Never More Than A Loving Thought Away

 HI Everyone I am back to crafting again. I am slowly turning the spare bedroom into a craft room now that my friend has moved out. The converted garage was too cold and I want to convert it back to a garage so that my car is out of the weather.

Here is a card I created for my friend for Christmas. I used photos from out favorite hiking place. Of course the dogs had to be included. I actually think he misses the dogs more than me.

Ignore the crappy counter the card is sitting one. I haven't set up a spot yet to take pictures. I also have not found where my good camera went. It is in the house somewhere.

The photo doesn't do this card justice as it is really sparkly. I used plastic coated glittered card stock for the card base and a scrap of a different color for the frame. It has been so long since I have used my cutting machine it took me a minute to remember how.

The photo the dogs are on was taken one winter in black and white mode. I always liked Ansel Adam's black and white photography so was playing around one day. 

With a stiff brush I pounced on heavy matt gel where the snow is in the picture. Then while still wet I sprinkled white coarse glitter over it. I gave the tree trunks definition using a brown marker. I loved how it turned out coloring on photo paper with a marker. The boys were sitting on a wall and the photo was in color. Alas my color printers have all died so I had to convert the photo to black and white. Which is alright as the boys are black and Buddy has a lot of white fur. I cut them out and then adhered to the back side of the frame before adhering the frame to the background. 

My friend loved his Christmas card and I purposely did not do a holiday sentiment on the outside so he could display it all year long if he wished.

I am busy working on New Year's card. Right now waiting for Dimensional Magic to dry so I can finish one.  Stay tuned as I will probably be posting it this week. 

Wishing you a Happy New Year as well as Happy Frugal Crafting! 

Butterflies Are Everywhere

 Hi everyone. I totally forgot last month to post my butterfly wall. Butterflies are just about everywhere in my house. I even found curtains for my kitchen and dining room which have embroidered butterflies. 

My butterfly wall in my living room though is my favorite. The different butterfly images and butterflies themselves have been collected over decades. My most recent butterfly though is a wooden one I found at Dollar Tree and painted. I used a photo of a butterfly that is found in the rain forest for the colors. Since the butterfly did not have an antennae  I used black wire I had on hand. In the second picture I haven't done a couple of pictures using die cut butterflies yet to go on the plate rack. 

Paint Stir Stick light fixture

 Hi everyone sorry for being missing in action. I haven't done much crafting lately. You would think with staying at home I would get a lot of crafting done. However, this house is taking all my time. Finally got the living room, dining room and kitchen walls painted. Boy did they need it. And last week finished painting the trim in the dining room and kitchen. What a difference it has made. Especially since I patched where hardware and doors had once been before painting. Not to mention a bunch of holes. I think a kid got a drill for Christmas and had to try it out.

O.k on to my paint stir stick light fixture. A friend had screwed a motion sensor light on scrap lumber and had it as a bridge between the two cupboards on each side of the sink. Needless to say it looked hideous. Here was my solution:

I cut off a piece from the scrap lumber. Painted the scrap and four paint stir sticks black. Drilled a hole in the scrap for wire to go through for hanging. It doesn't show up for some reason in this photo. I stenciled the sticks with gold paint. When dry I nailed the sticks to the scrap. Threaded the wire through my hole and made a loop. Then used double stick mounting tape to attach the light. There was already a hook above the sink. Now in the middle of the night if I get up to get a glass of water the light comes on. 

My next paint stir stick project is making a faux swag light for my living room. It will be constructed a little differently and use six led remote puck lights which can be dimmed.

Happy Frugal Crafting till we meet again.