"At the Movies" themed wreath craft for movie theater room or media center!

I think my crafty side side has taken over lately! I feel the need to craft up a storm. Oh pinterest why do you inspire me so, you are killing my wallet LOL! Remember a while back when I showed you all pics of our new house, and told you about turning the basement into a "movie theater room". Well, it's coming along nicely! I have added little touches here and there to give it more of a "movie feel", I have recently hung a bit more decor, added a few nick-nacks and eventually I'd like to make "box office" around the entrance with curtains and everything. For now though, I made a wreath. I think it turned out pretty nice too :)

I did manage to take a few more photos so you could get the jest of how I put it all together, sorry I'm still crap at making "tutorials"... LOL! Anyway here it is! :)

So first things first... I went to Michales (yea, they've seen me a lot lately... it's becoming my second home LOL!) and bought a flat wreath from the floral section ($4.99) and then to office depot to buy white packing peanuts (NEVER thought I'd make a wreath out of that LOL!) medium size back was about $6.00, and I used the left over to put in my kiddos bean back, fixed that from flat to fab in less than two minutes!! So once you've got both of those, I took my kitchen shears and cut the packing peanuts in half.

 I then fired up my trusty glue gun and started to glue around the flat board wreath to make it look like "popcorn". Just watch your fingers since the glue is hot and the foam tends to shrink... I was burnt at least a dozen times during this process LOL!

 So once you've got all your wreath covered to your liking (I went around a few times since I wanted mine pretty full). I then just barely grazed the wreath with some yellow spray paint to make the packing peanuts look more realistic to buttery popcorn. I then grabbed some garland that I had picked up on my trip to Michalels ($1.99 each) and started to wrap that all up around the wreath.

After I got the garland attached, I then decided to take some red (WIRED- because it works best) ribbon and make a big bow from it. Sorry for the lack of pics on this part but it's fairly easy to do. Just keep wrapping big loops around a finger and then slip the last part through when your at the end of the ribbon. :)

 I then realized I had all these "movie tickets" left over from an old project (you can find a whole roll at dollar tree for a buck, or just about any party/office supply store has them too) and thought, how cool would it be if I made a bow out of them. So once again, I fired up the glue gun an just started looping until I liked it, when I liked that look I glued it. I also decided it might not look too bad if I also used the ticket's to wrap around the wreath also (sorry for the lack of pic... again) but it was Eaaaasy Peaasy :)

Of course then, I wasn't crazy about the red on red combo so, I decided to take some black ribbon and loop that around to make it look like a flower, I then glued all three bows together  and attached them to the lower right hand corner of the wreath. I also had these left over cardboard popcorn boxes and decided to glue them together and then glue them to the top of the bow but onto the actual "popcorn" part of the wreath. I attached a bit of ribbon with my glue gun to the back to fashion a hanger and TA-DA! Done!!!

 Here's the finished product... hung nicely on the door to our basement. I love the size of the wreath and I love all the colors, it really makes me hungry for popcorn every time I look at it! :)

DIY Gumball Machine Craft

A few days ago, the kiddo and I had been just browsing around in stores, when she happened to stumble upon a plastic toy gumball machine. I also though how cute!... I remember my grandpa having one of these things at his house when I was little, although his was the real deal. Then I looked at the price of said "toy gumball machine"... $29.99!!!! It was no bigger than 9 inches high and about 4inches in diameter, and to me that just spelled "RIP OFF" and "Don't worry, spend money on me and I'll break in a record breaking 3 days!" Sooo... I made a deal with the kiddo. I told her that mommy would make her one! Then we went home and I Pinterested the CRAP outta of DIY gumball machine tutorials. There are sooooo many on pinterest is is quite ridiculous LOL! I kinda wish I took some pictures of my steps and process but honestly, it's not that difficult. All you need is: a terracotta plant pot and saucer. ($1.99 each at my Michales craft store). I bought a smaller saucer than the size that matched the pot also. One glass bowl, similar that to a gold fish bowl. ($2.99 at my Michaels). One round wooden knob (.75 cents at my Michaels). One letter wooden letter U (.99 cents at my Michaels). One flat round wooden disc, looks like a wooden quarter (.75 cents at my Michaels). First I spray painted both the terracotta plant pot and the saucer with purple spray paint. I then hot glued (because I ran out of my favorite epoxy, but hot glue does the trick too) the bottom of the terracotta plant pot to the bottom of the glass bowl. Then I painted both the wooden knob and flat wooden disc white and glued the knob to the bottom of the terracotta saucer and the disc to the terracotta plant pot. I used a sharpie to write the 25 cents price on the flat wooden disc to make it look just like the old fashioned machines. I drew a line with some white paint to represent the spot where you put your "quarter" in. I then glued the U upside down towards the base of the terracotta pot and then painted it white along with the area inside the U. That represents the shoot where the gumball comes out. I then used clear glitter paint and slathered the whole thing with it. Tied a bow with some cool candy ribbon and hot glued that baby on there! And waaaaahala!!! Instant gumball machine!!! And for around $10.00!!! A small fraction of the price of what the store wanted me to buy one for! I can't tell you how much the kiddo loved it and loved helping me make it. I let her choose the colors and the ribbon and then we went to the store to buy some gumballs! Easy Peasy right?!? :)

In the spotlight... again

Last Tuesday was the artist reception for the Artful August show here at the Villages at Leesburg. I didn't end up winning anything but it was still very nice to go and be apart of something. It was also really great to be among other artist and feed my artistic soul with good inspiration. It's been quite a while since I've had my "art" in the spotlight... it's been pretty much since high school LOL! It was nice to be appreciated again. The hubby snapped a few pics of my "big moment" and I was happy he was proud of me :)

The County Fair!

Yesterday we took the kiddo to the county fair! I haven't been to one in AGES, so it was pretty awesome to go and even re-live some childhood memories again. I couldn't believe that they still had some of the same types of rides from when I was a child! I got my funnel cake "fix" that I had been craving ever since Fourth of July and all in all we had a GREAT time! Here's some of the pics...

The kiddo and her "favorite" horse... a pretty mare named "Heavens Night".

What pure fun looks likes! She even made a friend while standing in line.

My favorite part of the fair... of course LOL!

Merry-Go-Round!

A fun classic!

She liked it so much she did it twice!

Anyone else remember this one too?

The kiddo and her daddy on the Ferris Wheel!

Up, up and away we go!

My sillies! :)

So... how's your summer been treating you?!? As you can see from the picture above... this is pretty much how we've been spending our "Dog Day's" of summer... ;). But when were not lounging around the house we've been hiking in the woods at a local park, taking swim classes and getting ready for school to start again in September. Yes, the kids here in Virginia (at least in our county) go back AFTER labor day... and it has made for a VERY long summer. Especially for a kiddo who really enjoys going to school and seeing her friends.

In the mean time she has been doing GREAT in swim class, and is making friends along the way there too. She graduated from the first level last week and now she is in a level 2 class. Graduating level 1 means that she can now properly hold her breath while going underwater and swimming back and forth to the instructor while breathing properly, in a very short distance. I am so proud of her and most importantly, a LOT less scared of her being near a deep pool.

My little fish right after she got to ring her graduation bell :)

Such a proud mommy moment :) 

Last weekend we took a walk in the woods! We have this really amazing park that is just down the road from our house, it was an old farm and now the county has turned it into a wilderness park. What's really great about it is, that you are in the city but once you get on the trails you really do feel like you are in the middle of no where! It has a fantastic area to overlook the Potomac River, which we didn't get to actually see this time since we were on a different trail. Although, I plan to go back as soon as the leave start to change color, I would love to get a great shot of the river in all the fall foliage! Here's a few pics from our hike...

The carriage house built in the 1800's

The grain house where the stored their food from the harvests.

The old well house.

The munchkin and her daddy on the trail.

Just below and through the trees you can see the Potomac River.

This weekend I am doing something pretty daring... I am submitting my art/photography in a local art show!!! I haven't submitted any art since probably my high school days. I am pretty nervous about it... of course I am my own worst critic but, people tell me they like my stuff and my hubby sorta told I should... so here goes nothing! I submit it tomorrow and then the show is next weekend. First prize for best in show gets $1,000, second gets $500.00, third gets $300.00 and 14 honorable mentions get $200.00. I figure what do I have to lose right? I'll be submitting a painting I've done recently and a photograph I took last year while visiting a local farm.