WATERMELON SLICE DECORATION

Super easy and cute decoration craft here.  

WATERMELON SLICES 

from wood hunks.

I simply had the idea one day when looking at a stack of wood we have out back.

Here's some of how we stack it.

Well, a couple of the little end pieces were laying on the ground and it looked like a few hunks of watermelon to me.  

So I grabbed it, cleaned it off and painted it up like so.

I just used acrylic craft paint in the craft section of Walmart. And I just used any red and green I had on hand.

And after painting on some red like that, I took a sponge brush and dabbed on the green to the "rime" and had to water it down a it to get it to soak in good enough.

And in the pic, you can see I dabbed on some blackish brown for the seeds and came back in with a touch of white to make them stand out.

As you see, any shape of little hunks of wood will basically do.

Just paint'em up and sit'em on your porch in a cute tray!

Happy Crafting, see ya'll next time,

~Lisa

DIY PRIMITIVE GINGER BREAD MEN

Hey ya'll!
Here's some cute hand-made gingerbread men that I've been recently making.

I sell most of these online on ebay rather than in my craft booth at the local co-op.
Not sure why more tend to sell online, but they do.
Guessing more crafters out here, like me, online looking for things to make :-)

And in case ya'll wanna give a batch a try, here's how I make'em.

Okay, you'll wanna gather your supplies.
You can either make this out of a self hardening clay (which is ready to go) or salt dough that you'll have to make and bake.

Here's my cinnamon salt dough recipe if ya'll need it.
NOTE: Not needed if you are using a clay that self hardens.

Cinnamon Salt Dough Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup salt
• ½ cup water (sometimes you add a bit more)
• 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil (this makes it a little more flexible, and is optional)
• half cup cinnamon

I mix it all up in a bowl, adding a bit more of water, if needed. It should be firm but still good and flexible.

Knead it for a bit and get it all mixed good. If you want colored dough, you could easily add food coloring or something natural like coffee or tea. 

When it's ready and easy to manage, I take out a candy mold with the gingerbread men shapes. Keep in mind this craft is endless with shape opportunities! Thankfully, I am a collector of candy and cookie molds.

Just press in the amount of  salt dough or clay needed into your shapes, no coating spray needed inside, by the way. It just makes them sticky.

Press firmly, trying to get out all air pockets and wrinkles in your mix. And then easily pop them back out. 

As seen, I've found that the clear plastic candy molds work best. This way you can see it as you are molding them.

If you used self hardening clay, just sit them aside and let them dry for 24 hours then decorate.

Look close, not all of them come out perfect. But that's okay with primitive crafts.

I like some a bit different and older looking.

If you used the salt dough recipe,

Then it's time to stick them in the preheated oven at 300* for about 45 minutes. Sometimes more, sometimes less. It mostly depends on the thickness of the salt dough. The just take them out and let them cool.

Here's how I finished my batch above off after they dried.

I took some apple barrel paint in burnt umber, a very wet paper towel, and dabbed it on the gingerbread man.

The added water gives it an old appearance when it dries.  Take a closer look at what I mean.
Oh, and I had also taken some burgundy red and dabbed on some cute heart buttons down the front.
And two little dots for eyes.

And to seal them, I used some basic, off brand, elmer's glue. I had to cut a slot in my bottle cause my top was glued shut and would not even twist off for nothing. That's why I have duct tape on it below. To seal up my cut. lol.

Put a good amount on it but don't make it too thick, it will gaum up.

Here they are staring to dry. They will appear a lot darker.

But they lighted up as they dry.

And wa'la~ 

Here's a batch of some cute little gingerbread men ready to go for crafting needs or decorations.

They also look cute sitting around in a bowl as bowl fillers with cinnamon sticks and such.

EACH MEASURE approximately: 1.5  inches in height each x 1.5 inches in width each.

And just think how cute these would be as bigger ones! You can even put a hole in them before they dry to use as hanging Christmas ornaments or tag add-ons to spruce up gifts!

Endless ideas for the little Ginger Bread Men!

And when I can keep them in stock, you can find them here online if ya need some.

Hope ya'll liked this little Ginger Bread man craft!

See ya'll next time,

~Lisa

CHEAP FURNITURE MAKEOVERS from AUCTION FINDS

Before and After of a $2.00 chair.

Here is a quick post just to show a few pieces of furniture that I recently made over.

Here's a before pic of a chair that I had won 2 of for only $2.00 each. 

And here as you see above, I'd already added one star before remembering a before pic. But you get the idea.

I just stenciled on a star for one, 

then touched up edges here and there. 

And then just finished it with a brush on varnish sealer from Folk Art.

 And I basically left it like that for one.

 I made the "Sack of Potatoes" in this post.

And here's the back of the first chair.

And oh yea, I had won the little desk also for either $2 or $5, I can't find the ticket.

It was a shiny Oak color. But I sprayed it with ALMOND by Rustoleum also.

 I also made over the plain green trash can with a star too.

I didn't take a before pic of this because it was only solid green. All I did was add the stencils and brush strokes.

Here is the desk a little closer again.

I added some cute sage green check fabric to the inside of the drawer also.

The other chair I completely spray painted in ALMOND from Rustoleum paints.

Then went back and added more stenciling.

This is by far my favorite.

And I did finish this off with the same varnish sealer also.

  I love the old, true cracklings that show through.

 And take a look at this.

This is a great load of stuff I recently won from a local auction. None of the pieces shown cost me over $7.00. 

In fact, the chairs are the only thing that was $7.00. 

Before and after pic of a $2.00 end table.

The pumpkin light (works) was $2.00,
 the quilt rack was $5.00
and the red vintage metal lamp (works and heavy) was only $6.00.
It was a great night!

My proudest item of the pic is the solid wood end table in the front, far left. 

Why? Because it is solid wood, well made with good bones and it only cost me $2.00!

I guess the reason no one else wanted it was because it was just the one end table by itself and not a pair. That didn't bother me, because I knew I wanted to paint it and redo it anyways.

I choose a colonial red spray paint from WalMart in the Rustoleum brand. 

It runs a around $3.98 a can. And one can is all I needed for this size table.

Here's the before and after again, side by side.

Not shown in the last pic, but I went back and added a country star to the middle of the table in okra yellow.

But by far my favorite furniture makeover of the week was this chair:

I gave $2.00 each for these chairs. And afterwards, I put $14.99 on the one with the old crow and

$9.99 on the more plain one with the star.

And that's what's been keeping me busy these last few days that I haven't been posting much.

And all of this shown is in my craft booth at my local co-op.

Which makeover was your favorite?

See ya'll next time,

-Lisa