"), and the framed letter F on my living room wall!! I am absolutely pleased!

I had so much fun creating the wreath and the framed F. The wreath took way less time than I thought it would, considering the fact that I practically finished two wreaths within a few hours. I was one glue stick short of finishing the second one... guess that means a Michael's run tomorrow! Hope you like it! Let me know if you have questions.

I will update with my new achieved craft projects throughout the summer.

Enjoy!