Crafty projects found on Pinterest!

Whew!!  I made it!  I had a little wish list of ideas I saw on Pinterest and I somehow managed, despite all odds to get them all finished in time for some holiday festivities that will be occuring at our house!  We are hosting brunch on Christmas Day and a dinner on the 28th (27 people-yikes!!!)  At least they will have lots of handmade decorating to keep their eyes busy from spotting the dust bunnies!

I pretty much "lifted" all three of these projects as they were really just so perfect as they were! 

from Echo Park blog and found on Pinterest - I modified it slightly as I had a bigger, square frame instead of the 4x6 rectangular they used.



found on Pinterest...very, very quick project took about 15mins tops!    love it!


The last project is a mixed media canvas piece.  It took a little longer but not long at all really.  Just a couple of hours work with drying time extra.

Please excuse the horrid pink craft mat, it completely wrecks all the pictures...working on finding another solution!  This is a fraction of the supplies I gathered to start this project.

I know the picture is sideways...can't fix it!  lol 

I picked these three papers to use as my base or background on the canvas....a little bit of detail in the patterns but still muted.

5+ sprays, stencils, white paint and white glitter with some glass bead gel medium in the white, snowy area at bottom of canvas.

I am a very messy crafter!  This was a "cleaned" up shot!!  ;)



Found on Pinterest - Tutorial can be found at link below...

 I took both the "She has 3 hearts" and "She" online workshops from Christy Thomlinson this fall and they were fantastic.  I learned so much.  You can use all the techniques learned in the workshops and apply to any theme you want too! The tutorial for this particular canvas can be found here!http://christytomlinson.typepad.com/christytomlinson/2010/12/christmas-mixed-media-canvas-tutorial.html



aren't these little pressies darling?



I just love how the snowy sky and tree turned out!

Hope you enjoy all the little projects, check out Pinterest!  Lots and lots of great ideas!  You need an invite so let me know if you want one!

Thanks for looking!

Paper Christmas Trees

I completed these little beauties last year during the holidays but never posted the photos!  The project was easy enough but a little time consuming and a bit sticky!!!  lol



Three paper trees and little snow men friends....

 I used 3/4" and 1" wide strips of paper about 2.5" long.  I cut the edges with pinking shears to add some texture and slightly rolled the ends of the tree around a pencil to curl up the ends.  On the middle tree I stickled all the different colours of berries and leaves to add some glitter and shine!  This was the tedious part I was talking about but completely worth it!  It is not easy to see in the picture.

I started the project by glueing the paper to the styrofoam cone but it melted the cone??!!  lol  I then tried straight flat head pins to hold the paper on the cone which add a little sparkle as well!

My mom gave me these cute little snow men quite a few years ago and they are perfect for this little vignette on my piano!

I have a few more projects in the work that I need to complete this week!  Hopefully my little men will comply!

Thanks for looking!

Kaisercraft Advent Calendar

Yay!!!  Finally I got to the the Scrapbox to take pics of the Advent Calendar I created for Jenn to display at the store.  I finished the project nearly a month ago but silly me forgot to take pictures before I handed it over!



The finished product - Supplies used Lily Bee "Jingle" papers; Echo Park "Season's Greetings" chipboard; MME Merry Christmas Chipboard banner;, Tim Holtz "Composer" tissue paper; TA Glimmer Mists "Apple" and Red Velvet; Bo Bunny "Blitzen" brads; Authentique "Wonder" die-cuts; Dew Drops; Stickles "Platinum", "Christmas Red" and "Patina"; Misc embellishments: Jenni Bowlin, MM, LYB, the Twinery twine.


The list of items used is a long one!  I used many, many different companies, some old some new.  To begin with I spray painted the entire project in Ivory.  I wanted the box to be very neutral to blend with decor anywhere I decided to put it in my house.  The design concept was inspired by the Kaisercraft wooden tree that I altered using paints, stains, ink, script stamp and stickles. 

I painted the tree in various colours and then stamped a script image all over tree and base and layered different mediums on the tree. 

You can't see it (because I forgot to take a picture of it!)  but I painted each individual box in three colours - green, cranberry and ivory - using a dry brush technique so that when you pull a box out it looks pretty from all angles.

I used my Silhouette SD to create the jumping deer, green frame border on inside of large square area, and pine trees.  I picked the scroll design for the deer to compliment the scroll work of the wooden tree.  I cut the paper pine trees in various sizes of the same design and a couple of different paper choices to show depth.  I used different heights of pop-dots to help the forest have a more realistic look.  The green border framing the inside of the area was made using a layering technique.  I made the cut 6 times each per side and stuck on top of each other to make the frame thicker.



I really didn't care for the large chipboard numbers that come with the advent calendar.  They are too distracting and leave no room for decorating the individual boxes so I created my own set of numbers in MS Word using complimentary colours.  As the numbers are much smaller in size it also makes it more of a game to hunt for the day's little box.  I also placed the boxes in random order, the same as most commercial chocolate advent calendars do, again to make the search for the right day more fun!!!

For the music sheet background I used a technique I learned from Vicki Boutin in her class from Scrapfest.  I sprayed the Tim Holtz tissue paper with two colours of glimmer mist, a red and a apple green.  I dried the tissue paper with a heat gun and then applied it to the wood background using glossy Decou-page by Deco Art.  As you are applying the tissue paper create folds and wrinkles in the tissue to add dimension and interest.  When this dries it is nice and shiny and interesting to look at.

I popped this chipboard banner up using 3 pop-dots on top of each other to really make it stand out.  I added some red baker's twine from the Twinery behind the banner for it to hang off of.  I LOVE how this turned out.  I also used Glossy Accents of just the red letters of each banner piece to add some shine and dimension.

In all it was a long journey to get this project completed but completely worth all the planning and effort.   I absolutely love how it turned out and my family will enjoy this for years to come!

Thanks for looking!