My Christmas Wreath 2011

I bought some of that wire mesh stuff and made the CUTEST Christmas wreath.  It was the easiest thing to do, ever!!  First of all, get some of that wire mesh, now that I have bought some I'm thinking of all sorts of things I can put it on.  My front door, my Christmas tree, my toilet...you name it, I'm going to decorate it.  I bought my rolls at Sam's Club and they were super inexpensive.  You can also buy them at Michaels, Hobby Lobby etc. 

Here's a picture of my finished product:

First I took an old light up wreath that I wasn't using for anything else.  Then I wrapped the wire mesh around it, attaching it by using the greenery to hold it. 

First I added the red and then I added the green. 

Once I was done with that, I cut strips of ribbon into 16" lengths and just attached them by wrapping some greenery around them.  I put 7 sets on at random intervals, then added some ornaments that I got at Dollar Tree (for $1, of course) and Voila!  My finished wreath!

My Goodwill Inspiration

My Goodwill Inspiration

I recently decided to brave my local Goodwill and see what goodies they had for me.  While I've dropped off donations several times, I had not yet entered the store.  I love the idea of Goodwill, but too many trips to the one in my hometown with my parents had left me with a sour taste in my mouth and a bad smell in my nose.  What is it with every Goodwill smelling like old shoes?  (probably because they sell, among other things,  old shoes!)

Anyway, while I was there, I noticed two things.  One, don't ever buy a new binder from the office supply store again, Goodwill has about 900.  And, two, they had lots of cool art and frames that I could buy and re purpose.

My best find was this canvas:

Someone obviously spent a lot of time hand painting this fireplace scene...was their name Hansel or Gretel perhaps?  Regardless, I was after the canvas!  After spending only $4 for the canvas with the frame, I took it home to repaint.  Keep in mind that a new canvas like this would cost at least $50+.

The first step was to buy some Gesso.  Gesso is what artists use to reuse or prime a canvas.  It cost $8.99 at Michaels, but with my coupon it was only $4.50.  I removed the canvas from the frame and then painted the Gesso onto the canvas:

This is what it looked like after I painted two coats of Gesso.  (Ignore the lovely vinyl tablecloth that I used as a backdrop.) 

While that dried, I spray painted the cheap wood frame a gold color. 

Then I painted the picture that I wanted on my canvas.  I was inspired by a pin on Pinterest and got my kids involved to make a Christmas tree with their hand prints.  This is my final product, all for only about $10 and a little time. 

Cute, huh?  Here is what it looks like on my mantel:

Hope you like it!  And check out your local Goodwill, not only do they have cool stuff like this, but there is some great people watching as well.  Merry Christmas!

Ha! Ha! Made you look!

It's official!  We've finally done it!  We've broken down and decided to create our own blog.  Kari and I are always getting together and creating projects.  We decided it was time to share our ideas, like so many other people have, online.  The first dilemma arose...what do we call it? 

We tried several names.  First, there was "2craftychicks", unfortunately, already taken.  And the crafts on that website, while talented, not really our style.  Then we looked into "CrapIvemade".  Also, already taken.  And that gal is awesome!  Really cute stuff and so talented. 

In the end, we went through several ideas of blog names and we were stumped.  Thank goodness for my husband!  He came up with the idea that if we just put the word "naked" in the name of our blog, everyone would want to see it.  So here it is, folks!  "The Naked Crafter" has begun.  Are we naked?  Who knows?  That's for us to know and you to find out.  So read on and enjoy our crafty projects and maybe, if you're lucky (or unlucky, depends on your point of view), you'll catch a naked pic or two.