BFF Open House

Happy first week of December! Or as I like to joke, the last month of Marchvember, since it feels like 2020 has been mostly one long month. I hope everyone who celebrated last week had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Clearly, you've all been gearing up for Christmas and Winter holidays!

I've been having fun playing elf and making and starting to deliver some things to local businesses to thank them for keeping us going during the pandemic. Small things, but from the heart. You can check those out here and here. In that spirit, 

I also want to call attention to a wonderful event hosted by someone I just started following last month and who you definitely want to follow too, Jennifer Maker, who is hosting a fabulous event called the Great Maker Giveaway where she's sharing 25 original projects you can make including the downloadable SVG files and 25 days of giveaways! It's day 3 today so not too late to sign up. Jennifer's focus is on handmade giving this season. I'm all in! 

OK let's see what all of you busy elves have been up to!

Satsuma Designs shared this rustic yet elegant Countdown Garland which it's still early enough to make. I also love her rustic ribbon trees shown on the mantle! 

Lanterns just scream Christmas to me, and apparently to My Home Of All Seasons as well. I love thos one but there are so many other gorgeous ones in their post you have to check out! 

Hootshack shared these gorgeous Dropcloth Cone Trees. Again, simple yet so elegant and rustic! She also shows you how to make some pretty paper trees. 

If I had unlimited funds, I would have unlimited Christmas decor! I would love an entire Steampunk room and I'd have to go no further than Unique Creations by Anita to decorate it. In LOVE with this Steampunk Christmas tree! I asked her when her book "Amazing Steampunk Creations by Anita" is coming out because I totally think she should write one don't you? 

Finally, what are the holidays without FUDGE? And what's better than No Cook Peppermint Fudge like this deliciousness from Cook Clean Repeat? 

Time to see what you've all been up to this week! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Holiday 2020: Official Santa Delivery Station Ornament and Card

 

As I mentioned in my Giving Locally post, I had a few more ornaments and cards to make for local places I want to thank this holiday season. One of those is our Post Office, which for people like me who live in small towns, is a LIFELINE! 

We don't get mail delivery at home so the joke with friends and family is that a few times a week we hitch up the mules and go into town. We're not that rural...we drive...in a car! 

FedEx and UPS are hit or miss. Amazon is consistent in their deliveries. But out of an abundance of caution, we just have everything shipped to the Post Office and they have received everything from Chewy boxes to vacuums and sewing machines! So naturally I wanted to include them in my small expressions of gratitude. 

I created this cut file in Cricut Design Space but I'm not fancy and have to learn how to create an SVG file which is going to wait until 2021! 

Then cut using my Explore Air2 using glossy black Cricut Vinyl. Then, following the steps I showed in my Using Creativity To Give Back post, used it to make another tile ornament. 

After weeding the vinyl, I didn't want to waste the negative image left behind, so I used it to make the card! 

I applied it to a white scrap panel, trimmed, and then mounted on a peppermint stripe panel, then a black panel. Where the inside of the letters was gone, I used black rhinestones. Bloop! 

Can you tell I'm having so much fun with these?! 

Sharing At: 

Our Hopeful Home 

My Girlish Whims

Being A Wordsmith

Holiday 2020: Using Creativity to Give Back

 

Happy Crunch Time Makers! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and now we are full speed ahead towards the December holidays! I've been having such fun Elfing in my workshop and once I get a few things off in the mail can share some more projects but I can share a few things I've made to show our appreciation to some of our local favorites. This year with the pandemic especially, I am passionate about being grateful and showing appreciation to people who've been there and kept us going. 

I'm also going to share my latest obsession...making Quatrefoil Tile Ornaments. I know these have been popular this season and I too am hooked! 

Like so many, we've limited our eating out because of COVID but we have a local place that offers to go or outside dining. It's been important to us since we live in a small town to support local businesses so this set is for our fave little place called The Grotto Cafe which is part of an art enclave called The Red Truck Trading Company so you can see the obvious theme here! 

We also have a local coffee roastery called ROC2 or Roastery of Cave Creek where my husband gets his coffee beans. They do all of their roasting on site and small town living being what it is, they even use an honor system for their coffee locker. You pick up your beans and slide your money through the slot! 

Being a Seattle girl, Starbucks is in my blood. Literally. If you cut me, I will bleed a non-fat iced mocha, no whip. So while not a local company, my local go to location has the nicest baristas who always have my mobile order ready and are always so cheerful!

I have a few more of these to make but wanted share. Retail and restaurant workers have hard jobs, made harder this year by extreme conditions. I know these are small things but hopefully they will know how much we appreciate them! 

OK now for the tutorial on the ornaments! 

Supplies: (This is going to assume some basic knowledge of working with vinyl) 

• Digital Cutting Machine and Cut Files. I used my Cricut Explore 2. For the Red Truck ornament and card, I had this image already in my Design Space software and created the sentiment using same. For the Coffee themed ornaments, I used this SVG file from Creative Fabrica. 
• Vinyl and Transfer Tape (Green and red vinyl, Expressions Vinyl ; Black Cricut Glossy)
• Satori Quatrefoil Ornaments. Lowes, $5.98 for a sheet of 15! 
• Ribbon for bows and hanging
• Glue gun and glue sticks

These are the Satori tiles I used. They come on a netting that pulls right off the back easily. If you look on Pinterest or different SVG and Graphics sites, you may also see them referred to as Arabesque tiles. They're glazed porcelain so you get a very smooth finish on which to apply the vinyl. They could also be painted or you can use paint pens or Sharpies with a sealer. 

Clean your tile with alcohol or glass cleaner to remove any packing residue, fingerprints etc. Size, cut, and weed your vinyl in your machine's software (eg Design Space or Silhouette Studio).

 Apply transfer tape and position on the tile before you use your scraper to apply pressure to ensure the vinyl transfers. 

There are many ideas of how to apply hangers to these tiles. I remembered too late that I had some flat bails in my jewelry making supplies which would work or you can use wire or as I did, ribbon. I've read some tutorials of people who drilled holes through them but you need special drill bits etc. and I didn't want to deal w/ that! I also didn't finish the backs of my tiles.  I thought I was going to but when the netting came off easily and the back wasn't messy looking, I skipped it. Others have painted, applied vinyl or felt to the back. 

I cut a length of 1/8" ribbon and hot glued to the center of the tile as shown. Then using another piece of ribbon (the black ribbon shown below), placed a dab of glue on the front of the tile, wrapped it around to the back and glued down. To finish, I made a ribbon bow and hot glued to the front. 

I love the shape of these tiles and trust me, there are a TON of cut files out there designed specifically for these! 

Until next time! 

Sharing At: 

A Stroll Through Life

Our Hopeful Home 

Being A Wordsmith

BFF Open House Happy Thanksgiving

 

First of all, whether you're celebrating Thanksgiving, Friendsgiving, or flying solo this year, I'm thankful that each week you all choose to spend a little time here sharing your talent and creativity and hope you've had a peaceful day. As we gear up for peak Maker season, I also hope you remember to get some rest and practice self care! 

Let's see some ideas from last week's party!

Lisa from Fresh Vintage by Lisa S shared a fabulous way to use gift bags as art. There are so many beautiful ones out these days in every style and color palette! 

I think most of us have made paper snowflakes in our lives but Priyam from Simple Joys has taken this idea to an elegant grown up level with these paper medallions. A bunch of these as a garland or hanging from a light fixture would transform a space into a Winter Wonderland! You also need to see her paper Christmas Trees! 

I'm old school and still make all my Christmas and Hanukkah cards and always appreciate the beauty of a handmade card, such as this one from Linda at Paper Seedlings. Layered with multiple elements, this is one that the recipient will truly feel special to receive. 

Finally, these Rose Frosted cookies from Family Cookie Recipes are so elegant and pretty. I need to up my cookie game! 

OK now that you're stuffed, let's see what you've been up to this week! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Holiday 2020: Dollar Tree Sign-A-Palooza

 

On one of my strategically planned outings out of the house and to The Dollar Tree, I picked up these fun holiday signs to play with and I had tons of fun with them! I'm really happy with how they turned out and how they'll fit in with my Christmas decor!

Supplies: 

• Crafter's Square Signs from Dollar Tree
• Acrylic Paints ( I used Craftsmart and Artist's Loft from Michaels)
• White Glue and Quilling Paper for Snowflake

Merry Sign: 

I have different spots using different colors in my Christmas decor and Black and White fits right in. For this one, I painted the sign Black as a base coat: 

Then taped off my stripes using painter's tape:

and added the white stripes. Once this was dry, I taped off vertical lines (not pictured) and also painted those white. 

TIP: Start your taping in the center of whatever you're working on and work outward / up or downward from there. This helps make your plaid look more even. 

Peace Sign: 

I used the same process except for this one I went with a white and gold palette. This will go perfectly with a Mackenzie Childs Ornament I have and designed it with that in mind to go on a table where I usually place that.

This one I did the base coat white and then following the same process went over with gold. 

Snowflake Sign: 

I had a little accident with this one and broke one of the ends. So I adapted my original plan for this to conceal my glue it back together job, using my tried and true White Glue Crackle technique which you can read more about here. "Happy Accidents" are a Maker's best friend!

I painted this with a couple coats of white, then the glue, then a metallic turquoise. 

See? The "Ooops" is gone. I did another layer of the crackle technique...more glue, then white paint and went in the opposite direction of the turquoise. 

Next I Quilled a bunch of coils in different sizes and arranged them into a snowflake before gluing them to my sign: 

This helps ensure your pattern is what you want before you commit to glue!

I would say this was $3 well spent!