CREDITS:

Digital scrap items in the header, layouts and sidebar are by Miss Mint at PeppermintCreative.com or Jen Wilson at JenWilsonDesigns.com

Friday, October 10, 2008

Scrap Tip

Oops! I forgot to mention one of my scrap tips is up on Miss Mint's blog today: Creative Nonsense. I used the trick on this layout and thought it would be a good one to share. Enjoy!

P.S. If you haven't noticed, Miss Mint is posting every day now so add it to your blog list - you'll pick up a ton of new tricks and ideas. Of course the first kit sneak peeks are on the blog and you won't want to miss those! ;)

Remind Me Next Year...

That fall is a very busy time for me so I shouldn't over-commit myself, no matter how open the my schedule looks in May! I love scrapping. I love crafts. I love Halloween. And I'm not missing out on any of it! (Just sleep....) LOL! Here's a little eye candy of what I've finished in the last 48 hours:











Most of it is Jen Wilson's Whoo's Halloween Papers and Halloween Holiday Collection Accessories. Of course a bit of Miss Mint's Witches Brew Papers & Elements are in there, too!
Both designers should have new Halloween items out in the next 2 weeks so save your pennies!

FREEBIES!
As you can imagine I have a few more Halloween cards than I need! Local friends are welcome to come pick out a completely free handmade card. Honestly, please do. If you can read this, you can have a card. Otherwise they'll just sit, collect dust and then I'll have to try and give them away again next year. Get 'em while they're fresh!

Trivia: TRUE OR FALSE?

Tay did not celebrate Halloween after her fifth grade year (1991) until her first Halloween as a homeowner in 2001.

Leave your answer in the comment section and I'll use a random number generator to select a winner, who will get a FREE prize of their choice: earrings, halloween shelf sitter or a handmade card set! Winner will be chosen on Sunday 10/12 so hurry & post your guess! (To be fair I should add that the earrings & shelf sitters were already made for a craft fair for this weekend and I'm anticipating leftovers. Once I have the extras back and the winner has selected her prize, everyone is welcome to come buy the rest at clearance prices!)

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Crafts

They've taken over my life. I think I might be getting close to having my fill. Today cleaning the shower and mopping the floors sounded good! Before I get back to work, here are some pics of things I don't know if I have posted yet:



Another fun, bright Halloween card! Yay!



These are the valentine treat buckets we're making in January. Can you tell they're tiny? I love 'em!



I like the layering of all the elements on this card and the glitter dots I added along the scallops. One of my favorite cards that I have made this month!

Alright, back to mundane, less creative things to give my brain a break!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

The Silver's House: It's Scary

Really, the amount of time I have put into the Halloween decorating is frightening! LOL!

Special Note: This blog post is for my sister and all the out-of-town family so they can see what our house looks like with all our halloween decor up. I'm not starting any competitons (I'd loose, I'm too cheap to buy more things) nor am I trying to show off my mediocre decorating skills (I'll take ideas if you have them!) I just want my family to see! Friends are welcome to read along but even more welcome to come over and hang out with me and a bag of halloween candy!!! LOL!

Okay, FIRST let me say that the whole 'effect' is lost on viewers because you can't smell the scent of fall in my entry way. I snagged this delicious little room spray for $3 at Bath & Body Works and I LOVE it!



It smells like cinnamon and a walk in the woods. I'm nuts about it and I love that 4 sprays scent the front half of the house for 6 hours! The fragrance really adds a lot to the whole ambiance that these photos lack. Just thought you should know that! :D

Alright, let's start outside the front door. Here you will see our (somewhat unimpressive) Halloween lights and the grinning bats* & purple spider web in the windows:

*Any lopsided or injured bats are the work of Aiden. PETA would probably like to have a word with him.



After you have stumbled in, wondering why on earth I piled so many lights in the plant pot (so the purple glitter "Beware" sign will sparkle at night), you notice this on the wall in front of you:



Yes, this is false advertising. There are no sweet treats at all.
Now wondering exactly how much vinyl I have wasted, you turn to your right and find our mail center and more decor: (Look! The shadow box is full of real candy! Ingenious decor until Aiden notices it...)



The little yellow bucket is stuffed with suckers and the orange vinyl phrase over the black witch hat reads "Take One My Pretties!" The purple glitter shelf sitter says "Hocus Pocus" and the green shelf sitter says "A Little Monster Lives Here". The big orange gerber daisy was the item we simply could not leave Hobby Lobby without the other day. I owed it a good home and my sincerest gratitiude for entertaining my child for 45 minutes so, since it was 50% off, I bought it and placed it by the little monster sign. Can't imagine who that little monster would be......... Moving on!

This fabulous $5 HomeGoods find is what has replaced the welcome sign on our entry closet door: (with more rabid animal vinyl decals)



And here is our spider friend again with a new cute thing hanging off the office door:



Down the hallway is our mirror where my hot pink-ish Boo sign, bright orange pumpkin and black vinyl bats all sit:



And that's about it! I'm sad to say that it looks much better in person but I'm not expecting anyone to drive down to see it.

In case you were wondering, between the front door, the wall decals & the lettering for my newest shelf sitters, I have used 6 sheets of 8x15 inch vinyl. Not very much at all but I think it really adds a fun touch! (Or at least I'll think it's fun until I have to take it all down.)

Hugs & Happy Halloween!

Eerie Hand-Rubbed Paint Finish

I really wish I could take credit for coming up with this but I didn't. I was poking around on Etsy a couple weeks ago when I found this gorgeous handmade halloween sign and LOVED how the green paint had been rubbed away to reveal the black underneath. The seller didn't answer my convo when I asked her how it was done (no surprise) so I googled it myself. After a lot of digging, I found VERY vague directions about how to do the technique and I had to figure out a lot as I went. Since then I've completed 5 projects using the trick and had lots of questions about it so I'm posting instructions here!

First, some example pictures to illustrate what I'm talking about:



My shelf sitters were painted green first, then black and then rubbed to reveal the green.



LOVE the irregular, chippy look!



A close-up shot so you can see what gorgeously grungy results you get!
BTW, the shelf sitters are halloween decor and read "Spells & Potions (Hexes Cost Extra)" LOL!

I also used this trick on my witch letters.
(The star has a purple undercoat & orange top coat rubbed away at the edges with opalescent glitter spray from Wal-Mart over the entire piece.)

Tay's Method For Eerie Hand-Rubbed Paint Finishes:

1. Paint your wood with one or two coats of the base color. This is the color that will show through. Let the wood dry completely. (30 minutes if using craft paints on unfinished wood.)

2. Take a candle or votive with white or clearish white colored wax and, using firm pressure, rub it heavily and repeatedly along the edge of your painted wood and in towards the center by at least 1/2 inch. You should have small flakes of wax crumbling off the edges and visible smears all over the wood. Do this over your kitchen sink - the wax shavings will ruin your project if left to sit.

Note: To get the effect pictured on Etsy, select a rough cut piece of wood and do not sand it. Paint and wax the entire surface, applying an extra-heavy coat of wax to bumps and raised surfaces.

3. Using your hand, gently brush and smooth away extra wax flakes. (Again, do this over the sink. It's kind of messy.)

4. Paint your wood in the overcoat color, using 2-3 or more thin-to-normal coats. Most projects will require 3-5 coats. Let dry in between coats.

5. Once your project is completely dry (2 hours), use an old cotton wash cloth and gently begin rubbing along the edges and areas where you applied candle wax. The wax will not allow paint to adhere to it and both the wax and top coats of paint will rub away, leaving a grungy edge that has the appearance of old, chipping paint.

6. Apply vinyl lettering or surface decoration.

7. Use a clear coat spray sealer on the wood when you have the desired effect and after applying vinyl lettering. I use a Clear Satin spray urethane that I bought at Lowe's. This protects the project from having any more paint rubbed away.

That's it! Enjoy your cool new painting trick!

Monday, October 6, 2008

Halloween Decor Pics

Some quick pics of some of the Halloween decor I put up this year. These are kind of lame and dull - I'll see if I can get a better shot of my entry way and all it's details. It's pretty done-up!



These are the Witch letters we are making at our craft day. I did mine early because I won't be able to make them on that day (I'm teaching a craft myself). I used different paint colors and techniques so this isn't how everyone's will look.



I thought this looked cute hanging from the hook under my little hall mirror. I added the S monogram a couple months ago and have really liked it!



LOVE this! I picked the spider up last year on clearance for $3 and I think she looks really great high up on our entry wall with the vinyl lettering under her!



And this is the project I am most proud of: my tri-colored front door vinyl! This took a bit of time and 4 separate vinyl cut runs, including 2 full sheets of orange, but it was worth it!

Edited To Add: The font is Inkster. It's a pay font and can be purchased here!

I've really gotten into Halloween over the last two years. Kelsey is probably to blame for some of it (LOL!) but I also love all the candy & family fun. I'm not into scary things but it's easy to find cute decor. Now I just need to find the time to FINISH all the handmade decor projects I have started! Will post pics of those, too!

New Floor Photos!

Okay, Thursday night we hauled everything out of the office and ripped out the carpet. I took this picture on Friday morning before we left to go pick up the planks:



I'm skipping some of the in-between shots but here is Brian working on the most difficult part of the floor. Everything went pretty smooth until we got to the doorway with it's weird cuts:



We had to bring in some professional help...



And this is how the room looked when we finished it - trim and all - late Saturday night!



We're pretty proud of ourselves and I have to admit the floors look more gorgeous than I thought they would. This photo shows the color and variation pretty accurately. We got all the furniture moved back in and it looks like a whole new room! It's nice to have all the hurricane/baby daze/vinyl/craft clutter gone. :)

Brian says that he would do it again. I don't know if I agree. The bickering about whose math and cut angles were more off was enough to convince me to not do a big flooring project together again. Better left to the guys in my opinion! LOL!