Painting under the influence

A few years ago, Terry and I used to have Craft and Beer Fridays, where we would get together and craft under the influence*.  Well, tonight Dudefriend and I got the opportunity to imbibe while taking a painting lesson!  We checked out Pints and Paints (due to a sweet sweet Dealmob we received as a gift) and had a blast.

The picture was called "Iron Horse."  I think I won.  I mean, whoops.  It's not a competition. It's not a competition. It's not a competition.

*Crafting under the influence, unlike painting under the influence, is not an activity for novice crafters.  Please note that I do not endorse amateur drunk crafting.  It takes years of glue gun burns and needle-wielding to be able to hold your own on the craft frontier.  It's a dangerous world.  If you don't believe me, pick up a copy of  Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People at your local bookstore.**

**(guys, that's actually a really funny video, you should watch it)

Gift Wrappin'

Have you guys noticed how expensive wrapping paper is? This Christmas, I'm a little low on funds (going back to school has this way of sucking you dry) and so I wanted a way to wrap presents and make them look cute, but on the cheap.

Solution: paper bags. I asked the cashier at Kroger for some extras, and they gave me a whole stack!

First, I cut down the middle of one side and then cut the bottom out to make one long peice, like this. I saved the bottoms to make gift tags.

Wrap up your box, and you'll discover that it's a great blank canvas!

I took pastels and drew designs. You could also decoupage, use stickers or stamps, or even leave it blank!

I had leftover tissue paper from last year and yarn from my Charlie Kelly Halloween costume, so I used those to dress up the package.

This post by one of my favorite bloggers, Delightfully Tacky, reminded me of the pompoms I used to make as a kid. Her method is a little different than mine: I just wrap yarn around my fingers a bunch of times, and then carefully slide it off.

Tie your yarn ball carefully (and VERY tightly) to the top of the package. You want it tight, or else it will fall apart.

Clip the loops and fluff out the yarn so it's a pompom!

I used scrapbook paper and the bag bottoms to make gift tags. I had that little clay stocking left over from a few years ago too, so I used it to tie the yellow tissue paper in to the rest of the package.

Voila! There are a bunch of variations, but it's fun and cute, and super cheap!

Jess Gets Competitive

A couple of nights ago, dudefriend and I competed in (and won!) a Gingerbread House competition!

Our theme was "Gingerbird House"

We made the sidewalk out of Big Red chewing gum, and the bushes out of broccoli.

I curled up pieces of chewing gum to add texture to the roof. Dudefriend carefully cut a hole in the front of the house for the bird to get in and out, and then an even smaller hole for the candy cane perch.

There's even a little pretzel privacy fence, engineered by dudefriend, to keep out the "Peep-ing Toms"!

The back of the house has another hole - a window, complete with pretzel windowpanes and a flower box filled with Nerds.

The piece de resistance: Peeps!