Making a #Cre8time Plan... #Upcycled Ledger Redux

Hello friends! I'm back with another project... that I planned on!! LOL! Yes indeed I'm on my way to becoming a planner nerd now. I'm starting with getting my planner together and I'm so thrilled to be able to share this with you.

Follow along as I share how I upcycled a Vintage Ledger into an amazing Purple-liscious Planner. Several of the supplies I've used in this project were provided from Sakura of America, Testors and Therm•o•web as part of the the Favecrafts Best Blogger Craft Event.

  

I have been wanting to start using a planner for some time, though I haven't really found one that spoke to me. I always buy one of those day-to-day calendars and they go unused. This year I decided no more and I would make an official planner.

While volunteering at my local artist salvage center, Trash to Treasure, I came across a vintage ledger - complete with a six ring mini-binder, unused grid pages and tabbed dividers. A match made in creative heaven! This ledger has been recycled into an amazing purple-iscious planner with some supplies from my craft stash, Testors One Coat Lacquer and iCraft Deco-Foil.

I gathered all my tools and supplies. Remove contents of ledger and mask off inside with a sheet of tissue leaving pocket exposed. Imagine my luck... I was sent my favorite color {thanks Testors}!!! Now if I could just get my MINI Cooper this same color – just putting it out there to the universe.

Mask off edges of stencil to protect exposed binder pocket and spray checkered border with the Purple-licious Testors One Coat Lacquer. Remove stencil and let dry. Flip ledger cover over and completely spray Purple-licious. Set aside to dry. My apologies I don't have pix of the spray painting... I did this outside quickly as it was getting dark.

Suprisingly with the heat and high humidity, this paint dried much quicker than I expected. Most was dry to touch in about 10-15 minutes – but I left it to dry for about an hour while I went ahead and worked on the contents of my planner.

Alter tabbed dividers by cutting strips of iCraft Easy Cut Adhesive sheets to width of tabs. Trim to size and apply over tab, folding around to backside. Burnish down with bone folder.

Using mini guillotine cutter, cut strip of iCraft Rainbow Deco-Foil about 1/4" wider than tabs. Remove adhesive backing on tab and align Deco-Foil strip with edge of tab and wrap around backside, completely covering exposed adhesive. The tabs are blingy and totally transformed. Each tab continues with the next color of the rainbow and just makes one happy.

Gently burnish and peel away foil backing. Repeat process with remaining tabs continuing with same strip of Deco-Foil (required two strips of foil to complete all tabs). Cut section of iCraft Easy Cut Adhesive to size of title block on ledger cover. Remove backing and apply, burnish down then apply Rainbow Deco-Foil.

I used two strips of the Rainbow Deco-Foil... nothing goes to waste! No heat, no wet adhesive, and super quick – so EASY PEASY!! I have 5 other colors and I can't wait to use them on more projects.

I added fun pockets with mini bags folded over, edges adhered and mounted to dividers using iCraft Easy Tear Tape. Now I'm ready to put everything back together. Even my post-it stencil masks have made it into my planner!

I cut my downloadable planner pages to size and punched holes for this six ring binder configuration. This binder is about 1/2" so it may only fit two months at a time for day-to-day pages. I'm OK with that. I replaced all the pages into binder, adding ephemera, clips, stickers and other planner goodies. I have loads more, but I'm just a newbie here. I will share more as I work along.

From Vintage Ledger to

Purple-liscious Planner...

The transformation is complete and it's time to plan more crafty goodness! I plan to use my Sakura of America Pens to doodle and color the inside of the cover. I LOVE how the cover is transformed from the blah black to this amazing purple-licious!!!

Supplies Used:

• Vintage Ledger {or an empty binder}
• Testors One Coat Lacquer - 1842 Purple-liscious
• iCraft Easy Cut Adhesive
• iCraft Easy Tear Tape
• iCraft Deco-Foil - Rainbow
• The Crafters Workshop Dylusions Chequered Dots Stencil
• Mini Guillotine Cutter
• Scissors
• 1/8" hole punch
• Downloaded planner page inserts
• Bone Folder
• Misc. selection of Sakura of America Pens
• Assortment of stickers, clips, post-its, mini bags, and other ephemera

This is an easy project - though consideration should be taken for use of spray paint and have time allotted for drying. Project can be completed in an evening and will continue to evolve over time as entries and journaling added. I know I'm going to have fun with my NEW "old" planner.

Thanks so much for visiting! I hope you drop by and check out all the Favecrafts Best Blogger Craft entries when the voting begins on March 31st. Happy Creating :) Sb

Enjoying a #Cre8time Snow Day in SoFL... Favecrafts/Prime Publishing Best Blogger Craft Event

Hello friends! Back in January I traveled to California to attend the CHA Winter Show. One evening I was invited to the Favecrafts/Prime Publishing Blogger Event. This is a networking mixer between creatives, bloggers, and manufacturers where you get to mingle and learn about new products in a more casual setting. After the event, some companies send samples and products to try out and to use to create with for the Favecrafts Best Blogger Craft Event.

A change of seasons calls for a change of decor starting with this Seaside Faux Palette Wall Decor. Using Fredrix canvas stretcher bars, brown craft shipping paper, burlap fabric, a staple gun, Design Master Color Tint It and Über Matter paints, Design Master Sno Blast Decorating Snow Spray, and a few household craft supplies, you can create a weathered beach themed wall hanging that is full of color and texture.

My project I'm sharing today is using spray paints provided from Design Master. Its been quite some time since I've used spray paints and I am quite pleased how these paints helped me complete this project in just a couple hours. Living in hot and humid South Florida, using spray paints is not ideal because of high humidity and drying time. The Design Master Paints are wonderful – the colors are beautiful, nozzles ergonomic and the paints fast drying! These products made this project come together in a snap. I have made a bulletin board in a similar fashion and the addition of spray paints take the faux wood panels to a new dimension.

Gather supplies and tools needed. This project is Easy-Intermediate due to use of spray paints, utility knife and staple gun and takes a few hours to complete (including drying time). Project can be completed over a weekend.

Assemble canvas stretcher bars (this used two 26" and two 36" lengths) and reinforce corners with a couple staples. Attach picture hanging hooks (if desired). Cut brown craft paper slightly larger than frame and wrap around to back, tacking in place using staple gun.

Measured and cut strips of burlap fabric to width of canvas, including a bit for overhang on each side. 

On long sides, fold over edges approx. 1" and iron to press in place.

Spray each burlap strip with several colors of Design Master Tint It spray paints to give a weathered wood coloring as desired. I alternated with Jade, Gold Shimmer, and Sepia colors.

Staple painted burlap strips to side edges of prepared canvas – forming the wood planks, completing the faux palette background. 

To add extra dimension, fold over extra burlap overhanging edges before stapling in place.

Cover the entire background with clear contact paper to create a custom stencil. Using a permanent marker, sketch in three starfish shapes as desired. Gently cut around starfish shape outlines with a utility knife to expose the starfish, leaving the rest of the canvas covered.

Spray each of the starfish with a couple layers of the Design Master Sno Blast Decorating Snow Spray, building up texture as desired. Leave as is -or- add a bit of color and shimmer using the Design Master Tint It Sepia and Gold Shimmer spray paints (as done here).

The starfish come to life with a different layer of texture. The Design Master Sno Blast Decorating Snow Spray is fun to use and you can build up the layers of dimension. 

Seaside Faux Palette Wall Decor

Set aside to let paint fully dry then it's ready to display!

Supplies Used:

• Fredrix Canvas Stretcher Bars
• Design Master Tint It spray paints – Jade, Gold Shimmer, and Sepia
• Design Master Über Matte spray paints – Mist and Beach
• Design Master Sno Blast Decorating Snow Spray
• Brown Craft Shipping Paper {from Dollar Tree}
• Burlap Fabric
• Clear Contact Paper
• Scissors and Utility knife
• Staple Gun and staples
• Permanent Marker

Thanks so much for visiting! I hope you drop by and check out all the Favecrafts Best Blogger Craft entries when the voting begins on March 31st. Happy Creating :) Sb

You can't Pinch Me... My #Cre8time is Gold and Green

Hello friends and Happy St. Patrick's Day! Lucky for me I married into an Irish Clan so I have a free pass on this green pinching game. This month the Designer Crafts Connection was challenged to work with the new oly*fun™ Metallic Fabric... only one word can describe this new fabric – WOW!!! CLICK HERE to hop on over to the Designer Crafts Connection blog and be inspired by all the shimmer and shine!

Today I'm using the new gold Oly*fun™ to make a fun ribbon rosette for St. Patrick's Day that will give some flair to my fun Irish themed embellishments and buttons from the dollar store.

Oly*fun™ – the EVERYTHING material now shimmers, sparkles and shines in Gold, Silver, Rose Gold and Red. So easy to cut and does not fray {hemming is not required}. It's perfect for crafts, costumes, accessories, home décor and more. Oly*fun™ metallics are available in 10 yard bolts, 30" wide. You can find it at your local craft/fabric stores, order online, or jump on over HERE to win one bolt in the metallic color of your choice!

I've had these pins from the dollar store for ages and I've only ever worn one... so I thought why not jazz them up and make them ribbon rosettes. The metallic oly*fun™ is the perfect compliment to the shine and dimension of the buttons.

I probably could have skipped mounting the fabric to cardstock and just mounted the fabric back-to-back. But since I was adding a heavy pinback button, I thought it was a good idea to make it a bit stiffer.

I took a scrap of 6" x 9" green cardstock and mounted it to a slightly oversized cut of gold oly*fun™ using double-sided adhesive sheets. It's easy to cut with scissors and I trimmed back the edges with my guillotine cutter.

Following instructions for rosettes over at Scor-Pal® {tutorial here}, I scored both sides of the paper fabric to create peaks and valleys at 1/2" increments.

Quick and easy! Then I divided this into three 2" sections. Since I was winging the size, I hoped it will be large enough to frame my largest button which is about 3" across. Then the fun begins folding back and forth to make the accordions.

With some double sided tape, I joined the three sections together into one long accordion while my hot glue gun was warming up. It takes about 4 hands to hold a rosette down to secure, but I managed. I applied hot glue slightly around the edge and placed one of my faux gold coins on top... this did the trick on the first try! I repeated on the back and I was ready to finish up. I fashioned the ribbon tail out of another section backed with cardstock, a smaller section popped up on chipboard. Now how to finish??! I could add  ribbon or words, but I think I'm just going to keep going with the green and gold shamrocks.

After gluing a pinback onto the back of the rosette, I layered on a few foamy glitter shamrocks and three shamrock stickers on the tail to finish it off. I just love the shimmer and shine of the oly*fun™ metallic and it's quite reflective. 

I can see myself using this A LOT for cardmaking and other crafting projects needing that POP of bling... and making pinned rosettes for every holiday occasion!!

Award Winning Shamrock!

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oly*fun™ is available from Hancock Fabric, Fabric.com, the shop at FairfieldWorld.com and also JoAnn Fabric.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day! CLICK HERE to hop on over to the Designer Crafts Connection blog for more fun projects using oly*fun™ Metallics for National Crafts Month! :) Sb

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