Reversible Decoupaged and Embossed Metal Monogrammed Necklace

Whew...that's quite a title, eh?  Maybe it should say...one ONE side, the pendant is decoupaged, and on the OTHER side, it's an embossed metal monogram!  At any rate, you should definitely run over to Crafts Unleashed today to check out my tutorial for how to create this super easy necklace!!

And what I did NOT show on Crafts Unleashed is that on the reverse side, you can add a piece of cardstock, cardboard, or grungeboard (which is what I happened to use here), and then dress it up to your heart's desire.  I used E-6000 to adhere a rectangle piece of grungeboard, then used a paint dabber to paint it white.  I went over it with a chalk queue to add just a bit of ink to it, and then added my girl-image with Mod Podge (the girl and the words are from Cosmo Cricket's Odds & Ends line - SOOOO cute!).  Then I cut out all the words and added them with Mod Podge as well, and added a couple top coats of Mod Podge over the entire piece.  Final result - LOVE!  And what makes this piece SO easy is that the actual necklace part comes prepared (ribbon, beads, clasp and all)...all you have to do is make the pendant, add a couple jump rings to attach it to the necklace, and you're done!

Enjoy!  This entire month is jewelry month over at Crafts Unleashed...so if jewelry is your thing, you might want to keep checking in over there for lots of inspiration and giveaways!!

New posts...and why I haven't been blogging...

I seriously cannot believe it's been a month since I've posted here!!  Ack!  So...I have been VERY busy creating for the Crafts Unleashed design team, and doing product reviews for Craft Test Dummies (would you believe I *still* have products from Winter CHA to review, and it's almost June?!).

Check out my scrapbook layout up at Crafts Unleashed today -

And here's a review I recently did of the Pitt Artist Pens by Faber-Castell...one of my new favorites!!

And yes, I'm still working on my online classes - Soul Restoration with Brave Girls Club and Melody Ross, and The She Art Workshop with Christy Tomlinson.  Loving them...but having a really hard time fitting them into my schedule at the moment!!  I'd show you a pic of my first She-Art canvas, but it's a birthday gift for my sister (a very belated one...because I STILL haven't put it in the mail!!).  *sigh*  I'm terrible about that!

Not sure if I shared this in my last post or not...but the other reason I haven't been blogging is that I was recently (well, a couple months ago) diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis.  I've been in a lot of pain for the last several months, and it has taken the doctors a while to figure out the best medications to treat it.  It's sort of a trial-and-error method, I guess.  I just started a new medication last week - and while the jury is still sort of out on whether I'll be able to take it on a long-term basis, I *am* able to curl and uncurl my fingers when I wake up in the mornings for the first time in months, and it's not excruciatingly painful on my feet the minute I step out of bed!  I consider that a huge improvement over the way things have been.  So I'm at least hopeful that this one will work!

Obviously, all of the pain and joint stiffness has impacted my ability to create art and blog about it - so I've sort of just been doing the bare minimum...meeting my obligations and other than that, just taking time off to take care of myself, because I haven't really been able to do much more than that.  I won't sugar-coat it...it's been very disheartening and downright depressing at times, not being able to do the things I want to be able to do or feel I should be able to do.

But when it comes down to it, I have been forced to ask myself if I really believe the things I confess to believe.  Is the God I say I believe in really big enough to handle my questions, and my anger, and my hurt?  Yes.  Can I trust Him enough to believe that this path He's chosen for me is the best path FOR ME?  Yes.  Even if it includes illness and pain?  Yes.  Does that take away the pain?  No.  Does it help to know that I'm not alone in my pain?  Yes.  Does it help to know that there is some purpose to my pain?  Yes.  Does it help to remember that in life, our biggest lessons are always learned through times of pain and hurt?  Yes!  Has this brought me back to my knees, where I belong?  Yes!

And the best thing I think I've learned through all of this...repeatedly over the past couple months, in many different ways...is that rather than focusing on everything that's WRONG with ME, I need to be focusing on what's RIGHT about HIM.

So anyway, I felt like I kind of owed you all an explanation for why I've disappeared...hopefully this new med will do the trick, and I'll be back in business soon!  Right now I'm off to give my fingers a rest!! ;)

Homemade Pearl Mist Tutorial

I shared this post over on Crafts Unleashed today, and also wanted to share it with all of you, my readers!  But you should still head on over to Crafts Unleashed to check out all the other awesomeness that has been posted lately (especially the LOVE showdown, where you can still vote for your favorite designer's LOVE project - hint, hint)!!

Anyone who does anything with paper in crafts these days knows that mists are all the rage – whether they have shimmer to them or are simple color mists.  Either way, they are hugely popular among crafters everywhere, and they don’t seem to be going away anytime soon!!  If you’re like me, you like to save money whenever possible in crafting, though, and mists tend to be on the pricey side – especially if you want to accumulate a nice variety of colors.

If that describes YOU, then you’ll want to join me in making some homemade mists – and you’ll be surprised at just how easy it really is!

To make your own mists, you need the following project supplies:

• Perfect Pearls, in “perfect pearl” or your choice of color
• a small spray bottle (1 oz or larger) w/pump style sprayer
• craft stick or other small scoop
• water

Are you already surprised (by the very short supply list)?  I told you this would be easy!

First, gather all of your supplies.

Gather your supplies

Next, choose your Perfect Pearls color.  I am using “Perfect Pearl,” which is from the Metallics package, and is a pearlized white color.  (Note – make sure you are using Perfect Pearls, not Pearl-Ex, as they are different, and the Pearl-Ex does not have a required ingredient for this to work!)

Make sure to use Perfect Pearls, not Pearl-Ex!!

Using the craft stick, get one scoop of Perfect Pearls (one tip of the stick) and put it in the spray bottle.

Put one scoop of Pearl powder into bottle

Add about one ounce of water to the bottle, replace lid, and swirl well to mix.  Your Pearl Mist is now ready to use!

Swirl well to mix

Really, it is THAT easy.

Now, just to demonstrate how this particular color looks on different backgrounds, I took some photos of it on black, white, and purple cardstock.

On black cardstock

On white cardstock

On purple cardstock

I also took a photo of the homemade spray-box I use for my mist-spraying (again, I like to save money)…you should definitely spray in a protective space, to avoid stray-mist from covering things you didn’t actually WANT it to cover!

Misting box made from recycled cardboard box

So what are you waiting for?  Get busy misting!!

LOVE Showdown - go vote!!

Hey my friendly followers...if you loved my LOVE banner from my last post, why don't you just hop on over to Crafts Unleashed and leave a comment voting for my LOVE banner as your favorite in the Crafts Unleashed Design Team LOVE Showdown!!  :-)

Click photo to take you to Crafts Unleashed, then leave comment to vote

(You'll also get to see some other pretty cool Valentine's projects...but of course, we designers take our bragging rights pretty seriously, so of course you'll vote for me, right?)

LOVE Banner Tutorial - Valentine's Home Decor

I have really great memories of Valentine’s Day from my childhood.  My mom really went all-out for the holiday…from decorating the house with hanging tissue-paper hearts and banners, to breakfast on a table covered in red and pink decorations, and dinner with more surprises and fancy decorations…she really out-did herself.  As a mom now, I wonder how she did it all.  After all, she was a working mom; and as a stay-at-home mom, I am ashamed to admit that I, um, have NEVER put up a single Valentine’s decoration, or really done anything spectacular for my kids for the day.  I think I *did* buy some “x” and “o” shaped pancake molds one year, and they were a flop.  Anyway, this year, I am resolving to start doing a little more – and THIS banner is my start!

To create this banner, you’ll need these things:

• some recycled corrugated cardboard (try the box your project supplies arrive in!)
• Core’dinations Jenni Bowlin Red and Black Collection
• Nestabilities Labels 14, largest die
• Any Cricut font cartridge
• Sweethearts Cricut cartridge
• White pigment ink pad
• Perfect Pearls, Pearl color
• Distress ink pad
• Ink applicator w/foam pad
• Glossy Accents
• Hot Fix Rhinestones, Black
• Black 6″ tulle
• Ivory 6″ tulle
• Black 5/8″ poly ribbon
• Black 5/8″ organza ribbon
• Ivory 1/4″ double-sided poly satin ribbon
• Red 7/8″ grosgrain ribbon
• Twine
• Fabri-Tac adhesive
• Small spray bottle
• water
• sanding block

First, you need to prepare your corrugated cardboard backing pieces.  Cut 4 pieces of cardboard, about 5″ x 7″.  Then, peel the front off one side, revealing most of the corrugation inside.  Take the white ink pad, and rub it directly over the corrugated cardboard, so that the bumps of the corrugations are highlighted with the white ink.  Set the cardboard pieces aside to dry.

Peel most of the facing off the cardboard

Next, take a sheet of black text paper from the Core’dinations paper pad, and lightly sand the surface of it using a sanding block, revealing the contrasting color beneath the black.  Cut four pieces of paper, 4″ x 6″, and adhere one to each piece of cardboard using Fabri-tac (I like using this glue due to its great grab and ability to use with wet applications).  Next, place your pieces in a protective spray box (I have a homemade one), and spritz each piece with a homemade Perfect Pearl spray (instructions to come!) or your choice of shimmery mist.

Background misted with homemade Perfect Pearl mist

Now you will cut take a sheet of the ivory-colored large dotted paper from the Core’dinations paper pad, and sand the dots, revealing the lighter color.  Then, you will use the largest die from the Nestabilities Labels 4 set to die cut a label shape for each of the four banner pieces.  Glue them onto the foundation pieces.

Adhere Nestabilities Label 4 to background

Using the Cricut font cartridge of your choice (I used Alphalicious), cut the letters to spell “LOVE,” at about 3″ size (depending on their width, you may need to adjust, to fit on the label), out of a sheet of the damask Core’dinations paper in red, sanding it before cutting.  Use Distress Ink and an ink blending tool with foam pad to add ink around the edges of the letters, and then glue the letters to the labels.

Using the Sweethearts cartridge (or any cartridge with a heart shape), cut several hearts in 1.25″ and 2″ sizes, also from the red damask paper.  These will be used for embellishing.

Cut four 1.75″ x 12″ strips of the red damask Core’dinations paper and lightly sand them.  Take a strip of the paper, and lightly spritz both sides of the paper with water to make it more pliable.  Begin folding the paper to make pleats in it.  Put a strip of Fabri-tac adhesive down across the very bottom of one of the banner pieces, and lay the pleated red cardstock across it, pushing down and holding for a short time until the glue grabs and holds the pleats in place.  Lay another bead of  Fabri-tac down on top of the pleated cardstock, at the very top of the pleats, and cover it with a 1/2″ wide strip of the ivory dotted Core’dinations paper.  Trim both the red and ivory cardstocks even at the sides of the banner piece, and then use scissors to cut a slight wave pattern in the pleated cardstock at the bottom.  Repeat for all of the banner pieces.

Begin embellishing the banner pieces with the red hearts, hot-fix rhinestones, and handmade tulle flowers as desired.   Use Glossy Accents to add a glossy, dimensional accent to areas of cardstock or entire pieces of cardstock.  I used it on embossed (raised) areas of some hearts, or on entire hearts, and on the dots of the strips at the bottoms of the banner pieces.

Use Glossy Accents to accent embossing or add dimension

Twisted tulle flower with hot fix rhinestone and cardstock heart center

You can get creative with Fabri-tac and tulle in making flowers.  In the above flower, I covered a piece of cardstock with adhesive, then took a length of tulle and began twisting it and laying it down on the glue, going round and round until I covered the cardstock.  Below, I also covered a piece of cardstock in adhesive, but rather than twist the tulle, I simply gathered some between my fingers and pushed it down into the adhesive, then repeated over and over until I had a nice, floofy flower and the cardstock was covered.

Bunched tulle flower and distress-ink heart

You can see above that I rubbed a distress ink pad directly over my heart, so the ink hit only the raised, embossed areas.  I also inked the edges of the heart.

Continue to embellish the banner pieces as desired until you are satisfied.  Once completed, punch holes in the top corners of each piece, and thread twine through the holes of each piece, leaving about 3-4 inches between each banner piece and about 18 inches at each end for hanging.  Cut pieces of tulle and ribbon approximately 5 inches long and tie them around the twine all along the twine, as few or as many as desired, until you reach the look you desire.

Now…isn’t that LOVE-ly?!

*****

Note: This project was made for the Crafts Unleashed blog, as part of a "LOVE" home decor competition amongst the Crafts Unleashed design team this month.  Go check out the other projects, and vote for your favorite (hint, hint!!) here!!

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Snow Day Project - Foamies Snowflakes

Anyone who has children knows that while the words “SNOW DAY” bring shouts of excitement from the mouths of any young children in the household, those same words may NOT bring the same level of excitement for the parents of those same small children!  For that matter, “sick day,” “holiday,” or “parent-teacher conferences” may also have the same effect.  The kids are home, mom and/or dad are off work and have things to do, and in spite of the dozens of “I just *have* to have THAT!” toys and activities received mere weeks ago during the holidays, suddenly…the kids are “soooo bored!”

Enter the wonderful line of Foamies Activity Buckets!  For these particular snowflakes, you’ll need:

• Foamies Glitter Baby Bucket of Stickers – Snowflake Shapes
• Foamies Activity Bucket – Glitter Snowflakes

I opened up both containers of these Foamies and literally just dumped them on the kitchen table, and let my three older children, along with a couple of my friend’s children, just go at it.  The larger Activity Bucket contains 24 circle bases, with holes punched in the top (so they can be hung from the included pre-cut fishing line), a large assortment of shapes and sizes of snowflakes (self-adhesive), several jewel-rhinestones, a small tube of white glue, a small tube of silver glitter glue, and a small package of white/iridescent glitter. All of the foam items and “jewels” in the Activity Bucket are in white or blue tones.   The smaller Baby Bucket contains a wonderful assortment of glittered snowflakes in smaller sizes, plus circles in two different sizes – all self adhesive as well.  There were two shades of pink, two shades of blue, and a beautiful glittery white.

Spread on table for kids to easily choose from pieces

The children were all quite creative in how they assembled their snowflakes, each taking different approaches.  I watched as one child even tore the balls off the tips of one snowflake to suit his liking, before sticking it down onto another snowflake.  One of my three-year old twins was content to just tear snowflakes apart – which is par for the course – she enjoys tearing almost anything apart…yet, it DID keep her occupied!  My 5-year old most enjoyed two different aspects – one, the silver glitter glue, and two, stacking as many layers as he possibly could – proudly telling me exactly how many layers he was able to add to each snowflake.

Kit includes rhinestones and glue to adhere them!

Layer upon layer upon layer!!

Even I couldn’t help but make a few snowflakes myself – the glitter just called out to me!  I tried removing the backing from one of the self-adhesive snowflakes, and dipping it in the glitter (much easier than spreading wet glue around and applying glitter that way).  My son watched and then had to try it himself, of course!

Dip adhesive side in provided glitter for alternative effect

I say you can’t go wrong with the Foamies Activity Buckets – and I’d definitely encourage you to stock up on a few to keep on hand for those days when you just may have some “bored” children at home!  For a great selection of Foamies Activity Buckets, other Foamies kids' crafts, and other kids' crafts in general, check out Consumer Crafts!!

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