Dream Catcher

I've always been one of those people that could look at something, and then make it. And lately i have been putting those skills to the test. Welcome to my newest project.

Like what you see? Want it for yourself? Click here!

xoxo, meaghan with an "h"

How to Make a Monogrammed Bag

Since I'm having a beach wedding, I thought this was a way cute idea to do for my bridesmaids! I even made one for myself :)

Things You Need: (All of which I got from Joann's)
-Medium or Large Canvas Bags
-A Pack of Fabric Paint (any colors you choose, I got a six pack and mixed colors to create new ones)
-Paintbrushes
-Alphabet stencil (or any design you want to do, be creative!)
-A Pack of Paper Cake Doilies
-Newspaper

1. Lay your canvas bag on a flat surface with newspaper in the bag, so that the paint doesn't bleed to the other side.

2. Put your stencil in the bag where you want to paint your letter or any other design you have chosen..

3. ..and paint it in! Make sure you hold your stencil down and don't accidentally paint under it or let the paint bleed through.

4. After letting that dry, then, get your paper doily and decide where you want to place it on your bag. Make sure you get all of the open areas on the doily, but don't waste too much time because you do not want it to start disintegrating during painting. For my bags, I put the letter in the same spot and painted it black, but put the doily design in different places and made each bag a different color. 

5. Wait 72 hours for the paint to set in, and then wash and dry them. I washed each bag separately to ensure that they did not bleed onto each other. And voila! Now you have a personalized bag.

See something you like? Want it? Click here!

xo, meaghan with an "h"

How to Make Your Own Book

Hello friends. So I was stumbling the other day (on stumble upon, of course) and found this great idea! And with Valentine's Day coming up, it gave me inspiration. Click here to see the tutorial or just follow along here!

Things you will need:

1 pack of cardstock

Pieces of cardboard, chipboard or extra cardstock

Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Blank index cards
1 pack of colored cardstock or index card

2 rubber bands

Pencil

Ribbon

To make the pages:

1. Fold the index cards in half

2. With all of the folded edges facing the same direction, align the pages (this is important, if they aren’t perfectly aligned, some of the pages might not be glued properly/could fall out), and secure with a couple of rubber bands along the edges opposite to the folds.

3. Cut out a piece of cardstock that is a little larger than the side of the folded index cards for the spine of your book.

4. With your hot glue gun, apply a layer of glue all over the end of the side with the folded edges. Pinch the paper together as you apply the glue to make sure it is the same width all along the finished edge. When applying the glue, start from the middle, and work your way up and down to each end, be sure to use enough glue, so that all of the pages stick together.
5. Apply your cardstock spine to the glued index cards.

  

6. Center and glue a small piece of ribbon to each end of the spine, glue to overlap the edge of spine. Glue a long piece of ribbon to the center of one end of the spine (this will be the bookmark).

7. Apply a dot of glue to the center of the front page of the page block. Align and glue a folded color peice of cardstock. Then go around under the three non-folded edges of the paper, applying a bead of glue and smoothing as you go along. Repeat on the back of the block.

To make the cover:

1. Measure the width of the spine on the index cards and on a sheet of cardstock make the following lines as seen in the picture. Make a little mark at the center of each side of your paper. On each side of those center marks, draw three lines paralleling each other (6 lines total):

5/16”, 5/8”, 13/16” inch from the center mark.

On each of the lines 13/16” away from the center mark, make a perpendicular mark on the center of that line facing away from the line.

2. Fold along the lines, pinch to form little pleats.

3. Make a pencil mark, 1 9/16” on center, on one side of each of your (2 5/8 x 3 1/8”) cardboard pieces.

4. On the unmarked side of the cardboard pieces, apply a dot of glue to each of the four corners.

5. Flip over and glue, using the marks that you made to align the cardboard.

6. Trim cardstock to approx. 5/8” all around the edge of the cardboard. At an angle, trim the corners, leaving a margin of approx. 3/8”.

8. Crease the ridges that you made in step 2. so that they face away from the center, and overlap the cardboard.

Fold, crease, and adhere the cardstock around the margin of the covers to the cardboard.

9. Use the technique that you used in step 6 of making the page block to adhere the inside cover (the red cardstock) to the inside of the back of the cover.

You’ll have a 1/16 margin all around the edge of the lining of the cover.

10. Repeat step 9, to adhere the front lining/page to the other side of the cover.

Voila!

xo, meaghan with an "h"

Like this idea, but don't have the time. Tell me, and I'll do it for you!

Getting Started

So, I have been doing all of this for about five whole days, and I know I don't have much yet, but bare with me, I'll get there! I start a new craft about every two weeks, but just decided this week that I want to show people how. So stick around for the journey, kids :)

xo, meaghan with an "h"

Bridesmaid Boxes

This is a cute, creative way to ask your best girls to be your bridesmaids! I personally love to craft (obviously) so this was a great way to focus my crafting energy and do something thoughtful for each of my girls.

What you'll need:
-Unfinished cigar boxes from JoAnn's (they're cheaper if you order them online here)
-Three paint colors. I used Vintage White, Sea Blue and Soft Yellow but make it your own and change it up!
-A stencil. Click here for the one I used.
-Wooden letters (I used these for the first initial of each bridesmaid)
-Pack of paintbrushes
-Mod Podge (make sure it's gloss, NOT matte)
-Super glue
-Container for paint/mod podge ( I used an empty Cool Whip container)
-Newspaper or cardboard to keep it clean

1. 

I started off by painting the box Vintage White and letting it dry. Then, I got the Sea Blue and painted the top of the box, and after it dried, I taped my stencil on the inside of the lid, and painted the rest. While my boxes were drying, I painted my wooden letter Soft Yellow and glued it in the middle of the stencil.

 2. 

After all the touch ups were done and dry, I did a few coats of Mod Podge on the outside and inside of the box. *Make sure both sides are completely dry so they don't get stuck together like mine did!*

3. 

To each their own! For my boxes, I ordered vintage handkerchiefs off eBay to put in the bottom of the box. In the box I put paint chips of the colors of my wedding. I also printed out information on stationary paper that included: Our Day, Your Dresses, Your Role, My Girls, and wrapped it in ribbon. Other ideas are including pictures of each bridesmaid, or little gifts.

4.
  
To add a little something, I got vintage keys from the jewelry making section of JoAnn's and looped ribbon through it. Other things to add could be pictures of the possible bridesmaid dresses or pictures of your actual bridesmaids!

5.  

And now you have a thoughtful and personalized invitation for each of your bridesmaids!

Like this idea but don;t have the time? I'll do it for you! and you get the credit. Just tell me.
xo, meaghan with an "h"

Crayon Paintings

How to make a crayon painting!

So, I'm sure many of you have seen these, but here is mine with a little twist. In case you haven't seen these before, here's a tutorial.

Things you need:
- Box of crayons. I prefer getting them from Wal Mart because you get more bang for your buck.
- Canvas from JoAnn's
-  Hot glue gun (with extra glue sticks)
-  Scrap booking stickers fro JoAnn's

- A hair dryer

- Some newspaper or cardboard to avoid mess

1. Stick on your initials or an inspirational quote.

2. Glue on the crayons. I suggest using quite a bit of glue, so the crayons don't melt off

3. Once all glued on, begin blow drying. Try to do one section at a time to avoid splatter!

4.  And voila! There you have it. A little twist to a common craft.

Life is beautiful. La vida es bella. Η ζωή είναι ωραία. 人生は美しい. Tá an saol álainn.

xo, meaghan with an "h"