eWillow.com's Paper Clips

It's been awhile since I posted a DIY tutorial.  I have been so swamped with making cards that I had to force myself to stop for a sort time and tend to some important household duties.  My daughter recently redecorated her bedroom.  She went from Lily Pulitzer hot pink and lime green to a more mature color scheme of gray and dark purple.  The transformation was amazing!  The best and most fun part for her was taking all of the loose change that she found while she was cleaning her room and exchanging it for cold, hard cash.  She was amazed when two coffee mugs full of coins garnished her nearly $60.00.  She used the money to buy new decor for her room.  (More on that later.)

I was excited to get my hands on the hot-pink chalkboard that she had hanging on her wall.  It was just begging for some TLC.  It somehow gained some gross (hard-to-cover) ink stains over the years, but they didn't stop me. 

I had been wanting to use some chalkboard paint for awhile.  I just so happened to have gray chalkboard paint on hand from another project that I never got around to making.  It was so EASY to use the paint and so fun to up-cycle this nasty-looking pink board.  Here are before and after pics:

I used Mod Podge and decorative paper to cover up the ink stains that weren't hidden by the chalkboard paint.  The decorative paper also gives the chalkboard a more mature look.  The photos below show how easy this project was to create.

1)  Start off with the nasty-looking board.  It didn't require any prep other than dusting.

2)  Use chalkboard paint and a brush large enough to make wide strokes.  Make sure the brush doesn't leave behind any bristles.

3)  Apply a few coats of paint, waiting about an hour between coats.

4)  Allow all of the coats to completely dry.

5)  Cut and glue strips of decorative paper using Mod Podge.

Yes, it really was THAT easy.   

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More room projects coming up next week, including up-cycling a bulletin board and making a hanging decoration for the ceiling fan chain.  Stay tuned.

Even though my day-to-day creative endeavors revolve around making greeting cards, I love to digress every now and then and create something altogether different.  When the opportunity came my way to participate in a campaign during this Halloween season for Martha Stewart Crafts, I jumped at the chance!

Lately, I have been infatuated with terrariums.  I was over the spooky, full, Halloween moon when I found a terrarium on clearance at Home Goods that looked like a spooky graveyard.  Combine a spooky-looking terrarium with Martha Stewart Crafts decorative arts paints and supplies from Plaid, and here is what you get:  a spooky graveyard Halloween vignette!   

Remember this post, where I showed you how to make paper rosettes?  I mentioned that after you die-cut the scallop circles, you would have little parts of the smaller scallop circle left over.  I made about a dozen paper rosettes, so I had plenty of these:

I can't bring myself to get rid of even the smallest of scraps, so here is what I did with mine.  I just placed them randomly around the card.  I overlapped some, too.  Kind of gives the card an Asian look, no?

To see an idea of how you can make a fun St. Patrick's Day project made completely from your scraps, look HERE.   

Paper rosettes are all the rage right now.  I'm going to show you an easy way to make your own.

Here is a list of the supplies you'll need:

Sizzix Big Shot, Scallop Circle #2 Sizzix Die, Simply Scored Scoring Tool, Designer Series Paper, Sticky Strip, Stampin' Dimensionals, and any embellishment you would like to use.

1)  cut two pieces of Designer Series Paper to 4" x 4"

2)  from these two pieces of paper, die-cut two scallop circles from the Circle Scallop #2 die.  (You will end up with part of the smaller scallop circle, too.  Save these pieces!  I'm going to show you a project you can make with them later in the week.)

3)  using the Simply Scored Scoring Tool, follow these steps:

4)  after you have scored both circles, follow these steps:

I have always wanted a "Wizard of Oz" Christmas tree.  (It seems fitting, since I have Wizard of Oz bank checks, a Wizard of Oz wrist watch, a Dorothy key chain, a ruby slipper pillow, the Wizard of Oz Barbie collection, the Wizard of Oz trivia game....you get the idea.)

(Go HERE to vote for this project in the "So You Think You're Crafty All-Star" competition.)