RED SEQUIN HIGH HEEL CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS

Very Christmas-y, right?  Red body with white and silver tinsel boa, silver font. 

RUSTIC WEATHERED PICTURE FRAME TUTORIAL (easy) BARNWOOD STYLE

This tutorial is so easy and looks so nice!!!  I saw these picture frames at high end stores and they cost a lot of money.  So I experimented...and it worked.  

[click on any picture to enlarge for more detail]

 WHAT YOU NEED:

picture frame (my frame is from Michaels $1)

black acrylic paint

color acrylic paint (depending on the look you are going for)

GUESS what color I prefer;-) (hint: mint)

paper towel

brush

PROCESS:

1.  smudge black acrylic paint on the frame.  I used a paper towel

and saturated it with the paint.  Just smear it on doesn't matter 

what pattern- it won't show.  Make sure you smear some on the sides.

 2.  wait till it dries!!!!!!!  Important step!  I did one where I didn't

wait and it ended up not so nice!  So wait;-)

3.  Open your choice of acrylic color.  I did several colors.  Well...of course...mint is 

my very favorite one!  I think it looks best with the weathered, barnwood look!

Put streaks of paint (not too much) on the frame and with your dry brush 

start painting over the black.  Sort of as if you wanted to cover it, but don't do a good

job covering it;-)  Let the edges be barely covered.

4.  Don't forget to cover the sides (if you want you can do the back as well.

Makes it more finished.

Here it is in soft yellow:

and off white:

and turquoise:

[see how my sides are also covered]

and MINT:

It is so easy you can have it as a project with your small kids.  They can smear the black paint on 

the picture frame;-)

Here are the 4 colors I made this in next to each other:

 

This barnwood style, rustic weathered picture frame tutorial is fun!  I ended up wanting to "weather" all our picture frames with mint;-))

Enjoy!

ACORN BALL ART

 YOU NEED:

acorns

styrofoam ball

paint

hot glue gun

lots of hot glue sticks

PROCESS:

1.  collect a lot of acorns

2. wash them and let them dry

3. put them in the oven on low (250) for 15-20 minutes.

this kills all the critters/eggs in it.  Watch it in the 

oven (don't let them "pop".  let them cool.

4.  paint the styrofoam ball either brown or red or any

color that hides the ball.  You will not be able to

cover every tiny spot on the ball so this darker color

will blend in with the acorns

5.  start hot gluing them on the ball (NOTICE on my pictures that

I originally wanted to make this into a HANGING BALL/ acorn pomander ball

(hence the red ribbon I first glued on) BUT these end up

really HEAVY when done (which I realized mid project and 

removed the ribbon).  

6.  cover every spot on the ball.  You are done!  Enjoy!

  P.S.: You could paint/spray paint this any color you want if you want it to

match your home decor, but I liked it all natural the best!

Here are some pictures of the project:

acorns after coming out of the oven

acorns close up.  see some of them did pop open a bit on the bottom

some did more and you just toss them.

don't be confused by my ribbon.  I wanted to make this into an acorn pomander ball

but it was too heavy, so I removed the ribbon before I finished.  (sorry it ended up on all the pics;-(

at this point you will notice it getting heavy!!!

and...you are done! (see how the red styrofoam shows through?  I suggest you paint yours brown

to match the acorns better.  (btw it is not as obvious in real life.  here I used flash and you

can see it much more than when it's on my shelf;-)

Enjoy!

INSPIRATION-- OUTFITS I HAVE LOVED OVER THE YEARS

I took these as screen shots years ago.  I love them all!  Funny how I still love these...some I took many years ago.  (look for the Kate Hudson black boho top...stil my favorite and I took that screen shot several years ago)

anthropologie outfit

short tunic dress under cropped tshirt

carrie bradshaw...always fabulous!  love this simple outfit!!!

ISN'T NATURE STUNNING?!

This is what happens when you let Nature do her job;-)  I bought these plants and planted them in one big pot (they were SMALL!!! with lots of space between them) and then sort of forgot about it.  What I looked at it a year later or so (yeah, I am really good to my plants aren't I) I was AMAZED!  Stunning!

Well...I live in So-Cal so weather permits me leaving my plants outdoors all year.

REUSED OLD CANVAS PAINTING INTO NEW MODERN WALL ART

[click on any picture to see it enlarged for more detail]

I love myself some nice deep red color.  Home is very very important to me.
I wanted to make a wall art by combining these two.

MATERIALS:
old canvas painting
hot glue (for added texture)
stencils (you can make them)
pencil
hard angled small brush (to be precise around the letters)
bigger brush (on open areas)
off white acrylic pain
red acrylic paint (or any other color of your choice)


PROCESS:

1.  I got a canvas painting from my neighbor (thanks Billy) with an Asian 

inspired boat on a lake.  (you can buy one in a thrift store or at

a garage sale to help landfill.  If all fails...buy a blank canvas.

2.  I painted over the design with off white acrylic paint.

3.  The original design had a texture to it which I thought was cool 

so I added some more texture by dripping, streaking hot glue on it then I 

painted it over with off white. You can see this texture up close.

4.  I designed the word home in power point just because my word 

document did not allow me to print it out as big as I wanted.

5.  I printed out the word (each letter took up a whole sheet of 8 1/2 x 11) 

and cut it out (yes, by hand)

6.  I drew a straight line on the canvas where I wanted the bottom of the letters

 to line up and then lined up the letters as I wanted them to look.

 7.  I traced the letters with a pencil.  I knew I was going to paint over it so it 

was OK to use regular pencil.

8.  I started painting it red.  I went around the letter with a small hard brush 

to define the edges which took some time, but I was free once I got far 

away enough from my letters.

9.  And just keep painting, just keep painting...;-)  I did about 3 coats.  

Wait till it fully dries between new coats.  And here it is:

 

 

Do NOT worry about small imperfections.  They add character.  Mine has slight color differences some due to the texture but I love it!

HINT:  feel free to cheat the fully handmade process and save yourself a ton of time by cutting out the letters with your cutting machine (cricut, silhouette or Sizzix or whichever you have) on VINYL.  That way you can stick the vinyl on the painting and paint over it.  MAKE SURE your base coat is fully dry before you stick vinyl on it (otherwise it will come off)

To me it is a bit therapeutic to have to slow down and fully invest myself into that moment and focus (on not smearing the paint into the white space);-)

I will take a picture of it on my wall and post it later!

Have fun making it!

SEQUIN CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS

I wanted to continue with the traditional (non high heel) Christmas stockings.  This bring such a sweet sparkle to any mantle at Christmas.

                                                                     available HERE

Just s you see how this sweetie looks on a mantle:

 These are available in these colors (maybe more to follow;-).

These colors are amazing in real life!  The below picture captures this as much as possible on a photograph.

You can visit my store and put one on your mantle;-)

click here to to to my shop

GOLD ECO SEQUIN HIGH HEEL CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS

This one I made upon a sweet request of combining gold with pink;-)

Gold is so great for Christmas!

The cuff and lining of these Christmas stockings is made with eco materials.  Recycled polyester was used to add element that helps the Earth;-)  Your plastic bottles are now the lining in your Christmas stockings, lol!

inspiration- my very own "stone age" pinterest;-)

Many many years ago I started collecting images and cut outs of magazines that gave me any sort of inspiration.  These were mostly cloths and hairstyles.  I collected them in a thick yellow notebook.

My husband was always joking that he needed to replace my yellow book with a nice brand new one where I can continue my style inspirations...but I could not let go of my beloved book.  It had been with me for over 10 years by then!!!  (I wish I had a picture of my sweet book, it was like a dear friend to me)  Then when there were no more blank pages in it I had to move on.  Moving on is always hard;-)

I now have two large ring binders full of collages.  It has been my own Pinterest.  My kids can't figure out why I find so much joy cutting magazines to pieces and putting them in my book.  They think it is the weirdest habit and seems boring to them.

Again a very long time ago I started doing the same thing digitally (my very own digital Pinterest).  I have thousands!!! of pictures of craft inspirations, pictures of cloths, jewelry, hair styles and home decoration. I take screen shots of images, colors, color combos...anything that I "can't live without" or strikes a chord in my heart and organize them in folders.

I will feature many of them here.  I will also import them all (ok, maybe just the BEST ones, since I have thousands) into my Pinterest page.

Hoping you will too find some inspiration with these!

Here are just a few examples of my dream style:

[PLEASE NOTE: I love love giving credit to people.  I collected these for my own inspiration.  Some of them a very long time ago and I did not record the source.  If any of these amazing creations are your very own, please let me know and I will give you the appropriate credit for it!  And in the meantime...THANK YOU for inspiring me!!!]

Outfits:

This has the same Free People sequin top (as the bottom layer) as I have and this is such a cute way to display it.   If I could afford I would dress in all Free People cloths!!!

This is so simple and I LOVE LOVE lace!  I want to make this!  I will feature this in the DIY section when I do.  I will put a link here so you can follow.

This is one of my all time favorites from Free People.  I first clipped this picture years ago from a source and put it in my sweet yellow book.  At that time I didn't know it was free people, but then years later I found it.  Daaah.  Totally free people.  I clipped this picture for the sweet detail on the tank part.  Love it!

I promise NOT ALL my inspiration comes from free people.  This one does;-) lol  I took a screen shot of this because I bought some yellow sweatshirt fabric and I was wondering what style of sweatshirt I should make...and I just couldn't resist falling in love with this!

introducing the DIVA high heel Christmas stockings

[DIVA- gold and red with high heels, GLAMOUR- pink]

I have been working so hard on making these available on my web site!  (on my web site that did not even exist an hour ago)  I am so excited that I finally got to a point to put up pictures and share with you how I ended up making these high heel Christmas stockings.

First, I started out with making the regular boot shaped Christmas stockings with sequin fabric (you can see it in the middle, the pink one with the name Carol on it).  My amazing friend asked me to make one for her sweet daughter last year (2011).  So I did and she really liked it.  At that point I knew I wanted to make it available to other little girls because what little princess does not like sequins? lol  I am calling these GLAMOUR Christmas stockings because they do add glitz and sparkle to ordinary stockings.  They look amazing even in a dim lit room because they reflect the smallest bit of light and sparkle so nicely.

Then I immediately thought that I wanted to make these in a way that big girls (that's us, mommies;-) would like it.  That's when the idea of high heels came to me.  I have never seen a high heel Christmas stocking anywhere and thought that coupled with the sequin fabric it would be just perfect.  A high heel, stiletto, sequin personalized Christmas stocking! Wow!

I had this idea last year at Christmas (2011) time so it was too late for me to start making these.  Yes...it did take me almost a year to finally make a web site to showcase them...but I did it!!!