Nature Walks

I’m a big fan of nature-y projects like this so I was doing them for my friends birthday but this is absolutely a great project for the kiddos too. It’s a woodsy tic tac toe game! After I made mine (the green one) My daughter made the red one. It looks like it’s glowing in the photos but it really isn’t that vibrant. I’m not sure why my camera hated that color. We went out on a walk around the lake to get our supplies and used some paint and glue I already had lying around at home. Super easy!
 
What you will need:
*Large wood piece. My dad cut these with a saw out of a log for us but my friend insists that you can find similar pieces at craft stores. *Sand paper. I only used sandpaper because my dad cut these raw for me. If you buy your piece from a craft store, it’ll probably be pre-sanded. *Small sticks. You will need 2 long sticks and six short ones (I picked up 2 long ones and cut them to my needs) *Garden Sheers (for cutting the sticks or you can just break them to the lengths you want) *Paint and a paint brush *Glue *Small rocks How To: My dad used a rotary saw to cut 2 two inch slices out of a log. I left the edges nice and raw but I sanded the front and back so it was smoother but not too smooth. I still wanted a very rustic look. I painted just the front side with normal acrylic paint. After the paint was dry, I scrapped off a little paint with a piece of sand paper to make it look more worn. I cut two long sticks and glued them about 2 inches apart from each other on the wood. I then cut 6 smaller sticks and made two lines across the 2 larger sticks to make what is basically a hashtag symbol for all you young ones out their. Haha. For the X’s and O’s, we painted little rocks. For the red game, the X’s were orange painted rocks and the O’s were Yellow. For the Green game, I found smoother rocks and used my paint markers to paint little X’s and O’s on each stone. These were a lot of fun to make and also very fun to play.
 
 If you make your own, please share with me a link in the comments below or tag me on instagram @images_by_jessie or on twitter @imagesbyjessie

Pinterest Addict

Hello Dearies! I must confess, I'm not writing this today. At this very moment, I am at my lovely grandma's home stuffing my face with whatever amazing goodies she has baked for the family. Since I won't be around this week to do any projects, I wanted to share where I get some of my inspiration. Pinterest. It's amazing! If you haven't tried it yet, I suggest you don't because it will take over your entire life and you'll be so obsessed with pinning your next project, that you'll have no time to do your last one... Haha! I joke of course... but I'm also telling the truth. You cannot help but get caught up in it. I currently have 40 "boards" and just under 3,000 "pins" You can pin everything from artwork to food to jewelry to makeup tutorials and household cleaning tips. My favorite subject to pin is of course Halloween but I also pin all sorts of fun day to day crafty goodness. If you'd like to follow me, all my boards can be found at https://www.pinterest.com/sillysaska/ and if you are new to pinterest and would like some ideas of what to search for first, my cousins and I are doing a big project this week. Our grandma wanted to go on a boat tour and we thought it be fantastic if we all looked like match-y nerds so we are making almost 50 tie dyed t-shirts :) We did some pretty simple tie dye but you can look up some amazing ideas on pinterest... Look, I did already.... push HERE :) :)
Ok so now a little favor to ask of you all. I LOVE crazy patterned duck tape but I still have yet to decide on a way to use it. Look at these two pieces of awesome! One is mac and cheese, the other is movie popcorn. What should I do with them? Let me know? Also, if you tie dye anything, please share with me a link in the comments below or tag me on instagram @images_by_jessie or on twitter @imagesbyjessie

Painted Mug

Hello Dearies! I wrote this post Sunday after getting hit with some “Jawsome” inspiration. Haha! Ok I will admit, that was horrible. :) :) :)
 

 I bought this plain black mug and these paint markers weeks ago but I couldn’t decide what to do until Shark Week started! Do you guys watch? I cannot get enough of it. I am completely landlocked in the middle of North America so I am totally fascinated by all things ocean. And sharks are just so cool.
So today’s craft really isn’t a tutorial because you can do paint whatever you like but I wanted to talk a bit about the process.

 

I used black, gold and silver paint markers and a 99 cent mug from the dollar store (I love when things are super affordable!) The paint markers are pretty awesome. They were easy to use and dried nice and smooth. I waited until the first color was dry before I moved onto the next one to avoid smearing. These dry really fast so I didn’t have to wait long. I used a medium tip marker for this project and I think I’ll buy the fine tipped markers next time so I can do some better details. I am not the best artist but I am very happy with my new mug.
 

So what do you think? If you paint your own mug, I’d love to see them.

Please leave a link to your projects in the comments below or tag me on instagram @images_by_jessie or twitter @imagesbyjessie

Thursday Nail Day

Hello Dearies!
TBT! Look how tiny my little humans were back then! How the time has just flown by!
Both the rings I'm wearing on my toes were found at Maurices. This was a couple years ago so I'm not sure if they still sell them now.

Light Drawing

Hello Dearies! Today’s project is inspired by Independence Day but is something anyone can enjoy. Note: THIS FUN DIY INVOLVES FIREWORKS. DO NOT LET THE KIDDOS DO THIS UNATTENDED! As a photographer I used to love fireworks but as a dog owner, I have grown to hate them. My poor fur-babies cry and howl and try to hide under my bed. I say try because they don’t fit under it like they did when they were puppies. Something I still enjoy every Independence Day is my sparklers. They are pretty and quiet and perfect for my family. And also very easy to do! What you will need: *A camera with a a programmable shutter speed and a timer (or someone to take the photos for you) *A tripod or something sturdy to set your camera on *Sparklers. Lots of them :)
 
 First set up your camera on your tripod and point in the direction of where you or your subject will be standing.
Camera setting will vary depending on lighting conditions so you may have to play around a bit. I would start by setting your shutter speed for at least 3-4 seconds and then changing your settings to properly expose the photo. You can set your shutter speed a lot slower to capture more but remember, the slower the shutter speed, the more light it lets in. If you have it too slow, your photo can end up way to bright. My setting were  ISO 1600 F-stop f/7.1 and my exposure time to 3.2 seconds. Normally I would have my ISO and f-stop much lower but I was taking the photo by myself and setting a larger F-stop helped make sure the light would be in focus. That made the photo too dark so I had to raise my ISO. Next set your timer so you can run in front of the camera. Even if you have someone taking the photo for you, I would still recommend using the timer. Every tiny bump and movement will be captured when you use a slow shutter speed. Using the timer and tripod gives you the sharpest photo you can get.
 
 The drawing itself is very easy but it takes some practice. I traced out each shape in the air over and over again. Also you have to try and keep the rest of your body as still as possible while making your shapes. Your camera will capture everything and one wrong move can make for some funny shots :)
 
 If you have any questions about my directions, don’t hesitate to ask for more, Have fun! Please stay safe and as always I’d love to see yours! Please leave a link to your projects in the comments below or tag me on instagram @images_by_jessie or twitter @imagesbyjessie

Thursday Nail Day

Hello Dearies!