• Blog - Crafts - Creativity

    Monogram burlap wreath

    October 22, 2015 - By 

    I’ve been loving all the new and creative wreaths that are showing up in home decor, magazines and of course Pinterest. That being said…I have to admit I’m not a big fan of seasonal decorating. Not that I don’t love it when it’s done but it’s exhausting. The unpacking, placing, fussing, moving and dusting only to have to start the process over again in what perhaps a month. And don’t even get me started on storage of said items!!

    I decided that a decorative wreath could be just that…decorative…without being seasonal if done right.

    I love the look of burlap… It’s neutral yet interesting with the texture. A great base. I did a search on YouTube to find out how to create my base.

    This was an excellent video.

    So I purchased this wreath base…

    wreath base

    and this roll of burlap and set to work.

    The video was perfect and helped me create the basic burlap wreath.

    burlap wreath

    Now came the fun part. Figuring out all the elements I wanted to include. Off to Michael’s!

    monogram burlap wreath | Halle's HobbiesThe monogram was from the dollar section and sort of set the tone. Knowing it would end up somewhere in our livingroom, I wanted to find colors that would blend nicely.

    monogram burlap wreath | Halle's Hobbies

    After adding the items I purchased, I decided to include several of my paper flowers. I loved how they made sense with script the monogram and tied the elements together quite nicely.

    monogram burlap wreath | Halle's Hobbies

    I simply love how it turned out! It’s a little more feminine than I had intended but it has the vintage feel that flows throughout our livingroom.

    I love having access to a creative communities both in real life and online. Elements and ideas from the multitude of wreaths inspired my own unique creation.

    How do you use online creative communities such as blogs, forums and Pinterest?

    • Step by step direction to create the exact item you fell in love with?
    • Inspiration?
    • Something to get you started?
    • A resource?
    • ??

     

  • Art - Blog - Creativity - Tutorials

    Tutorial: Journal prep of a vintage book

    February 8, 2015 - By 

    Since I was starting a new journal I thought I’d share with you my process for prepping the book.  First find yourself an old book that appeals to you. For me it was the size of this book. Not too small or too big… Just call me Goldilocks.journal prep5

    Look inside to see what kind of binding you have.journal prep1

    This inside cover gave me a really good indication that I had a sewn binding but I had to make sure.journal prep4

    Yep…sewn binding. Perfect! Now we’re ready for the thinning of pages without leaving chunks of torn pages along the inner spine. Removing pages reduces bulk since the altering of a book whether journal style or a themed altered book adds lots of bulk!

    I find the center of each signature (as seen in the above photo) and remove the page from each side.journal prep3Like this. I go back and carefully pick out all of the torn fragments. It will appear as if nothing has changed until you look at the page numbers. You’ll have a definite gap which would make reading the story a real challenge at this point.

    I remove at least one page from each signature, sometimes more. You can always go back and remove more. journal prep7

    Here you can see the gaps along the spine and how the book is more narrow going toward the outer edge. This is exactly what you want. journal prep8

    You have a nice stack of pages for your altering pleasure when you are done.

  • Blog - Creativity

    A second look: CitraSolv

    February 2, 2015 - By 

    SecondlookToday for Second on the 2nd, I’m going to share with you today a post from 4 yrs ago about a technique that I simply love.

    Without further ado here is the post from December 2010…

    ““““““““““

     I am totally hooked on this “new to me”  technique. I’ve seen it in a magazine, You Tube, blogs etc. Trust me…this technique has been around the block a time or two. Of course, I am super late in actually trying it but I had said I wouldn’t buy any new art supplies. Well…technically I didn’t buy a new art supply, I bought a concentrated cleaner. That counts right!?!? Anyway…Since not everyone on the planet has read about it I’ll tell you what I did. It is so simple and has such cool results.  A word of caution…this will be messy…protect your surfaces, hands and clothing.20101209_4757

    First you take the CitroSolv concentrate full strength and pour a bit into a small container. I used a foam brush to apply it directly to the front and back of the National Geographic pages I wanted to use.  The more ink on the  pages the better. After slathering on the CitroSolv to as many pages as you’d like…close the magazine and walk away for about 20 mins or so. When you come back…put on a glove and start opening the pages…they will likely fall right from the magazine as the CitroSolv seems to un-glue the binding as well.20101209_4755

    I hung my pages to dry with clothes pins overnight. I painted a few pages with CitroSolv before going to bed to see if the effect would be any different. The effect seemed a little more “muddy” to me rather than having the cool bubble effect. Still totally usable papers…just different. 20101209_4747These are some of my favorites but as you can see below…I ended up with a bunch of fun papers to play with.  20101209_4754