Valentine Waterless Snow Globe

I was asked to make the 14 Valentine-themed centerpieces that would then be raffled off as door prizes to 8th-grade girls. I didn't really know exactly how big the tables would be and I wanted to make something that would be a fun and interesting keepsake for middle schooler....like a big ol' basket of artificial flowers probably wasn't going to excite them.  I played around with a few ideas and settled on a cluster of 4 individual- but coordinated -items with a Valentine Waterless Snow Globe taking center stage.

The snow globes are made with a mason jars with clean sides. It does have a green/blue tint that I wish it didn't have, but the writing across the clear jar was so distracting I hated the way it looked and I couldn't get a wide-mouth clear jar in town.  I cut a small styrofoam ball in half and hot glued it to the lid, covered it with spanish moss and attached all the pieces to this.

I decorated the snow globe with little blue roses made from Tim Holtz Tattered Pinecone die,  felt and paper hearts, a fun Valentine tree with pink pearls that started as a Tim Holtz Idea-ology bottle brush tree.  My trees were misshaped from being in the packaging and I found if you mist them with water and let them dry overnight they fluff up. The pearls are cheap-o plastic pearls colored with alcohol ink.  I cut "Sparkle & Shine" from a WPlus9 die using silver glitter paper.

I wrapped a fun pink tinsel from Melissa Frances around the lid and hot glued it in place.  I tied a seam binding bow around the top of the jar an used glue dots- one under the bow and one on the opposite side -to hold the ribbon in place.  The tags were cut from Tim Holtz die. The bottom tag is cut from patterned paper. I wrapped a pink metallic embroidery floss around the bottom and glued a tiny little gold foiled heart made from a Minc'd piece of typing paper.  The top tag is stamped with a Tim Holtz quote and foiled using a glue stick and Martha Stewart Pink foil.  I die cut a heart from a piece of laminated foil waste (see more about how I made that here). Finally, the silver bell is colored pink with alcohol inks giving it a variegated look I love.

I hear the girls LOVED the snow globes. Mission accomplished.

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January 12 Tags of 2016

I going to try to keep up with Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2016 this year cuz I wasn't so good about it last year. This year Tim is taking a unique approach...he is revisiting two prior tags and merging the techniques in new and interesting ways.
For the January tag Tim revisited his Chalkboard Technique and Industrious Metal Technique.  You can read all about Tim's tag here.

From Tim Holtz

I am going to admit straight away that I have never been able to correctly do the Chalkboard Technique.  Tim uses a Ranger Embossing Powder called Frosted Crystal Antiquities and then lays chalk on top of it. I have tried so many times to get this to work...so....so....so many times.  The problem is that there is a sweet spot in heating the embossing powder.  There is a moment between still having powder and shiny melted plastic when Frosted Crystal is matte but melted enough to grab on to the chalk. This moment has eluded me every single time I have tried this technique...even when I am SURE it is matte and not over melted, I can't make it work.  It is frustrating because Tim has provided very detailed photos and instructions and he makes it look so easy time after time and yet I fail.

I've always end up using white embossing powder on my image and then going over the cardstock with chalk to fake the look.  This time I didn't even have any of the Frosted Crystal-my dog knocked over the jar last time I was using it- so I went straight to the white embossing powder.  Yes, it feels like I cheated... but then again I wasn't a stressed out frustrated mess at the end either.

I made 3 different versions of the tag. It is a really fun design and I enjoyed mixing and matching imagines and embossing folders to get totally different looks. 

For the Industrious Metal Technique I didn't have the embossing folder Tim used so I turned to my favorite ones from We R Memory Keepers. They have a new-ish line called 3D 

Gemstone 

ABC 123

I LOOVVEEE these embossing folders. They are spectacular with foiled cardstock as you can see below.

These are foiled using Heidi Swapp Minc foil/machine and the Gemstone Embossing Folder but I am sure that a pre-made foiled cardstock would look just as great.

The first design was the closest to Tim's tag. I used the gears from Tim's Industrial Blueprint stamp set. I added hardware, gold embroidery floss and seam binding.

The second one was also made from a stamp that came from the Industrial Blueprint...this time I chose the lightbulb.

Again I added hardware but on this one I decided the lightbulb filament needed to be wire. I used 2 different wires, one a thinner gauge and one a little thicker and simply bent the larger wire to fit the shape of the stamped filament and then essentially sewed it in place with the thinner wire.

My final tag turned out to be my favorite. Here I used butterfly stamps from Finnabair.  I took a class this summer from Finnabair and she is an incredible artist but also an incredible person.  She really takes a laid-back attitude toward art and is a very encouraging teacher who really wants her students to understand the products and enjoy the process.

Here I used the honeycomb folder from the Gemstone set. I again added the gold embroidery thread and also added gorgeous Moonstone sequins from Simon Says Stamp.  The butterflies are so fun and whimsical and even more so with Idea-ology Pen Nib bodies embellished with seam binding.

I have been posting my projects to my Instagram DaneeKaps.

Laters....

Wedding Moodboard: Inspired by Metallics, Chalkboards, and Vintage Rhinestones

If you missed my last post then you missed my long winded explanation about Moodboards and why I couldn't stop making them.  If you want to learn about Moodboards and why I am making these you can read all about it here however the long-story-short version is simply that they are just addicting and fun to make. 

Even if you aren't in the market for wedding ideas, don't leave yet. There are still some interesting objects, talented artisans and fun websites linked to these these 3 Moodboards. Hey, you might even find yourself with another Instagram obsession (cough ** The Meringue Girls** cough).  Take a  few minutes to look at all the pretty pictures.  

All of my wedding Moodboards are inspired by invitations from Paperless Post.  I have always enjoyed the process of having something to act as a constraint to rein in my creativity and in this case, using an invitation as the starting point is a great way to spring forward.  It is a way to keep me on taste and force me to keep thinking until I get it right. Whether I keep doing wedding Moodboards or not I will do more Moodboards for projects. 

The Metallic Wedding

This gorgeous metallic wedding starts with Kate Spade's Evergreen Stripe in Gold.  I love all the bling and fun details in this Moodboard and you find more inspiration for this wedding at my corresponding Pinterest board.  The balloons and metallic tissue fans are from Anthropologie's incredible wedding site BHLDN. The entire site is overflowing with everything gorgeous and everything wedding.  You will find unique wedding decor, gorgeous bridal wear, beautiful bridesmaid dresses and shoes, jewelry and headpieces .  The site is a great place to get ideas and inspiration for a wide variety of weddings.

The gorgeous wedding cakes are from an article about Metallic Wedding Cakes where you can find more gilded and beautiful cakes.  The fingernails are the stuff of my metallic dreams.  They came from Addicted to Fashion's Tumblr. Finally those shoes....WHOA those shoes...they come from an article that is nothing but shoe porn or as it is titled the top 20 wedding shoes...needless to say I pinned several to my various Pinterest wedding boards.

Pink Chalkboard Wedding

I decided to showcase a completely different wedding look in this third wedding Moodboard.  Here we have a chalkboard-inspired wedding full of girly pinks, frothy tulle and enough gold metallic highlights to glam it up and play off the rustic chalkboard. The wedding dress is a showstopper with an unexpected short front that is perfect for highlighting a stunning pair of shoes

This wedding started with the Paperless Post invitation called Chalkboard Garland.  All of their invitations seem to have coordinating "save the date" and "thank you" cards as well as menus and programs making those choices easy if you want everything to match.

I love how this wedding plays casual and elegance off each other. This dress is STUNNING and those shoes are perfection. I love that neither the dress nor the shoes compete with each other but both look incredible together. The short/long"waterfall" dress is not something I usually even like but it works so well in this design. Yes, the bride is The Hill's Whitney Port and yes, that is her real wedding dress.  The beautiful wedding cakes are done by Liz Marek from Artisan Cake Company who makes jaw-dropping beautiful cakes like it is child's play. I found the cakes here but you can find more about Liz on her website and even take online classes from her website The Sugar Geek Show where she offers an incredible range of topics from basic cake decorating skills and advanced carving projects. The flower girl's cotton candy dress is made by Amandy Folz and avail be at her Etsy Shop Alora Safari Co
If you are planning a chalkboard-inspired wedding be sure to check out my Pinterest board for this wedding because I had a lot of ideas I couldn't work into this Moodboard.

Very Vintage Rhinestone Wedding 

I wove my way back to a very vintage wedding in this next Moodboard. The details in this wedding are pure vintage rhinestone and I literally swoon over this board.

The inspiration behind all these rhinestones is the elegant gold "Save the date" card called "Rose Appliqué" I love the detailed gold medallions on the top and bottom of the card and used this as  inspiration for the highly detailed pieces I chose for the Moodboard.  Like the chalkboard-inspired wedding Moodboard above, this wedding Moodboard came after much editing of my Pinterest Board; there are many more gorgeous ideas there. 

The stunning Pistachio and White Chocolate Rose Meringue desserts came from the Instagram of one of my favorite artists The Meringue Girls.  They are not bakers or dessert makers, they are artists. Every single thing they make is perfection to look at and a cacophony of flavors that has to be something one never forgets. Sadly the are in England so I haven't had the pleasure of tasting anything of theirs but I did just get their first cookbook to peruse.  You can watch them create their mad genius on their YouTube channel.

With the dessert out of the way lets talk about the rhinestones....the ring bearer's pillows is from Millie Caro.  The entire site is full of incredible bead work that will inspire anyone with a love of vintage rhinestones.  The stunning wedding gown came from a story on beautiful lace-back gowns and is the work of the very talented Veluz Reyes who designs ready-made and custom gowns. 

I just love the soft pinks, purples and blues against the vintage rhinestones and pale golds of this Moodboard. This is the type of wedding that the guests wear black tie and candlelight and mercury glass are a must at the reception.  Even if you are no where near planning a wedding, I hope you will find looking at my Moodboards gives you inspiration for a beautiful home decor project, a pretty Thinking of You card or an elegant piece of jewelry.

Laters....