Altered Skeleton Bottle

I’m always excited when Mr. Chocolate decides to try a new adult beverage because he always chooses stuff that comes in the coolest bottles and eventually they’ll be mine all mine mwaaaaaaaaahhhhhh.

I had fun last year making “Pick Your Poison” altered bottles, that I wanted to make another one.
I started with this empty bottle:

appropriately called Mischief.

I was going to use the paper you see underneath it then I decided to use this paper instead:

Fishnet! Yes, fishnet paper. I thought it screamed Halloween. Measured around my bottle, cut the paper and applied to the bottle with Matte finish Mod Podge, then tore some strips of black and white damask paper and slapped that on with the MP.

Once that was dry, I cut out a circle from the All Hallow’s Eve scrapbook paper shown here, applied it to the bottle with Antique Matte Mod Podge, then applied a rhinestone circle sticker.

I had a skeleton head left over from my coffin boxes and decided it would make a great bottle topper. First I wrapped the bottle neck with black and white baker’s twine, then kind of zig zag wraped black ribbon on top of that:

I also had some spider web paper left over from my coffin boxes so I made a pleated pinwheel to make a collar for Mr. Skully Head.

Carrying on my propensity to pun, I added a key from a package of Tim Holtz keys…a Skeleton Key .I crack me up.

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More Podgeables Ideas: Velvet Ribbon Bookmarks

What happens when you have fun stuff to play with, and you get to do a guest post for a wonderful blogger?

Sweet Carolyn, from the blog homework invited me to guest over at her place. If you haven't visited her, you really should because you will find all kinds of amazing ideas from simple materials and done elegantly.

I had so much fun playing with the Mod Podge  Podgeables I used in a recent post. So much so that I had some that didn't quite make it into the necklace I made because I made too many. So guest post + extra fun stuff to play with = win win!


I did some of these last year here and like giving them as gifts. We are avid readers in our house and even though we’ve kept pace with technology and read a lot online and via an eReader, for me, there’s still nothing like an actual book. But what’s a book without a bookmark? 



For this project you will need:

• Ribbon. I used velvet but anything with some body to it.
• Ribbon Clamps. Find these in the jewelry supply section of your favorite craft or bead store. Mine are from Michaels.
• Jump Rings
• Pliers
• Charms, beads, anything small w/ a hole that will fit on a bookmark!

Measure your ribbon to the length you want. For standard hardback books, this is about 10 inches. Put your ribbon clamps on each end of your ribbon. I’m not coordinated enough to take pictures while doing this but it’s pretty easy. Slide clamp on, pinch it hard with a needlenose pliers.

Once you have your clamps on, you can add your embellishments. The Podgeables are acrylic shapes that you can decorate. I used Mod Podge  Antique Matte  to adhere paper to the backs of mine. Then added beads and charms from my stash.

The little copper charms are ones I made using Mod Podge Dimensional Magic in gold and a bezel I had in my jewelry stash:

Christmas In July Workshop Wednesday Blog Hop: Paris In A Box

Welcome to a fun blog hop called Workshop Wednesday and a special welcome to any new visitors who came over from visiting Kara at Mine For The Making!

Michele over at The Scrap Shoppe had the genius idea to get several of us together to get a jump start on holiday ideas. I know what you're thinking:  it's July. There's plenty of time. That's what I tell myself every year and then I get a big old Emeril "BAM" wake up call. 

I always joke with a friend about running away to Paris. I can’t actually give that to her, so I came up with the next best thing. Paris in a box. Or at least the essence ( to continue my Emeril references)  of Paris in a box.

For this project you will need:

• Plain wooden box you can get at Michaels, JoAnns, etc. (which if you post a project using, you remember to take a picture of before you start!)
• Scrapbook paper of choice; I used K and Company black and ivory coordinated papers
• Mod Podge
• Acrylic craft paint
• Embellishments

Start by painting the edges of your box ( the parts that won’t be covered w/paper). Cut paper to fit the top and bottom and inside lids of your box.

Apply Mod Podge to surface, lay your paper down, smooth, let dry. Once dry, you can lightly sand off any excess paper on the edges and then seal with another coat of Mod Podge. If you’ve never podged, visit the Queen, Amy Anderson for getting started tips here.

I then went around my box with this fun “Crafting Tape” from Recollections at Michaels. LOVE this stuff which is their version of  washi tape!

Time to embellish! I cut an Eiffel Tower image from black vinyl using my appropriately named Silhouette Cameo "CoCo". As in Chanel ( ok and chocolate) .  Then went stash shopping for embellishments…self adhesive rhinestones, die cuts, buttons, and one of a couple of little frames I picked up along the way:

I popped out the plastic “glass” and popped off the back and then painted the frame with cream acrylic craft paint and dabbed on a little silver Rub n Buff.  Mod podged an oval diecut onto the lid and glued my frame and butons on :

Added black rhinestones here and there and Voila! I’m filling the box with some handmade tags tied with black and white baker’s twine for mon amie. 

I’m terrible at doing cost estimates because I have a lot of stuff on hand and always have a Michaels or JoAnn’s coupon around. If you had to buy the main materials, your total cost would still be around $10. a.) some of this stuff is always on sale  b.) there’s always a coupon and c.) much less than a plane ticket!

Hope you enjoyed this and it’s given you an idea for a plan ahead gift for a friend. Think of the fun you could have with places you and a friend have wanted to run away to. Hawaii? Italy? London? All of the above? Yes please!

Remember, this is a blog hop where you can find some more head start holiday inspiration so next stop is to visit Michele at The Scrap Shoppe! We'll be hopping every Wednesday in July.

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Mod Podgeables Mixed Metal Necklace

It is no secret that I’m a bit of a Mod Podge maniac. You might recall I recently shared the amazingly generous shipment of Mod Podge products from Plaid featuring some of the newest additions to the Mod Podge product line. In case you don’t here’s a refresher:

 

I love making jewelry and I love bold, chunky jewelry but sometimes it can turn out heavier than I planned. 

Problem solved with  the new acrylic podgeable shapes,  podgeable papers and tracing templates that coordinate with the shapes of the podgeables. 

The hardest part was choosing which papers to use!

I went with an “industrial chic” design, using papers from the Classic and Romance stacks. The papers are wonderful because they’re double sided so it’s like having two papers in one!

I used my new favorite Mod Podge formula, Antique Matte, to adhere the papers to the podgeables. The tracing templates make it easy to cut your shapes exactly to match, and depending on your selection of punches, you may have some that are the perfect shape and size.

Apply your MP to your paper, adhere to your podgeable and let dry.

While these pieces were drying, I had fun with the new metallic Dimensional Magic. If you’re afraid of trying resins, try Dimensional Magic. The metallic DM has little flecks of glitter that float in it.

I  had some charms in my stash that I filled with silver DM and self adhesive rhinestones. The DM comes out opaque and dries clear so the glitter shows through.

Here are my charms as they were drying. 

I had so much fun with this. With all of the formulas, there’s something for just about any kind of project you can think of.

I want to thank the folks at Plaid and The Blueprint Social for the opportunity to have so much fun doing what I enjoy with products I absolutely love. Sponsored post? Yes. Opinions? All mine!

Plaid is celebrating the 45 anniversary of Mod Podge, and Michaels is carrying the new additions to the MP family. You can visit also Plaid on Facebook here and Twitter here.

And you can see more wonderful projects here

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Mod Podge A Palooza!

I’m so excited to have been selected to participate in a Mod Podge campaign sponsored by Plaid and The Blue Print Social. I’ll be posting my project later this month, but I’m bursting at the seams with excitement being able to share the goodies I get to play with. I was worse than a kid at Christmas or their Birthday waiting for the Fed Ex man to arrive.

I was even singing a “Come on Mr. Fed Ex Man” song that convinced my dog that I’d lost it more than she  usually thinks I have. And NO I will not be performing that for anyone but the dog.  Saturday was THE day!
There are so many fun things in this stash including some new products that should be popping up at Michaels if not there already.

Can you say metallic (Glitter Silver and Gold)  Dimensional Magic? Ohhhhhhh my. And a new Antique Matte finish for vintage-ing stuff up? Yes thank you!  Podgeable papers? Swoon! 

I’m going to be a Podge-maniac! OK I'm going to be more Podge-maniacal than I already am. 

I actually screamed and squealed when I opened the box and my husband and son thought I’d fallen down or something. The dog however, just looked at me like “Not again”.  Hmmm wonder if I can Mod Podge her? Just kidding PETA people! She’s quite used to my outbursts and I love her as much as chocolate and Mod Podge. 

Stay tuned!!

Vinyl Butterfly Plate With Removable Rolled Flowers

 I  did this project recently for the Expressions Vinyl Blog.  I felt guilty calling it a project because it's so stinkin' easy.

I love putting vinyl on anything and everything. I also change my mind a lot and sometimes want the flexibility to change a theme. Vinyl is perfect for that! I found this plain square glass plate at Cost Plus and knew it was a perfect canvas. I Mod Podged a piece of scrapbook paper on the underside of the plate, but you could also leave your plate completely blank. 

I have been wanting to do something with a butterfly motif and the hardest part was deciding which image to download from the Silhouette online store. I decided on this swirly one. I re-sized it to fit and cut it out using a leafy green Expressions vinyl.

I am definitely not a dainty clean crafter. Just keeping it real here. Sometimes stuff gets stuck to the mat but it mostly comes off pretty cleanly.

I’m also a “I can’t throw that away because there must be something I can do with it “ crafter ( aka as Mr. Chocolate would say a HOARDER). I’ve seen this idea sold in craft stores to decorate your walls…using vinyl as the adhesive to attach paper flowers or lightweight wooden embellishments.

I adapted it to my butterfly plate. Punched circles out of scrap vinyl, and made rolled flowers from some paper scraps:

I hot glued the flowers to the vinyl, peeled off the back and stuck to my plate.  Done and done. And if I decide I want to take the flowers off and/or change my butterfly for something else, peel away!

It doesn't get much easier. If you don't have an electronic cutter or die cut machine, try punches on your vinyl.

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Core’dinated Thanksgiving Candles

I’ve done several projects with the plain prayer candles from The Dollar Tree and since I bought a case of them last year, I still had a couple in my stash, so I decided to alter a couple to coordinate with my place cards.

I used the same papers , and Memory Box diecut from my place cards along with a few other embellishments:

KandCo paper, Core’dinations glitter paper, Jolee’s Boutique acorn and pinecone stickers, Studio G rhinestone strips I picked up at Michaels after Christmas last year 50% off.

Mod Podged the papers onto the candles and then went around the top and bottom of the papers with velvet ribbon from my stash. Cut out the leaves using my Epic 6, and hot glued them on top of the ribbon. Finished with one of the pinecone dimensional stickers and two strips of the rhinestones on each candle.

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