{Create} Monogram button canvas & our monthly link-up party

May's been a good month of creating for me.

I finished my book which is my biggest creation to date, I did those lovely DIY paper tapes (BTW since then I've seen people do exactly the same thing and call it washi tape - um, no, it may look a bit like washi tape but it isn't), I also made some adhesive fabric tape and I'm 90% done with another photo canvas.

And then this one.

After my hectic weekend, I needed some time to recuperate and so I made this.

What you need

• Canvas (mine was R12,99 at Mega Mica)
• Monogram printed to the size of your canvas
• Pencil
• Craft glue
• Buttons (my bag was called crazycrafts and was R9,99 at Westpack)

I don't have any intermediate pics because all my things are done at night and the light is AWFUL in here.

Also, glue + camera = not a very good idea (I don't know how the crafty gals who do tutorials do it but they clearly have more patience than I do)


It was waaaaaayyyyy easier than I thought.

How to do it

• Print the letter of your choice in a plain font as big as can fit on your canvas. I like plain and simple so I chose a standard sans serif font (can't remember which one now).
• Cut out this letter.
• Trace it onto your canvas with a pencil.
• Glue within the shape. I did one "leg" at a time on my M.
• Stick any assortment of buttons onto the glue.
• The beauty is that this is meant to be imperfect so your lines don't have to be straight, you can position buttons over the pencil lines, you can use any colours, etc. and it still looks gorgeous.

showing you glue splodges up close. Almost invisible when you look at it as a normal person would

my pack of buttons had all shades, shapes and sizes

the widest section of buttons

and DONE!

I really, really, REALLY love this craft and I may even break loose and let the kids do their own ones... outside!

They have a K and a C on their bedroom door (plain white wooden letters) so if I'm brave, I'll glue them and let them go wild. I bought blue and pink buttons when I bought my green ones because I thought of doing something similar for their bedroom.
 
I also think this is a great idea for a gift that you really can suit both to the individual (choose a more flowery, whimsical font for a more girly person) and to your pocket (a bigger canvas will obviously cost more and use up more buttons - I still have about 15 buttons in my pack).

So, what do you think? Will you do one and show me?

{Create} craft fail - cherry blossom canvas

So Rachel from Small Notebook linked to this little project of hers on Alphamom and I immediately pinned it because I thought, "CUTE! EASY! ADORABLE!"

Source: alphamom.com via Marcia on Pinterestt

You know where this is going, right?

Mine didn't turn out as cute or adorable.

I chose a canvas that had the general shape. They only had smaller versions - in retrospect, a good idea (less of a waste of money!).

I drew the brown tree with the branches first.

Then I took my 500 ml water bottle (I checked a number of different drinks and most of them have this shape) and went to town.

this is how I do "messy" crafts - on a lid of a plastic storage box

That may have been my problem. Less is more and all that jazz?

But when I did one per branch it looked a bit sparse.

Also her little prints looked "perfect" - mine were very blotchy and I had to touch them up with a paintbrush in most cases. You'll see how heavy-handed I was with the one on the top right, my first one.

Strangely, I stood the dry canvas up on a bookshelf at an odd angle this weekend and it doesn't look as bad now. But I still consider it a craft fail.

Lessons learned

1. I really don't know if paint projects are for me (although I now have a good few bottles of acrylic - I went a bit wild in Sabie seeing as they were R10 for a small jar I've paid R24 - R30 for before)
2. Don't assume you can do all craft projects!!!
3. Less is more!

I love that I can take pics that show texture like this!

Action plan going forward (this is sounding like meeting minutes!)

1. Make another canvas paint craft before freaking out (I saw a nice Father's Day one on Pinterest)
2. Decide if I like the cherry blossom one or if I will paint over it and start again, or if I should use it for something else altogether (ideas???)
3. Bask in the fact that I'm letting go of perfectionism - not only am I doing things I'm sooo uncomfortable about (painting) but I'm posting my fails on a public blog!

Look at the brown - does it not look like a dancer leaping?

So that's my craft fail.

The last time I had one was when I tried to do washi tape jars (don't bother looking - they're not on the blog) and discovered I still can't see in a straight line :)

Have you ever had a craft fail?

Did you try and rescue it, or did you throw it out?

If you made this cherry blossom art, please post your link in the comments - I want to come see!!!

PS Tonight I went into the lounge VERY briefly and saw a snippet of Survivor. And... I actually watched 30 minutes. The last time we watched Survivor was 3 years ago when I was still pregnant with the babies.