Home Decor: Johnathan Adler Inspired

 

When I popped into Michaels to peep their Johnathan Adler Collection (if you're not familiar with him, he started out as a ceramacist and branched into lines of home decor sold at boutiques, his own stores, and now, at Michaels) I remembered that I had some "Adler-esque" pieces in my stash from Dollar Tree.

He uses a lot of bold geometric shapes and lines. 

Supplies:

• Unfinished Geometric Pieces
• Waverly Multi-Surface Paint
• Apple Barrel Multi-Surface Paint
• Rub and Buff

These are the unfinished ceramic pieces I scooped up at Dollar Tree when I saw them because they seemed like the kind of things that I'd regret not getting, even if I didn't have a plan at the time! I've since seen them at some stores but you never know, so glad I played it safe. 

Clean any dust or residue with a soft cloth. 

I went with this Waverly No Prep Paint in Steel for the candle bases. The bisque surface required a couple of coats. 

This is the first coat, and you can see the surface peeking through. So, second coat!

Hard to see here because it's been gloomy out and I probably need to move my desk, but painted these vases/candleholders/whatever they are with Apple Barrel Multi-Surface white, then dry-brushed with a metallic silver. 

I used silver Rub and Buff to highlight the raised edges. A little goes a long way with this stuff so start with less and go from there. Buff with a dry cloth. 

I also went around the rim of the candleholder base with a little of the Rub and Buff. I didn't glue them together because I switch pieces up and use them differently throughout the year, but you easily could!

For now, I'm using them as candleholders and I have battery operated lights from Dollar Tree in them. 

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Spring and Easter Decor: Twine Wrapped Carrots

 

This week's BFF Open House continues here through tomorrow. 

I had fun making these Twine Wrapped Carrots which were super easy to make!

Supplies:

• Jute Twine
• Styrofoam Cones
• Straight Pins
• Faux Greenery
• Hot Glue

I picked up a couple of the styrofoam cones they have all the time at Dollar Tree. I can't remember if that's where I also got the twine, but twine is everywhere! And it was either there or Michaels that I found this green bush I used for the carrot tops. Does that happen to anyone else? You throw things in your craft stash and can't always remember where you got what if it's not a familiar label? For me, it's one of three places. Michaels, Dollar Tree, Walmart! So, one of them!

First, I shaved down the sharp edge of the large end of the cone using a sanding block to make it look more natural carrot shaped. Warning: MESSY so do this over a garbage can. Then, I put a dot of hot glue in the center of the large end, and began coiling the twine. Once it got to the body of the cone, it was easy just to wrap around it tightly.Along the way, I secured the twine using straight pins. 

I debated about adding something to the small end of the cone to bring it to a point, but decided that big thick carrots often end in a stump so I left it. 

After my carrots were all wrapped, I poked a hole in the middle of the top with a bamboo skewer, pulled some of the stems off from the green bush, and worked one down into the hole. Then added some more stems until I was satisfied. 

To finish, I made a bow from more twine and hot-glued it to the top. Using a few more pins, I added some iridescent sequins because I felt like it. How I roll. 

I plopped them into my giant vase I change out seasonally. 

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Spring and Easter Decor: Jeweled Wood Carrots

 

I mentioned in my "Peep My Eggs" post that I also had some wood carrots I picked up at Dollar Tree last year that I'd be playing with. Here they are! 

Wood Carrot Cutouts

• Green and Orange Acrylic Paints
• Mod Podge
• Self-adhesive Gemstones
• Faux Greenery
• Jute Twine

I grabbed some green paints from my stash in English Ivy and Kelly Green and painted the tops. 

Here's the Enlish Ivy coat.

Then I dry brused over the English Ivy with the Kelly Green to give it a bit of variegation.

I traced around the carrot shapes and cut out the tops from a sheet of orange ombre scrapbooking paper from the Bright Ombres stack from Michaels in my paper stash. 

Squirted some matte Mod Podge on my carrots, then applied the scrapbook paper. 

As with my eggs, I used my Cricut Mini to get a good seal on my paper and then went around the edges with a sanding thingy. 

I forget where I found this leafy bush, but wherever I did, I thought the stems worked as carrot tops. I pilled a few of them off, and hot-glued them to the carrot tops. 

Then I grabbed some jute twine and wrapped it several times around the top of the carrot and the carrot top, hot gluing it down. I also made a bow from the twine and glued that down as shown.

I grabbed some orange paint (Waverly Multi-Surface) and lightly went around the exposed wood sides of the carrots. 

If you've been to my blog before, you know I'm a "it don't mean a thing if it don't have that bling" person, so I grabbed some irregular shaped self-adhesive rhinestones (Dollar Tree) and place them atop the carrots. 

Voila!

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Organizing: Portable Beading or Art Caddy

 

Thank you to everyone who left a comment about my Mom on my BFF Open House post. She's a trooper, and she's doing really well. FINALLY got her moved to the PT Rehab she was discharged to, and very pleased so far with the facility and care she's getting. They are on top of everything, and she's busy with over 3 hours of rehab per day and already asking, "When can I leave?" Good sign. 

On the way home yesterday, I popped into Dollar Tree for a little therapy of my own. And what to my wondering eyes did appear? These great storage bins with handles provide me with a solution to something I've been thinking about. I do most of my crafting in my craft room. But there are times when I want to be able to do something while watching TV at night or even while traveling. Couple that with wanting to get back into some bead embroidery and being able to keep things neat.

With the start of the year and organizing season, Dollar Tree has these great portable containers that gave me my solution! They're deep enough yet shallow enough if that makes sense. I created a Portable Beading Kit, which includes another Dollar Tree storage container to hold nine sets of beads. The great thing about the smaller container? Each container within the container comes with a lid, so beads won't spill everywhere! I have a couple of these in which I store glitter. The handles on the bigger containers come in three different colors. I chose this grey-taupe. The others are  green and  gold.

Here's my kit, complete with felt, embroidery floss, needles, and beads (I added scissors after taking the picture). Easy to carry between my TV chair and my craft room. Easy to swap out other colors. Easy to store when not using. 

The beads are secure in their containers within the smaller container. Lids secure, so even if it gets dropped or turned at a weird angle...no spills. This would also work for sequins, rhinestones, literally anything small that you want to create a collection for. Paints, papers, pencils and pens too!

Now, I just need to work on making things with my organized supplies!

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Cardmaking: Hanukkah Cards

 

This week's BFF Open House Link Party continues here. 

Tonight marks the first night of Hanukkah and I always enjoy making cards for special friends. These may be my favorites yet!

Supplies:

• 110lb Cardstock (Recollections, Michaels) in Dark Royal Blue
• Coordinating Scrapbook Paper
• Gold Mirror Cardstock (Recollections, Michaels)
• Silver Glitter Cardstock 
• Menorah Cut Image (Cricut Design Space)
• Digital Cutting Machine (Cricut Maker)
• Coordinating Large Rhinestones (Dollar Tree)
• Foam Dots

My go-to card size is 5x7 so I cut the solid cardstock to 7x10 and scored in the middle. I had the foiled blue paper in my stash.  I found a beautiful Menorah image in Cricut Design Space. I deleted the flames because I knew I wanted to use abstract rhinestones (Dollar Tree) for the flames. In Cricut Design Space, I then created an offset for the Menorah which I cut from the gold mirror paper. 

I attached the silver glitter layer to the gold layer using foam dots, then embellished the "candles" with coordinating royal blue rhinestones. The abstract rhinestones just screamed flames to me and were the inspiration for this entire project!

The center candle of the Menorah is used to light the other candles, with the other candles being lit from left to right, one candle each night, so I chose one color for it, and used the two gold shades for the remaining flames. 

And there you go! 

Wishing all those celebrating LOVE, LIGHT, and crispy LATKES!