Crafts Bring Joy | Family Brings Joy

Grandparent’s LOVE – A Valentine’s Day Mantel

February 13, 2013 By Shan 3 Comments

As usual it’s been a work in progress. Meaning I finally added the finishing touch yesterday.

I’d like to call this “Grandparent’s LOVE.” I decided to add photos of our grandparents in the window frames to feature them. This is a great opportunity for family history discussion within our family. Two couples represented are my grandparents. One couple is my husband’s grandparents. The other two couples are my great grandparents. {Just for the record, I’m not playing favorites. 😉 I found these photos quickly and they were the right size to fit on the heart doily} The legacy of enduring love exudes from these grandparents.

I am blessed to have one of these grandmother’s living in Arkansas looking and acting as young as ever. I am grateful our children are able to spend time with her. There’s nothing like the love of a grandma. We love you so much Oma!

I also wanted to feature some of my kids previous handmade gifts of love. My son made the clay heart with the arrow going through it years ago. My youngest daughter made the clay heart inside the small lantern. I think it’s important to display items our kids have made us. This shows them how grateful we are for their works of art, but also encourages their creativity. I’d much rather have a handmade gift than a store bought gift from them.

I found the 2 free printables on Pinterest. You can find them on my Valentine’s Day Pinterest board. I added them to frames I had on hand. The heart photo album is the one I have blogged about in the past. And of course you can see my Stringed Heart Sculpture I just blogged about in the previous post.

I added the wood “You are the…” board I gave my husband as an anniversary gift one year. The Generosity board I purchased in the past and felt it went with the theme. {I’m also trying to teach this concept to my family. ;)} Last, but certainly not least, is the Christus I glazed at a church activity around 18 years ago. Christ is the epitome of LOVE. He almost always is on my mantel, if not there, then somewhere in our living room where I can see him. The only money spent on this mantel was for the heart doilies and supplies for the Stringed Heart Sculpture. It’s so much fun shopping from home and using what I already have. You should try it.

Celebrating enduring love,

Stringed Heart Sculpture

February 11, 2013 By Shan 1 Comment

Today I am ecstatic to share with you my latest creation. I call it a Stringed Heart Sculpture. I was blessed with the opportunity to teach this craft at a local boutique on Saturday.

Supplies you’ll need:

– wood. I used 16″ x 16″

– paint.

– string. I used hot pink braided mason line from Lowe’s.

– nails. I used box nails size 4D x 1 1/2

– painters tape.

Instructions:

1. Paint the board. On the second heart I added a border by mixing pink paint and Annie Sloan’s Clear Wax.

2. Cut out a heart the size you want.

3. Tape it where you want it on the board.

4. Add dots onto the paper heart where you want your nails to go.

5. Hammer nails onto dots.

6. Gently tear off paper and tape.

7. Tie a knot with the string on the bottom nail. Wrap the string around each nail to outline the heart.

8. Cross over to other nails however you want. Wrap around each nail again until all nails have been wrapped around at least once or as much as you want. Be creative, there is no pattern.

Here are some photos from the class:

Some class members did smaller hearts. There were a few who placed the hearts at an angle as well.

The long haired blonde you see above was very creative and strung hers in a striped fashion. I was glad to find out she was an art teacher AFTER the class was over. Not one sculpture looked like another. That’s what I love about this. Everyone’s was unique!

The short haired blonde you see above with me is the very sweet lady who invited me to teach this class at her boutique. She is also my professional photographer who has taken our family’s portraits for 6 years. We are planning on holding one adult and one kids craft class every month. I am so grateful for this opportunity. I look forward to meeting and making new friends while creating together.

Idea credit: Green Wedding Shoes

Crafts bring joy,

Filed Under: Crafts Bring Joy, Photography Brings Joy

Large Wood Heart for My Front Door

January 26, 2013 By Shan 10 Comments

Last week I looked at our undecorated entry way and thought to myself, “I need a heart.”

No, I’m not quoting from the Tin Man (Wizard of Oz)…lol 😉

I envisioned in my mind a simple big rustic wooden heart to go on my front door for Valentine’s Day.

Normally, when I get something in my head like this, the first thing I do is go searching online for it. Invariably, every time I spend way too much time looking for ‘it’ and never find it. So instead, I decided to make one!

4. I painted and added a little of Annie Sloan’s Dark (Brown) wax to give dimension and have a subtle rustic look to it.

To add to the rustic look I took keys and banged them on the painted heart.

I decided to sand the heart again after I got my frustrations out by throwing the keys over & over on the heart. I wanted a little of the original light wood to show through around the edges. I ran into a slight hiccup when I decided to sand over the top of the heart as well. I explained and showed on the following videos {very amateur videos} what happened and how I was to remedy the problem without repainting it all over again:

Next part of making wood heart familybringsjoy.com

My Son says it’s “tacky.” What do you think?

I heart Valentine’s Day,

Filed Under: Crafts Bring Joy, Home Brings Joy, Me Time Brings Joy, Photography Brings Joy

I’m Joining this Movement

January 8, 2013 By Shan Leave a Comment

This is wonderful…

As I watched the above, it reminded me of the following phenomenal video…

Source: indulgy.com via Shan@ on Pinterest

Important pondering,

Filed Under: Crafts Bring Joy, Values Bring Joy

A JOYful Christmas Mantel

December 28, 2012 By Shan 8 Comments

I hope everyone had a safe and lovely Christmas!

One of my favorite sayings is “Better late than never.”

Christmas time requires more than what we normally do on a day to day basis. I apologize for not being able to post these photos before Christmas.

Welcome to our home for Christmas 2012…

I got a wild hair and decided to make some new Christmas stockings this year. I almost bought some burlap stockings but decided denim was more me.

I couldn’t find any online I liked so why not make them?

I took my pattern off our old stockings on size. I figured out how to do a cuff based on the old ones as well, but decided to make them all different. The red gingham ones are the boys. The white cuffed ones are the girls. It took me longer to blanket stitch the loop hangers than it did for me to make all 5 stockings. I still think it was worth it, though. 😉 I bought the letters/ornaments at Pottery Barn to place on the kid’s packages. I decided they looked cute on the stockings and wished I would have bought one for me and the mr. {Thus the 2 stockings without initials on them}

I was so excited to find this unique nativity at a holiday bazaar I went to with my Mom. It’s made out of metal and came with the pretty background. You can find one of these at EverThineHome.com

I channeled a little creativity by covering up some Styrofoam trees {below}. I used denim scraps left over from making the stockings to ruffle around one of the trees. It was as simple as using pins and hot glue. I covered the large tree by wrapping it with red yarn. The smallest tree was decorated by using kraft wrapping paper. I used my circle punch and pinned the circles on the tree.

The wreath below was also purchased at the Ever Thine Home booth I spoke of earlier. I love how the leaves are made out of hymns.

The JOY letters are the ones I decorated with sweater material at Whatever Craft Weekend. I changed the embellishments to be more Christmas like. Thanks to A Cottage Life I used her mini bunting she gave as swag for Whatever Craft Weekend on the O. On the J I used the same red yarn I used to wrap around the tree and a couple of cute pins JCPenney’s was handing out this year for the Y. I saved the old window frame I bought at the barn while at Whatever Craft Weekend just for this Christmas mantel.

At the last minute I decided to make the lighted garland. I added red and white tulle to a battery operated led light strand…just tied them on. I tied a few snowflake ornaments {12 for $1 at Dollar Tree} to complete the look.

So glad you stopped by!

Let there be JOY,

Filed Under: Crafts Bring Joy, Home Brings Joy, Me Time Brings Joy, Photography Brings Joy, Values Bring Joy

Writing From My Heart

December 19, 2012 By Shan 1 Comment

writing from the heart familybringsjoy.com This morning I woke early to help my oldest finish gifts for her friends. She wanted to make them Oreo balls. We stayed up late last night dipping them in chocolate. We bought cute little Christmas tree jars to put the Oreo balls in. It was my privilege to place them into the jars this morning after they hardened overnight in the fridge. They turned out beautifully. Carefully, I placed the 8 jars in a bag filled with shredded paper to cushion and protect them.

It was time for my Daughter to leave for early morning seminary, which is a 50 minute scripture class she goes to at 6:45 AM Monday through Friday before school. We loaded her trunk with the goodies and she was off. I trod back into the house to find the goodie box I filled for her photography class. She was asked to bring some goodies for the Christmas ‘party’ they were having today at her special photography course she takes at the local vocational technical school in the afternoons. We made a double batch of the Oreo balls so half went into the jars and the other half was for her class. I also noticed she left her lunch. Fortunately, her seminary class meets in a home nearby, so I pulled on my jacket and took them to her. Yes, I was still in my PJ’s, but there was no time to change. 😉

I’m back at the house and now it’s time to get my youngest Daughter up and ready for school. While she’s dressing I finish placing the last minute touches to her teacher’s gifts. After packing those up, wonderful Hubby {Thank you!} takes our 2 youngest kids to school.

So here I am still in my PJ’s sipping on my protein shake while I type up this post.

Before I prayed this morning I was mentally tallying all the things that need to be done. It was yesterday I realized we only had a week before Christmas. Ya see, I’m not a calendar kind of person, never have been. I like to take things day by day. Don’t get me wrong, I have a calendar and I write my appointments on it. But unless I write a check {I don’t do that very often,} I don’t really know what the date is. I know what day it is, like I know today is Wednesday, but I have to look at the calendar to see it’s the 19th. I’m a domestic ~~servant,~~ ~~goddess, diva~~ engineer, why do I need to know the date? I’m certain it has more to do with my ADD than anything else. Anyway, like usual, I don’t have everything done I wanted to have done by now. This prompts the overwhelming monster and I begin to feel my shoulders hardening and rising to my ears. I begin to start the shame wheel and nothing good comes by doing that. So I took a deep breath and began to pray…

As I prayed I counted my blessings and thanked my Heavenly Father for each one. One by one I began to feel the tension and stress melt away. Most of my concerns are trivial in the grand scheme of things. Instead of the shame wheel and ‘bad me’ recording I was hearing before I prayed, God began to show me in my mind the things I have accomplished. He made me see the tasks I have done and know they do matter. On top of that, He made me feel as though I can accomplish what’s left on my list, if not today, in plenty of time before Christmas. Oh how grateful I am for His tender mercies. Nobody knows me like He does. Nobody understands what it’s like to be me besides my Savior and Creator.

Writing from my heart,

Filed Under: Crafts Bring Joy, Me Time Brings Joy, Other Emotions, Values Bring Joy