BFF Open House Link Party #57: Wrap Up and Features Dads, Grads, Fourth and Fun

Thanks for another fun party. Summer is definitely here and we are in full Dad, Grad, and Fourth of July Season. Here are just a few ideas that caught my eye:

Malia, from Yesterday on Tuesday shared this great Father’s Day Tie Wreath. She has a wonderful tutorial



If you have a grad in your life, Linda from Our Mush Push has a great card layout ( and awwww thanks Linda, glad you found inspiration in my grad cards).

In our house, it would more likely be me eating this but I love this “Manly Munch Mix” from Shaken Together:

If you want to whip up a batch, Keri’s got the labels in addition to the recipe.

I love making and using printables to change up my seasonal décor. Michele at The Scrap Shoppe has a fantastic Fourth of July printable she’s sharing:

Sorry…you have to get your own frame lol.

Finally, Kristina from Remade Simple shared a super cute shirt she did with a bleach pen and stencils.

Thanks as always for choosing to share your creativity here at The Answer Is Chocolate. Make it a creative week!

Father's Day "DAD" Printable

I’ve mentioned how totally hooked on PicMonkey I am. I made a Father’s Day printable and had fun playing with it in PicMonkey.

Sharing here in its original form but also with two PicMonkey effects that I think are perfect for Father’s Day.
The first was made using a Papyrus filter in PicMonkey. Select. Apply.  Done.

This one is the basic printable.

And this one is using a paint filter. Again so easy. Choose, Apply, Done.

Click on the one you like to bring to full size and then right click to Save As. If you use, would love to see!

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BFF Open House Link Party #57 and Mod Podge Goodies Giveaway!

Happy almost Friday everyone and welcome to another BFF Open House. I am not featuring a blog this week but I do have a  very special treat for you!

Remember I got to review and giveaway a copy of Amy Anderson’s fantabulous new book: Mod Podge Rocks, Decoupage Your World?

Well the wonderful folks at Lark Crafts,  Sterling Publishing, and Plaid  are also giving one of my readers the chance to win a Mod Podge goodie bag that is so so so so and did I mention SO cool!

They have this packed so nicely that I didn’t want to undo it to take pictures but I can tell you that this includes:

• A Mod Podge Tee Shirt!
• Sampler pack of Mod Podge finishes
• Glitter Dimensional Magic
• The BRAND NEW Podgeable acrylic shapes
• Podgeable Papers
• A Mod Podge Brayer for smoothing out those bubbles

The giveaway will be open through Friday June 15, and here’s how you can enter to win (US and Canada residents only). Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway



Now let’s see what you creative people have been up to this week.

Party On!

Recollections Glittery Graduation Cards

I’m starting to feel old when the children of friends I knew when they were pregnant are now graduating from college!

Children of two friends are graduating from the same school Mr. C and I went to, so I had to go all out with school colors for the University of Washington …purple and gold. I found the perfect glitter Recollections papers at Michaels.

I haven’t figured out how to really capture the sparkle of the glitter in photos.

The cards are 5x7 and I cut the papers for the front to 4.75 width and then layered them as shown. Stamped the sentiments with clear embossing ink and used Recollections gold sparkle embossing powder.

Really good that I paid close attention to all of the words on this stamp because one card is for a guy and one is for a girl and wouldn’t want to send the one with “Atta Girl” to the wrong person.

I had some paper bag filler stuff in my party stash so I pulled some out and stick it to the card before I put the stamped focal pieces (layered with purple, black, and gold mirror cardstock). 

Finished with stars punched from the gold glitter paper.

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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!!

BFF Open House #56 Wrap Up, Features, and Giveaway Winner!

Monday again already?! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. I’m excited to announce the winner of Amy Anderson’s awesome book, Mod Podge Rocks!

And the winner is…….

#24, Tara Rose!

Congrats Tara (I've emailed you) . You will LOVE it.

Another week of wonderful linkups. Here are just a few that caught my eye!

Janet, from Janet of All Trades shared these gorgeous floral pendants. Would you ever guess they started out as the little plastic stakes that come with your plants?

Clarissa Emily from A Little Brown House shared this patriotic “Liberty” banner that is just perfect for Fourth of July. It is so gorgeously vintage.

Malia from Yesterday On Tuesday shared this brilliant take on a way to incorporate specimen art into décor. Love it!

And of course I have a chocolate share! Valerie and Laura from Occasionally Crafty shared these to die for brownies!

Thanks everyone for continuing to share your creativity at the BFF Open House. Make it a creative week!

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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