Penny Art (and other randomness)

Well hello there!

I really have not been posting many projects lately.  

Sometimes lots of little things in life just get you busy or just plain distracted.  

That's how it's been for me these last weeks anyway.  

I need to get my creative mojo back.

Anyhoo, the little guy is potty training this weekend.  So I thought I'd share a couple of things that I think are super cool for potty training.  We use The Potty Training Boot Camp book.  It worked well for the ladybug so I'm hoping it works for the little guy too.  We use The Potty Watch, which is also pretty cool.  We set it to go off every 30 minutes so he knows when it's "potty time." 

 Do you have something that worked well for you?  Would love to hear your thoughts...

I'm also working like crazy on some things for an upcoming craft show and for my shop.  In the next week I'll be adding Thanksgiving tags, Christmas tags, more mini albums, and chalkboard labels to the shop.  

I'll keep you updated.

Now, on to the project... :-)

Years and years ago, before she passed away, my Grandma gave me her wheat penny collection.  Even after giving sets to my cousins, there were still lots of these pennies left.  They've been sitting in a box...until now. 

 

I hot glued some of them (there's still tons left for more projects!) into a frame matted to 5x7 size.  I like that this piece of wall art is kind of meaningful to me.  I remember finding wheat pennies when I was young and bringing them over to my Grandma's house for her. 

I felt like I was bringing her treasure...silly kid.

The last penny in the bottom right is a steel wartime wheat penny.  I think that's pretty cool. 

I am slooowly getting pictures and art together for a gallery wall in our stairway.  

This piece of penny art will be in that collection for sure.

See that pile of frames waiting to be hung?  

They're all for the gallery that will be on that chocolate colored wall. 

The Singing  Butler picture will come down and I'll find another place for it.  

Here are some other crazy cool things I've seen people make with pennies.  

Remember seeing this penny floor?

source

Penny counter top...

source

Enjoy your weekend!  

Linking up with THESE parties

Pinwheel, Pinwheel hello how are you

Pinwheels are so whimsical, sweet, and remind me of summer.  

I foresee many spring and summer crafts with pinwheels in my future :)

I made this small set of paper pinwheel cupcake toppers with some pretty paper.

Family Fun magazine shares a how-to for this pinwheel ring craft.  They look so cute!

Have you done anything with pinwheels?

I'll leave you with this little blast from the past...

It gets stuck in my head every time I see a pinwheel!

My Copycat Table Redo

We've had this little table from Ikea for a couple years now.  I never did anything with it beside covering the top with a patterned contact paper.  It was starting to look a little worn from tons of use by the ladybug and little guy.  After seeing Rachel's table redo over at Wild Whitney's I knew what to do with ours!

This was the before: 

(just imagine it with lots of little cheesy fingerprints, random paint drops, and a few marker scribbles.)

And the after:

I used our state map and covered it with clear contact paper to protect it from all those little messes in our near future :)  Check out Rachel's tutorial for full instructions.  

I love the look!

Sights of Fall

Just sharing some more fun Fall sights around my home. 

This tiered plate stand my mom made with two plates and a candle stick a few years ago.  I like to fill it with little pumpkins this month.  I plan on making some of these stands as soon as I find plates I like. 
I think I see a trip to Home goods in my near future...

This is my little homemade broom stick.  I used some leftover raffia, a rubber band, and a stick.  Simple enough.  I was going to put it outside, and make a sign that read "park your broom here", but now I think I might have other ideas for it....

This cute little favor my mom made.  It's a mini paint can filled with candy corn dots. 
The handle is covered in the sweetest Halloween ribbon. 

And this little banner I made with postcards.  I love that those letters are actually postcards. 

And there is ladybug who wanted to be in a picture with something.  

So she is showing you our dollar store made apothecary jar filled with mini pumpkins.  

Now I have one satisfied 4-year-old.

This week I'll be posting some new little projects I'm working on.  

Also, I'll be doing my first giveaway soon. 

So check back in soon!

Cutest Candy Jar Ever

I found the CUTEST candy jar over at A Pumpkin And A Princess!  You have to go check it out.  I just HAD to make one right away.  Hers is bigger and a super cute Halloween theme.  Now here is mine.

I made it as a gift for a birthday party we have next week.  

This is all you need to make it!

Easy and inexpensive.  My kind of craft! 

Thanks, A Pumpkin And A Princess for the super cute idea!

Once Upon a Time...

This weekend our little Ladybug went to an Enchanted Ball.  The little girls dressed up like princesses and danced and did crafts.  It was sooo cute!  I love that our park district offered this fun event for little girls.  Ladybug was very concerned that the wicked witch might make an appearance with one of her "icky" apples. 

they put glitter in her hair

Princess Ladybug

the princess and her daddy

crafts, too!

It was a fun night for this little girl!

Since we are on the subject of fairy tales and princesses...

A gift tag fit for a pinkalicious little princess or fairy.  :)

I just made these tags to add to my etsy shop.

crafting with canvas

I love projects that use canvas.  We usually already have the paint for these projects. If I have one of those awesome 40% off coupons for Michaels, I use it for the canvas and the project is a cheap one.

This one is an idea from the Crafty Crow.   My little ladybug did this one.  I have the canvas ready for my little guy to do one now that he is a little older.

We did this canvas for daddy's day, but it could be a cute Christmas gift, too.  I found this idea at No Time for Flashcards.

Here is a canvas we made for the kids bathroom to match their blue and green circle print shower curtain.

It was super easy for little ladybug to make.  We only needed coordinating paint and a brush,

and various circle sizes to use as stamps on the canvas.

We used the brush to paint the rims on the containers, and then just pressed them onto the canvas.  She had so much fun doing this!

Mini Tin Purse

photo and idea credit

Look at this super cute tin purse!  I found it at craftbits while searching for something else.  Of course I had to try it out.  I used some mini tins that I ordered from etsy a while back.   Then I gathered up some cute scrapbook paper, ribbon, adhesive, and card stock for the accordion album inside.  This is how it turned out:

 I think it would make fun little mini album with the accordion paper inside.