Easy Home Decor with Connie Crystal!

Do you love EASY?  I do!  Of course it has to be appealing as well; and thanks to Connie Crystal we have a fun product that is great for jazzing up simple pieces as shown here today.

The rhinestone trim shown in these projects comes in wider pieces than are shown here.  The trim is available in white and black and can be cut into different shapes.  I have cut double and single rows of the trim in the lengths I needed to embellish my projects.  It helps make the product go farther!

Refer to the photo given below: 

To begin, I put the lid on the paper mache' box and traced around the base of the sides of the lid onto the box with a pencil.  I then removed the lid and applied Gesso to the box as shown in the photo below.  I built the layers up leaving about a 1/8" bare spot in between each square.  That is where I will glue the trim pieces later.  The Gesso should dry overnight before painting.

I painted the inside and outside of the box & lid with DecoArt Chalky Finish in Vintage.  Once completely dry; apply Silver Metallic Lustre with a small piece of rag cloth. Lightly apply over the Gesso treated squares and on the edges of the box.  

For the final step, embellish with the crystals as shown in the photo below.  I attached a glass knob to the top of the lid but this could be a flower, doily, etc.

Simply measure and glue the trim to the acrylic frame as shown in the photo below.  I used a liquid dimensional medium to adhere the trim.  The medium I used was Dimensional Magic by Plaid.

There are other adhesives that will work but I prefer this one as it dries quickly and doesn't leave glue smears if you are careful.

The final project in this trio is the ivy bowl.  This was such a simple project to do and looks so good when it is done!  You will paint the inside of the ivy bowl with the same chalk paint that was used on the box.  Again, you will be painting the INSIDE.  One good coat should do it, then allow it to dry thoroughly.  I added a little of the silver Metallic Lustre to the scalloped rim of the ivy bowl to finish it.  I cut two rows of the rhinestone trim in the desired length and adhered it to the neck of the ivy bowl as shown.  A piece of scotch tape will work to hold the ends in place until they dry and adhere on their own.

Below is a photo of the completed vanity or desk trio.  I like them because they are small and will dress-up and personalize a small area.

But WAIT!

There is a bonus project!

Easter is coming and I decorated some Smoothfoam eggs with the remnants of trim that I had left over.  The rhinestones cut apart easily and I used them to embellish these eggs that I covered with jute twine.  The ribbon is an off-white satin that I colored using my ink pads and a cosmetic sponge.  

Flowers:  I sewed a running stitch along one edge of a 10" piece of ribbon and pulled the thread to gather and form the flower; then triple stitched in one place to secure.  I used a tacky glue to adhere all of the pieces together.

I make character clips to decorate gift bag closures for the different holidays.  The individual rhinestones cut from the trim work great for the eyes as you can see on the chick clip below!  Also for the rhinestone polka dots on the eggs.

I hope you have enjoyed this blog today and the different uses for the Connie Crystal trims. Visit their site to see their other trims, beads and sun catchers. There will be different products featured on the blog hop today.  Go to the blue Designer Craft Connection button at the top of my page to go forward or backward on the hop.

Take time to enjoy the small blessings along the way and

Live Life with a Flourish!

Marilyn

http://www.conniecrystal.com/products/craft-products-1/crystal-sheets

#Cre8time   #NationalCraftMonth   #ConnieCrystal   #Deflecto   #DecoArt   #Smoothfoam

St. Patricks fun with Etchall

Who doesn't like to drink coffee out of a fancy or personalized coffee cup?  I know I do!  I bought a nice mug at my favorite store for......(you guessed it!) $1.00! The Dollar Tree is the perfect place to find glass for etching.

This is how it looked when I started.

I gathered my etching supplies...... I think this is the best product out there! 

I used my electronic die-cut machine (Cricut), but any die-cut machine should work.  Find a die that you like; center it on a square of contact paper.  Make sure to leave at least a full 1/4" border around the cut.

Remove the release paper from one square.  Arrange and press onto the glass making sure that there are no air bubbles between the paper and the glass.  Following the manufacturer's direction, generously apply the etching cream to the exposed glass.  Take care not to get it on any other part of the mug.  You might have to prop up the mug to prevent the etchall medium from sliding. Wait 15 minutes; remove cream and put back into container.  You can use it over and over.  Remove the contact paper; rinse and dry the glass.  Apply the whole process again, until there is a border around the mug as shown.  Use your own judgement as to how many designs you want to apply.

Below is a picture of the finished mug.  Now I want to put some goodies in it because it is going to be a gift for a friend.  

I added a little package of Starbucks coffee and a bottle of green nail polish for "pinch protection".  The leprechaun is a little clip that I made and I glued some plastic gold coins on a piece of cardstock that I slipped in for a little added decoration.  Voila'!  Happy St. Patty's Day!

Hope this project inspired you to make some inexpensive gifts or to make one for yourself!

Here is the Etchall website!  http://etchall.com/

#Etchall.com     #Cre8time    #NationalCraftMonth

Take the time to enjoy the small blessings in life and

Live Life with a Flourish!

Marilyn

Deflecto products to "Celebrate the Green"

All of us are Irish when March 17th gets here, right?
If you forget to wear something green, there will always be someone to remind you that there may be a pinch in store!  How many of us have used the excuse that my underwear are green...my socks are green, etc.? Being all in good fun, I offer an idea to fend off pinches at work along with some decorations to celebrate the month of March!

This Celtic luminary is an acrylic tri-frame by Deflecto.  I used my Cricut machine to cut-out this glitter paper over-lay (Artbooking cartridge by Close To My Heart) to decorate the frame.  I cut one for each frame and filled in on either side of the over-lay with strips of the same paper.  I made the shamrocks from the same glitter paper by cutting out 1" hearts and gluing them to a smaller circle of paper.  I glued rhinestones to the middle of the shamrock and added a little stem.

To make this a luminary, I placed a battery lit tea light inside the tri-frame.  Below is a magnified picture (Thanks to Pic-Monkey) for what it should look like in the dark!  Just slightly exaggerated........

Now for the "Pinch Protection"!  I use the program Pic-Monkey to edit photos and you can use it to create your own thing.  I created the little sign pictured below, saved it, then sized and printed it from a Word document.  You can make this any size you want.  I used Deflecto's 3" x 4" acrylic craft frame.

Below is a fun craft frame by Deflecto.  The border is already green!  I just added paper, some signage and decorated it with a little leprechaun clip https://www.etsy.com/shop/stuffandthingsandco?ref=hdr_shop_menu and some coins.  (Coins are glued to a piece of paper then clipped on).

I tied some 3-ply jute cording around the bottom and now have a fun decoration to display during the month of March.

Looking for signage?  Pinterest has a good supply of free printables.  You can Google to find them too.

Hope you have been a little inspired to go and celebrate the Green!

Take time to enjoy life's little blessings and

Live Life with a Flourish!

Marilyn

#Cre8time, #Deflecto Craft, #St. Patrick's

It's National Craft Month! Craft painting is a personal favorite!

Hi there!  

In honor of National Craft Month I am sharing some projects that I created a few years back.  I still find them fun and interesting and thought you might too!  

The closest I have come to being a person who loves puzzles has been with creating shapes and projects with dimension out of small wood pieces such as Woodsie's.  Basic shapes, i.e. circles, hearts, teardrops, ovals and craft sticks make up most of the projects you will see here today.  I use the wood shapes as you would if you were drawing a picture.  I draw the picture, then find the shapes I need to create the object I want it to look like.

The picture below are some of the projects created for a Fiesta party.  A one dollar wooden bag was painted and embellished with the Woodsie shapes. The center project is a napkin holder and the flower on the chip bowl has a clip on the back.

Next up is a grouping I designed with a Luau theme.  These are fun for place settings, decorations and the wooden bag with the flamingo is a straw holder.

I thought a Jungle theme would be fun to throw in the mix.  An inexpensive wooden frame and clay pot were the basic surfaces I used to paint and embellish with the wood designs.  I painted everything with Deco-Art Americana acrylic paints.  Monkeys, elephants, a lion and tropical birds were all fun to assemble and paint.  The circle on the front of the pot is a sssnnaaaaaaake!

Tropical birds as a frame embellishment and a plant poke.  OR, candies can be put in the small pot and the bird serves as a decoration perching above the candies. 

A pirates theme!  The bones were a bit of a challenge, but I got it figured out....again using basic shapes and craft sticks.  The pretty girl is a friend of my daughter's.  If she sees this, she will probably be surprised.

The Under the Sea grouping pictured below was one of my favorites!  I designed these around 2008 so would do some updates on them today.  I would add some glitter to the mermaids.  See the little crab climbing on the treasure box?  The small jars contain bath salts and are great party favors.  On the far left is a little gift bag with a mermaid clip closure.  There is a wooden spring clothespin on the back of the mermaid.  Doesn't she make a cute embellishment?

How about an Uptown Girl party?  An inexpensive mirror and clay pot were painted for favors and decorations.  The name plate is a personalized eye shadow compact and the lipsticks and perfume bottle are cupcake toppers. Fun, huh?  I think so!  The most fun was in creating them!  

Have you heard the phrase "What the mind can perceive and conceive it can achieve"?  I absolutely believe that!  You just need to have a plan and then work it! 

Hope you enjoy the rest of the hop.  Take time to enjoy life's little blessings and....

Live Life with a Flourish,

Marilyn