A Little Joy Decor

Hi All! Just wanted to share a little home decor project with you today that I created using a Mini Clipboard by Tim Holtz. I use these little clipboards in my altered art projects a lot because the clip is completely removable making the board a cinch to cover.

For this little piece, I used leftover papers from the My Crush Happy, Happy Christmas collection by Close to My Heart to cover both the front and the back of the board. I added a sentiment card from the Happy, Happy Christmas Picture My Life cards, and then went to town on embellishments.

I began by adding Cranberry Striped Twill Ribbon to to board and then created a flower-bow from loops of the same ribbon, layered with loops of jute ribbon from the Rustic Home Ribbon Pack by Close To My Heart. I finished off the flower-bow with a metal button from my stash. I then cut a variety of greenery from Fern, Ponderosa Pine (a retired color), and Cranberry Cardstock scraps using the Tim Holtz Holiday Greens Mini Thinlits die set. I layered the greens and berries sprigs behind the flower-bow using a little Liquid Glass at the very base of the stems. I punched a snowflake from the same paper with which I covered the board, and attached it to the sentiment card with a glue dot. To finish everything off, I added Diamond Stickles to the snowflake and Christmas Red Stickles to the berries. I also added a little jute ribbon to the top of the clipboard just for a little somethin' extra.

Here's a collage of close-ups showing the details:

And here is the clipboard once again:

Hope you enjoyed this little home decor piece and are inspired to give altering these little clipboards a try. (For more inspiration, see this post.)

Have a wonderfully creative weekend!

Tim Holtz Mini Clipboard	CTMH My Crush Happy, Happy Christmas	CTMH Happy, Happy Christmas (Picture My Life	Tim Holtz Holiday Greens Mini Thinlits (Sizzix)
CTMH Cranberry Cardstock	CTMH Fern Cardstock	CTMH Rustic Home Ribbon Pack	Ranger Christmas Red Stickles
Ranger Diamond Stickles	CTMH Liquid Glass	Sookwang Double-sided Tape	Memory Book Glue Dots

InLinkz.com

Layers of Twinkle!

Hi All! Welcome to the Rose Blossom Blog Hop featuring Close To My Heart's October Stamp Of The Month: Twinkle. 

If you just hopped over from the super talented Shelly Nemitz's blog, Just One Pretty Piece, you're in the right place. If you started with me, or get lost along the way, there's a list of blog hop participants at the end of this post. Now on with the project....

So for this project, I decided to think outside the box a little. (I know, what box, right?!) Anyway, when I saw the ornament stamp, I knew I needed to make a poinsettia out of it, but when all was said and done, the flower was too big for a card. And so my little home decor frame was born. 

For the poinsettia, I stamped the leaves in first and second generations of Pomegranate ink using the back of the stamp. (That means I attached the stamp to the block on the striped side.) I then stamped stripes on the lighter (second generation) leaves with the same Pomegranate ink, and stamped the darker (first generation) leaves with Ruby ink. For the green leaves, I again used the back of the stamp and stamped two layers of Fern ink. I added stripes using New England Ivy. For a little extra zip, I edged all the leaves with gold embossing powder and heat set them. For the center of the flower, I used glittered hearts from the Gold Fundamentals Assortment pack, and topped it with a Gold Bling Gem.

I stamped the frame for the Believe sentiment in VersaMark ink and heat embossed it using gold embossing powder. I then inked around the edges with Cashmere ink to give it a little bit of an aged look. Finally, I stamped the sentiment in Ruby ink and added a little bling to the "i" for extra sparkle.

I wanted a simple background in the center area. So I painted it cream and added some random streaks of gold Rub 'n Buff. I then stamped the Noel, Peace, and Joy sentiments from the stamp set onto the background in Chocolate ink. The ink reacted with the Rub 'n Buff (which has an almost waxy finish) to give it a shadow look that I really liked. (You can se it in the picture above.) I also added some sparkle flourishes around the frame to tie everything together.

The frame is a simple 4x4 inch wooden frame that I picked up for a dollar at my local craft store. I used several coats of paint on it, along with Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint. After the crackling was dry, I added more cream and gold paints. (There are A LOT of layers on this frame.)

Here's one more look:

And that's it! I hope you enjoyed this merry little twinkle. Now, hop on over to the crazy-talented Morgan Vogt at TweetScraps and see what inspiring goodies she has for you today. And here's a list of blog hop participants if you get lost along the way.

Brenda

Lynn

Marg

Shelly

Kim {you are here!}

Morgan

Mary

Kristine

Kim S.

Have a wonderfully creative day!

Rose Blossoms Holidays Blog Hop: So Grateful for....

Hi All! Welcome to the Rose Blossom Blog Hop Holiday Edition. I'm batting second in the line-up so if you've just hopped over from Rose Blossom Legacies, you're in the right place. If you're just starting with me, you should hop back and see what the ever-inspiring Brenda Rose has for you. 

So I decided to go with a Thanksgiving project today using the Close To My Heart Design Decor Colonial White Frame, which comes with a honeycomb wire insert. Let's take a look:

I decided to make a gratitude board for my family. I used retired Burlap and Chocolate Striped gross grain ribbons to decorate the frame, and added a cork and wooden button from the Pathfinding Assortment pack. The leaves are stamped using the Fall Harvest stamp set and Chocolate pigment ink. Pigment inks are perfect for heat embossing, so I used Ranger Clear Super Fine embossing powder to emboss the leaves. I then sponged the leaves using Ruby, Canary, Barn Red, Autumn Terracotta, Goldrush and Olive Exclusive Inks. I then fussy cut the leaves and added them to the frame with hot glue.

The banner is made using the Bodacious Banner stamp set, the Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge, and Barn Red, Autumn Terracotta, Goldrush, and Chocolate Exclusive Inks. Though the banners fit beautifully on the Art Philosophy cuts, I decided I didn't want the 1/8th of an inch margin around the stamps so I cut it off. The letters in "Gratitude" are stamped in Chocolate ink on Glacier cardstock using the alphabet stamp set that is included in the Artfully Sent Cricut Collection. I tied the pennants together using strands of burlap from the Burlap Ribbon.

The tag holder and tags are cut from Kraft Cardstock and embellished with Pathfinding paper, Chocolate and Glacier cardstocks, Chocolate Gros Grain ribbon, and a little cork embellishment from the Pathfinding Assortment. The tags have Topiary Mini Chevron ribbon pulls and little "I'm Thankful For" flags that are stamped in Glacier Exclusive ink using the Thankful Heart stamp set.

Here are a couple of close-ups:

And here's a look at what I'm most grateful for in my life:

So I hope my little project sparked some ideas for you. For more inspiration hop on over to the über talented Lynn Darda's blog From My Bungalow and see the beautiful project she has in store for you. If you get a little lost along the way, here's a list of blog participants:

Brenda

Kim {that's me}

Lynn

Marg

Margot

Cathy

Tammie

Barbara