DIY Arm-warmers!

Arm warmers, have you seen them around? They are becoming more and more popular. I saw some on 2 different websites, and I really wanted them for running. Downside? They are $30! and shipping to Canada is CRAZY! Even if I wanted to buy then from someone who makes them, I am still looking at $30-$45! So, pretty much no way!

Then I got to thinking, hmmmmm, I think I am pretty crafty and I figured I could make my own! And I DID! And so, I am sharing with you my super easy, make them yourself, 5 minute, arm warmes!

Ready? Ok, you will need knee socks, and a sewing machine. Here it goes!

 Cut the foot off your sock, try to get as close to the heel as you can.

Take the foot of your sock, and trim off the end of the toes, and the curvy part of the heel.

Take the foot part and fold it is half, like so, to make the cuff

Line up all the raw edges, and sew!

TA! DA! Arm warmers for $3.99 and 5 minutes!

If you make any, and you blog about them, I want to see your crazy socks! So, please leave a link in the comments below! Which, by the way, if anyone knows some crazy cool places to get some funky knee sock can you let me know? Even better, if you will send me some I will make you some arm warmers!!

Gallery Wall

In Little Bear's room, I have started a gallery wall. We currently have 2 things up there, but there are many, many plans to add more. I enjoyed my first round of crayon art so much, I wanted to try it again. This time I used a much smaller canvas, 8x10 and some leftover crayons. Since Her room is grey and blue, those are the shades of crayons I used, with 2 white ones, and 2 black one thrown into the mix because I needed a few more.

This time I cut the crayons in half, I thought smaller canvas, smaller crayons. When melting the crayons this time I kept the canvas very upright, so there is very few places where the wax dried thick. After letting it sit for the night, I put up the first 2 pieces on the gallery wall.

I think I will just call this the Louvre wall.

Moved

During the summer we moved. Again. We bought a cute little house that was all done, but in serious need of an update. There are plenty of projects that could be done, but there are none that have to be done right away. I like that. I have a million ideas for this place, and I have already started some and finish others. We had a little dinner here with Papa Bears family a couple weeks ago, and my one sister-in-law wanted to see how I had "Mam Bear-ized" the house. So here are a couple of before/afters to show how we've started to put our personalities into our new little cave.

Living Room Before:

Living Room After:

Of course it is now was cleaner *cough*, and those pictures will be coming. So, our new place? We love it, and it is sure fun to Mama Bear-ize it. Feel free to stop in for a tour!

The Room

Once we moved in and were somewhat settled, the one thing I wanted to do the most was Little Bear's room. In fact, when we moved in, we didn't set up her bed, and she wasn't even in the room that was to be hers. I wanted to leave it empty so I could make the most of the blank canvas. It was blank, white walls and tan carpet, about as bland as it gets. I had a vision of what I wanted the room to look like, and it was nothing like Little Bear wanted it to look like. We had very different ideas about this room, most often when I decorate or re-do something I get both Papa Bear, and Little Bear to give me feedback, and ideas too. This was not one of those times. This time, I just said "This is what we are doing". Little Bear's ideas involved a lot more colour and busyness than I thought would be good for a bedroom. I wanted to give her a quiet, peaceful place to relax, and read. We kept other areas of the house bright and fun, the places where we play and watch TV.

The room, is fabulous. It came out almost exactly the way I had it in my mind. So, here in pictures in Little Bears Room.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

For the most part the room is very neutral, I wanted something that could grow with her so I don't have to re-do when she is out of a phase, so that meant no characters of any kind.We did a board and batten look, because I just loved the dimension it gives a room. I wanted it tall, to give the room the illusion of being taller than it is, and it works. The blue is my favorite, it is called cloudless day, and it gives the room height, as well as a nice pop of colour. The bed, we built! and painted a slightly off white colour. The quilt is one I made for Little Bear when she was 2 or 3, there is a new quilt in the works to match the colours of this room.

View my inspiration board for the room on pintrest ---> here

Crayons

So there is this trend that is floating around blog-land. It involves 3 things: Stretched canvas, Crayons & Heat. It will cost you $100 or MORE if you buy it in Etsy, & looks something like this:

Well folks, I am here to blow the lid off  this craft that will cost you less than $10.
You need a canvas, any size, I used 16x20. I got mine at Wal-Mart, 2 for $9.
You need 1 box of crayons, I chose to get a 96 count box for $6, I used half of them.
You need craft glue and a blow dryer. Both of which I already had.

Glue on the Crayons in any order. Let the glue dry for an hour or 2.

Melt with blow dryer.

When you melt the crayons, have something covering your table, and have the canvas tipped up quite a bit so the wax will run down it. I didn't have mine up the whole time, because I was going for the thicker look. If you kept the canvas tipped nearly vertical the whole time, the canvas would be more covered than mine, and you would get more of a washed look to your art. Hang it anyway you want, I think it would look cool to hang this one horizontally. Have fun! I'd love to see what you do with your crayons! Leave a comment below with a link.

Another idea ---> HERE