Tag Archives: Craft

“Be You” Reminder

I stumbled across this pretty quote from Oscar Wilde during one of my adventures through Pinterest Land.

20130729-122118.jpgIt really speaks to me. I am 47 years old, why do I need to be reminded of this every day? When will it sink in?

I have some amazing friends. I have friends who can hit the tennis ball with accuracy and speed. Me? Not so much. I have friends that can recite the nutritional value of every herb and plant. Is it moldy? Past expiration date? No? Then I’m good. I have friends that look like they’ve just walked out of a fashion magazine on their “bummy” days. You mean I shouldn’t go out in public in my pj pants and a t-shirt? I have friends that can recite the bible….book, chapter and verse…for any occasion. Unfortunately for anyone who might get a bible quote from me will hear “Well, I remember it going something like this….and it was said by some guy, maybe his name was Steve? Or Alan or Ronald.” I get the gist of it right and the spirit of the passage, just not the details.

Anyway, slowly, but surely, I am learning to love me exactly the way God made me. I will never be able to be whomever it is that I admire at that moment, but I can be me. I thought this particular photo was something that I could recreate for my wall.

20130729-123739.jpgUsing my cricut machine and some pretty paper, I cut and glued the words on a 12×12 sheet of paper. Nice, but I wanted it to have a little more to it, maybe a frame of some sort.

20130729-124012.jpgI had an extra box lid, so I decided to cut it into strips and add patterned paper to the strips.

20130729-124110.jpgI cut the strips into 1inch tiles.

20130729-124139.jpgI used my quilting ruler to square up my slats on the back of the piece. I added about a half an inch around all the sides to give some place to put the tiles. Duct tape was my handy dandy adhesion for the slats.

20130729-124516.jpgI randomly glued the tiles around the edge to form a frame for the picture.
Perfect? Nope. But then neither am I. And for this I am grateful.

Money Gift Box

It’s that time of year…Graduation! My son graduates from high school tonight. He has two buddies that he has known since first grade so I wanted to do something a little more “special” for them. What to do….what to do. They’re guys. They don’t do cutesy, matching bedding for the dorm or picture frames or scrapbooks, etc…Heck, Adam is going to The Citadel, so there’s definitely no decorating going on. Just white t-shirts, black socks and a good attitude.

I asked Adam what guys would like. His answer was “Money is always good.” I didn’t want to just write a check…too boring. Pinterest! oh Yea! I found just what I was looking for- something kind of fun and goofy, yet very appreciated.

20130529-183409.jpgA money box.

You will need: small box, colored paper, scotch tape, and dollar bills

20130529-183642.jpgDecide how much money you want to give. Go to bank and get it in one dollar denominations. The more, the better!

20130529-183749.jpgTape the bills end to end.

20130529-184158.jpgSee how cool lonnnng can be?

20130529-184311.jpgCut a slit in the top of your box to accommodate the width of a dollar bill.

20130529-184400.jpgI taped a message to the end of the line of money.

20130529-184454.jpgRoll it up, starting with the note first.

20130529-184528.jpgPlace roll in box, with end poking through the slot. I added a little dot to the end that says “pull”. (Duh. I know, but it looks cute.) I had to tape the lid, so it wouldn’t bend in. You may have a separate box lid, which you would want to tape down too.

20130529-184844.jpgBecause this is a graduation gift I put a grad cap with tassel on top. Birthday gift? What about a cute flower? Train? Lion? Or butterfly? I cut a band of colored paper to wrap around the box to cover the slot. This is glued in such a way that it can be slid off to expose the money hanging out. The grad cap on top is only a square, with a brad in the middle.

20130529-185330.jpgI made a tassel out of colored embroidery thread.

20130529-185436.jpgA foam dot raised it up a bit.

20130529-185508.jpgThinking that the white box needed some shuzzing up, I put this awesome sticky paper around the sides. It is much like washi tape, but comes in a sheet. (I got it from Target….yes!)

20130529-185749.jpgKa-yute!!!

Thanks to Making Memories With Your Kids for a fun idea!

Good Luck Grads!