Inspired jewelry

Miss me? I may have misplaced a month  I really have been working on a ton of projects, they just haven’t made an appearance on the blog. Sorry about that, would love to say it won’t happy again but…

Good news?

I have some pretty inspired-by-others jewelry to show you today!

Like almost all girly girls I know, I love jewelry. I have even been making an effort to wear the pieces I own   One of my solutions was the jewelry gallery wall in our master bedroom and it has been fairly successful.

I recently had the opportunity to take a jewelry class with my mom and a girlfriend. Something we had talked about doing for a while, and finally got around to it! It was offered at a local bead store, and you were supposed to pick a project from their gallery. Umm, no thanks.

Thanks to etsy, I came equipped with a pic and convinced the teacher that we all wanted to make one. (she was less than thrilled)

It was a wire wrapped bead bracelet, here’s my version.It was a lot more time-consuming than I expected, (my mom & Karen were smart enough to space out their beads, while I was certain mine needed to be ”chunkier”).

I am pleased with the final result, even though I am now completely convinced the etsy bracelet is WAY under-priced!

I love skeleton keys, so this charm is the perfect way to finish off the bracelet.My mom was showing off  a natural, and actually finished 3 projects. This is her memory wire bracelet. (maybe it’s called tiger wire? apparently I was not the best student)One of the reasons I wanted to take a jewelry class in the first place was this watch…It’s a knock off of a La Mer watch, and I like this version more than I like the original. I was dying to make one! Technically my jewelry class taught me none of the skills needed to make this…but that’ s ok. Bev has a fab tutorial, it was super easy to follow.

I had pictured it in some great fun color, or maybe a python band. Problem was, the watch faces I could find were very limited. I originally bought a super cute one, but the bars on it are so tight and slim that none of the belts I looked at would fit through once let alone twice.

Meet my snazzy new leopard print watch!I suppose you can’t really go wrong with an animal print, right? Mine doesn’t have the chains added yet, or any charms. I ‘m going to follow Bev’s advice and make them removable.

I did learn a couple of things along the way…

1) don’t assume your wrist must be bigger than everyone else’s. You will just end up trimming. A lot. From both ends.

2) you probably should actually read the sizes on the rivets you buy, and then pick up the punches that match. I eyeballed mine…and ended up with nothing even remotely close. Good news is, if you have the making memories tool kit for scrapbooking – your eyelet punch will work perfectly;)

3) when she says to put a board down on your surface, it’s a good idea. Pretty happy my desk was a kijiji freebie that already has many, many gouges on it.

4) getting cute wrist shots of yourself wearing said watch is waay harder than you would think. My hubby finally stepped in and took over with not even one eye roll.

I have a few more projects to post, (hopefully) and I have a trip to Halifax next week that I am super excited about! I haven’t ever been to the East coast, and I am really looking forward to taking a break.

Linking up with:

Think pink Sunday @ Flamingo Toes

It’s a party…parisian pink poodle

Turns out – this post is waaay long…grab a coffee and get comfy!

My sweet baby girl turned 4 this month!! I seem to be ok with it, quite possibly its denial. She told me that she would “always be my baby, just not in front of people” so apparently we are still good for snuggles!

Time for a birthday party, this one with a  ”pink poodle in paris” theme, which of course means tons of pink, black, sparkles and oodles of poodles! We set the tone for the party by sending out these cute invites which were all handmade. (FYI – black glitter cardstock is sort of a nightmare to work with and will not be making any more appearances in this house…)Front door had a ribbon and rosette wreath added to it,and a double-sided happy birthday banner hung in the front window.I did try to get some pictures from the outside but they were all sort of glare-y and mostly hurt my eyes so I figured I would spare you!

We decorated the mantel with a bunch of thrifted frames, sprayed black and filled with pink poodles and “4′s”, found some metallic Eiffel towers, and a stuffed pink poodle.Did you know that helium balloons only last for 8-10 hours? Not me which means the balloons I got to float above the kitchen table were sadly not so float-y anymore. They mostly just sat on the mantel, looking kind of pathetic.

Know what’s not pathetic? These adorable ruffled pink tote bags!I made one for each girl to take home as their goody bag, and while I would love to take credit for the idea, I first saw them here, I chose to sew each ruffle so they would be more consistently ruffled and then hot glue gunned them onto the bag. I’ll spare you the sewing machine drama that ensued and just tell you that once you have a good machine, they are actually fairly easy to make and turned out better than I hoped!

For the girls craft I found these adorable pink poodles here,They came with wishing stars, and birth certificates, so each girl go to make a wish, stuff and name her own poodle. They got dressed up with black hair bows too!We had Chelsea’s party on Easter weekend, and because we were juggling a bunch of other commitments and had family in town we ended up doing a morning party. I wasn’t entirely certain how it was going to go over, but it worked out really well. We were finished by lunch time, and had the rest of the day to get everything else crammed in. Plus, let’s be honest, waiting all day for a party to start is pretty tough on everyone!

In the kitchen we set up the table with all pink and black (Chelsea suggested that daddy should probably paint the walls pink…it didn’t happen!)The centerpiece is my fave, it’s a rustic wood planter box that I made (with help, thanks Les!) I used empty starbucks  bottles inside, surrounded by pink shredded paper. A couple of white carnations tucked into each vase, it looked really sweet.For snacks we kept it super simple, figuring that everyone would have already had breakfast. Birthday girl asked for cheese + crackers, we did a fruit tray, mini water bottles with these great custom labels

and cupcakes!I made the cupcake wraps using my cricut, they were super easy. (I know there is a cricut cartridge out that has a ton of theme-y wraps but mine came from Cindy Loo I believe, and I just “hid” all the interior cuts using my gypsy.) A small hole punch into each of the scallops and they were done.To make the toppers I used a scallop punch, lollipop sticks and Parisian themed circles.

Ready for some party pics? I didn’t get a ton of good ones unfortunately, and looking back I really wished that I had taken the time to photograph each girl with her poodle!

There was a dance party…stuffing everywhere!yummy cupcakespink poodle lovesnuggles with BOTH her grandmasand really, what’s a house full of girls (sorry daddy + pop-pop) without a little “hair admiration” We ended her birthday with our tradition of measuring + marking her growth chart.

That was a long one! Thanks for sticking in:)

Next post will be short I promise…I have been working on a couple little things, one of them being a ridiculously easy painted lamp makeover…which is about to be repainted for the THIRD  time. Grrrrr.

Linking up to these parties:

 

 

DIY jewelry boxes

I have two girls.
To say that my two girls are very girly girls might be the understatement of the century.
In our house we have a lot of pink, a lot of sparkles, (lots of drama!) and my hubby is definitely outnumbered.

If you have girls, then you will understand when I say that we also have a lot of “treasures“, super important things that need a special place to live.

This project is fairly easy, a great way to use up bits and pieces from your scrap bin (or a fab excuse to shop the pretty paper aisle if you don’t have a scrap bin;)

I started with a couple of plain wood jewelry boxes you can find in the unfinished wood section of Michaels.Gather your supplies. You are going to need the jewelry box, mod podge (of course!) bits of scrapbook paper, paint and any extra embellishments you wan to add.

I painted both boxes completely, including the insides of each drawer.

 I picked colors that worked for each of my girls. Chelsea’s room is yellow but she loves anything and everything pink. I also know that she would pick off any extra embellishments that I added, so I just skipped that step.Cut your paper to the size of each drawer front, and the top, back and sides of the box. Adhere using mod podge, make sure you smooth down the sides and corners really well.

To work around the knobs was a little tricky, I ended up using a hold punch a couple of times where the knob needed to be and cutting a slit up to the edge of the paper. Once you have it mod podge’d back together, it’s not very noticeable. You could also add gems around each knob if you really wanted to hide the seam.

I chose to ink all the edges, especially for Chelsea’s as it was going to be the only embellishment! I used a make up sponge and a stampin up! ink pad.Once the ink had a good amount of time to dry give it a couple of coats of mod podge.

At that point you can call it a day, or go ahead and add a few embellishments.Meghan’s edges were all inked, one drawer front got a sparkly purple “m” and there are some black gems (irock) added to a couple of the drawers.I also sanded down each papered edge before I inked them and added the final coats of mod podge. Just to make sure everything was nice and smooth, and firmly adhered.

I am super happy with the way they turned out, and both girls loved them! They are already full of all sorts of treasured things…

It’s been a super busy (but productive!!) week around here, I have a couple of client projects almost finished and on top of that my baby turns 4…

Linking up with: 

 

 

Project ADD…

Hello Stranger! It’s been a super loooong time since I have posted anything new, not because I haven’t been crazy busy but because nothing has actually gotten finished! LOL, I joke about having project ADD but here is what I have been up to for the last month…

painted the master bathroom (technically I painted it twice…)

painted the front hall closet (but didn’t build the shelf for the bottom)

painted the laundry room (but haven’t finished the cute sign for the empty wall)

finished the set of tile coasters for the family room (but haven’t gotten around to picking the actual wall color or placing the order for the fabric I found on etsy for the new pillows)

picked wall paper for the main floor half -bath (and then made a cute wall hanging out of it because we aren’t anywhere near being able to install the wallpaper in said bathroom)

 finished off and delivered 3 client projects (even took the pictures, just need to make sure they have all been gifted before I post any pics!)

prepped for my soon-to-be 4 year old’s birthday party, we are going with a “pink poodle in paris” theme and I have been up to my elbows in pink, ruffles and sparkles!

Anyway…you get the drift.

Today I am gonna show you one more nearly finished project.

Bet you didn’t see that coming.

Here is a before shot of our upstairs bathroom, it’s the main bathroom for both girls as well as the one pretty much everyone uses when they are over – it’s right next to our family room.That’s it. The whole room, did I mention it’s small? And the wall color was a bit more energetic than it looks in this picture. It may or may not have been compared to the Columbus blue jackets blue.

I wanted to have a brighter, lighter feel in there, and it definitely needed to be a whole lot more girly. I lucked out when I found the Amy Butler “bloom” shower curtain on clearance – but it looked awful with the current color. Enter, fabulous hubby! He even picked up a sample of the darkest color on the swatch for me while he was out. We went with Behr’s “ice-cube” (top color)On the walls the color is a bit more mint-y than I was picturing but once we added all our pretty stuff in, I really like it.The girls and I went shopping for new towels, and I told them they could choose…it’s bright, but I did say I wanted some pops of color!They picked a coral for their bath towels, and we agreed on the pale turquoise as face cloths/hand towels.

The white flower hooks were in the bathroom before, but were just plain white and I wanted to add a little extra to them. I painted around the edges with the darker sample pot that hubs brought home, and added a random dot border. Used a leftover bit of cricut vinyl to make the number stencils for 1 & 2. (**Chelsea – aka kid #2 really doesn’t understand why her hook has to have a “2″ on it, she would much prefer a “55″ it’s her  favourite number**)The coral is a bit more muted than the picture looks, it matches the shower curtain perfectly.I painted a 9×12 artist canvas with the same darker blue, and used more cricut vinyl to make a reverse stencil to paint out the “be-you-tiful”. The easel was left over from an ikea frame used on another project.I feel like it softens that corner a little bit and I want my girls to know that they are beautiful always!And here it is…almost finished! I still want to frame out the mirror with small white mosaic tiles, and I think a little floating shelf above their hooks would finish off that wall nicely. We need to replace the garbage can with something a little prettier (garbage cans should totally be pretty right?) and they need something to put their toothbrushes in.

Other than that, I feel like it’s pretty great. One day I might be brave enough to paint out the cabinet, and I did see a tutorial where someone used cricut vinyl to cover the nasty green diamonds on her linoleum floor too. Just sayin;)

What do you think? It has my girls’ stamp of approval (even the “2″ passed) so I am happy!

Next up? (besides finishing all my partly done projects – which I totally will do…one day)

I have a cute baby girl project on the go!

Linking up with:

 

 

 

 

 

Till next time,

just for fun!

I had the chance to spend almost an entire day in my office this week, and with the bonus of actually being caught up on some client orders for once I got to just hang out and play!

I had a sickie parked on the couch outside my office, so I knew whatever I wanted to make would have to consist only of whatever items I could pull from my ridiculously large completely normal sized stash;)

First project – I started with an unfinished wood tray

(oops, forgot to take a before!)

Gave it a couple of coats of dark chocolate-brown craft paint on the outside and a couple of coats of pure white on the inside. Since I didn’t really have an agenda or a finished product in mind, I just starting laying out some paper that I love, and came up with a Sweet Baby Girl layout. This tray holds a 5 x 7 photo.I added some extra sparkleand some sweet flowers with pink argyle brad centersSweet & simple!

Second project is another set of tumbled tile coasters. I made a couple of sets for myself and a girlfriend (here) and I can say with certainty that they hold up very well. Mine has been well used for a few weeks now, and show no signs of wear. Which makes me very happy because I have been chomping at the bit to make some more!

I made these the same way, using a fab paper from Theresa Collins that I have been dying to use. I love almost all of her lines, but this in particular has me written all over it!

LOL check out all those straight lines…Straight lines, graphic bits like the clock and all that delicious french script  – I am in all sorts of love with this paper!

Both of these are now available over on the Scrap Me Baby fb page.

I have a couple more projects on the go and, I am happy to report my sickie is feeling just fine again:)

Thanks for coming by!

Linking up with:

Think Pink Sundays @ Flamingo Toes

 

It may be time to say buh-bye… and a furniture mystery.

My garage is starting to look slightly frightening! I am sure the neighbours think we are either turning into hoarders or about to open a furniture shop:)

So, it might be time to let a few things go. (that noise you hear? it’s my hubby celebrating)

It turns out I may have a slight addiction to chairs…I currently have NINE, yep, 9 piled up in the garage. Let’s not talk about the 3 sitting inside the house. All are project chairs that I had/have fabulous plans for. But…not nearly enough time.

This bad boy I was talked into buying at a garage sale. Turns out, I have no idea how to make a slipcover!I think it has very cool, super low sleek lines. How awesome would it be with a retro print fabric!

And this sweet girl,

Ok, ignore the obviously bad photo, I was too lazy to drag everything outside into the snowstorm we are currently having (and let’s face it, the neighbours already think I’m crazy!) so I took pics in the garage.

I think this chair is fantastic, all those sweet curvy lines are just begging for a shabby chic redo. It even had the original caning (badly damaged) under a leather cover. I can totally imagine this chair done up in the pretty new Antoinette color by Annie Sloan – divine in a little girls room!Too bad someone used it as a stepladder while they painted.

And now for a little mystery. I have this cute vintage magazine table,Kind of in rough shape, but great lines and other than the two end pieces it is solid wood. I was thinking about painting it similar to the one I did for myself (here) or trying something using some cool vintage-y paper on the top and shelf. So I am in the garage, taking some pictures when I spy this…A flash of red, and I thought there was something stuck down inside, reach in – nothing. And it’s completely smooth, and other than when the flash caught it at the right angle I have never ever noticed it before! Its totally a manufacturer’s label right? I tried to get a closer shot, and realized it has been applied upside down. So here is as close a view as I can get, and flipped the picture around – Nuts! I still can’t make it out. I did try googling a bunch of times, and didn’t have any luck that way either. I would LOVE to know more about this. Hmmm, this one I have a harder time parting with, but they are all going up on my local kijiji. Maybe someone will have more time than I do and be able to rescue them!

Linking to:

Tips & Tutes Tuesday @ Home Stories A to Z 

Custom Tile Coasters

I finished another project this week, see – I told you I was a project finishing machine lately! Amazing what you can get accomplished with just a little more free time.Using tumbled tiles from Home Depot, my current fave line of scrapbook paper, mod podge, felt and sealant I created a custom set of coasters for our living room.Actually, I made 2 sets, using two different types of tile just to see how they hold up. One set has gone off to live with a sweet friend who has agreed to be my guinea pig!I want to make sure the sealant I used (6 coats) will hold up to a good amount of use, and that the felt backing is strong enough.As soon as I know I have the correct combination of materials then I have plans for another set for the upstairs family room. I will happily rid our house of the cardboard-bendy-paper-edge-splitty coasters we currently own!Actually, I have a whole plan for that upstairs family room…it’s the last room to be painted in our house and I cannot wait to be rid of the last bit of the awful peachy-beige flesh tone paint!

**On a completely unrelated note**

One of my very favourite blogs is Flamingo Toes, and every week she has a recap of her week and she shares some of the google searches that people use to somehow end up at her blog. A lot of really random weird stuff, and funny too.

Most of my searches are kind of basic “white frames” , and “gallery scrapbook wall” type of thing. But this week I got:

“what is the white wooden block with holes in it called in the unfinished wood section?“

Actually kind of made my day! Wish I had the answer, and now I feel the urge to cruise an unfinished wood section just to see if I can see what the heck they were talking about!

Linking up with:

Show & Tell Saturday @ Be Different, Act Normal 

 

Tips & Tutes Tuesday @ Home Stories A to Z 

 

Valentine Sign

I have a fun Valentine’s project to share with you today!

I started out with one idea and ended up going in a completely different direction. I had initially decided to make a sign using 1 Corinthians 13:4, snagged the perfect size piece of mdf from the scraps bin at my home depot (free, yay!) and painted it ASCP Emperor’s silk (red). Then I started to think about how many words were in the bible verses I had chosen, and got a little lazy intimidated. There was probably no way I was going to have the patience required to get them all looking perfectly straight and lined up nicely. Let’s be honest, patience is not a strong suit of mine.

Plan B, I enlisted the help of these little cuties…who were more than happy to have their hands rolled with white acrylic paint!

I used my not-very-secret trick and used cricut vinyl to make my own stencils, and painted on my quote.Gave the whole thing a night to dry, then came back and waxed and buffed it to a nice sheen. I wasn’t distressing it at all, so I didn’t have to worry about the bleeding issue that I ran into with this sign. (phew)

I used a wood heart that I picked up at Michael’s for $1, and painted it lightly with chocolate-brown craft paint. Papered the top, using mod podge (of course!) and lightly sanded the edges so it didn’t look perfect.

I added a couple of white ribbon rosettes on top and called it a day.Attached the heart to the sign with hot glue, and ta-da!I am completely in love with it! And, have decided it’s not just a valentine sign - it will be hung up in my office afterwards.

I also think this would make a fab gift! Maybe for Father’s Day, or for grandparents too.

For now, it has a place of honor on the mantle.(ignore the door in the reflection, I haven’t figured out a good way to shoot this corner mantle.)

We don’t do a ton of decorating for V-day, but I do add a few things like this chalkboard sign made from a vintage silver trayThe cute printable I found last yearand a couple of things on the kitchen table.Don’t you think that cute pink pitcher is crying out for some flowers? (hint, hint, to my favourite handsome hubby!)

That’s the extent of our valentine decor, but I will make a “pink” breakfast for the girls, and my fab hubby always cooks something super delish for dinner. 

I have been on a roll lately, a project finishing machine! So hopefully I will have more for you to see later this week.

I will be linking up with:

diy jewelry storage

First – can I tell you how excited I am to FINALLY share this? I am, and if you could see me doing my happy dance you would a)laugh, b)beg me to stop and c)(hopefully) love it just a smidge!

Our master bedroom has been a work in progress for a long time now. We (and by we, I do mean the hubby) got it painted the week before Christmas and I am seriously in love. The hubby is pretty great too;)

One of my too numerous to count  the projects on my list was to make some jewelry storage. We have a little walk in closet, but having my jewelry in there meant it was mostly out of sight, and hardly ever worn. I know you have all seen the cute diy framed/chicken wired/pretty fabric jewelry displays floating all over pinterest. (and if you haven’t, you are seriously missing out on some cuteness) but chicken wire is not really my style, so I came up with another plan.

Without further ado…

Here is what I started with -I also used a couple of garage sale frames, and just made sure that all of the frame styles were similar (ornate but closed, if that makes sense?)

The cork boards required some dismantling, I removed the paper backing, and pulled out a billion staples, and used a fingertip knife to loosen the glue.With the insides removed I sprayed all the frames with a high gloss white.

This next picture is more of a what NOT to do!I wanted the insides to be a bit fuller, so I used a thin layer of batting over top, and wrapped it around the sides. Then I did the same with some nice white linen-y fabric. The what not to do comes here, if you wrap your batting around the edges your frames will not sit anywhere close to the wall. Duh.

So I had to go back and trim the batting down to just slightly smaller than the cork, wrap the white fabric tightly around the edges and tape firmly in place. I used masking tape, because I knew I was going to cover the backs still.

I used either the original backs, (if I had them) or recycled cardboard (when I didn’t), and a staple gun to add a bit more stability as well as a nice clean back to each frame.

Made paper templates for each frame,and started playing around with the arrangement. I had a friend come help, for another set of hands as well as another pair of eyes.

I have an amazing tool for hanging. It’s called – ready for this? The “Hang & Level”

I found it at my home depot and was told it is an Alberta designer’s invention. It’s pretty great, and I am happy to report there is not one single extra hole in my wall. That’s pretty rare for me!!

In amongst my jewelry stash I found this brooch that used to belong to my grandmother. It’s not a valuable piece, in fact my grandma could never resist a garage sale or a bargain! I haven’t worn in much, but I do think it’s pretty, and I love the pop of gold against the wall color.All ready for jewelry…I wanted to reuse what I had on hand, so I took the pale yellow push pins that came with the cork boards (did you notice them in the first photo?) and sprayed them with Valspar’s Bumble Bee yellow. I liked the yellow, and it’s one of the colors we are using as an accent in our room, but combined with the necklaces they were a little too busy looking, so they got a couple of coats of the high gloss white.I knew that I would need for them to have a little extra length, in order for the necklaces to hang properly. I snipped off their “pokey bits” and hot glued them onto regular white push pins.They work perfectly!I wanted to add the mirror because when I am trying to choose earrings I end up running in and out of the bathroombut I didn’t expect to end up loving it quite as much as I do. It’s at the perfect height for me, and helps to break up all the white.I love having my jewelry out, and hopefully seeing it means I end up wearing it more often.

I also added this to my dresserand this to my hubby’sVintage silver trays that I stole rescued from my mom’s garage. They used to belong to my great-grandmother, and were among very few items to have survived a house fire.

See mom?? I don’t paint everything!

I still have a bunch more projects to do before the room is “done” including a closet makeover of sorts, painting the bathroom, new bedside lamps, a cushion for the window seat and some art. But, I truly love it already, and it feels refresh-ed!! Is it weird that I find reasons to walk into the room throughout the day to look at it? Or that it makes me smile every time? No? Good. 

Linking up with:

 

 

 

 

Power of Paint party @ Domestically Speaking

A word for the year.

That seems to be the big topic right now in blog land. Picking one word that will guide/influence how you choose to spend your year.

 I have already read a bunch of really fantastic posts, starting with Beth over at Home Stories A to Z who chose “bubbles” as her word (totally makes sense when you read it, go check it out if you haven’t already!), Layla (who is hosting a linky party for your word posts) from the Lettered Cottage whose word is “up” and Marian at Miss Mustard Seed who is choosing to “celebrate” this year.

Just to name a few of my faves;)

So I started thinking about a word. About a focus for the next year, and I thought, and thought. And didn’t really come up with anything earth shattering or illuminating.

That’s it.

 Truth be told, I am struggling with a few things lately, none of the decisions are life changing, but enough to make me feel a little lost.

I feel like I have a need to be refreshed, and so I am going to concentrate on that. In my life in general, in my relationships with my amazing husband and my two fantastic girlies in particular, in my home, in my spiritual life, in my role as a friend, in the goals I have chosen/need to choose, the list goes on.

Like I said, not exactly earth shattering is it? And while I think we probably all feel a little like we need/want to be refreshed at the beginning of a new year, for me it’s necessary. A fresh, clean blank slate on which to start over! I like the way that sounds, I like the way that feels.

So, I guess that means my word for 2012 is Refresh!

I already have a few plans, but nothing is set in stone and that is ok for now.

I am still going to blog, although I have no idea how often, and I would love to “refresh” the look of Scrap Me Baby. A new logo and a better blog layout is on my wish list… 

I still want to do “projects” but they will be the ones I want to do, and I definitely want to work more on my home!

I want to spend more time doing the fun stuff with my girls, while they still want me to do it with them!

I want to date my hubby again, he rocks and I am so amazed that I get to have him in my life forever.

Huh. I think it’s gonna be a good year!

How about you? Do you have a word for the year?

I would love to hear it:)

 

Linking up with: