May 1st, Pretty Pinterest Party Scoop

EVERYONE is welcome at our SECOND PINTEREST PARTY!
You're invited to come make: REPURPOSED Frames with us this month!

If you don't know the drill here are the details for you (and your gal pals you want to bring along):

You pin all sorts of pretty things on Pinterest. You say to yourself, "Oooh! I'm sooo gonna make that! Awe and THAT too! WOW- and that also!"

Senario #1 You go about your busy life and never make any of those above things you pin!

Senerio #2 You push the JOIN button right now and plan to get together with your awesome Pretty Pinterest Party gals once a month and bring a bottle of wine, a can of Diet Coke, and maybe even a bag of Taco Bell (okay that's what I would bring)... you get the idea...and you actually MAKE one or two of those Pinterest projects!


For May we have selected re-purposed frame as our project for the creative evening: You can visit the links below for inspiration and to determine what supplies you need to bring for the party.

Your basic supplies list will be: Frame, Chicken Wire/Twine or Wire, Spray paint for frame, mini clothespins (really cute ones are available at Signed, Sealed & Delivered BTW), Ribbon & Paper for embellishing.

Option #1: Chicken Wire Photo holder frame
www.oopseydaisyblog.com

Option #2: Birthday reminder frame

  http://alydosdall.blogspot.com

Option #3: Emebllished Home décor frame

www.pinkpaislee.com

See our Pinboard for links & details on upcoming projects & ideas:

http://pinterest.com/likethegame/pppp-pretty-pinterest-party-projects/

Pretty Pinterest Party - SUPPLIES LIST

The project preffered by most party goers is the Tiered trays or platters project! Here details for gathering your supplies. Please email me with ANY questions katie@2katiedesigns.com

Pretty Pinterest Party goers – we have our first project decided and are set to get our craft on Tuesday, April 3rd. We can start around 6pm and hopefully complete our project within a couple hours. It’s very casual so if you want to head over when you get off work, or bring dinner with you do so! No rules here – just a good time making pretty schtuff.

Our first project will be tiered cake trays or pedestal platters. There are a variety of options for these types of trays so I created a supply list for two basic versions. You can bring stuff for both and tackle two projects (perhaps one for you and one for ...a gift?) Or focus on one for the evening. 

ALSO - I will be providing supplies for an extra fun photo project we can do while our other project is drying. Please bring a frame worthy 4x6 photo and you will leave with a crafty photo display for your house!

OPTION #1 - Burner Covers Tiered Tray
Example from http://decorganizecrafts.blogspot.com/

 Supplies:
• 3 staggered sizes oven burner covers (stocked at Wal-Mart, dollar stores or available at thrift stores perhaps)
• Scrapbook paper – either 3 of the same or 3 different corrdinating ones to differenciate the layers.
• Wood Spindles (available at Hobby Lobby, and perhaps Lowe’s?)
• E 6000 Glue

OPTION #2 – Cake Pan/Pie Tins Tiered Tray Example from http://www.maryjanesandgaloshes.com/

Supplies:
• 3 staggered sizes oven cake pans or Pie tins (stocked at Wal-Mart, or old ones from thrift stores perhaps)
• Wood, Brass or Crystal candle stick holders from thrift store or crystal candle stick holders from the dollar store will work.
• Desired Spray paint color (Rustoleum brand will adhere best to the brass or crystal candlestick surfaces!)
• E 6000 Glue

 The options are limitless for this type of project! There are so many colors and materials that can be used – look over our Pinterest board again for links to these type of projects to help you decide what you want to make!

http://pinterest.com/likethegame/pppp-pretty-pinterest-party-projects/

The Greate Create!

It really is great to be creating! I get all in a funk if I go a few days without getting my fingers singed by a glue gun or having paint stuck under my nails so I have to tell you how excited I am about The Greate Create. The "gist" of it is a monthly craft round robin swap set up and it's created to get YOU creating more. It's a great motivation for me thus far and I am just excited to see what these crafty ladies are making each month. Come create with us if you need to get your mojo back!




Here is the info provided by our fearless leader, Melissa, at My House is Vanilla. This gal is a great supporter of 2 Katie Designs and just a cool chick, I wanna ring her like a sponge so I can have a drop of her creativity.

What is The Great Create?


Basically, just a small group of crafty girls who have committed themselves to crafting each month with the purpose of marking things off their "to-do" list and, at the same time, swapping items with each other.

Can I participate?


Fo shizzle. Email (myhouseisvanilla@yahoo.com) and you're in.
What are the guidelines?


Pretty simple. Choose 12 items that you want to create this year. Each month, you'll mark one of your items off the list by making TWO of whatever it is (two bags, two stuffed cats, two balloon paintings... um, whatever). You'll keep one - and the other will be shipped off to your monthly swap partner.




Who's my swap partner?


Each month, you'll get a new partner - the goal is for everyone to receive something from each person participating! I'll send out an email each month with the name of your partners... which won't be a secret because, well, that's just too many emails for me to commit myself to sending. I'm lazy.


JANUARY GREATE CREATE RECAP


So for the first month I had my BFF to give my creations too...spoiled her a bit with a Frame, a Super Glitter Cup and a glittery XO for her Valentine mantle motif. I recieved from Jessisa at Our House on the Hill an awesome Valentine garland which made a great addition to my own mantle when I added my personal photo booth pics. Sa-weet! Also she can SEW and I am SO jelous!

Did a mention children are involved here? They can join too! Great huh? We have a JV sqaud and I'm not sure if it was coordinated or not but it worked that Kaia had to send her Greate Create project to Kensey (Jessica's daughter) which was neat. Kaia was thrilled to see a pic of Kensey wearing her creation and thought it was cool that Kensey's daddy is in the military too. Kiddy connection.

Kaia made a headband (after spending an hour shopping for a fabric she liked, we ended up with 5 super cute Amy Butler patterns BTW) which she is seriously better than me at doing. Guess she doesn't over think it. She made a necklace as well from a rock she had been tumbling...and tumbling...and tumbling. Literally since Christmas I have had a low hummmmm huuuummmm happening in my garage waiting for these polished gems to emerge! They finally did and she fitted it into a necklace shown below on Kensey!

Kaia also received her crafty item for the month which was this one of a kind clipboard. The perfect motivation for homework in my eyes - anything to get this kid excited about writing or reading! yippee from both Kaia and mama.

Thx - Crafty Katie : )

Teacher Appreciation

The end of the school year is just a few days away and I haven't gotten to share the exciting goodies we gave as gifts to Kaia's teacher and staff on Teacher Appreciate a few weeks back.

They are too stunning not to share. My friend Becky who is an artist of everything baked was given the simple request to create something Chinese themed (to coordinate with the theme of the week at school). This is what she came up with! Over the top fortune cookies, personalize with my daughters names and other cupcakes that looked like chow mein and lo mein - it's kind of a mind freak!

I also just wanted to share a few photos from the actual luncheon set up for the staff which also reflected the Chinese theme. I can't take credit for any of it, just that I got to help set up which was fun. We have great teachers & staff along with very hard working volunteers at Elm Tree.

Toilet Paper Crtafts

So maybe this is taking the whole up-cycling / receycling thing too far but interesting nonetheless. Us crazy scrappers are making use of what normaly would be disposed in the weekly trash pick up - empty toilet paper rolls. I have seen these rolls transformed into gift card holders, mini albums, seasonal decor and more.

Well now the joke is on me, because it turns out there are very fun to make...photos of my own toilet paper projects coming soon!

I am entering it in toilet paper roll mini album contest on http://www.scrapbook-crazy.com/ so wish me luck!

NWA Craft Fair Weekend

It's official craft fair week in the Ozarks! There are craft fairs at Spanker Creek, War Eagle, Bella Vista, Embassy Suites, Clarion, and Frisco Station Mall. Definately enough crafts to keep anyone consumed for days browsing, seeking and being iNsPiReD. The website to get all the details is http://nwacraftfairs.com/. Of course beyond the crafts there is always the FOOD. You MUST buy a  large bag of Kettle corn to share and bring home. You must consume a Funnel Cake while you are there as well as a jumbo corn dog. We also did yummy egg rolls at the Bella Vista Craft fair and Fried Pickles at War Eagle both of which we delightful! No "real" food I suppose, but great snackies.

One of my favorites this year was at Embassy...since I have a little girl I am biased because they had so many booths of frilly pink things it just made me hApPy! Check it out if you have a girlie girl for sure.

I also grabbed cards from some of my favorite booths so here are Katie's top 5 booth.

Tammi Crystal Designs (tammy crystal designs.com)

Trendy Glass Soldered jewelry - shhh...this is a secret I would rather keep to myself but I am going to share since they are so aWeSoMe! These items make fabulous personalized gifts for all the women in your family. Buy a few of the chains and you can buy the charms for all seasons and mix and swap them out depending on the time of year.

Southern Traditions Woodworking (southerntraditions.ar.com)

Furniture - I guess because we are considering moving to a new home and needing massive amounts of furniture this appealed to me. You could add personal touches to the furniture for your home at a very reasonable price.

 Dumpster Divas

I got so many ideas while weaving my way thru these ladies little booth at War Eagle! They had lots of Zebra, Shabby Chic, Hot Pick, Repurposed items that were eye catching and well priced. My daughter was going nuts over the Twilight props they had on their vanities! Again if you have a girlie girl this was a place to be! They also had a massive antique trunk that would have loved to go home with me, but maybe another time : (

Cherry Apple Berries (cherryappleberries.com)

Clothing - These are trendy, affordable and personalizable items for everyone! Stocked with hit t-shirts and available to order any logos you would like.

Lollitops (lollitopsusa.com)

Children's Items - no matter how many times I see this product I can't get over how clever it is! It is a fashion invention for little girls, great for gifting and available in an array of options. Check them out for any little girl in your life.

Honorable Mention:

My Hodgepodgerie (www.myhodgepodgerie.com)

Gifts/Goodies - while there were several booths doing the embellished diaper wipe cases this booth also had some adorable wristlets I fell in love with as well as a tie tshirt for little boys that was rockin'.

Crafty Flowers

[caption id="attachment_163" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="My handmade flowery things"][/caption]

As usual when I find a new crafty thing I dive right in - buying all the necessary STUFF to conquer a new craft project. I've done it with paper-pieced t-shirts, tutus, haloween decorations...I just get myself into all these new things... and that is just what happened this weekend!  I became obsessed with fabric flowerly things. It started when I saw these outragious flowers on a cardigan at NY & CO. and then my brain starts going...hmmm I could make those (and cheaper than buying them at $4.50 a pop). Then the next thing I know I am searching u-tube for "how-to make a fabric flower", "retro hair accessories" and anything related.

Nothing great there so I surf over to etsy.com and find some flowers I like and just start cutting out scraps of fabric and guessing how they made their lovely flowery creations. I used hot glue  (cuz I am far too impatient for sewing!) and some scrapbooking buttons I had around, and before long I have some flowers of my very own.

 

However, my next trip to Hobby Lobby of course included Organza, Fabric Stiffner spray, fun fabrics, more buttons and various attachment devices costing me nearly $100 so my effot to save $ by making the flowers myself is shot down and I have a kitchen island completely covered in hot glue and fabric scraps but they are OH SO CUTE!

Pirate Party

[caption id="attachment_51" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Close Up of Masked Skull on Wrapping paper"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_95" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Birthday Package "]

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Just a quick post about a birthday party we are headed to this afternoon. It is a pirate themed party for a little boy named Parker, whose mom I am good friends with. She is definatly the modern mom and has great style. So maybe there isn't many mother's of 2 year olds that appreciate this but I think she will love it.

I used my faithful Cricut and the Indie Art cartridge to create a mask on the wrapping paper which I painted around and did some splattering on. It definatly pops with the lime green and black! For the card I used the same cartridge to cut out another skull and then I did his name on the Stamped cartridge to create a simply but dimensional personalized card. I added Crystal Laquer to the white parts of the card and a bit of Lime Green Stickles (again, my favorite product right now!) to the card for some sparkle. For the vellum envelop I did another mask with spaltters and rub-on of the #2 for his special day so they coordinate. It should be cute and I am looking forward to a fun party with Parker!