Hey Silver Horse Head!

My husband is still very close with 4 of his best friends from high school and keeps in touch with all of them on a regular basis.  Three of them live within 2 hours of us so we see them often. About 8 years ago, they started having a Christmas dinner get-together every year. Sometimes it's at someone's house, sometimes at a restaurant, but it's always a good time! And it's more fun each year as spouses and children enter the picture.

Somewhere along the way, we started a $5 white elephant gift exchange.  It always makes for an entertaining time!  And several years ago, this lovely horse head entered the exchange...

Awesome right? Um, no, not really...

He's been one of those gifts that gets passed around every year.  (He was lost in one person's garage for a few years, making his next appearance that much more special.) The friends have had to get creative in how he is packaged so the recipient receives him unknowingly. 

Well, we acquired him in 2010 when we opened a paper certificate "Entitling the Bearer to One Horse Head".  Great.

He lived on the mantle for a while before my husband moved him to the back corner of the basement. Ha! I thought he should hide among the herbs in the garden but he never made it out there.

When preparing for the annual dinner this year, I decided he needed a new image.  (Honestly, I had too much fun spray painting my earring holder frames and was searching for something else I could spray paint.) 

So now we have Silver Horse Head!

Makes him a little fancy, no?

We needed a really creative way to re-gift this guy.  

Enter Flip Cam and iMovie.  

Until next year, Silver Horse Head.

Earring Frame

Making a pretty place to display my earrings was one of those things that had been on my never ending crafty to-do list FOREVER but I never got around to it.  Then I decided to make one for my sister for Christmas and finally got around to it. When I saw two of these lovely fox hunt pictures at Salvation Army for $1.99 each, (minus 50% for yellow tags that day) I snatched them.  

Another stop at Home Depot for silver spray paint and 36 in. x 84 in. Charcoal Fiberglass Screen and I was ready to go!  

I know it's probably hard to believe, but those dapper horsemen came out of the frames pretty easily.  A little sanding and 2 coats of silver spray paint covered the woodsman-ness and make them much more sleek.  

I had quite a lot of fun with the staple gun and the screen.  I was happy to have two frames to complete so I could perfect my skill with the second one.  My sister received the neater of the two, of course.

I already had picture hangers on hand so I attached those and was ready to hang up some earrings!

I love having my earrings out so I can see what I have and actually wear them!

Money breakdown:

- 2 Salvation Army Frames: $1.99

- Rusolium Silver Spray Paint: $4.24

- 36" x 86" Screening: $6.48/roll  (TONS left over)

- Picture hangers: already had

- Staple gun: already had

Final Price for 2 Earring holders: way cheaper and more meaningful than buying one.

Now to figure out what to do with the 70 + inches of screening I have left....

Fabric Surprise Gift

I have a friend.  I met her when she married my husband's best friend.  And she's just lovely! Not only is she one of the kindest, most thoughtful people I've ever met, she's crafty! And loves to cook and take care of her man!

I think we were meant to be best friends.

Only problem is, we live about 650 miles apart.

Bummer.

Anyway...

She sent me the nicest homemade gift for Christmas and I wanted to send her a little thank you gift.  So I raided my fabric stash and picked out some fabric pieces left over from various projects.  Folded them up, stacked them in a pretty rainbow order and tied with about a yard of sweet ribbon.

I love the idea of past projects coming alive in a new way in the hands of someone else.

Quick and easy gift for a crafty friend.

Gift Idea: Embroidered Love Note

Inspiration: Our 4th wedding anniversary.

We don't usually do much for presents on our anniversary but since it's in the summer and I had lots of time to do projects, I tried my hand at embroidering a love note to my husband.

 Decide on the text (in this case lyrics from a Dave Matthews/Santana song - my husband is HUGE DMB fan!) and figure out how you want it to look. 

(Like my music scrap paper?)

I liked this best...

I went over it in sharpie so I could see it through the fabric.

I traced the lettering onto the fabric with pencil (forgot a picture of this step), and embroidered it all in the embroidery hoop - maybe not necessary but it sure helped.

The color change was initiated by the fact that I didn't have as much blue thread as I thought, but I think I subconsciously had this planned all along... 

The frame was one of those unfinished wood frames from Ikea that got some Mod Podge and some of my beloved red fabric.

I 'purposefully' left some wrinkles so it looks like love note on paper that's been carried around for a long time.

Go 'write' a love note!

Gift Idea: Embroidered Map

Inspiration #1:

Source: ohsobeautifulpaper.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Inspiration #2:  My brother-in-law and his new fiancee recently moved cross country from Boston, MA to Portland, OR.  

They met and fell in love in Boston and were both pretty sad to leave.  But when you win a job with the Oregon Symphony (Go Matt!) you do what you have to do!  

Inspired by their new found love of the North West, I made this Pinterest inspired house-warming gift:

1.  Buy cheap frames from Good Will - yup, that's $.75 each.  

(Insert your own sarcastic comment about the current "art" in the frames.)

I originally thought I might use both and hinge them together but changed my mind...

us crafters do that a lot don't we?

2. Raid our map box and go to AAA for some free maps.

3. Find the cities and decide which ones to use.

4. Iron out those creases.

5. Draw the heart they left in Boston....awww

6. Find some red embroidery thread and embroidery needle.

7.  Tape the tail to the back of the map (I'm sure you could imagine this without a picture but here's to being thorough.)

8. Use a running stitch around the heart.

Awww

9. Repeat with Portland

10. Figure out the placement...

I liked them staggered...

11.  Tape together them trace to fit the frame.

12.  Connect their old love with their new love.  (Are you gagging from the 'lovey-dovey-ness' yet?)

13.  Bind those two coasts a little more tightly...

14.  Drink in the sappiness of what you just made...

15.  Paint the frame and send!

Embroidering paper was a lot more fun than I imagined, but there's definitely no room for mistakes! (I honestly was dreading having to go back to AAA for another map because I put my needle through the paper in the wrong place.)

Go embroider some paper!

Giraffe Toy

This was part of my gift to a friend who is having her first baby soon.  

I was inspired by Make It and Love It.

I free-handed the giraffe (was worried it would look like a dinosaur), found some matching ribbon and used a fleece scarf for the back.  Nice and fuzzy for baby to touch.

I made the tail smaller than the tutorial and tied a knot.

Pair it with the other gifts (bib and burp cloth and crib sheet) and all ready for the baby shower!

Bib and Burp Cloth

I was so excited to make baby shower gifts for my friend! 

I had soooo many ideas, it took me a while to realize that I couldn't make them all. 

These are two of the ones I choose.

Sweet little bib for a sweet new baby.

I'm in love with pearl snaps!  I just had to add one!

The lining is pretty plain. 

I was really excited (maybe too excited) when I found white terry cloth at Hobby Lobby! 

(Maybe I've just never looked hard enough for stuff like that.)

So a matching burp cloth was in order!

I'm really happy with how it turned out!

These are great projects for using up scraps!

Tied up nice and ready to be gifted!

This is definitely a project I'll be making more of!