Friday, October 16, 2015

COME ON, AUTUMN!

Hello!

I'm back again with another seasonal project to share.

Someone needs to tell Mother Nature that it's mid-October!  Where I live, it's usually chilly by now and my trees have colorful leaves that are starting to fall.  But as I sit here typing this post, all my windows are open and it feels like late Spring-early Summer.  Only two of my trees are following the calendar.  It's kind of hard to start feeling all cozy and sweaters with a warm breeze blowing in so I decided to make a new Autumn craft to help get me in the spirit of one of my favorite seasons.

Before I share photos, Let me just give you a little background on this craft.  I have a simple frame that I have on my gallery wall in my living room.  I found the frame at a thrift store and backed it in a vintage-old-book-paper-type of DSP that Stampin' Up! used to carry.

I use that frame to house different little banners I have made to display throughout the year.  Today I decided to make a new Autumn banner to hang there.


Here's how I made it.  I took some ivory tags that I've had in my stash for way too long and stamped them with the Hardwood background stamp in Tip Top Taupe.  

Next, the leaves.  I was fortunate enough to get my hands on the Witching Decor Project Kit.  My daughter, daughter-in-law, mom and I had SO much fun putting it together on World Card Making Day! You'll notice there's no link to it.  That's because, sadly, they ran out quickly and won't be getting any more. HOWEVER, don't fret!  You can still make your own gorgeous leaves with the Vintage Leaves Bundle.  Anyway, there were so many leaves left over from the kit that I just grabbed 6 to use for this project.  I added some texture to each leaf by stamping them with the design images from the I Think You're Great stamp set and heat embossing them with Versamark and clear embossing powder.  Then I sponged them in coordinating colors (Tangerine Tango, Cajun Craze and Delightful Dijon) and crumpled them up a bit.



After that, I used my Tombow Mono-Multi glue to adhere them to the tags.  

Because I was still trying to be thrifty and quick, I used some gold chipboard letters I already had in my supplies to spell out Autumn, adhering them also with my Tombow glue.

Now, just because I thought the project could do with a little more color, I pulled out the faceted sequins from the Brights Sequin assortment to accent each tag.

Here's a closeup of the embossed texture and the Old Olive sequin.  LOVE!

 Last, but not least, I used my Gold Metallic Baker's Twine to string all the tags together. And here it is in it's place of honor.



If it doesn't feel Autumn-ish where you live, pull supplies from your stash to make a cute project to bring the season in!

Thanks for joining me at The Table today!



Wednesday, October 7, 2015

TRICK OR TREAT!

Hello!

I love Halloween.  I love decorating my home with spooky finds, I love taking a drive with Superman around our town to see how others decorate their front yards, and I love watching Hocus Pocus every Halloween night while eating donuts and sipping apple cider.

Last week was Stamp Club and my ladies loved our project:




I used the spider web image from the Witches' Night Stamp Set to clear emboss a spooky element on to the sentiment die cut.  I think it turned out so good! That was the only stamping on this project. To make the sentiment stand out, I mounted it on a vellum banner that was cut with the thinlits die included in the set.

Here's one more look.  To add one extra pop of color we punched stars out of the Rich Razzleberry card stock and adhered them to the ends of some fabulous Metallic Gold Baker's Twine.  Then, because every treat bag needs a treat, we stuck in a yummy peanut butter pumpkin and we have something fun and festive to give away!


The best part of the night for me was when most of my ladies said to me "Stop creating such cute projects for us to make!" They had all come with their pre-planned lists of what they were going to buy then changed their minds because they HAD to order all the supplies we used so they could make more Halloween treat bags at home!  A job well done, I say. ;)

I hope I've inspired you to make some fun Halloween treats to give away this year.

Thanks for joining me at The Table today!



Thursday, October 1, 2015

A BIRTHDAY CARD

Hello and Happy October!

I thought I'd share an idea for a quick and cute card.  Hand making cards doesn't need to take a long time to get great results.  All you need are some scraps of patterned paper, some twine and a sentiment and boom...a card that your recipient will love!


I stepped it up a little by running the panel through my Big Shot with the Lucky Stars embossing folder from Stampin' Up!  I made this card for my son for his birthday so wanted to keep it a little more simple.  The Happy Birthday sentiment is from the Teeny Tiny Wishes stamp set.  And I love that Smoky Slate thick twine! Here's a close-up:


Simple, but I love it.  My son thought it was pretty great too. :)

Your challenge:  Pull out your patterned paper scraps and make someone's birthday special!

Thanks for joining me at The Table today!



Monday, September 28, 2015

GRANDMA'S CHAIR GETS A FACELIFT!

Hello!

I'm back today to share what I think is another cute project!

My grandma had a dining set that she had forever.  I remember many Thanksgivings as a little girl sitting around that table.  Fast forward and my grandma has been gone for 30 years but I got to keep a remnant of those memories.  This:


This chair has definitely seen better days but it has served me well for a few years now in my different craft spaces and now in my dedicated craft room.  I imagine when I sit in it, I can feel my grandma's creativity.  She loved all kinds of crafting.  

I decided to breathe some fresh new life into this old heirloom (which, don't worry, the dining set really wasn't that great of quality so no antiques were harmed in the making of this project.  It really only has sentimental value).  I took a can of white spray paint, some cute fabric and some chair padding and turned it into this:


Isn't it fun?!  I just love walking into my craft room to be greeted by this happy chair.

Slowly but surely my craft room is coming together.  Now I just need to work on more organization!

Thanks for joining me at The Table today!



Thursday, September 24, 2015

BE OUR GUEST

Hello!

I was asked to do a guest post on the We R Memory Keepers blog today! I used fun papers and fabulous tools to FINALLY complete my inspiration/gallery wall in my craft room.  I may or may not keep walking in there just to stare at all the happiness!

Check it out here:  We R Memory Keepers Blog.


This fun perpetual birthday calendar was made with an amazing FREE printable at Lemon Thistle.  Check her out too!

I'm working on giving my craft table chair an updo so stay tuned for that!

Thanks for joining me at the Table today!


Wednesday, September 2, 2015

SAME DESIGN, STAMPIN' UP! STYLE

Hello!

I'm back with a second version of my Rustic/Chic card, this time using ALL Stampin' Up! supplies.  This time I used the Flower Patch stamp set.  I used the same ink colors and design as the card in my last post and I think it turned out so good, if I say so myself. ;)




And just because I like to practice with my Ollo Clip, here's a super close-up!


So don't think, just because you don't have the same stamp set as a card you fall in love with on the internet, you can't recreate the same feel with stamps you already have.  Just be brave and experiment and you will be so happy with the results!

Thanks for joining me at the Table today!



Thursday, August 27, 2015

RUSTIC MEETS FEMININE

Hello!

As promised I'm back with a card share today.  My daughter's wedding theme was kind of Rustic Chic.  Her new husband is very much an outdoorsy guy.  The boutonnieres were empty shot gun shells filled with flowers, for crying out loud!  LOL.  My daughter on the other hand is very much a girl and is not so much the outdoorsy type.  They say opposites attract, right? ;)

Anyway, as I was thinking about her burlap and lace table runners, I was inspired to create a rustic chic card.



It took me awhile to warm up to the new In Color Tip Top Taupe but now I LOVE it!  I used that ink and the Hardwood background stamp for my Very Vanilla card base.  Then I ran that through the Big Shot with the Woodgrain embossing folder for added wood-like texture.

I'm hanging my head a little because the stamp set I used is not Stampin' Up! and that's a no-no for us demonstrators but it was close at hand so I just grabbed that (I was due to go out the door to another wedding so I was short on time. LOL).  I took a smaller Very Vanilla panel and just started stamping the flower images where I thought would look good.  At first I scared myself because I hated how the colors were coming together, but I told myself to keep going and I'm so glad I did!  It's the perfect mix of rustic and feminine.

The ink colors I used for the flowers were Delightful Dijon, Pool Party, Coastal Caribbean (retired), Watermelon Wonder, Crisp Cantaloupe (retired), Pear Pizzaz, Always Artichoke, Perfect Plum and Wisteria Wonder.  I tied everything together by stamping the flower centers in Delightful Dijon, another color I'm learning to love!

In the next few days I'm going to recreate this card using a Stampin' Up! flower stamp set and I'll be sure to share. :)

Stop by my website to purchase your own fabulous Stampin' Up! supplies!

Thanks for joining me at the Table today!