Saturday, January 17, 2015

Burlap "HOME" banner

Hidy-Ho, blog readers!
As promised, I have something to share with you that I have had in the back of my head for quite some time. Hey, the back of my head is jam packed with wonderful ideas; unfortunately, the majority never make it to fruition. Thankfully, this one DID! And I can honestly say, I LOVE IT!
Such a simple little project but really adds a touch of pizzazz and "hominess" I think.
Of course, this isn't an original idea as I've seen tons of variations all over Pinterest,  Really though, is there such a thing as "original" anymore?
Anyway, on to the banner making process!
I didn't need to purchase anything for this project which is always a good thing!

I used:
Burlap that was given to me
cardstock to add weight and stability
Mod Podge
EK Success small retro flower punch
3/8 black eyelets
jute
Making Memories Foam Stamps
black acrylic paint
black mini brads for flower centers
Glue Dots for attaching the flowers to the pennants

The first thing I did was to use my Cricut Expression to cut out my triangular pennant shapes to the size I wanted. Once the  cardstock shapes were cut out, I used mod podge and coated each piece generously before adhering it to the burlap and smoothing it out to dry. I'm sure that particular step could be skipped but I wanted to add weight to my banner to aid in not curling and holding its shape well and I think adding the cardstock worked well.

I let it dry completely before cutting the shapes from the burlap. I left an edge around the entire shape rather than trying to cut flush with the cardstock.
Once that was done, I used the acrylic paint and foam stamps to stamp the letters to form the word "home" onto the individual pieces.
I also used my We R Memory Keepers crop-o-dile to punch holes for the eyelets I wanted to use. And again, you could probably skip this step if you had another way of stringing your banner together.

Add some flowers or whatever other embellishment you prefer and VOILA!

I seriously love my little burlap banner!


And here is the finished burlap banner in its new permanent (for now LOL) spot!
That's all I have to share today but keep checking back because you just never know what I might come up with next!
Thanks for stopping by!

Rhonda

Friday, January 16, 2015

Photo Canvas

Hi! I have been a little scarce recently but I'm still here and still crafting! I shared with you already one of the canvases I made for the girls for Christmas and now I want to show you the last two that I just finished. I really can't express to you how much I enjoy taking the paint and paintbrush and just creating ART! Seriously, I am no artist but when I'm painting these canvases, I feel like an artist LOL.
Neither of these could be considered my best creations but I enjoyed doing them and hopefully, the girls enjoy displaying them.

Once all the paint was dry I added any stamps and wording along with the photo and covered with Mod Podge. I actually added a thin layer of Mod Podge before placing the photo just so that it would have something to adhere to. THEN I covered the entire canvas with a couple layers of Mod Podge.
After they were completely dry, I added the flowers and bling :)
If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to give me a yell!

This one was created using several colors of acrylic paint. Once
the paint was dry I used some gold Perfect Pearls and lightly went
over it just to give a hint of shine. I also used some Paris
themed stamps I'd had in my stash for forever. 
Lots of acrylic paint here as well. The blue and white flowers
I made using coffee filters and my EK success retro punches.
The leaves are from Wild Orchid Crafts and the other flowers
are some of the original Prima flowers that I have tons of.

Don't you just LOVE those blue and white coffee filter flowers? I love
making flowers...it's a thrill to me to take something like a regular coffee filter and turn it into something beautiful!

I'll leave you with that for now but be sure you check back soon because I have another project in the works even as I type this :) And you'll just have to come back to see what it is!

Thanks for coming by and I hope to see you again soon!

Rhonda

Monday, January 5, 2015

Happy New Year

Happy New Year from all of us at the Tralace to all of you! I wish you all love, peace and prosperity for 2015!

I rang in the new year snuggled up to my grandson and although there was precious little sleep that night, I truly wouldn't trade the bonding for anything in the world. He has moments where you think he's literally going to sprout horns from the top of his head, but then he will look at you with the sweetest smile and all thoughts of devils and horns magically disappears.

I have decided not to make new year's resolutions this year, but instead, to have goals I'd like to achieve.
1. I'd like to get my home more organized and decluttered
    (is that on everyone's list this year???)
2. Continue to be happy and content
3. Continue to work on accepting people as they are and not how I wish they
     were
4. I want to do better this year at letting the people I love know that I love them
5. Keep on crafting and get more scrapbooking done this year...it is the
    scrapbooks which will always be my legacy to my children

Last week, I took a trip to Hobby Lobby (one of, if not my MOST favorite store) because I had gift cards from Christmas that I just needed to use. And one of the things I saw that I knew I wasn't leaving without was this wooden sign. It doesn't have a perfect spot in my living room but I absolutely fell in love with it and it touched my soul.


And it doesn't get much truer than that, friends! This life we have IS amazing.
Let's live 2015 with love, friendship and thankfulness. Let's all strive to DO more and BE more than ever before. Let's LOVE MORE. 
I hope, that as you're all living and creating your amazing lives, that you follow along with me as I do the same. 

Thanks for stopping by and for the faithful followers I have acquired over the past year, THANK YOU! 

Rhonda