Valentine's hanging hearts decoration

  Hanging hearts decorations

 

I'll be hanging mine around our bed for Valentines day. I wanted to get a head start on it now so I wouldn't run out of time like usual. Ill update the blog with the pictures of them hanging when the day comes.

All you need is colored paper, scissors, string, tape!

Grab your colored paper. I made more red hearts than the white since its more about the red.

About 4-8 sheets of paper per color, depending on what color you want to stand out more, 

Then fold a sheet in four.

Cut the four squares.

 Fold 1 of the 4 cut squares & cut out the heart.

Ta-daa, and repeat until you have enough (maybe 50 hearts- I forgot to count)

Cut out all your colors & have different shapes.

 Tape the red string down & cut your line when they are about 3-4 ft long, depending on your ceiling height & how far down you want them to hang. 

 For now I pinned them on a hanger for hassle free storage until the big day! (I also had to hide them so Keith wouldn't see)

 Finished product!

Kristina's annual painting Christmas gift

 

I reused this painting I found and truthfully I didn't 

want to paint over this one but... I did anyways.

Kristina and I both like skulls and specially when they're featured in art so last year I painted her a shadowed skull (see the Paintings post) and this year we chose a Native American headdress skull. 

I drew the skull out.

Then painted it for a black background.

 I cut out the drawing to make it easier to trace onto the canvas.

After tracing I took about 2 months to paint it which for me isn't that bad. 

Snowflake wall ornaments from popsicle sticks

 

Hanging snowflake wall art from popsicle sticks.

All you need is popsicle sticks, hot glue, and paint. Super simple and easy to take up empty space that is just asking for some decorations. 

I chose gold since it looks classic.

 Hot glue your desired design. It took 1 package of popsicle sticks (100 ct) for 2 large ornaments. 

 Paint it gold!

 Before the paint & after.

 

Our tree is half decorated here since we're taking it down very slowly this year...

Now I just don't know how I will store these without breaking them before the next year.

Hanging ornament decorations

 

It's super simple and easy to make. I wanted to add some type of decoration around the house that made it more "Christmas-ie" and for it to not cost hardly anything.

I bought Dollar Tree supplies:

• 1 small size ornament tube (15 ct)
• 1 large size ornament tube (7 ct)
• 1 pack of string (red,green & white)
• tape (already had)

Just tie the string & cut it at different links and tape the piece up wherever you feel needs attention. I put up the decorations in our hallway and on our windows (not pictured).

Outside our door in our hallway

DIY Tombstones

 This Halloween I wanted to have a mass grave site in our

front yard and we already had a few (6) but 

it was not enough to get the look that I was going for.

And as everyone knows I'd rather not spend a lot

of money so I thought why not make my own.

I found a pin on Pinterest where the site used Styrofoam

from a hardware store and then they used their fancy

cutting machine to cut out the shapes and engrave 

the tombstone sayings.
Well I bought a Dollar Tree saw and it fell apart the second
I started cutting so DON'T DO IT!

Supplies:

• 6 pack insulation foam ($10) - makes 12
• Gallon of light gray paint ($10) - only used 1/3 so I suggest a smaller size
• Box cutter
• Black acrylic paint
• Large & small paint brushes
• Black & white spray paint for effect (optional) ($.98 each)
• Plastic throw away gloves
• Paint sticks or wire hangers to stake in the ground

First outline the design with a marker to where 2 designs fit on 1 board

Second cut out the design with a box cutter which is really easy.
The picture shows the saw that broke after a couple of moves
I then rubbed off the access Styrofoam (there will be a
big mess so do this outside!)

On some of them I etched out the saying,
I sprayed painted the words in black which was a big
no-no, I guess something in the spray paint melts
the Styrofoam but regular wall paint & acrylic paint is fine

After all the boards are cut out I painted the front and sides gray
and then let them dry for a day and painted the backs.
A second layer was not needed and I only used 1/3 of
the can & we'll be able to use the another time. 

I wanted to make some of the tombstones look older so I
used a spackle/spray method (I don't know the official name) where
you put your finger almost covering the paint spray hole (use the
plastic glove for this) and then shook the can 5 or so inches away from
the tombstone. This creates little dots which gives it an older look.
I uses both white and black for this.
Also I sprayed the black 8 inches away from some of them
to give it a darker gray look.

I googled some stupid/spooky/funny tombstone sayings
and painted it on with acrylic paint.
Some tombstones I made a drippy look with
watered down black paint.

After everything was dry I used both paint sticks & wire hangers
as spikes to secure them in the ground.
The paint sticks I tried to stick half way into the
Styrofoam (did not work) and also tried hot gluing the
paint sticks on the back (does not stick to paint).
The best method is taking apart a wire hanger and cutting
it into 4 pieces. I stuck 2 pieces into each tombstone so
it would be more stable.

So far they are sticking up!