Instagram, bloglovin', and Spoonful of Imagination, Oh My!

Just a quick update on a few of my favorite things while I watch The Voice.
(There's a girl named Audra, yay!)

I have always loved me some Instagram... but as of late the people I follow has really taken off. Why? Because there are SO many amazing handmade crafters out there that I would never have had access to without Instagram. Between crafters tagging each other in posts and the use of a hashtags I have so many phenomenal and inspirational crafty women. Through Instagram I found the next two of my favorite things! 

bloglovin'.... WOW. I just love it because of the ease of use and clear organization. What is it you ask? All you do is sign up for an account, enter the names of your favorite blogs, and it creates the feed FOR YOU as new updates are added to the blogs. Another great thing about it is that it is a FREE app for your phone! Doesn't get any better than this folks. I have came across SO many create blogs here lately and what a headache it would be to try and keep track of them on my own. Can you imagine the mess?! I can't. This tool is a lifesaver!

After many of my projects I often hear, "How do you do that?" or "You are so creative! I wish I could do that." Honestly, I'm a copy-cat crafter. Is that a thing? I don't know, but it's true. I see an idea, and I make it my own with a few tweaks here and there to personalize it or I combine several different ideas for a new project all together. (Insert Pinterest obsession here) 

Anyways, my final share for you is a crafting blog/company that I found through Instagram today. It's called a Spoonful of Imagination. Not only does it has great DIY's, but it brings them TO YOU! With the Spoonful Tribe she puts together a great craft, a how-to video, along with the supplies, and ships it to you! It's a monthly subscription, and it looks like you could possibly do it month by month for a relatively low price. So, if you struggle with DIY or just want to be networked with other great crafters I think this would be a great start for either direction! 

Today wasn't about my projects, but connection you with other people with the same passion that I have... just CREATE!! Hope you have been inspired like I have!

- Audra 

DIY Be My Guest Sign

As with most of my projects, the idea for this one came from some great finds on Pinterest. Here are the pictures of my pinspiration: 

Who doesn't love them some Beauty and the Beast inspired home decor?! 

Obviously the first step would be to find the lettering and all the supplies for creating this project: 

I picked out a scrapbook paper color palette to go with my guest bedroom. 

Then I wanted to have the mixed metals so I found some great keys made for scrapbooking and various sparkles (a must have in any crafting project.) 

{This is where you make it your own! Get CREATIVE. :)}

After you have all the supplies it's time for the planning of what goes where with the scrapbook paper. I'm a perfectionist, so this part takes way more time than necessary. 

Yep, as you can see in the picture, I also did the word "our"... hopefully for a change out in the future, if ya know what I mean. Or if I feel like selling it later it's good to go. 

Once everything is planning out, it's time to cut out the letters. I just turned over the paper, kept the letter backwards, and traced in on with pencil. 

I wanted a border to appear, so I cut on the inside of the pencil lines. 

After making sure everything fits, put the letters aside and it's time to paint where the borders and edges will be seen underneath. 

These letters seemed to be made of mixed material, somewhere between a cardboard and wood. It absorbed paint very well, so multiple coats were needed. 

Then it is time to glue the letters to the wood. Now, I have a bad track record with Modge Podge and paper... it gets the paper soggy, it bubbles up, and I cry. But this time I gave it a try only because I found out the line that is specifically for paper! Lifesaver. And Kleenex saver. 

The trick is to use a foam brush and put in on the back of the paper for the first coat! It barely takes any Modge Podge at all, and it sticks almost right away. The instructions say to apply top coats after 2 hours, but I was so happy with the way it looked (and didn't want to chance ruining it) that I kept it this way. 

Now comes the FUN part! Embellish, bling, and twine away!

(The switch from Be MY Guest to Be OUR Guest) 

This is my initial vision of putting the new sign on the bookshelf in my guest bedroom... but I may come up with another way to display it as well. 

Although it was a timely project, it was so much fun to make something that is completely and uniquely my own! 

Take my ideas and create something even better... I would love to see what you come up with. :)