Last Day!

Happy Friday!!

Just a friendly reminder that today is the LAST DAY to enter in the St Patrick's Day Pint Glass giveaway on my Facebook page!
If you haven't yet, be sure to follow the simple instructions & enter!
Www.Facebook.com/kendallmariescrafts

I've been working on quite a few projects this week all that should be wrapping up over this weekend - more to come on that soon!

Feel free to share any projects you have in the works - I'd love to see them!

Have a great weekend!

Xo Kendall Marie

End Grain Cutting Boards

Glass, Plastic, Wood - what is your cutting board made out of?

Since my husband has taken up woodworking I have learned of the benefits to your knives of using wooden cutting boards over glass or even plastic cutting boards, and have also learned that cutting boards can serve the dual purpose of being a truly beautiful decoration in your kitchen.

A Fine Handcrafted Hardwood cutting board may be more expensive then a plastic or glass board you could get elsewhere - but the beauty of the cheaper boards can in no way be compared.  Made of a variety of wood (cherry, walnut, maple, etc.) the amazing color and detail of the wood grain immediately draws the attention of everyone who enters our kitchen.

In addition to this, the natural way the End Grain of the wood gives and then self heals with each cut allows for an ideal cutting surface that not only lasts longer itself but also doesn't dull your knives like other surfaces. 

Not only are the design patterns for end grain cutting boards endless, but it can truly be said that no two are the same as they each have their own uniqueness from the natural wood.  Here are a few that my husband has made - each one different and each as beautiful as the other - which design do you like best?

Craft Closet Complete!

Earlier this week I mentioned a few projects I've been working on this week - 3 rooms in our new house (talk about exhausting!) - A Nautical Theme Nursery, Cowboy Theme Boy's Room (not quite completed yet but I'm very excited to say the entire room remodel will be for under $40! - More on that later!) , and my very own Craft Closet!! I've been working on little projects for each of these throughout the week (vinyl wall decor, paintings, hanging pictures, etc.) but decided it'd be best to first finish my craft closet as getting my craft supplies re-organized will certainly help the other projects go much smoother!

I'm so excited to have a craft closet - as any DIY craft person knows, a craft area can sometimes look a lot like a natural disaster area! Sketches out, paintbrushes out, wine glasses drying, etc. while I always re-organize all my supplies when I'm done and leave the area (previously my kitchen table) without a trace of the disaster that was once there it's not uncommon for my craft area to look like more damage then good mid-way thru my process.  So I'm very excited to have an area that I can keep all my supplies out instead of boxed up, and can close off the disaster work-in-progress scene without having to pick it all up when we have company come over -  It's the little things!  :)

 

Putting together the Craft Closet

1 - Pick the closet: The closet we chose to use is a 2 door coat closet at the top of our stairs. Our new house has SO much more room then our previous house that we've easily been able to sacrifice this additional coat closet. 

2 - Color theme - while it's not mandatory, I decided I wanted a color theme for my craft closet. Having just a little over a year ago had a black & white theme wedding, I had a bunch of baskets & boxes saved that went with this color scheme so I decided to make this the theme of my craft closet.

3 - Shelves - In addition to the standard wire rack at the top of the closet,  my husband cut for me 2 shelves the length of the entire closet.  I knew I wanted one around 'desk height' to do the majority of my work, so I went ahead and painted that board (solid black with a white pattern) and had it installed. Next was deciding whether I wanted the other board cut to make multiple shelves on each side or one full length board above my newly installed 'desk'  After talking it over and looking at some of the supplies I would be needing to store on the shelf I decided it would make most sense to have the single full length shelf - so I painted this board white with a black design sponged onto it.

I've now fully 'moved-in' to the craft closet - my husband plans on installing some lighting under the shelf above my desk which will be nice, and I do plan on adding to the craft closet (ribbon holders, vinyl holders, etc.) over the next few weeks - rather then making the decision solely based off looks, I want to see where things will fit best practically. 

So - for now - shy of a little more organization, here is the finished closet!! I just love it! :)

 

Do you have a craft room or closet where you do your work?

Any tips/suggestions on what to add to the closet?

 

Xo Kendall Marie 

 

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day! (a few hours early!)

Having just moved into a new house (the boxes everywhere are enough to drive me crazy but I'm very excited about my 'craft closet' that will soon be set up!) having spent the past 48hours "iced-in" (this Florida girl has definitely learned since moving to South Carolina that ice-days aren't as fun as they sound, they're MESSY, and they come with some miserably cold weather !)  and being less than a month away from meeting our new little bundle of joy (did I mention we JUST moved and our whole house including the nursery are still in boxes?? AHH!!) my husband and I who usually celebrate holidays a bit on the extreme side decided to enjoy a more low key V-Day this year. As much as I love Holidays - I'm one of those people who truly LOVES buying gifts and planning unique ways to make the Holidays fun - I haven't been feeling the greatest this trimester and so a more low key Valentines Day sounded just perfect to me.
That being said however, I still couldn't just buy a box of chocolates and card and be on my way...that would just be insulting to my new Cricut machine ;) So in addition to buying a box of chocolates, I headed to my favorite place - the Cricut Craft Room! After years of wanting a Cricut, now that my wonderful husband has spoiled me with one I've decided that the time I used to spend reading thru dozens of greeting cards in the store, rarely being truly satisfied with whichever I'd settle for, will now be spent in the craft room making a truly personal and equally, if not more-beautiful greeting card! Cricut has SO many V-Day card options it can be a bit overwhelming, so rather then browsing thru all the available options, I decided to look for a card that fit a specific theme (I call my husband my 'honey bee' so I wanted a bee-themed card) and in a few short minutes had found, purchased, and cut the 'Bee-mine' card layout! Filled with a personal note, stuffed in an envelope and just like that I had my card!
In addition to the Bee-Mine greeting card and valentines day staple heart shaped box of chocolates, I wanted one more thing to complete my husbands gift, keeping with the theme behind the holiday and not so much the commercialization of it, so off to Pinterest for some inspiration I went! Having in the past made my husband the '52 Reasons I love you' (if you haven't seen this/made for your significant other, it's a really cute gift and very simple to make...take a 52card deck, and on each card write a reason you love your significant other.  I even included some pictures on some of them.  Bind them together with a metal ring and you have a great personalized gift to make your boyfriend/husband smile) I was on the hunt for something similar but obviously not the same, which lead me to my inspiration for "the ABCs of you & me"

Making it couldn't have been easier.  Thanks to my Cricut and Extreme Fonts cartridge the entire booklet was complete in less then an hour.  

To Create "The ABCs of You & Me"

1.  Obtain a mini note booklet or bind together notecards - if you want to do front & back you will need 13 pages, if you'd like to only do the front you will need 26 pages PLUS a cover 

2. Cut letters sized to fit on your pages yet still allow room to write.  I cut my letters using Extreme Fonts on my Cricut, Font: Junior, Size: 2" 

3.  Glue letters on each page, and fill in a memory/reason you love your significant other/etc. that starts with that letter on that page

4. Decorate the front as you please - I covered the front of mine with a solid cardstock, accented with some string and a heart and titled it "the ABCs of you & me" with the date of this Valentines day. 

*This project can easily be done without a Cricut as well and can be modified to be as simple/complex as you would like.  If you'd like to keep it ultra simple but still just as nice looking, draw the letters on each page rather then cutting/gluing - the options are really endless - have fun with it and feel free to share your finished projects in the comments! 

First 3 projects shared in the comments by March 1, 2014 will receive a $5 gift card to my shop!