Smashed Peas and Carrots

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Glittered Chalkboard Ornament Tag Tutorial

I am in love with all things glittery and gold these days, seriously In. Love. So it seemed fitting to make these fun Glittered Chalkboard Ornaments (that also double as a fun gift tag!) for Jo-Ann's new #fabulouslyfestive campaign. 

I was asked, along with some other lovely bloggers, to create something fabulous and festive for the holidays and, well, this sums up those two words so perfectly in my eyes :-) 

These are so simple to make and have such a wow factor. Plus with the chalkboard component there are endless possibilities to what you can use them for...write a name, a Christmas phrase, or draw a design, you name it!

Glittered Chalkboard Ornament Tags

Unfinished wood ornaments (found at Joanns)
Chalkboard paint
Paintbrush
Mod Podge
Glitter
Twine
Yarn needle

I found these unfinished wood ornaments in the holiday aisle at Jo-Anns. These are great because they have a raised edge around the star which is perfect for glittering up!

You will need some chalkboard paint, mod podge, glitter of your choice and a paintbrush to do this project.

The first thing you want to do is paint the inside of the ornament with the chalkboard paint. You do not need to be perfect with the paint as the edges will be glittered so any messes you do make will get covered. Follow the directions on your bottle of paint, mine stated that it needed two coats and then it needed to cure for 24 hours.

Once 24 hours has passed, take a piece of chalk and rub it all over the chalkboard paint to prep it for writing.

Then, paint on a layer of mod podge on the raised edges of your ornaments (not the entire ornament!), heavily sprinkle your glitter over top and tap off, and let dry for about 20 minutes. Once dry, add another layer of mod podge over the glitter (again, on the raised edges not the entire ornament!) to seal it so it does not flake off.

And then grab your chalk or a chalk paint pen and decorate as you like!


Ahhh...glittery gold goodness!!! I 'm feeling good about that :-)

For more inspiration in your holiday crafting, visit the Joann's craft catalog here.

And be sure to use the coupon below to get a jump on your craft shopping too!

Thanks for stopping by today!

XOXO,

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Wednesday, December 4, 2013

TUTORIAL: Paper Rosette Gift Name Tags

I was asked by Joann's to be a part of their Papercrafted Christmas campaign that they are co-hosting with Die Cuts With a View (DCWV).  Me and 11 other bloggers are sharing some fun ideas on how to craft with DCWV scrapbook paper and embellishments this month. How fun!

With Christmas literally weeks away, and the fact that I have gift wrapping on the brain, I thought I would use DCWV's scrapbook paper to make some vintage-inspired Paper Rosette Gift Name Tags. I am always in search of fun ways to label gifts and these make my heart sing, so pretty and so easy to make...perfect for the holidays and more!

Here's what you'll need to make your own:

Paper Rosette Gift Name Tags

Scissors
DCWV Christmas & Winter Embellishments (optional)
3.5 inch paper doilies
Hot glue

For these rosettes I used the DCWV Christmas & Winter Paper Stack. I found this paper was the perfect weight to make a small sized rosette. You can find this paper stack and a whole lot more from DCWV at Joann's here.

To make the rosettes...
1. Cut a 12 x 12 inch piece of scrapbook paper down to 3 x 12 inches. Starting on the short end, fold the paper back and forth in 1/4 inch increments.
2. Continue to fold the paper like an accordion until the end of the paper.
3. Press the accordion of paper in half and hot glue the ends that meet together.
4. Fan out the rosette and hot glue the other two ends together as well.
Hot glue the rosette onto a paper doily.

The Christmas & Winter Paper Stack also comes with a few pages that include small colored flags and other fun paper tags. I cut the flags out and wrote names onto them.

I also used a scallop paper punch to embellish the name tags a bit more.

You could even embellish the name tags with the coordinating DCWV Christmas & Winter adhesive embellishments, the pack comes with a big variety of pretty choices!

When your Paper Rosette Gift Name Tags are done they should look like this...so cute, right!

Such a perfect addition to your holiday gift wrapping this season!

And here's a coupon from Joann's so you can save when you buy your supplies to make these or an other fabulous project you might have in mind for the holidays: Click Here for Coupon!

 XOXO,

*This post is brought to you by Joann's but all opinions and ideas are 100% my very own :-)

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Monday, December 2, 2013

TUTORIAL: Toilet Paper Tube Advent Calendar

This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group™ and Cottonelle, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #CottonelleHoliday  http://cmp.ly/3/8vNxcO.

Can you believe it is December already? That means only 4 weeks until Christmas!!! Well, 23 days to be exact, whoa momma!

With holiday parties and cookie exchanges coming up on the calendar, the last thing I want is to be stuck in my bathrooms always having to change the dang toilet paper! Hello, I have more important things to do like bake up some yummy goodies, set a festive table, and actually enjoy my holiday parties this year. Thank goodness for the Cottonelle Triple Roll pack I found at Target, triple the toilet paper on one roll means less trips to restock the bathroom for me!

And when you do finally get an empty roll, how about a fun holiday idea to make having to change that roll a little bit easier?

I saved our leftover toilet paper tubes and created a super fun Advent Calendar for my littles! It was so easy to do and the best part is that you already have the toilet paper rolls so that project material is free! This time of year you can even get scrapbook paper at most craft stores for 6 sheets for a dollar so this is one inexpensive project AND a whole month of fun for the kiddos!


Toilet Paper Tube Advent Calendar

25 toilet paper tubes
a variety of scrapbook paper
glue stick
scissors
twine
number stamps and ink or number stickers (1-25)
glue dots
white foam board
old picture frame

The first thing you need to do is cut your scrapbook paper to size, I cut mine 4.25 x 6.75 inches which gives you a bit of overlap for the edges when you wrap.

Then just glue the paper around each tube.

Once it is dry, mine seriously took like 30 seconds to dry, you just push the ends in slightly to form a pillow box...easy peasy!

But don't forget, before you close up you newly made pillow box you will want to add your advent calendar gift! This can be anything small like a toy, a piece of candy or gum, or even a piece of paper with an experience for the day like these here. For this advent calendar I decided to put little figurines inside that, in the end, would create a wintery Christmas scene.

This is what the finished product of this Advent calendar will look like!

Each day there will be a little something to set up...a sled, a wrapped package, maybe even a few letters :-)

A deer, or two, or three...or a snowman.

Even a teddy bear!

Once the tubes were filled and closed, I wrapped each in some twine and hung a little number stamped circular tag to each for each day in December leading up to Christmas.

I had an old frame I found this summer at a garage sale for $1 that fit a piece of white foam board perfectly and I just used glue dots to place the tubes onto the board.  They are pretty lightweight so it only took two glue dots per filled toilet paper tube to hang.

And there you have it! An easy, inexpensive, and really pretty Advent Calendar using toilet paper tubes!!! 

If you want to make this fun project or maybe you just need to stock up on some toilet paper for all your holiday parties, CLICK HERE for a "Buy Cottonelle Triple Roll 12 pack or larger and get a FREE box of Kleenex" coupon while supplies last and head over to Target to redeem this great deal! 

XOXO, 



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Saturday, November 16, 2013

Michaels Pinterest Party #MPinterestParty

Have you ever been to or hosted a Pinterest party? 

If you don't know, a Pinterest party is where you get together with some friends and spend an evening crafting up a few ideas that you've pinned from Pinterest? (follow my boards here if you'd like!) Well, I have always wanted to do one and when Michaels asked me to host my very own Pinterest Party I was like sign me up. How fun would that be! I love any chance to get together with girlfriends for some kid-free time!

Michaels sent me some really fun red and white decor (Pinterest logo colors) to get the party started...cups, napkins, balloons, etc. And I juuuuust happened to have some red and white fabric leftover from Oliver's Circus Party which perfectly matched the Pinterest logo colors, score! 

Since the party supplies they sent were red and white, how fun would it be fun to theme out the food too. How about some red velvet cupcakes, red velvet cookies, and red licorice in mason jars with white ribbons :-) 

For project ideas I turned to my Pinterest boards of course! I wanted to do projects that any guest could enjoy doing and that would be easy enough to get done in a few hours time. I also wanted the projects to be for any skill level...so they would look great at the most basic level or amped up with all sorts of creativity.

The main project for the party was to make Burlap Pennant Banners.  I love that I was able to find laminated burlap rolls at Michaels in two colors, natural and cream. Did you know that Michaels carried burlap?

I also bought an assortment of stencils, paint, and paint brushes...

And a variety of pretty ribbon choices to hang the banners.

A second project idea for the party was to make cute ruffle-y burlap Christmas trees using cardboard tree forms, burlap, and hot glue.

And I also thought a super easy quick project would be to make glittered clothespins...I just love these things! They are so awesome for gift tags, advent calendars, showcasing Christmas cards, etc. Love. Love. Love.


I hope these ideas inspire you to host your own Pinterest party! It's the perfect time of year to throw one, you can get a bunch of holiday decor made all in one night or how about some of those handmade gift ideas you have been thinking about doing?

Thank you to Michaels for all the inspiration too...I just love wandering those aisles!!

 And here's a few tidbits of info from Michaels...
·         Michaels offers customizable party supplies like cups, napkins and balloons available online to personalize your event
·         Follow the hashtag #MPinterestParty to see how others are making their pins a reality
·         The Michaels Décor Guide has tons of ideas and projects to make spreading the holiday cheer throughout your house easy. Navigate through the online versiondownload a copy, or pick up one at your local Michaels!


Thanks for stopping by today!

 XOXO,

*Michaels provided a gift card for my party. All opinions are 100% my own.

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