Random Craft

Did you notice the new header on my blog?  Yes, after having my little blog for 6 years I have decided to change its name.  So long to "One Crazy Stampin' Mama" & hello to "Random Craft."  Why the name change?  Well, I've been thinking about it for a couple of years now actually.  I no longer sell Stampin' Up! products, my crafting has become so much more than stamping & I hardly ever really stamp anymore so I decided to change it up.  I like the name "Random Craft" because that's what I feel I do.  I make random crafts.  I like to craft in general & so you will see a lot of random things on my blog.  Hopefully no one else is already using this title for a blog, I tried looking & it didn't seem like it.  Anyway, I'm trying it out.

So...on to my random crafts of late.

A few weeks ago I decided to make a cushion for the bench in our entryway:

We have had this bench FOREVER.  And it has taken lots of abuse from my children.  There are sticker remnants on the top, crayon marks, pencil marks, etc.  I wanted to make a cushion to cover up all of the markings & to add some color into our family room.  And I didn't want to sew a cushion cover.  So, thanks to some ideas on Pinterest, I made this really fast & easy cushion.  I bought the fabric at JoAnn's & then I bought some thick foam there too.  (Use your coupons for JoAnn's!)  Then I had my hubby get a piece of plywood for me one day when he was at Home Depot.  They cut it to the exact size we needed for the top of the bench.  I used the plywood as a guide to trim the foam to the same size just using a serrated knife.  Then I just laid the fabric out upside down, laid the foam on top of that, laid the plywood onto that & then started stapling the fabric down with my handy staple gun.  Of course, I went slowly, making sure the fabric was pulled tight & that the corners were folded nicely.  Took me maybe 10 minutes & it was on my bench!

I love it:

Now just as soon as little Quinn (14 month) stops eating shoes we can move our tan show bins back into those cubbies in the bench & it will be much more functional again.

We also spruced up the girls' bathroom a little bit:

Gosh.  Sorry my photos are so dark.  Anyway, thanks again Pinterest for these great ideas!  My hubby hung a wood strip along the entire wall of our bathroom where the old towel bar was.  Then we added 5 simple hooks.  Now we can hang 5 towels up instead of just 2.  It is so great!  Especially when we have visitors staying at our house, everyone has a place to hang their towel to dry.  And I love the shower curtain too!  It nicely covers up our outdated tub/shower combo until we can afford to re-do it.  Thank you Home Goods!  

I also printed out these bathroom printables that I found on Pinterest & stuck them in cheap white frames:

They look cute!  And I love the pops of color they bring into our very tan bathroom.  Just search "bathroom printables" on Pinterest & they pop right up.  I'm still trying to decide what color I want to paint that bathroom...

Also a few weeks ago I managed to find some time on a rainy day to make a few more coloring purses.  I made one for my daughter & then 2 others for her cousins.  They all turned out really cute:

These things are so handy & get a lot of use from my girls.

Here's the crayon side:

And then a simple ruffle on the other side:

I made these ones slightly larger than I usually do so that they can hold a full-size coloring book.  

I have to say it was so nice to have my sewing machine out again.  I just love sewing.  It is so fun creating things from just some simple supplies like fabric & thread.  And it is a great stress-reliever!  Well, as long as the kids are asleep!  

Happy Independence Day!

My husband's job requires him to work every 4th of July.  Every year.  Every.  Single.  One.

It really stinks because we love the 4th of July!  And it's just not the same celebrating without him.  But, what can we do?  In our city fireworks were made legal again this year.  We haven't been able to do fireworks here (legally) since I was a little girl.  So, of course, we headed to our local fireworks stand to pick some up.  We set them off last night because the hubby has to work today.  

Our girls loved it:

 Such a fun holiday & celebrating our independence & the birthday of our great country!

So I had been meaning to write this little post for a long time, but it just didn't happen.  We've been so busy.  My oldest just had her tonsils & adenoids out & her ears drained so we've been recovering from that.  It was supposed to be an outpatient surgery, but she just didn't handle it as well as we thought & we ended up staying in the hospital overnight.  Luckily I think we are on the mend now!  It's so hard watching your children suffer & be in pain.  

Anyway, I didn't have a lot of time to make any 4th of July crafts this year, but I did a few that I wanted to show you.  All were inspired by Pinterest, of course!

Here's what I put on my little red shelf in our entryway:

The "God Bless America" printable is found here.

The 4th of July subway art is found here.

The fireworks we made at our Super Saturday at church last month, inspired by this. 

This was super easy to make too & I have it above my bookshelf in our family room.  I just taped off the stripes on a 12 x 12 canvas & then painted them red.  I painted a metal star navy blue & then hot glued it down to the canvas.  I wish I had a star that was a little bigger, but this was the only size I found at my craft store.  The canvas star art was inspired by this.

So I know it's a little late now to share these, but you could always make them now & then you'll be way ahead of the game for next year!

I hope you all had a fun & safe 4th of July!