A present...

My mom is crafty.  I joke that I am not, but the truth is that while I may lack in crafty talent, I definitely inherited the drive to make things.   Thankfully my mom steps now and then to keep me from killing myself with the glue gun.   Last week she made me one of these:

Materials:
Glass builder block (I found mine at Lowes)
Drill bit for glass
Ribbon
Floral wire
hot glue gun
pine cones, greenery or whatever decorations you like
strand of lights

• Drill a hole into the back of the block.  There is a line going around it, we just drilled ours on the line.
• add your string of lights to the inside leaving the cord hanging out of the hole in the brick to plug in.
• wrap your ribbon around the block like you would on a package.  
• make a bow- we used burlap ribbon and it required some floral wire for the bow.
• put your bow to the top- secure it with a bit of hot glue- be careful not to lose your fingerprints...
• add your greenery, bits, bobbles, and such to the top- again with the glue gun...
• plug it in and ENJOY your light up package :)

Have fun and be careful with that glue gun...

Jen Rizzo

Post Halloween Idea...

I found this idea on Pinterest, but was hesitant to try it because quite honestly, most of what I have attempted craft wise that was inspired by Pinterest has ended in tears and hot glue gun burns.

I saw this one well before Halloween and decided to give it a try, because sometimes I am just that delusional...

First you take toilet paper rolls.  We got lucky this past month with five people sharing one bathroom, there was no shortage of toilet paper rolls.

Then you draw some eyes on them...get creative, but remember you have to go back and cut those eyes out with a very sharp exacto knife...

Once you have cut out the eyes you just pop in a glow stick to illuminate it.  I found mine at the Dollar Store...

Then you sit back and see the spookiness...

Halloween night you put these little TP creatures into your bushes so it looks like eyes are staring out of them.

Via Pinterest

So start stocking up now.  Next Halloween is only a year away!

Limited craftiness...

I am craft challenged.  I've said that before, usually after attempting to make something and having it turn out as an epic fail.

 I bought an issue of Romantic Country and was gathering all my supplies to make some of these...

I even went so far as to buy cinnamon sticks...

But in the end I chickened out because I know good and well how most of my craft projects end up looking...

via

I did attempt one craft project for an industrial pumpkin after seeing Molly's post over at The Poor Sophisticate.  It looked easy enough and was minimal on glue usage, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Happily for me- it turned out super cute!  Just some canning rings, a bit of string, moss and a wine cork with a teensy amount of glue and it all came together.

If you'd like to give one of these a try just pop on over to The Poor Sophisticate to learn how!

First ever Little Cottage craft night...

Craft night was last night.  We made signs...

Oh my goodness we had fun!

I was so proud of this lady- she was nervous about making a mistake, she watched me apply some wax and sand another sign and then all of the sudden she just relaxed and painted- to make this:

It was so much fun to watch everyone tap into their inner artist!

We will be having another craft night in August before I leave for Australia.  This was so much fun and I am thinking of other crafts we can get together to make!

Meet Eloise...

I am a huge fan of Melaine over at My Sweet Savannah.  The girl is crazy crafty- something that I attempt, but do not a have natural gift for.

But I can copy like nobody's business ;)

Last week Melaine created this:

I know.  Perfection!  You can go here to read how she did hers.

Here is how I transformed a dress form into Eloise- The Dressed Up Dress Form:

First I started with a tattered and naked dress form...

I made her a little blurry for modesty...

Then I took some old nautical charts and cut strips about 12 in long and ? wide.  I didn't use a paper cutter or get precise with it- I just cut strips.

 Until I had a lot of rolled up strips.  I didn't need to roll them on a pencil like Melaine's son did...I just let the strips roll the way they had being stored.

It takes lots, and lots, and lots. and lots, and looooottttsssss of rolls.  I used three HUGE nautical maps to make her dress.

Then you begin to glue the rolls onto the dress form starting at the waist.  Who has a waist that really looks like this?

I glued some of the rolls going up....and some facing down.  Just to give it some differentiation...

Continue glueing....and glueing....and glueing...and glueing....you get the idea!

Then it is time to address the bodice of your girl...Begin by glueing strips of your paper in random patterns like so...

When you are all finished she will look like this...
Also, she might be smiling a little ;)

Once she is completely covered it is time to break out the modge podge!  

#potentialsuperstickymess

#tactiledefensive

Once the modge podge is dry, you can add a ribbon to hide the seam between the skirting and the bodice.  I opted for burlap ribbon since she is a bit on the nautical/beachy side.

I added a bit of an embellishment in the form of a burlap rosette (that I did NOT make- that is super crafty beyond my ability- but I can operate a glue gun!)

In the middle of the rosette I added a little birds nest.  Not sure why- I just think it needed a little springy touch.

I have another dress form and some vintage sheet music that I am going to use.  I love the blogging world- so much inspiration out there and wonderful people to copy off of share it with!

Happy Monday :)  

Linked up at Jennifer Rizzo's fabulous creative party!

Moss covered family gredunza...

                                                                  Linking up here


I'm not crafty.

I know that is a sin in the blog world- but it's not a skill I have, and for the sake of honesty and putting it all out there I'm just letting you know.

So if this ends up on Pinterest and some innocent person attempts it and gets their fingers stuck to moss and the glue gun simultaneously- well, I warned you.

Today I made a moss covered letter.  Because I saw it on another blog, or maybe it was Pinterest...and for a few fleeting moments I envisioned one of these moss covered beauties hanging on my own cottage front door.  I forgot that I was craft challenged, that the last time I attempted anything with a glue gun I got the entire gun stuck in my hair (don't ask), that I had not inherited the craft gene.

So I bought this...

As soon as I got home with my bag of goodies, Travis asked me what I was up to.

"I'm going to do a craft!", I exclaimed proudly.

To which he looked at me and I am pretty sure that a play by play of all my other failed craft attempts flashed before him- with the end frame being a picture of me with a glue gun stuck to my hair.

"No, really- this time it's going to be different.  I read blogs and I'm on Pinterest!  I can do this- all by myself!", I told him- more for my own self confidence than for his need to know status.

Step One:  Remove tag from wooden letter.  Crap.  It was screwed into the wood.  Who does this to attach a tag?  Wouldn't staples be sufficient?  The screws seemed like overkill, but feeling confident I grabbed my screwdriver and attempted to remove the two screws.

I gave it quite an attempt before I broke down and asked Travis for help.  In my defense, I did just have hand surgery three weeks ago...

Step Two: Plug in the glue gun.  At this point I had to laugh.  Packing heat?   Seriously, if a zombie apocalypse occurs I am not packing the glue gun.  I'm certainly not going to run out and think I can take on the world with it.

Step Three:  Unroll the green mossy stuff.  This particular brand had netting on the back, so it came in one mossy green sheet.  It also sheds- so if you have a doxie or small children you may want to have the vacuum out during this project.  Also if you are OCD like me and anything messy, or tactile, or outdoorsy sends you into a panic attack.  Don't even ask me if I go camping.

Step Four:  Lay the letter onto the mossy grass (or grassy moss) and trim around the letter.

Step Five:  Put some glue on the wood letter and lay the green mossy stuff over it.

Step Six:  While waiting for the glue to dry read the newspaper ads that the green mossy stuff came wrapped up in.  Varicose veins must be a huge problem in California, because this page had at least three ads for varicose vein treatment.

Recruited husband to hold down the green mossy stuff so that I could photograph this step.

 Step Seven:  Trim off excess green mossy stuff.  Realize that you probably should have wrapped the wood piece in green mossy stuff, but shrug shoulders and soldier on with your crafty self!  You are feeling really confident in your abilities until you realize that you missed a corner of the 'G'.  Grab random green mossy piece and glue it to the bald spot.

Step Eight:  Take out your super cute burlap with a hint of French blue chevron ribbon.  Cut two pieces and staple them to the back of your letter so that you can tie it on to whatever you want to tie it on to.

 Step Nine:  After tying it on to whatever you want to tie it on to, stand back and feel pretty proud of yourself.  After all if you made it this far you probably didn't get the glue gun stuck in your hair!

Step Ten:  Put your moss covered crafty project how to tutorial on your blog.  Embrace your non-craftyness!