Craft Projects

Materials:

• Large coffee can
• ¼ yard of cotton material
• White foam sheet
• Piece of brown material (felt or corduroy)
• Glue gun and hot glue
• White tacky glue
• Buttons
• Mop string
• Black pen paint or permanent marker
• White pen paint

Clean and dry a large Coffee Tin can and it’s plastic lid. Then cut some batting and hot glued it to the outside and bottom of can. Glue some batting to the lid top also. Then cut out of blue and white-stripped cotton material into two circles to match up with bottom of the can and the lid top, leaving a small lap over. Glue them on so it overlapped a bit.

To finish off the lid, cut a circle of from white foam sheet just a bit bigger than lid top and tack to underside of lid to close it up neatly. You can use scalloped scissors to cut foam. Using a bit of mop string to the edge of the lid top to give it a finished look.

Then cut a rectangular piece of the same material big enough to wrap around sides of can and folded the edges under to give a nice clean seam. Glue it in place around the can and allowed some to overlap into the can and glued in place.

Fold two small rectangular piece of material and tacked them to can and lid on the inside to attach the lid to can so it can be flipped back and still be attached.

Once done with covering the can then cut out two brown gingerbread men and glued them onto the outside of the can. Decorate them with button eyes and draw in black smiles, a bow tie and some buttons. Outline the gingerbread men with a white paint pen as a frosting. It acts as a great place to store favorite things and could also be filled with things as a gift basket substitute.

Copyright 2008 @CraftsN’Graphics.com by Sharon Graves-MacRae

These projects are free to use for personal use only. All contents and images copyrighted@ and created specifically for CraftsN’Graphics.com all rights reserved. Projects and images are permitted for personal use only. Any other reproduction must have written permission. http://www.craftsngraphics.com
 

     If you think that changing the decoration of a room is costly, think again.

Follow these simple steps and change the decoration in less than a day.

1. Paint By painting a room, you can change the decor and atmosphere instantly and at a very low cost. First, choose a color. Color is an important element in our lives. Our personalities can be reflected in our color choices. We use color to visually communicate, convey emotion, express ideas. Here are some examples of how our personalities are expressed through color.

- Pink, emotional in character, connotes a sensitive heart. It represents caring and sharing, and indicates a strong personality. The concerned and affectionate individual prefers pink. Gently, you offer love, attention and nurturing to those in distress.
- Red symbolizes love, rage and courage. Red is the most dynamic and passionate color. It has great emotional impact. Individuals who select red are aggressive, impulsive and strive for success.
- Orange is the color of autumn. In bright tones, orange is playful and cheerful. In deeper tones, orange is exotic and exciting. Individuals who chose orange have energy, structured and organized.
- Brown represents hearth and home. Individuals who choose brown are conscientious, steady and dependable.
- Yellow is the happiest of all colors. It represents warmth, inspiration and vitality. Yellow means communication, enlightenment, sunlight and spirituality. Individuals who choose yellow look forward to the future, are idealistic, intellectual and highly imaginative.
- Green is the color of life. Green creates an atmosphere that is calm and restful. Individuals who select green seek stability, balance and persistence.
- Teal indicates stability and resistance to change. Individuals who prefer teal are sensitive, optimistic, trusting, have a high degree of faith and hope, and excellent taste.
- Blue is the color of tranquility, orderly, soothing. Those who prefer blue have a basic need for a calm, harmonious and tension-free existence. They are capable, conservative and sensitive to others.
- Violet is the color of luxury, sensuality, passion and depth of feeling. This color creates an unusual atmosphere and provides an unexpected essence. Those who choose violet are unique, highly sensitive and observant. They are also creative and artistically talented and tend to have a complex personality.
- Grey keeps it foreign, remote and distant. Those individuals who prefer this color tend to be careful and articulate, focused and dedicated to their commitments.
- White expresses goodness, purity and innocence. Provides serenity and the essence of perfection. Those individuals who choose white seek excellence and enlightenment in all philosophies. Attempt simplicity, purity and recognition.

Warm vs. Cool Colors

Warm colors invite you into the room with a sense of welcome, warmth and intimacy.

Warm colors make a small room seem smaller and a large room more intimate and cozy.

Cool colors are soothing and tranquil, harmonious and fresh. They are calm and soothing serene shades that make a space appear larger, particularly in its tints of light blue. Cool hues are great for rooms that have natural sunlight.

Before buying paint, go to a paint supply or hardware store and ask for paints that people have ordered and then don’t like them or for paints that have been prepared by mistake.

You can find a gallon of paint for as low as $5.00. In some instances, you can find free gallons that have been returned by customers who don’t ask for a refund and the small paint stores give them away for free.

2. Curtains You can change your curtains for as little as $5.00 each by purchasing bedsheets. For example, when I redecorated my bedroom, I purchased 4 bedsheets for $20. I also purchased curtain hooks and a rod for $10 because I didn’t want to sew new curtains. If you don’t want to spend money on a rod, you can purchase a PVC tube, paint it and use it as a curtain rod.

3. Accessorizing Look throughout your house and choose tables, lamps, framed pictures, candles and other accessories that you like and put them in that room you are redecorating. This is a simple and very cost effective method to change the decor without spending any money. You’ll be amazed at how different the room will look with things you have around your house. See, you can change the decor for as little as $35.

Paint - $5.00 Curtains - $5 each (The total amount spent will depend on how windows you have) Curtain rod and hooks - $10

Maria Estarellas is the webmaster for http://www.1mykids.com “The Complete Website For The Whole Family”. Her website includes parenting tips, crafts, games, school projects and essays, music downloads, clothing, candles, hobbies for Mom and Dad, information on how to start your own online business, beauty tips and more.

About the author: Maria Estarellas is the webmaster for http://www.1mykids.com “The Complete Website For The Whole Family”. Her website includes parenting tips, crafts, games, school projects and essays, music downloads, clothing, candles, hobbies for Mom and Dad, information on how to start your own online business, beauty tips and more.

     Babies, babies, babies-yes the topic of this article is based on interior design for nurseries. The new arrival of a baby brings a time of thankfulness and joy into all parents’ lives. It also brings to mind an important question: where will the nursery be?!? Once the actual space has been decided upon, the next concern will be color scheme and furniture. Before you make all of your choices concerning the new arrival’s bedroom quarters, keep these important tips in mind.

To begin with, the gender of a baby will may influence the color scheme used in the room and this will not be something that will be able to be determined right away so either neutral colors should be used or the painting of the walls and purchasing of the accessories should be prolonged. Keep in mind not to wait too long if it is your intention to paint the room. You will want to be sure to allow any noxious fumes time to disperse before bringing baby home and actually using the nursery. The safety of the child should be one of the main elements involved in the planning of interior design for nurseries. Keep this aspect in mind as you make every choice involved with your design.

Fortunately for the early birds, the traditional ‘pink for girls and blue for boys’ theme is not the happening thing in interior design for nurseries these days. Sure, pink is still associated with girls and blue is still normally in tune with boys design but the strict adherence to these rules is no longer the norm. A complimentary mixture of these colors is the basis of most contemporary designs. There is no reason to limit the possibilities of colors used in interior design for nurseries based on old traditions. Exposure to color in the nursery is your baby’s first environmental experience and it has been confirmed by doctors and scientists alike that this exposure aids in your baby’s development.

Stenciling is a method that has been and still is very popular in interior design for nurseries. Almost any of your neighborhood crafting stores should have a sizeable supply of stencil designs that you can easily use to create a ceiling-level or mid-level border around your baby’s nursery. If you are feeling a little more ambitious, there are many more intricate nursery themed designs that you can purchase in stores or even online that will require a little more time but produce astonishingly impressive designs. If this is still too little work for you, then go all out and create your own stencil patterns by sketching them first onto mat board and then cutting them out with an Exacto knife.

Once your walls are complete, it is time to begin making decisions on the furniture for the room. If you have heirloom baby furniture, let me make a suggestion. Don’t use it. Keep this furniture for display purposes and purchase new furniture. I make this suggestion for two reasons. First of all, baby furniture that was made prior to the 1960’s did not have to adhere to any safety regulations. While your father’s philosophy of ‘they don’t make ‘em like this anymore’ might apply to cars, it does not seem like excellent advice concerning children’s furniture. Secondly, even if the furniture were safe, there is a good possibility that it will be damaged or broken during use. The best bet in any case would be to save these treasures to pass along to your child when they are older and to invest in a new set of furniture for use in your interior design for nurseries.

After the major choices of furniture that cater to the new arrival’s needs have been made, it is important to remember to include a space for mom or dad to sit during those sleepless nights! Rather then purchasing another traditional yet impractical item for the nursery, try considering your alternatives to the long-backed, hard wooden rocker. A comfortable alternate choice might be a spacious, comfortable recliner. You will appreciate this advice at four o’clock one morning as you roll over and try to envision how you would feel sleeping in a rocker around then.

Accessories can make interior design for nurseries come together in a wonderful, and useable way. Never focus on the visual aspect of an accessory for a nursery before you consider its usefulness. You will find out soon that practical items such as diaper holders, changing tables, and so forth are much more appreciated then aesthetic items such as ceramics or stuffed animals. The purchase of stuffed animals brings forth another important safety issue. Be sure not to purchase items with small parts or pieces on them which the baby can choke on.

Once all of the necessary and useable accessories have been purchased for the baby’s room, then feel free to go out and invest in some purely decorative items which you can treasure at a future time. This is, after all, a time you will remember and cherish for the rest of your life.

About the author: Rosemary Leake is an Independent Consultant with Southern Living at Home. Inspired by Southern Living magazine, our exclusive home décor line brings warmth and style to every room of your home! Visit Rosemary’s Interior Design website for more articles and resources - http://www.interiordesignprofits.com. Also get your FREE Mini-Report: “A Complete Guide To Interior Design.”