BFF Open House Link Party #191

Happy Friday Eve and hope you all had a wonderful first full week of 2015!  I'm already thinking this year is going to fly by faster than the last which seems to be the case with each passing year?  Once again, fun ideas shared at last week's party so here are a few features: 

I previously shared Artsy Va Va's reincarnation of her evolving chair and she shared yet another step on this chair's journey. 

Monogram and letter wall art is so on trend right now and Charm Bracelet Diva At Home has a fantastic roundup of ideas. I really want to do a marquee lighting project this year. 

I love coffee ( understatement) and we eat a lot of chicken but I never thought of putting the two of them together so this is on my to try list: Coffee Rubbed Chicken Breast from Lemons and Laughs. 

Since it's freezing just about everywhere, I imagine copious amounts of hot chocolate are being consumed. You will want to give this twist ( which is this week's chocolate feature) a try: 

Nutella Hot Chocolate from Classy Yet Trendy. Yum!!

No onto this week's party!

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Birthday Cards in Black and White and Gold

It’s no secret to anyone who’s read my blog that I LOVE black and white. Clothes, decor, photography…pretty much everything. So when I stumbled across this paper stack from DCWV while at Michaels recently, there was no doubt about whether to get it. It’s appropriately entitled “Decor Noir”. I couldn’t wait to get started with it and luckily I had three birthday cards to make for whom this color palette was perfect.

The black and white alone was enough for me but they added gold foil to many of the pages ! GOLD FOIL and black and white. Could I get any happier? Only if the pages were chocolate. I chose two papers to start. One with white mums that’s featured on the stack cover and has flecks of gold foil ramdomly placed and the other a distressed black background with gold foil dots.

For the first card I cut out a sentiment from a page of well, sentiments, trimmed and matted with black and gold papers. The papers in this stack are so elegant that I resisted my natural urge to embellish and went with less is more letting the papers speak for themselves.

The only embellishment I added was the piece of ribbon at the corner to which I added some gold glitter glue.

The black and gold dotted paper has the sentiment “Count your blessings each and every day” on the page in the lower right corner. I cut that out and matted with gold and black papers. I used a scrap from another stack to make the striped ribbon and layered it with a piece of the polka dot paper.

For the last card, I combined both sheets of paper from the stack and stamped the sentiment on black paper and heat embossed with gold powder.

I love them in color or in black and white photos!

Sharing At:

Foiled Turquoise Glass and Silver: Earrings and Pendant

My favorite repeat “customer”, College Boy, placed another order with me for some jewelry. This time for a birthday present for one of his besties.  Based on the colors he told me she likes, I chose this turquoise and silver color combo from my Design Team stash of Blue Moon Beads.

• 7 inch glass bead strand (8MM foiled turquoise beads)
• 12 inch metal spacer strand ( silver beads)
• 14 inch metal connector strand
• Silver chain, clasp
• Jump rings

For the earrings, I strung the glass beads onto head pins, and made wire wrapped loops to close. For each of the earring bead clusters, I made one longer piece using the silver spacer beads in addition to the glass beads. You’ll end up with 5 pieces per earring. One silver / glass combo piece and four other glass bead only pieces. I attached these to two large chain links using jump rings.

Using another jump ring, attach your ear wire.

For the pendant, I used a portion of the metal connector strand along with another glass and silver bead combo on a head pin. SImilar to the earrings, I doubled large links and attached the pendant with jump rings and added some leftover metal chain:

I made two more double wrapped loop pieces using the turquoise beads which I used to join two different types of chain to complete the necklace.

While these supplies were provided to me as part of my participation in the Blue Moon Bead design team, project ideas are my own. Blue Moon beads can be found at JoAnn stores nationwide along with other craft retailers.

Sharing At: 

BFF Open House Link Party #190: Happy 2015

Thrilled to get the New Year started off right with the  first party of the year here at The Answer Is Chocolate! Hope you all had a wonderful New Year's Eve , and join me in looking forward to new adventures in 2015. 

Since I took last week's party off for Christmas, I don't have features today but they'll resume with next week's party. Until then, let's see what everyone's been up to and has in store for the New Year! 

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Hats Off To A Happy New Year !

We don’t do a lot for New Year’s Eve and haven’t gone out for it in years. Still, I do like to make it festive and while I don’t switch out all of my holiday decor, I did re-do my Christmas table for New Year’s.

As a blogger for Oriental Trading Company, I had a great opportunity to have some fun with some of their party planning products, and to plan a party of my choice.  I went with a black and white Parisian theme, perfect for New Year’s Eve.

Centerpiece:

For the centerpiece, I decided to make a New Year’s Hat ( similar to the Snowman hat I did for Christmas) using a coffee can and scrapbook paper.

For this you will need:

• Empty Coffee Can
• Scrapbook paper ( Black and White Paper Pack, OTC)
• Paper Straws ( Black and White Stripe, OTC)
• Glittered cardstock
• Mirrored Cardstock
• Die cut letters
• Adhesive
• Embellishments

Measure and cut paper to fit around the can. Adhere with strong adhesive ( I used a strong double sided tape). Cut a larger circle from the glittered cardstock for the brim and hot glue the bottom of the can to the brim.

Once your basic “hat” is constructed, embellish however you like! I used some leftover ribbon, pipe cleaners, and a button. I used more paper from the stack  along with mirror cardstock and my Silhouette to make the signs that went into my hat.

In keeping with the hat theme, I made these mini top hat table decorations. You could also make these wearable by gluing to a headband.

Mini Top Hats:

• Heavy Cardstock
• Hot Glue
• Embellishments

I found the pattern here: Mini Top Hat Tutorial and cut the pieces out of silver glitter cardstock

To finish off the mini top hats, I added bows made from ribbon leftover from Christmas and little pennants I made on my computer and adhered with the striped paper straws I used in the centerpiece:

I also made little party hats out of these polka dot treat cones from OTC:

 

I used some leftover tinsel garland to embellish. The galvanized pails are also from OTC and were perfect for holding napkins  and utensils (both from Oriental Trading Company). I used some Paris themed washi tape and gold vinyl to decorate the pails.

And even though no one in my house will actually eat the black eyed peas, since they’re a symbol of good luck for New Years ( and they matched my color theme) I used them to weigh down my buckets.

Wishing you all a safe and happy New Year’s Eve . Thanks for being part of the fun here at The Answer Is Chocolate in 2014, and looking forward to new adventures in 2015!

Oriental Trading Company products used in this post ( I was provided with products used in this post but ideas and opinions are mine)

• Black and White Paper Pack
• Black and White Striped Straws
• Galvanized Buckets
• Paris Washi Tape
• Black and White Napkins

13 Ways To Add A Pop of Vintage to Your Kitchen

I describe my decorating style as a little bit of this and a little bit of that. I like what I like and it's not all one thing. One thing I love is adding a touch of vintage here and there. Most recently, I made a new piece of Christmas decor out of a vintage grater. 

I shared this on Hometalk and was so excited when they asked me to curate a board featuring vintage kitchen decor ideas. Some of these are Christmas like this vintage holiday kitchen from House of Hawthornes : 

or non-seasonal touches like this Rustic Bucket Light from The Summery Umbrella: 

There are so many ways you can add a vintage touch to your decor; these are just a few. Hope you enjoy the board and visiting the featured projects! 

I'm clipping away onHometalk.com

Explore: , Home Decor, Cleaning Tips, Kitchen Design

From Our House to Yours

Sending out wishes for a very Merry Christmas and time spent with friends and family.  I'm going to take a few days off from the blog and enjoy time with Mr. Chocolate and College Boy. The BFF Open House Party will resume next week on New Year's so come prepared to party and start the New Year off right! 

Hugs and Chocolate!