November Art and Soul--Table Top Christmas Trees

Tis the Season 

(not exactly, but we don't meet in December....)

Check out these LIT table top Christmas trees!  They are about 18" - 20" in height.  I made the green one for our entry way...my son made the blue one for his room.  Yes, a project so simple even a fourth grader could make it.  


Join us November 10th at 7:30 pm at Jessica's.  Cost is $15 per tree.  


IF you have any wire coat hangers or hot glue gun--bring 'em!  Each tree requires 6 hangers that are the same.  We'll have hangers & hot glue guns available, too.  IF you are particular on a color scheme, bring your own thick garland (2-3 strands) and ornaments. 


Grab a friend and a snack or drink--and come get in the holiday spirit. 

OCTOBER Art and Soul

Coming SOON...October Art and Soul

Join us on October 6th at 7:30 at Heather's house to make these ADORABLE paper pumpkins!  Great for decorations and centerpieces all the way through Thanksgiving.  They will be $2 each.  Oh, yes!  Cute AND budget friendly.

If you have the following supplies, they would be quite helpful to bring along:

Scissors 
Circle cutting tool (such as Creative Memories version) 
Glue Gun

If you don't have those supplies--no worries!  We will share.  Lauren Sparks will again have her t-shirts, bookmarks and bracelets for sale to benefit Dravet Syndrome research.  

And, don't forget a snack or drink and a friend!  Comment or reply to our Facebook group if you plan to come and how many you plan to make!  

September Art and Soul Project

September Art and Soul Project

This one was a huge hit--and you girls did some amazing projects.  As always, we LOVE seeing how you take the project and put your own twists on it.  Again--if you missed it, this will be one of the projects at the CREATE Christmas event at Church at the Cross in Grapevine on November 5th, from 9 am - 1 pm.

SUPPLIES:
6" x 24" x 1/2" MDF or wood--from Lowes (they have pre-cut wood available or can cut MDF for you)
         
4 1/2" square wood pieces--you will need 4 for each project--from Hobby Lobby  OR order 4" squares from Woodworks Ltd website

Miniature clothes pins (Hobby Lobby) 

Scrapbook paper--12" cut in half and trimmed to fit

Acrylic paint 

Mod Podge

Ribbon (about 12-14" long)

Hot glue and gun

Gorilla Glue or Wood glue (Lowes or Hob Lob)


INSTRUCTIONS:
1.  Paint the edges of the long board.  You MAY want to paint on the top too so that you can cut your scrapbook paper to go on top without having to fit all the way to the edges.

2. Paint the 4 square wood pieces--OR you could decoupage them with the scrapbook paper and Mod Podge.

3.  Paint the clothes pins.  One of our handy crafters clipped hers on the edge of a plastic cup to paint.  PERFECT!

4.  Using the mod podge--decoupage your scrapbook paper on top of the long board.  your paper is 12" and the wood board is 24"--so you will put 2 pieces on top, therefore having a seam in the middle.  You can trim the edges to fit and/or use sandpaper to help you get the edgest trimmed perfectly.

5.  Using the gorilla glue, adhere the square wood pieces to the long board.  Now, some girls only did 3 wood squares, or put their squares down as diamonds or even staggered them a little crooked, alternating directions.  ENDLESS possibilities!

6.  Using hot glue, adhere a clothes pin to the middle of each square--at the top of the square.

7.  Also using hot glue, adhere the ribbon at the top of the long board for hanging.  Be sure and glue all the way to the edge of the board to help it hang straight.  I did my ribbon, and then went back and tied a bow halfway in the ribbon.

8.  You can trim your photos to fit within the square--or not!  You could also use this board for recipes or Scripture cards.  AND, if you wanted to--you could do a second board, and attach it to the bottom of the first one using ribbon!


ENJOY!!!

Fall Dates: Mark Your Calendars!

Hello Art and Soul girls!  We are proud to announce our fall 2011 dates for Art and Soul.

September 15 at 7:30 @ Jessica's

October 6 at 7:30 @ Heather's

November 10 at 7:30 @ Jessica's

Keep looking at our Facebook group page and/or this blog for details on the projects and costs.

Aside from Art and Soul nights, we have two other crafting opportunities for y'all this fall.

October 20th Holiday How-To with Jessica

@ Compass Church

November 5th CREATE Christmas with Heather

@ Church at the Cross 

(multiple projects available)

So, get your craft on, ladies, and we will see you all soon!

May Art and Soul

Earrings, Earrings, Earrings!

It's an Art and Soul FIRST! We are going to make earrings--either hoop or dangle as shown above. They will be $3.00 per pair. These make great graduation gifts, or wedding gifts, or gifts for yourself.

Join us Thursday, May 12th at 7:30 at Jessica's house. Bring a drink or snack to share. Feel free to bring your own beads if you have a particular preference--and bring your own needle nose pliers if you have them!

Comment here or reply to the Facebook group invite to let us know you're coming and how many pairs you plan to make.

April Art and Soul

Decoupaged Wall Crosses

SUPPLIES
--16" x 24" crosses (etsy.com--Mr. Woody's shop)
--scrapbook paper
--Mod Podge
--small wooden crosses (Hobby Lobby--in VBS crafts)
--acrylic paint and paintbrush
--scissors
--hot glue gun

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Paint the edges of the cross with the acrylic paint. (You might want to paint the edges of the TOP of the cross, too--if you want to leave a border of paint on the top rather than mod podge the paper all the way to the edge).

2. If you want to place a smaller cross in the middle, then paint it with the acrylic paint as well.

3. Tear the scrapbook paper of your choosing into pieces. Paint a thin layer of mod podge on the cross, and begin placing your scrapbook pieces down. Paint another layer of mod podge on top. Use your fingers or the edges of a gift card to smooth out wrinkles.

4. Once the cross is covered in scrapbook paper, you can hot glue the small cross in the middle.

March Art and Soul

Well, due to to technical difficulties, I cannot seem to get March's project up on the blog right now. But, it was a darling little jewelry holder! Due to Spring Break and Open House, we moved March's Art and Soul to March 3rd. It seems Facebook is adding to our technical difficulty--so if you did not get the invitation, we apologize!

February Art and Soul

FEBRUARY Art and Soul

Pendant Tray Necklaces

Supplies:
1" pendant trays (round, square, diamond shaped)--Etsy.com
Scrapbook paper
Mod Podge
scissors
paintbrush
Various silver charms--Etsy.com
E6000 glue--Hobby Lobby
EnviroTex Lite resin--Hobby Lobby
Ball chains and black cord necklaces--Etsy.com

Instructions:
1. Cut your scrapbook paper to fit into the pendant tray. Then, adhere it with a thin layer of mod podge you brush in the bottom of the tray.
2. Choose a silver charm that you'd like to layer over the scrapbook paper. Glue it into place with E6000.
3. Mix up the EnrivoTex Lite--it's a one to one ratio from each of the 2 bottles. I mix in a clear plastic cups, stirring with a plastic knife for about 2 minutes.
4. Using a medicine syringe, gently pour the resin into the pendant tray over the paper and charm. Let it cure for about 24 hours, and slip it onto your ball chain or necklace.

January 2011 Art and Soul--We're BACK!

Block Photo Frames--January's Project

Here's what we tackled, thanks to Shanty2Chic

Supplies
2 x 8 x 8 pieces of wood, cut into 12" lengths
(Lowe's--they will cut for you at $0.25 per cut)
Finials (screw-in type at Lowe's or Hobby Lobby for glue-ons)
Mini clothes pins (Hobby Lobby)
80 grit sandpaper (Lowe's)
Muslin and/or burlap fabric cut into about 1" strips (JoAnns)
Felt (also JoAnns or Hobby Lobby)
Hot glue gun
Acrylic paint of choice (Hobby Lobby)
Paintbrush
Distress stamping pad (Hobby Lobby, JoAnns, Michaels)
Scissors
MAY need a drill

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Screw in your finial in the middle of the top of the block. If you have trouble, you may need to use your drill. If you have the glue-on variety finial from a craft store, hot glue it on.
2. IF the ends of your wood block feel rough, you may want to sand them a bit. ALSO, if your wood block has staples in it, you may wish to remove them with pliers.
3. Paint the block, finial, and clothes pin (or clothes pins if you choose to do more than one per block) the color of your choice with the acrylic paint. TIP: 2-3 thin coats should work great!
4. While your paint is drying, cut a circle from the felt that will be the base for your fabric flowers. Somewhere about 2-3" in diameter.
5. Grab your strip of muslin and/or burlap, and tie a knot in the end. Hot glue that in the middle of your felt circle. To create your fabric rose, twist the fabric as you wrap it around the knot, and hot glue it down as you wrap--every little bit as needed. CAUTION--your fingers might burn a bit from the glue! Low temp hot glue guns can help a little with this.
6. Once your paint is dry on your wood pieces, distress the edges by rubbing your sandpaper on the edges of the block and the finial.
7. To add more of a distressed look, take the stamp pad and rub the ink on the edges. And, as much or as little as you want, brush it in streaks along the main surface. You may want to have a rag to rub it in/off a little as you go.
8. Hot glue your clothes pin(s) onto your wood block where you want them, as well as your fabric flowers. You can distress ink your clothes pin a bit--especially if you used a lot of the stamping pad on the wood block.

Additional ideas: (1) buy some roof flashing at Lowes. With tin snippers, cut it to the desired size. E600o it on the front of your wood block, and use decorative nails in each corner. VOILA! A magnetic AND dry erase surface. (2) Cut some scrapbook paper and mod podge it on the front of your block. Use a clothes pin or a bulldog clip for your photos. You can use ribbon on the top of the block instead of the finial. (3) Using your cricut, cut out your last name or some other phrase and mod podge it onto the front of the block. Or do it in vinyl on your cricut. (4) Use scrapbook embellishments, rub-ons, etc. to decorate your block instead of fabric flowers.