March Madness

Pot'o'gold

I know St. Patrick's is still a few weeks away, but it's never too soon to start crafting and preparing. Here are the links to some past posts I did on Patty's Day crafts and even a recipe for regular and Vegan corned beef and cabbage.

Vegan Corned Beef

-At the End of the Rainbow, and Vegan Corned Beef

-A Fanciful Shamrock

A Fanciful Shamrock

Awesome Cross Stitchery

Britta's cross stitch button masterpieces, from the top: Squirrel, Abstract design, Mushrooms, and Hedgehog.

Angry P's partner in craft Britta has quite a talent for creating awesomeness ( her felt advent calendar was so popular that I featured it 2x) and her new cross stitch designs are no exception. Britta said that she used a make your own cross stitch buttons kit to make the buttons in the above picture, and instead of using the already provided designs, she came up with her own using Cross Stitch Pro software. She said each button took about 5 hours to complete. Britta's favorite is the mushrooms, and it's mine too! :D


Since I am a fan of the Double Rainbow video(who isn't?) I couldn't help but laugh out loud when I saw that Britta had captured the essence of double rainbow in the uber cute cross stitch below. Love it!!

Double Rainbow! Oh my God! So intense!

Check out more of Britta's nifty projects, cross stitch and her nail art on her Cut Out+Keep profile, and her blog.

Perry the Love Bandit

Perry and I wish everyone a very Happy Valentine's Day!

Matchbox Valentine

You set my heart ablaze Valentine! ;)

If you've been looking for a unique and punny-(that's pun and funny put together, as if you couldn't figure that out)-Valentine to make for your sweetheart look no further! I think this is pretty neato, but then again it was my idea, so call me biased. Not only is this matchbox Valentine fairly simple, but it's using something almost everyone has laying around in that "stuff" drawer, and if not a box of matches I'm sure is not that expensive at the drug store. Okay, I'll admit, the whole writing on the matches thing looks intimidating and it might not be for everyone, it does take a steady hand and a bit of patience. **Disclaimer**-this project is not for children, children and matches do not mix!

I would like to point out that while photographing this project I ran across some difficulty. Most of the steps needed two hands, but photographing with one hand and trying to perform the step with the other proved very hard indeed. I wondered for awhile how other craft bloggers have both hands in shot while photographing. Third hand? Camera gnomes? Then I realized that they are probably using a tripod, duh. Sorry, I don't have one of those yet, maybe next Christmas! :)

For this Valentine project you'll need:

• A matchbox
• Matches
• Water
• Clear nail-polish
• Fine tip Sharpie markers or paint pens
• Paper
• Scissors
• Glue or tape
• A steady hand!
  

1. Begin by doing something very important, take as many matches as you think you might want to write a message on and soak them in water for at least 3 hours, I soaked mine overnight to be on the safe side. Then take them out of the water and let dry.
2. After each match is dry coat the tip with a little clear nail-polish to seal it and let it dry.

3. I know this picture is a little out of focus, but have you ever tried photographing a match? It's harder than one would think...anyway, this is the match after I penned a sweet message on it, using all four sides of the match to write the message out with a fine tip Sharpie in black and red. It's not as hard as it seems. The key is to hold the pen and the match very steady, and have good lighting. The message on this match is "You light my fire Valentine", corny yes, but you can write whatever you'd like. Have a whole match box full of important dates to you, or stick with corny and sweet match and fire jokes :D

4. After you have your clever messages, as many or as few as you'd like written on your matches, take a small sized match box, empty it of extra matches of course, and...
....lay it out on your blank piece of paper, you can mark the paper with pencil for the dimensions of the box, then cut out a strip of paper long enough to wrap around the match box, like a sleeve.
5. After you have your paper sleeve cut out you can draw whatever you want on it, match related or not, it's alllll up to you and how artsy you want to get. I thought a picture of a match along with the saying "I've met my match" would be perfect, and again very punny.


6. Using glue, I used a glue stick, you could also use tape, secure the sleeve tight around the box, making sure that the box can still slide in and out without trouble.

6. Put your message matches inside and close it up! Whoever you choose to give this to on Valentine's Day will definitely be surprised, just make sure they don't try and light the darn things! :)

Handmade Goodies For Valentine's

I love Valentine's Day, I always have. When I was little I could hardly wait for my Mom to take my brother and I to the store to pick out those cheap boxed Valentines to give to my class mates, I'd embellish the envelopes with stickers and glitter, and when the teacher allowed us to I would even put conversation hearts in with the card. When I got older I enjoyed making Valentines for my boyfriends and family, and still do. Whoever you celebrate V-Day with, be it a significant other, family, friends, or even your pet, just remember that nothing says "I love you" like something handmade!

Here are a few fantastic handcrafted Valentine's goodies that anyone would love to receive on Feb. 14th :)


"L'amour Or Less" mounted giclee prints by Cuddly Rigor Mortis artist Kristin Tercek-

Ahhh, it's so cute!!!

Handmade warm fuzzies from Violet Pie's Etsy shop-

Valentine Deer

Valentine Bunny Matilda

'You Are My Sunshine' Necklace from Chocolate and Steel-This handcrafted fine silver necklace comes with a cubic zirconia stone, but can be customized with different birthstones, how cool is that?

Photoast

For The Birds

I am an avid bird feeder during the winter, I love my feathered friends and always try to provide them with a meal and a drink during this miserable time of year, can you tell I hate winter? :) There are a lot of projects floating around cyber-space right now for cutesy bird seed ornaments, bird houses made of bird seed, etc., and as awesome as all those projects are, I just wanted something simple I could throw together for the birds in less than half an hour. This project is so easy even kids can do it! So here it is-

You'll Need:

• Bird seed(small seed works best)
• Peanut Butter
• Bread(stale works best for this)
• Screwdriver, knife, awl- simply something to make a hole with.
• Ribbon, twine, old shoelace

1. Using a screwdriver, or whatever you have on hand, poke a hole in a relatively stale piece of bread for the ribbon or twine. Don't have stale bread? Just let a piece sit out a few hours until it gets a little firm.2. After you have your hole punched, spread a layer of peanut butter on one side of the bread.
3. Take a handful of bird seed and sprinkle it on the layer of peanut butter.

4. Press the seed into the Peanut Butter to ensure it sticks.

5. Thread your ribbon or twine, through the hole you made earlier, use your hole making tool to help thread it through, if you need it.

6.After threading the ribbon through let this sit somewhere dry overnight before hanging outside to give the peanut butter time to firm up so it holds the bird seed better.

7. Hang one or more in a tree or a bush by slipping the ribbon over a branch and tying a knot at the top. Watch the birds devour their treat! Squirrels will love it too :)