I’ve been crafting up craftaliscious storm, my friends. This week I’ve finished up 3 projects that I will be sharing with you for She’s Crafty in the upcoming weeks.

Today, I am sharing a decoupaged wall plaque that I made using some wallpaper scraps Mr. Indie Fixx bought me  from Freshly Blended (Blog) and some of the lovely wallpaper from Smock (Etsy Shop).

If you sell crafty supplies and want to get in on the action, send me an email.

Materials:

1. Decorative papers and/or wallpapers like the ones I used from Freshly Blended & Smock.
2. Mod Podge
3. Paintbrush
4. Ready made plague from the craft store
5. Scissors
6. Blade cutter
7. Ribbon
8. Pencil
9. Ruler
10. 2 thumbtacks—the ‘flat’ kind
11. Acrylic paint  (optional)

How-to

• Trace the outline of the wall plague onto your background paper.
• Use a paintbrush to apply the Mod Podge in a thing layer to the back of the background and then affix it to the plague. Make sure to stick it on good. You don’t want it to bubble.
• Wait about 15 minutes for it to dry and then use the razor cutter to trim the paper edges where is overlaps the plague….that is if you didn’t do a good job tracing it like me.
• Apply Mod Podge to the  front and make sure to overlap it onto the plague to help it stick. If you have never used  Mod Podge, it does dry clear.
• Repeat the Mod Podge application with your detail papers. Making sure to dry in between steps or it may rip the paper.
• Cut a length of ribbon after determining how much ribbon you want to show. Include an extra inch of ribbon when measuring.
• Fold the ribbon ends over onto itself about 1/8″ at least 3 times.
• Measure where to place the thumbtacks, you want them to be even from the ends of the plague. Stick the thumbtack through the ribbon end and stick it all the way into the wood. Do the other side and you are done.
• I plan on painting the frame black, but I didn’t have any black acrylic paint…I will get around to it at some point.

Here are some of the gift wraps that are available from Smock (Etsy Shop). It’s sustainably offset printed on 100% post-consumer recycled heavyweight paper.  You get 2 sheets sized 24″ x 36″ for $8. They are double-sided too!

$2 wallpaper scrap packs from  Freshly Blended and all the proceeds are donated to the SPCA!

I am starting a new feature today that I am pretty excited about called She’s Crafty!  I’m going to be sharing crafty projects that I complete using goods and books from indie sellers and publishers. If you are like me, then sometimes you need a little kick in the pants to try a new craft or a little inspiration to figure out what to do with it. This feature is my kick in the pants and hopefully the inspiration you need to try some new things.

Not everything I share will be ‘perfect’, but that’s the beauty of this feature. I am not ‘Martha’ and neither are you (at least I don’t think she reads this blog…), but we can still have fun even if everythign turns out a mess. No pain, no fun…or something like that.

I have a lot of really cool projects lined up and will be showcasing some fabric, paper, stamps, encaustic painting and more. Plus, lots and lots of crafty books. If you sell crafty supplies and want to get in on the action, send me an email.

So, to kick this whole thing off I’m sharing a mobile that I made using some gift wrap from feterie (also here). I’ve featured feterie’s wrap before, so I jumped at the chance to play.

And here’s what I came up with! A Pretty Butterfly Mobile!

I made it using materials that I had around the house and feterie’s pretty wrap in the Poppy Fleur & Grape Vendome patterns.  It’s hand screenprinted giftwrap and at $8 for two 19″ x 25″ sheet, it’s a steal too!

Materials

1. Pretty paper like the gift wrap from feterie. Use you can use scraps or about 2 8.5 x 11 sheets.
2.  2 sheets of cardstock
3. Adhesive spray
4. Scissors
5. Ribbon
6. Beads, stones, shells, crystals or some other type of weight.
7. Clear beading wire, fishing line or something lightweight, thin, flexible and almost invisible. Cut into three lengths approx 2 feet long.
8. Dowel or stick, cut to approx 16″
9. 1/16″ Hole punch
10. Butterfly template (see below)
11. Ruler
12. Pencil

How-to

1. Get your stuff together. Print out my butterfly template here (please only use this template for personal use).

2. Use the spray adhesive to bond your pretty paper to the cradstock. You will want to use the spray adhesive outside, so it won’t get all over your nice stuff. I used a ruler to smooth out any bubbles. You can choose to cover both sides of the cardstock or just one. I had enough paper for only one side.

3. Once your paper has dried, turn it over and trace the template. To make a mobile like mine you will need at least 10 butterflies—4 for the middle and 3 for the two sides.

4. Cut ‘em all out and look at all your pretty butterflies!

5. Use the 1/16′ hole punch to punch 2 holes in the middle along the thorax of each butterfly.

6. Tie your beads (or other weights) to the bottom of your beading wire lengths. Then thread on a butterfly—see the picture above to see how I did it. Tie a big knot where you want it to hang. I only tied a knot on the bottom and the butterfly ’sits’ on it.

7. Repeat step 6 until you have all your butterflies and weights on all three lengths of wire. I just eyeballed the placement I wanted (I was going for a haphazard random butterfly effect), but if you want a more symmetrical  placement, you can measure it out.

8. Tie your wires to your stick or dowel. Now you are ready to hang it. Cut a length of ribbon to achieve your desired hanging height (my ribbon was approx 2 feet), tie it to the ends and trim. Voila!

butterflyemplate_mobile.pdf

Here’s a selection of some gift wrap from feterie that you can use for this project or some other crafty activity. I know I have some ideas swirling around my head!

For Tutorial Tuesday….Someone over at the Etsy Metal blog put together a really detailed tutorial for metal etching on copper and brass that some of you more adventurous types might like to try. Note of caution though…read all the labels and follow good safety practices….it’s not like coloring with your crayons!

Etsy Metal is a collaboration of metal artists over at Etsy. You can visit the Etsy Metal Shop here and see a list of all the members on the Etsy Metal Blog.

Etching Brass and Copper Tutorial from Etsy Metal.

Tamar from Nest Pretty Things (Etsy Shop) sent me a little note about this duvet cover she made and I thought it would be pearfecto to share for Home Week. I always have odd sheets around the house and never know what to use them for, except as ground cover for picnics and at the beach. This looks super easy too and I really like the idea of mixing to different patterns.

You can read how to make your own duvet cover from flat sheets here on Tamar’s blog.

I love the recent popularity of terrariums. I have seen them on flickr, on people’s blogs and even for sale on Etsy. I really like the moss ones best and I’m even thinking about making my own after we get the garden all planted (I have enough plants to take care of just now). I went looking for some how-to’s on how to make them and discovered, it’s actually pretty easy. I found this video tutorial from eHow that really breaks it down and here’s a few completed terrariums to inspire you!

1. spunoutcreations on flickr ~~ 2. Whimsy Love  ~~  3. Bumble Belly ~~ 4. Whimsy Love ~~ 5. noddyboom 

For today’s edition of Tutorial Tuesday I have a tutorial round-up for you. I haven’t shared any tutorials with you for a while and I have quite a backlog of share-worthy ones.

1. This Sweet Knitted Bunny pattern from Rebecca Danger is certainly timely. Via Whip Up.

2. As is this tutorial for Cherry Blossom Embellishments from Keyka Lou!

3. Love this Fat Quarter Tote Bag from Michelle of Cicada Studio and available in Yasmin’s (A Print A Day) new magazine called Parasol.

Vicki Shields of Three Wheels Design shares a fun little spring craft suitable for both big and little folks. These little nests would look just lovely as a centerpiece on your table. You could even line them with tissue or parchment paper and use them to hold your dyed eggs or jelly beans. 

by guest contributor Vicki Shields of Three Wheels Design

Spring is the season of renewal, and what better way to beckon it than with these lovely little eco-friendly bird nests? It’s a perfect craft for hands big and small.

Materials:

Paper grocery bag
Small twigs and blades of grass (a few large handfuls)
White glue (1T)
Water (1T)
Scissors
Small bowl
Cotton balls (optional)
Instructions:

Cut two circles just a bit larger than your bowl. Paint the inside of each circle with a mixture of water and glue (50:50 is perfect). Put the sticky sides of the circles together and while still wet, place them into the bowl and press into place.

Press your clippings into the bowl, adding glue if necessary. You may want to cut some of the thicker twigs into smaller pieces to make them more manageable (especially if little hands are helping). When the glue has dried (wait at least an hour), remove the nests from the bowl.

For the finished product, add painted eggs, little felted chicks (like these from Bossy’s Feltworks), or simply wet some cotton balls and shape them into small eggs (as pictured).

Display your petite nests in small groups for a spring centerpiece, at individual place settings for an Easter brunch, or on the window ledge to help welcome spring.

About the contributor: Vicki Shields is the owner of Three Wheels Design and mother of two based in Baltimore. An inveterate doodler and crafty mama, she writes about motherhood, craftiness, and her paper and design business at her blog, Three Wheels Turning.

Today for Tutorial Tuesday I’m not really sharing a tutorial, but more like inspiration.

Shari Bonnin of Bonnin Designs got tired of her family being late, so she made an oversized clock in the kitchen over her breakfast nook. She found the battery operated hands at Target on clearance for $5 and found the numbers at Anthropologie. I love it.

I found some hands and other clock parts at Joannes and Amazon.  And, you could make your own numbers, check the craft stores or head on over to Etsy for wooden, vinyl or die-cut numbers.