Doodleleaf

Friday, December 31, 2010

Happy New Year!

Candice Friday, December 31, 2010 0 Comments

Happy New Year my friends!

Part of my many New Years resolutions includes getting organized. I've already started on my office area (because it's the smallest area) and have made a lot of progress on it.

On of my projects was this little mail organizer.

I bought it unfinished forever ago and finally got around to painting it and fixing it up.

I added some label holders and busted out my trusty Dymo Labeler to print me off some labels.

And there you have it. It's proven to be very very handy so far and matches my space really well. ^__^

Hope everyone has a safe and happy new year!

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Dry Erase Board

Candice Sunday, December 26, 2010 0 Comments

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Everyone!

Awhile ago I started work on organizing my office space. First thing was to make a dry erase message board. There are lots of tutorials online for these, this is just how I did mine.

I had two picture frames I bought damaged a good while ago from Michaels. The only thing wrong with them was that they were missing the cardboard backing. So I took one of the two (I'll show you what I did with the other one later) and had the guys at work cut me a piece of cardboard to fit the frame. You can get this done at any craft store with a frame shop for just a few dollars depending on the size.

Then I cut me some fabric and started hot gluing it to the cardboard. Try to choose a fabric with a pattern that's not too busy, so it doesn't distract from the writing when you're using the board.

My living room (which is where my office space is) has a bird/nature theme, so I found a cool stencil and put it in the corner of my fabric.

All done :-) Just pop it in the frame and hang it up.

:-) Yay cute office supplies!

# crafts # decor

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Much Better Bedside Table

Candice Wednesday, December 22, 2010 1 Comments

Hello my friends!

So in between being busy with the holidays at work and working on presents and such at home, I began work on what I had hoped would be my new bedside table.

Over the summer I acquired this:

We got a few of these in with the seasonal furniture at work. This one was on the base of one of the aisles and fell off one day, breaking the glass on the drawers.

I thought the piece itself was very functional and liked the overall look of it, so I bought it. But, I hated the red glass (red isn't really my color). And now since a bunch of it was broken, I had to think of a way of dealing with it.

And I think I succeeded:

First I painted any nicks and bumps and that ugly gold-brown-bronze trim black, then I mod podged on my fabric over all the areas where the glass had been. To the top I added some decorative gold trim and crossed my fingers that it would still look nice after 3 or so coats of polycrylic. It did just fine (yay!) and adds a lot to the top.

I really like the way the drawers turned out. The broken glass was still pretty secure to the drawers, so I was able to just mod podge the fabric on over top of it without much difficulty at all. Then I just popped the original knobs back on once the polycrylic dried.

It looks really nice in my room by my bed, and I even have enough fabric left over to make a pillow. :-D

# crafts # decor

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Mini Scrapbook

Candice Sunday, September 26, 2010 0 Comments

So I finished one of the 40000 scrapbooks I needed to put together! ^__^

This one is from a trip with my family on my sister and brother in law's boat. Here are a few pages:

It was a great trip. ^_^ And I'm very happy to finally be making progress with my pictures and scrapbooks.

# scrapbooks

Monday, September 20, 2010

Creative Candles

Candice Monday, September 20, 2010 1 Comments

So a little while ago I bought this little gadget from work:

The Candle Creations candle making machine.

I've always wanted to learn how to make candles, and though through research I know the normal method isn't exactly rocket science, I opted to give this gadget a try to avoid using my stove and needing a thermometer. I can also do it in my craft room which is a huge plus for me because I am a major lover of multitasking. The machine retails for $39.99, but buy it with a 40% off coupon which brings it down to about $24. The machine includes everything you need to dive right in, but I bought some other goodies for my first go 'round since I planned to use it to recycle some old candles.

So here's what I did today:

After plugging in the machine and reading through the instructions I got my materials ready: Wicking, fragrance, dye, and a small canning jar (which you can only see the lid for...the jar is already on the machine). I also have baking soda nearby just in case this thing catches fire. Always be prepared, you know.

The candles also came from work. We do wedding rentals for candelabras and the candles have to be switched out after each rental, even though they've only been used once. So, with permission of course, I've been taking the old ones to recycle into new candles.

With my little container in place under the machine I started breaking up my candles. It said in the instructions to remove old wicking, which in these candles was impossible while they were solid. What I did instead was fish out the wicking with a Popsicle stick while the candles were melting. It was actually really easy and didn't take nearly as long as I had thought.

I added dye and fragrance after the candles were completely melted, about 10 minutes for these ones. Then you open the valve and the wax pours into your container. I used my Popsicle stick to stir in the fragrance and to prop up the wick in the container while the wax cooled so it wouldn't tip over.

And that was it. :-) I haven't trimmed the wick down yet in this picture and I made a little bit of a mess on top of this one by getting impatient and not letting it cool enough before moving it (which resulted in some wax spillage. Patience is wonderful, my friends....), but I'd say overall it was a very successful first attempt.

I really like this little gadget and will probably be using it a lot more than I thought. I definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to take up candle making as the occasional hobby. :-)

# crafts # how to

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Oh My Summer Where Did You Go?

Candice Saturday, July 24, 2010 0 Comments

My apologies friends, I haven't been around much lately. Summer has just gone by so fast!

But anywho, I'd like to show one of my early summer recycling projects:

Tin can planters. ^_^

This was a really simple project. All I did was mod podge scrapbooking paper to a few old soup cans from my ridiculous collection (I have trouble throwing things away sometimes...). I drilled a few holes in the bottom for drainage, filled them with a few petunias, and sat them in my window outside. A really good alternative to a windowbox.

# crafts # recycling

Monday, May 10, 2010

New Do

Candice Monday, May 10, 2010 0 Comments

So if you've happened to see me you'd know that I have EXTREMELY long hair. Like, I use a baseball sized palm of shampoo to wash it long. And it has been long for a long time.

But, I have decided that no more!

This was my hair this morning:

This is my hair now:

That's 12 inches I'm holding in my hand. It will be on it's way to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths program for the American Cancer Society in the morning.

I really really like it. :-) It was a wonderful change.

# life

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Christmas Gifts

Candice Sunday, May 02, 2010 0 Comments

If forgot to post all the crafties I made for Christmas presents this year. This is what I did for my friend Khyra:

This is one of those photo message boards made out of a canvas, some quilt batting, some fabric, ribbon, and brads.

I scrapbook a good deal, and have a Cricut I typically only use for that purpose. But after getting the In the Kitchen cartridge, and after being asked for my recipes for the 400th time, I decided to bust out the ole Cricut and make her a really nice cookbook that she can add on to later. I really enjoyed putting it together.

The Garlic Bread recipe came from an Emeril Lagasse cookbook my brother had, and requires a really tasty spice mix to make called Baby Bam. So I mixed her up some of that too and put it in an old garlic jar. I decoupaged the lid with some paper scraps to make it pretty: