Easter Shadow Box Project

Hi everyone, how is your week going?

Ok, so I do realize that Easter is still more than a month away.

But, for those of us who love to create, well, we often tend to jump ahead of the calendar, right?

I do have a valid excuse, though, as this is my latest project for DecoArt!  

DecoArt was requesting Easter themed projects, so I couldn't resist the chance to make something fun and spring like!

Sometimes inspiration comes just from walking thru the isles the craft store.  Other times it's searching for neat ideas on Pinterest.  And yet others just seem to pop into my head!

So with that, I'll share with you my Easter shadow box project.

 I found this neat wood shadow box with a pretty laser cut frame at Michael's.  I knew right away that it would be the basis for my project!

 Then I had another brainstorm!  I picked up these little wood banner cut outs, also at Michael's

I began by painting the frame and outside of the box in the prettiest light green, called "Pistachio".

One easy way to get more mileage out of your paints 

(and keeps you running to the store to buy yet another color!) is to mix several colors together to create a multitude of shades!  So for a little contrast, I mixed some of the green with a bit of white "Snowball" to make a slightly lighter shade of green, and used it to paint the inner edges of the box.

 I also painted the little wood pennants in both shades of green, as well as a pretty "Baby Pink".

Again, for another shade of pink, I mixed it with a little white to create a paler pink for some of the other pennants.

 I love adding little polka dots to my projects.  So I decided to add them to the edges of each pennants, just for fun.  It was easy peasy!  Just dip the end of a small paint brush, or even the eraser end of a pencil into your paint to create the dots (I used white).

 To each pennant I added adhesive alphabet stickers to spell out "Happy Easter".

You can't tell from my photos, but the letters have just a bit of sparkle 

(because you know just how much I love glitter!)

 I then added the pennants to two lengths of jute twine.

To the inside of my shadow box, I decoupaged a piece of vintage sheet music

(I guess you could say sheet music is one of my signature looks!)

 Then the real fun began!  Assembling my box!

I found this darling little Easter bunny at Hobby Lobby.  Isn't he just the cutest?  He is foil wrapped, giving him the appearance of chocolate (but don't try to eat him, he's decorative only!!)

I also added this sweet spray of pastel colored eggs.

 And the cutest little nest with eggs, also from Hobby Lobby.

 I had so much fun with this project!

 It makes me want to create more for different holidays and seasons!

 I hot glued all of my embellishments in place.  But, if you just placed them inside the box, you could swap them out with the seasons, using the same box again and again for different looks.

Hope that inspires you to create something fun!

Fun Jewelry Project

Hi everyone, hope your week is off to a good start!

For those of you who battled the latest winter snow storm over the weekend, I sure hope you are staying safe and snug indoors!

As for me, I've been keeping busy playing in my craft room.

So I thought I'd share with you my project that I completed for DecoArt.

The challenge this time was to create something using unconventional materials.

So, I put my thinking cap on, and came up with this:

 Can you guess what I made this necklace out of????

Paper!  Yep, I made the beads from pages torn from magazines, as well as scrapbooking paper!

 This project brought back some sweet memories from when I was a little girl.

I could hardly wait for summer vacation, as it meant I could catch up with Carol Duvall and her craft show on tv!  I'm not sure if her show was broadcast all over the country or not, but one of our local Detroit stations aired it each weekday for many years. Carol is from Michigan, by the way.

Back then (geez, I feel so old saying that!!), we didn't have Michael's or Hobby Lobby to run to for our crafting supplies.  

Oh no!

And we certainly didn't have the variety of crafting materials available like we do now.

So, Carol was a real pro at turning things like egg cartons, pringles cans, plastic jugs and more into works of art!

I remember first seeing the paper beads on her show when I was a girl, and could hardly wait to make my own!  Of course, back them, mine didn't turn out quite like these!

 Anyway, if any of your would like a mini tutorial, just let me know!

Basically, you go from this.............

to this............... 

 to this.......

 And, voila!

A handful of paper beads just waiting  to be turned  into something pretty!

I thought it would be fun to paint them (since of course a prerequisite of the project involved using DecoArt paint) to look like turquoise beads.

And for added interest, I mixed in some beads that I made from printed floral paper.

After painting, I coated all of the beads with a product (from DecoArt) called

"Triple Thick", which gives them a super shiny, hard glass like finish.

 I also mixed in little silver beads.

This is actually two long necklaces that I made, so they can be doubled over for multiple looks.

I can even wear them as bracelets by winding them around and around my wrist!!

 It was a fun, though very labor intensive project.

 The stringing part was super easy, but the making of the beads did take alot of time!

I can't wait to wear them!!

Fun Heart and Arrow Project

Bonjour Mes Amis!

Hope you all had a great week.

I know what you must be wondering, 

"Why oh why is this girl rushing ahead to Valentine's Day already?!"

Well, if you are one who creates, then you probably like to plan ahead a bit.

I know some of you even plan and create Christmas projects in July!

Well, I am not nearly that organized!

But, since DecoArt was requesting Valentine's themed projects, I just couldn't resist creating this stacked heart and arrow!

 I had so much fun with this project, and couldn't resist adding a bit of my signature glitter!

My color palette was white along with pretty shades of pink.

 Just for fun, I decided to add a white polka dot border to the middle heart.

 I found this adorable white grosgrain ribbon with little gold arrows, which I thought was the perfect embellishment for my hearts!

 I should back up a bit by saying that the hearts started out as unfinished wood pieces.

 Same with the arrows.  I also found a really neat dimensional metal arrow that I added.

 Here's a little tip if you want to paint polka dots.  Just take the eraser end of a pencil and dip it in a bit of your paint to create dots.  Dip each time you make a new dot, and viola!

Fun and cheerful, easy-peasy polka dots!!

 I had the best time creating this project for DecoArt!

I hope it inspires you to make something too!

Thanks so much for stopping by, your visits and comments mean alot to me:)

Earning My Wings

Hi everyone,

Are you having fun planning and preparing for the holidays?

I'm afraid that I've gotten way behind this year.  For the past 2 1/2 weeks, hubby and I have had an unwelcome visitor in our home.  The kind that arrives without an invitation, and just won't leave soon enough!  No, I'm not talking about an elderly eccentric aunt, or a loud and foul mouthed brother in law!

I'm talking about a really nasty cold/flu bug that just won't go away.  I won't bore you with details, other than to say we've felt more miserable than we have in years.

We are slowly improving, but have quite a way to go til we are back to our old selves.

Not very good timing, but what can you do?

So needless to say, I've not been doing much of anything, and really have missed blog visits and playing in my craft room.

I did manage to complete a project for DecoArt, that I want to share with you today.

Angel wings are all the rage. Well, I know they have been for quite some time, but I guess I am always slow to catch on to things:)!

So when I was given the assignment to create something featuring the new metallic lustre

by DecoArt, I immediately thought of angel wings!

Metallic lustre is a water based wax, that can be buffed to a high shine.  For this project, we had to use their "rose gold", which to me looks like a light pinkish copper.

Ok, I am babbling.  Must be all of those cough drops I've been eating!

At any rate, here is what I came up with................

 And this is what they started out looking like.

I searched high and low for wings, and finally found this beautiful wood pair on line.  I didn't care for the overly distressed look on the bottom portion of the wings, but no worries!  I would soon be painting over them!

 I first painted the entire wing area with my favorite creamy "Lace" chalky finish paint. A bit of distressing followed. Then I 

used DecoArt's "Dazzling Metalics"

to add a really pretty iridescent shimmer.

It's not showing up well in my photos, but trust me when I say it is lovely!

 Then I used a combination of my fingertips and a stencil brush to apply the rose gold, to highlight the feathers and the edges.

 It's a rainy gloomy day here, so unfortunately my photos didn't turn out that great.  They really don't do the wings justice.

 Here you can see the detail in the feathers. So pretty, I think!

 It was a really fun project.

 I'm hoping I can get my handy hubby to create a really large pair of wings for me using his saber saw.

 Thanks for visiting, enjoy the rest of your week!

(I've been compensated by DecoArt, but all of the opinions here are my own.)

Faux Mercury Glass Ornament Project

Hi everyone!

Today I wanted to share with you my latest project which I just completed for DecoArt, faux mercury glass Christmas ornaments.  I know, it's not even Thanksgiving yet!  But for those of us who craft and create, we need to get a jump start on the season, right?!

So, here is what I came up with............

 Do love mercury glass as much as I do?

I just adore it and can't seem to get enough of it!

So, I decided to create these using plain ol' clear plastic ornaments!

Yep, I used plastic!   While I would rather have glass ornaments, I didn't want to worry about breakage if I were to ship these. So after much debate, I went with the plastic (you can easily find them at Hobby Lobby or Michael's).

For my project, I wanted to make a coordinating storage box.  Something that would not only be a convenient place to store the ornaments after the holidays, but would be a pretty addition to Christmas decor.

 I decided on a French theme, all dusted with plenty of glitter!

(still holding Paris close to my thoughts and prayers.)

I sat up my little faux tree in our sunroom for the photo shoot. 

Making the ornaments was a bit of a process. But thru trial and error, and more than a bit of lack of patience, (I might have tossed out a few 4 letter words, gasp!), I finally got the look I was going for!

 First, you spray a fine mist of water into the insides of each ornament.

 Squirt in a bit of metallic silver paint...............

 Sprinkle in a generous amount of fine silver glitter (I know, you are shocked by that, right?!)

Then swirl it around in the ball.

 Place them upside down in disposable cups overnight.

If you are like me, you can't stand the thought of wasting anything!

Don't worry, you can reuse the excess paint for another project if you wish!

I was really liking the look so far.

But, the next day, not so much!

 More of the paint drained out than I had expected, and I just wasn't happy with how things were looking.

 So, a bit of brainstorming, and I decided to swirl in some more silver paint, along with just a few squirts of black to give more depth and again.

 Ahhh, just what I was going for!

I repeated the steps a few times, letting the excess paint drain out overnight.

It took quite awhile for the paint to totally dry inside.

 Then I could begin decoupaging them!

I found my images on Pinterest, as well as the Graphic's Fairy.

Those pretty butterflies are from the premium membership that I bought from the Graphic's Fairy (love!!).

 And surprise, more glitter was added!

 I tied narrow silver ribbon to the caps, and must say I am really happy with the end result!

Finally!!

 Who would guess that these are just plastic?

This sweet little angel, above it one of my very favorites!

 I bought a large paper mache box, which I painted with chalky finish paint.

Then I decoupaged the sides and lid with my French graphics, and dusted with more glitter.

Pretty creamy cotton lace trim was added to the lid as a final touch.

Here is one more look..........

Hope this enspires you to create something fun and glittery!