BFF Open House Link Party #196

Happy Friday eve and Valentine's weekend everyone! Hope you all have a wonderful day/weekend and of course one filled with lots and lots of chocolate! 

It's not too late to add an extra Valentine's touch (and never to late to pin for next year) so here are a few ideas from last week's party: 

I keep seeing gorgeous paper straws everywhere and Southern Scraps has a quick , inexpensive, and easy way to use them in a project. Check out this DIY frame idea here: Southern Scraps

Like Heather from Woods of Bell Trees I like to have decor that works for a holiday like Valentine's Day but also goes with my overall decor. This  felt flower "transitional" wreath is perfect. Details here: Woods of Bell Trees

Printables are always perfect for last minute decorating. This eye chart printable from Antonella at Quilling Art and Expression is great for Valentine's Day or just because. Visit Antonella here: Quilling Art and Expression. 

If you're whipping up something special for your Valentine, you want to check out this week's chocolate feature: 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Trifle (yes please) from Upstate Ramblings.

Now onto this week's party! 

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Mizuhiki Cord Valentine's Cards

I rarely do traditional Valentine’s colors and this year is no exception. I am so in love with the papers in a DCWV Decor Noir stack I picked up at Michaels. I feel like they designed this stack especially for me with the combination of black and white, photos, bold graphics and foiled pages.

One of my regular stops is at Daiso, which is a Japanese chain of dollar stores. In the USA they're open in WA and CA only right now.  I picked up some metallic origami paper ($1.50 for a pack of 30 sheets!) and a couple of packages of Mizuhiki cord which gave me the idea to use a Japanese aesthetic in these cards. I’m not sure I’ll ever master the complex knots that can be made using the cord but like pretty much everything else I stumble upon, I had fun playing with it in my own way! 

For these cards you’ll need:

• DCWV Decor Noir Stack
• Black, gold, silver mirror cardstock
• Stamp
• Metallic origami paper
• Mizuhiki cord
• Washi tape
• Glitter paper scrap
• Heart punch

Cut black cardstock to make 5x7 card, trim decorative paper to 4x6, mat on mirror cardstock panel 4.25 x 6.25 and attach to card. I chose a small heart stamp from my stash and stamped on black cardstock using white pigment ink and embossing powder. Trim, mat with origami paper and again with cardstock .

 

I made three loops from the Mizuhiki cord, cut leaving long ends, taped to card front. Repeat so you end up with two sets of loops. Mount stamped heart panel using foam dots and finish with hearts punched from glitter scrap.

Included in the stack are a couple pages of sentiments. For this card, I cut one out, cut it apart and matted on scrap mirror cardstock.

This one’s for College Boy…part Valentine’s, part congrats on recent good news. Finished off with mirror stars ( DCWV).

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BFF Open House Link Party #195

Happy February everyone. 2015 is clearly going to move at a rapid pace! Valentine's Day is just about a week away. It seems like it was just Christmas doesn't it? Let's see some LOVEly ideas fom last week's party! 

Julia from Always Ruetten shared her adorable lovebird wreath. So cute!

I know I said this when I featured Artsy VaVa's last iteration of the evolving chair ( and maybe even the iteration before that) but everytime I think she's done, NOPE! Look at the Valentine's version!!! 

I also love the simplicity of this felt garland from The Gracious Wife . I think the berry beads between each heart really make it pop! 

Finally, these peanut butter chocolate heart cookies from The Pin Junkie  would be a perfect addition to your Valentine's treats!

Now let's see what you've been up to this week! 

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Valentine's Day Easy Heart Canvas

I had some of the jeweled adhesive left over from my Valentine letters and even a little goes a long way. I had a canvas in my stash and made this piece to add to my mantel.

For this project you will need:

• Framed canvas
• Craft Paints (  I used Folk Art Acrylics Spring White, Hologram, Sequin Silver)
• Washi or other low tack tape
• Clear Contact paper
• Glitter glue
• Craft foil
• DCWV Self Adhesive Jewels

To start, paint canvas white (Folk Art Spring White). When dry, tape off and then paint with white glitter paint ( Folk Art Hologram).  When dry remove tape.

Using clear contact paper ( thank you Dollar Tree!) cut a heart stencil, apply, and paint heart with a couple layers of Sequin Silver.

Once the heart was dry I “distressed” the canvas using craft foil. The paint was still tacky enough to pick up the foil so I just laid it down and scribbled randomly. Where it took it took since I wasn’t going for complete coverage.

To finish, I cut an arrow from leftover pieces of Jeweled Adhesive. I just did this freehand using the grid lines on the adhesive as a guide. Embellish with dots of glitter glue and done!

Easy Blingy Valentine Letters

Happy Valentine’s month! Why stop at just the 14th? Love should get a whole month don’t you think? Not saying I’ll have a month’s worth of projects but I do think I will leave things up for the month ( attn Mr. Chocolate).

I was tired of my previous Valentine’s decor so set out with no particular idea in mind to change it up this year. While on a  stroll through Michaels I stumbled upon these letters in the clearance aisle and thought they’d be perfect for VDay.  They’re MDF or chipboard or something.

In my DCWN stash, I had some self adhesive bling sheets that can be cut into different shapes and which I thought would be perfect for these letters:

Trace the letters on the back and then cut out using plain old ( but sharp) scissors. Before I put the bling on, I painted the sides and edges of the letters and applied  scrapbook paper to the back with Mod Podge.

I like that I can mix up my letters by showing both blingy, or one blingy and one paper or both paper or….

Then easy peasy, peeled off the backing from the bling sheet letters, applied, and trimmed with a craft knife.

Supplies used in this project:

• Letters to decorate ( can use wood, paper mache, etc.)
• DCWV Adhesive Jewel Sheet
• Scrapbook paper ( I used DCWV Decor Noir Stack)
• Mod Podge ( I used Matte)
• Craft paint, scissors, craft knife

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BFF Open House Link Party #194

Happy Friday eve and welcome to the last BFF Open House of January. I'm hardly what you would call a football fan, but hometown pride is contagious so I'm excited to watch the Seahawks in the SB ( sorry Pats fans...gotta root for the hometown team). 

Valentine's Day will be here imminently so this week's features have a theme. Let's start with these gorgeous treat bags from Bonnie at The Pin Junkie:

Sarah from Ruffles and Rainboots shared how to make a Celtic knot using paracord, something that has so many possibilities from using it in a jewelry piece, or as an embellishment on a pillow or as she did in a garland. 

I recently saw a big glass growler and resisted it because I wasn't sure what I'd do with it ( not a beer drinker !) but Heather from Woods of Bell Trees has solved that. See her take on a Ballard Designs inspired project: 

And how could I not feature these brownies which are perfect for this weekend? From Simple Recipes Club:  Victory Brownies ! Whichever team wins, these will be a hit. 

Now onto this week's party !

   

    An InLinkz Link-up

   

Say Cheese: Mini Insta Photo Fun Album

As I mentioned during Friday's party, I have not been very creatively active lately. Part of that is because I wanted to maximize time w/ College Boy while he was home on Winter break. So now that he's been back in school and all of the Christmas craziness has been put away ( yes you read that right...we keep it up until he goes back!) I had time to play with some fun new goodies from DCWV.

Disclosure: I am a guest designer for DCWV. Supplies were provided to me. Design and opinons are my own. 

College Boy has become quite the coffee connoisseur so while he was home we made quite the tour of indie coffee shops. I also got a new phone so was having fun taking pics everywhere we went. These days I don't do a lot w/ my pics so I decided this mini album would be a perfect way to capture the memories of his visit.  I like these small album sizes 6.25 x 5.5 and there are 4x4 photo sleeves that fit the 4x4 cardstock that coordinates with the album colors.

Since CB is an old soul who likes old things, I decided to do all the photos in black and white and kind of retro using photo corners. I mixed and matched the papers from the pack which all coordinate. 

I kept the pages pretty simple letting the papers and the photos speak for themselves but added some camera and film strip themed washi tapes and journaling stickers. 

For the cover, I used a page from the Chalk Art stack and cut it to size to fit the front of the album. I also had some camera charms in my stash that went perfectly with this project: 

Forgive the blurry photo! I added these to the front along with some of the washi tape, again keeping it simple and letting the paper speak for itself. 

I haven't decided yet whether I'm sending to him or keeping it but either way, memories saved! 

DCWV products used in this project: 

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