Teaching and a great dollar idea

I came up with this idea a few months ago during a craft show. Found a dollar stack of cute styled playing cards for a buck at Michaels and went from there:

I punched a hole on one side of the card and tied a little string, or you can use ribbon inside of it.

On the other side, the design choices included this animal print.

I cut card stock and stamped TO and FROM and modged podged it on.

People at the fair LOVED them and if you think about the cost....52 cards for a dollar, you can sell them for real cheap and still get the cost back to you fast.

People at craft shows love a little area to rummage through and this was my caddy of epherma and magnets and gift tags that you can see our project in!

Teaching........I've been contemplating getting a second masters in teaching. An MTA, masters in teaching arts. I want to get a vocal pedagogy degree but those are hard to find in Georgia.

Early education is what I want to focus on.

Combining both my degree in music and a degree in education could propel me to be a great elementary music teacher I believe.

You think I should pursue an entire second masters or is there any easier path to become a certified teacher?







Jewelry box upcycled

I am on a roll with finding little boxes, even old chocolate boxes that I find at thrift stores and transform and clean into jewelry boxes.

What girl doesn't need a few more places to put all those earrings?

BEFORE:

This box had a big cutsey butterfly on it that I painted over with red.

It was under a dollar at the thrift store!

Then I started my collaging with pictures out of a french book that I have been cutting up that was $4

I added ribbon in purple to outside of the box to give it a little pop.

Some of the accents I used were a fleur de lis punch, a rip out from a French text, a stamp that looked like it is from a vintage post office stamp and some puff paint.



Here is close up of the vintage French movie poster I used to the top.

At the bottom of the jewelry box I added another effect of using a purple ink pad and lightly rubbing it all along the edge of the box.

I hope you like the project. I have been priming more jewelry boxes that are on it's way that I can't wait to share. If you like one don't hesitate to message me for how you can order!

Merci!

Singing on a blog

So I finally found a way to put my singing adventures on the web too!

Myspace of course!

Why hadn't I thought about that site I used to be on for hours a day when I was in middle school?

After a tip off from my boyfriend's band's own myspace page, I decided to become a musican on it too.

I don't have any videos of my quite yet that I can put on youtube and fasten in here but maybe I will start doing a vlog soon and add something in so we can get to know each other even better.

I hope you enjoy my singing from graduate school and my recitals on myspace. Leave a comment on the one you like best!



Just click one of the pictures and it will take you right to my new site.

To check out The Dirty Souls- my boyfriend's rocking band, just search their name after listening to my site.

Easy peasy.



Tea Party Project

Don't overlook the Christmas section at thrift stores. Even though the holidays are over....and boy do we see the results of that on our body sometimes....you can find great project starters right in the seasonal sections of stores!

Of course in January these items are on HUGE discount depending on the store.

I found a snowman box that was in an ivory color- my favorite neurtral tone for crafting!

I didn't even have to paint this piece, I simply used card stock and cut it in the rectangle shape to cover up the Christmas scene.

I used decorative scissors to get the wavy effect on the purple cardsotkc.

ALWAYS LAYER CARDSTOCK PAPERS! It gives it a nice depth and works just like matting a picture you own in a frame. Much classier look.

Next, a great effect that I highly reccomend in all my projects is coloring the edges of a project.

This time I chose purple ink from a stamp pad and as you can see I lighty ran and dabbed it all along the edges of the box.

I wripped out paper from a French novel for the sides of the box. Always rip each side of the paper to give it a fun addition for a vintage look. My favorite part is the Paris mailing stamp I bought in a pack of four from Michaels that I added in black ink to the corner.

I love collaging these things all together for an eye catching ending.

Now I'm going to add tea bags to the box and set it on the table when entertaining.

Christmas to vintage year round piece: CHECK!

Happy crafting!



 

Before and After

My projects this week are have to do with upcycling things I find in thrift stores. I even made it a point to buy things NOT over a dollar!

You can find these boxes easily at your local swap meet store and simply follow these instructions to make them all beautiful vintage looking piece.

Step 1: Sandpaper your piece so that any wood sticking out or any funky edges smooth out.

Try peeling off any images on the box. Make sure since it's from a thrift store that you then clean up any germs or leftover sandpaper with an antibacterial wipe.

I found a great find at the thrift store too: Alice in Wonderland! You can pick up any classic novel at your thrift store to do this project, look for ones with illustrations still in them especially.

---------------------------------------------------------

Rip out the pages for a cool affect and use a brown stamp ink pad or Holtz's distress ink to age the edge of the ripped pages.

Color in the illustration if you would like with pencils.

Modge Podge the top of the jewelry box and start to put the papers on top smoothing the edges down for no wrinkles.

After a little drying add modge podge to the top of the of the jewelry box as well....we are decoupaging y'all!

For extra effects I stamped a bee on the bottom of the lid.

I puff painted around the edges of the box and die cut a fleur de lis for the bottom of the box. Make sure to decoupage the bottom and top of all your paper prodcuts to keep them in place and looking shiny and good.

I even added the authors name to the bottom right of the box.

I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial. There are more to come of course. Keep your eye out for fun finds in the thrift stores that you can transform into little treasures!

Now I'm going to go watch millionare matchmaker! haha

My first link party!

I submitted my Paris glass pendant to over 200 thumbnails on that blog that people scroll through and can click to be taken to your blog. It's a party! I have found so many great blogs this way.


Here are some more things that I have been working on the last few days. I hope you like them. And remember I always use recycled thrift store items.

This is the top of a jewlery box that was AWFUL looking with 70s teddy bears on it. Now it is a chic French themed jewelry box. Repainted, coated, decoupaged and stamped.

Au revoir for now my lovely followers. Today I go teach two voice lessons....money to buy more craft supplies??

California Dreams

GOING TO SEE KATY PERRY JUNE 7th OFFICIALLY! 

In other news, I have dived into the world of diamond glaze....yes it's true. My mother's friend Cydney who is a crafter from Austin has apprenticed me for the weekend and I have learned loads.

We have been working with pendants on recycled materials using modge podge, scrabble pieces, dominos, glass pieces and sliced wine cork. I've also started using a dremel- some of the people in the Atlanta Young Crafters group would be so proud!

I've started discovering that a lot of the blogs that I am following except people to submit their work in case it is good enough for display on their blog! Huge bloggers with thousands of readers like:

http://indiecraftcorner.blogspot.com/
http://dollarstorecrafts.com/
http://www.modpodgerocksblog.com/

 So hopefully you'll be seeing me there soon!

Find my other handcrafted items at my shop as always-  http://www.etsy.com/shop/lexiconoflove