a little pinspired project

I am not just an aimless Pinner.

I swear.

Sure, I can spend hours pinning and repinning {and pinning some more}.  But my Pinterest profile reads, "when i'm not pinning, i make time to create"

And by golly that's what I'm going to do.
Who even says that anymore?  By golly.  I also caught myself saying "goodness gracious" to my neighbor this morning, and I've been known to utter the occasional "good grief." I'm such a nerd...

Anyway, with the spirit of creating in mind, I have a little Pinspired project to share with you.

Source: manuscrap.wordpress.com via Michelle on Pinterest

I loved it the second I saw it, and when we vacationed at the beach this summer my oldest and I made a special trip to collect rocks for this project.

Now, please bear with me as I go off on another tangent.
Heck, I've already digressed into a confession about my nerdy phrase choices.  Why stop now?

I have wonderful friends, several of whom are gifted with amazing creative talents.  I am a lucky girl to be surrounded by such inspiring people in my life.  One of these friends gave me a priceless gift for my birthday this past year.  It brought me to tears.

She altered a cigar box with vintage items, including a piece of one of her Gran-gran's hats (see: tear jerker)

and filled it with one of a kind crafty items: vintage Japanese fabric and wrapping papers, antique buttons, pompom fringe, old postcards, a lace hankie.  She loaded it up with creative goodness only she would know I love.  This just may be my most favorite gift ever.

Now back to the Pinspired Project.  I used several items from this beautiful gift to create my rock piece: the felted heart, the fabric scrap, the vintage button, the book print.

It was the perfect marriage of meaning-filled objects and a Pinspiring idea.

A match made in heaven.

 I've fallen in love!

Pinspire Me Monday: Altered Birdhouse

A couple of weeks ago I poked around on the Zutter Bind-It-All Handmade Blog Hop, and came across this adorable project.  I loved it so much I pinned it:

photo credit: Andrea's Creative Paper Trail

Then last week, I visited For the Luv of Art and discovered that they had a Pinterest crop going on.  One of the challenges was to glitter something.  So here's this week's

I created this little sparkly birdhouse. 

It was really fun to do, just kept layering things on: patterned paper, paint, pompom fringe, lace, ribbon, tinsel trim, buttons, punched snowflakes, pearls.

 And then topped it all off with some chunky glitter and some painted-on Stickles.

And of course a little banner strung across the front.

Thanks so much for Pinspiring me, Andrea!

Your turn: link up your Pinspired projects in the sidebar.

Pinspire Me Monday: Thanksgiving Placecards

Happy Monday!

This year, I was going to host Thanksgiving for the first time.  I was sweating it a bit because, let's face it, Thanksgiving is ALL about the food.  Yes, we think about what we are grateful for, and we are happy to be together with family and friends, but at the end of the day (when our bellies are stuffed fatter than the turkey was), we look back and think about how delicious everything was.

So when my aunt mentioned hosting the holiday this year, I graciously and gratefully handed over the baton errr, turkey baster (and then I said a little prayer that I am spared from having to cook a 28 pound bird, 14 side dishes, and 7 pies for at least one more year).  I will bring whatever her little heart desires

like Wegman's scrumdiddlyumptious pumpkin layer cake

and I will also be making the place cards for the table, which brings us to today's

This week's pin comes from Martha Stewart:

I picked up a few sprigs of fall doodads (technical crafting term) at the craft store, gathered up some sticks, and created a little label template in Word.

Some hot glue and these were a snap to put together.  Martha gives directions on her website linked above, but I do have one tip for you:
 if you find that your assembled sticks tip over, add a dot or two of hot glue to the underside to create a little "foot" for the piece to stand on.

Thanks so much for checking out this week's project.  And don't forget to link up your Pinspired creations in the sidebar (pretty, pretty please!).

Pinspire Me Monday: Cracked Marble Pendant

Happy Monday!

Time for another...dum da dum dum...

Are you growing to love Monday's?  I think I am.

So here's this week's pin:

Source: craftster.org

Aren't those purty!

When I read how to do this, I just had to try it for myself--it seemed too easy to be true.

I baked mine at 325 for 20 minutes and plopped them into a bowl of cold water.  It worked, though I don't think I achieved quite the same faceted effect as the gorgeous ones above.

I topped it with a bead cap into which I inserted a rounded wire and threaded it onto a satin rope.

I'll be playing with this just a bit more to see if I can get more cracks in my marbles.  Just what I need, right--more cracks in my marbles!

ETA: go ahead and cook them up at 500 degrees for 30 minutes to get more 'crackage.'

If you've been pinspired by something you pinned on Pinterest, please link it up in the sidebar.

Happy Creating!

Pinspire Me Monday: crochet owl pouch

It's Monday!  Time for another Pinspire Me Monday.  

Can it be?  Monday may just turn into my favorite day of the week!

So here's what Pinspired me last week:

photo credit: Crochet Ninja

A little crocheted owl coin purse from A Crochet Ninja.  Is he not the cutest?!  The owl was simple as pie to hook up (and now that I'm looking at him, I forgot his little beak and feathers--whoops!).  It was that zipper that had me procrastinating this project until just this morning.  I've never done a zipper before.  I was scared.

But I conquered my fears, bought the zipper, consulted with the nice woman at the cutting counter of the fabric store and set to work on it.  Only took me two tries to get it right.  Third times a charm, right?  The first time I sewed the zipper to the liner inside out--whoopsie!  The second time I hand-stitched the zippered liner to the owl a bit off center.  Let's just say my seam ripper is my new BFF.

But here he is all zipped up and ready to use (minus the beak and feathers I'll be adding shortly):

Itn't he cute!  I'm toying with the idea of adding a crocheted strap to him to make him a wristlet.

Now it's your turn.  Link up one of your Pinspired projects in the sidebar (it's very empty and sad over there...).  Remember it can be anything you've found on Pinterest and tried for yourself: a recipe, a decoration, gift-wrapping, a photograph...anything!

Can't wait to see what you're finding Pinspiring these days!

Pinspired: The Printer's Tray

Hello, my name is Michelle and I am addicted to Pinterest.  When I am in front of my computer working, I can't help but click on the little Pinterest/Home bookmark...a lot.  I've been pinning and browsing and pinning some more.  I know someday these pins are going to come in handy, and my new mantra is "Time spent Pinning is time well spent."

So last week, I finally put some pins to good use and refinished the printers tray I've been holding onto for a few years.

First my "Pinspiration":

Source: mondocherry.blogspot.com

And here's mine, or should I say my boys':

You can see all of my pins here.  And if you're on Pinterest, let me know so I can check you out, too!