Home Decor with Mon Ami Gabby and Kiwi Lane

So I'm stepping out of my box for my post this time.... or maybe I'm stepping off my page... I don't know.  

Either way, I got to work with some splendiferous products from Mon Ami Gabby!  Have you ever heard of them?  Chances are, if you've ever gone to a Scrapbook Expo or Creating Keepsakes Convention, you've seen them! They are the company that has embellishments galore- and tons of super cute stuff!  Every time I've seen them at a show, I've had to hold back to keep from buying everything in sight (which they would have liked, I'm sure, but my bank account would have cried.).  Anyway, I was given a whole plethora of pretties to work with in shades of blue, yellow and white.  So much fun!  I wanted to showcase Mon Ami Gabby's products along with Kiwi Lane's templates and I wanted to step off the page, so here's what I came up with:

Supplies:  paper (Making Memories); burlap (DCWV); stamps (KI Memories, Hero Arts); ink (Ranger, Tsukinedo); paint (craft supply); jewels (Doodlebug); flowers, buttons, ribbon and crystals (Mon Ami Gabby)

Templates used:

Tiny Celebrate 3T, 4T, 6T

Paradise 4

Mini Scallops 2A

It's a little hanging tray with the following quote: 

"Shared joy is double joy and shared sorrow is half sorrow. -Swedish Proverb"

I've had this quote hanging around my scrap space for a while (ok, more like YEARS!!) and had always wanted to use it on something and never had.  This seemed to be the perfect opportunity!


So the tray that I started out with was something my grandma game me a few years ago and had gotten buried on my desk.  I found it recently and had it fresh in my mind when my Mon Ami Gabby stuff arrived, and an idea was born!  Here's what the tray looked like before:

(Sorry for the icky picture.  It was late at night and I couldn't get the lighting right.  One of the hazards of midnight crafting, I suppose.)

I sanded it and put a coat of ivory acrylic paint on it, then scuffed the edges and corners for a shabby look.  Then I hand stamped the quote.  And that's why it's kind of funky.  I know the spacing is uneven and nothing is in a straight line.  It adds to the charm, right?  Or it reveals that I'm still a novice stamper, even though I've been doing it for 12 years....

Anyway, once the paint was dry and the quote was stamped and trimmed, I started to layer... and layer.... and layer!  That is one thing I really like about Mon Ami Gabby and Kiwi Lane- they encourage layering!  Mon Ami Gabby has this super cool burlap ribbon that has wired edges and is printed with a chevron pattern and I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it.  Only it seemed to be too overwhelming for my small scale project.  So I used my templates on the ribbon to break it up and keep some of the cute ribbon, without an onslaught of pattern.  For the top banner, I folded the ribbon in half and used part of the Tiny Celebrate 6T template to cut small triangles out.  I then used hot glue to attach it to the wire that I cut off the ribbon.  

For the bottom part, I used the Mini Scallops 2A template along one side and kept the wire on the other side so I could do some pleats. 

I loved how the Kiwi Lane Templates added some more depth to the layers of flowers, buttons, ribbon and crystals from Mon Ami Gabby!  I also liked that I combined rough burlap, delicate paper roses and elegant crystal teardrops on this project and it all worked together to make a shabby chic decor piece.  I hope you try some layering on your next home decor project- especially mixing elegant with rustic. You might just love it!

And if you have loved looking at the fabulous products from Mon Ami Gabby, they have a wonderful Pinterest board you can follow HERE  and you can follow them on Facebook HERE.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Scrapping!