It has been unbearably hot the past few weeks.  By no means am I an outdoors kind of girl, so, we have worked on a few craft projects lately. 

I recently saw a great pantry overhaul that I fell in love with.  Especially the patterned walls.  To bring some life and pattern to our entertainment center, I painted the same quatrefoil pattern on a magazine file.  I simply printed the stencil and used a xacto knife to cut it out.  Then, I traced the pattern the painted file and filled it in.  It took some time, but I think it adds much-needed life to the space.

I have meant to make a terrarium for months now, and finally got around to it.  We had some moss growing on our back patio, so I dug it up.  I had a few apothecary jars already, so I placed a few rocks in the bottom and added my moss.  Because no terrarium is complete with out small critters, I bought some polymer clay.  Then I shaped the clay into birds and a squirrel and inserted wire in the base.  Following the instructions, I baked for my animals for 20 minutes and let them dry.  Now for the fun part, painting.  To add color, I used plain acrylic paints from Michael’s.  After a few base coats, I was ready to start adding details.  Add a few eyes, wings, beaks and noses and I had a set of animals for my terrarium.

I’ll post pictures of the terrariums soon, but I still have a few things to finish.

I hope to change out some items in our boys’ room to add some color.  To start things off, I updated Ev’s bird mobile.  I reused the light blue birds, but made new green and yellow birds to give it a new look.   

You can easily make your own bird mobile; go here for a tutorial.  Have you done any craft projects recently?