BFF Open House Link Party #194

Happy Friday eve and welcome to the last BFF Open House of January. I'm hardly what you would call a football fan, but hometown pride is contagious so I'm excited to watch the Seahawks in the SB ( sorry Pats fans...gotta root for the hometown team). 

Valentine's Day will be here imminently so this week's features have a theme. Let's start with these gorgeous treat bags from Bonnie at The Pin Junkie:

Sarah from Ruffles and Rainboots shared how to make a Celtic knot using paracord, something that has so many possibilities from using it in a jewelry piece, or as an embellishment on a pillow or as she did in a garland. 

I recently saw a big glass growler and resisted it because I wasn't sure what I'd do with it ( not a beer drinker !) but Heather from Woods of Bell Trees has solved that. See her take on a Ballard Designs inspired project: 

And how could I not feature these brownies which are perfect for this weekend? From Simple Recipes Club:  Victory Brownies ! Whichever team wins, these will be a hit. 

Now onto this week's party !

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Say Cheese: Mini Insta Photo Fun Album

As I mentioned during Friday's party, I have not been very creatively active lately. Part of that is because I wanted to maximize time w/ College Boy while he was home on Winter break. So now that he's been back in school and all of the Christmas craziness has been put away ( yes you read that right...we keep it up until he goes back!) I had time to play with some fun new goodies from DCWV.

Disclosure: I am a guest designer for DCWV. Supplies were provided to me. Design and opinons are my own. 

College Boy has become quite the coffee connoisseur so while he was home we made quite the tour of indie coffee shops. I also got a new phone so was having fun taking pics everywhere we went. These days I don't do a lot w/ my pics so I decided this mini album would be a perfect way to capture the memories of his visit.  I like these small album sizes 6.25 x 5.5 and there are 4x4 photo sleeves that fit the 4x4 cardstock that coordinates with the album colors.

Since CB is an old soul who likes old things, I decided to do all the photos in black and white and kind of retro using photo corners. I mixed and matched the papers from the pack which all coordinate. 

I kept the pages pretty simple letting the papers and the photos speak for themselves but added some camera and film strip themed washi tapes and journaling stickers. 

For the cover, I used a page from the Chalk Art stack and cut it to size to fit the front of the album. I also had some camera charms in my stash that went perfectly with this project: 

Forgive the blurry photo! I added these to the front along with some of the washi tape, again keeping it simple and letting the paper speak for itself. 

I haven't decided yet whether I'm sending to him or keeping it but either way, memories saved! 

DCWV products used in this project: 

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BFF Open House #193

Happy Friday Eve and Happy Birthday to College Boy! We are the ones who got the best present ever when he was born. I have not done a whole lot in the way of creative things this week ( OK I've done zip, nada, zilch!) so was excited to see what you all had been up to. Here are a few highlights: 

Black and white and glitter? Yes Please! Love this Valentine's canvas from Her Organized Chaos. Sorry Mr. Chocolate ...like the Terminator, the glitter "will be back". 

This fabric flower lampshade would look great alongside that Valentine canvas or on its own. Visit The Heathered Nest for the how-to. 

Maybe you got some new baking pans for Christmas? Don't throw out the old ones ( or hit up a thrift store for some inexpensive ones). See what Pet Scribbles did with an old cookie sheet! 

This week's chocolate feature is from Gator Mommy: Snickers Brownies. Snickers are yummy. Brownies are yummy. Snicker Brownies? 'nuff said. 

Time to see what you've been up to this week! 

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

BFF Open House Link Party #192

Happy Friday Eve all even though I'm a little pouty since College Boy will leave tomorrow to go back and finish up his last semester of college! It's been a great visit and hard to believe he'll graduate this year! 

Lots of great shares at last week's party. Here are just a few: 

Let's start off with this faux patina monogram from A Creative Princess. Love the combination of paint and distress inks. 

How about this gorgeous metal stamped bracelet from Pitter and Glink? Perfect Valentine's gift. 

Plastic water bottles. I know we're supposed to hate them but they are a necessary evil in my life and I'll bet I'm not alone. I try to minimize and re-use and Mich in LA has a great way to keep track of yours on the go with this gorgeous beaded strap holder! 

The name of this week's chocolate feature from Her Organized Chaos speaks for itself doesn't it? 

Now on to this week's party! 

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Spring Wood Fun With Michaels: Gray and White Photo Prop Board

Disclosure: I wrote this post as part of a paid campaign with Plaid Crafts, Michaels and Blueprint Social. The opinions in this post are my own.

I have been meaning to make something to help me with taking pictures of jewelry projects and when I recently had the opportunity to work with Michaels, Plaid, and The Blueprint social, this idea came together. Michaels has a wide assortment of unpainted Spring wood pieces that are a perfect blank canvas.

For this project I used:

• Large scallop edge frame ( 11x14 opening)
• Plaid Folk Art paints in Steel Gray and Titanium White
• Plaid Folk Art stencil “Ditsy Floral”
• Paintbrush
• Paint Spouncers
• Recollections Gray and White Floral scrapbook paper
• Washi tape sheets
• Mod Podge ( Matte)
• Foam Core
• Fabric
• Cotton Batting
• Trim

The washi tape sheets, fabric, batting and trim I had on hand. All other supplies are available at Michaels.

Step 1:

Paint surface with two coats of Steel Gray paint. The picture below shows one coat and I debated about whether to add the second because I liked the almost stained effect of one.

Step 2:

After applying the second coat, I used the floral stencil to add some detail on opposite corners of the frame with the white paint using the spouncers :

Step 3:

Using the spouncers, I randomly added dots of white around the frame and tore pieces of the scrapbook paper and applied as shown with Mod Podge.  I added torn pieces of the watshi sheets and then sealed the whole thing with another coat of Mod Podge.

Additional Steps:

To fill the center of the frame I cut foam core to size, covered with cotton batting and canvas drop cloth. I probably should have ironed the drop cloth but I’m sure the wrinkles will smooth out :)

I adhered this to the frame from the underside, attaching with strong carpet tape. To finish, I hot glued upholstery trim around the covered foam core.

You can keep up with the latest products  offerings and ideas from Plaid via the following:

● Plaid Website
● The Plaid Palette Blog
● Newsletter Sign up for Plaid’s email newsletter for special coupons, project ideas and more!
● Plaid's YouTube channel
● Pinterest
● Facebook
● Instagram
● Twitter
● Google+

Here are what some other crafty peeps have been up to:

BFF Open House Link Party #191

Happy Friday Eve and hope you all had a wonderful first full week of 2015!  I'm already thinking this year is going to fly by faster than the last which seems to be the case with each passing year?  Once again, fun ideas shared at last week's party so here are a few features: 

I previously shared Artsy Va Va's reincarnation of her evolving chair and she shared yet another step on this chair's journey. 

Monogram and letter wall art is so on trend right now and Charm Bracelet Diva At Home has a fantastic roundup of ideas. I really want to do a marquee lighting project this year. 

I love coffee ( understatement) and we eat a lot of chicken but I never thought of putting the two of them together so this is on my to try list: Coffee Rubbed Chicken Breast from Lemons and Laughs. 

Since it's freezing just about everywhere, I imagine copious amounts of hot chocolate are being consumed. You will want to give this twist ( which is this week's chocolate feature) a try: 

Nutella Hot Chocolate from Classy Yet Trendy. Yum!!

No onto this week's party!

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Birthday Cards in Black and White and Gold

It’s no secret to anyone who’s read my blog that I LOVE black and white. Clothes, decor, photography…pretty much everything. So when I stumbled across this paper stack from DCWV while at Michaels recently, there was no doubt about whether to get it. It’s appropriately entitled “Decor Noir”. I couldn’t wait to get started with it and luckily I had three birthday cards to make for whom this color palette was perfect.

The black and white alone was enough for me but they added gold foil to many of the pages ! GOLD FOIL and black and white. Could I get any happier? Only if the pages were chocolate. I chose two papers to start. One with white mums that’s featured on the stack cover and has flecks of gold foil ramdomly placed and the other a distressed black background with gold foil dots.

For the first card I cut out a sentiment from a page of well, sentiments, trimmed and matted with black and gold papers. The papers in this stack are so elegant that I resisted my natural urge to embellish and went with less is more letting the papers speak for themselves.

The only embellishment I added was the piece of ribbon at the corner to which I added some gold glitter glue.

The black and gold dotted paper has the sentiment “Count your blessings each and every day” on the page in the lower right corner. I cut that out and matted with gold and black papers. I used a scrap from another stack to make the striped ribbon and layered it with a piece of the polka dot paper.

For the last card, I combined both sheets of paper from the stack and stamped the sentiment on black paper and heat embossed with gold powder.

I love them in color or in black and white photos!

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Foiled Turquoise Glass and Silver: Earrings and Pendant

My favorite repeat “customer”, College Boy, placed another order with me for some jewelry. This time for a birthday present for one of his besties.  Based on the colors he told me she likes, I chose this turquoise and silver color combo from my Design Team stash of Blue Moon Beads.

• 7 inch glass bead strand (8MM foiled turquoise beads)
• 12 inch metal spacer strand ( silver beads)
• 14 inch metal connector strand
• Silver chain, clasp
• Jump rings

For the earrings, I strung the glass beads onto head pins, and made wire wrapped loops to close. For each of the earring bead clusters, I made one longer piece using the silver spacer beads in addition to the glass beads. You’ll end up with 5 pieces per earring. One silver / glass combo piece and four other glass bead only pieces. I attached these to two large chain links using jump rings.

Using another jump ring, attach your ear wire.

For the pendant, I used a portion of the metal connector strand along with another glass and silver bead combo on a head pin. SImilar to the earrings, I doubled large links and attached the pendant with jump rings and added some leftover metal chain:

I made two more double wrapped loop pieces using the turquoise beads which I used to join two different types of chain to complete the necklace.

While these supplies were provided to me as part of my participation in the Blue Moon Bead design team, project ideas are my own. Blue Moon beads can be found at JoAnn stores nationwide along with other craft retailers.

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