Continue reading »]]> Last week Crafty Endeavor’s Facebook page reached 1000 “Likes”. In celebration I decided it’s time to announce something HUGE!

I’m not sure if I would call it “huge” for the blog.

Or maybe it is.

It’s definitely huge for me!

Are you ready?

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I’M GETTING MARRIED!!!!!! to the most wonderful man in the world!

I will definitely be blogging about Mathew and I’s story and wedding plans, so stay tuned for that!

Here’s a few pictures the handsome fellow and I took yesterday. We wanted to see how well we could take pictures of ourselves using a tripod and a shutter remote.  I think we’ll have to hire someone who’s a little more professional to take our actual engagements.

Why yes, that is a rainbow coming out my bottom. HAHAHA.

I can’t wait to tell you about all of our wedding plans. I think I have finally settled on some colors. We’ve picked a location. And my mother is making the dress (I can’t wait to show you the fabric!!!!).

Continue reading »]]> Hey everyone, I finally did something thats blog worthy!   It’s so hard to get anything done with a full time job and a very very addicting boyfriend.  I was finally able to get a craft done, since it was with my boyfriend, Mathew.

Mathew’s aunt threw a little party earlier this month where we made “gingerbread” houses. None of us actually used gingerbread, we used wafer cookies.  Mathew and I decided to make a log cabin and stuck large pretzel sticks to the outside of our wafer cookie construction to look like logs.   The roof was out of graham crackers, and the shingles were made with 6 packs of Doublemint gum, the sticks of gum being cut into thirds (except along the top, those are cut in half).  Mathew had the genius idea of using battery operated micro LED lights. We first saw these lights at Walmart while looking for christmas lights for our apartments. We thought they were strange looking little lights and didn’t know what a person would use them for, however when we were brain storming for ideas for our “gingerbread” house Mathew instantly thought of them, and we LOVE them!!

The lights were a little too spread out, so we twisted the wire in-between each light. It actually worked out better that way since the twisted wire gave us something to attach to the house. We put the twisted wire in-between the roof and the shingles. Without the twisted wire, I don’t know how we would have attached the lights!

We also put in a flickering LED light inside the house by cutting a hole in the bottom to insert the light. It looks like there’s a little fireplace lit in there! All that’s missing is a chimney…

We also put a little fire pit out front, and stuck little “coals” on the base of the LED light. The “coals” are actually gum, made to look like coals.

And we used candy chocolate rocks to make a little path, and to make the fire pit.

We made a little marshmallow snowman. He has an orange sprinkle as a nose, and I drew on his eyes, buttons, and scarf with a edible ink pens.

We covered the whole thing in cotton candy snow.

And here’s a picture of me sitting proudly by my creation. We couldn’t be more pleased with how it turned out! Can you believe this is my first gingerbread house?

I had a deprived childhood.

When we went back to Walmart to find the micro lights, we had to stop by a couple of Walmarts. It seems not all Walmarts carry them.

I tried to find them on Walmart’s website so all of you could buy them if you wanted to, but I was unable to find them. I did find the white version on Amazon, though!  These are the exact same brand that we used and have the same number of lights, they’re just white. It looks like they have other colors too! (except multi color).  I love that they have 3 different settings (Flashing, Phasing, and Steady On). Also, if you leave them on they will turn off in 6 hours and then turn back on automatically in 18 hours, the same time you turned them on the day before. Cool, right!?

Continue reading »]]> Hi everyone! I’m sorry i’ve been completely absent lately.  I do plan on getting more projects done and will blog about them… I just don’t know when that will be. Between my full time job and my incredibly handsome boyfriend, I have no time to craft!    Luckily, to lessen the silence of my blog, my cousin Laura thought of a really neat advent calender idea and wanted to do a guest post. Take it away Laura!…

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I hate Advent Calendars.

I was talking to a friend one day about searching through pinterest trying to find an advent calendar that would accommodate three kids, was interesting at three different age levels, and possibly not have “sugar high right before bed” written all over it.

Impossible I tell you.

She mentioned she was trying to find a way to make Hannukah less about doling out the goods, and more about giving back each night.
Then a light bulb went off. The Advent shouldn’t be about getting a gift; after all the whole idea of an Advent is the anticipation and preparation of celebrating Christ’s birth. The preparation word is what sold me. In other words it should be more about displaying Christlike attributes of spreading kindness and loving one another.

Typically I spend the month trying to threaten my kids into goodness (Santa might put you on the naughty list! The elf is going to report that, if you don’t stop it immediately!).

Now I’m a crafty sort of person, but I really didn’t want to put a whole lot of effort into this. I mean seriously, I have enough on my plate this month.

I started writing down every easy service project idea I could think of. My kids love making paper chains to countdown events, so the service chain came from meshing the two together. I pulled ideas from everywhere and everyone. Things my three kids could do that were simple, but thoughtful for others. Most importantly, things they could do that didn’t require (too much) help. I typed them unto my computer and printed them out on pretty holiday appropriate paper. Cut each idea into a strip, linked the ends together with glue dots (but feel free to use regular old white glue), and voila! an advent calendar fit for the season.

I’m including my list for your own inspiration. The Advent countdown traditionally starts the first Sunday of the month.
Thank you Alissa for having me, and happy crafting!

Thank the mailman (include a giftcar/gift)
Cookies for the firefighters
Leave change in the vending machine
Donate toys to the Goodwill/Salvation Army/DI
Donate a can to the food pantry
Thank you notes to Primary teachers/Leaders
Collect all the shopping carts at the store and bring them to the front
Write a note to each cousin
Diapers and wipes on a changing table in a public restroom
Do a neighborhood (or School) trash walk
Hug each member of your family
Open the door for someone today
Let’s make an unexpected playdate to watch somone’s children (I wrote this one twice, there’s a lot of shopping Mom’s need to do on their own!)
Wish list items for the Humane Society
Write a letter to Grandma/Grandpa
Letters to missionaries
Letters to recovering Servicemen at Walter Reed (another idea I wrote twice because we also have servicemen who are on active duty we want to send letters)
Make someones bed for them
Read with a sibling
Doorbell ditch a treat
Smile at three people today
A thank you card to your school teacher
Leave collected couch change in the Bell Ringers bucket (bonus for me- to deep clean the living room)
My very last idea may not sit well with everyone, but it’s the way our family put’s Christ back into Christmas. The last link on the chain will ask my children to give up one of their Christmas gifts to give to someone outside the family. We will doorbell ditch them Christmas afternoon. (Mommy and Daddy also participate, but we will have selected things ahead of time that the family actually needs)

I am the Mother of three rambunctious kids, wife to an even more rambunctious husband, and author of the novel Founder- which can be found at this link.
http://www.amazon.com/Founder-ebook/dp/B0053DU8KQ/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1354478602&sr=8-3

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Thanks Laura!

Isn’t that a great idea!? What a neat way to teach your children the true meaning of Christmas.

Continue reading »]]> Hello everyone!

Did you miss me?

Or perhaps you forgot I even existed? That’s okay, I forgive you.  It’s easy to do with how little I’ve been posting lately.

I just wanted to share some fun thrift store finds with you. I’ll be giving my nephews’ room a make over and I decided to do the fun part first which would be shopping for random junk to put in the room!

I wasn’t exactly sure of where I wanted to go with this room, but I had a few ideas. My shopping trip helped me create a vision of what I need to do to the room. I’m going to call it “vintage industrial”. My mom and I went to Every. Single. DI in the Salt Lake valley (DI, or Deseret Industries, is Utah’s version of Good Will). There’s 8 of them. And we bought something at each store.   Take a look at some of the goodies I scored!

I’ll apologize in advance for the bad cell phone pictures, and the fact that I didn’t get pictures of everything.

This store had a stack of some pretty sweet vintage school chairs, and they’re nice and sturdy! I wanted both yellow and orange chairs, but there’s only two nephews and only so much space, so I went with two matching yellow chairs. I also found a vintage rocking horse! I don’t think I’ll paint over this baby, all she needs is a clean up and a new handle bar and a rein.

Chairs: $3 each

Rocking Horse: $6

One of the chairs had an unfortunate accident. A leg hid the door as we were walking out of the store, causing a foot to pop off.  Luckily my dad is a handyman and fixed it as good as new after a little surgery.

I thought this was a great find for a metal/industrial room. I also bought a little metal shopping cart which has a similar whimsical feel.

Metal bug of some sort: $0.50

Small Metal Shopping Cart: $1

I’m probably the most excited for this one. I’m not entirely sure what it is, but my parents both think it’s a bingo cage thingy. It’s basically a cage that splits in two and snaps back together. I plan on turning this baby into a light fixture! awww yeah!

Bingo Cage: $1

This was my first purchase of the day, and it set the mood for the entire trip. When I first saw it I ran to get my mom so she could see “the creepy horse”… but the more I looked at it the more I loved it. And then I bought it. I think it has a ton of character, and it goes great with the rocking horse! Hopefully it wont give the children nightmares.

Creepy Horse: $7

I actually bought two rocking horses. I bought the smaller one with the blue rockers before I found the white one with the pretty paint job, which I like a lot more. So now theres two. I’m not sure if I’m going to sell the smaller one or keep it. There are two nephews, so they could each have their own.. but I’m not sure if I can get them to match, my original plan was to paint the smaller one a bright solid color. And again, I only have so much room to work with. I’ll keep you updated on the horse situation!

Smaller Rocking Horse: $5

I bought several metal baskets. Three of them look just like the basket pictured, and then I have a square basket with a handle. I plan on filling them with balls. I bought some old golf balls which will look great in this basket.

Baskets: $1.50 each

Bag of golf balls: $5

I bought some vintage billiard balls to put in this basket. If the holes are too big then i’ll get some old baseballs or softballs.

Basket: $1

Vintage Billiard Balls: $12 for a full set.

I bought two of these things. I’d like to turn them into wall sconces. The boys will have a bunk bed, and I’d like to have one of these lights by each bed for a reading lamp. I’m not sure how well this idea will play out, but I’m really hoping  it’ll happen!

Wall Sconces: $1.50 for the pair

And that is it.

Are you starting to get the “vintage industrial” feel I’m going for? I am! Seeing all this junk together just makes me happy. I’ll be even happier once they’re all in their rightful places in my nephews’ room!

Continue reading »]]> I’ve been wanting to try metal stamping for awhile.  And my Birthday Calendar doesn’t count. The birthday calendar was a bit of a fail, at least the metal stamping part was. This was probably because I used a piece of wood to stamp on top of instead of a steel bench block.

I know better now.

It took me awhile to finally try stamping again after the Birthday Calendar, but after watching THIS Youtube video I gained some more confidence and bought myself a steel bench block, the only thing I was missing.

And boy am I glad I decided to try again!

I have been coveting this necklace for at least a couple of years now. I first saw it on one of my favorite blogs, Nienie Dialogues, and have wanted one ever since. You can find Nienie’s necklace at THIS Etsy store.

Instead of buying the necklace, I decided to make it! The idea first came into my mind when I found the metal stamping set for my Birthday Calendar. I justified buying the stamping set because I would make pretty jewelry, especially an “all is well” necklace.  Well, several months later I finally decided to do it!

What you’ll need:

-Hammer (a regular one will do)

-Metal Stamp Set ($10-$20)

-Steel Bench Block ($12)

-Stamping Blanks or “Round Bail Plates” ($2.50 for 4 peices)

-Steel Wool

-Permanent Marker

-Panter’s Tape or Masking Tape

-A pad or towel of some sort

I added the regular prices for the items I recently purchased from Hobby Lobby. Make sure you go with a 40% off one item coupon if you buy your supplies from there! They ALWAYS have a coupon on their website.  You can also pull up the coupon from their website on your smart phone and they’ll give you the 40% off that way.

Here’s the basic run down of how to metal stamp:

All you do is set the steel block onto a folded towel or a pad. This protects your table.

Then tape down your stamping blank to the steel block. Line the tape up straight, you’re going to use it as a guide so your letters will be straight.

Then grab your letter and place it on the blank, lining it up to the tape. Make sure it’s facing in the right direction. Also make sure that the stamp is perpendicular to the metal and isn’t on an angle.

Then grab your hammer and firmly whack the letter. Just once! Whacking it more than once is a dangerous game.

After you’ve stamped all the letters trace over the letters with a sharpie, or other permanent marker, making sure the indents have ink in them.

Once they’ve been inked, buff off the ink with some steel wool, working in circular motions.

And you’re done!

I tried it twice, just to see if my second would be better than my first. They were both slightly imperfect, but that’s okay because I actually like the imperfectness of it.

I forgot to buy a chain, but I found a little owl necklace in my jewelry stash with a chain that would go okay with the pendant. I bought the necklace at Forever 21 for about $2 last summer and never wore it, it still had the tag on it until today!  At first I tried to take off the owl, but both ends of the chain had thingies that made removing it impossible, so I just slid the pendant onto the chain with the owl. I love how it turned out! I think it actually looks much much better with the owl!  I love happy accidents.

I’m pretty happy about how these turned out, and I’m excited that I finally have the tools to make lots of stamped pendants!  You might see some more metal stamped pendants on this blog, I’ve got several blanks of all different shapes and sizes and colors just begging to be used.

How about you. Have you ever tried metal stamping, or had any happy accidents lately? Let me know!

PS- Did you notice that “all is well” is also written on my bathroom wall? I fell in love with the saying after I saw the necklace on NieNie and decided to put it on my wall, but the wall quote just wasn’t the same as the necklace!

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Good evening! (or afternoon, or morning). I just finished up this fun little project today and thought I’d share it with you, since I love it so much.  I’ve been wanting to do this project for awhile now. I finally ordered a clear cell phone case from Amazon.com the other day, and today it arrived! I headed right on over to the craft store and picked out some scrapbook paper. As you can see, I went overboard. I don’t usually get the chance to buy any of the beautiful papers I drool over, since I don’t scrapbook, so this was the perfect excuse to buy lots of pretty paper.

If it’s not self explanatory enough, basically all you do is trace around your cell phone on some scrapbook paper. Cut it out. And then cut out a hole for the camera and flash. I used the clear cell phone case to help me determine where to put those holes, since there is a hole in the case for the camera and flash. To do this I laid the clear case on the cut out cell phone shape and traced around the hole. I cut the holes out with a round hole punch, I just punched around the traced area until all the area was all punched out. You could probably cut the hole out with an exacto knife as well.  Once I got a good pattern cut out, I used it as a template for the other covers.

Once they’re all cut out you just pick which ever pattern you feel like, stick it in the case, and snap it onto your phone. It stays in nice and tight, and the case keeps it in place so you don’t have to worry about it slipping around or falling out.  I freakin’ LOVE this! Now I can customize my case to match any outfit, mood, or holiday! And it’s so easy and inexpensive too!

Check out what my phone will be wearing for the Independence Day,  lovely chevron stripes and stars. It will definitely be the best looking phone at the family barbeque (if we have a family barbeque this year).

I have an iPhone, as I mentioned earlier, and I don’t know if this technique will work for other phones. If you know of another type of phone this technique will work for please let us know in the comments!

UPDATE: I’ve had a lot of people ask where I bought the case. I bought it off Amazon.com. Here is a link to the exact case I purchased. So far I’m pretty happy with it!

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I did a quick project today, and I LOVE it!! Here’s a little fact about myself, I’m obsessed with owls. I have way too many owl necklaces, and own other random owl things. So of course I bought this ceramic owl bank when I spotted it at the thrift store. I felt like the shape was nice enough that it would look fabulous with just a solid color of spray paint. I decided to go with glossy white after considering doing a beautiful bright color such as yellow or turquoise, but since my room hasn’t taken up much of a color scheme yet I decided to go with classic white.  This owl will probably take on many coats of colorful paint in the future, but for now he is looking mighty chic in white. Love it!

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See this super awesome plaque? I saw it at the thrift store last summer and just HAD to get it. It cost me a whole $1

It was just screaming my name. Not because of the *ahem* perfect saying, but because it had a nice workable shape, it was cheap, AND it already had a thingy on the back to hang it up. Score!

It took me almost a year to do something with it, I was just waiting for the prefect project. I finally found what I was looking for when my friend Christine from Christiney’s Crafts blogged about her Family Birthday Chart.  I decided to put mine together a little differently, Christine uses wood disks instead of stamped metal bottle caps, you should head on over to her blog to see how hers was done.

The first thing I did was wipe down my board and then painted it. I completely skipped sanding and priming, because that’s how I roll. Sanding and priming probably wasn’t all that important in my case since it was already painted… right? It also wont be getting handled very much since it’ll be hanging on the wall, so the paint should stay in good condition.

After the paint dried I cut out some vinyl words with my Silhouette cutting machine and stuck them on the plaque. If you don’t have access to a cutting machine you could hand paint your words. I saw THIS idea on Pinterest for getting the perfect hand painted lettering in any font, I haven’t tried it, but it looks like an easy way to get great results.

Once my board was all set, I moved onto the bottle caps. I punched out some holes in my “flattened bottle caps” with a metal hole puncher. I found these bottle caps at a little craft shop called Pebbles in My Pocket. It’s the only place I’ve ever seen “flattened bottle caps”, but then again I haven’t really looked for them at other craft stores either.  I  bought the metal hole punch at Hobby Lobby, it was the last one (I guess it was my lucky day). If you ever shop at Hobby Lobby make sure you bring a coupon! they ALWAYS have 40% off coupons online.

At first I was thinking I could just nail some holes into the bottle caps, but I decided to splurge on the metal hole puncher. The hole puncher did an awesome job, it went through the metal like butter and made a perfect hole. I doubt a nail hole could even compare.

At this point you could write down your names and birthdays with paint markers right there on the metal disks.  I decided to be adventurous and try my hand at metal stamping. I’ve been wanting to try metal stamping for a while now and this was the perfect excuse to buy a metal stamping set. I found my stamp set at Hobby Lobby.

I kind of like the way they look all by themselves, maybe I should find a way to incorporate them into the decor somehow…

So, I sometimes have a problem where I look at something and think I perfectly understand how it’s done. That was my approach to metal stamping. Metal? check. Stamps? check. Hammer? check.

I put the bottle cap on a scrap piece of wood, placed my stamp, and hammered away. I probably did about 5-7 whacks per letter.  I thought they looked pretty good until I went online and saw how crisp and beautiful they were supposed to look.  How do you get beautiful crisp results? Place the metal on a smooth hard surface (not wood), you could even buy a special surface specifically made for metal stamping. After that you place the stamp and hammer it with ONE firm whack, and that’s it.  I still think mine look okay, they’re just not as good as they could be.

I stamped the name above the number of the day they were born.  The idea is to have each family member have their own disk with the number of the day of the month they were born on, that disk is then hung up under the month they were born in. Make sense?

After stamping you’ll want to make those letters pop, especially if don’t stamp correctly… like me. To make them pop, trace each letter with a fine tipped sharpie and immediately wipe it off with a paper towel. You’ll want to work quickly!

To put them together I used three jump rings between each bottle cap. I was going to use just one to hook together two of them, but then I realized that the ones I bought were way too small, so I used three. I found the jump rings at Hobby Lobby.

I had my dad drill some small holes in the bottom of the plaque.

And then I screwed in some small eye hooks which I found at Home Depot. After that, I attached my bottle cap chains to the eye hooks with more jump rings.

And that’s it!

I’m giving it to my mom as a Mother’s Day gift,  I just know she’ ll love it!… in fact she already says she does.

It’s hard to keep projects a secret from mom when you live with her.

Additional note: You could also use regular bottle caps or plain round metal disks. You might not want to use regular bottle caps if you are going to do metal stamping, but you could use paint marker to write your words.

Let me know if you make one, I’d love to hear about it!

Linked to: I Heart Naptime , Funky Junk Interiors, Sumo’s Sweet Stuff, Craft-O-Maniac, Three Mango Seeds, The Gunny Sack, Making the World Cuter, The Southern Institute, DIYHSH, mad in crafts, Tip Junkie, Not Just a Housewife, A Diamond in the Stuff, Sugar Bee Crafts , Today’s Creative Blog, Cherished Bliss

Continue reading »]]> Today I went craft store shopping to find some supplies for an upcoming project. I randomly decided to stop by a little scrap booking shop that I haven’t been to in over 10 years, Pebbles In My Pocket in Orem, UT, and boy am I glad I stopped in!

I felt like a kid in a candy store.

I’ve seriously been coveting colorful striped straws and bakers twine for a loooong time now… and there it was, at my finger tips!

Somehow I was able to stop myself from purchasing every color of straw, as well as a big spool of twine in every color.

Someday I WILL have a spool of twine in every color, of that I’m sure.

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Today my mom and I made this super cute and super easy skirt. There’s no pattern required for this one either. Here’s how we did it!
I started out with some supplies from my mom’s sewing room: Stretchy lace, thick elastic, lining (poly Inter-lock, which my mom didn’t have so I bought it), and thread.

My lining was 60″ wide (from selvage to selvage) and the lace was 45″ wide. You’ll want the stretch of the fabric to go from side to side instead of up and down, and the stretch of fabric goes from selvage to selvage.  60″ wide lining was the perfect size for my hips, but I needed the lace to be wider, so we cut a front and back piece.  We did this by using the 60″ lining as a guide, it was folded in half (selvages together) which made it a 30″ guide. We placed it on top of the lace, making sure the stretch was going in the correct direction, and cut the pieces 30 1/2″ wide. The extra 1/2″ is for a seam allowance.

So now we have one 60″ wide lining and two 30 1/2″  wide lace pieces.   You can make the length as long or short as you like. Mine was about 3/4 of a yard long.

Now you serge the two sides of the lace together. Make sure you have the outside pattern on the inside when you’re sewing it together, so when you turn it right side out… the right sides are out.  Also, if you don’t have a serger, just zig-zag stitch it or use an over cast stitch on your sewing machine.

Do the same with the lining, except you’ll just fold it in half and serge the one edge.

Here are the pieces all serged.  As you can see, the left side of the lining is folded and the right is serged.

And for the lace, both the left and right sides are serged.

Now turn them right side out and stick the lining inside the lace, then pin and baste stitch them together along the top.  Having the lining and lace basted together will make things easier when you sew them to the elastic.

Note: I’m using a size 11 Ball Needle for this part.  My mom taught me today how important it is to get an appropriate needle for your project, I’ll be writing another post about this topic soon.

Why should you care what my mom thinks about needles? because she taught herself to sew as a young girl and has learned a ton over the years. She has also worked as a manager of a fabric store for several years, and occasionally teaches sewing classes. She’s an expert.

Here it is sewn together.  Keep it right side out.

Now you wrap the elastic around your waist and determine how long it needs to be. After that, sew the ends together by laying one end on top of the other. Use an elastic stitch or a zig-zag stitch, and sew a couple of rows across it.  Then try it on and make sure it fits perfectly. I did not try it on… and mine is a little too big.

Note: I used a size 14 Stretch Needle. You need a thicker needle with the thick elastic.

Now fold the waist band into quarters and mark those folds with a white chalky pencil, found at fabric stores.

Do the same to the skirt, but mark it with a washable fabric marking pen (also found at fabric stores).

Now match the elastic markings with the skirt markings.

And sew them together. This was the hard part (at least for me it was). We actually added four more pins and pinned it together in 1/8ths (instead of 1/4ths) to make it easier.

What you’re gonna do is stretch it from pin to pin and sew a zig-zag or elastic stitch across it.  This was a little difficult for me, but I managed.

You can finish it off by serging the bottom of the lining and hemming the lace, which is what I was going to do until my mom broke out the lace trim.

After pinning a few different kinds of lace trim to the bottom, we decided this was the best. I then pinned and sewed it on.

And that’s it!

Another idea is to make the lining shorter than the lace. I was going to do this, but we decided the long lining looks better when there’s lace trim along the bottom.

PS- This lacy project inspired my mom to pull out another fold of lacy fabric… which she then pinned on me… and brainstormed how we were going to turn it into my wedding dress.

I’m not even divorced yet.

Linked to: The Shabby Nest, My Romantic Home, Fireflies and Jelly Beans, Thrifty Decorating, Craft Blog Hop, Seven Alive, Somewhat Simple, A Glimpse inside, Blissful and Domestic, Happy Hour Project, The Crafty Blog Stalker , Making Lemonade , Petals to Picots, Nap Time Crafters, Here Comes the Sun , Sassy Sites