Handmade Gifts: Brushed Gold Geometric Tile Coasters

Like all makers, I'm sure you're in full fledged Handmade Gift mode. This is actually one that wasn't  on my list but which I was thrilled to make. Here's why.  

When my son came home for Thanksgiving, he was telling us about a party he and his roommate had thrown just before. Last year, I'd made and given him a set of coasters and he'd used them for the party but nicest of all, one of his guests wanted to know where he'd gotten them. "Um , my mom made them". Awww! She really liked them and I was so honored that of course I had to make a set for her! 

Supplies: 

• Ceramic Tiles . I got mine at Lowes for $.16 ea ( and a weird look from the Lowes guy when he asked if I was replacing tiles and I told him I was making coasters)
• Vinyl / Foil. I used Cricut Brushed Gold Adhesive Foil
• Die Cutter or Digital Cutter. I used my CAMEO 3 ( yep I use Cricut stuff on my Silhouette Cameo. I'm a riddle wrapped in an enigma). 
• Images to cut. Mine came from Silhouette Online Store
• Aluminum Tape
• Vinyl Bumpers ( Clear self adhesive dots to put on the bottom of the coasters)

Clean your tiles with rubbing alcohol to make sure you remove all the warehouse dust and fingerprint oils etc. 

Choose, cut and weed the images you want to apply. I wanted to do a coordinated set so I went with varying geometric images. I used a couple of the same ones I'd used for my son's, but I added the heart for the ones I made for his friend. 

I went with three images and made two of each.  Using transfer tape, apply the images to your tiles. 

To finish, I wrapped adhesive aluminum tape ( I bought a huge roll of this at a stamp show years ago but I believe it's from the electrical aisle of the HW store so your Lowes guy can look at you funny too!)

Finally, I put clear vinyl bumpers ( the kind you use to prevent cabinet doors from slamming) on the bottoms since I wasn't finishing the bottoms with cork or felt which are a couple of ways I've seen people complete these. 

Easy peasy and inexpensive gift that's pretty and functional. Can'tbeat that.

What Good Are (Altered) Wings Wall Art

I teased these when I shared my last project: Another Altered Cabinet Door. I might need to change my blog name to something w/ "altered" in it . 

I saw these wood wings earlier in the year at Michaels when they first came in and went back and forth on them mostly because they had a whole selection of different wings and I couldn't decide. That became easier when after procrastinating, there were fewer to choose from but the ones that remained were 70% off. Score! I mean they were originally only $19.99 but I got them for $5.99. Deal. 

Supplies: 

• Wooden Wings
• Acrylic Paint
• White Glue
• Leafing Glue
• Silver Leaf
• Vinyl Quote
• Misc. Embellishments 

I had all of the other supplies in my stash which Mr. Chocolate calls "The Michaels Annex".

Paint with your basecoat color of choice. I used Craftsmart gray. Since I'm partial to a chippy / shabby / crackled look, I didn't care about complete coverage. 

If you prefer a more opaque look, go over w/ another coat. 

Did a combination of my fave white glue crackle and dry brushing over the grey using white acrylic paint. While the paint was drying, I laid out my quote in my Silhouette software and cut w/ my Cameo. The quote is by the poet Atticus: 

This is the same font I used for my vinyl ( it's called Ambrosia) and of course now I don't remember where I downloaded it from!  

I cut out my quote using black matte vinyl and since I'm easily frustrated w/ vinyl projects and inevitably muck something up that results in swear words , I trimmed the words into individual pieces to minimize the muck up opportunity. 

This also made it easier to lay out the words. Once I was happy with where I wanted them, I applied them to the wings. 

Never content to leave anything alone ( what fun is that?!) I decided to add some silver leaf to the tips of the wings and pulled out this pair of plaster wings I had in my stash, along w/ some adhesive rhinestone swirls. 

Metallic leafing is such a rich accent. I love adding bits and pieces of it to things. You need a good leafing glue ( called size) and I like the Mona Lisa brand. Basically paint where you want your leafing to go using the glue, wait 20-30 min (weather conditions matter so if hot, shorter time) until tacky and then apply your leafing. You can find many tutorials on how to use metal leafing on Pinterest and You Tube so won't go into that here. 

It hangs in our entryway which I pass everyday on my way to my office and it's a great reminder to me to be fearless, try new things, challenge myself. 

Another Altered Cabinet Door: NEST Sign

I mentioned in an earlier post how I love using cabinet doors for projects. I usually find mine at a local architectural salvage place and got this one along with a previous one for a donation of $5 ( for both) to Habitat for Humanity. 

We have a lot of blank wall space which I don't actually mind, but it's also great for when an idea does hit because  I haven't had to take something else down. This will hang in our TV watching area where we end up spending a fair amount of our time .  This is where I find out all of the latest intrigue on "Game of Thrones", say goodbye to my Sestras on "Orphan Black", see who's up to what on "Scandal" and "How to Get Away With Murder" and Netflix and chill.

We also read here when the TV's not on. We're homebodies so the them of "Nest" seemed appropriate.

Supplies: 

• Salvaged Cabinet Door
• Acrylic Paints
• White School Glue
• Printed Tissue Paper (Recollections)
• Mod Podge
• Adhesive Foil (I used Cricut Gold Metallic)
• Scrabbook Paper (C'oredinations Cream and Black) 
• Misc Embellishments
• Die Cut and/or Electronic Cutting Machine (Silhouette and Cuttlebug)

The wooden wings will be part of another post but I took a pic of the unfinished cabinet door with them so more on that later in the week. 

I painted the "frame" of the door with black acrylic paint (I used Craftsmart). Taped off the edges and then painted the interior with cream acrylic paint. 

I didn't worry about complete coverage of the interior because I knew I'd be putting the tissue paper here.  Cut the tissue paper to size and then apply using Mod Podge. 

Measured out my tissue paper before I painted

Using my favorite white glue technique, I crackled the frame of the door. Basically paint a layer of glue ; let dry until tacky but not completely dry ; paint over w/ contrasting color. 

Tip: You want to use long even strokes and go in one direction, not up and down. Back to School is the perfect time to stock up on cheap, white, glue! 

While that was drying, I laid out my design on my Silhouette Cameo, then cut the images and lettering using Cricut Gold Foil. 

Enter frustration. When I applied the foil pieces, the transfer tape pulled up the Mod Podged tissue paper in some spots. The nice thing about working w/ the tissue paper was that it was easy to tear some "matching" pieces and just repair those spots with a little more Mod Podge. 

I don't think you can really tell where I had to patch. I used my Cuttlebug to cut the flowers ( Tim Holtz Tattered Florals) rolled the edges and added rolled roses in the center. I rummaged around in my mismatched embellishment stash and found some swirly things ( technical term) that I painted to match and put on the nest image and the corners of the door. 

For the Cost of a Donation: Upcycled Cabinet Door Tray

I dragged Mr. Chocolate to a flea market last month. It was held at an architectural salvage place in Seattle called Second Use. While the flea market didn't yield any treasures, a stroll through the Second Use Warehouse did. 

Of course Mr. Chocolate looked at the two cabinet doors and me like we were nuts. I'm used to it. He now loves the tray I made from one of the doors. All for the cost of a $5 donation to Habitat for Humanity. Two good things in one! 

This is what I started out with. I liked the panels and the way this door was framed. I mean I immediately saw a tray!  So I painted it with a white bisque acrylic paint. I didn't care about full coverage because I knew the look I was going for and it wouldn't matter. 

Back Side of Door

After my first coat was dry, I went over it with a coat of Espresso acrylic paint. Again, I didn't care that it was all streaky. In fact that was better. 

Then, using my tried and true glue crackle technique, I slathered on a thick coat of cheap white glue, let it dry until tacky, then went back over top with another coat of the Bisque White and watched the magic crackle process happen. 

Crackle Step 1 : Cover With Glue

One of my New Year's resolutions was to use things in my stash that I hadn't because I was hanging on to them for some irrational reason. So I pulled out a stencil that I'd never used and added some leaves using  Martha Stewart acrylic paint: Grey Wolf: 

To finish, I added a pair of door handles I picked up at Target ( the screws weren't long enough for the thickness of the door so I just glued on using extra strong glue) . 

The cup is one I painted at a paint your own pottery place. 

Not so crazy now am I Mr. Chocolate?

BFF Open House Link Party

Happy Friday Eve everyone. Hope the week has been kind to you. Summer is gearing up and since I haven't done features for a couple of weeks I have some extra ones this week from the last two parties. Let's get right to them! 

Summer means lots of movement between indoors and outdoors right? Carrying things out to patios and decks. So this tray  makeover from Altered Artworks is perfect. I know some of you will recognize the before of these trays and might even raid your parents basements to see if they have any! 

These DIY Citronella candles would go perfectly with the trays wouldn't they?  From One Little Proejct

Speaking of candles and Summer, love the bold graphics of this one from Crafty Lumberjacks. Make a set to give as gifts using all four seasons! 

This bold ampersand project goes well with the candle doesn't it? See Lynda Creates for the details. She used a Sizzix die but if you have a Cameo or Cricut I bet those would work too. 

I could see this Carousel Jewelry organizer hanging next to the project above! Love the vintagey goodness of a transformed cabinet door used as the base. Visit The Navage Patch for the how-to. 

With Fourth of July approaching, check out this awesome flag project that Artsy Va Va did with a broken Adirondack chair. Nothing goes to waste in this woman's hands. 

Finally, with all the Summer entertaining, decorating, re-purposing etc. you're going to need a super Summer dessert. Look no further than this Oreo cheesecake from Lou Lou Girls. YUM!

OK on to this week's party !

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

BFF Open House Link Party #151

Friday Eve...best day of the week! Hope none of you endured any awful April Fool's day pranks. Not a fan of that day. 

Here are some inspiring ( inspire Spring?) ideas from last week's party: 

My readers know I love making cards. This one from It's Always Ruetten is a must make idea. Perfect for so many occasions. 

Spring and birds go together don't they? I really like this layered stencil bird project from Laura at Pet Scribbles. 

Doreen over at Altered Artworks took her love of altering things to a bigger level. Ab fab makeover of this flea market found metal file cabinet to some new Industrial Chic storage for her workroom. 

I couldn't believe that this gorgeous cake was Diane's first attempt at cake decorating. Visit An Extraordinary Day for the details. I can assure you , my first attempt looked nothing like this. I'm not even sure it looked like cake! Easter, Mother's Day, showers ...

Finally this week's chocolate feature. Simple, classic, delicious and never tire of this combination. Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars from The Pin Junkie. 

   

    An InLinkz Link-up