Fall Decor: Rustic Silk Leaves and Feathers Wreath

 

Happy Monday all! We in America move full speed ahead to our national day of thanks and gluttony and I've finished the last of the things I'll make ( I think ) for this short season between Halloween and Christmas. Anxious to get started on some Christmas goodies so be on the lookout! 

Also humbled and excited to have been again featured in the Hometalk weekly newsletter last week! They included my Plastic Egg Acorns and Pinecones and I couldn't be more tickled. If you aren't on Hometalk, you should check it out both as a place to share your creations and to find even more inspiring ideas! 

Supplies:

• Square Wreath Form. I actually had some inserts from 12x12 shadow box frames that I used but you  could also use a square frame. 
• Silk Leaves (Michaels 80% off)
• Twig Vase Fillers (Dollar Tree)
• Feathers ( Michaels)
• Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks

From left to right: Shadow Box Frame Inserts, Silk Leaves, Dollar Tree Birch Stumps and Twigs

The frame inserts are not the sturdiest so I glued two of them together to stabilize them. The silk leaves I found for 80% off at Michaels. I used two packages of 30 with a few left over.

These came in two sizes, the larger having some gold veining and the smaller being plain. I alternated these around the wreath. Pretty straightforward. After I glued the leaves around the frame I placed a few of the birch "stumps" , offset, "because I did" which is a technical creative term!

I have a ton of these twigs left over so may save them for next year or throw them in a vase. 

I grouped three feathers (Michaels, Art Minds or Creatology) at the base of each "stump", then added some of the twigs. 

To finish, I had some of these Acrylic Gem Maple Leaves in my stash from a past project so glued a few of those on. Living in the West, this may be another thing I leave up year round. Haven't decided yet. We don't have specifically "Western" decor but I like some bits here and there. 

Et voila!

BFF Open House Link Party #152

Happy Friday Eve and welcome to another party here at The Answer Is Chocolate. Spring has definitely sprung as evidenced by last week's party. Here are some of the highlights. 

With all the extra eggs used this time of year, be sure to save the cartons so you can make this gorgeous wreath frame shared by Melanie at Blissbloomblog.  I would never have guessed egg cartons!

Like so many crafters , I love finding things at the Dollar store. The DIY Homegirl has a great roundup of projects using Dollar store finds.

My Emiline has a fresh and fragrant lemon sugar scrub. Mother's Day is coming. Wonderful gift idea. 

I absolutely love this little bunny in a jar from The Crafty Lumberjacks. Wouldn't this make an adorable addition to an Easter tablescape? 

This week's chocolate feature is a delight. Feast for the eyes and the tastebuds. 

Lovely for an Easter table , shower, or special dinner. Visit Bonnie over at The Pin Junkie to see how she made the butterflies. 

Now for this week's party!

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

BFF Open House Link Party

Hi all and Happy Spring!  A much calmer week for me workwise so this week's party is on time and with features! Hope you all have had a wonderful start to Spring and those of you in the Northeast aren't dealing with too much snow. 

My name twin Carol from The Red Painted Cottage shared how to bring some Spring inside with her gorgeous tiered tray. 

Crystal, from Surviving a Teacher's Salary ( hear hear ) shared this natural planter using a found tree branch,  moss, and air plants. 

Artsy VaVa is back with a gorgeous Easter Egg bouquet showing off her painting talents once again because she hand painted those eggs! Wouldn't these be fun to put with your Easter dinner table settings ? 

Sugar Spice and Family Life shared these Peanut Butter Cup STUFFED Chocolate Cookies ( drooling...not gonna lie). With Reeses PB Eggs everywhere right now thinking you could even use those to stuff these cookies! Not that I go overboard or anything. 

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Layered Butterfly Mother's Day Cards With Cricut

 

Things settled down enough on my end to be able to work on some Mother's Day cards for family and friends. I'd had fun with my Layered Easter Egg cards so I decided to keep it simple and use the same approach to these, creating three layers in Cricut Design Space and then attach them using foam squares. 

Supplies: 

• Recollections 110lb Cardstock ( Michaels ) 
• Coordinating Paper ( Michaels ) 
• Foam Dots / Squares
• Self Adhesive Rhinestones 

Since Michaels enables me with their regular sales of their Hot Buy paper pads ( seriously, they could make me their ambassador for just these!) I gathered up some coordinating stacks. I decided on two color palettes. One pinks and lavenders and the other turquoise and white. 

I cut my own cards because I like them heavier than most of the pre-cut card packs since I tend towards heavier cards. This is why the Recollections 110lb Cardstock is my go to. Cuts clean and stands up to the weight of my cards. 

Using the Cricut Design Space software, I chose a plain Butterfly image then created two additional layers, adding ovals and circles. 

I cut each layer with the top layer being cut from the glitter cardstock. 

For the cards, I cut the cardstock 7x10 then scored, cut the panels and assembled the butterflies using foam squares. 

I kept these simple because the papers are pretty enough to speak for themselves. To finish, I cut a bunch of small flowers from white shimmer paper and layered with a foam square and curled up the top layer's edges. 

To finish, I added self adhesive rhinestones in the layered openings. Et, voila! 

Sharing At: 

Our Hopeful Home

Papercrafting: Layered Egg Easter Cards

 

I will singlehandedly keep the Post Office in business because as much as I love and use technology, I will always make and send handmade cards. And since no matter how hard I try, I can't make cards that only require basic stamps, I'm their best customer!  

I had fun with my newfound knowledge of creating layered files in Cricut Design Space and did a series of layered Easter Eggs in a pastel palette. 

Supplies: 

• Let's Wander Paper Stack ( Michaels ) 
• Ethereal Gradients Stack (Michaels) 
• Pastel Glitter Stack ( Michaels ) 
• White Cardstock (Michaels)
• Foam Tape
• Tape Runner

I will also singlehandedly acquire every Michaels Hot Buy Paper Stack which, did I mention...are buy one get two free this week? 

Since all of the papers complemented each other, it was easy to play with different combinations. I ended up doing some in blues/turquoise, pinks and lavenders, and yellows/oranges/green. 

I cut the top layers of each using the glitter paper, layering using foam tape on either one or two layers of coordinating plain paper. 

For this one I used two layers of glitter paper. 

I had some paper butterflies in my embellishments stash but I didn't have enough so I made some more by cutting them on my Explore Air 2 and adding self adhesive pearls to match the original!

The Post Office employees hide when they see me coming! WHAT is she mailing now?! 

Sharing At:

Our Hopeful Home

BFF Open House: Keeping It Real Edition

 

Happy Friday Eve Creative Peeps...this time from home vs this time last week in the hospital. Thank you for your kind words of support. Got sprung last Friday and on my journey of recovery. Normally I keep the intro to my party related to creative things or seasonal discussions but this one I'm going to "keep real" so if you want to skip straight to the party, scroll on down. 

What landed me in the ER last Monday was having dealt with of all things, constipation, for the two weeks prior. After my Mom's fall and her own hospitalization in March, recovery and follow up tests and appointments plus dealing with insurance stuff in April, making the decision in May to move closer to her, and then prepping to move, it wasn't that surprising since I had been doing a lot of on the go eating etc. 

Welp! That wasn't the culprit. But I'm glad I listened to my body and part of the reason I'm sharing this is to encourage everyone to LISTEN TO YOUR BODY! After blood tests and a CT scan in the ER, turned out I had a Tubal Ovarian Abscess as well as Colitis. The question became a chicken and egg one of which came first. Especially since I'd had a hysterectomy at 35 and there was no logical pathway to the Fallopian Tube and/or Ovary. The conclusion by the time I was discharged was, "doesn't matter". The treatment would have been the same. I had a white blood count double the top of the normal range which was "no bueno". Really really bad. So days of IV fluids and antibiotics ensued, including being discharged on the maximum dose of antibiotics for two more weeks. I also came home with a friend called a Pigtail Drain which is a tube that had to be put in my abdomen by a specialist called an Interventional Radiologist. Are we having fun yet? Nope! We are not. 

Most ( not all ) of my readers are women so I'm directing this to you. We tend to put ourselves last. As mothers, daughters, wives, sisters...we're the caregivers. PLEASE friends...listen to your bodies. Know when not to ignore that something's off. Don't feel like you have to power through everything. I'm a good one to talk because that's what I've done my entire life. My dad, may he RIP, set the minimum expectation at 110%. That was baseline. And I internalized it my whole life and as such, have sometimes ignored things I shouldn't. Likewise, we're bombarded with messages to push ourselves and accept no limits. Appropriate when contextualized perhaps, but it can be equally dangerous. So I implore all of you, don't think you have to be Wonder Woman. I love her but ... she's a fictional character. 

A big shoutout to Mr. Chocolate who has been there for me 100% and the burden of this move has fallen on his strong shoulders but he too is only human as I keep reminding him. Thankful that PhD Man is coming to help us finish up. 

Alright let's take a look at some of the creative ideas shared at last week's party. It's going to be a minute before I get back to creating. Have some follow-up appointments next week and a surgery in my future to remove these lady parts that tried to kill me. Also...moving. Never let it be said that I do things halfway!

Howling Liz shared some adorable and fun Summer Necklaces. 

LOVE these bright and fun Owl and Bird Painted Rocks from Simple Joys! There was a trend a couple of years ago of leaving painted rocks in random places. How fun would it be to randomly find ones this cute? I still have one I found at our Community Garden. 

This rescued makeover from French Creek Farmhouse is not only a beautifully refinished piece, but Kristi gives you some FABULOUS tips of things to look for in rescued / thrifted pieces and how to rehab them. Beautiful piece! 

Finally,  you know things must have been serious with me because I haven't even thought about chocolate for a couple of weeks. Seriously. I can't believe it either. This Chocolate Poke Cake from The Lou Lou Girls is definitely being saved for when that time comes!

OK let's see what you've all been up to this week and I would be remiss in not giving a HUGE shoutout to NURSES! I know I do not nor did I ever have it in me to answer this vocational calling. I truly believe it is a calling and the Nurses who cared for me were my angels. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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