DIY Table Centerpiece

Hi Friends!  It's me, Andrea. 

 Oh, boy do I have a fun, simple, and budget friendly project to share with you today.  How many of you go to Holiday or Christmas parties?  Most of us, right!  First things first.....

Supplies needed are:  May Arts Ribbon of course- NY42 in both 1.5" and 5/8", and AG09 3/8"

small boxes various sizes

chipboard type planter box/bag

paper of your choice

paint, brushes, modpodge

ruler, paper-cuter, scissors

candles

Holiday picks

Now let's get started, shall we?!

Measure 1. The sides of the bottom of the box

2. The sides to the lid of the box

3. The top of the box

Write your measurements down so you won't forget!

Paint all the edges of the boxes and the lids.  No need to be picky most of it will end up covered anyway. Wink!

Paint your chipboard boxes too.

Now while the paint is drying take your measurements and cut the paper of your choice to size.  By the time you're done cutting your paper strips the paint on your boxes should be dry.

Roll up those sleeves and put on your apron, we're breaking out the modpodge.  I used glitter modpodge because I like sparkly things. 

Simply paint on the modpodge, press on your strips of paper and press with stick, ruler, fingers etc.  Don't push so hard all the glue comes out from underneath.  Once your done with all the strips of paper repaint modpodge over the paper and box just to make sure everything is sealed nicely and to give it the added sparkle luster.

After the paint dried on this chipboard type box I also put gold glitter modpodge over it as well.  I wish I would have taken a picture without the ribbon, because I wasn't sure I was going to use this in the end until I put the ribbon on it.  Oh, my goodness how this luxurious ribbon gave it the final touch in making it adorable.

To make the arrangement, get some holiday picks and put some Styrofoam in the bottom and just randomly shove the picks in where you want.  Again don't get to picky. 

 Now for the bow!  I like to use this nifty little bow make to hold my ribbon.  Once you've got your loops use some floral wire or thread to hold it together.This will go on top of your present boxes.  I also wrapped ribbon down the sides and taped it to the bottom.  I did not glue my boxes together and didn't permanently glue the box on top, so that when it's time to store it I can put the ribbon in the smallest box and then all of the boxes inside each other for easy storage.

You could use just the boxes as a centerpiece or if you have a larger table you can add the chipboard boxes and some candles.  Here I have a large candle plate that I covered with some gold tree trim to set my boxes on.  Tied some ribbon around my candles and found a pair of candleholders in my house to put them on. 

 Wrap the gold tree trim around the candle plate. 

 Add some snowflakes and voila! 

 What holiday centerpieces are you doing?  I hope this inspires you in one way or another.

Happy Holidays!!!

Andrea

Project made for http://www.mayarts.com/blog/

A Mothers Keepsake

Hello all!  This project I did for Mother's Day, but it could be used for a birthday or holiday etc.  It took a lot of work but it  turned out beautiful!!

 This year for Mother's Day I felt it was important to create this keepsake book for my mom.  There are 7 children in my family and I asked each one of them to write some of their precious feelings about my mother's talents.

This book is made up of some very thin wooden pages.  After getting all the written work from my family I decided I needed more pages so I got a second book so there are eight pages, 2 each of the same pattern.

I used an airesol spray glue so that the paper would become part of the wood by sanding it.

I used my distress ink to go around the edges of the wooden pages as well as the front edges of the paper to give it that nice vintage aged look.  Here are some close up pictures of this. 

Notice the aging on the corner edges.  This paper originally looked like this picture below.

One of the most difficult things about this book is that it has the square openings.  This makes it beautiful and unique, however you have to be careful when placing things so that it doesn't show when you don't want it to, and also be able to incorporate what you want to show through, and also making it look nice on the actual page the embellishment is on.  Here is a sample of the window and the page behind it close up.

I also wanted everyone's name on their page so my mom would know which pages were written by which child.  It was also a bit challenging to take what they had written and make if fit on the page and not just look ordinary and one typed block in the middle but have a nice layout and incorporate their names as well.

Here are some pictures of the pages together.

Notice the orange ribbon.  This ribbon goes all the way around the page.  Here's a view from both sides.

May Arts has some awesome choices in burlap.  Check out the QW11 burlap loop I've used on these pages.  Plus guess how many other colors it comes in?  Ten colors!!!!  How cool is that?!

These two pages were things written by the grandkids.

This NK16 olive ribbon also goes all the way around on this page.  Below I have connected it to the bottom stanza.

Here I used some wooden tags for my name and the word mother.  I coverd them with paper, distress inked the edges and tied some lovely ribbon through the hole.

These family history stickers by Stamping Stantion were absolutely perfect here making it look like sillouhettes of my mom's seven children.

This rose turned out really cute using the EM32 gold net. I also used SM33-string burlap and threaded it through the 361-58-10 crochet.

This came together really nicely even though I'm a novice at page layouts.

Other products I used were from:

The Paper Loft,

The Paper Studio,

Petaloo,

and the Stamping Station.

May Arts ribbon used:

Sheer Wrinkled NK02,04,09,16,30,32,33

Silky Crush UK02,30,32,36

String Burlap SM14,16,33

EM16,32 Net

Thanks for joining me today!  I hope this gives you some good ispiration for some of your projects.  Don't forget we love to hear your comments!!!

Andrea 

Project made for http://www.mayarts.com/blog/

More Cuteness

These are my newest creations that will be sold on my website.

These hair bow holders have 3 ribbons 40 inches in length to help you organize all your hair pretties.

The Pink/Blue Elephant

 No more squished bows, and pairs can stay as pairs.

The Pink/Green Turtle

The Purple/Green Caterpillar

Glitter Tulle Bows

Miss Sailorette

Lost Tooth Collage

  What fun this week is joining May Arts with Petaloo.  Have you ever had one of those ah-ha moments?  Well, I did the other day, and I'm going to share it with you.  My youngest lost her first tooth so of course we need to make some memories of it.  I love the versatility of art canvas, but I've never thought to turn it around and use the back side until the other day when I had some things laying around and set them in the back side of the canvas.  So, here we go. 

I got thinking about fairies since when you lose a tooth who else visits but the tooth fairy.  What could be better suited for this than Graphic 45's Once Upon a Spring Time collection with an assortment of fairies,   some delicious embellishments from the lovely Petaloo, and gorgeous May Arts ribbon.

Supplies used include:  10X20, 4X4, 4X5 art canvas, 5X5 wooden frame, small open square and circular frames, acrylic paint, fluid chalk, distress ink, glue, hooks, Petaloo embellishments, 

and May Arts Ribbon...

Q71 1.5", UK32 1.5", 389-18-46 1/8", 372-1-06 1"

 First I cut a fairy to fit in the frame.  I then used fluid chalk and distress ink to color my frame.

 Next, I tore some of the scrapbook paper and used the distress ink to age it some.  I tore it at an angle as you can see above.

 I painted my art canvas pieces and on the bigger one I used the distress ink again around the edges.  On the smaller two I used glitter spray mist over my paint.  For the wooden M, I used some brown fluid chalk and then used the glitter spray mist to coat over it.  I embellished with flowers and ribbon and glued every thing in place.

 Here are a few close up views.  It's a little hard to see but I trimmed the small oval and square frame with the 1/8" velvet ribbon.  I also put ribbon over the scrapbook paper, under the picture on the 4X5 canvas.

 A close up of the wooden M.  No paint, just fluid chalk and glitter spray mist.

I love how it turned out.  My thoughts are to possibly add wooden flowers underneath with pictures as she loses her other baby teeth.  We shall see.

I hope you enjoy this tutorial and it inspires you to think backwards at times!  Wink, wink!!

Ta-ta!  Andrea
Project made for http://www.mayarts.com/blog/