arts and craft Archives - Page 26 of 75

arts and craft, Gift Ideas, Très Frugal, Upcycling

Decorated Chalkboard Clipboards

Decorative Chalkboard Clipboard | Pretty Handy Girl

Teacher Appreciation time is coming up. Every year, I find myself scrambling for last minute gift ideas for the teachers. My sister-in-law is a school teacher and she has always lamented the amount of sugar-laden sweets she is gifted. For that reason, I like to give my sons’ teachers non-food gifts that will last long after teacher appreciation week. This week will be dedicated to Simple & Inexpensive Last Minute Gift Ideas your teachers will surely love!

Teacher Appreciation Gift Ideas:

Decorated Chalkboard | Thank You for Nurturing My Child Plant | Apple Pencil Holder | You Rock Gift 3D Card | Simple Washi Tape Vases

Today we’ll start off with a simple DIY project that your children can help create. Decorated Chalkboard Clipboards are a great little DIY gift idea for the teachers in your life (or anyone who uses clipboards.) I plan to give these to my boys’ teachers with a gift card to an office supply store tucked under the clip.

Gather the little munchkins around and let’s get started on these adorable Decorated Chalkboard Clipboards.

Materials:
(contains affiliate links)

Clipboard
Chalk Paint
Foam Brush
Emory board or a scrap of sturdy cardboard
White chalk
Makeup pencil sharpener
Washi tape
Small ruler

Instructions: Read more

April 18, 2016/8 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

arts and craft

Fork Photo Holder

Today I have a unique photo holder that you can create using forks from Goodwill…

…and an angel decor item that I bought on clearance. Good thing too, because I didn’t own the angel for more than 20 minutes when I dropped it in our driveway and it broke. Booo, hooo.

But, being creative and resourceful, I decided to keep the stand and refashion it as a photo holder. You can use scrap wood and a dowel rod for your base unless you happen to have a broken angel too.

Materials:

Multi-Purpose Utility Wire 16 Gauge
Needle-nosed plyers (and wire cutters if your plyers don’t have a wire cutter on it.)
Assorted beads (make sure the hole is large enough for your wire to fit through)
Assorted forks
2 large beads for the base and top of the pole (optional)
E-6000 glue
Paint
Primer
Paintbrush

Instructions:

Gently sand your stand to give it some “tooth” for the paint to adhere to. Add a coating of primer to the stand.

Paint your base the color of your choice.

For the final touch, you can bring out the details by using Valspar Asphaltum glaze. A tutorial for using glazes is HERE.

If you don’t have a broken angel decor item lying around, (and who does?) You could use a wooden stand and drill a hole through it like I did HERE.

Now comes the FUN part! Start by adding a bead or two to your wire. Using the needle-nosed pliers, curve the end of the wire so your beads won’t fall off. Read more

March 30, 2016/3 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

arts and craft, Crafts, decor, Holiday decorating

Bunny Place Cards

Spring is in the air so let’s make some bunny place cards for the table. Jaime here from That’s My Letter sharing this easy scrap project that adds a touch of cuteness and color to your Easter or spring table.

I used spring colored spray paints on the front side of the bunnies and then decoupaged fun fabrics onto the back side:

You can imagine once the table is all set just how festive and fresh all these bright colored bunnies will look against the place settings! I added the little clothespin to hold the name card:

Supplies:

1/2″ MDF scraps
Bunny template (search google for lots of options)
Scroll saw or jig saw
Spray primer
Spray paint
Cotton fabric scraps
Decoupage for fabric & brush
Scissors
1×2 wood scraps
Wood glue
Nail gun & 1 1/4″ finish nails
Mini clothespins
Super glue

Instructions:

Read through all steps before beginning.

Step 1: Trace bunny template onto MDF and cut out. Sand edges smooth. Spray with primer then colored spray paint (one side only). Read more

March 16, 2016/8 Comments/by Jaime Costiglio

arts and craft, Build It, Gift Ideas, gifts

Make a Driftwood Gift Crate

I love making small crates or boxes to use as gift baskets for friends. It’s a great way to use up scrap wood and give a gift that can be used to organize a desk or shelf. Stick around today and I’ll show you How to Make a Driftwood Gift Crate.

After a short walk on the beach, I was able to collect many broken pieces of dune fencing that had turned into nice weathered driftwood. I knew I could use it to make some beautiful gifts. Here is one idea.

Materials:

(I’ve included affiliate links for your convenience. I earn a small percentage from a purchase using these links. There is no additional cost to you. You can read more about affiliate links here.)

Drift wood cut to 8″ pieces
Scrap 8″ x 8″ for base
4 – 1″ x 1″ pieces for corner supports
Nail gun
1″ 18 ga. brad nails
Gray paint
Paintbrush
Clamp

Optional: wood glue for stronger joints

Instructions:

Paint the base and corner supports gray to blend in with the driftwood.

Allow paint to dry and nail strips of driftwood framing the 8″x8″ base. For a more secure hold, you can use wood glue around the base before nailing.

Can we take a one minute break so I can tell you about this Porter-Cable 20 volt Lithium 18 ga. air nailer? It is battery powered, no compressor needed and it is da’bomb! Porter-Cable sent it to me to try out a while ago. I’ve been using it all winter and have had no issues with jamming or misfiring (like my Ryobi Airstrike nailer frequently does.) The weight is a little heavier than a nailer that needs a compressor, but the benefits of being cordless and quiet in between firing makes it my go-to brad nailer. Sorry for the diversion. I just had to share a little more about my new favorite tool.

Finish framing the base. Add the top rail to the corner supports for two sides.

Stand up the connected corner supports and nail through the base into the corner support. A clamp will help hold the corner supports while you nail them.

Nail all corner supports into the base on two sides.

Continue attaching side rails until your crate is complete.

Fill your driftwood crate with goodies and give it to a friend.

They will surely enjoy receiving this little Driftwood Gift Crate.

Do you collect driftwood at the beach? Or do you have an excess of scrap wood you can use to make gift crates? If you don’t have driftwood, pieces of broken lattice or paint sticks will work just as nicely.

Disclosure: Porter-Cable sent the Porter-Cable 20 volt Lithium 18 ga. air nailer (affiliate link) to test. I was not paid to review this tool, nor was I told what to write. All opinions are my own. I am very particular about the products I share with you and will always let you know when something was given to me to review.

March 11, 2016/6 Comments/by Brittany Bailey

art, arts and craft, framing, Tutorial, Upcycling

DIY Plywood Frame with Glass

They say necessity is the motherhood of invention. Today’s project post on DIY Plywood Frames with Glass fits well with that saying. Jaime at That’s My Letter here sharing how I took scrap plywood and made it into frames for my kids’ silhouettes. Custom framing is not cheap and sometimes you have odd-sized pictures or artwork that just won’t work in a typical store bought frame. This DIY plywood frame is a great solution for those situations.

There are tons of DIY wood frame ideas out there, but the difficulty lies in actually getting glass into the frame especially if you don’t have a router. (To be honest I do have a router, but hate using it!) The solution to this problem is to place the glass on the surface and to do that I had to find clips to hold the glass in place. My first thought was mirror clips but they are rather large and deep, typical framing glass is 1/8″ thick and the mirror clips are meant to hold mirrors which are slightly thicker.

So after much perusing of the electrical aisle I decided to try low volt staples. They aren’t clear like mirror clips but they are smaller and have the proper depth for frame glass. The only issue is the small lip edge that’s meant to hold electrical wires in place:

No problem. The low volt staples are plastic and I was able to easily slice off the lip edge with my utility knife! I think they come in black too if you don’t like white. You could spray paint them any fun color to highlight your artwork being framed.

I ordered the glass in the size I needed (I paid $18 for all 3 pieces) and had the scrap plywood on hand. The low volt staples are $2 for 25 staples, so this entire project cost me just about $20. The joy on my kids’ faces when seeing their Kindergarten silhouettes hung was priceless. Below are step-by-step instructions to make plywood frames with glass.

Materials:

3/4″ plywood (cut 1 1/2″ larger than artwork on all sides)
1/8″ clear glass (cut 1/2″ larger than artwork on all sides)
3/16″ low volt plastic staples
wood stain
3/4″ wood screws
picture hanging wire
utility knife
double stick tape
measuring tape & pencil
drill
1/8″ drill bit
hammer

Instructions:

Step 1: Cut 3/4″ plywood to size. Add 1 1/2″ on all sides of artwork to create frame similar to my version above. Sand edges smooth.

Step 2: Stain frame. (I used Minwax Early American.) Let dry thoroughly. Read more

February 17, 2016/13 Comments/by Jaime Costiglio