Top 10 Posts of 2012

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Shannon hosted an amazing Christmas Eve party with so much good food at her house (hopefully she'll share some pics :) and then we all opened presents and ate even more on Christmas Day. I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we're still recovering from the big day!

This has been a whirlwind year for us, even though we just started Eat. Sleep. MAKE. in August! Shannon and I have had a great time sharing our creative ideas (and even more fun hearing what you think of them.) With 2013 almost here, we're both planning even more projects, but we thought it'd be fun to look back on 2012 and see what our top 10 most popular projects were according to you!

According to our stats, our top 10 most popular projects in 2012 were:

10. Yarn Wrapped Bangles

These simple bracelets were made with hot glue, bangles, and thread. The color combinations are endless, depending on your thread choice!

9. Celebrate the Light Canvas

This chalkboard canvas dotted with white lights makes a great statement piece and reminds us why we celebrate during the holiday season.

8. Leather Leaves Necklace

You can make this surprisingly simple leather and suede necklace with just a handful of supplies.

7. DIY Rosette Tree

While it was a little time consuming to make all of the rosettes, this pretty tree was a beautiful addition to our holiday decor!

6. No-Sew Coffee Cozy

Every coffee cup needs a little bling. And they're no-sew!

5. Needle Felted Acorns

These little felted acorns make great ornaments or home decorations.

4. Chevron Stamped Tee

This shirt was made by making a stamp from a household sponge, and then stamping it onto a shirt with some fabric paint in a chevron pattern. Easy!

3. DIY Wood Matting

If you're looking for a unique way to display your art, this wood matting tutorial is a great way to do it!

2. Plywood Inspire Boards

Clip some of your favorite pictures, reminders, or images that inspire you to these pretty painted boards.

And our #1 post of 2012 is......

1. Snow Globe Necklace

You might want to hit up the after-Christmas sales and stock up on bristle brush trees to make one of these pretty winter necklaces.

We hope you've enjoyed our projects this past year! In the past 4 months since we started ESM, Shannon and I have stepped out of our comfort zones and pushed each other to try new and different things - and it's been so much fun! We hope you've been challenged to try a new craft or make something new as well. Here's to the new year and all the excitement it brings!

Merry Christmas

Weekly Photo Wrap-Up: Christmas Parade

1. Connor and Papa  2. Fire truck

3. Marching band  4. Flag wavers

5. Green fire truck 6. Old car

7. Santa!  8. Haley and her candy cane

The big day is next week! I'm sure this weekend will be packed with present wrapping, last minute shopping, and lots of holiday parties for everyone. I haven't wrapped any presents yet, so you know what I'll be doing :)

We've had so many fun local events going on in our city lately. Have I mentioned how much I love my city? Pittsburgh is such a tight knit, family-focused city. There's always something to do here, especially during the holidays. We recently went to one of the local parades and the kids had a blast! There wasn't a lot to it, but nothing beats free hot chocolate and cookies and a parade of local bands, vintage cars and trucks. Connor was hooked on all of the fire trucks and old cars that went by. He's been really into toy cars lately, so it was really fun to see how amazed he was when he saw them in person!

Shannon and I will be taking a little break next week to celebrate Christmas and spend time with our family. We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas holiday. May yours be filled with family, friends, and joy.

CRAFT: Printable Tin Labels

I know many of you may be looking for a last minute Christmas idea (or maybe you just forgot to pick up a teacher or neighbor gift!) so I wanted to share a project that I made for just those occasions.

If you're like me, you probably have a bunch of tins leftover from past Christmases. I have a whole stack of them, but I can't bring myself to throw them away. And, in all honesty, many of them are....well, ugly. I had some neighbors and friends I wanted to give goodies to, but I don't really want to give them a tin with a cartoon horse wearing a Santa hat on it. Instead of tossing my beloved tins, I used Picmonkey (my favorite online editing program) to make some printable tin labels to put on top! 

You can download the printable labels HERE. They fit tin lids that are 6 inches in diameter.

Just print them out on cardstock, cut out (I used my CAMEO but you can cut them by hand), then use double sided tape to adhere them to your tins!

After that, it's all about what kinds of goodies you want to fill them with :) My go-to Christmas cookie has always been Oreo truffles which, if you didn't already know, are addictive little balls of crushed Oreos and cream cheese mixed together and covered in chocolate. Ah-mazing. You can't just eat one. It's an unspoken rule.

In addition to a "Merry Christmas" tin label, I also made a "Thank You" printable with room to write below it. (PS sorry, but I have little boy handwriting. I never developed that pretty, cursive-y handwriting all girls seem to have. I'm nearing 30 and I've accepted the fact that it'll never happen.) As always, please remember that all printables are for personal use only, and are not to be sold.

Check out our link party page to see where we link up each week!

CRAFT: Layered & Torn Ornaments

 

A few weeks ago we guest posted over at Lines Across and shared this easy and fun DIY.  There are so many possibilities with colors and embellishments that it's almost overwhelming! Have fun!!
What you will need:
Bristol Paper
Watercolors
Glue gun & glue
Styrofoam ball
Embroidery floss

One of the things I love about this project is you can customize the colors of it to match any Christmas decor theme.  Mine has hues of pink and turquoise since my Christmas colors are pink, turquoise, white and gold.  

 First:  Paint your sheet of bristol paper with any colors you'd like.  You don't need to get too specific with the actual design.

Second:  Rip it up!  The nice thing about bristol paper is that it's thick, so the edges almost look fuzzy when you tear it.
Third:  Begin gluing your pieces to the styrofoam ball.  Start from the bottom and slightly overlap each piece, winding all the way around and up in a spiral pattern.

Fourth:  Once you reach the top.  Leave a tiny hole where you can see the styrofoam.  Tie a loop of embroidery floss, large enough to fit on the branch of a tree, and glue it in that hole.

Fifth:  Finish spiraling tiny pieces of torn paper around the embroidery floss to hide the glue, the knot and the styrofoam for a seamless finish.

Sixth:  Hang it up!

Check out our link party page to see where we link up each week!

CRAFT: DIY Needle Felted Tree Skirt

Happy Monday to you all!  In case you missed it, this is a tutorial I shared over at Sugar Bee Crafts a few weeks ago.  An adorable needle felted tree skirt.  You can make it as big or small as you want...  Following along and get in the Christmas spirit!

What you'll need:

Needle felting tool

Needle felting brush

Wool felt (amount depends on size of tree skirt you want)

Wool roving

Scissors

First:

Cut a circle... if you're doing a tiny tree skirt like mine, you can use a big bowl as a template

Second:

Fold your circle in half, and in half again.  Cut an arc at the folded point to create the circle in the center for the tree trunk.

Third:

Cut a straight line from the outside of the circle to the inner circle (this allows you to get it around the trunk of your tree).

Fourth:

Tear of a thin strip of wool roving and line it up about a half inch from outer edge of circle.

Fifth:

Stab it!  Be careful not to stab too much or you will degrade the strength of the felt.  (bottom left photo is showing the back of the felt post-stabbing)

Sixth:

Continue laying strips of roving where you want your stripes to be and stab away!

Once you are finished stabbing all your felt, dress your tree!

I actually think I'll be moving this adorable little tree + skirt to my cube at work!

Guest Posting at The 36th Avenue!

Hi everyone, I hope your weekend got off to a better start than mine did! Everyone but my son came down with a stomach bug, so we were holed up all day yesterday. Thankfully, we all woke up feeling much better so maybe we'll actually see sunlight today ;)

I wanted to let you know that we're over at The 36th Avenue today sharing the tutorial for the Snow Globe Necklace! Come show some love!

Giveaway Winner, Handmade Arcade & BE Taylor

What a week it's been!  Filled with craft shows, Christmas concerts and a giveaway!  Ready to wrap this thing up? We are!

Ladies and Gentlemen... the winner is....

Rebecca Godlove!!!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered and all the new followers we've gathered.  We love you all and couldn't be more grateful for the support and encouragement you've all shown us since getting this blog started. 

Until the next giveaway.. which hopefully won't be too far away.. we've got some things in the works and we're excited to share!!



CRAFT: Snow Globe Necklace

*** Want to buy a finished Snow Globe necklace? You can find it HERE in my shop!**

 

Sometimes I get these project ideas in my head that I just HAVE to make. If I don't make it right away, the project keeps bugging me until I finally get around to it. Case in point: this snow globe necklace. It was kind of a crazy idea considering the glass jar pendants I have are SUPER tiny. When I told Shannon and my mother-in-law about wanting to put a Christmas tree in a jar they thought I was nuts. My unofficial motto has been "make it work," so I knew there was no giving up. And I'm glad I didn't, I'm totally in love with my little winter wonderland in a jar!

SUPPLIES: 1 small bottle brush Christmas tree (found at most craft stores), 1 small glass bottle pendant (I got mine in a pack of 2 from Hobby Lobby), jewelry chain, jump ring, glitter, hot glue gun and glue, toothpick, wire cutters and round nose pliers.

ONE: use your wire cutters to trim the tip of the tree (put your jar next to your tree to determine how much you need to trim off.)
TWO: (this is the tricky part) put a glob of hot glue on the tip of your toothpick and carefully put the hot glue on the inside bottom of your jar. Put your tree in immediately to secure, using the toothpick to position it properly. Let dry.
THREE: carefully fill your jar with glitter.

This is the glitter I found at my local Michael's craft store. You want to use an extra fine glitter so it looks the most like snow. This one is conveniently called "snow." It's perfect for this project! After you've poured the glitter in, put some hot glue on your cork and insert into the bottle to seal. Add your jump ring and chain.

Now you have a perfect little snowy world in miniature.

Here's the necklace in my hand to show you how tiny it is! It's a really fun Christmas accessory and would make a great gift as well.

**PS don't forget to enter our giveaway! Tomorrow is the last day to enter and the winner will be announced on Friday Dec. 14th!!**

Check out our link party page to see where we link up each week!