Fancying Up the Knife Block

So I saw this on pinterest, and for the life of me I could not figure out why I had never thought of that before. I practically walk around this place on a daily basis with a spray paint can in my hand looking for things to paint. How have you escaped my spray paint wrath all this time, you Ugly, Old Knife Block?

To start, I painted it blue. 

To match this guy.

Because even though Squirrel Bird has his own vase, you never know when he might need to protect the family from an axe murderer. He needs to know which weapons to go for at a moment's notice.

I had it in my head that I wanted to stencil my knife block. You know, since the last time I stenciled anything I was 10 years old. There's a reason for that. I suck at stenciling. I can never get the paint even. The paint was thicker in some places, thinner in other places, and, hey, by the way, welcome to Danish Land. Danish Land that looks a little dirty because I used steel wool to sand it all down.

Nope. This is not going the way that I had planned AT ALL.

Jumpin' Happy Mishap! What if I gave it another coat of blue and sanded it down again? Then the heavy paint areas might come up a bit and it might look kind of cool and deliberate! 

Hey! It actually worked! There's a first time for everything!

Welcome to my kitchen, Happy, Happy Knife Block.

Christmas Ornament Banner Craft Kit

It's new craft kit time! Introducing my new Christmas Ornament Banner craft kit!





Isn't it fantastic?!?! I LOVE IT!





This kit includes supplies to make 12 festive ornaments - two of each type: bell, stocking, star, ball, spindle, and onion-shaped bauble ornaments. But if you want a whole banner of only stars or stockings or spindles or whatever, let me know - I can do it! 


I obviously like a super-colorful Christmas banner. But if you have a special Christmas color scheme that you really adore, like red and turquoise and white, or all pink, or only green and red, let me know, I can do that for you, too! I'm really nice to talk to - I swear!

And of course, there are lots and lots of decorative ribbons, mini garland, hand-punched paper snowflakes, silver beads, jingle bells, star bling, sequins, and scrapbook paper shapes. 


Never before has a Smart-Bottom Kids kit had so many different decorations. I mean, this kit is pretty sure there's a lot more to life than being really, really, ridiculously good looking, but it doesn't plan on finding out what that is.





Yep. Just like Zoolander. Only this kit has more than two possible signature looks. It has, like, a zillion. (Did you just read that last sentence in Zoolander's voice? You know you did!)





I LOVE the natural, rustic look of the double length of banner jute mixed with all the bright colors and sparkle of the ornaments. 





And did you notice the sweet little jingle bells in between the ornaments? They're so dainty!





And, just like my other banners, you can use this kit in a bunch of different ways. You and your family can make one long multi-artist banner (That's becoming a little tradition in our family. You can go see our Christmas Tree Family Banner from last year here. And we'll be making a Christmas Ornament Family Banner when we all get together on Thanksgiving - I can't wait!).  Or you can cut the jute to make a few shorter, single-artist banners. Or you can even skip the banner altogether and use the kit to make individual ornaments that your child can gift to family and friends for the cutest handmade Christmas presents ever!

I KNOW! You totally need one!

Happy Holiday Crafting!

Estate Sale Roadshow

So I went to an estate sale and got this for 5 bucks. Do you have any idea what it is?

Because I don't. It has holes and handles, like maybe it wants to be a fancy fruit colander or something. But then it's made of some sort of metal and has some felt on the bottom, like it doesn't want to be fruit colander. 

Maybe it's to display potpourri? Fake fruit? Jesus figurines? I have no idea. 

So you know what I did, right?

I spray painted it. 

And now I use it when we want to play with buttons. Doesn't everyone need an elegant let-the-buttons-slide-through-your-fingers bowl? Yep. That's the kind of life I live. I'm so fancy it's AMAZING. Try not to look at that table underneath the bowl. It's trying to ruin my high class profile.

And sometimes I use it to store ribbon spools. But really I just took this picture so you could see the foot of the bowl.

What IS this thing?

Anyway, I also use my Estate Sale Bowl when I buy $40 worth of sequins. Would you like to know what Forty Bucks of Sequins looks like?

Yeah. Not as big of a Sequin Mountain as I had hoped, either.

So, yes. I use the bowl when I spend my children's college tuition savings to splurge on sparkly round embellishments...

that need to be color-mixed and portioned out into small cello crafting bags. 

I could buy the ready-mixed bag of sequins that you can find almost anywhere. BUT! Sometimes I'm very particular about the sequin colors that I need. So I buy all the individual colors and mix them myself. 

I'm a total crafting martyr. 

Do you know how a normal amount of sequins like to stick to your fingers when you are trying to craft with them? Now multiply that times a 40-dollar-gazillion. I know! It doesn't even make sense. Stop sticking to my fingers, Sequin! Get into your cello bag, Sequin! Why don't you just go home?!? That's your home! Are you too good for your home?!?

Happy Gilmore knows how I feel.

It was like Attack of the Sequins up in here. And then I learned how to easily scoop them up and put them into their bags with a plastic spoon. You know, because I went to college. 

To see where these little cello bags of crafty bling ended up, you can wait 'til my next post, or go see them here.

And now I'll give you the biggest hint ever:



























Spoiler Alert:

Yay! Christmas Ornament Banner Craft Kits!!!!

Look at the bling! That lovely, sparkly, sequin bling going on at the bottom of the bell, and around the ball, and covering the spindle. It was well worth The Great Sequin War.

Go, Sparkle, Go!

Caterpillar Party Kit

I just finished another Caterpillar Party Kit!

I love doing party kits because I get to spend the time to personalize them. It's fun for me - it gets my crafty brain moving! And I love the idea that I get to help make a child's birthday a little extra special.

So, sweet little Cayden was turning one and his mom was planning a super awesome bug themed party for him. She was going with a light blue, navy blue, and light green color scheme and asked if I could color match the caterpillars. Why certainly! And not only that, I matched the party favor bags, too. I LOVE this stuff!

Happy Birthday, Cayden!

Since most of the party guests were going to be little, little, little, I prepainted the caterpillar heads and tails and precut all the caterpillar body circles. It's an easy, fun craft. Perfect for the littles.

And, of course, I always include:

And a little card, too!

And, guess what! Cayden's mom said the caterpillars were a HUGE hit!!! YAY! 

It's party time made simpler!