OMTWI Season 7 {voting starts today}+ Project Run & Play

Season 7 voting starts today
for One Month to Win It!!!
So exciting!  This week’s theme is The Graphics Fairy! 
You won’t believe what the ladies came up with.  A.maz.ing.!!!!! 
Annnnd guess whose guest judging???  Me!
Which one is YOUR favorite????

{Vote here!}

  I’m also one of sponsors
for this seasons Project Run & Play.
Season 3 started yesterday…
they have a sew along at home contest, too!
{Check out all the details here.}
It’s going to be fun!

omtwi {final recap + auditions for Season 7}

Auditions for Season 7 for One Month to Win It started TODAY!
So just click here & link up!
Remember anyone can win it!
I was chosen as a wild card contestant last season, so I know! :)
You can do it!  It will be fun!  Good luck!!! :)

Here they are…one last time…ALL of my projects from Season 6:

1.  Krylon Challenge: Outdoor Chalkboard with Desk
{tutorial here}

2. DecoArt Challenge: Laundry Room Sign
{tutorial here}

3. Styrofoam Challenge: Coffee Filter Wreath
{tutorial here}

4. Christmas Challenge: Block Nativity Set
{tutorial here}

So…did YOU link up yet????
What are you waiting for….go! :)

omtwi finale {block nativity set}

Seriously. I am in shock!  I can’t believe I won One Month to Win It!  Crazy! :)

First off, congratulations to the other two ladies in the finales, Molly & Kate!
I think we all agreed the competition was TONS of fun,

and best of all we got to meet some new crafty friends! :)
Thank you to everyone from OMTWI! :)  It was a blast!
Oh by the way….auditions for Season 7 start Monday!

Annnd for this project I have to thank my hubby!
I told you before how indecisive I was about which project to submit.
I had a couple already done.  Of course, I asked my hubby what he thought…
he wasn’t too impressed with what I had come up with (at least he’s honest) ;)

and he said why don’t you make a nativity….so once I had the idea
the rest just fell into place.  I really do love how it turned out! 

There’s another reason I love it, too.  I tell YOU in a minute! :)
 

 

This project was super easy & best of all, didn't cost me a thing! 
Wahoo!  I just used scraps of wood from our shed,

and a few craft supplies that I already had on hand! :)

Here's the {easy} tutorial on how I painted my blocks.

To make each piece:

I just got my block of wood. 

Painted the face of it a creamy white.  Let it dry. 

I used vinyl nativity pieces as stencils.  I cut these using my Silhouette & software. 

I applied my vinyl to my block of wood & then painted over it. 

It took about 2-3 coats of paint depending on the color I was using. 

Then I let it dry completely & then carefully removed the vinyl. 

Touched up any areas the paint might of bled through with a fine tipped paint brush. 

Sanded the edges with sand paper to give my blocks a worn appearance.

Then I went over the entire block with some light wood stain. 

I removed any excess stain with a rag.  That was it!  Super easy!

In my OMTWI post I didn’t have space to show you my cute star. 
I had bought this star in Nauvoo when we went this past summer,
& it made the perfect star for the nativity. 
I just got a block of wood, painted it, drilled a small hole
& stuck a stiff piece of wire in the hole & then hot glued my star on.  Perfect!

Here’s some more pictures!  I took a ton! :)

 

Here are the sizes of my blocks:

{All in inches}

Baby Jesus 4 x 2

Mary 5.5 x 2.5
Joseph 5.5 x 3

camel 5 x 7

star block 4.5 x 2.5

 

stable 18 x 10
wise man #1 5 x 2.5

wise man #2 5.5 x 5

wise man #3 4 x 3.5

shepherd #1 5.5 x 3

shepherd #2 4 x 2.5

shepherd #3 6 x 3

both sheep 2.5 x 3

donkey 5.5 x 4

cow 6 x 4

OK now here’s my favorite part about this nativity set-
it can be played with!!!  Nothing can be broken!
So it’s perfect for the kiddos to take out, stack up,
line up & act out the Christmas story with.
Annnd hopefully in the process learn
more about the true meaning of Christmas! :)

 

Yep, I spent $5.00 (or under) on this project. 
So I’m adding the $5.00 (or under) button to this post. Yay!

Reminder:  If you have any $5.00 (or under)
Christmas projects, click the button & link up. :)

Thanks again to everyone from OMTWI
and to all of YOU for voting each week!!!

finale {voting starts today}

I made it the finales of One Month to Win It!!!!
Yes!  I’m very excited!  Wahoo!
(Thank YOU for all the support!)

TODAY voting begins for Round 4!

 
Round 4’s theme was Christmas! 
Yay for Christmas!

{picture source}

You know the drill I can’t tell you a hint, a clue….nothing! 
Just to go vote for your favorite! :)

I have had so much fun having you guess which one was mine!
So leave a comment here telling me which one you think it is,
& I’ll let you all know who got it right on Friday!

omtwi {season 6}

Tomorrow is the finales
of One Month to Win It!!!!

I was busily working on my project through Thanksgiving! 
We literally had to clean all the craft stuff off the table
before we could eat our turkey!  It was crazy! :)
I can’t wait to see everyone’s projects! 
Voting starts tomorrow!!

Today I wanted to introduce YOU to the ladies of OMTWI!

To be in the same group with this fabulous bunch
of crafty & talented ladies is such an honor!
Just check out some of their projects!  Amazing! 
If you have a chance click on over to their blogs!
(You’ll be so glad you did!)

First off Kate & Molly…the other 2 ladies in the finale! 
Aren’t these projects amazing!!!???

Kate from A Piece of Kate's



and

Molly at Just a Little Creativity

Here’s the rest of the group!

Jaime from Crafty Scrappy Happy
(Jaime has a link party on Thursdays!)
Annnd did you know Jaime won American Crafter!? She’s amazing!

Amy from A Nest for All Seasons
Amy has the most beautiful pictures on her blog!

Michelle at Prudently Painted Vintage
(You’ll want to check out her tutorial
on how she made this fabulous wood sign!)

Jenna from 2027
Her blog is super cute!

Shannah from Just Us Four
(Shannah has a giveaway linky on Fridays!)

Jenni from Kissed by a Frog
Jenni is fabulous!  I knew her before the competition. :)
She’s got tons of fun stuff going on over on her blog.
(including a link party on Thursdays)
I’m actually over on her blog today…so stop by & say hi!

Courtney from Between U & Me
(Courtney has a link party on Thursdays, too!)

Kim from Simply Living
I love Kim’s paper Christmas tree…you’ll have to check it out!

Can’t wait for tomorrow! :)

OMTWI round 3 {coffee filter wreath}

Are YOU sitting down???? 
I made it to the final round of One Month to Win It!!!!
I'm so honored to be in this competition with such talented ladies,

& to make it this far in the competition is truly humbling!

Thank YOU to everyone who’s been voting!

(Especially to my dad…who totally did NOT vote for mine!)

 

This week the theme was Styrofoam.  It was tough!
So a BIG shout out to these ladies

for helping me get some Styrofoam-y ideas flowing!
Thank you!

 

Could YOU tell which one was mine?
If YOU guessed the {coffee filter} wreath…you were right!

 

 

When I heard that Round 3 was Styrofoam Crafts I was extremely nervous.

I have NEVER used Styrofoam before (well...besides sipping my hot chocolate in!)

I know seriously... and can YOU believe I actually have a craft blog??!!  Crazy!  :) 

I have ALWAYS wanted to use coffee filters to make a wreath! 

I think they are so pretty!  So here's how I made mine! :)

 

 

What you need: 

Styrofoam wreath

2 packages of coffee filters

stick pins (use the ones with the little colored balls on the ends)

ribbon

 

How I did it:

I laid my Styrofoam wreath form on the table. 

Then I stuck my stick pin right through the middle of one coffee filter,

folded my coffee filter up around it & made a "coffee filter dart" in a way. :) 

Then I stuck that into my Styrofoam wreath.  Kept doing that over & over again.

I tried to stick them as close together as possible. 

I did that about 300-400 more times until I had gone all the way around. 

FYI: I left the back of my wreath empty so my wreath would lay flat against the wall. 

Then I tied a ribbon loosely around the top of my wreath,

& I hung it up on the wall in our master bathroom.

 

 

Love how it turned out!

 

Next week we are taking a break for Thanksgiving.
So the finales will be the following week.
This time the theme is Christmas!  Yay!  Can’t wait!
I’ll keep you posted!!!!

 

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

 

{voting time}

The last time I asked someone to vote for me was in 7th grade when I ran for Student Council Treasurer against this really cute & popular 8th grade boy & LOST! 
Yikes!  Annnd today I’m going to ask YOU to vote not once but twice!
So please help me redeem myself…hehe ;)

First off, today Round 3 starts over on One Month to Win It. 
This week’s theme is Styrofoam! 

I can’t wait to see what all the ladies came up with! 
This is the final round before the finale…
so please, please VOTE for your favorite! 
Come back here & let me know which project you think is mine! 
I’ll let you know Friday who got it right! :) {vote here}

 ANNNND (Are you sitting down??) I found out this past weekend
that I was nominated for The Blog Guidebook’s Top Blog of 2011. 
Voting is now open!  So if you get the chance please swing by & vote for Ginger Snap Crafts.
Thank you so much!!!  {vote here}

OMTWI round 2 {new laundry room sign}

Thank you, thank you for keeping me in another week!

I’m having so much fun, I LOVE getting out of my “crafty comfort zone”.

I’m also very humbled & amazed to be grouped together
with this wonderful group of CrAfTy ladies!  You guys are awesome!

So did you guess right??  My project was the laundry room sign!

(AND for this project I broke out my big boy…my Cameo for the first time!  So fun!}

 

 

For this round I chose to make a
{new} laundry room sign from an old cabinet door!

 

I've had this old cabinet door forever!  Finally got around to making something with it!  Yay!  Thanks, OMTWI! :)  Basically I cut some vinyl using my Cameo, it's digital design & software.  I used the vinyl negative {the part you usually throw out} to make a stencil that fit my board perfectly.  I used DecoArt Designer Series All-Purpose Acrylic Paint in white in this project.  I really wanted to try the DecoArt Stencil Paint but they didn't carry it at my Hobby Lobby.  :(  The DecoArt acrylic paint worked pretty well though! Yay!  I did had a few hiccups & change ups along the way, but I LOVE how it turned out! (*For all the hiccups & change ups see below!) After I was done with the words I slightly roughed up the cabinet door edges with sand paper & then hung it on the wall.  :)

I love, love, love it!  I keep going in my laundry room again & again to look at it! 

You'd think I'd get more laundry done this way...but no luck! 
Still got piles & piles of laundry to do!  :)  So, I'd better get busy! ;)

       

 

*OK…you ready for the not so glamorous parts! :)  I used the DecoArt paint (the white paint) for the word laundry, BUT I used some paint I already had for the other words…a tan colored paint---a latex paint.  Not to self…DO NOT use latex paint for stenciling!  You know how it’s a little stretchy… well, when I went to take off my vinyl stencil the paint wanted to come off too!  gggggggrrrr!!!!  So I had to use my handy dandy metal spatula (Yes, you can call me MacGyver!) to scrap off all the messed up paint! Another grrrr!!.  I ended up having to restain the cabinet door to get it looking nice again…so the white DecoArt paint (which stencil fabulously) is now a cream colored because of the stain.  Then I had to redo all the other wording in white….AND then when I went to hang it up I actually made the sign up side down!  I had nagged  asked my hubby (before he went out of town for the week) to drill some holes in the back of the cabinet door so I could hang it up when I was done BUT of course I didn’t even look at the back before I started putting the words on! So add another grrrr!  So here’s my other MacGyver moment I had to use ribbon, staple gun & a couple of nails to hang it up so I could take pictures! Long story short…my almost crafty disaster turned out to be a success!  Love my new laundry room sign! :)

 

Thank YOU for voting for me & keeping me in the competition!
I’m excited to see what everyone does next week.
Next week’s challenge is Styrofoam!!!  Should be interesting! :)

 

Have a fabulous weekend!

 

{voting time}

I made it two Round 2 of One Month to Win It!!!!
Yes!  I’m very excited!  Wahoo!
{Thank YOU for voting last week!}

TODAY voting begins for Round 2!

Round 2’s theme was to make something using a DecoArt product!

Once again I can’t tell you a hint, a clue….nothing! 
Just to go vote for your favorite! :)

I had so much fun last week having you guess which one was mine!
So leave a comment here telling me which one you think it is,
& I’ll let you all know who got it right on Friday!