Erica's first art night project...

Kensington looking dapper with my sewing kit, art box and traveling art kit

Those of you who know me in real life know I'm pretty old school.  I swear I'm 29 going on 50.  I love writing things down, like with ACTUAL pen and paper. I think the journal and Post-It notes are two of the gnarliest inventions. That being said, I've been jotting down notes for each Monday Craft Night entry and which projects I want to highlight. Well, tonight, I discovered that I can start a blog...jot down ideas, insert some pictures...and then save it as a draft and come back to it later! OMG!! I know you're probably giggling but I don't care; I'm proud of my discovery. LOL

This is extra great news because Wes is out with a buddy tonight so I have the whole apartment to myself to brainstorm.  And we'll be out of town next week so, presto, blog ideas done on a Thursday!! But you'll never know it's a Thursday because I won't post until Monday.  Okay, okay...I'm getting way too excited about this.  Now for the actual crafting part.

Festival of the Arts 2013... I went with a friend and as we were walking around the booths, I confidentially said, "I can make stuff like this! I craft, I'm artistic, I have hobbies..."  That really got us thinking so after the festival, I took us to the local crafts store and we bought these!



Then we planned a reoccurring craft night. One Monday at her place, one Monday at mine. We put our supplies in handy little "boxie" and off we go!! Dinner and crafts and girl time. What better way to relax on a Monday night? : ) My first project was this -

Kensington is having quite the photo shoot tonight!

Wire & Ribbon pencil holder tutorial-
Materials needed: wire (I got mine from Lowes), ribbon, scissors, something round that you want the shape of your pencil holder to be

1. Make the bottom of your pencil holder by shaping a circle out of your wire & criss-crossing more wire through the middle until it's mostly filled in.
2. Make the top of your pencil holder by shaping another circle.
3. Put your round object in between the top and bottom pieces. I used a bottle of vitamins to get my shape.
4. Take your wire and go crazy; connect the top and bottom pieces with wire until your pencil holder is sturdy enough to take the center object out.
5. Press down on the top so the wire bows out and the pencil holder is pumpkin shaped. Keep pressing on the wire until you get the exact shape you want.
6. Take your ribbon and thread it in and out of the wire, basically covering all the empty space.
7. Wrap ribbon around edge of top circle to form a lip around the pencil holder. I also used this to hide all the knots I tied with the ribbon and wire.

And you're done!! Here are some pictures of how tightly wound the wire and ribbon are. The first picture is the bottom, second picture is what it looks like from the inside and last picture is the outside.