Give-Away! My Inspirational Wrapped Canvas Prints

Dear Readers:
I’m going to get very real right now.

Momma (me) needs to make some money. Biceps took a huge cut in pay to become a firefighter and our budget is getting tighter every month. If you know anything about me, you know that I am one seriously frugal girl. We operate on a debt-free mindset (no credit cards) and are determined to be completely debt-free (student loans, our rent houses and our house) in six years or less.

I am making every homemade product for myself that I possibly can to save money. I considered selling these, but determined the profit margin wouldn’t be there for me while making it affordable to others.

We drive a paid for, slightly used (hah!) 8 year old van that badly needs new tires. I happily bike all over town so that we don’t have to buy a second car and so that I can burn some extra calories.

That said-I need a job and have been sending out resumes one right after another. This blog pays me diddly squat and being a self-employed writer is either feast or famine. And, as of yet, no one has offered to pay me to sit around looking cute. Dang them.

“The Harvest”
After talking with my mom this morning, she got my creative juices flowing. She reminded me of the prints with scriptures that I made for their bookstore and wondered if it wouldn’t be feasible for me to sell them through Etsy (which she pronounces Es-ty) or something similar.

I instantly thought this was a brilliant idea! I have decided to sell the following prints as wrapped canvas prints.

And, I’m giving one away to a lucky winner! Enter now for your very own FREE inspiration wrapped canvas prints.!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

“His Sheep”
These inspirational wrapped canvas prints are made from original photographs that I have taken around the country as I travel. Each photograph has a significant meaning to me, which I will share with you in a personalized note along with your order.

Now, here’s the lowdown-these wrapped canvas prints are totally customizable with your choice of inspirational saying, scripture, last name-whatever!

The canvas is either .75″ or  1.5″ deep, with the print bleeding all the way to the edges. The best part is-there’s no need to frame this. When you receive the wrapped canvas print, all you need to do is decide on where you want to hang it.

“His Pathway”
These make great gifts for pastors, friends, grandparents-and they look perfect at home or in the office.

“He is my Rock”
If you don’t happen to win this giveaway and still can’t live without one of these, here are a few prices for you to reference (but you can email me if you have a particular size in mind that I haven’t listed):

8 x 10- $49
10 x 14- $59
12 x 16- $64
16 x 20- $75
20 x 36- $169

*These prices include Free Shipping! Please allow 2 weeks for delivery of your item.

“The Light”
Let me know if you have any suggestions or thoughts. I am excited to hear what you, my dear friends, have to say! Don’t forget to enter the give away!

Makin’ a mess for the Neighbors

Biceps and I enjoy making food-type gifts for the neighbors and our tenants each year. Even some of our friends make the cut, and perhaps a few family members that insist on having a loaf of my “Beautiful Banana Bread“.

When they receive their nice little food package from us, they have no idea what a mess I had created in my kitchen.

 

40 Bananas-mushed.

 

To a pulp.

 

That’s forty banana peels. The recipe was octopled – scientifically, that means the recipe was made 8 times. Every bowl, measuring cup, spatula and bread tin was implemented in this all out food-fest.

After wrapping each gift, I added a card and our crazy Christmas Picture and delivered them one by one to my neighbor’s and tenants. This made it feel like Christmas.
So, Merry Christmas, everyone. Hope you enjoy tasty foods and seeing my mug standing on your front porch.

Homemade Paper & Stationary Sets

I love writing thank you notes-real notes in my handwriting using a pen and a piece of paper.
Not an email, a texts or a tweets. A note that comes in an envelope with a stamp on it.

There’s only one thing better than a handwritten thank you note.

A handmade and handwritten thank you note.

This process takes less than an hour to do, plus dry time, and provides an impressive finished product. Let’s get started on making some fancy stationary, shall we?

Here’s what you’ll need to make your very own stationary:

A picture frame (I made mine from scrap lumber)
Blender
Sponge
Window Screen as large as the frame
Recycled paper, construction paper, newspaper, etc
Dried Flowers (If desired)
Paper Towels and Hand towels
Envelopes
Staple Gun
Utility Knife
A plastic bin larger than the frame (I used my sink, instead)

Begin by stapling the screen to the backside of your picture frame. Make sure the screen is securely attached. Over-do it, I give you permission.

Tear the paper into pieces about 2″ or smaller. Fill your blender with the paper, but don’t compress the paper. Add water until the blender is about 2/3 full.

Press the ‘pulse’ button several times to get the mixture going. Then, switch to ‘puree’, until the mixture has almost a smoothie consistency. I did this process several times to create enough of the mixture for the amount of paper I wanted to make.

Fill your plastic bin or in my case, my sink, with the mixture, adding water until it is about 4″ deep. I added enough water to my sink until the consistency resembled more of a soup like texture.

Dip your frame into the mixture, with the top of the frame facing up. Pull the frame out of the water slowly, allowing it to drain. You can even rest the frame on your bin to allow it to drain longer.

Add your dried flowers to the topside of the paper at this point.

Lay out hand towels and place several paper towels on top of them.

Flip your frame over on top of the paper towels. Allow the paper to release itself from the screen slowly. Use a sponge to gently remove as much excess water that you can from the paper. Allow the paper to dry for several hours.

Once the paper is dry, tear it by hand to fit the size of envelopes that you have. Save any scraps to be used as name tags for the final product.

I made a stationary ‘set’ out of four pieces of the homemade paper with four envelopes. I then decorated the sets with scrap ribbon and ric-rac that I had on hand, adding buttons on a couple for a little extra ‘wow’ factor.

I used the scrap pieces of my homemade paper as name tags to accompany the sets.

My homemade stationary sets were a big hit with the family-or so they told me. I choose to believe them.

Rad Rubberband Guns and Mayhem

Biceps and I went the home-made route for our gifts this year. The ladies were easy. But the men? We toiled over what to make for those jokers. With ages ranging from one to a sixty something, it’s difficult to make a gift they could all enjoy. But the Lord offered His wisdom to us, bringing us an epiphany.
What do all men love, no matter their age?

Weaponry. And the bigger, the better.
With that epiphany came the conclusion that our ‘Man Gift’ would be a Rubberband Gun. It was cheap, it was easy and most of all-we were able to do it together-so it was fun.

Here’s what you’ll need to make a Mayhem Inducing Rubberband Gun:
Foam core (or a like material to be used as the gun stencil)
Plywood
Palm Sander and Medium Grit Sand Paper
Microfiber Cloth or lint free rag
Oops Paint/Stain
Skill Saw or a Jig Saw (not pictured)
Scroll Saw (depending on the intricacy of the design)
Clothes Pin
Rubberband
Tape Measure

You’ll also want:
5 Minute Epoxy
Brad Nails
Foamy Brushes

And, we added a few optional accessories that aren’t necessary, but are pretty stinkin’ cool:
For the strap:
Three feet of 1” canvas webbing (from the Army Surplus Store)
Two Drywall Screws and washers per gun to attach the strap

Name or initials:
Spray Paint
Stencils

Using the foam core, draw and cut out the stencil of the desired gun design. Trace the design onto the plywood. Cut the basic design out of the plywood using the jig saw or a skill saw.

If the design is intricate or has tight curves (heh heh), I recommend using a scroll saw for the finishing touches.

Once the design is cut from the plywood, sand the wood smooth with the palm sander.

Remove the dust with a lint free rag or a micro fiber cloth.

Apply the stain with the foamy brushes and let dry. I like to wear gloves, but you may like that dirty nail look that is virtually unremovable for weeks, even when you have an important meeting….

Once the stain is dry, cut in the paint with another foamy brush and let dry. Either paint or stain the clothespin during this process-depending on your preference.

If applicable, line up your guns while they are drying and revel in their glory. I know that’s what we did.

Disassemble the clothespin and apply 5 minute epoxy to the bottom side of the clothespin.

Glue the bottom side of the clothespin to the desired spot on the gun. We glued our clothespins 17” away from the release point. Brad nail the bottom side of the clothespin to the gun for added strength. Reassemble the clothespin once the epoxy is completely dry.

The next two steps-applying a name and adding a strap-are optional. We were making fourteen of these suckers, so we decided to put names on each gun in order to keep them straight within the family.
Tape the stencils to the gun using a quick release tape or blue painters tape. Mask off the rest of the gun to protect it from overspray. Spray the name with several light coats of spray paint.

The strap was made with a three foot piece of 1” canvas webbing. Use a washer to protect the screw from going completely through the strap.

Screw the strap into the desired spots on the gun.

Here is one of our many finished products. So stinkin’ cool.

And here is the small arsenal of gifts once completed, taking over our home.

Biceps insisted he test out each of the guns.

I was caught in the line of ‘friendly fire’ several times.

He protested his innocence. And he’s so dang cute, he’ll get away with almost anything.

Each recipient fully tested their new weapon. At my house. For hours. With exuberance and glee. I suppose it’s my fault. I had a part in making them.
Merry Christmas, boys. Merry Christmas.