Easy-Peasy Branch Glitter and Glam

One of my favorite holiday decorations is one I made for a Christmas show house a couple years ago and STILL use today! It hangs in my dining room during this special time of year. It's pretty easy to make and I think it looks so, so glamourous. Here's what you need:

• branches
• can of white spray paint
• can of glitter spray
• florist wire
• icicles, crystals, whatever you dream up

1. Collect branches. If you are like me (you probably are); your neighbors are used to you walking down the street dragging tree limbs, found furniture (or pieces of furniture), wood, or whatever. Gather about 20 of these branches.
2. Lay them side by side on newspaper and grab your can of white spray paint (I use Krylon for the best coverage). Lightly spray the branches, turning them as they dry.
3. Once they are covered in white and dry, grab a can of spray glitter (again, I use the Krylon brand) and spray  them until you get your desired effect.
4. Once they are dry (prepare to get glitter everywhere),
Bunch them together and secure them at the top forming an upside down tree of sorts. I used florist wire to bind them together and I twisted the wire in and around each branch to make sure they were all very secure. I twisted ribbon and a crystal garland around the wire to help it blend in.

5. I then hung the branches from a nail above my window casing.
6. Next you can add just about anything for some glitz and glam. It used icicles from the dollar store along with a crystal garland I bought from Michaels. I just improvised until I liked the look. It's still one of my favorite pieces.
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Decorating One Vignette at a Time

This Christmas I decided to decorate a little differently. Actually, my busy life decided for me. I have way too much to do to set aside one day for decorating, so I’m doing it one little vignette at a time. Here’s what I’ve accomplished so far:

In the hallway, I have this little bench, which I always decorate. This year, I decided to use my fun find of a vintage red toolbox. I love this toolbox, which I scored for $1 at an estate sale. I filled it with some greens from outside and added this cool glass and rusty star ornament that I scooped up at last year’s after-Christmas sales.

 Here is a vignette in my living room…I haven’t even started the other side of the living room.

I am using a sign that I made out of vintage findings – an old metal letter, hinges, door and window parts, wire … even a part of a tree.

In my kitchen, I have this little vignette. My kitchen’s kind of rustic, country and comfy so I went with warmer colors here. 

Although, on the other side of the kitchen, I still decorate with lots of blues – I’m just a little all over the place with color and style.

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Recycled Magazine Wreath Tutorial

About a month ago, a local magazine, What’s Up Annapolis, asked me to create a holiday wreath for Wreathfest, a fundraiser for the Chesapeake Arts Center. The center auctioned the wreaths and they were also entered into a contest. The objective: create a wreath that represents your business. I searched the Internet for ideas and saw a great sunburst wreath created from rolled up paper, so I decided to create one for What’s Up. I’m proud to say that the wreath won in the “Most Unusual” category!

I wrote a little 10-step tutorial in case you want to create one yourself.

Materials needed:

• Several magazines
• A 12” or smaller wire wreath frame
• Craft glue
• Cardboard
• Scissors
• pop-up adhesive dots
• Patience

1.     Grab a mag. Separate pages from the magazine. If there is a ragged edge, trim it. You need a lot of magazine pages to create this wreath, and after doing this, I learned that pages with a color border create some of the most interesting roll ups.

2.     Start with one page and dab some glue in the corner and start rolling at the other corner on a diagonal. I used a pencil to help roll it a little more tightly and easily. However, don’t roll it so tightly that you can’t get the pencil out with a quick shake. (If you can’t get the pencil out: poke it with a skewer or stir stick, and next time, don’t roll it so tightly.)

3.     Make a lot of these. A lot.

4.   Take a break (you will want one) to cut a large circle out of  cardboard (no pic, sorry). You want this circle to about an inch less than the circumference of the outside of the wire frame. Once you have the circle, cut out the center to form a cardboard wreath. Set this aside and start rolling more pages.

5.   One at a time slide the rolled up magazine pages into and under the wire wreath frame. Put a dab of glue on top to hold in place.

7.     Once you’ve completed the entire circle, glue the cardboard wreath on top of all the attached rolled up magazines to hide the way you attached them. (Sorry forgot to photograph this part).

8.     Then, glue the rest of your rolled up magazines on top of the cardboard wreath forming a “second level” of wreath. Fill in any spaces with rolled up pages.

9.    To hide any blemishes (I crushed a few of my roll ups) and create interest, you can make flowers from the magazine cover. (Covers are sturdier and easier to work with.) I chose to use the masthead to create my flowers (and market the magazine). 

I cut three shapes per flower – they were all exactly the same size and shape. (I did this freehand.) I curled the flower ends by rolling them around a pencil. Using “pop-up adhesive dots,” I layered the three flower shapes and added a circle for the center. Tip: you can also use a button or large bead for the flower center.

10. Attach the flowers to the wreath with glue. Ta da! It’s done.

Takes patience, but it’s pretty cool when it’s finished.  Any questions? Just leave me a comment or shoot me an email. I'm linking to:

Craft Show Booth Success: Part Two

Wow, I'm still tired. I did well for my first craft show, but will I do it again? Yes, but not during the holiday season. Too much work and stress added to this crazy time of year. 

 

Anyway, I thought I’d post a few pictures of my booth and add a few more tips or "lessons learned" for Part Two:

1.    Be positive! Smile and engage people when they enter or come up to your booth. Most people love to chat a bit (and if they don’t you can tell right away, but at least you tried, you know?) My sister and I watched several other vendors who were scowling and complaining about the sparse crowd … no one even approached them in the first hour. Why? They were downright scary with their scowls and frowns.

2.    As I said before, grab attention! I placed what I thought were my most interesting items up front and even if people didn’t buy, they came up to my booth. I also posted this sign, which garnered a few chuckles.

  

3.    Bring a small waste/garbage can!! Carmen from Beyond the Fringe recommended this to me, and boy, was she right! We really needed it for paper scraps, wrappers, etc. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring one, (ahem, Stacie).

4.    Bring someone or arrange for someone to help you or to give you a break. Having my sister Stacie there was invaluable! She helped me set up, sell and she took care of the money while I talked with customers. She was so super helpful, I honestly couldn’t have done it without her. Thanks sis!

      One last word of wisdom, have fun! I really did enjoy being there, but I think I’ll stick with my esty shop next Christmas season (or at least do an earlier show). 

Craft Show Booth Success: Part One

Okay. I promised I would do a post about craft show booths and here it is… will it be successful? Well, you’ll have to wait until Part Two for that! 

Now, mind you I have an 8’ x 10’ size booth. It was only $10 more than an 8’x8’ and I had to fit my furniture in it. Some craft shows only allow a small space, so I wrote this with everyone in mind. Here goes:

1.             Do your research. I didn’t find a lot of stuff online, so, I went to a few craft shows and took notes. The first thing I noticed was that the booths/tables I was drawn to made great use of vertical space as well as horizontal space. I mean, people stacked things (in an artful way) and made it look great. This also allows your booth to be seen farther away and more people can browse at once. 

2.             Use your creative side. You are creative … I mean, that’s why you are participating, right? So, why put together a bland display? Make sure your space says something about you! The artist you! That means, be quirky. Think outside the table … I mean, use something to display your wares, but if you can use something beside the traditional folding table, then do it. I realize some places have rules and you can’t, but if you can … oh, the possibilities.

3.             Grab attention. I’ve had a little experience in setting up displays … no formal training, but in my past life, I’ve had to set up store displays, photo shoots, etc., so I feel that I can give a little advice here. First rule of display: put your most interesting products at eye level and within two feet of the aisle so people can see it as they pass by. Yes, you can have a focal point in the back, but people will only see that once they enter your booth and if they never enter your booth, well …

4.             Do a trial run.  As I said in my previous post, it’s paramount to set up whatever size booth or table space you have at home first. You will discover things that would have made you scream if you went there and discovered them on site!

5.             Bring Essentials: Here’s what I plan on bringing (in addition to my products): 

o        Pens, markers

o        Paper (scrap and nice paper for signs)

o        Receipt book

o        Bags and or gift boxes

o        Scissors

o        Labels and price tags

o        Tape – duct tape, scotch tape, packing tape – all of it

o        Tools (screwdriver, hammer, pliers, wire)

o        Money and change

o        Apron or waist pouch for change

o        Guest book

o        Business cards

o        Water and snacks

o        A helper – my sister is coming to help me! Yea!

Am I missing anything?

Please stop by on Saturday if you are in the area!!! The Craft Bazaar benefits the Broadneck High School Bruin Boosters, who support out sport teams. The show address is 1265 Green Holly Drive, Annapolis, MD 21409 and runs from 9:30 Am to 3:00 PM. It’s huge, you won’t be disappointed!

'Twas the Week Before Craft Show...

'Twas the week before craft show and all through the house, the projects were scattered ... there was probably a mouse!

[I can’t help myself … knowing that my first craft show and Christmas are right around the corner, I can’t stop making things ... Christmas things. For example, I had these little wood block scraps from some leftover home project. The wood was way too thick to create signs, so I decided to use them as little, wood desk toppers.

I’m in the Christmas spirit (although my house doesn’t look it yet – I still have pumpkins in my family room), so I decided to make some Christmas blocks. I primed them all with Krylon white primer, hand painted a few in this really pale green, and stamped them with Christmas designs in a red ink. I didn’t like how they turned out, so I started over. I decided to decoupage them and then distress them with a paint and glaze mixture. 

I painted over all three sides with this cool bluish green. Then, as I was decoupaging one of the blocks, another block fell over and ended up getting paint splotches all over it.] 


“Darn it,” I thought, as I cleaned off the spatter. And my kids came running to see "what's the matter?" 


But, what to my wondering eyes did appear? Absolutely not eight tiny reindeer! 
Instead, my eyes twinkled and my heart gave a start. What I saw before me was a cool piece of art! 


I sprang to my feet and began to whistle and then flew down the stairs like the down of a thistle. 


And you probably heard me, as I cleared up my doubt. "It's just so funny how these things turn out."  I'm linking to:
 

Flea Market Finds and Craft Show Prep

Wow! Where did the time go? We just said goodbye to my parents who came down to spend Thanksgiving with us. We had a blast. Dad and I went to the flea market this morning (didn't get much, except for a picture frame and this cool old stove thingie). I don't know what it is actually, except my Dad said it's from an old coal stove. Does anyone know what it is?

Mom helped me set up a dry run for my craft show booth in my living room and boy, am I glad we did! We found lots of things that didn't work just quite right. For example, I planned on hanging all my hand painted signs on shutters so people could see them. It worked fine until I hung one that was a little heavier and then the shutters closed on us, sending everything to the floor ... oops! We worked it out by nailing the shutters in place. That would have been a disaster! We also found that even with plenty of my hand painted furniture, we still didn't have enough table top space for all my jewelry boxes, so I'll be bringing one of my end tables. I'm still working on it, but my Mom was a lot of help and so was Dad, as he got one of the vanity drawers unstuck!

So, if you are doing a craft show for the first time, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND, setting it up first.

I hope you all had a great holiday. In addition to my parents, we had another family over for Thanksgiving and we ate tons of food. It was so good. My son goes back to school tomorrow. His flight leaves at 6:30 AM ... guess who's going to bed extra early tonight?!