Tuesday, October 18, 2011

How to make a Convertible Halloween Wreath

and Connect with your Kid.
Step 1. Turn off the Television.
         Nothing kills a kid's concentration, or a joint creative project, like a television blaring in the background. There isn't a show on television more important or interesting than your kid, just turn it off.
Step 2. Gather your Supplies.
         14" Styrofoam Wreath Form
         A couple of yards of orange Burlap
         Mod Podge (outdoor)
         Hot Glue Gun
         Hot Glue Gun Helpers (if you don't have these tools use a bit of tin foil and the erasure side of a pencil)
         heavy duty cardboard - thick cereal box works well
         T-pins
         Crop-o-dile or other hole punch
         Pencil
         Silk Flowers (we found inexpensive black roses with silver glitter on them at Micheal's)
         Silhouette (or a pair of scissors and some alpha stickers)
         Adhesive
         Twine or ribbon
         Picture hanging 

Step 3. Cover the Wreath Form.
         We got burlap because ribbon, even on sale, was a bit too expensive. We cut it into 2" strips and wrapped it around the form. We added a bit of Mod Podge Outdoor to the form every few inches to adhere the burlap. The ends were pinned down with T-pins while the Mod Podge was drying.


Step 4. Create a Floral Addition
         I didn't want to have to make a whole new wreath for Thanksgiving. I wanted to be able to switch out the Halloween decorations for a fall/Thanksgiving feeling fairly easily so we made a floral addition.
         We traced a portion of the wreath on a piece of sturdy cardboard and cut it out. Then pushed T-pins through the cardboard at the ends. We used the smaller end of the Crop-o-dile to punch holes in the cardboard, cut the roses off the wire. We put a glob of hot glue around the holes and put the rose's stem through the holes. We turned the cardboard over, bent the stem down to the cardboard and adhered with more hot glue.
         While using the hot glue we discovered a great way to make spider webbing.

Step 4a. Make Spider Webbing

Step 5. Make Banner
         I let my son chose the words and font for the banner. He chose "BOO!" "EEK!" for the words and we cut the letters, face and banner pieces out of long-retired Stampin' Up patterned paper with the Silhouette. If you don't have a Silhouette or Cricut you can cut out the banner pieces with scissors and use alpha stickers for the lettering. We used regular glue on the paper and googly eyes
         Put a T-pin in the back of the form but don't push it in all the way. Wind the twine around the post of the pin a few times then push the pin into the form pinching the twine between the form and the top of the T-pin. Pull the twine across the front of the wreath where you want the banner to be and repeat the T-pin winding process on the back of the wreath.  Repeat as many times and you like keeping in mind the size of your banner pieces.
          We used hot glue on the banner pieces but any adhesive will work.



Step 6. Adhere Floral add on
         Push the pins on the back of the floral add on after your banner has been placed on the wreath.

Step 7. Get ready to hang
         We adhered a sawtooth picture hanger to the back of the wreath by pushing T-pins into the holes on the hanger. Makes it easy to move the hanger if it's poorly positioned too.

Step 8. Hang and admire
         I don't really have to explain this step do I?

After Halloween we will take the Halloween banner and flower add on off and add Thanksgiving decorations to the wreath.

Supplies


 Happy Crafting,

Friday, October 7, 2011

"Painting" with Copics

The Rock Star Rosie Benefit was a great success and Katemade Designs was one of the most successful vendors. There were about 500 in attendance between visitors and volunteers.

I have been trying to update the website but my computer is not liking Dreamweaver or Flash for the last few days, crashing before pages can even be opened let alone changed. I couldn't sleep last night and tried again when I got up at 3:30. When the programs refused to open again I turned to creating without pixels. 

I pulled out a canvas board and a paint pen and started drawing. I only have a few paint pens, a think black, a white and 2 shades of green, but I wanted to use other colors for the leaves and didn't want to clean the desk and dig out the regular paints so I tried ink as a watercolor wash. It barely colored the board. You can see the pale purple in the bottom center. I then turned to Copics to paint the leaves and WOW. 
 
Copics reacted with the paint from the pen and allowed for some really nice shading. When coloring on cardstock it's best to make small circles, which is how I would use crayons, to maintain a wet line and consistent color. Last night I used the brush tip more like a brush on the canvas board than I do when I am coloring on cardstock. I really liked the process and am pretty happy with the results too. My son asked if he could HAVE the art work for his room.

So what do you think? 
Have you ever used Copics on canvas?  Have you ever used Copics markers like they were paintbrushes?

 
The particulars
Paper: Canvas board
Colorant: Paint pens and Copics

Happy Crafting,

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Rock Star Rosie Benefit countdown 2 days




The last several months I have been working on a benefit for a special little girl with brain cancer. We met Rosie last year when she and my son were preparing for their first communions. Rosie and her family have been raising funds for cancer research and Children's Memorial Hospital for years and now it is their turn.

In two days the Rock Star Rosie Benefit will be underway. I'm looking forward to the massage, the cake walk, the minute to win it games and the raffles. Oh my goodness there are some awesome baskets ready for silent auction and raffles. Last count there were over 180 and still more to wrap. Baskets include weekends in Chicago, golf outings, wine tasting parties, spa packages, fine jewelry, sports memorabilia, and lots more.

I will be there selling Katemade Designs with my friend Ginny from Goo Studio who will be selling her beautiful hand crafted earrings.
Other vendors include:

I'm really looking forward to meeting all of Rosie's fans and the party that has been planned for Saturday. I hope you can join us. Friday is the last chance to purchase advanced tickets by going to Research4Rosie tickets can be purchased at the event too.

Happy Crafting,

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Christmas Card Production has started

I feel so ahead of the Christmas card curve this year.

I generally start my Christmas card production in November. Almost too late if you are sending a lot of them - I don't so it's about right for me. But this year I have started already.

Each year I allow myself one new Christmas stamp or set. I have a lot and need to reign in the spending but one new one doesn't feel like too much of a splurge.

Last week I pulled out this  sweet partridge tree stamp, last year's one stamp, from Stampendous inked it up and just played with my Copics. I LOVE the results. So I will be making several of these cards. I'm learning a lot about how to get the most out of my Copics, following directions in the Copic Coloring Guide by Colleen Schaan and Marianne Walker.

My son and I were in Micheal's last week and they had an end cap of Christmas stamps. There were several designs I would have loved to make cards with but the budget, limits of space and common sense said "stick with only one" so I called in the expert. I chose 3 I liked the most and asked my son to choose his favorite from that small selection. He chose the stamps that looked like children in a Christmas play. A wise choice. I have stamped that angel's face on numerous bits of scrap to make tiny gift tags. Those tags will be extras for those who buy cards from me at the Rock Star Rosie Benefit in two (2) weeks. I can't believe it's only two weeks away.

To learn more about Rosie go to Research4Rosie.com. If you would like to help spread the word about the benefit please send your friends to Rosie's site or post the flyer in your church or place of work.The flyer is available on Rosie's web site.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Some days are for action.
Some days are for reaction.
Some days are for reflection.

Today was the former.

It was quiet.
It was solemn.
It was sad.

Today was not just about the anniversary of tragedy.

It was about recognizing what has been lost,
and what remains.

It was remembering that as a society, as a nation, as people
our best comes out when we are going through our worst.

It was about reflecting on how we live today.
It was about reflecting on the choices we make each day.
It was about reflecting on how we act and react toward one another.

Peace,