Crafty!

I've been feeling rather crafty lately. I go through phases like these, where all I want to do is be creative and make things with my own two hands. Here is my latest project:

In case you don't know, Josh and I both love Americana-style things.  Framed pieces of art, rustic signs, anything red, white, and blue.  We have decided to go with this theme in our living room of our new house!  While at the craft store recently, I stumbled upon some wooden letters and decided to make a little Americana piece of my own!

The materials:

Acrylic Paint in Red, White, and Blue
Crackle Medium
Varnish
Paintbrushes
Wooden Letters
Sanding Block

To start, I sanded some of the rough spots on each of the wooden letters.  Then, I painted each letter a different color.  This color was the base coat; the "U" started out white, the "S" started out blue, and the "A" started out red.  (I apologize for the out-of-focus bottom of this photo!)

Then, after the paint had dried, I applied a coat of crackle medium, which went on clear and was very sticky!  I let that dry until it was still just barely tacky, and then applied a contrasting color of paint over top.  It went from looking like this....

.... to this in a matter of minutes!

Here are all three completed letters! 

I still haven't figured out exactly what I am going to do with these yet, but I will be sure to post photos once I do decide!

My Christmas Craft Project

I recently completed a project inspired by an idea from Jessica Sprague.  I wanted to do something crafty and homemade for Christmas, and this is what I ended up with!

I started by painting some terra cotta pots a deep red color.

After they dried, a put a clearcoat on them, which had red glitter in it.  Who doesn't like glittery Christmas decorations?!

I cut Christmas scrapbooking paper into strips, and started layering the strips around the trees, according to color/pattern.

To assemble the trees, I pained wooden dowels a dark brown, for the trunks.  I placed rocks in the bottomof each pot, because the trees themselves are a little top-heavy.  I put Styrofoam in each of the pots, and covered with artificial moss over the Styrofoam.  Then I just jabbed the dowel into the tree Styrofoam and the pot Styrofoam.

I finished by putting silver bows on the top of each of the trees.  I ended up with 5 trees in varying heights.

These trees are by no means perfect or professional looking, and I like that.  They are uneven, maybe a little crooked, but they are mine.  And I love them!