"Busy But Crafty" Monthly Craft Challenge: House Numbers Challenge

It's finally time for mine and Sarah's very FIRST "Busy but Crafty" Monthly Craft Challenge!!  We're so excited about this.  We're both just two moms of young kids that wish we had more time to craft....voila!  That's how this link up was born.  Each month, we want to give you the opportunity to take a little time out of your busy schedule to get some crafting therapy going.

This month, we challenged you to make a craft using your house numbers.  We asked you to be creative, and now I can't wait to see what you've come up with!  **scroll down to the bottom to join the link up party**

For my craft this month, I chose to bring a little Springtime inside my house (since the winter here in Kentucky has decided that it never wants to end.  Ever.).

Moss Covered Numbers!

This craft was fairly simple to execute, but very, very messy.  You've been warned.


Materials Needed:

--Paper Mache letters or numbers.  (I picked mine up at Hobby Lobby, but any craft speciality store should carry them)

--Moss mat/adhesive backed moss sheets (Also picked up at Hobby Lobby)

--Super glue
--Scissors

That's it.

How to make these fabulous mossy letters for your decor:

1.  Take your letter/number and lay it down on the back side of the moss mat.  Be sure to trace the number backwards, otherwise, you'll have moss for the back of the number/letter you're wanting to trace, not the front.

2. Trace around the shape with a permanent marker.  I tried pen at first, but the backing is too thick and I couldn't see where I was marking.

3.  Cut the shape out.  The particular moss mat I purchased wasn't hard to cut through, so I just used regular scissors.  I would think an exacto-knife would work just as well, just make sure you have something to protect the surface you're cutting on. 

4.  Glue the moss to your shape.  Continue cutting pieces to cover the sides as well.  

5. You can take some of the extra strands of moss and glue it on where you can see the seams where you glued individual pieces on. 

6.  Clean up your mess.  Because this crap will be everywhere.  It's pretty bad when my 2 year old tells me "Mommy, you made a BIIIIIIG mess." 

7.  Enjoy!

Some of you may be wondering, why 139?  Remember a couple of weeks ago, when I talked about paying homage to our old house?  Well, I printed out the picture that I Waterlogued.  139 was our house number when we lived in Bardstown.  I wanted it to be represented along with the picture.  For now, I have these numbers sitting beside the picture of our old house.  Eventually though, when I get the courage to do it., I want them to be a part of the gallery wall I'm going to build around my giant clock.

There you go.  There's so many possibilities that can happen with this project.  A monogram.  A single initial.  Words on tables at a wedding reception.  When I was in Hobby Lobby to buy my supplies for this project, they had an entire leaflet on craft projects with moss.  I'm particularly loving the stenciled moss glued onto a canvas.  So unique.

Now, it's YOUR turn!!  We want to see what you're doing creatively with your house numbers!  First though, let's get a couple of rules out of the way.

1.  You must link back to either my blog or the Year of Sarah Blog (the link co-host).

2.  Follow both our blogs.  You can do this however your little heart pleases.  Google +, Facebook  (my page is here, Sarah's is here), Bloglovin', etc.  

3.  Your link needs to be a craft blog post.  Please do not link to your Etsy page, business page, own link party or giveaways.

4.  Must be your own original work.

5.  Show some other blogs some love.  Don't we all get the warm fuzzies when we see new blog comments??

An InLinkz Link-up