monthly craft challenge - Christmas decor!

It's time!!

Let's link up and show off all of our fun Christmas crafty decor and spread the JOY of the season!

For Mikayla's 1st Christmas (2006) we bought these wooden letters that spelled JOY and had her pose with them for our Christmas card.

{isn't this card darling!?}

After this one time use, I tucked them away to do something with them in the future. Well, I finally pulled them out...nothing like some craft challenge motivation!

I Mod Podged some coordinating paper onto each of the letters, sanded the edges, and then put another layer of Mod Podge on top to seal it.
But, I didn't stop there...
I decided these stars needed a makeover, too!

...to match the paper colors I used to cover the letters.
I cut out each triangle, Mod Podged them to the star then used another layer of Mod Podge to coat the entire star.
And now they hang on the wall together...and I love it!
The colors are a little unconventional for Christmas, but I went a little daring for a change!
(wish it was a better picture...weird wall angle)
Updated to add:
I found the cutest little blog called Blue Cricket Designs. She holds Show & Tell Wednesdays, and although I'm a day late, I couldn't help but share my creation since it fit the Christmas theme.


Updated to add (again):

Thank you to Rachel at One Pretty Thing for featuring this project.


And head on over to Xamin's at This is The Year for some...

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Now, it's YOUR TURN!!

1. Link up using MckLinky below.
2. In your post, either use the craft challenge button on the top left side bar of my blog or a link to my site for others to be able to join in the fun or to come on by to see what everyone has created. If you're using a post from the past, edit in the information or write a new post that will lead everyone to your creation.
3. Try to visit as many of the participants as you can and comment on their creations. Share the comment love, please!!
4. This month's craft challenge will end on Thursday,December 10th. You have ONE week!
5. A random winner will be chosen from the participants and be announced next Friday.
6. Link up and let's see what masterpiece you have created!

Get creative, get crafty, and be inspired!!

Mod Podge makeover coming soon!

Are you ready?

The fun begins tomorrow - October 1st!

Come back to link up with your
Halloween or Fall themed craft.
Don't stress if you aren't quite ready...
you'll have ONE WEEK to link up!

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In the meantime, head on over to
Xazmin's for her Monthly Mod Podge Mania!

This was a holiday decor project from last Fall.
I painted each of these wooden plaques and then Mod Podged paper onto the "faces". Then I went to my local scrapbooking store (because I don't have a Cricut!) and had them custom make the letters to spell FALL. I thought this would do the trick to add a little extra flair to my simple Fall decor (take a peek at last year's Fall decor).


However...
in true Heidi fashion, after pulling them out of the Fall decor box this year, I just wasn't satisfied with it! I am just not in love with the colors and the choice of patterned paper. I realized it really wasn't the look I was going for, which I had kind of thought last year after I had completed the project, but at the time I couldn't bare to destroy all of my hard work.

So, what did I do, you might ask?
You'll just have to come back tomorrow to find out!
*wink*

mod podge time!

Time to share some craftiness!! Every month Xazmin throws a party for all of us crafty junkies to show off our projects using Mod Podge. This little project is a small twist of another one I've already shared before. I've actually had it done for almost 3 months now (no joke!), but in typical Heidi-fashion, I hadn't gotten around to getting them placed in the right "home". So, after a sudden urge to rearrange the bonus room on Sunday (check back Tuesday for pictures!), I finally found a place where I wanted them to be.

I started with a simple, white square frame from IKEA...


And added some inspiring and fun paper to cover three frames.

These three words...
Imagine, Create, Inspire are words I live by. (I printed them off my computer using a different colored font for each word.)




These frames seem a little small on the wall, but for now they've found their home! (I had the hardest time trying to get a picture of all three on the wall...I guess they're just at a weird angle.)

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ANNOUNCEMENT!!
COME ON BACK TOMORROW TO SEE YOUR ASSIGNMENT FOR SEPTEMBER'S MONTHLY CRAFT CHALLENGE...AND A SURPRISE!
YOU WON'T WANT TO MISS IT!

create a little something

Guess who got their act together (finally) to do something a little crafty!?

Yep, that would be me. Are you shocked?

I suppose Xazmin's monthly Mod Podge Mania party helped light a little fire under me.

So, what can you do with six ABC blocks bought from a garage sale for 10-cents...


Some coordinating paper...


And a bottle of the "magic stuff"?



Why, CREATE something, of course!


Now I have another fun little decoration to add to my craft corner that will hopefully inspire me to keep creating!


By golly, this little creative corner of mine will one day look the way I want it.

Well, that or we'll just have to move.

Head on over to This is the Year for more fun Mod Podge Mania!

mod podge mania!

So, how late is too late to come to a party? I guess we'll find out!!

Mod Podge Mania snuck up on me this month and I completely forgot about it until I headed on over to Xazmin's blog to say hi and realized that Sunday was the day to share our Mod Podge creations! Thankfully, I had some projects that I already wanted to share, so I didn't have to whip out anything last minute. I just hadn't gotten around to posting about them yet with the beautiful sunshine blaring at me to get off the computer (well, that and my exhaustion and lack of wanting to do ANYTHING productive yesterday!)

The first project I can't take credit for because it was made FOR me for Mother's Day by my sister-in-law, Kristen. It is a Mod Podge Memory Game using pictures of our family. Isn't it adorable?! Kristen also gave one to my mother-in-law. I love gifts that are both crafty and fun to do with the family. Mikayla loves to match, so this is something fun we can all do together!

Each of the squares is a 2x2 chipboard square (you can buy them pre-cut in packages)
with decorative paper Mod Podged on one side and a picture on the other.

The next projects were something I made for the Craft it Forward I hosted on my blog a few weeks ago. These are plain white frames with decorative paper Mod Podged over the top to give it a fun look!


I have another project that I've been working on that involves Mod Podge, but I wanted to save it until it's complete, so I'll probably wait until the next party at the end of June...if I remember!!

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Also, big announcement: This month's craft challenge has been POSTPONED until NEXT THURSDAY, JUNE 11th!! Keep working on those MONOGRAM projects (or dig into your blog archives and find one to share) and come back on June 11th to share with everyone. I'm contemplating taking the summer off for the craft challenges since it's usually full of nice weather (playing outside) and family vacations...what do you all think?

i {heart} mod podge

Update to add: This idea was featured on One Pretty Thing - Daily DIY on April 30th. Click button to the left to see some other projects for that day or click HERE to go to the main page for One Pretty Thing.

Xazmin at This is the Year hosts a monthly get together that showcases projects using Mod Podge, the miracle glue! (Which, by the way is something I am LOVING these days, and therefore I also joined up with Things I Love Thursday at The Diaper Diaries.) Just within the last few months I've really been on a Mod Podge kick, so I knew exactly the project I was going to do for this month. Actually, I wanted to have this project completed weeks ago, but have been lacking in motivation after a few hiccups in my plan, but I was able to get inspired and got it done just in time for Mod Podge Mania!

A little over 2 weeks ago, I shared this fun find from my local Goodwill that I snagged for only $1.99! I had visions of what I might do with it, but those visions quickly got smashed once I had a little run in with a can of spray paint. Don't laugh...I'm just not good with things like that.


Here's my spray paint job. Not the best. For some reason some of the places cracked and bubbled a little, so I decided that I would sand it down and just brush over it with paint later on...seriously, just put down the paint can! I already did enough damage.


Next step was to find some fun paper. I headed to my local scrapbook store with my tray in hand. I found some beautiful coordinating paper that I couldn't wait to bring home!


After cutting the paper to size, I glued down the main patterned paper in the bottom of the tray and then added a few coats of Mod Podge over that. (Don't you love my spray paint job? I think I actually forgot this side...good thing I was just going to cover it with paper anyway!)


Then it was time to cut the pieces for the inside walls. Thankfully the length of paper was a perfect fit, leaving just a little of the wood tray exposed on each side but not enough to notice. After measuring, I just cut the paper into strips. After gluing each of the strips on the inside I added a couple of layers of Mod Podge over those as well.


The finished product!
I'm so happy with the colors and patterns of the paper!
I'm glad I didn't just scrounge up something in my paper stash and instead decided to spend the $2.29 to buy the paper just for this project! And I just LOVE how the Mod Podge gives it that finished, glossy look.


So, are you wondering what I plan on using this for? Mostly just for my daughter to play with in her "kitchen". Although as she watched me work on this project, she asked what I was doing and I said I was making her a tray so she could bring me breakfast in bed! We'll see if she passes that idea onto her daddy.

And, now if you've suddenly gotten in the mood to get creative and be inspired, join me NEXT THURSDAY with a craft project that uses anything with ribbons for my Monthly Craft Challenge. Check out all the fun things that were made by many who joined in for February's Challenge & March's Challenge. I'll be sharing some inspiring ideas, so come on back in the next couple of days to take a peek!