Perfect Father's Day Picture

 Hi Foxy Friends! I did a super cute Father's Day craft for Mr. and I thought I would share. I realize it's too late for this year, but hopefully you'll pin this for next year. So this is what we're making.
 


What you'll need:

40 x 30 poster board (foam kind)
Exacto Knife
Stencil (optional)

Directions:

Step One - Cut poster board to size. I ended up cutting into three parts because I new I was making one for my dad and Mr. I ended up using two poster boards. I have a lot of them. I used the foam kind because I knew it would be sturdy and the kids could hold it up any which way and it would stand up.

Step Two - Cut out your letters, I measured the width of my board and then made the letters the correct size for the board. The longest word was Daddy, so I did that first and did the other ones. I used a Cricut, but you can use whatever cutting machine you have or cut them by hand.

At this point I realized I needed a longer board for Daddy, so I cut another one.

Step Three - Tape letters down and then carefully cut out...I injured myself doing this, so be careful!

I used double sided tape, you can use whatever you have laying around.

Step Four - As you are cutting it out, you'll realize that the middle of the "D" and the "e" and "d" fall out too...so I used a toothpick to keep it in place, you can't see it in the shadow so it works for me!

See you can barely see them.

Step Five - Find some willing participants and find a place you can take pictures. Our house didn't work because of the way the sun hit it, we would have our neighbors house in the picture instead of our garage like I wanted...so I hit up Google Maps and looked a nearby parks in our area. I found one not too far from us that worked perfect! Yes I'm insane.

This is what it's going to look like.

This is what we're going for:

But you know what stepped it up a notch? When the kids started doing cute things with their legs.

This one was for my dad. He loved it.

Just make sure you don't do what we do, luckily we caught it before we walked away! Oops facing the wrong way! When I was showing them what to do, I was holding the sign and reading it from their prospective...I was in such a hurry to get the shots in (we were on our way to karate, we had exactly 10 minutes to get these done).

Luckily I realized when we were switching from Mr. to my dad (Ampa). Phew...that was a close one!

So next time you need something for Father's Day for the man who has everything, make these cute signs for the men in your life. They will love it. I might start doing this every year so we can watch their shadows grow!

Linking up here

How To DIY A Picture On Canvas

Happy Tuesday Foxy Friends! Today I'm sharing with you how to do a cheap and easy DIY picture to canvas. I was trying to find 10 X 10 canvas to buy, but  I couldn't find them anywhere, so I was off to figure out how to add it to canvas. Here is the easiest way to explain it, which I feel like a lot of other tutorials I tried to find didn't go over.

*Some of the links are affiliate links and I will  either receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you click on it or if you make a purchase from one of these links, I may also receive a commission on the sale of the product. Click here for my disclosure page.

What You'll Need:

Canvas + 1 extra ( I picked 10 x 10 inches)
Picture (printed from Costco or something like that, you could probably also print at home on a piece of regular paper)
Foam Paint Brushes
Paint (I chose black paint to hide my mistakes)
Mod Podge

Directions:

Step 1:

Paint the outside edges of the canvas. I picked black paint, but you could choose anything that is going to match where you are putting the canvas.

Make sure to paint a little over the edge, in case you cut the picture too small, which I did, but you can't tell at all.

Step 2:

Cut picture to size.

Tip: If you have a 10 x 10 canvas, cut it about a 1/4 of an inch smaller, as the sides of my canvas were curved, and when I cut it exact, the picture hung over the sides. But check to make sure what yours is. It's always better error on the side of caution and keep cutting smaller until you get to where you want to be.

Tip 2: You can use a ruler and scissors, I just happen to have a quilting mat and cutter.

Step 3:

Pour Mod Podge over the canvas. Some people like to dip their paint brush, but I just say go for it. You can always add more, so error on the side of light.

Tip: It takes more Mod Podge than you think to cover the canvas. 

All covered with Mod Podge, you can choose if you want to cover the sides or not. Remember this dries completely clear.

Step 4:

Place picture on the Mod Podge'd canvas, press firmly and make sure to get rid of any air bubbles, those would be bad. Make sure to really press down on the sides, as those tend to stick up a bit...wait for it to dry, about 15 minutes.

Step 5:

Once dry...now this is the scary part....pour more Mod Podge all over the picture and spread around with your foam paint brush.

Tip: You can't use too much, this will dry clear, so if you accidentally use too much, don't worry about it, spread it evenly and continue on.

Step 6: 

Here is where your DIY is going to make it look legit. Take your extra canvas, and use it to create an imprint in the canvas. You want that texture that canvas has to make it look real.

Tip: I tried to put the canvas directly over the top and press down, but where the wood is on the back, didn't imprint with the canvas texture. I found using the middle worked the best and moving it around. Sometimes I accidentally moved it a bit, so it smeared, don't worry just do it again. It's not dry yet, so just keep working it until the texture looks like you want.

This is what it will look like.

Tip: I suspect that if you have a thicker layer of Mod Podge that you will be more of a texture to stand out, so if you are looking to make it look a lot more textured, do a thicker layer. I also think that you could probably do a thin layer, let it dry and then do it again for another layer to make it a bit thicker if you want. I did not try this...just guessing based off of what I did.

And the finished product!

I couldn't get a good picture of the texture on this picture, but I could with some of the ones. Like these.

The texture is by no means uniform, but I think that makes each of them unique. Of course you can barely see the texture from afar, but I think if you didn't have it, then it would look "off" and not really canvas'y'.

My finished project!

I absolutely love it, and it makes me smile every time I walk into my kitchen and see their cute faces...crying or not.

Of course if you are more of a "I need to see it in action person", here is a video I put together.

Now go out and impress your friends and family with how crafty you are!


 

Linking up here

Under The Sea Backdrop

Happy Thursday, today is my last day of work this week, woo hoo! Seems like this week lasted forever, anyone else? I'm going to go ahead and blame an Easter hangover. I decided today is the day that I am finally getting around to tell you how I made Mini Fox's Ariel under the sea background from her birthday party last September.  

*Some of the links are affiliate links and I will  either receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you click on it or if you make a purchase from one of these links, I may also receive a commission on the sale of the product. By purchasing through Foxy's Domestic Side, you're helping me to continue creating fun things for this space.

 

I had bought this bulletin board paper for a super hero backdrop a few years ago, crazy that was a few years ago. I pretty much have been using that paper for all of my backdrops the last couple of years, check the different ones out here and here. I realized that the back side of the paper was white, so I knew I could use that for my under the sea back drop. I always start with a plastic tablecloth. Do not get the 99 Cent or Dollar Tree ones, I tried that and they pretty much ripped the first time I tried to lay them down. Spring for the Party City ones, they are thicker and are easier to work with. Okay let's get started.

What You'll Need:

Plastic Table Cloth from Party City, color of your choice (I started with the 99 cent store one and they are too thin)

Bulletin Board Paper 

Spray Paint (I used Pink, Purple, and Dark Green)

Fish/Sea Horse (You can cut these out freehand or use a Cricut Explore or Silhouette Portrait)

Birthday Banner
Things to Decorate the Banner with (I used my Cricut for this and also bought some from Party City, like this and then I took the pictures off the end of the streamer)
Spray Adhesive

Can you tell Party City is my friend. I also buy a lot of things from Oriental Trading company, if they have free shipping, they are the same price as Party City, so if I can save myself a trip, I use them.

Directions:

Step 1: 

I decided that I wanted Pink and Purple coral and some green seaweed on my background. I layed out the Bulletin Paper, white side up, on the garage floor. I did two of these, one for the purple and pink and one for the green. I didn't know how much seaweed I would need and how many mistakes I was going to make so I wanted to have more than enough.

For this part there is no right and wrong. I used 1/3 of the paper for green, 1/3 for pink and 1/3 for purple. I knew I wanted it to not be solid but spec-illy, hence the spray paint, it seemed like it would be more authentic. I randomly started spraying away, trying to not make it uniform, but thicker with spray paint in some parts but not others.

The marbling that you see, is me just spraying parts of the paper more than others. There really is no right or wrong to do this.

I knew I only wanted a few corals so I was only going to do at most 2 of each color.

Let dry, this took about 15 minutes.

Step 2:

Here is where your inner OCD cannot come out. You just have to cut (because I knew I spray painted way more then I need I had some liberty to make mistakes to see what worked. I probably cut about 20 or so seaweeds but only used 13. I randomly cut out the seaweed in tall strips, making sure that they weren't the same height, because we all know seaweed is not uniform. I knew I wanted some with leaves and some without, so the ones without leaves I made a little thicker and the ones with leaves a little bit thinner. I also cut out leaves, just randomly, no stencil, just cut leaf-ish shapes. In the end you are your own worst critic and most people won't know if the leaves aren't uniform.

Of course I thought I had taken more pictures, but for the life of me can't find them...anywhere. So annoying. So you're going to have to imagine it. I looked up some cartoon seaweed and coral reef on the internet and tried to copy that.

I did cut some and put them down on the blue background to see if I needed to go taller or shorter on the next seaweeds.

Step 3:

I did try to use a glue stick, then wet glue (like Elmer's) but those didn't work, that's how I ended up with the spray adhesive, because everyone has that laying around right? I did spray outside on the grass, one because the smell is pretty strong and because the strips were so thin I didn't want spray adhesive all over my floors.

Note: Use some gloves if you don't want to be picking off glue from your fingers. I made that mistake and it took forever to clean up the glue off my hands, then when I went back to finish I used some of my gloves I have for handling food to finish (I buy mine from Costco), it was a little trickier because the paper would want to stick to the gloves, but it worked out better to have a little more trouble placing them then to have to clean off glue from my hands.

Step 4:

Finish off by putting the fish/sea horses or any other finishing decorations you want. Then hang on the wall. I almost always use blue painters tape. It does take several layers, but I know that it will stay and it won't ruin the wall paint when I take down the backdrop.

That's it, pretty easy,  between using the cricut to cut out the shapes and the banner, it took me about 3.5 hours to complete. 2 hours to complete the cutouts (including the birthday banner and all of the fish/sea horses and sand dollars and star fish) and another 1.5 to complete the spray painting/cutting/gluing.

If you want to see more of the party details, click here.

Linking up here

Christmas Wreath

Hello Foxy friends! It's the start of a new season, which means I have another Christmas wreath for you. I went to Hobby Lobby on Black Friday to check out their deals, and I scored all of this stuff for 50% off. Although when does Hobby Lobby not have everything for half off? Anyway, let's get to it.

What You'll Need:

Burlap Wreath (I've been using the same wreath over and over again, but click here for my full tutorial, click here for the video)
Sign to put in middle (I almost always start here, find the sign, buy the "fluff" to match this and this and this would work)
3 Fun Candy Themed Sprigs
3 Ornament Sprigs
1 Roll of Deco Mesh Ribon

Note: In the end I didn't end up using the Merry Christmas burlap ribbon, perhaps for my next wreath.

Directions:

Start with a plain wreath, I took apart this wreath and this is what I had left:

 

Step 1:

Add in the deco mesh ribbon, if you don't know how to do it, follow this tutorial here that I made.

 

Step 2:

Add the sprigs of candy, I didn't divide them equally on purpose so there would be a space for the "bow"

Step 3:

Fill in the spaces between the candy with the ornament sprigs.

 

 

Step 4:

I felt that the ribbon I was going to use that said Merry Christmas didn't really fit the theme that I had in mind. I had some left over Deco Mesh, so I tried to make a bow, but it's super hard. I was just playing around with it, and realized that it rolled very nicely, so I made a rolled "bow". I think it's fun and matches the theme of the wreath really nicely.

Step 5:

Add the sign, I found one that said Santa Please Stop Here, but really any sign will do. And here is the finished product.

And on my door it looks like this:

There you have it, our Christmas wreath, last year I got the burlap part done and never finished, so literally on our door was a blank burlap wreath, pathetic right?  I bought enough supplies and have an extra burlap wreath laying around, so hopefully this weekend I can make another one...I'm thinking I might put that one over the fireplace...hmmm....where to put it, where to put it.

Linking up here