Cozy and Creative

Ok, I am going to try and stop complaining about the record setting cold, and all of that snow, and instead attempt to put a positive spin on it!  Notice I said the word "try":)!

One of the good things about being house bound is spending time creating.

Nothing like playing in my craft room, a cup of hot cocoa nearby 

(with an extra helping of marshmallows, please!) to help beat cabin fever!

So on that note, I thought I'd share a few of my projects with you today.

I had so much fun with this first project, which I created for a friend's birthday present.

 I began by painting a couple of vintage wooden hangers a pretty robin's egg blue.

The floral design is actually copies of vintage wall paper that I printed and cut out by hand.  I added them to the front of each hanger with a bit of decoupage, and another coat of decoupage on top.

 A clear sealer, and some of my wonderfully crinkly aqua seam binding tied in a generous bow, and 

viola!

 A gift that is not only pretty, but useful, too!

Now I want to make some for myself!

 Last week I showed you the clay tags which I created, also using copies of vintage wall paper.

Well, this is how I ended up using a few of the tags.

I'm always hunting for interesting birdcages that I can transform, so I was super excited to find the following two, which went in my Etsy shop. Well, I have to give hubby credit for finding the first one, he is my official "picker"!

It was black when he found it, so of course I knew it could be oh so much prettier painted my favorite creamy dreamy white!

A bit of distressing, and a generous bow of cream crinkly seam binding, as well as one of my sweet clay tags, and she is looking rather shabbyliscious, if I do say so myself!

 She even has a cute door with a fun little latch!

 I added this pretty rose embellished tag to the next birdcage, and was thrilled when it promptly sold!

 Isn't it cute?  I almost didn't see the birdcage at first, as it was filled to the brim with old, dusty silk flowers, butterflies, falling apart styrofoam and more.  I know that someone thought they were being creative, but the poor thing really looked downright awful!  So after pulling it all out, and giving her a good bath, I used the same creamy white paint as my other birdcage and took her from drab to fab!

I love how her lid lifts off! 

 Next up are some pinecones that I painted pink, and glittered just for fun!

I had a large stash of pinecones on hand, that I had collected on various vacations.

While they were pretty tedious to paint, it was a fun project, especially since it involved my favorite crafting medium, glitter!

 I thought pink would be such an pretty and unexpected color for them.  I ended up painting some light and some brighter pink.  I then added coarse clear glitter, and pretty pink mica.

 It's a bit hard to see in the photos, but the effect is just magical!

These ended up in my Etsy shop, but I did paint and glitter a bunch in cream to keep for myself!

I've got plenty more creations to share with you next time.  Now I'm off to work on more fun projects in my craft room!

Have a great day, and keep warm!