Paint

Basswood Trees with eat.sleep.make.

1 · Dec 12, 2013 · 1 Comment

Hi all! Shannon from eat.sleep.make. here! So excited to share this inexpensive and easy project with you! All you need is a sheet of basswood, a craft knife, a rule, pencil and some paint!

First – Decide how big you want your tree to be. My first one I made 6 inches tall and 4 inches wide. Mark the wood and draw your triangle

Second – Use your ruler and craft knife to cut along the lines you drew. It may take several scores with the knife to get through the wood. Don't press too hard or you may crack the wood.

Third – Draw a line half way up from the middle of the base on one triangle. Then draw a line half way down from the tip of the triangle on the other. Use your craft knife to cut a slice about 1/16 to 1/8 inch where the line was.

Fourth – Slide your pieces together to make sure they fit.

Fifth – Paint a fancy little design on it!

These take little time to make, but turn out so adorable! It would even be fun to cut them out and let the kids paint/color/glitterfy them.

Stop over at eat.sleep.make. and check out some of our other Christmas projects!

Celebrate the Light Canvas

DIY Rosette Tree

DIY Snow Globe Necklace

From Napkin Rings to Beautiful Wreaths, Five Festive Ornament Frame Ideas

11 · Nov 24, 2013 · 11 Comments

This post brought to you by Michaels Craft Stores // I have always been a fan of the Ornament Frame, they are just perfect for creating all kinds of goodies for the holidays. I've given them as personalized gifts for years. This year, Michaels challenged me to come up with FIVE different "out of the frame" ideas for crafting with ornament frames.

Merry Christmas Banner

We will start with my Merry Christmas banner. This one was last minute inspiration, but turned out to be one of my favorite projects. I used my Silhouette Portrait to cut letters out of gold vinyl and then affixed it to the face of the frame. Then, this is the good part… I found these super cute gift bags at Michaels that I just fell in love with. I thought they would be a great background for the letter frames to make a fun banner. SUPER cool and SUPER easy to make. You don't have to cut any paper just use the bag as is as your banner background!

This year's hot trend is using both silver and gold together so, I thought the silver frames would look fantastic with the gold accents.

The banner looks perfect in my new GIANT shadow box…

Personalized Napkin Rings

This idea was super simple and will add a little flair to your holiday table. Just use a little chalkboard paint on the face of the frame to make a chalkboard surface. Glue the frame onto a basic napkin ring and you're set.

Use a chalkboard maker to personalize your stylish napkin rings. You can even use a 3D Glue Dot to temporarily affix your frame to the napkin ring. At the end of the night, add the ribbon back and send the ornament home with your guests as a party favor.

Decorative Wall Art

This piece was so fun to make. I again employed my Silhouette Portrait to help with this project. I cut several holiday images out of their gold vinyl and affixed it to the face of the frames. Then I glued the frames to an inexpensive silver charger that I found at Michaels. I LOVE how this turned out!!

Accent Element

This one is SIMPLE… I used one of the ornament frames to add a little accent element to a sign that I had created. Again, I used my Silhouette to cut the 2013 out of gold vinyl and affixed it to the frame. It was a great addition to my shadow box display…

Personalized Gift Tag

Last, but not least… I created a decorative gift tag that can be used over and over and over. I used one of those cute tiny gift bags that I had left over from the banner, cut it to size and then placed that inside the frame. You can then use dry erase or chalkboard makers to write the name on the tag and voilá, you have a stunning gift tag that anyone will love!

Well… there you have it. 5 different ways to create with a simple ornament frame. Did that get your imagination running? What would you make? Take a little time to "think outside the frame" and create something fun with some ornament frames!

Disclaimer // This post was sponsored by Michaels Craft Stores. I receive product from Michaels in order to create the projects in the post.

Black & White Halloween Pumpkins for The Great Pumpkin Challenge

28 · Sep 4, 2013 · 15 Comments

The Great Pumpkin Challenge brought to you by Michaels Craft Stores // I CAN"T WAIT FOR FALL!! I've thoroughly enjoyed summer, ate it up really but, I'm over the heat and the bugs and I'm ready for those cool crisp fall days. More than anything I'm ready to start decorating for fall and all the fun holidays that come with the cool temperatures. Not too long ago, Michaels sent me some of their famous pumpkins and invited me to participate in The Great Pumpkin Challenge and this is what I came up with…

A classic black & white Halloween display. As much as I love color, there is just something stunning about black & white when it comes to Halloween. Here's a breakdown of each pumpkin…

This one is just a simple decorative ribbon that I found at Michaels and wrapped it using small t-pins to secure the ribbon at the top and bottom of the pumpkin. Super easy!!

Love, love, love this one that I stenciled using Black DecoArt Patio Paint and their Mixed Media Stencils. This one was a little more challenging. I pinned the stencil to the pumpkin and then carefully laid each section of the stencil down onto the pumpkin using my finger to press each section down. Going section by section, I used a makeup sponge as a pouncer and carefully went around the clock, making sure not to overload the pouncer and it turned out great. Slow & steady wins the race on this one.

I also painted an orange pumpkin black with the Patio Paint. This stuff is amazing!! This was ONE coat…

I'm going to be using that paint a whole lot more now that I know how amazing it is.

For my polka dot pumpkin I used the DecoArt Patio Paint again, on the inside of the pumpkin and then a Hot Knife from Micheals to cut out the polka dots. That tool is a must when it comes to working with this type of pumpkin. It cuts like butter!!

These two are just wrapped in ribbon with a couple of cute bows. For these I used t-pins and a couple of glue dots to secure the ribbon in place. Again, super easy.

What's your favorite way to dress up your pumpkins for Fall or for Halloween? Michaels is hosting a fun Great Pumpkin event on October 5th from 1:00-3:00. For $6 your kiddos can design their very own pumpkin and there will be a face painter on hand for even more festive fun.

A little intimidated to carve you own pumpkin? Not to worry, Michaels is also offering professional carving services at their store. You can choose from 25 designs and then personalize them as well. Prices start at $19.99 and if you want it by Halloween, you need to place your order by October 13th.

So… What are you going to create for The Great Pumpkin challenge this year? Take some photos and tag me on Instagram or Facebook so I can see what you create!

Instagram Photo Frame

0 · Aug 22, 2013 · 4 Comments

Hey Whipperberry fans, it's Jenn from My Fabuless Life and today I'm going to show you a super simple way to actually take those beautiful life moments sitting in your Instagram feed and put them to good use!

I get some grief about what an Instagram addict I am, buuutttt…this is why! It's such an easy way to capture those day to day moments, when you wouldn't normally be carrying your camera or you just don't want to mess with getting it out. Basically, for me, Instagram is a photo journal, and I don't have to mess with editing all of those pictures at once, because I've already done it, easily, before the pictures are posted, which also makes them perfect for displaying. This is one of the ways I decided to display mine and it's super easy.

I picked up a large frame at a local home decor store (it was on crazy clearance because it was missing the glass) and spray painted it with Krylon's Gold (I also love Valspar's gold spray paint). Then, I actually picked up the "chicken wire" from the trash pile at a house being built in my neighborhood–it's the wire mesh they put under stucco. I'm pretty sure my neighbors think I'm nuts, because I can be seen on a regular basis pushing a stroller and carrying handfuls of scrap wood, tree branches, and other treasures. Am I embarrassed about it? A little (my husband a lot), but I can suck up a lot of pride for free stuff ; ). Anyway, if you don't have a local construction site to borrow from, I think you can buy chicken wire at any local farm supply. And it probably goes without saying, but don't go stealing the stuff. I pulled this out of a pile that was clearly trash–no one wants to see you on an episode of Cops. Now that the legal stuff is out of the way back to our regularly scheduled project: Lay the mesh over the back of the frame. Don't cut it down to size yet! It's much easier if you do it after it's attached.

With a staple gun, just staple the mesh on around the back of the frame. If you don't have a staple gun (it's totally worth the $10 purchase) you can use brass thumb tacks and some hot glue. Put some glue on the back of the tack and then press it into the frame to hold the mesh (the glue will keep the tack from popping out). Then go around and cut all of the excess off with some wire cutters. BE CAREFUL! This stuff is sharp! And that's about it. Time for hanging.

I hung my pictures with some embellished paper clips, and some Basic Grey cards I scored at SNAP!.

Then to add a little more variety and color, I added some free Project Life-sized printables I found here & here, and a miniature version of one of my own prints.

I know Instagram printing can be pretty pricey, so as a bonus, I've created a few templates and a tutorial on how to print your own at home, or wherever you normally have your photos printed. You can find the free downloads and tutorial over at My Fabuless Life.

Embellished Picture Clips // Repurposed Kitchen Cabinet