day 294: carrot shaped easter treats

the finished "carrot" easter treats :)

day 294 and the mojo is returning and i am really excited to be back creating now.  today i am going with a carrot shaped theme for easter treats.  i have been salivating at all the treat ideas on pinterest and, in particular, the ones that look so cute in piping bags to form carrot shapes.

these gorgeous waffle cone filled "carrots" are such a cute gift and something nicer than a prepackaged egg as it shows you have put time and effort (which i reckon equals love!) into the gift giving.  the idea comes from the sweetest baker and is pinned to my easter in autumn board.  the other pinterest found idea is from loralee lewis and uses triangle shaped frosting bags filled with goldfish to make some less sugary easter treat carrots!

the nice thing with both these easter treats is they only require putting together and the key ingredient for both is some clear piping/frosting bags, once you have the bags you can let your imagination take over.  we don't have goldfish in new zealand so i am using twisties for the savoury carrots instead .. they are orange and will therefore be perfect!

what you need :)

the savoury carrot version

the finished waffle cone filled candy carrot :)

outcome: AWESOME!  these took me 15 minutes to put five together and that included taking photos :) they can be far more personal and thoughtful than your standard easter egg set and i really appreciate gifts that do that.  so i am hoping the five lovely people who will receive these will also feel that way too.  just need some easter tags (when the printer co-operates) and these are ready to deliver :)

my thanks to the sweetest baker and also loralee lewis for these no fuss, inexpensive easter gifts they have put together and shared that are just so cool :)

day 293: chalk board canvas

the finished chalkboard canvas hung in the kitchen :)

day 293 and the printer is still not talking to me as i would like, so there are no surprises when i tell you today's creation will not involve printing anything ;)  it does involve art though, changable art.  some of you may remember my complete LOVE of chalkboard paint when we painted a chalkboard on the classroom wall on day  214, my obsession with this ingenious stuff continues today as i create some changable wall art, in the form of a painted chalkboard canvas.

i saw this idea from chic and cheap nursery on pinterest and i thought this is one of those things everybody should have!  i plan to put it on the wall and change what it has on it according whether it is a holiday season, someones birthday, a welcome for family and friends coming to stay, all sorts of occasions.  i love crafts that are so usable and, of course the first use of this wall art will be for easter.

AND IT'S ABOUT HERE IN MY PREPARATION FOR TODAY'S CREATION, I TOOK A LITTLE TIME OUT ... the rest has been written today :)

what you need

don't forget to paint the sides for completeness 

thanks steve :)

i was not having the best day yesterday, so steve and his "friends" went out to the shed to paint the canvas while ben and i watched the rugby before i fell asleep.  and then i sleep and sleep and sleep ... and nobody dared to wake me : D  then i woke up and the creation i had set out to complete was done~!  so i had no choice but to put my pj's on and i went to bed for the night and slept some more!


outcome:  i've popped this up in the kitchen because the kitchen doesn't yet have any chalkboard paint in it (shame on me!).  i totally love this and it was so easy for steve to complete for me (lol) while i slept!  honestly i was all ready to paint and had everything out, thought i would have a rest before i did the actual craft and the rest is history!  good old steve, standing in again for me today, just as well i warned him 293 days ago i wouldn't be able to do it without my families support ;)

thankfully my observation husband was around to make sure day 293's creating was finished so i have to thank him for that, otherwise i would have been up REALLY late!  thanks also goes to chic and cheap nursery for this awesome inspiration that has given me some cheap, cheerful, and always relevant wall art!

zzzzzZZZZZZzzzZZZzzz

naughty egg, get outta my photo

she is tired and sleepy ... i will let her tell you what was created today tomorrow but here is a sneak peak of day 293 ;)

day 292: easter decor printable

day 292 and my sweet mum gave me a gift for easter when she got home from work today and it has completely inspired me to do a little bit more easter decor today ... something easy though, does anybody else have days when they just WANT TO SLEEP ... i'm having one of those days when i just can't be bothered :)  days like this are when you need the inspiration to be creative from others and its like i am surrounded by friends and family who give me plenty of it.

the above broken eggs given to me by mum were the perfect start for a little easter vignette in our upstairs lounge.  i then went and asked pollyanna to find her sylvanian family bunnies while i went to work on finding some free easter printables to use from pinterest.  luckily there are plenty on pinterest and many are pinned to my  easter in autumn board.  today i am using a subway art from eighteen25, they design awesome subway art and i have used their's before on p365 for other holiday seasons.

in our upstairs living area we have many white accessories, so i wanted to print the subway art out in black and white to make sure the emphasis was on the egg bowls .... and it was about NOW the printer decided to have a whopping great tantrum and didn't want to print.  steve tried for over an hour to get it fixed but it would not co-operate ... according to steve, the printer and i had a lot in common today : / tomorrow is another day for the finished print to appear


outcome:  i am chuffed :)  i really didn't feel flash today and not creative but i wanted to be able to do pinterest for myself today and i did, i was creative with my little vignette ... and tomorrow it will look even better when the printer WILL co-operate and i might too!  i absolutely love my egg bowls from mum that provided the perfect inspiration ... and you know what, without pinterest i wouldn't have even thought of adding easter decor to the house so i am happy.  might not have finished creating what i wanted to create but i did something thanks to the inspiration of my greatest muse, pinterest :)

when i get my printer and i on the same side, i will be so grateful to eighteen25 for another wonderful subway art that they provide freely to print ... and that's awesome.  

day 291: sentimental coin key rings

guess when kirsty was born......

day 291 and i am home ... not yet able to do the creating but i can type!  something i really wanted to do today,  mostly to thank all the lovely people that have commented and sent emails of kindness.  the operation was a huge success and i am on the very speedy recovery to full fitness.  i really wanted to thank you all for your kind thoughts, the support has meant heaps to me AND my family and has lightened our days with something good to focus on.  

my sweet (but hopelessly egg fanatic) has once again come to my aid and done the creating for today.  the nice thing about the last couple of creations is he has gone on my boards and found his own inspiration for the day.  i had completely forgotten about the sentiment coin key rings that were pinned to my general crafts board.  the idea comes from PATS DESIGN on etsy but she takes it a lot further and uses gorgeous personalised stamped copper rounds as well as the american coins.  if i was american, i would head straight to her site where you can purchase them ready personalised and without the need to hunt for the appropriately dated coins!

unfortunately new zealand coins and notes have gone through a number of changes during 1990, 1991 and 2006 with many of the old coins taken out of circulation during 2006.  coming across sentimental coins for steve and my birthdays is therefore a little tricky.  unbeknownst to me, steve has been searching the house, under cushions, in old money boxes, and all over, looking for coins sentimental to me.  he eventually found one from my birth year to begin my sentimental coin collection on a key chain.

the keys, the first of several coins (i hope) to be attached to kirsty's keys.  yes, she LOVES lego :)

safety first,  use a punch to mark coin before drilling

safety first, use grips to hold the coin while drilling

please don't slip please don't slip please don't slip.....

a quick polish to finish off

the flip-side of our old NZ 2 cent coin, the kowhai flower ... see kirsty's keys still have the nail polish from day 252

outcome:  i was very touched when steve came in this evening with today's finished creation, i love it ... and the fact it will be added to when i find more sentimentally dated coins!  i know for sure i will be flipping coins to see their dates now.  and, yes, steve is right with his comments under the photo's, i love lego almost, but not quite, as much as my family ;)  if you didn't have a currency that keeps changing its type, shape, and size these would also make great coffee charms, trinkets on gifts, flower centers, decorated pegs, all sorts of things if your supply of dated coins isn't limited!

my thanks goes to PATS DESIGN for the inspiration for today's creation. it such a fabulous idea that could be adapted for so many project ideas :)  and if you are american you can BUY it ready made ... now that's cool!

day 290: lego picture frames

day 290 and kirsty is having her second night in hospital so its steve standing in again.  the kids and i got home pretty late today so there was a bit of panic when i finally sat down to sort out a creation for the blog.  kirsty is now off the pain meds and has a clear head so there is no chance of me pulling the wool over her eyes anymore, i had to do something and do it fast!

looking through kirstys general crafts board on pinterest i saw lego picture frames and thought that would be a great addition to bens bedroom as well as fun for dad to make!.  this is originally from a pinterest board by anel jacobs dedicated to lego birthday ideas.
i have to admit that i wasn't too keen on gluing lego to a picture frame as per suggested instructions, so decided to make the whole thing from lego pieces.  this way ben can customise it himself and the kids can build more if they want.  the frame is made from lego flats and big enough for a 6x4 photo.  i got all tricky and made a recess for the photo to slide in from the top so that photos can be changed easily if desired.  once this is done then you have a blank canvas to get all creative on.  the final touch was adding a stand at the back.

get a heap of flats and lay out so you have a backing area larger than your image size

backing flats joined with a layer of flats close to your image size, then covered with more flats to create a recess

middle layer of flats omitted at top to create photo slot

frame ready for customisation

go through the block trays and get creative.... trust me you will spend a lot of time getting the look right!

the stand....a pretty poor photo but hopefully clear enough

outcome:  after giving myself a headache from the sifting-through-piles-of-lego-for-prolonged-period-of-time noise, i was pretty chuffed with this and i think the kids will like it to.  at least they will say so to humour me before pulling it all to bits.  unfortunately our printer is out of action so i couldn't get a photo in there.  see below for a picture of ben i had selected.  ben loves lego and last birthday received a heap of starwars lego, perfect for this frame.

day 289: easter silhouette pillow

an eggstremely good hiding place!

day 289 and i am off to hospital this afternoon for my operation so i wanted to make sure i did a home decor easter craft before i went so i can decorate for easter when i return home :)  actually i am really nervous and i wanted something to keep my mind occupied before we left for the hospital!  i found these free easter silhouettes from craft jr that i figured would look cool on some pillows.  they are pinned to my easter in autumn board on pinterest.

i am using purchased pillows to make this craft a little more doable in a short time frame.  i printed out the silhouettes at A4 size then cut them out before tracing them on heat'n'bond.  i then cut these out again before ironing the material to the reverse side, good side up.  then it was a case of cutting around the material and then ironing them in place on the pillow. i plan to finish them off using a blanket stitch and some embroidery thread while i am in hospital recovering.  if you don't feel like doing this last step there is no need to as the heat'n'bond will hold the silhouettes in place without any worries.

eat easter eggs to avoid fading away to a shadow

so easy even a manly-man can do it.....thats steves hairy arm!

cut them out and we are ready to apply to cushions

peel off backing and iron on......easy if you take the stuffing out of the pillow beforehand, hard if you don't!

outcome:  this is one of those craft ideas that you can use over and over again for all sorts of holidays.  its easy to achieve, you don't need to do any sewing if you don't want to or don't own a sewing machine, and it's really cheap to do even with ready made pillows ... the pillows were only $5 each :)  i love them and plan to do lots of different ones for each holiday season ... especially christmas!

my thanks goes to craft jr for the very cute silhouettes.  they were so easy to use and worked brilliantly on the pillows.

you might also see in the top photo day 232 (i love you because....).  this pinterest creation probably has the most impact around our home with even the peeps taking the time to add a message to someone in the family.....this has a high feel-good factor!