Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween, everybody! I thought I'd share a quick and easy necklace I made just a few minutes ago - this is my "costume" for tonight! I had these epoxy-covered chipboard buttons from Making Memories that I had been waiting to use for Halloween pictures. I decided to give them some use earlier by making them into an easy necklace that could be dismantled later so I can re-use the buttons. The buttons are simply knotted onto a piece of black twine so when I'm done wearing it tonight, I can simply snip through the knots and all I've "used up" for a night of fun is about a yard of twine! Happy Halloween!

Christmas Wish List Clipboard

As seen in the December/January issue of Ready set create E-zine!
Along the same lines as me and my endless list-making, I decided to try and actually be organized for Christmas this year and put all my son's requests together, as well as whatever wish lists I can drag out of the rest of my family. I am really loving the new American Crafts line for this Christmas (see my earlier posted Christmas Frame for more from this line)! The paper, ribbons, vinyl stockings and candy canes and chipboard letters are all from this line. Mod Podge from Plaid, of course. I further embellished the letters with Scribbles from Duncan and the stockings and candy canes with a snow writer from DecoArt. I wish my photography skills were better so you could see just how fun the snow writer looks! It really looks like snow with a little glisten to it, rather than glittery like it looks in the picture because of the glare - sorry!

To Do List Clipboard

I live on lists. I make them for absolutely everything. I was looking at this long clipboard from EK and thought it would make a perfect home for my never-ending "To Do" lists! The paper and decorative strip at the bottom are from My Mind's Eye. The flowers are from Prima. The decorative snaps and letters are from Making Memories. Ink from Clearsnap and Mod Podge from Plaid. For paper, I couldn't find a pad offhand that I liked, so I just cut up some quick copy paper into 3x6" sheets to use until I find some lined (a must-have for me with my handwriting!) paper that will fit properly. I also added a strip of magnet tape to the back so that I can hang it on my fridge and always be able to find my list of things to be done. I love how it turned out - if only finishing my To Do lists went as quickly and easily!!!

Pastel Nightlight

This was fun to put together! I used a premade nightlight kit with a self-adhesive shade and added strips of Petallics cardstock from Worldwin. Some Prima flowers and dimensional glue from PSX and voila! All done! Because I used the same width of cardstock strips, it starts with a perfect vertical stripe on one end and gradually gets more and more of an angle - wasn't planned, but I actually really like the look anyways.

Holiday Frame

This was something I put together for a nursing home craft project so it's a bit off my beaten path. I used paper mache, which is something I really don't do often (and this frame was warped when I began, so I don't see my paper mache useage going up after this experience, lol). The paper is from Prima and the velvet ribbon from Flair. Jingle bells and glitter finish it off. Everything is attached with Mod Podge except the bow/bells combo (which I used a bit of wire to complete), which I used a glue dot on.

I've never tried doing glitter like this with Mod Podge and was pleased that it worked as well as it did. This project is very simple, and would be a great project for children as well - very easy, very messy with all the glitter!

This was also the first time I used the newer Mod Podge Satin Finish and I REALLY like this! Think of it as the halfway mark between the matte and the glossy. It also shows the brush strokes without leaving a textured brush stroke (like the Mod Podge Brush Strokes Finish) so I did experiment a little with that before smoothing it back out and think I'm going to try that on my next project.