Pearls Of Wisdom - A Tutorial

Continuing in  the theme of Shades of White over at Miriam's Crafting Blog. It is my turn to create a tutorial. I decided to do a written one rather then a video this time around because the process was easy but time consuming for glue drying. My project is a Mini Clipboard. Nearly everything on it came from Miriam's Crafting Supplies with the exception of the feather, which came from my Gone Artsy store, and the calligraphy nib which I picked up at an office supply. The clipboard came from AC Moore.

Supplies From Miriam's Crafting Supplies:

White Small 5 Petal Flower
Silver Tone Glasses Charm
Bronze tone Pocket Watch Charm with White Face
ATC Sized Canvas Piece
Small Vial
Assorted Shapes and Sizes of Pearls
5mm White AB Rhinestones
Round Pearl Beads (not listed in the store but available by contacting her)

1. Paint the wood part of the Clip Board with a light coat of gesso...you're going for a white washed look, not solid coverage.

2. Next glue the feather to the nib to create your "pen".

3. Place small round pearls in the tall clear glass vial and add enough clear glue to cover. Allow to dry completely. I used Journey Glaze.

4. Insert the "pen into the vial and a bit more glue to hold it in place. Dry thoroughly.

5. Paint some glue on the back of your ATC size canvas to stiffen it some. When dry use a round dowel type object (paint brush ends work great for this) and your heat gun to soften the glue enough to curl the canvas around the dowel a bit. Let cool and write your sentiment using a silver pen.

6. Place the canvas on the clipboard and glue in place.

7. Embellish with your "pearl inkwell and pen" set and any other objects you so desire. 

I really love how this turned out and I have already been asked by someone if they could purchase it. We'll see, I kinda like it too much to sell :). I hope you like it too...you still have time to join in the challenge at Miriam's Crafting Blog! Create something in Shades of White and enter!

Love ya,

~Deb~

Pink Passion!

As usual I am way behind in posting! I do actually have a good excuse this time LOL!

Mid September I had a total knee replacement done on my right knee. They say it's the second most painfully surgery there is. I can honestly say it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected and maybe that's because the docs told me that! It is however a slow recovery period. Nearly three straight weeks of basically bed rest with exercises (PT came to the house everyday) and ice while you lay there. After that there's Outpatient PT for a month 3 times a week. Your stamina goes way down and every effort exhausts you, but pain?  Not so bad. Anyway I am mid way through recovery and walking with out a cane so I'm REALLY happy with my progress and can get back to a fairly normal life. I still have the PT and I still get more tired then before but each day is a little better.

So enough with my excuse! Let's get to the projects I did for this month.

As you all know, Breast Cancer Awareness is crucially important to me. It runs in my family and I keep a close watch on mine and get my mammo's regularly. They may be a pain but if they can save my life I'm doing it! 

Gone Artsy and Miriam's Crafting Supplies have teamed up this month to do an auction to raise funds for this important cause. DT members from both groups, which of course I am on both :), has each made project(s) to donate. They've spent their time and materials creating some AWESOME art so I hope you will come join in and if you can bid, if you can't bid invite your friends and maybe they can! The funds raised will go to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. You can find the event on Facebook here: Auction to Benefit the BCRF

The first two projects were made for earlier this month and the last is a YT tutorial on a canvas. All of these will be up for auction. I hope you like what I've done!

To see what's inside, you'll have to go to the Gone Artsy Blog or to Miriam's Crafting Supplies Blog

And here's the tutorial link for the canvas

PLEASE come help us with this EVENT!

Love ya,

~Deb~

Pop Goes the Gum

It's time for Miriam's Crafting Blog Try this at Home Friday Tutorial and It's my turn again! Keeping with the St. Jude's kids theme I've created instructions to make a faux bubble gum machine. So are you ready to start?


Supplies:
1 clay pot (I used muffin size)
2 clay saucers to fit this size pot
Acrylic or spray paint in color of your choice (if you use acrylic you will also need a clear sealer)
Round glass vase to fit your size pot
E6000 or other strong water proof glue
1 embossed box corner
1/2 of a round metal latch
1 30mm wood button
1 round bead
1 flat back pearl
1 shank style button for your knob
a small spring
2 small jump rings
Ribbon to embellish with
Bubblegum to fill it!

1. Take your clay pot and 2 saucers and paint them inside and out with paint color of your choice.

2. When the paint is dry, glue the glass vase into one of the saucers as shown.

3. When that step is completely dry {don't do it to soon or you'll break it like I did :( }, glue that piece to the BOTTOM of the clay pot.

4. While step three is drying you can work on your lid. Take the second saucer and glue your wood button to the center. You can paint it if you like but I liked the yellowish wood tone on mine so I left it plain. I turned it upside down so there was no pattern showing. Glue the bead to the center of the button and then add a flat back pearl to the very top to hide the hole in the bead. This becomes the handle to your lid so make sure you use a good glue.

5. For the spring, I used one out of a pen and then cut it in half. You don't want the turn knob to stick out to far but it does need that added dimension. Twist the end of the spring on to the shank part of the button and then glue that down.

6. The box corner and latch parts were originally bronze. I sprayed mine silver because that's my memory of bubblegum machines. That bright shiny silver was so enticing! I trimmed on edge of the box corner to make it look like a spout before I painted it. Th attach the two pieces use your small jump rings through the provided holes.

7. Attach your ribbon and the glue the spout and knob over the seams to hide them. Fill it with gum and put the lid on. Enjoy an occasional treat with the kids!

How cute would this be sitting on your desk filled with beads instead? These two will be included in the auction over at Miriam's FB event for St. Jude's. Please stop by and help this great cause! You can find it by clicking this:

St. Jude's Benefit Auction

Love ya,

~Deb~

"Finishing" Series...Two new videos

If your interested, I've made two new videos in a series helping to teach how to finish projects off so they look complete. In the Group Chic Craftique I am the education coordinator and I was asked to help some new crafter's learn the ability to look at something and tell if it looks finished. Well that isn't an easy task because every one has their own eye for art, so with that in mind, these are my idea of  "finished". Hope you enjoy them.

Love ya,
~Deb~

Woodland Fairy Dress Form and a New Blog

Hello Everyone! I'm finally settled in my new house and have begun crafting again! Today I have two things to share with you.

First, the new blog for the store has launched with my design team for inspiration! I can not wait for you all to see the lovely things they come up with. Please go check it out when you are done here. We will post twice weekly there and I really hope you'll follow that blog too! Click this link to open it in a new window :

Gone Artsy Blog

Next is my Friday Try This At Home Tutorial for Miriam's Crafting Supplies. I've done my first video in a long time and I hope you really enjoy it!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Love ya,

~Deb~

Auction Pieces

My friend L Miriam Meserve of Miriam's Crafting Supplies is opening a brick and mortar store. The DT for Miriam's Crafting Supplies along with a few friends are helping her host an auction of handmade items to raise money to help with her endeavor. Where she lives there is no craft stores within a reasonable distance so we hope that her store is a rousing success and we want to do everything we can to help our fellow crafters and entrepreneurs. So I have made a set of wine glass charms. I am also doing a tutorial with it in case you don't win the item or can't afford to bid on them. Please though, someone bid! She needs our help!

So here we go...

Wine Glass Charm Tutorial

Supply Item list -

1. Wine glass rings (available now in my store which I haven't announced anywhere yet so your the first to know! Details at the bottom of the page)
2. Your choice of beads
3. A hanging charm for each ring. Mine are from Miriam's Crafting Supplies and are all based around this months WINGS theme
4. Jewelry pliers

Assembly -

1. Take a ring and your pliers.
2. Open the ring and then gently bend back the notch.

 

3. Start stringing your beads in the order you desire. I used some rhinestone dangle charms along with metal beads. To get the rhinestone to show I just gave them a gentle twist bending the top enough for it to lay flatter. These dangle stones are also available in my store!

4. When all your beads and your charm are on the ring, gently bend your notch back in place.

And there you have the finished product! Here's a few pictures of the set I made.

Miriam's Auction will be held July 27th - July 30th. Go bid on some of the magnificent projects there! It isn't a big auction, but every little bit helps when your raising money :) I will put the link up the day of the auction so look for it Friday morning!

Now for the details that only YOU will know at the moment about my store. I currently have about 75 items listed and have more coming in daily, which is why I haven't announced it yet. Before I make the BIG announcement, I want to be fully stocked. The theme tends towards wedding and shabby chic. It's mostly lace, doilies and a few other embellishments and glass crystals.  I do have one EXCITING new tool that I'll be bringing to all of you but I am saving that for the day I make the announcement so it isn't up yet. I'll be giving some of them away so stay tuned! In the mean time I'd love for you to check it out.

One of the very unique things about my store is that you can ORDER IN 1/2 YARD INCREMENTS. I know how many times you don't need a full yard and now, you don't have to worry about all those left overs...unless you want to that is! You can order as many 1/2 yards as you think you want and you will get it in a continuous piece. I hope you like this new idea!

Here's the link:      Gone Artsy  Hope you stop by and take a look and let me know what you think!

So that's it for me today!

Love ya!
~Deb~

Manipulating Metal Embellishments

It's Metal Month at Miriam's Crafting Blog. Here's a little inspiration in the form of a quick video tutorial. Come join in the challenge and show us your metal!

Love ya,
~Deb~

It's All About Texture

¹tex·ture noun \ˈteks-chər\

: the way that something feels when you touch it.

Straight from Merriam-Webster's Dictionary. 

As humans we love to touch and feel things. It heightens our sense of satisfaction whether it be fabric, food, nature. Our sense of touch is one of the things we were blessed with.

This month Miriam's Crafting Blog challenge is all about texture. We want to see you create things with different textures in a project. For my inspiration project for you, I created a no-sew glasses case complete with an outside pocket. Perfect to take to the beach or pool to hold your sunglasses, driver's license and a couple of dollars to buy a refreshing drink!

Supplies:

(sorry, a bit blurry, taken on my phone)

Burlap (in your desired size) - available through Miriam's Crafting Supplies
Chenille Fabric (large enough to create the pocket on one side of your project)
Wide Ribbon (for accent strip on pocket)
Seam Binding
Twine
Glue Gun
Glasses Charm - available through Miriam's Crafting Supplies

Step 1. Fold your burlap in half and seal your edges, leaving the top open, with the glue gun. The nice thing about burlap is there is no wrong side to it!

Step 2. Create a braid of twine to serve as your pull string. Make sure it's long enough to go around the entire top of bag with extra to knot off a bit outside.

Step 3. Place your braid around the edge of your bag about 1/2" down from the top and glue the middle just on one seam.

Step 4. Fold over the top edge creating the drawstring area (about an 1" to an 1-1/2"fold) then carefully glue the edge down. Be careful not to get the braid caught in the glue.

Step 5. Turn it right side out and knot your braid ends together so it doesn't slip through.

Step 6. Cut your chenille to the size of the front of your bag leaving about a 1/4" seam allowance, for sides and 1/2" seam allowance for top and bottom.

Step 7. Glue the seam allowance down on the sides (1/4"). Repeat on top and bottom (1/2"). 

Step 8. Cut a strip of your wide ribbon about 1"longer than the width of your chenille piece. Fold over the front and glue the edges to the back side.

Step 9. Proceed to glue the entire chenille piece with attached ribbon to the bottom of your burlap bag. DO NOT GLUE THE TOP AREA DOWN. This creates your pocket.

Step 10. Glue your seam binding to the edges of the bag (folded over the front and back to actually cover the seam).

Step 11. Tie a little knot on each side of the glasses with twine (you could use pearls or rhinestones if you prefer). Glue to the front of your pocket.

I put my keys and the pen in just to show the pocket :)











That's it! Another quick and easy project but with lots of touchy-feely goodness to it. Come join us and create your idea of textured art. Enter to win this months challenge and win a prize from Miriam's Crafting Blog!

Love ya,
~Deb~

Vintage Etched Mirror Tutorial

I've created another project for the vintage vignette I'm displaying at the wedding. I think it's going to fit in so beautifully with the antique trunk, jewelry etc. I've done this as a written tutorial instead of a video this time as I just didn't have the time to spend editing one. It's easy to follow so you should have no problem recreating it or doing your own style if you follow this step by step. Feel free to copy and save in a document for later or book mark this page to come back to!

Vintage Etched Mirror Tutorial:

1. Remove your mirror from it's frame if desired and/or possible. (For me it makes the angle of writing easier so I recommend you do it if you can)

2. Wash the mirror with mild soapy water, dry well.

3. Clean the surface with rubbing alcohol to remove any left over residue of soap or other things that could cause resisting of the etching cream.

4. Using the Etchall Designer Tip Kit, fill your bottle with Etchall Etching Crème, remove the white top that serves as the plug for the bottle when not in use, and attached your desired tip width for writing.

5. Write your sentiment, draw or whatever you like on your mirror front. Be sure to follow the directions to clean your tip so you can use it again and replace the whit top on the bottle.

6. Allow to sit for 15 minutes to process.

7. Rinse under warm running water using a sponge or soft cloth to quickly wipe the etched area. This must be done very quickly to avoid etching any other part of the mirror. Once completely rinsed, dry well with a soft cloth.

8. Place the mirror back in it's frame if you removed it.

9. Decorate to your liking.

Here you can see the definition of the etching.

Better tones for seeing the variegation in the frame.

And close up of the detail in the gorgeous buttons from Miriam's Crafting Supplies.

For my piece, I brushed the entire frame with burnt umber acrylic paint let it dry literally about 1 minute, then wiped, just the surface, with a baby wipe so that the paint would stay in most of the crevices. I let it dry completely then.

Next I used Metallic Peridot paint and just dabbed it here and there to give it a patina of sorts. Because it was a metallic paint it blended well with the original gold surface. When that was dry I lightly, and I mean VERY lightly, sanded some areas off.

Then I just added a few embellishments on the front (love those buttons!) and I was done. Quick and simple, less than an hour including the etching time.

How simple was that! A stunning piece for display that says EXACTLY what YOU want it to say! Not a store bought saying that everybody and their brother can purchase. That's the best thing about Etchall products, the result is all you baby! 

Pop on over to Etchall's website and take a look at all the fabulous products available and check out their Facebook page for inspiration. They have some GORGEOUS ideas! 

And don't forget to visit Miriam's Crafting Supplies for embellishments. She has the best stuff at great prices!

I also have to give a little shout out to my new favorite second hand shop Darling Decor' & More. If you live in the central Texas area you have to come to Temple and see them! They have the CUTEST stuff for REALLY REASONABLE prices! I have gotten so much for the wedding from them. I think this little mirror was like $6 or some crazy cheap amount like that. You'll see lots more of their stuff when I show the wedding pictures but they have been the best to work with! If they didn't have what I needed they tried to find it for me and so far they've found every single thing I asked for and still didn't charge me a ton. I so love that place!!! I'm going to have to visit them every time I come back from Florida to visit my kids!

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial and it inspires you to create something unique for yourself.

Love ya,

~Deb~

A Challenge for You!

Miriam's Crafting Blog is hosting her 8th monthly challenge. The theme this month is flowers as I mentioned in my lotus flower post. As a design team member, we get to provide inspiration for you all to help motivate you for the challenge.

Since I was having so many issues with my ISP I kept my project for this post simple. I created a tag.

I also did a video on the process I used.

The supplies are as follows:

1 Bronze tone flower embellishment
1 Wooden button
1 - #8 Shipping tag
Ivory Satin Ribbon
Image from Gecko Galz
Pan Pastels
Glue
Feathers
Baby Wipes and other applying tools
Stamps

I really hope you will head over to the Challenge Blog, see all the inspiration from my fabulous DT sisters and enter..the rules are simple:

1. The project must have something to do with flowers.

2. You may enter up to four projects for the month.

3. You must tell on your blog or Facebook page that you are in this challenge with a link back here to Miriam's Crafting Challenge. If your entry is on your Facebook page rather than a blog the privacy of the picture MUST be set as Public and shared to our Facebook page.

4. Sorry, but no back linking.

5. Use linky tool to link up by the end of the challenge, this challenge runs through December 31st at 11:55pm.

6. Like our Facebook page and you can get an extra entry into the challenge (make sure to let us know you did this).

8. Become a follower of our blog by clicking the RSS feed link on the top right.

9. Have fun!

Love ya,
~Deb~

The Beauty of Lotus Flowers

I love Lotus Flowers, also called water lilies. Maybe it comes from my obsession with water and its calming affect on our minds and bodies.Maybe it's just the shear beauty invoking a guttural response. I don't really know why but I love them. So when Miriam asked us to use the theme flowers for this month's challenge at Miriam's Crafting Supplies, I knew my first project as a member of her DT had to be a lotus. I needed to figure out how to use her supplies to make this happen. Well that wasn't hard! Her metal embellishments are flexible and can be manipulated in so many ways to create differing effects. I took her flat metal embellishments and an acrylic crystal and I was off and running. I created the first video tutorial of 2014 for her team so please watch it below, and after read on for some important things I discovered after making it.

So after trying this for the first time, I discovered that hot glue just doesn't hold well on these. I think because there is no porousness to them. The E6000 worked great but you do need to let it dry 24 hours so I ended up using glossy accents for stability while I waited for that to dry because glossy accents dries faster. Glossy accents isn't element proof though so for maximum impact and staying power use both.

I can't wait to show you the next project that I will do using this gorgeous flower. I'll publish that Wednesday so stay tuned.

I also think I'm going to make one and paint it so it really resembles the whole look of a lotus. Have to get more supplies first though. 

Head on over to Miriam's blog so you can see the challenge rules and create something beautiful of your own to show us. It's all about flowers this month and what could be simpler?

Love ya,

~Deb~

Let the Wind Blow!

Hi Everyone! Yesterday was my turn to post the challenge for The Bling Chronicles. I hope you've all signed up so you can join in the fun of making one. They can be made out of anything but you must use at least 1 recycled item. If you make a chime and enter it over on the challenge page, you will be entered to win a surprise goody bag.

Did I peak your interest? Here's what I came up with for mine...

I even did a video on it (stupid camera quit right near the end but I completed it with text). Total cost for the project was $10.30. Cute, personalized, and fun to make!

Come on and play!

Love ya,

~Deb~

Another Video Tutorial and a Freebie

Do you have a ton of scraps? Do you use them to stamp on and attach to cards? Do you tear them as elements? Or do you just plain throw them away? Well I have a little tip that I use mine for and I thought I'd share a video on it. Many of you may already know this technique but if you don't, you'll be glad you watched. Another way to use scraps!

So what did you think of this tip? This will probably only work with ink jet printers as one of my readers pointed out!

I also have a freebie for you. another image from one of my books, this time I didn't have to do much manipulating to get it correct, thank goodness! Hope you can use it.

Love ya,

~Deb~

My First Video Tutorial!

Ok so I was asked by one of the groups I belong to to make a tutorial for the flowers I used on front of the cards in my post Let Them Have Cake! (click to take you there). I drug out my webcam which I NEVER use...probably need a better one if I'm going to make more tutorials...but I did it and you can find it by clicking the picture of the flower below.

If you make one let us all know by linking up in the sidebar!

Hope it's helpful and inspiring.

Love ya,
~Deb~