How Can I Miss You If You Won't Go Away? No Soliciting Sign.

Sharing a post I did for the Expressions Vinyl blog last month. 

Those of you who've been around a while, might remember I made one of these last year. This one I made for the Mumster ( aka my Mom to those who may be new)  who is the friendliest person I know but who has one nemesis: Solicitors. 

How do you tell people to go away but nicely? With a sign made using Expressions Vinyl Glitter Ultra Cast that’s how!

I tend towards using things for other than their intended purpose so for this project I used some metal flashing(?) from the HW store for my sign.

I chose a frame from my Silhouette library and then did the text in two different fonts. I am still far from an expert with my Cameo but one tip I think worth sharing is when working with text or multiple objects in a project, group your objects. How?

After you’ve completed your layout, click on edit then scroll down to “select all” . Next you’ll want to group them which binds them together so if you accidentally hit your keyboard or something you only accidentally re-size one thing and you don’t mess up the individual parts. Not that I’ve done that or anything.

I cut the frame and text out from the same vinyl. Applied it to the metal piece using transfer tape. For things where it’s just a piece I don’t always use transfer tape. For something like this…DEFINITELY.

I always have to add something so I ran the rest of my vinyl through my Cuttlebug die cutter using a Tim Holtz Alterations die:

Attached all the layers with a brad and then super glued to the sign.

I made a No Soliciting sign for our house last year, and in another attempt to confuse the Hardware Store people, my stand is a metal tomato cage. I just use magnets to attach the sign to it. Someday the HW store people will stop asking me what I’m doing with stuff!

BFF Open House Link Party #62

Welcome to this week’s BFF Open House!

Let’s see what everyone’s been up to this week:

Party On!

Workshop Wednesday Blog Hop: Mod Podgeable Ornaments

Welcome  to another Workshop Wednesday blog hop. I hope you enjoyed visiting the blogs from last week and got some early holiday ideas from our group of busy elves.

It’s no secret that I’m mad for Mod Podge ( or some would just stop after mad). Last month I had so much fun playing with the new Podgeables from Plaid that I knew I wanted to use them in this workshop series. These can either be ornaments or package toppers so let’s see how to make them.

You’ll start with your clear acrylic Podgeables that come in 6 fun shapes. I used the tag, dove, and heart. Not shown: key, crown, scallop circle.

Trace around your podgeable onto your choice of scrapbook paper, cut out.  Brush your preferred Mod Podge formula on your paper shape ( I used Antique Matte) and adhere to the underside of your Podgeable.

I used a sheet from last year’s Recollections “Naughty or Nice” collection. Once these are dry, time to embellish! You may recall the crafting tape I used in last week’s project. It’s baaaaackkkkk.

I just put a strip of it wherever it seemed like a good idea. But wait, that’s not all. I also had some holiday themed rub-ons so I added those. But wait again, still not done:

I got a thing for bling. I love love love self adhesive rhinestones and pearls and stick them on anything I possibly can.  So out they came and on they went. For the swirly ones that come pre-shaped, I cut with a craft knife wherever the design worked for my ornament.

Some of the Podgeable shapes come with holes in them and others don’t. I debated about drilling holes in the two that didn’t have them ( something I clearly didn’t think about before I started) and didn’t want to wreck what I’d done so I looked around my craft room and my eyes landed on my jewelry making stuff and aha…half of a toggle clasp!

I glued the toggle clasp to the back of the ornament ( I painted the backside of my ornament just cause I did. You don’t have to) and whew! Instant way to put an ornament hook or tie to a package.
 

Thanks so much for stopping by and next stop on the hop is Michele at The Scrap Shoppe who no doubt has something wonderful in store! 

Summer Fun With a GIVEAWAY from Pick Your Plum!

I have a fun giveaway for you today! If you haven’t heard of Pick Your Plum, you need to know about them!

They offer daily specials on popular crafting, fashion, baking, and home decor goodies at a wonderful discount . The thing is, you have to act FAST because once they’re gone, they’re gone.

The lovely folks at PYP are giving one of my readers the opportunity to win $25 worth of goodies from them!
Some of their past offerings :

I ordered this baker’s twine when they had it and LOVE it.  Plus they ship so darned fast!

I’m definitely ordering paper straws next time I see them!

Likewise these cute wooden tags!  Your box won’t necessarily include these items but just to give you an idea of the fun stuff they carry and you never know!

They post their daily specials on Facebook so if you don’t already “like” them, you want to so you don’t miss out.  Likewise you can sign up to have a daily email sent to you.

Here’s how you can enter to win:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway will remain open through Saturday 7/21 with the winner announced on Sunday 7/22. Good luck!!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post by Pick Your Plum. All opinions expressed are mine.

More Podgeables Ideas: Velvet Ribbon Bookmarks

What happens when you have fun stuff to play with, and you get to do a guest post for a wonderful blogger?

Sweet Carolyn, from the blog homework invited me to guest over at her place. If you haven't visited her, you really should because you will find all kinds of amazing ideas from simple materials and done elegantly.

I had so much fun playing with the Mod Podge  Podgeables I used in a recent post. So much so that I had some that didn't quite make it into the necklace I made because I made too many. So guest post + extra fun stuff to play with = win win!


I did some of these last year here and like giving them as gifts. We are avid readers in our house and even though we’ve kept pace with technology and read a lot online and via an eReader, for me, there’s still nothing like an actual book. But what’s a book without a bookmark? 



For this project you will need:

• Ribbon. I used velvet but anything with some body to it.
• Ribbon Clamps. Find these in the jewelry supply section of your favorite craft or bead store. Mine are from Michaels.
• Jump Rings
• Pliers
• Charms, beads, anything small w/ a hole that will fit on a bookmark!

Measure your ribbon to the length you want. For standard hardback books, this is about 10 inches. Put your ribbon clamps on each end of your ribbon. I’m not coordinated enough to take pictures while doing this but it’s pretty easy. Slide clamp on, pinch it hard with a needlenose pliers.

Once you have your clamps on, you can add your embellishments. The Podgeables are acrylic shapes that you can decorate. I used Mod Podge  Antique Matte  to adhere paper to the backs of mine. Then added beads and charms from my stash.

The little copper charms are ones I made using Mod Podge Dimensional Magic in gold and a bezel I had in my jewelry stash:

BFF Open House #61

Welcome to this week’s BFF Open House here at The Answer Is Chocolate. Hope you all had a safe and happy July Fourth.

I’m going to have a crazy couple of weekends coming up so the party will go on but just letting you know in case I don’t get around to visit and do features like I usually try to. All the more reason for you all to go visit each other right?

See that button on my side bar? I hope you’ll check out Workshop Wednesdays, a fun Christmas in July series I’m participating in with several other bloggers. It’s never too early to get a start on the holidays.

OK I think that’s it for the announcements! Let’s see what everyone’s been up to this week:

Party On!

Christmas In July Workshop Wednesday Blog Hop: Paris In A Box

Welcome to a fun blog hop called Workshop Wednesday and a special welcome to any new visitors who came over from visiting Kara at Mine For The Making!

Michele over at The Scrap Shoppe had the genius idea to get several of us together to get a jump start on holiday ideas. I know what you're thinking:  it's July. There's plenty of time. That's what I tell myself every year and then I get a big old Emeril "BAM" wake up call. 

I always joke with a friend about running away to Paris. I can’t actually give that to her, so I came up with the next best thing. Paris in a box. Or at least the essence ( to continue my Emeril references)  of Paris in a box.

For this project you will need:

• Plain wooden box you can get at Michaels, JoAnns, etc. (which if you post a project using, you remember to take a picture of before you start!)
• Scrapbook paper of choice; I used K and Company black and ivory coordinated papers
• Mod Podge
• Acrylic craft paint
• Embellishments

Start by painting the edges of your box ( the parts that won’t be covered w/paper). Cut paper to fit the top and bottom and inside lids of your box.

Apply Mod Podge to surface, lay your paper down, smooth, let dry. Once dry, you can lightly sand off any excess paper on the edges and then seal with another coat of Mod Podge. If you’ve never podged, visit the Queen, Amy Anderson for getting started tips here.

I then went around my box with this fun “Crafting Tape” from Recollections at Michaels. LOVE this stuff which is their version of  washi tape!

Time to embellish! I cut an Eiffel Tower image from black vinyl using my appropriately named Silhouette Cameo "CoCo". As in Chanel ( ok and chocolate) .  Then went stash shopping for embellishments…self adhesive rhinestones, die cuts, buttons, and one of a couple of little frames I picked up along the way:

I popped out the plastic “glass” and popped off the back and then painted the frame with cream acrylic craft paint and dabbed on a little silver Rub n Buff.  Mod podged an oval diecut onto the lid and glued my frame and butons on :

Added black rhinestones here and there and Voila! I’m filling the box with some handmade tags tied with black and white baker’s twine for mon amie. 

I’m terrible at doing cost estimates because I have a lot of stuff on hand and always have a Michaels or JoAnn’s coupon around. If you had to buy the main materials, your total cost would still be around $10. a.) some of this stuff is always on sale  b.) there’s always a coupon and c.) much less than a plane ticket!

Hope you enjoyed this and it’s given you an idea for a plan ahead gift for a friend. Think of the fun you could have with places you and a friend have wanted to run away to. Hawaii? Italy? London? All of the above? Yes please!

Remember, this is a blog hop where you can find some more head start holiday inspiration so next stop is to visit Michele at The Scrap Shoppe! We'll be hopping every Wednesday in July.

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