Home Decor: Beaded Wood Wreath and Tag

 

I love how you never know what you're going to find a Dollar Tree. When I turned the corner of an aisle and found not only a Wood Bead Wreath form but in black? Squeal! And then when I saw a tag to match? Double squeal!

Supplies

• Wood Bead Wreath Form (Dollar Tree)
• Wood Bead Strung Tag (Dollar Tree)
• Faux Leather (On Hand)
• Silk Flowers (On Hand)
• Hot Glue and Glue Gun
• Twine

I remembered I had some faux leather in my stash from JoAnn. Decided this project needed a center bow and that this was perfect for it. I chose a bow image from those I have saved, sized in Cricut Design Space, and cut. 

When you cut faux leather, you need to use a strong grip cutting mat (I use Cricut's purple one) and you also want to lay your leather right side down. 

All of the faux leather I've seen has this woven backing so you want to cut through the back side to minimize fraying.

Here are the bow pieces cut out. I opted out of using the tail. Back in the stash for something else!

To assemble the bow, use hot or other strong glue (eg E6000) and fold in each side. Since this is a layered bow, repeat for the other layer. 

Layer one bow atop the other, then using the rectangle strip from the bow pattern, wrap around and glue to secure. 

The flowers I had on hand from a post-holiday 80% off sale so they were like, $2? I stripped the leaves, cut the stems to where I wanted them, bound them together with floral tape and hot glued to the wreath, then glued the bow on. I left the tag pretty much as-is, just adding the word "Love" cut from white vinyl. 

I decided to angle it just because that's what my brain decided to do. Once I had it positioned the way I wanted, I burnished with my scraping tool and ...

In hindsight, I probably should have attached the tag before gluing the bow on but, I didn't! So I grabbed some twine and used the existing twine loop on the tag to secure it to the wreath. 

Simple. Inexpensive. Love! 

Sharing At: 

BFF Open House

 

Happy Friday Eve Creative Peeps! I hope you've had a good and creative week. It's been COLD here in the desert. Woke up to 24 degrees and SNOW the other day which for some of you may be nothing but is not the norm around here. Haven't been up to much creatively since I've been busy getting my mom moved to a new apartment but she's all set now so back to it. 

Looking VERY forward to being able to attend some of the amazing annual Jewelry and Gem events in Tucson next week. I've long wanted to go and now, living nearby, I finally get the chance. You can't imagine how HUGE some of them are. They've been setting up the exhibition tents for weeks now and it's like mini county fairs in several places. I think I'm going to have to pick one or two and not attempt to go to all of them. 

You've been busy as always so let's take a look at some of the projects you shared.

Have some old jeans in your closet (or places like Goodwill are a great source)? These embroidered Denim Hearts from The Apple Street Cottage are a wonderful way to repurpose them and make lovely Valentine's gifts! 

This DIY Cutting Board from Steph Creates is such a sweet Valentine's accent piece to make! 

I've always loved movies and movie theaters and it's the one thing I missed during the worst of the pandemic. Bring the movies home to celebrate an adult or kids birthday with this FABULOUS Birthday Movie Night shared by Simple Joys. This would also be perfect for an Oscars watch party. 

Finally, this Embroidery Hoop Snowman from Creatively Beth is just too cute! The detail of the lace gives is such a great textured look. 

Thanks to everyone who linked up and can't wait to see what everyone's been up to this week! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

BFF Open House

 

Happy Friday Eve all! I hope those of you in California continue to be safe. We got a bit of the rains this way in Arizona this week. Hard to believe we're already past the halfway mark of this month. Want to know the funny thing about taking workshops? The more you take, the more you learn about TO take, and so on. If you got a new Cricut over the holidays or even if you've had and played with one but want to use it more, you really want to make sure and take one that's coming in February. If nothing else, it's a great way to find new Creative Bloggers and maybe even get some freebies!

You can register here for the event which runs from Feb 4-10 with numerous very talented designers. The workshop is free and I get no compensation for sharing. I'm just a big believer in "Sharing is Caring"!

Thanks to a previous workshop Abbi did, I made my first project of 2023: Family Chinese Zodiac Wall Art. I got to apply the knowledge of how to use Inkscape to convert an image file to an SVG (Scalable Vector Graphic) to import into my Cricut Design Space Software and cut out in vinyl! 

You've all hit the 2023 ground running with lots of creative ideas so let's take a look at a few. 

I have a wonderful cloche I found at a Pottery Barn after-season sale that I like to switch out seasonally. These Valentine Cloche ideas from The House on Silverado are FABULOUS inspiration! 

If you're looking to decorate a new space or switch things up, this Boho Basket Wall by My French Twist is gorgeous! 

Steph Creates shared this beautiful and rustic DIY Heart Garland. So pretty! 

Finally, whether for at home or to package for friends, this Cupid Crunch from Me and My Inklings is a lovely way to celebrate Valentine's Day. 

Thank you to everyone who linked up and can't wait to see what you've all been up to this week. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Home Decor: Family Chinese Zodiac Wall Art

 

Lunar New Year, most popularly known as "Chinese New Year" (but celebrated in other Asian countries) is this coming Sunday. This year is the Year of the Rabbit which is my Chinese Zodiac sign and also happens to also be a milestone year for me. For as long as I can remember, I've always loved rabbits. Even before I knew I was one! In thinking about doing a project I decided to do one that incorporated my sign, as well as my husband's and son. Since this is the first project I'm sharing in the New Year, it makes sense that it's a New Year project, right? 

Supplies:

• Wood Art Boards (I used 11x14 and 8x10)
• Acrylic Paint
• Chinese Zodiac Images (Designbundles)
• Vinyl (Cricut Glossy Black)
• Cutting Machine (I used my Cricut Explore Air 2)
• Gold Leaf Adhesive and Gold Leaf (I used Mona Lisa)

You can find wood art boards in the fine arts sections of craft stores and at art supply stores. I have a few leftover from when I found them on clearance in the arts and crafts section at Target. I wanted a clean graphic look so while red is customary, I chose to match my neutral home decor and painted the boards white and used black vinyl with gold leaf accents. 

A couple of coats of paint (Apple Barrel, White) and you're all good. Allow to dry thoroughly or else your vinyl won't stick properly and the transfer tape will pull up the paint. 

Confession time! I initially planned to put all three Zodiac signs on one board and thought I'd given myself enough space between when I sized the images. I didn't. So after cutting and weeding and not wanting to do that over, I just painted the smaller board and put mine and my husband's on one, and our son on it's own. The two of us made him so this worked in my brain! 

This was a great project that let me test some new skills I learned in a workshop by Abbi Kirsten which was how to use a PNG file to create an SVG file in Inkscape! I bought the graphics from designbundles.net.  

Since gold is another color you see in Chinese art, I decided to add some splashes of gold leaf. I love the Mona Lisa products (Michaels) which are easy to use. I just did some freehand brushstrokes where I wanted to gold leafing, let dry per the instructions on the bottle (actually a little less since the air is so dry where I am) and then applied the leafing using a strong bristled stencil brush. 

Wishing everyone health, peace, and prosperity in the Year of the Rabbit / 2023!

Sharing At: 

BFF Open House

 

Happy Friday Eve once again Creative Peeps! Hope you're easing into the New Year OK. The images out of California with the flooding are overwhelming and I hope any of you there are safe and dry. 

I've squeezed in a few cards I haven't bothered to post but that's as creative as I've been so far in the New Year. We keep our decorations up until after Twelfth Night so this week was focused on taking down and putting away and now my house feels so naked! Which works with an unintentional theme for this week's features. 

Penny's Treasures shared her very cute After Christmas Decor. I'm inspired to come up with a plan for next year to tackle the starkness that follows taking down the decorations. Love this! 

Thrifting Wonderland reminded us that thrift stores also hold post-holiday sales in January and what a wonderful time it is to score some finds to add to our collections. 

My Thrift Store Addiction also shared some inspirational post-holiday finds that are perfect for Winter transition. 

Finally, it's still very much hot chocolate season but what about Hot Chocolate Pancakes? Thank Lou Lou Girls for these! 

Thanks to everyone who linked up last week and can't wait to see what you've been up to in the New Year!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

BFF Open House

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR Creative Peeps! I hope everyone rang in the New Year safe, warm and dry. The weather has been crazy all over the country. Ours was typically quiet and I think we marked the New Year somewhere around London time! 

Each start of the year since I retired a couple and a half years ago has been to focus on my blog, branding, etc.  And each of those years have brought some other life realities into my life that have derailed things. So I'm determined that in 2023, I'm going to achieve this goal.

I have succeeded in upping my creative game by attending more workshops and seminars so let me share this one that's coming up. If you're interested in working with SVGs (Scalable Vector Graphics" and learning more about them, then you want to check out the FREE SVG Crafters Summit which will take place Janauary 12-14.

Thanks for understanding my oops in getting last week's party up. Even not working, the holidays messed with my brain schedule. Let's take a look at some of the ideas shared and again, thank you for sharing your creativity here throughout 2022 and I can't wait to see what you all have in store for 2023!

This Magical Forrest Vase shared by Love My Little Cottage is perfect to stay up throughout Winter. 

The House on Silverado shared another wonderful Winter transition project with this Winter Scene Terarrium. 

If you need a Thank You card and/or want to learn a new papercrafting technique, this card from Paper Seedlings does the trick! 

Finally, one thing I definitely want to do more of in 2023 is thrifting. If I'm lucky enough to find a gorgeous frame to work with like the one Masterpieces of My Life did here with the framed music sheet, I'll be ecstatic. 

Alright...let's get 2023 off to a creative start! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter