Made By Smree

I cannot hear this song without wanting to sing along and dance. Hopefully, it'll do the same for you! :) Enjoy!

This is actually a repost from my old version of this blog...but hey, it works right!? Right!  I love geeky little stuff. A lot. I love messenger bags. A lot. It's even better when the two things I like a lot merge. For example, the Stark Industries messenger bag I saw over at We Love Fine Tees . However, I did not like the price. So I did what any insane crafty minded individual would do. I promptly bellowed "I can make that!" and set out to do it.  And I did.  Here's what I used.  -gray messenger bag from Target (I think it cost $14.99-$19.99) - Tulip fabric paint ($1.50 each) in black, silver glitter and light blue - round sponge brushes ($1 for the pack of two) - Stark Industries logo (printed onto cardstock) - cutting mat - exacto knife First, I used the mat and knife to cut out the logo to make my stencil. I actually printed this out twice, and I'm glad I did, because I goofed the first one up. Whoops!  I use...

I have a confession: I am terrible at styling hair. Really terrible. My repertoire usually consists of straight with the occasional headband thrown in, or a pony tail. There are a few variations here and there, but they are few and far between.  However, I recently decided that if I was going to have hair as long as I do, then I really should learn how to do something with it. So I began scouring Pinterest for some easy ideas to try out.  And that is where I discovered the Brilliant Braid! Here's the original pin (which I tried to embed, but apparently such things elude me. Apologies.). It looked simple enough, so I decided to give it a try. Here's my first attempt at it. Not too shabby, eh? And it's absolutely easy as pie, even for the styling-challenged like myself.  I did it a few times to get a better grasp of it, and I've found a bit of practice helps to 'fine tune' the process. It goes quicker each time, too, which is a bonus! H...

Our Vacation Bible School is this week, and the theme for this year is 'Investigation Destination'. It's a detective theme, and boy is it hard to find decorations/etc to go with it! But that's another story.  On Sunday, I nabbed a bit of inspiration, and decided to make some detective badges for my kiddos using some stuff in my craft stash. I decided to post it here, as I figured it might help some other poor soul who is scouring the interwebs looking for detective themed crafts/etc. :) You will need:  - Felt (I used some from the Dollar Tree. 14 sheets for $1) - Craft foam in yellow and orange (also from the Dollar Tree) - Badge template (Got one off Google!) - Pencil/Pen - Scissors - Glue (any glue will work, I'd think) - Sharpie (not shown) Use the pen/pencil (I found a pen worked best) to trace the outline of the badge template onto the foam. Cut out the badges, and use a sharpie to write your message of choice. I went wi...

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit Shatley Springs for the first time. It was absolutely beautiful there.  For those not in the know, Shatley Springs is in a town waaay up near the North Carolina/Virginia line called Crumpler. The land was originally purchased by a Mr. Martin Shatley in 1890, and it was in that year he discovered the spring. Supposedly, the water from the spring has natural healing qualities. (Check out the History and Testimonial sections of the Shatley Springs website for more on all this. It's an interesting read, I promise!) Roses at the door to the restaurant Presently, Shatley Springs is an inn (they have cabins you can rent), and also restaurant. They serve family style breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can also order individual plates, but really, the family style is the best bargain. And it's delicious .  Family style breakfast was $10 a person, and included country ham, sausage, bacon, grits, eggs, biscuits, gr...

Awhile back, a friend of mine informed me of an opportunity to do something that I thought was pretty darn cool. At one of the local community colleges, an instructor was heading up a volunteer group to make sleeping mats for the homeless. These mats are crocheted using 'plarn' (yarn made from plastic bags). The mats are supposedly better than conventional blankets, as they are easier to clean and don't attract bugs.   We both thought it was a great idea, and as we both love to crochet, we decided to give it a whirl. She picked up enough materials for the both of us to get started, and so we did.  I finished my mat recently, and I'm super proud of how it turned out. Naturally I took pictures! It's approximately the size of a smallish blanket, which is (I think) bigger than it was supposed to be.  Oops. All in all, I think it took easily a couple hundred bags to complete. I know I ran out of the plarn I was given pretty quickly, and had to m...