enJOY it by Elise Blaha Cripe

thoughts on the 27 materials project.

You might have noticed I am no where near finishing a project using all 27 materials. My intention was to create 27 projects using 27 different things before my 28th birthday ... which has now passed. (You can see what I did complete here.)

You might be bummed that I didn't finish.

Or, you might be like me, and be glad I let this project go. ;)

At the beginning of January I looked at my list of what was left (glitter, metal, stone, cork, tile, feathers, beads, dye, glue) and sighed. The last thing I wanted to do was throw myself at nine items that at the moment didn't interest me in the slightest. Instead, I wanted to recover the rocking chair for the baby. I wanted to knit a blanket as soon as we knew if we were going to be having a boy or a girl. I wanted to get started on his or her quilt. I wanted to enjoy my time with Paul. I wanted to start thinking about a new house! (And then decorations for that new house!)

So I made the executive decision to throw the list of stuff I didn't want to do out the window and focus instead on all the projects that I was looking forward to tackling.

This was a great plan and as it turns out, I still ended up trying new things (like the wall hangings and the flamingo painting) which is rad.

Twenty-seven was by far one of my best years for creative projects. There were work projects of course, but there were also oodles of just for fun projects that I made to brighten up my house (and the houses of others in the form of gifted quilts).

So I am not bummed that I didn't complete a project using all 27 materials. I am a bit bummed that I set a challenge and didn't reach it, but I can say for sure that if the overall goal was to simply make stuff at age 27 then I can go ahead and cross that off the list.

I have not yet decided if I am going to set a birthday challenge for 28. Right now, I feel like I have enough challenges : Set up a new house. Landscape the front yard. Grow another garden. HAVE A BABY. Get through Paul's deployment and then the start of his residency. Figure out what my job (and my marriage!) is going to look like with a baby thrown into the mix.

It's a little overwhleming to add something else to the pile, so for awhile, I am just going to ride this wave of adventures. Maybe on my half birthday (8/22) when the dust has started to settle, I'll come up with half of an idea and try that. In the meantime, I will be crafting up a storm as I decorate the new house. Can't wait to share those projects and rooms here.

material 18 of 27 / clay into ornaments.

This project took much too long. Mostly because I didn't have the right tools but was too stubborn to go buy them and make it happen. I have wanted to make clay tree ornaments for the past two months but was really inspired when I saw these on A Beautiful mess a few weeks ago.

I shaped white clay (from Crayola) into round disks and then popped holes in the top. It was air-dry clay and took a few days to completely harden. Then I used various black pens to "practice" writing on them and see what worked. Nothing did. Instead of doing what I should have - buy a black paint pen - I covered them in a layer of mod podge which gave them a smooth glossy surface that actually looked better and took the Sharpie pen I was working with.

I am pleased with the gloss but this was probably NOT the idea way to go about this project (buy a paint pen!). I knew from the beginning I wanted to use them to document all the places we have lived together as a couple. I wrote our addresses and the dates of our past apartments (and of course our current townhouse - blurred for privacy) and made up a bunch of extras that I will store with our tree decorations so I can add to the collection as we move.

Really, these are so simple, but meaningful to our family. It will it be pretty cool when we settle into our "forever home" (at least 12 years from now) and have a Christmas tree full of memories of homes past.

And at least I know I'll always have a black Sharpie on hand to add more addresses. :)

This is project 17 of 27. I am attempting to complete 27 craft projects using 27 different materials before I turn 28 on 02.22.13. You can follow my progress here on the blog or on pinterest. Birthday challenges are my favorite. You can see the 26 Projects I completed while 26 here and the 27 materials I have used so far here.

material 17 of 27 / wax into candles.

Pretty sure "wax into candles" is as obvious as it gets, but I'm not concerned. This was a totally fun and simple (and useful!) project. I saw a beeswax candle tutorial on Oh Happy Day last week and immediately ordered a beeswax kit from Amazon.

I made up a bunch of eight inch tapers and a few smaller (about 2.75 inch tall) wide ones to fit in our reindeer candle holders. (Note, the color of the wax is much more accurate in these photos versus the top two.)

I was impressed with how easy the wax was to work with. I rolled the candles on our cold stone floor and was careful to roll them as tight as possible. According to the directions that helps them burn for longer.

I also loved how clean the beeswax burned and the subtle but sweet scent they put off. Totally rad. We only light tapers around the holidays, but I could totally see myself using some of the short and wide ones throughout the rest of winter and into spring. This was not a cheap project (the kit was over $30 with shipping) but I am totally pleased with how it turned out.

Since my brother and I were little, "candle nights" as my family called them, have been a BIG tradition. We would light around 50 candles plus the tree and sit and chat about our days about once a week throughout December. As a kid it was pure magic. This is the first year we have had so many candles (it's taken me a while to build up a holiday decor box) and I am getting Paul excited about candle nights. I'd LOVE to continue this tradition with our little ones in a few years.

if you are curious, basically all of our decorations are from Target or Crate & Barrel holiday clearance with a few exceptions : those wood candle holders from Peg & Awl, and glass taper holders from CB2 a few years ago. Here is the ampersand string art tutorial.

This is project 17 of 27. I am attempting to complete 27 craft projects using 27 different materials before I turn 28 on 02.22.13. You can follow my progress here on the blog or on pinterest. Birthday challenges are my favorite. You can see the 26 Projects I completed while 26 here and the 27 materials I have used so far here.

material 16 of 27 / rubber into a hand-carved stamp.

Stamps have sort of been the theme around here the last few months, but I thought it would be fun to cross "rubber" off the materials list and carve my own. I have done this before and really loved the results. I use that intial stamped stationery all the time.

This time I went with a simple pattern - repeating triangles. Not sure if it's because I currently have triangle quilts on the brain or becuase I just love the shape.

I drew my pattern in pencil first (the X's represent the triangles I needed to scoop out) and then carefully carved it.

I used this stamp kit (with this brayer to roll out the paint) and Paper Source cardstock and envelopes in various colors. Instead of using oil based printing ink (which I have done in the past but hate because it takes forever to dry) I used simple craft paint (in white, mint, gold & hot pink) and was happy with the results.

With something like this, the imperfection and ease is the charm. If I wanted perfect triangles, I would have designed something on the computer and printed it out on to the cardstock. If I wanted painted triangles, I would have painstakingly used a brush and done one at time. But the first option would be less "hand-made" and the second would take forever. Hand-carved stamps are a good middle ground.

I got a bit carried away with all my stamping and made a few dozen cards. I'll be holding onto some for my penpals, but I would also like to giveaway four sets of five to you guys as a thank you for reading. This isn't a promo opportunity - I am out of the "selling greeting cards" business - it's just a thank you. If you're interested, leave a comment below. Giveaway is now closed, I'll be announcing the winner tomorrow. Thank you!

This is project 16 of 27. I am attempting to complete 27 craft projects using 27 different materials before I turn 28 on 02.22.13. You can follow my progress here on the blog or on pinterest. Birthday challenges are my favorite. You can see the 26 Projects I completed while 26 here and the 27 materials I have used so far here.

material 15 of 27 / felt into an autumn wreath.

I have a feeling these materials are going to start crossing themselves off without too much help from me. Autumn and the holidays are made for projects and I am so excited for more craft time this season.

Felt was something that I was waiting for fall to work with because the plan was always to make a wreath. Originally, when I bought my supplies, I assumed it would be a flat wreath with felt "leaves" layered on top of each other. When I started playing with the felt and the foam base I had bought, I realized this wreath would look way better if the "leaves" were three dimensional and more structured.

If you want to make your own, follow the super simple tutorial below.

Supplies needed : felt in a few different saturated autumn colors, a foam wreath base, scissors & straight pins. (I picked up all of this at a Jo-Anns, a big box fabric store.)

Freehand cut your felt into leaf shapes.

note : this wreath is going to look better if you buy "good" felt. Look for rich, saturated colors, not just the basic primary colors. My fabric store sells a few different kinds of felt. They have cheap, pre-cut craft felt in the craft section and then big bolts of decent & small bolts awesome felt in the fabric section. Buying buy the yard (or half yard) will probably be less expensive and you'll have richer color choices. I bought a 2.5 yards total of four different colors and have some left over.

Use a straight pin to pin your first leaf to the foam base.

Fold up the first leaf and pin a second one so both are secure but sort of "push-up" the one next to it.

Keep going.

And going! This is definitely a project where the more you do, the better it looks. Continue pinning felt all around the foam ring.

Be sure to pin it to the outside and inside of the ring as well so the wreath looks full and the foam is no longer visible from any angle.

Hang it up! I used fishing line so the wreath appears to be floating on the mirror above our mantle. Seriously, such a fun & easy project. This would be awesome with different shades of green felt and a big red bow for Christmas too.

This is project 15 of 27. I am attempting to complete 27 craft projects using 27 different materials before I turn 28 on 02.22.13. You can follow my progress here on the blog or on pinterest. Birthday challenges are my favorite. You can see the 26 Projects I completed while 26 here and the 27 materials I have used so far here.

Other posts you might enjoy:

• our favorite toddler art supplies.
• creative books I always return to.
• super simple rainbow quilt.
• big script art 
• hand carved stamp
• three things I know to be true / DIY projects.