And the Winner Is...

                                                    LesApril 29, 2013 at 2:09 PM

                I really am so impressed at what you always make. I'd never think to put that all together!

Les is the random winner! Les, be watching for an email from me! :)

Thank you so much to everyone for your sweet comments!

Have a wonderful day!

French Inspired Shelf and a Giveaway!

 Today I'd love to show you a French inspired shelf using simple supplies from The Wood Connection. Mother's Day will soon be here and I wanted to make something special and unique for my mom. I thought this shelf would make sweet gift and it would also fit perfectly with her bathroom decor.  She's going to love it!

Supplies used:
Two large candlesticks - The Wood Connection
Two small candlesticks- The Wood Connection
Three 5" x 14" boards- The Wood Connection
Wood glue- The Wood Connection
Acrylic paint- light ivory, blue danube and foam paint brushes- The Wood Connection
Weather crackle effect- Martha Stewart
Mod Podge
Tissue paper
French Typography- The Graphics Fairy


Start by sanding the rough spots down on your boards and then painting a couple coats of ivory paint on all three boards and all four candlesticks. Let dry.

When the boards have finished drying, apply a coat of the crackle effect to each board and candlestick and it dry completely.

While the boards are drying, you're going to prep the tissue paper to go into the printer to 

print out your typography.  Start by laying out a single sheet of tissue paper and place a sheet of cardstock on top and trim around it so you have a 2 inch allowance.

Using the tape to secure it, wrap the tissue paper around the cardstock. You don't need a solid line of tape, but do use enough to secure it well.

Then run the tissue covered cardstock through the printer, so it will print directly on the tissue paper.

There is some wonderful vintage French typography at The Graphics Fairy that I used for this project.

Lightly spray the images with hairspray to set the ink. Do this step three times with three different images for each board.

After your boards and candlesticks are dry from the crackle effect, paint a coat of blue paint on all your pieces and let dry. This is what your pieces will look like after the blue paint has dried.

 LOVE that shabby chic look!

Cut out your tissue pieces and place them where you'd like on the boards. For this board, I used two separate images but on the other two boards, I just used one image on each. 

Cover the board with Mod Podge and place the tissue pieces on top, then add another layer of Mod Podge on top.

Once the Mod Podge has dried on your boards, glue the two large candlesticks on top of one board.

Using wood glue, attach the second board on top of the candlesticks. Glue the two small candlesticks on top of the second board and attach the third board on top of the small candlesticks.

This is what the finished shelf will look like! 

 I also printed out a couple vintage french perfume labels and Mod Podged  them to small  painted 4"x6"blocks of wood ( also available at The Wood Connection) for an added decoration. 

I hope you enjoyed this French inspired shelf tutorial as much as I loved making it!

 Thank you so much to The Wood Connection for having me, it's been a pleasure as always! They were generous to give me a $25.00 gift certificate for one lucky reader.  Simply leave a comment below and you'll be entered into the drawing! 

  

Thank you for stopping by and have a lovely day!

Melissa Frances House Kits

One of my favorite products Melissa Frances carries are the beautiful  House Kits. They are so much fun to put together and I love adding my own special touch to each house to make it unique. You could make one for every holiday of the year!  The one I made here features the Large Queen Ann house kit and papers from Classic Elegance collection. I also added a brooch to give the house a little sparkle.

Melissa did a series of three videos on the house kits on My Craft Channel last year.  You can check out her three part series on these darling houses over on the Melissa Frances Blog.

Here are some examples of the unfinished house kits.  I love them all! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Mini Frames

Hello!

I'd love to share a SUPER quick and easy home decor project. I found these mini frames at Michael's  and thought they would be perfect for a fun project using supplies from the Memories and She Said collections. They would also make a sweet gift for a loved one in your life.

The first frame uses damask paper from the She Said line and die cuts from the Memories and She Said collection. I added a little medallion on top of layered pennant die cuts toward the bottom.

This fun aqua frame uses polka dot paper a doily sticker from the Memories collection. The butterfly and "you are my sunshine" sticker are from the She Said collection. Of course I had to add the cute enamel dots, they're my favorite supply these days!

Cut out the paper to fit into the frame and add your embellishments on top of the paper and frame.

And there you have it, quick and easy home decor!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

New Teresa Collins Mid-Release Debut: Summer Stories

 Summer Stories is the new mid-release from Teresa Collins Designs and it is absolutely breathtaking! A mix of sunshine yellows, cotton candy pinks, ocean blues and a dash of gold. I am in LOVE with this collection and it's making me crave summer somethin' fierce! 

Head over to the Teresa Collins Blog to see more of this line in action and to find out how you can win part of this beautiful collection!

Spring Decor

Nothing says spring to me like soft baby bunnies and colorful, spinning pinwheels. 

Here are couple quick ideas for some fun spring decor using the She Said and Memories collection from Teresa Collins Designs.

The first project is a framed washi tape bunny. I saw this tutorial on Pinterest and thought it was so adorable!   

For the bunny I googled  "rabbit silhouette" and several popped up. I chose my favorite and printed it out. Next, I flipped the paper over on the wrong side and started covering the rabbit silhouette with different colors and patterns of washi tape. You're going to want to keep doing this step until the entire bunny is covered.

Next, flip the bunny over to the printed side and cut it out.

I then cut out a 5x7 piece of paper from the She Said collection and adhered the bunny to the sheet of paper. Pop it in a frame and that's it! 

Here are the instructions for the pinwheels:

1, Start with a 4"x 4" square piece of paper.
2. Fold your square corner to corner then unfold.
3. Make a pencil mark about 1/3 away from the center.
4.Cut along the fold lines and stop at your pencil mark.
5. Bring every other point into the center and stick a pin through all four points. Make sure your pin pokes all the way through the center.
6. Stick the pin into a thin dowel, or in this case, I used paper straws.
7. Attach brad to the middle of the pinwheel.

A cute idea to display your pinwheels is to wrap strips of washi tape around a mason jar and fill it with paper grass. You could also fill the jar with colorful jelly beans!

I hope your spring is filled with carefree days of lying in the grass and watching pinwheels twirl in the breeze. ;)

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great day!

Handmade Home Decor

Hello, friends!

Have you picked up your copy of  Paper Crafts special issue Handmade Home Decor? It is filled with amazing home decor projects for every season and holiday. I'm so excited to have two Halloween projects in this special issue and I'm equally excited to be featured as one of the new designers on the Paper Crafts blog today! 

Here is one of the projects I made for the issue; a little candy corn decor piece using Vintage Finds by Teresa Collins.  Be sure to stop by the Paper Crafts blog to find out how you can win a copy of Handmade Home Decor!

Have a great day!