Sunday, November 13, 2011

Quick Book Page Leaves and Thanksgiving Decor

I first started decorating for Thanksgiving when my son was in pre-school. We were in a store right after Halloween and the Christmas stuff was up and he said “What about Thanksgiving?” and then went on to opine about how Thanksgiving was getting short changed and having a very strong opinion about that. I understood I wasn’t going to hear the end of it if I didn’t decorate especially since "Mr. Too Smart For His Own Good and My Sanity" also pointed out that I had no excuse since I made all that crafty stuff. At. Four. Years. Old.

What’s that got to do with this post? Who knows. I just thought I’d share some of my Thanksgiving décor to which I added some last minute ( like 30 minutes before leaving to go see a movie last minute) easy leaves I made to hang on some curly willow I keep on my mantle.
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I just cut some leaf shapes freehand from some dictionary pages; smudged some distress inks ( Ranger) over them ( actually distressed the paper first, then cut the shapes with a decorative edge scissors) added copper eyelets and twisted some copper wire on.
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This sits in a vase on my mantle that I switch out seasonally. ( Dollar store vase and candlestick) .
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I left the tulle I draped over a table in my living room for Halloween along with a couple of glass pumpkins and added some Thanksgiving accents:
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One of the turkey’s I made over this year
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"Mr. Smarty Pants Four Year Old" is now a Freshman in College and coming home for Thanksgiving in 9 days ( not that I’m counting) so I made a little extra something for his room:
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Cut the pennant shapes old school ( a ruler!) but the rest using my Cricut Expression ( Doodletype and Sentimentals carts) and chose an owl accent since they’re so wise and smart…like a certain former four year old I know.
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Thursday, November 10, 2011

BFF Open House Link Party#28 and BFF c.w. frosting

Happy Friday Eve everyone! It’s once again time for the weekly Open House Blog Feature Friday link party here at The Answer Is Chocolate. To new guests at the Open House and to those who drop by regularly, welcome.

This week let me introduce you to Caroline from the blog c.w. frosting. You might remember her from the Wrap Up and Features from last week’s party. She’s the creator of this amazing bicycle wreath:
She’s got some other brilliant creations and can you believe that she whips these up while preparing to become a med student?!

Love these rufflekins that would be great on a Thanksgiving table:
I especially love that they’re no sew!

Also no sew, and perfect for this time of year when we have things like gift cards to present, are these wonderful felt envelopes:
Definitely going to make some of these! Caroline’s got great tutorials for all of her projects but in addition to that, she is a blogger’s best friend because she also shares her technical talents on a section of her blog called “Design Lab”. There you can find things like really cool social media icons that Caroline’s made available for use and tutorials on things like how to use these cool drop caps:
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Definitely need to learn this! So go visit Caroline and make sure to let her know you stopped by!
OK now you know the rules right? If you made it link it. Please link to your specific blog post and not your main page and no advertising or shops etc. Other than that, Party On!



Wednesday, November 9, 2011

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.
Core'dinated Thanksgiving Candles
I used the same papers , and Memory Box diecut from my place cards along with a few other embellishments:
Core'dinations candles
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.
Core'dinations Shimmer

Jolee's Pinecone
Linking Up At:
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Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Thanksglitter Place Cards

I am in love with Core’dinations glitter cardstock. It’s what I used in my “All That Glitters” wreath, and as I mentioned in that post, I couldn’t resist buying several other colors. Psssst….it’s on sale this week at JoAnn’s…5 sheets for $.95. That’s a lot of bling for under a buck!

I decided it was time for new place cards this year and a color called Copper Shimmer went perfectly with the project I shared over at A Glimpse Inside today.
Monogrammed Place Card
I cut my place cards from copper cardstock (4x6, so they’ll be 4x3 when folded), then panels from K and Company’s Fall Wheat Scroll paper, edged them with coordinating (and glittered) scrapbook borders  from KandCo.

Ran Memory Box’s Fall Leaf Trio die through my die cut machine and cut the leaves from the Copper Shimmer paper. Cut everyone’s initials on my Expression (Jasmine cart) from the same great metallic vinyl I used on my Autumn Lantern, and finished with more of the glittered turkeys I used on my wreath. Is that enough glitter for you? lol .
Monogrammed Place Cards


Monogrammed Place Card
Hello. My name is Carol, and I’m a glitterholic.
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Guest Posting At A Glimpse Inside


Greetings all! I'm guest posting over at Allison's blog A Glimpse Inside today. Sharing a festive fall project if you'd like to stop by for a visit!




Monday, November 7, 2011

BFF Open House Link Party #27 Wrap Up and Features

I dunno about you all but it seems I blink and the weekend is over. Hope everyone had a good one. I got my Halloween stuff down and my Thanksgiving stuff up and trying not to freak out that Thanksgiving is two weeks from Thursday! But that means my college boy comes home so for that, I cannot wait!

Another great party. Thank you everyone for continuing to help the Open House link party grow. Here are a few things that caught my eye but as always, everyone’s creativity was amazing.

I am always in awe of quilters. My  great grandmother was a quilter (by hand) and my mom has some of her treasures. This one from Caroline at Atelier Caroline is incredible both for her handiwork and her choice of colors: Raspberry and Chocolate!
What could possibly go better with this gorgeous quilt than these truffles? They were made for each other!
Raspberry Chipotle Truffles from Evie at Brown Paper Packages! I really like sweet and savory combinations and have seen several recipes where the secret ingredient is spicy. Can’t wait to try these and isn’t her presentation stunning?

For a completely ingenious take on a wreath, go visit Caroline at c.w.frosting. I would never have thought to use a bicycle tire as a wreath form would you?
I’ve never thought of bike tires as elegant but this one sure is!

You can see why Terri’s blog is called A Creative Princess with creations such as this:
Simple ingredients: Pine cones, acorns, burlap, and an embroidery hoop, but combined into a gorgeous piece of seasonal art.

And finally, with Thanksgiving upon us, this printable from Lesley at Freaking Craft is perfect in its sentiment and design:
Hope to see you all again on Friday. Have a creative week!

Friday, November 4, 2011

Indoor, Outdoor Autumn Lantern

The BFF Open House Link Party is still going on if you’d like to link up here.
I know other people do this ( humor me and tell me you do!) ….pick up something because you see a project in it even if it’s not immediate? Like when I picked up an outdoor lantern at Lowes this Summer and only just decided what to do with it?
Autumn Lantern
When Pick Your Plum had a great deal on metallic vinyl, I couldn’t help myself. Copper, gold, chocolate brown…Yes please! I cut out some designs on my Expression using the Accent Essentials cart and put on each side.
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Cut out a flourishy thing and several leaves in different sizes. Of course I couldn’t leave the candle that would go inside just plain. Remember that wood grain contact paper from Dollar Tree I used on my Give Thanks charger?  Cut some of that and wrapped around a plain candle, then added some KandCo scrapbook borders of maple leaves from the Tim Coffey “Fall” package to the top and bottom.
Autumn Candle
Finished that off with some wired bark ( an endless roll of which I picked up in the floral section of Michaels last year) . Not even sure if I’ll burn the candle ( unless we lose power on Thanksgiving which has been known to happen here in the PNW) .
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For now, it’ll just be part of my Autumn décor. But I also wonder if Lowes still has these because I see a Christmas idea in my head!
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