Garden Fourth of July Flag

Remember the project I told you about that
was sitting in pieces on my dinner table?

I finished it!!

Since the Fourth of July is right around the corner I thought it would be fun to do a tutorial on a Rustic Fourth of July flag that I made for my garden.

First: I went to Home Depot and loaded up my car with 4 lengths of Cedar fencing. I cut them to be 3 feet long, so I ended up with 5 lengths and then I cut two more pieces just long enough to stretch across the backside so I could nail them together.

Second: I painted all of the boards white.

Third: I used the Cricut and cut out a few primitive stars with some extra vinyl and secured them to where I wanted them on my flag. Then I painted over them with blue. You can see in the picture that I cut them in half so I could pull the boards apart.

Fourth: I painted on my stripes. I wanted this to look really rustic so I sponged my red paint on however I felt like it. I tried to get them a little bit straight but I didn't want straight lines.

Fifth: After it was all dry, I pulled the vinyl stars off and flipped it over. I nailed the shorter boards to the back so the whole thing was one big flag.

Sixth: I took it out to my front yard garden, set it up and am now enjoying it. You can see that the stars are a tiny bit off and the ends aren't lined up just right - I wanted it that way! I want it to look a little weathered and now I can't wait for my flowers to bloom a little bit more around it. Here in Utah we have two Red, White and Blue holidays so I get to have my flag up all month long!

Enjoy!

I linked up to these great Tuesday Parties - and you should too!!

Guest Project from TaterTots and Jello

I am so excited for my guest poster today! I love her and her blog and am thrilled that she is here!

Hello Crafty Endeavorers!! It's great to be here!!

I'm Jen from Tatertots & Jello. I love being crafty, drinking Diet Coke (while being crafty), decorating my home, chasing my kids around and meeting new friends.

One of my favorite type of crafty projects has been making jewelry. It's always fun to make something cute to spice up an outfit. Some of favorite jewelry projects have been:

{Spring Wristlets}

{Burlap Bracelets}

 {Ruffle Necklaces}

20-Minute Tied Double Flower Necklace

Today I would like to share a quick, easy way to dress up a plain t-shirt in 20 minutes, using fabric scraps!

 These are the materials you will need:

Fabric Scraps (5 or 6 patterns)

Sewing Machine (or hot glue gun if you don't have a machine)

2 Button Covers (or old buttons can be used if you don't have button covers)

Glue Gun

Here's What You Do:

1. Cut a long strip of material approximately 26 inches in length by 2 inches in width. 
2. Fold the fabric in half (it helps if you can iron it) and then sew a seam about 1/4 of an inch away from the edges all the way down the length of material. Now tie the two edges together, forming a large circle.
3. Take the other scraps of fabric and cut little strips of material about 1 inch in width by 4 inches in length. You will need about 20 pieces of material (approximately).
4. Tie a knot in the necklace about every inch, alternating patterns of fabric until you have gone around the entire necklace. The knot in the original necklace will blend right in to the other knots.
5. Now you make the flowers. Cut 4 strips of fabric in different patterns -- 12 inches in length by 2 inches in width
6. Use you sewing machine to put a seam down the center of each piece of material, using your widest width setting -- your material will automatically bunch up.{ If you don't have a machine, you can use your hot glue gun to make the flowers in the next step.}
7. Make two two-inch circles out of felt or other material. Now run a bead of hot glue around the outside of the felt circle. Attach one of the ruffled strips to the hot flue. Make sure the edge of the material hangs over the felt so it can't be seen. Do the same thing with the second fabric strip, laying it in the center of the felt circle. Cut off any excess material. {If you are using a glue gun, ruffle the material as you hot glue it to the felt as you go around the circle. Do this with both pieces of material. Do this to both flowers.}
8. Do this to the second flower -- following the same steps. 
9. Use a small piece of material and cover your button covers. If you don't have button covers, you can use old buttons or scrapbooking brads or flowers.
10. Now hot glue the fabric flowers to the necklace.

Thanks for letting me come by! Come by and say hi sometime - I would love to meet you! And come check out the Giveaway that I am hosting this week {$325 value}!!!

XOXO

 

If you haven't been to Jen's blog before head over there and say hello! I promise you won't be disappointed. She has so many great tutorials and projects that she shares - she is a daily read (sometime 2 or 3 times!) for sure!

Blog Swap: Stout Made Crafts

I am swapping it up with Stout Made Crafts today!

She is a new blogger so stop by and check her out and send her some love!

Hi there! I'm so excited to be here swapping blogs!

My name is Ciera from Stout-Made Crafts! I'm relatively new to the craft blog world, but I'm trying to get more followers and make some cute crafts for people! Sorry this isn't more involved or informative, I've had the flu the past few days and my husband just had his 5th heart surgery, so we've been a bit busy over here!

Here's a look at a few things that you'll see on my blog! Take a look, and I hope you enjoy!

Right now I specialize in making baby things. Shoes especially.

The shoes sell for $8 a pair, plus shipping.

I am also making carseat covers. They are reversible, and double as nursing covers! I LOVE mine! I seriously use it everyday! I'm going to add pockets to my next one so that you can add a diaper, wet wipes, binki's, or cell phones, what ever you need and always have it with you.

 Sorry I look so bad. Like I said, I've got the flu!

I am selling them too!

I can make them for girls or boys, gender neutral, or even one side boy and the other girl, one sided, or reversible, nursing cover or not. To have them one sided they are only $35 + shipping, and for reversible they are only $40 +shipping! But, if you head over to my blog and leave a comment, or e-mail me at cieranm2@yahoo.com requesting a cover I will give you the shipping for free! You have to mention that you saw me here at Every Crafty Endeavor to get this offer, and it only lasts until the 26th at 9:00 pm MST. The same goes for the shoes. I'll send you a pair and I'll pay the shipping! I'm excited to hear from you all, and can't wait to get some cute covers and shoes made for you!

Thanks for checking me out! I hope to see you all on my blog soon!

Crafting ADD...

Did you see Char's little take on Crafting ADD a few days ago?

I have it bad as well - I have four projects half way complete laying around my house (two on the dinner table - dinner in front the of the TV anyone?) and another 4-5 in the works!

But some of them do involve this awesome color -

So I am super excited!! Stay tuned....

Side Table Transformation

As I was wondering around the thrift store in search for some awesome frames - I came across this bad boy!

 

Obviously I loaded it right into my cart and took it home! I knew exactly where I was going to put it and was so excited about my find! I sanded it down, took off the old knobs, wiped it down and went to work spray painting it Rust-o-leum Fossil - and I love it!

I bought the new knobs at Home Depot - and I love the square style!

I sanded it down and distressed it a little bit but now that I am thinking about it, I think I liked it better before I distressed it. I may have to touch it up a bit - but either way I love it and can't wait to decorate it! It is going to look so great next to my couch.

I am linking to these fun parties!

FireFlies and JellyBean

The Shabby Chic Cottage

Life as Lori

Somewhat Simple

Think Pink

Okay! Okay! I admit - there has been ONE more reason for my lack of crafting -

I am pregnant and it is a girl!

I am so excited to decorate a girl room and make little girly things!

There have been so many cute bloggers popping up pregnant these past few weeks so it will be so fun to see what everyone is making and decorating for their little ones.

Let the Girl Crafting Begin!!

On a side note!

And you all know Michelle from A Little Tipsy blog -

Well not only is she a fabulous blogger

 - but she is my great friend, neighbor, VT companion and we teach YW together -

So it is really funny that we are both due the Same Exact Day!

And we both had our Ultrasounds today!

 (I know what she is having already but you will just have to wait for her announcement!)

And we both having C-Sections!

To bad we are delivering at different hospitals -

we could have been room neighbors!

Picture Collage

Usually I get a BIG idea for decorating my home - but I have a small budget.

This problem forces my creative hands and gets those juices flowing!

3 years ago my husband and I bought our house and completely gutted it and remodeled the entire thing. This process took a long time and a lot of patience - and we still have things we need to finish - such as our cabinet doors in our kitchen (as you can see in the picture) - but that is another post for another day!

When you walk through my front door, I have a huge living room - that is empty. I have a few things up here and there - but for the most part - No decorations. There is also no furniture either.

When you walk in the first thing you see is this big empty wall.

I hate this wall. I had a BIG idea of creating a fabulous picture collage and started my search for picture frames. I learned that even with %50 off at Hobby Lobby and sales other places that I would still be looking at $7-$40 a frame and with as many as I wanted for my "vision" I knew that would add up quickly. So I have been putting it off and putting it off - until last week when I was laying on the floor - staring at the big empty wall - when it hit me like a ton of bricks -

"Why don't you go to the thrift store and see if

they have any that you could spray paint?"

Duh!! I read tons of blogs that find awesome thrift store deals - I have no idea why I didn't think of it before. I jumped in the car and Quinn and I were off to find some frames - and find some we did!

I just started picking up any size or shape that were in good condition and really sturdy - I want my wall to be cheap but not look cheap! All of the ones that I picked were between $.75 and $2! I even picked up a little something else for another project. I am thrift store hooked!

I got them home and immediately went to work prepping the frames for painting.

Some Advice:
If you can, avoid the frames with a million staples. They are the ones usually covered by paper backs. You have to practically pull out each and every staple with tiny little pliers and it is crappy - however, if you find a frame you can't live without and it has a back like that - go for it! Be patient... I tired popping out the glass before I had all the staples removed and ended up shattering the glass and slicing my finger. ouch. Go Big! Go Small! Go Chunky! Go Skinny! Buy lots of different kinds of frames.

Then I sprayed them all black with Rust-o-leum Flat Black and

top coated them with Rust-o-leum Clear Gloss 2x.

Then I arranged and re-arranged a hundred times looking for a pattern that I loved. I always set up what I want the wall to look like on my floor so I can see it before I start punching a hundred holes in my wall. I moved the frames around and around and around...

Until I came up with the design that I loved!

I made that clock a little more than a year ago and have been waiting for the perfect spot for it and finally found it! I love the wall and can't wait to finish filling in the pictures. I thought about waiting and sharing this when I had them all filled in, but who knows how long that will take and besides I was too excited!! And the best part is that I have a fabulous collage wall that was a little bit less than $30! 

Before:

After:

I am linking to these parties:

Between Naps on the porch

Making the World Cuter

The DIY Showoff

Keeping it Simple - Motivate Me Monday

Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Just Something I Whipped Up

Tools Are for Women Too

It's So Very Cheri

The Trendy Treehouse - Marketing Monday