My First Official Silhouette Cameo Project

OK technically my second, but I didn’t think using it to decorate CoCo counted.

I love handmade paper. A little too much perhaps. I love it like some people love fabric and can’t resist the temptation of so many gorgeous patterns. I walk into places like Paper Source and just stand there drooling. They cut a wide path around me!

The thing is….I love to collect it and then freeze at the idea of cutting it up. Silly huh? But it’s sooooo pretty. I can't cut it up!!! I’m facing my fears and determined to use it this year!

Supplies:

• Sheet of handmade paper . I fell in love with this grey / yellow / silver combo.
• Last of the Goodwill $.99 frames from Pottery Barn from last year’s score. Like these so much I haven't even painted them. 
• Vinyl.

I’ve had fun downloading images from the Silhouette online store for CoCo. A girl needs choices right? I picked a fun tree and a bird image. I originally cut both in white but decided I wanted a contrast so cut the bird from grey vinyl. This machine is so easy to use it makes me feel like a lazy guilty crafter!

Cut  the handmade paper to size, framed it, and applied the vinyl on top of the glass.

And since I dare not waste any of this gorgeous paper, I made a layered paper flower from the scraps:

Easy peasy and will be a nice addition to my powder room.

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BFF Open House Link Party #36 and BFF Creatively Living!

Happy almost Friday all. It’s been a quiet week here at TAIC…had to have a little medical thing done so laying a little low and slow. Getting ready for college boy to head back to school and enjoying the last few days with our great young man.

This week I’d like to introduce you to another talented and creative person, Katie from her blog Creatively Living. Katie describes her blog as: Taking everything from thrift store finds, to dumpster dives and making them into a beautiful home.

Not only does she manage to do that for her own busy home ( she’s a military spouse and mom to 5 kids!) but shares her talents with others, like doing a room makeover for her sister. This week’s feature will be a little different since I’m going to share several projects from Katie’s room makeover. Let’s take a look: 

When will you be over to my place Katie?

Another corner of this room showcases this fabulous chair re-do:

Here’s a closeup of the chair:

Isn’t it gorgeous?!  Katie also made over the frames she used to create the gallery wall from those her sister already had, unifying them with color and adding mats.

I love the silhouette Katie did and framed, and that little catch all next to it? It’s a condiment holder! You can also see in the mirror the chadelier Katie made from two wall sconces she found at Goodwill.
You really need to pop over to Katie’s to see the whole room and SO much more!

Now, what have you been up to this week? If you made it, link it and no advertising or stores please. Otherwise…party on!

PS...mark you calendars for Monday January 16. I have a FUN treat coming :) 

Why Yes, I Did Name My Cameo

After entering every single Silhouette giveaway I could, I finally broke down and asked “Santa” for a Silhouette Cameo for Christmas. I know I totally didn’t need it but…..

Fortunately, Santa has a great elf in Mr. C and I screamed with delight when I opened my present.

I finally had a chance this week to take it out of the box  and install the software ( super easy!) and then last night, dove right in and played with it and even CUT SOMETHING! Woo Hoo!

I also couldn’t resist naming her, so the first thing I had to cut was something for my new BFF. Meet “CoCo” …a play on the name of one of the world’s foremost designers (Chanel) and my chocolate infused blog.

I downloaded the damask swirl from the Silhouette online store and cut it and the letters from chocolate brown vinyl.

I am totally overwhelmed by the amount of designs you can cut with this wonderful tool and cannot wait to play and play and play, but the set up really was very straightforward. 

I have TONS to learn but CoCo and I will learn together!

First Card of 2012!

It’s been a slow creative start to the New Year although I have unboxed and installed my new Silhouette Cameo! Now I just need to learn how to use it! I have named her, and yes she is a her. Her name is CoCo.

Time and birthdays wait for no lazy crafter however,  so I have had a couple of birthday cards to make. I thought I took pictures of both but oops.  I did make them using the same papers: Basic Grey’s Little Black Dress collection.

The two patterned papers are the different sides of a double sided paper. The stars are punched from glittered cardstock scraps in my stash ( I am focused on using up my scraps this year) and the swirly thingys are leftovers from my sticker stash.

I have a slight problem with clear $1 stamps. JoAnn’s, Michaels, and my soon to be closed ( waaah) local store Paper Zone, all carry them and let’s just say I’m an equal opportunity $1 stamp collector. This one is from Inkadinkado. I stamped the image on a scrap of paper from the card I forgot to photograph, and accented with glitter glue. The frame is from a pack of K and Co die cuts.

BFF Open House Link Party#35 Wrap Up And Features: Giving Back Edition

Thanks to everyone who linked up to the first BFF Open House Link Party of 2012 and the 35th weekly BFF Open House here at The Answer Is Chocolate!

As always, some fantastic ideas were shared,  but  this week’s features all share a common theme. One thing I love about crafters, artists, and creative people is the willingness to share those talents for good causes. I always love  “crafting for a cause” and will be looking for more opportunities to do so in 2012.

Mary, aka “Mrs. Redo” shared a project that still has me emotional because I know someone who’s been affected by the cause she and her family have crafted for: Domestic Violence.

You can visit her blog to learn more about “Operation Comfort Doll” , dolls made to give women in shelters escaping from Domestic Violence. Each doll comes with this note:

"I am a Comfort Doll. I was made especially for you

by a woman's heart and hands who cares. 

When you need strength or just a smile,

hold me and feel the love I send.

Like me, you are unique, worthy, beautiful,

and deserve all good things in life.

You have the strength within yourself to be extraordinary.

Find the strength and shine!

Comfort Dolls - created with our hands - 

given with our hearts."

Michelle over at Faith Trust and A Little Pixie Dust shared the way she chose to celebrate reaching 500 Followers on her blog. Michelle collected and donated coats for a local  shelter providing temporary housing to families. Michelle did this in honor of her readers! OK trying not to cry here!

Those are some of the coats in the background, and that’s Michelle. How special is this?! As one of her readers,  I feel so humbled by her thoughtfulness and generosity.


I know that in times of sadness, creating something has been healing for me. Karin, over at Art Is Beauty, recently had a dear friend of hers lose a brother to suicide.  Turning this tragedy into something healing, the family started a suicide prevention awareness foundation in his name. Karin created this beautiful piece of art that will be part of an auction to raise money for this foundation:

These things just spoke to me as needing to be shared. Like our favorite Super Heroes, we can use our talents for good! I know these ladies have done just that and I am so honored they shared their generosity at my little link party.

Now where did I put my tights and cape?

Valentine's Day: Love Is All You Need Printables

I haven’t done too much creatively in the New Year but one thing I have enjoyed doing is playing around with my digital scrapbooking software, My Memories Suite.

So , I thought I’d make and share some Valentine’s printables. Here are four colors to choose from. Click to bring to full res; right click to “Save As”.

Would love to see if you use these!

Mocha

Charcoal

Khaki

Ruby

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BFF Open House Link Party #35 and BFF The Messy Roost!

Welcome to the 35th BFF Open House Link Party and the first one of 2012!

I’m looking forward to another fun year seeing what everyone’s up to and being creatively inspired by you all. I had some much fun meeting new bloggers in 2011 and am looking forward to making many new “BFFs” in 2012.

To start the year off right, let me introduce you to the first Blog Feature Friday guest of 2012, Rhonda from The Messy Roost!

I love how she describes her blog so I’ll let her do it:

I believe people are born organized. I, however, was not. Please join me in my quest to turn my Messy Roost into a Tidy Coop.

Rhonda has shared some great projects at previous parties. Here are just a few of her creations. You can get a jump start on Christmas cookie gifts / exchanges by saving cans throughout the year and then dressing them up like Rhonda did:

I’d be thrilled just getting an empty can!

I love this Christmas tree idea she did and it’s all from hole punched holes! I could see doing this idea in other shapes and on cards etc.

Beyond Christmas, I just can’t get enough of topiaries and Rhonda has a wonderful tutorial for how she made these:

And I love how she did this coffee filter wreath and mounted it on a board:

I really don’t believe her roost is messy at all! I hope you’ll go by and visit and say hi to Rhonda!


Now, let’s see what everyone’s been up to in the new year. Just a few rules. Not too many! If you made it , link it. Please no advertising or promotions. And please link to your specific post page. That’s it. Well besides going and visiting other party goers but that goes w/out saying! Party On!

Restoration HW Inspired Mantle Clock Project

I’m definitely going through a timepiece phase right now. Everywhere I look I see clocks and clock ideas. I am in absolute LOVE with the oversized railway station and vintage clocks at places like Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn. I’m not in love with the prices.

$995 and $1545 um NO!

Still I like the look so I got one of those ideas that you aren’t really sure how or where you’re going to end up?

Come with me on my little journey!

I started out with Elmer’s Foam Board and the lid to a cookie tin. Traced the cookie tin on the foam board, cut out a circle and them smooshed the circle inside the tin. You want a snug fit.

That little gouge doesn’t matter because I cut another circle from some textured cardstock which I glued on top.

The clock face is black vinyl cut using the Tim Holtz Weathered Clock die. I put that on top of the cardstock layer and then mixed up some Envirotex Lite resin which is super easy to use but you need to use it immediately. You can read more about Envirotex here.

Painted the back and sides of the lid with black acrylic paint and painted a furniture leg I picked up at my favorite architectural salvage place for $1. I added a silver bottlecap and wooden ball to the top.

Once the resin was set ( several hours…not patient!), I glued the “clock” onto the “stand”. I added the hands of the clock afterwards on top of the hardened resin for no particular reason. Just did.

It doesn’t tell time but I think it tells a story. I can look at it on my mantle and imagine I’m somewhere on a trip, waiting  in an old railway station on my way to sight see. My imagi-cation is about as close as I’m going to get right now!

I also got to play with my new portable / collapsible light box that Mr. C got me for Christmas! I think it will be a so much fun I won't even miss not going anywhere :)

PS...if you are trying to win a Silhouette Cameo, peek over at my sidebar.  Expressions Vinyl is giving one away!! GO . ENTER. NOW!  Ends 1/25.

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Pottery Barn Inspired Prints Made Super Simple by The Graphics Fairy

This was the laziest project ever but it’s because The Graphics Fairy makes things so darned easy!

I was flipping through my latest Pottery Barn catalog looking for things to knock off ( it’s what we do right?!) and came across this page:

Mr. C is crazy for time pieces and I’m going though a clock phase myself as you could see from my New Year’s Eve party hats. I decided to continue that theme into the New Year and when I saw this display in the PB Catalog, knew I could adapt it. These will go on my mantle but we haven’t put away all of our holiday stuff yet.

12x12 frame from Aaron Brothers Art and Frame which is a very dangerous place right now because they’re having their semi-annual $.01 sale. Buy one frame for regular price and get the second of equal or lesser value for a penny. It’s easy to go a little crazy. 

I used Basic Grey’s “Little Black Dress” collection for the background paper, and printed out the clock from The Graphics Fairy.

The Graphics Fairy also has this wonderful graphic with times from all around the world that I’ve been wanting to use:

And since I had another frame that I’d bought for $.01…..

I have a couple of other clock projects in my head so I’ll post those (assuming they come out of my head and into reality the way I want them to!) soon.

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BFF Open House Link Party #34 Wrap Up and Features

Welcome 2012! I hope everyone had a safe and Happy New Year’s. Ours was a quiet evening at home trying hard to stay awake until the countdown but we did it!

The last BFF Open House of 2011 was, as always, a fun one with lots of creativity shared. Here are just a few highlights:

New Year’s may be over but there’s always a need for creative party ideas. Homespun With Love shared these great New Year’s horns that could easily be adapted to birthday parties or other celebrations in 2012:

I’ve seen some great tea staining ideas but Lynette from Casa de Luna offers a new twist by tea staining lampshades for a fantastic chandy makeover.

This is the time of year where my thoughts ( THOUGHTS not always actions!) turn to organizing.

Donna at loopyloopcreations has a bright and simple idea that makes storage pretty and practical.

And finally, Katie from Creatively Living, shows how to take two wall sconces and turn them into one piece of fabulous:

You really have to see how this started out!

Thanks as always to everyone who linked up and look forward to seeing your creativity at this week’s BFF Open House.

PS The winner of the My Memories Suite digital software is :

Marilyn from The Artsy Girl Connection!