Project Wednesday: Faux-Glass Glitter Photo Board

Last year I was to take a trip with some friends and colleagues to the CHA {Craft & Hobby Association} Winter Convention.  It was sooooo much fun!  I was wishing I could have gone again this year.  It just wasn't in the cards.  Next year probably not looking that good either.  Sigh... I'll always have Anaheim 2010, though. 

One of my favorite things about going to CHA {aside from getting my picture taken with Tim Holtz and winning a Wacom Bamboo Touch Tablet and a Cricut} was all the Make-N-Take projects that so many of the booths were offering.  I came home just brimming with ideas and inspiration! One of the booths I really enjoyed was the Product Performers booth.  Their guest designer was Donna Salazar, a mixed media artist that I really enjoy.  One of the days we did these cute little photo boards and learned how to make her signature paper flowers.  If you haven't learned how to do those, you can check out her blog.  They are easy and very pretty! 

The project supplies included a gorgeous crushed glass glitter.  Pretty to look at, not pretty to work with as I quickly found out the hard way.  I think of crushed glass glitter like I do many of the desert plants that grow around our house.  Pretty to look at, but containing thousands of tiny barbs ready to embed themselves in your skin at a moments notice.  As a mom with young children, this is probably not a product I want hanging around the house.  I can imagine that if ingested, it wouldn't be very nice.  And, as the owner of a tiny dog that is part goat, I really don't want to make a lot of projects using it.  One might argue that regular glitter probably isn't all that good for a dog to eat either, but neither are all the numerous Barbie Doll hands and feet he's ingested over the past year and that's not slowed him down.

I've never forgotten that I really loved how crushed glass glitter looked.  Then I started thinking, "There's got to be something I can use to mimic this look!"  I think I've come up with a pretty good substitute.  Sparkly, chunky, pretty, but not ouchy.  Kid and dog friendly.  And so without further ado...

Today's project is ... Faux-Glass Glitter Photo Board 

First, I suppose you'll need the recipe to make your own Faux Glass Glitter.  Here it is:

Faux-Glass Glitter

Supplies:

1 bottle regular glitter

1 bottle superfine glitter

1 bottle micro beads

1 package tiny rocaille beads

1 pint mason jar with a screw top lid

Instructions:

Pour all above ingredients into the mason jar.  Close the lid and shake, shake, shake!

That's it!  The ratios really don't matter.  If you want it chunkier add more of the rocaille beads.  I got all my supplies at Michael's and used the Martha Stewart brand except for the rocaille beads.  The nice thing about the MS brand is you can pretty much do any color you want as they have coordinating supplies in lots of colors.  I made mine clear to mimic the look of the clear glass glitter. 

Now, just in case you don't read through the directions for the photo boards I have to clue you into a little secret.  The secret to making this look really three dimensional and not just lie there on your project like dust on one of my bookshelves, is to use something like Diamond Glaze or some other really shiny, thick adhesive.  It will definitely add to the shine and the depth of your project.  Okay, continue on with the project, why don't ya?

Photo Board

Supplies:
6"x6" Board - you can use heavy chipboard, pressed board, wood, canvas, etc.
Paper
Mounting glue
Twine or ribbon
3" Paper or silk flower
Glaze glue or something similar (I used Aleene's Paper Glaze)
Faux-Glass Glitter (recipe above)
Quote or saying (I printed mine on vellum)
Wallet sized photo

Instructions:

1. Cover your board with patterned paper using the mounting glue.  Allow to dry.
2. Punch or drill holes in the top corners of your board and thread ribbon or twine through the holes for hanging.
3. Adhere a flower {make your own if you'd like!} in the upper left corner.
4. Glop a little of the glaze glue around the corners of the board. 
5. Dribble glaze around the edges of the flower. 
6. Dump a bunch of Faux-Glass Glitter onto the glaze, shake off the excess.
7. Allow the glaze to dry completely.
8. Adhere a quote or title onto the bottom of the board.
9. Tuck your photo behind the quote and/or flower.
10. Hang on your wall to enjoy!

I made my flower on the board using layers of decorative paper, old sheet music and tissue paper.  I smooshed them up and sprayed them with some glitter spray, following the Donna Salazar method mentioned above.  Then I added a large craft gem to the center.  It was soooo easy.  You could also make some nifty paper rosettes for this project.  Come on, you know you love those! 

If you make any projects using these ideas, feel free to post them on your blog and include a link in the comments section below.

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Time to get crafty, people!

Color Swatch Thursday: Smell the Flowers

Before we moved to Arizona four years ago {Wow!  Time sure has flown!} we lived in Connecticut for... forever it seemed.  I still miss much about living in that beautiful place.  I don't miss the high cost of living, which is what prompted us to move here.  What I do miss?  Mostly, green.  Yup, green.  Okay, another thing I don't miss is the weekly mowing of nearly an acre of lawn.  If I could have the positives of having a cool green lawn back without having to do all the mowing, I would.  Well... I must confess, I didn't do the mowing, but dang, it looked hot and boring and it took the mowers in my family forever to do it!  We're actually contemplating putting in a small patch of grass in our back yard next year.  We have a pretty small yard and I'm tired of looking at gravel all the time.  Luckily with our small yard, if we put in a small patch, I can probably go out there and cut it with scissors.  Or maybe hire a goat.

Another thing I miss?  Our gorgeous flowers.  We do have some nice ones here, too.  But I really miss the huge peony garden we had to one side of our house.  The smelled so sweet in the springtime.  I could throw open my bedroom window and the whole room would fill with the scent.  They surprisingly smelled a lot like roses.  I loved the gorgeous colors of the blooms that would get as big as your head. 

I got to thinking about that garden as I was contemplating color palettes to go along with my flower theme this week.  I even dug around for a couple of hours for my photo cds from back then.  It took me a while to find them.  There they were though, right in a box labeled CDs/Photos on my desk hutch right in front of me.  The first place I looked but for some strange reason the box was invisible that time.  I swear. 

Before I continue with this long digression, I guess I should share the color swatches!  Isn't that what this post is supposed to be about?  Maybe I should change my blog name to Sam & Hailey Digressions.  Sam & Hailey Tangent-Fest?

Today's color swatch is inspired by:  Smell the Flowers

You can download an Adobe Swatch Exchange File for this color scheme from Adobe Kuler.

The reason I wanted those photos is because I have a vivid memory of a day in the spring of 2005 when Samantha was just barely 2 years old.  I remembered us running around barefoot in the grass and taking pictures of her and the flowers.  What a happy memory!  I'm so glad I preserved it on CD before the Great Hard Drive Crash of 2007.

Aren't these just the most gorgeous flowers?

Just look at my tiny girl who kicked off her shoes to run through the grass!  Wouldn't you?

She really liked the flowers.

But didn't really enjoy the picture taking that much.  See that expression on her face?  She still makes that face 6 years later.  It's her, "Huh?" face.  I just love it!



Okay, one last gratuitous gorgeous flower picture and then digression-out!

Time to get crafty, people!

Project Wednesday: Felt Rosettes

One thing is for sure, these days, if you have girls in your house, you very likely have an abundance of flower hair clips. At least if you live in my house you do. I don't know what it is that's so addictive about making them, maybe it's the instant gratification of sitting for an hour at the craft table and whipping out a dozen pretty hair things. Once you get it down, there's no stopping the barrage of flowers stuck on clips that will flow from your craft room, or dining room, or garage, wherever you happen to get your craft on.

But I must clue you in to something about these babies... they are magical. That's right, magical. They magically end up all over the house, they magically end up under your kids beds or in their backpacks. Invariably, one of a set of identical hair clips will magicaly disappear. And they like to congregate in messy piles. My kids hair clips all magically end up in a pile right next to the nifty hair bow organizers I've made. They absoluely refuse to stay on the organizer itself. I'm not sure where the magic comes from. Maybe it's like static electricity that builds up over repeated clippings. It doesn't stop me from making more, though!

Enough chit-chatting... on to the project, already!

Today's project is... Felt Rosettes

You know, I'm all about kid friendly projects and this is another one!  My 8-year-old daughter Samantha will sit and make these for hours... okay... minutes at a time.  And some of hers actually turn out good enough to wear!  I've worn her creations with pride, myself.  I still do the hot glueing for her.  That old aversion to crying, you know.  But, its definitely a fun Mother/Daughter project.  Sam even thinks she's going to sell these.  I'm not sure where or how.  She asked me how many she'd have to sell to earn enough money for us to go to Disneyland.  That's a lot of hair bows, Honey. 

The supplies for this project are simple.  Felt squares {love these because they don't fray}, scissors {or pinking shears}, hot glue, hair clips {I get mine in a big box from Sally Beauty Supply}, and my secret ingredient... thin rubber shelf liner.  I glue a little piece of the shelf liner inside the barette.  It keeps even heavy barrettes firmly in my kids hair.  And it even works to keep barrettes in baby fine hair.  I love that stuff!  You can get it pretty cheap at any discount store and one roll will last you {forever}!

You can make these large or small, just adjust the size of the square of felt.  I've made teeny tiny ones from 2" squares and big ones from 6" squares.  Be creative and figure out which size works best for you!

Here are the full instructions.  If you have trouble reading it, just click on the image below to open it full size.

My favorite part of this project?  It doesn't have to be perfect.  If your square isn't square, and your spiral isn't perfect, it doesn't matter.  It turns out looking fantastic every time!  That's why Samantha enjoys making these so much.  And my really {really} favorite part of this project?  My friend, Heather, and I like to get together and craft and this is one of our favorite projects.  We can sit and make these for an hour or two and just chit-chat away about anything.  It's like Craft Therapy! 

A while back on the old blog I posted a couple of simple hairbow and headband tutorials.  I've reposted those here on the new blog to save them for posterity.  Maybe you missed them when they were first posted and they'll be new to you!  Happy Hair Clip Making!

Time to get crafty, people!

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Repost from 12.8.09: Handmade Christmas Project #12 - Hair Doo-Dads

This is a repost of my December 8th, 2009 blog post on my old blog.  I want to save some of my more important blog posts before the old blog goes away.  Hey, I think it's good enough to share twice!
Happy Tuesday, Everyone!  Is it just me or do the holidays get busier every year?  I've got to get my to do list down and accomplished one of these days. 

Here's the next Handmade Christmas Project for you!  This is a project I've done before, but this time I've incorporated cutting files into it.  Check it out to see how!

Handmade Christmas Project #12 - Hair Doo-Dads

I pretty much love anything girly, and you can't get much girlier than hair bows, now can you?  Pictured here are the ribbon and flower barrettes and ribbon headbands  I've made for my girls and for several other people. I've worn the headbands myself and gotten quite a few compliments on them!  I could spend the whole day making these and last week I did that more than once!  They take no time at all to put together... the hard part is deciding what to make first.

I'm including the instructions in JPEG format so you can download and save these for later.  Just click on the image to open it larger.

Here are some ideas for supplies and variations:

1. Cut shapes out of shrink plastic, fabric, felt, or other fun materials to add to your barrettes.  I used shrink plastic to cut the snowflakes for the barrettes above.  On the one on the right I painted over the shrink plastic with stickles after I shrank it. 
2. Purchase flowers on clearance at the craft store and then take them apart to make your barrettes out of.  
3. Silk flowers will be much more durable in children's hair than paper scrapbooking flowers.
4. I purchased my barrettes at a beauty supply store.  Be careful not to get ones with a very wide angle on the hinge or the hinge will be visible and make the flower stick up on one side.  Look for bulk boxes of barrettes with are much less expensive than buying them by a dozen on a card.
5. Metal barrettes stay in the hair much better than the plastic ones.
6. Buttons and brads make nice flower centers. 
7. Use ribbon sliders to tie a bow around for a flower center or just use the ribbon by itself.
8. Make large ribbon bows and glue them to a barrette instead of flowers.
9. Make pairs of smaller sizes to wear together.
10. Clip a barette on to a ribbon headband for a whole new look.
11. Purchase a plain wire headband and clip a barette onto it.
12. Pull out some of your children's favorite outfits and make hair doo-dads to match them.
13. Here's an easy way to put on the headband without catching hair in the bow underneath: First, put the hair in a pony tail, then tie the headband on while the hair is out of the way, then release the pony tail.

Samantha has been dying to wear some of these new barrettes I made last week so I let her pick one to wear to school today.  She was so excited to pick out one of the snowflake ones!

I just had to tack on these pictures of Hailey wearing some of the first batch of hair bows I ever made!  

Time to get crafty, people!

Trendwatch Tuesday: Rosettes

It's time for Trendwatch Tuesday!

Today's trend is... Rosettes

You might be thinking, "Silk flowers? Really, Jan?"  No, no, no!  I'm talking about these awesome paper rosettes made from pleated paper that have been popping up all over the place on the scrapping-net. The trend is HOT!

Here are some very pretty ones from Little Yellow Bicycle:

The basics of this Rosette trend are:

• Round and somewhat flat
• Pleated or many flat layers for dimension
• A button or other round center.  Sometimes a die-cut shape.
• Made of paper, ribbon or other material that doesn't normally look like a flower.  By that, I mean, not just made out of deconstructed silk flowers.

 I just found tons more Rosettes at the Making Memories site!

Don't you just love them?  You can buy these pre-made at a lot of papercrafting supply shops.  And why not? They are gorgeous and ready to go! 

Want to know how to make your very own using your digital cutter?  Never fear!  I have two cute Rosette cutting designs you can use to make your very own paper Rosettes.

These are a cinch to cut and put together and full color instructions are included.  Here are some close up views of my own adventures in Rosette making:

I just have to show you two gorgeous cards made from these cutting designs.  You need to see that you, too, can make your own Rosettes.

The first is from KellyS (http://kellyscraftylife.blogspot.com/):

And this beauty is from ShellyPop:

I really, really love both of these projects.  Aren't they gorgeous?  Now, it's your turn to take this trend and make something of your own with it.

Time to get crafty, people!



Monday Super Steal: Rosette Fold Flowers 2

Did you have a lovely weekend?  Hope it was filled with sunshine, barbecues, and maybe a few butterflies, or something.  My kids are off school today.  I'm not sure what a Teacher In-Service day is, but to me it's a Mommy-Entertain-Me day.  We're thinking of going to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum {sounds boring, I know, but it's actually an amazing zoo/botanical gardens hybrid that totally rocks}.  It depends on how hot it gets and how quickly we can get our act together.  We'll probably end up staying home and starting at each other.  And then going to get an ice cream cone.  The day will definitely end with an ice cream cone, one way or another.

Feel like doing a little shopping and then a little crafting today?  Before we run off to do whatever it is we're doing today, it's time to share a great deal with you!

Today's Monday Super Steal is:  Rosette Fold Flowers 2

You can pick up this great design for 50% off today, Monday, September 19th only!  Just click on the image above to go to the store.  That's just $2 for a super trendy and super easy project.  The design includes full color instructions for making these nifty paper flowers.  Have fun creating, today!

Time to get crafty, people!