Quick and Easy Painted Bunnies

Hello everyone,

It's been awhile. Sometimes I just need to step back. Take a break, breathe, have some "think" time. I've been extremely busy teaching this semester, and doing lots of my own writing as well. For a few weeks, I kept thinking, "I just can't do this blog thing anymore, it's just too much." Now, I think, for the moment, I want to continue. But my posts will be a little less frequent for the time being. Sanity throughout the semester is important. 

This project was a wild goose chase. I had this great idea that I would paint plastic bunnies shiny and gold and use them for crafts this spring. So I go looking for plastic bunnies and couldn't find them anywhere. I checked Target, Hobby Lobby, Michael's, etc, and couldn't find small plastic ones, only plus bunnies. Finally, I found some at Wal-mart, who knew, right? Then I went to paint them with my favorite gold paint, Liquid Leaf, but the bottle had self-sealed and I couldn't open it. I was about to give up on the bunnies when my sister suggested nail polish. Genius! So, the DIY was still on. Enjoy the pics! These cute little bunnies have so many possible projects waiting on them! I decorated a candle (see pic above), but there are so many more DIYs just waiting to happen!

1. Prep: I used white polish to paint over the bright pink and black details.

2. Painting the bunnies took about 2 coats each. I painted them neon yellow, pink, gold, and mint. (My current favorite colors!)

 3. Let them dry between coats!

Valentines DIY: Jar O Dates

Need a quick, last-minute gift idea for valentines? I've got one for you today! Whip up a jar of dates to last a whole year! See the tutorial below.

Supplies:

Popsicle sticks (I bought my pre-printed at Michael's).

Ribbon Scraps

Empty Jar

Stickers (for decoration)

1. Tie all your ribbon scraps around the rim of the jar. This is a super fast way to decorate!

2. Write fun date ideas on your Popsicle sticks. I had five different kinds of sticks, so I made these types into categories, weekend dates that require planning, stay at home dates, etc.

3. Decorate your jar and you're done!

4. Take pictures...get photo-bombed.... (this is obviously not a step, but, my cat frequently does this so I thought I would share a photo).

Fun Little Valentines

This week I whipped up a couple of cute little valentines. I mailed some packages recently and slipped these in. The print-out stickers I used are downloadable bonus items from Katie's "I Heart Art" Valentine's Day class and I love them! They are beyond cute.

Interested in taking an online class? I recently reviewed Katie's "I Heart Art" course. Check the review out here!

Mini Hand-cut Hearts Garland DIY

Okay everyone, I'm excited to share a fun and quick valentines craft with you! But...I'm even more excited to share it with you because I've written it in a totally new format. So please, please tell me what you think! I really like how fun flipping through this tutorial is, so tell me if you agree. Also, please let me know if you have any problems with it! 

Thanks for reading! -Taylor

Holiday Decorating: DIY Christmas Art Wall

Just wanted to share my art wall, holiday-style. The moose is always up, but it's been Rudolph-bombed :) I also included my snowman wreath, (click here for tutorial!), Katie's Christmas light art (tutorial), and a piece that I made with scrapbooking papers and pieces. 

I made this by piecing together blocks of red scrapbook papers onto a canvas, and then taking green strips and trimming the ends to look like ribbons. This was a super-fast project and could easily be translated onto holiday cards or gift tags. I think it's a pretty bold statement piece when combined with the other pieces on my art wall. All in all, I'm thrilled to have this display for Christmas!

Holiday Decorating: Photo Gift Tags

I just finished my gift tags for holiday gifts and I am so excited to share them with you all. I had been flipping through the Nov/DEC issue of Creating Keepsakes and saw a beautiful two-page photo of Christmas presents topped with photos. This totally inspired me to create gift tags that instead of the classic "to:, from:" are addressed to each person through a photo of me and them. For example, gifts for my dad have a picture of me with my dad. 

These pictures are also of my Christmas display. Having a kitten makes decorating difficult, so I'm super happy with my little bit of holiday magic that is generally cat-proof. Does anyone else have an alternative tree this year?

Christmas Light Art DIY

My sis Katie created this amazing mixed-media art canvas. I l-o-v-e the bright colors against a tone-on-tone white background. Below is an easy tutorial to make or gift one of your own! If you haven't already, throw some quick and festive art up on your walls for the holidays!

 Supplies: Patterned Paper, Scissors, Marker, Other Embellishments

 1. On the back of your patterned paper sketch out a Christmas light shape.

 2. Cut it out.

 3. From brown patterned paper, cut out a small rectangle and glue it to the top of the light.

 4. Cut as many as you like.

5. Glue them to a canvas, and embellish!

Last Minute Gift Idea- Color Blocked Tote Bags

Katie and I whipped up these amazing tote bags in just one afternoon. You can find blank tote bags at Michaels, JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby, etc, and we used acrylic paint which works very well on fabric. Simply tape off a design and paint! We used washi tape as it peels off very easily. Also, be sure to place paper or cardboard inside the tote bag while painting so it doesn't bleed through. I love how they turned out!

What kind of last minute holiday gifts are you making?

-Taylor

Quick and Easy Mini Wreath

This wreath seriously takes 10 minutes to make and it's that quirky kind of cute. It uses an embroidery hoop, I think mine was around 8 inches, but you could use any size. You'll also need white tissue paper, black and orange felt, buttons, and ribbons. These supplies are easy to find and you probably already have them lying around. I could see so many cute variations on this-Santa, Reindeer, Gingerbread Man, etc! This wreath is also kid-friendly, (use a low-temp glue gun!) and would be a fun project for kiddos who are out of school for the holiday break. Anyway, enjoy the DIY!

1. Using strips of tissue paper, about 8-9 inches wide, wrap your embroidery hoop.

2. Cut from black felt a top hat, form orange felt a carrot nose, and choose two black buttons for eyes.

3. Tie a ribbon around the top of the hoop to hang the wreath from.

4. Glue the top hat over the top of the embroidery hoop where the ribbon is tied. 

5. On the side, place the eyes and nose.

6. Add a ribbon to the bottom!

Monochromatic Holiday Cards

I made these cards today, I'm pretty happy with the way they turned out. As usual, inspired by Christmas things seen on Pinterest. If you haven't jumped on the pin-ALL-the-things bandwagon, you're missing a lot of recipes, crafts, holiday things, etc. Anyway...I'm not sure who these cards are going to, but I wanted to play around with stamping in all one color. What do you think?

-Taylor

Holiday Baking: Lemon Pie Cookies

These cookies are amazing. They taste exactly like lemon pie and they're best fresh out of the oven. Enjoy the recipe. 

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

1 tsp lemon extract

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 powdered sugar

1. Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add in vanilla, lemon extract, and egg. Stir in all dry ingredients. Scrape sides of the bowl and mix again. Chill dough for two hours.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Shape dough into 1 1/2 inch balls. Roll into powdered sugar. Place on greased baking sheets and bake for 9-11 minutes, or until cookies are no longer shiny. Cool 3 minutes in the pan and then transfer to a wire rack. 

Holiday Baking~Brown Sugar Shortbread Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/8 tsp salt

2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray cookie sheets with non-stick baking spray. Beat butter for 30 seconds, until smooth. Add brown sugar, spice, and salt. Gradually beat in flour.

2. Shape dough into 1 inch balls (no bigger!). Place balls 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Coat a cookie stamp with non-stick spray and then dust in white granulated sugar. Stamp each ball, flattening it. 

3. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Do not look for brownness, if they are brown they will be overbaked and very hard. This is shortbread, so they dough is already fairly firm. Test by touching a cookie for firmness. It should still be mostly firm,slightly soft, but not soft like raw cookie dough.

I found the original recipe on Better Homes & Gardens, but my recipe has some slight modifications. Find the original here. These cookies freeze really well, so I'm excited to just take them out and serve when my family visits for the holidays.

Christmas Cards-Out of the Box.

I love making Christmas cards but I wanted to stretch myself a little bit this time. These cards are a bit unusual, but I hope they inspire you to try something new with your holiday cards.

 Use a paper arrow for a Christmas tree!

Make a glitter tree on top of a transparency.

 A Tropical Christmas.