Before

It has been a long time since I posted and I have been scrapbooking and crafting but just not a lot of time left to post, but I really enjoyed doing this project so I thought I would share. I have been looking for a large, 24″ wood wall clock that I could finish and Provo Craft used to sell them but I guess they had problems with the hands and clock works so they quit making them,  I finally found another store that makes them, http://www.thewallclock.com and it was exactly what I wanted. So here is the before and after pictures. We ended up using these clocks for one of our churches super saturdays, they were really easy and the best part was, we finished them all on the same night. (sometimes we start projects and never get them done). This was easy, we just spray painted the numbers, then sanded off the excess paint, then used a small paint roller and painted over the numbers, the paint didn’t go into the recessed numbers, ( did have to touch up the numbers just a little, too much paint on the roller) then we used a spray stain to finish it off and accent it. I love my new Families are Forever clock.  PS some of the clocks had peoples names, for example, Smith established 1973, they were very cute.

SO here is the after photo:

After

Gardening is something that I really take great joy in doing. I love the peace of having just you and the earth. So I tend to start my flowers and vegetables early by starting them in the house. Using the cardboard egg cartons make perfect biodegradable seedling pots. The great thing I have found is that since they are biodegradable they can easily be separated and placed into the ground without breaking any of the established roots.

Materials Needed:

• Bottom of cardboard egg cartons
• Potting soil
• Easy-to-grow vegetable, flower or herb seeds

Instructions:

1. Poke small hole in bottom of each egg cup (for drainage).
2. Fill each egg cup ¾ full with potting soil.
3. Plant a seed in each egg cup.
4. Water, put in sunny window & continue to water when dry. Watch plants grow! (They will need to be transplanted to the garden or bigger pots when they outgrow their pots.)
5. Make sure you have a pan or something underneath to catch any water that may drain through the egg carton.

Got another great tutorial sent in by one of the readers. I love this idea of little felt monsters. They are perfect for making and hanging up on the wall of your kids room. But what I love about these the most is that you could have your child draw their own monsters and they can feature them in their rooms. Step by step instructions can be found on the Art, Adventures and Toddler blog.

Fall is right around the corner and these are a great way to celebrate and decorate for the autumn season. These are great for both outside and inside use. For people who have parties outside, these are great decorations.

Materials Needed:

Large balloon
Tape
Vegetable oil
Cheesecloth
Fire retardant
Water-and-glue mixture (1 part white glue to 1 part water)
Brown or green tissue paper
Scissors
Foam brush
Brown or green felt
Hot-glue gun and hot-glue sticks
Utility lampshade
Bulb socket with brown cord
Fluorescent light bulb
Leaf Template (click on the link for the template that I found when I did this craft)
Pencil
Screw punch
Floral wire

Instructions:

1. Blow up the balloon and tie. Tape the tie flat on the balloon — this will be the point of the acorn. Grease the balloon with vegetable oil so the glue won’t stick to the balloon.

2. Spray cheesecloth with fire retardant and allow to dry. Stretch treated cheesecloth over balloon and saturate cloth with water/glue mixture. Let dry.

3. Cut tissue paper into 2-inch-wide triangular strips. Brush water-and-glue mixture onto balloon with a foam brush, place a strip of tissue paper on the balloon (with triangle point at tip), and brush mixture over the strip. Repeat to create a layer of strips all over balloon. Allow the layer to dry and repeat, covering entire balloon with 3 to 4 layers. Allow layers to dry overnight.

4. Poke a hole on the rounded end of the balloon and allow the balloon to deflate. Remove the balloon. Trim excess tissue paper.

5. Cut 2-inch squares from felt and turn them on point so they are diamonds. Hot-glue the felt diamonds onto a utility lampshade, starting at the bottom rim of shade. Cover rim by folding diamonds over edge.

6. Overlap diamonds to cover the rest of the lampshade, using a dab of hot glue in the center of each to attach. Cut vent holes in the remaining felt pieces to align with the vent holes on the top of lampshade.

7. Wrap 1/2-inch strips of felt around a brown bulb socket cord, attaching with dabs of hot glue. To create little branch knobs, roll a strip of felt into a spiral and glue to cord.
Note: Felt can also be sprayed with fire retardant.

8. Screw in fluorescent light bulb.

9. Trace the leaf template onto felt. Cut out leaf shapes. Make holes with a screw punch as marked on the template. Weave floral wire through the holes of each leaf and secure with a smidgen of glue at ends. Attach leaves to cord with hot glue.

Birdbaths are great things to have in your yard if you are someone who loves to watch the birds. The only problem with birdbaths is that they can often cost a lot of money for something that is simple. I found this great craft that allows you to make your own birdbath fast and cheap. All you have to have is two different sizes of Terra cotta pots(the one that we did used a 12-inch and a 16-inch pot.) Take the pots and turn them upside down. Take the saucer that you would normally put under the pots and place it on top of the stacked pots. Then all you have to do is fill it with water and you will have a flock of bird before you know it.