"Tea by the Sea" More Decor

You're not going to believe this but I got another cold (thanks Hubby...poor guy) so this is another short entry but I hope you enjoy the pictures of the decor. Much of what we had was contributed from people's own things, was already owned by the library or was found at thrift stores and the dollar store.

Upcycled Toss Pillow

One of our toss pillows got a stain (oops!) 

But why toss the toss pillow (har har) when you can just upcycle it and cover the stain? Besides, Grandma's guest bedroom needs a toss pillow on the bed. So I measured out a strip of fabric...

Got my handy fabric mod podge

Coated one side and stuck it right over the stain.

Now for some cute factor! My Grandma does crochet, so I have been using random little elements of it throughout the room. I grabbed three granny squares and coated the back with the mod podge...

Stuck it right on top. Notice I gooped a lot on there because it's yarn and has lots of nooks and crannies. So to get it to really stick i put enough on there that it would seep in. 

Some corners gave me a little trouble so I used Liquid Stitch to tackle them. 

I layered like so...

And let it dry over night

Pretty!

It works out perfect and I quite happy with it. It has the main colors of the room (pink, maroon and gold) all in one, snazzy!

Sneak peek! Victorian Tea

Today, there is a fundraiser I am helping out with but last night I worked on this centerpiece and just love it so much I had to share NOW :) More to come! Wish me luck!

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The Prince is Giving a BALL!

So my husband and I signed up to be in the local community college's musical and it is A LOT OF WORK HOLY CRAP. Mainly because I had the great idea of helping with props too. Well we open TOMORROW (ACK!!) and my brother's wife is having her c-section tonight (oh gosh oh gosh oh gosh) so i am like a ball of nerves right now. Anyway! I thought you'd like to see some pictures of the fun props I have been making instead of crafting lol

 I didn't make the cart but i made the food!

They wanted a bright yellow power suite so i dyed this
baby and found these shoes at the salvation army

masks...

masks...

...and more masks!

Hello fake ipad...

or should i say iRule? :)

Comical Corsages

Waxed wine bottles

Copper wine glasses

fimo food! chocolates and shrimp cocktail

A photo of the royal family for a newspaper mock up

I know, it's been forever...

i feel like i owe you an explanation, you poor blog, you. mainly it comes down to a combination of being sick and planning a trip (very last minute) and then actually being on that trip. i have been traveling for close to two weeks now seeing family and zero crafting has been involved. Actually...i take that back. Mom and I planned a quilt together! My mom is an amazing quilter and she wanted to make a quilt for me and the hubby. I had material left over from the wedding (as planned) so we just had to find a style. I hate busy designs and prefer to have symbolism involved somehow. I'm not a quilter though so it took a while to come up with something I wasn't all picky about and that would challenge Mom. Mom didn't admit this, but i could tell by her own suggestions she desperately wanted to do something complicated so she could feel some kind of challenge. She's just too stinking good at things, the poor dear. We both seem to be very happy with the choice. Mom's been working on squares all week, it's going to be awesome! Maybe i can sneak some pictures later... hmmmm. Well have a fun week, apart from quilt pictures you probably won't hear from me for a little while longer.  I'm not even home yet. Plus, I have a logo to design, a website to finish, and a murder mystery to write by April! i think i can i think i can...

Plastic bags have eaten me whole!!!

You know, you can only put so many bags aside to use as mini-trash bags liners. Even with my resolve to bring reusable bags to the store, I seem to have an abundance of these things around! They are taking up valuable space, getting in my way, look trashy, etc. Why? Because I used these things for packing up items for storage, and as I unpack two years worth of squirreling, I find myself utterly over run! Except for the occasional biodegradable bag which shatters at the slightest touch... they weren't kidding about that biodegradable part.

/sigh

What's a girl to do? Well, if she's this girl, she can look around and find out some new uses for bags that will give her hope that hanging onto the darn things will be worth it!

Fused Plastic Gift Bags-with tutorial! Found this awesome little tutorial on craftster.org. It's by Lillianpearl and she says it's her first tutorial but I think it looks pretty good! Way to go, lady :) My mom always saves gift bags too (who doesn't) so these things would get used over and over, it's the ultimate new life for ugly plastic bags.

I also thought this was a nice diversion from the more abundant tutorial of making a reusable shopping bag. Not sure how to fuse bags? Etsy's got you covered here.

While you're wrapping, you could use up some more plastic bags making pom-poms to decorate other packages, just like they do over at c.r.a.f.t. (i thought they were pretty cute, not to mention easy to make, always a win.)

I really enjoyed the look of these clutches over at Crafted by Us. These would make cute gifts too, not to mention they're a great way to use up cute bits and pieces of fabric or ribbon etc. that you just can't bear to get rid of because there's enough to do something it's just not a very big something. 

Not that I ever do that.

Quick! Look at the clutch!

And have you seen the tutorials on making iron-on's our of plastic bags? I wanna try this one, I could see this being really, really fun in a collage kinda way! Not to mention it's so personalized.

These get honorable mention for being cool and creative, but lets be honest, I don't have kids. And the light decor idea doesn't fit my needs...because I'm tall and live in a basement. I'd put my eye out. 

• Lampshade Made From Plastic Bags 

• Fused Plastic Bib 

• Fused Plastic Rain Coat

Valentine's Day Cards: A lesson in composition

/ˌkɒmpəˈzɪʃən/ Show Spelledcom·po·si·tion [kom-puh-zish-uhn] –noun

Fine Arts . the organization or grouping of the different parts of a work of art so as to achieve a unified whole.

It's about a month away from the holiday so I figure it's time to talk about the big V day.  I wish I had a better tutorial for this, however, when I made these last year I wasn't doing a blog or tracking how iImade things. I'm just glad I was proud enough of my little cards to take some pictures! I still wanted to write about it though, so I hope this at least inspires you to get creative with your cards. 

If you've never done collage work, it can be very mentally cleansing.  At least I think it is. I get in a zone of meandering through magazines with new eyes, clipping out the random snippets of wonder I come across in pages full of generally negative projections. This is the main part of my love for collage, transformation from something ugly (like ads that promote a poor perception of beauty) to something positive and uplifting. 

**IDEA ALERT! Collage can be really fun with friends! Have a get together, invite everyone to bring a stack of magazines and some scissors, provide some snacks, throw on some background music and make a social night of it. Super fun times. ALSO you can use this same idea for some really cute and unique invitations, though I'd keep it to a small party since collaging a lot of cards could get overwhelming... END ALERT**

Things You'll Need:

1. Cardstock
2. Something for the "backdrop"
3. Some magazines to cut into
4. Mod Podge (or your favorite adhesive for collage/scrapbooking)
5. Accents

1* Last year, I came across a pack pre-cut heart shaped cards at Michael's and made them my canvas. I had so much fun with it because it was a mix of the traditional "building" of a valentine but used less doilies. Not that I don't love a good doily project but sometimes you just have to bust out of the norm, you know? 

2* I had origami paper left over from one of those 365 day calenders. You were supposed to do a project everyday, but I didn't like every project so I had a lot of cool paper to use for whatever else I wanted. You, of course, can use scrapbooking paper, wrapping paper, fabric, felt, big photo, etc. for a good backdrop to the scraps you add. 

A larger magazine photo can make for a good backdrop.

3* Grab the magazines and look for whatever inspires you, cut it out to use. Just because it's V-day doesn't mean you have to get mushy. You can give a card to family, your kids, your neighbor, your friends....and with collage you can make it personal ( the recipients favorite color, theme, etc.).

A friend of mine bought this one for her son, a big John Lennon fan.

4* Before going nuts with the glue, arrange your selected cut outs into the desired affect. You don't have to cover the entire heart in words or images, though that could look really awesome too. Composition can play a significant role.  The easiest way to think of composition, for me, is in terms of music. Think of an orchestra, several completely different instruments (elements) playing one song (the piece). Or maybe a dance with several dancers doing different things at once to one song and yet it all flows together in one poetic, united, display of movement. 

Apply that concept to collage. You can have sequins, glitter, fabric, ribbon, bits and bobs of whatever come together to make a whole card and send one message. Alternate sizes (large fonts with small dots of glitter), use different shades or patterns of the same color, incorporate different shapes...but make sure you orient it all to the message you want to project. You want the balance of all of these elements to accent the main image or word you want to have as the focus.

The words "Open Your Heart" lead into the key to opening it.

5* This was pretty much covered in #4 use whatever will stick to the card :) Also, don't feel like you have to use magazines to say every word, if you have a stamp or a label maker that you can use to printout the word a different way then it can be a nice addition to the composition.

This card incorporates stamping and rhinestones as well.

What are you planning to do for Valentine's Day?