Marvel comic flats - A Friday night adventure

I've been kind of on a decoupage kick lately and on Friday night I was bored and decided to try something new.  I had an old pair of fabric flats that I wasn't wearing anymore, and I had seen some nice shoes done with comic panels on Pinterest.  So I figured I could try it out and see what happens.  If they didn't turn out, I was only out a pair of shoes I didn't wear anyway.

I went about choosing some various action panels and then a few character panels that I could add on later.  I Mod Podged each panel and went about setting it on the shoe.  The more Mod Podge the better as it makes the panels more pliable and easier to follow the curve of the shoe.  One thing became apparent right away.  Fabric shoes are not the way to go.  They bend too much while you are trying to set your panel and even as they are drying can collapse on themselves.  It is very hard to keep the two materials together while they are drying as well.  I know for next time that a sturdier shoe would be the best for decoupaging.  But, I made the best of it and muddled through.  I even tried stuffing the shoe, but since I had to secure the panels to the inside I didn't want the stuffing to be suck to the shoe too!  After the first layer of panels was down it became a bit easier as the shoe was now sturdier but the toe was always an issue.  I then placed my character panels where they fit best and used three more coats of Mod Podge to secure everything down.  It was at this point that I decided to secure everything with a layer of sealer, just in case.  So, I stuffed the shoe with plastic bags and wax paper and spayed it with the sealer.  I then let them dry overnight.

All in all I am happy with them, and I was able to wear them to "The Avengers" movie.  There are things I will do differently next time, and I will never use a fabric shoe again! 

Everything that involves cream cheese is good!

I had seen this recipe on Pinterest and I couldn't resist.  Those that know me know that I have a weakness for anything with cookie dough in it!  So when I found a Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip recipe I knew I had to try it!  Plus it involved cream cheese, so it was a win-win. 

I didn't put in as much icing sugar as it called for since I didn't want it to be too sweet (see my cupcake post regarding the frosting) and I also used dark chocolate semi sweet chips.  Be sure to whip the sugar in very thoroughly; you don't want sugar crystals in your dip!  I may want to increase the brown sugar a bit next time, just to give it more of a cookie taste. 

It turned out fantastic!  I was so happy with the results and my hubby was too.  It tasted almost exactly like cookie dough!  I served it with Honey Teddy Grahams.  I also have a recipe for a Brownie Batter Dip that I may want to try....

Into the Breach

For my first project I decided to do something simple.  Something that I could complete with relative ease and something not too time consuming.  This way if it failed miserably, I could say I tried and not feel bad about spending tons of money or my life on it.  Chock it up to experience and move on.

So while on Pinterest, I spied lots of vases with silk flowers in them as centerpieces.  Now, normally I don't go for things like that, but something about a simple square glass vase spoke to me.  I then had an idea. My bridal bouquet has been hanging around, doing nothing but collecting dust for quite some time now.  It has moved with us from home to home and never really had a spot.  In our last place it was hanging in the closet and in our new home it had found a space on the top of a bookcase.  It was too big to really be displayed anywhere, but I wasn't going to throw it away.  I got the flowers in silk so that I could have them forever.  So, I decided then to deconstruct my bouquet and repurpose it into a centerpiece.

A trip to Michaels and 20.00 dollars later for a square vase and I was ready to begin.  I removed all the flowers from my bouquet along with the blue ribbon as well.  I left the ivy on the holder to take off as I needed.  There was a lot of it and I didn't end up using every bit.  I then proceeded to position the flowers in the vase, making sure that it looked the way I wanted from every angle.  I added the ivy and ribbon around the main orchids and roses. I did have to reposition a couple of items once everything was in the vase, but some deft maneuvers with chopsticks made short work of those minor issues.  I also made sure to keep all the flowers inside the vase.  My cats are curious and I didn't want to come home to all my work being destroyed.

All in all I was very happy with the results.  I had some extra flowers left over, so I grabbed a small vase from the dollar store and arranged the remaining ones in it.  I really like the height difference between the two vases and I think they work really well together as a set.

In total I only spent about 21.00 dollars.  But more importantly, I survived my first taste of crafting and I survived it with success.  This has given me the confidence to move onto complicated projects.  I have been bitten by the crafting bug!

How this all began...

This whole kick started with an innocent post by my cousin on Facebook.  She posted a neat idea for organization from a website called Pinterest.  After a couple of days, I decided that I wanted to see what this website was all about.  So I looked it up online and found a Internet based pin board for ideas and interests.  I figured that this may be something that I could use for making my life a bit more organized.  So I emailed for an invitation and when it came I signed right up! 

At first I basically was searching the boards all over the place.  Never really staying on one for too long.  Then I hit the DIY & Crafts board.  Well I was hooked.  All the little things that I wanted to buy for around the house could be made!  And all the tutorials made it look like I could do it...and easily!  Now, usually my crafts never turn out the way I want.  This is due largely to lack of patience on my side.  Not waiting for things to dry fully, or not reading directions are a couple of examples.  So I had pretty much given up on the idea of being crafty.  But, since those days I had changed, largely due to Warhammer 40K.  I had started painting the tiny models and due to my OCD I needed them to be prefect.  This usually led to me spending on average 3 hours per model.  If that doesn't teach you patience I don't know what will!  I then decided to choose a simple project to test the waters.  I will discuss that in my next post.

I do have another blog I share with my hubby, but since it is mostly nerd based, I figured I would start another blog separately from ours to show my domestic side.  This doesn't mean I won't link to that one when my crafts take a nerdy turn!