Crafts

DIY Chalk Paint Halloween Apothecary Jars with BB Frösch Chalk Paint Powder

5 · Oct 29, 2014 · Leave a Comment

+ Guest Post by BB Frösch Master Jonelle Morris from Chalk-a-Lot +

EEK! It’s almost Halloween! I’m not one for the guts and gore of the holiday, but I do love me some fun Halloween decor. I have wanted to make an apothecary display for a few years now, but never got around to it thinking, “oh that will take too long,” or “that will be too expensive,” or “I wouldn’t make it look good.”

Well, since I have joined the BB Frösch team, I have been trying all sofrts of things I never thought I would do. I set out to good ol’ Michaels to see if they had any glass bottles I could turn into something amazing, and as luck would have it, they did!

And the best part, each one was a $1.29 or under—score! But my luck didn’t run out there. Most of their Halloween stuff was 50-60% off, so therefore I made my whole display with what I purchased at Michaels, plus a couple small things I already have for….drumroll….$25! Double score!

I wanted some of the bottles I made to be black, and thought I would put the “BB Frösch bonds to virtually anything” claim test. I started out with my plain glass bottles and put a quick few coats of BB Frösch chalk paint with some leftover black paint I had from another project. BB Frösch isn’t just for furniture!

And when I say quick, I mean quick. Three coats on those four bottles took me about 25 minutes, drying time included. I then took a wet rag to wet distressed the tops and corners of the bottles to create a more authentic vintage look. I chose to leave the other bottles clear, so I could put some water with food coloring inside.

Then, because I am cheap 🙂 I searched for free vintage apothecary labels online and found some awesome options! I printed them off on regular paper and Modge Podged them under and on top of the label.
I used the labels found here:

Two Crafty Paws

Love Manor

The Graphics Fairy

For some other wonderful options you can go here:
Lil’Luna

Then to complete my display, I printed a beautiful, but slightly creepy picture of an old Victorian house (that was most likely haunted) on burlap.

Yes, you read that right, I printed on burlap, as in on my home inkjet computer.

Amazing! You can find this easy to follow tutorial on Domestically Speaking. It seriously took me about 10 minutes. The graphic I used as well as several other vintage halloween images can be found on The Graphic’s Fairy.

There, I did something I never thought I could do, and quickly and inexpensively! Happy Halloween!

DIY Painted Tray Set

1 · May 19, 2014 · 4 Comments

+ This DIY Painted Tray Set post brought to you by the lovely folks at Elmer’s +

With the spring in full swing and summer fast approaching, my creative spirit has started longing for all things beach. The nautical trend is one that I whole heartedly adopt. I love the colors, the simplicity, the way that it takes me back to slow days on the beach with my family and especially my sweetheart. Yea, I’m loving it!

Last month I had the chance to meet a couple of the lovely ladies that work at Elmer’s while I was attending SNAP. Now, I’ve worked with Elmer’s products for years and I’m on the Elmer’s Craft It Crew this year and while hanging out in their booth at SNAP, I started to realize the potential of a product that has kind of hung out in the background of the Elmer’s family of products… Their line of Painters Markers!

Painters Markers are acrylic paint markers that come in fine, medium or chisel tips. They are easy to use and virtually mess-free. The are permanent on most surfaces and can be used on pretty much any type of surface. Wood, glass, ceramic, tera cotta, plastic, metal, foam board & even fabric. They are streak-free, non-toxic & acid-free. Yea, they ROCK!!

Recently, I found a fun wood and metal serving tray at Target and thought it would look great with the addition of some coral to give it a bit of a nautical theme. I decided to take these Elmer’s Painters Markers for a spin to see how well they worked!

First, I found a coral image that I like and cut the image out on Stencil Vinyl from Silhouette on my CAMEO.

Then I colored in the image with the Elmer’s Painters Marker in Sea Mist Brume.

Tip… I did learn that you need to shake it up really well and draw on another piece a paper for a little bit in order to get the color to regulate.

Once I was finished coloring it in, I removed the stencil and then outlined it with the with Gold Ore Painter’s Marker which is a FABULOUS metallic marker. I LOVE IT!!

The acrylic paint from the markers dries so fast and the ease of being able to “paint” with acrylic paint in marker form just makes my day. No more brushes, and all the mess that comes along with painting. I decided my tray needed some matching glasses to complete the look so I took some jar glasses that I also found at Target, and using the same stencil process, stenciled a gold anchor onto the glass.

The gold paint goes onto the glass so smooth and looks fabulous.

Tip… I did learn that you need to remove the stencil while the paint is still wet, or you may pull some of the dried paint off when removing the stencil.

I even painted the silver metal lids that I have for my jar glasses gold with the Painter’s Markers. It was super slick!!

Now, I have a stylish nautical display piece for my house or I can make a few more glasses and I have a fun serving set for a party! I LOVE it!!

The cool thing is that it really only took a few minutes to make all of these creations, less than an hour for sure and the paint was dry within minutes.

As for the anchor glasses… I’m not sure how this paint will react to a trip though the dishwasher and I do think that it could scratch off easily so I would hand wash for sure. I plan on using them mostly for display and not really for everyday use. If you would like to use them everyday I would try to find some type of sealant to make the gold image a little more permanent.

Now, that I’ve hopefully inspired you… What would you like to paint with Elmer’s Painters Markers?

Disclaimer // I am a member of the 2014 Elmer’s Craft It Crew and was compensation for my time while preparing this post. However, all thoughts, idea and opinions are my very own!

DIY Black and White Wall Art

0 · May 8, 2014 · 8 Comments

DIY Black and White Wall Art // I have always been a huge fan of black & white. I love the stunning contrast and knew that when I was ready to dress up our front room in our new house I wanted a strong black & white theme. I also LOVE typography wall art and adore the hand painted typography displays that I’ve seen all over the place.

I however, CAN NOT hand paint a stick figure, let alone a beautiful hand lettered canvas… So, I did the next best thing! I busted out my Silhouette CAMEO, some black paper and a lovely large 24 x 24 canvas and went to work…

I LOVE how it turned out! It’s an element in my HUGE gold frame that is in my front room that I have redesigned for the spring/summer…

This is how it looked for Christmas this last year…

The frame is HUGE and I love it, but it can be a challenge trying to find stuff to fill the space, a large canvas is perfect!

This project is really quite simple. I used the Meddon font which has an imperfect hand lettered look to design my typography art. Then I cut my saying, “Leave a little sparkle wherever you go” out of black textured card stock paper with my Silhouette CAMEO and then used Decoupage from DecoArt to affix the letters onto the canvas.

Want to know a little secret to successful decoupaging? Wet your paper that you are wanting to affix to your surface FIRST before you place it onto your surface. I had a plate with a wet paper towel sitting next to me and placed the paper words on the towel for a few seconds to get them a little damp before I placed it on the canvas. This will help with any bubbling problem you may have once you add the Decoupage.

How to make typography wall art with Silhouette CAMEO and Decoupage

Cut your words out on the Silhouette CAMEO. For this size of canvas I needed a machine that could cut large elements and the CAMEO is perfect for that. I used my 12×24 mat and it was perfect. I unfortunately didn’t have 12×24 black paper so I had to piece some of the words together, but that wasn’t a big deal.
Figure out the placement of your words on the canvas.
Starting in small areas, one word or part of a word at a time, remove the paper word and place on a wet paper towel. Then using a foam brush, place a thin layer of Decoupage onto your canvas. Replace the paper word onto your desired spot and gently press into the Decoupage. Then carefully with a light hand, brush another layer of Decoupage onto of the paper word. Be careful not to over work the paper. Especially when using black paper on a white canvas, the Decoupage will breakdown the paper and then you will have a muddy mess instead of a clean black and white canvas.
Move onto the next word until you have the entire saying affixed with the Decoupage.
Make sure you cover the entire canvas with Decoupage so that the canvas will have a uniformed appearance.
Let the canvas dry and then hang!

I added a sheet of decorative metal that I found at Home Depot for a little added pop under the canvas and I LOVE how it looks!

So… Do you love typography art? What saying would you like to create with this simple project? Leave a comment with your saying!!

Disclaimer // This is NOT a paid post, I am however a member of the Silhouette Circle which is an affiliate program.

Anchor Bag with Silhouette PRINTABLE Heat Transfer Material

0 · Apr 21, 2014 · 154 Comments

This Anchor Bag project brought to you by Silhouette // Silhouette Portrait GIVEAWAY along with the April Promotion

Anchor Bag with Silhouette Printable Heat Transfer Material

But, before we get to that… I have a super cool new product from Silhouette to share with you! PRINTABLE Heat Transfer Material!

This is the coolest stuff… You can print directly on it, cut it out with your Silhouette and then iron it on to most types of fabric. I added a little flair to a canvas bag that I had sitting around and I LOVE it now.

What makes the anchor so fun is that I was able to take a fun polka-dot pattern from the Silhouette Shop and add it to a basic anchor shape to transform it into something a little extra special.

I created the anchor and then in the NEW and improved Silhouette Studio, I used the print and cut option and then added Registration Marks to my design.

When I printed my out my design the registration marks are also printed and that is how the Silhouette machine can then cut out your printed design.

I cut out the anchor on my Silhouette CAMEO…

Then ironed it on to my bag following the package directions. I then used my finger nail to rough up the anchor a bit so that it looked a little worn.

It was as simple as that. It took more time trying to decide what image I wanted on the bag than actually making the project!

How fun is that?!

I love how the bag looks now and I have all kinds of fun ideas now floating around in my head for other projects.

April Silhouette Special Promotion

This month’s special is wonderful… Here are all the details!

April Promo, running April 21-301

Silhouette CAMEO
1 Heat Transfer Starter Kit
1 Printable Heat Transfer Material for Dark Fabrics
1 Printable Heat Transfer Material for Light Fabrics
$269.99

Silhouette Portrait
1 Heat Transfer Starter Kit
1 Printable Heat Transfer Material for Dark Fabrics
1 Printable Heat Transfer Material for Light Fabrics

$139.99

All Heat Transfer materials will be 30% off as well!

And FREE Shipping!!!

CLICK HERE to visit the April Promo shop, make sure you use the promo code WHIPPER when you check out to receive the special deal!

Silhouette Portrait + 12 month Deluxe Subscription GIVEAWAY // A $360 Value

For those of you feeling LUCKY… The lovely folks at Silhouette are giving away a Silhouette Portrait along with a 12 month Deluxe Subscription to the Silhouette Online Store where you have access to THOUSANDS of fabulous images and design ideas to help you create all kinds of masterpieces… This is a $360 VALUE!!

All you have to do if follow the directions in the Rafflecopter Box below to enter…

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer // I was not paid for this post however, I am a member of the Sillhouette Circle which means I am an affiliate with Silhouette.

Crafts

How to make typography wall art with Silhouette CAMEO and Decoupage

Anchor Bag with Silhouette Printable Heat Transfer Material

April Silhouette Special Promotion

Silhouette Portrait + 12 month Deluxe Subscription GIVEAWAY // A $360 Value

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