Valentine's Day Decor with Kiwi Lane Designs

Hey there Kiwi Lane Peeps!

Today I've veered from my normal paper crafting and ventured into the land of wood blocks! Ok, so it's not so unusual, but I don't usually share it here. But I loved how they turned out, and I thought you might like to see it. Here's what I made with the help of my templates from Kiwi Lane Designs:

Pretty cute, huh? All I did was paint some wooden hearts, cover with paper, add some template shapes and finish off with some epoxy dots of various colors and sizes. It's really pretty self explanatory, so I'll let the photos speak for themselves. Mostly.

Here's what I started with:

The paper collection I used is called "Kiss Kiss" and it was Crate Paper's Valentine line a few years ago. The hearts are cut out wood shapes that I picked up at the farmer's market over the summer. They're about 4.5" tall and 4.5" wide and just under 1.5" thick. Before I painted, I made sure I sanded them lightly and wiped off any sanding residue. You'll get a cleaner paint application if you remember to do that.

I also want to point out that I framed my project right on the wood shapes. Who says you can only use your Kiwi Lane templates to frame on your paper?! And just like when you design on your pages or cards, you can change things as you go without ruining pretty paper in the process!

I love the size and configuration of these hearts because you can mix it up when you display them:

And I covered the back with paper so it's pretty from the other side, too.

Looking at the bare paper on the back, I'm thinking I need to go back and add some more layers...

Thanks for taking a look! Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Templates used:

Tiny Sweetheart 2T,3T

Tiny Explore 3T,6T

Mini Abbie Road 3A,3B

Elements 2,7

Birthday Calendar with Kiwi Lane plus a GIVEAWAY!!

As I was looking through my craft supplies and considering what I'd be making for my project this month, my eyes settled on a frame that'd been sitting on my desk for a little while.  It's one of those TOLSBY frames from IKEA that you can pick up for 99 cents and it looks like this: 

You can get them in a few different colors, but I opted to pick up a few white ones to have on hand.  You could also paint them with spray paint, from what I understand, although I haven't tried it.

When I purchased the frame, I had a few projects in mind.  One of them was a flip calendar to organize important family dates like birthdays and anniversaries.  And what better way to kick off the new year than to be a little more organized!  So, I grabbed a few basic supplies along with my Kiwi Lane Designs templates and got to work making my calendar.  And this is what I came up with:

Each page is made with a lightweight chipboard that has been covered with pretty paper.  If you don't have any chipboard on hand, a cereal box works as a great alternative.

I used a few of the Tags templates.  I did have to trim off about 1/4" to make them the right size to fit in the frame.  Here are a few pages:

And, of course, you have to make the back pretty, too.  ;)  I used some scraps and a scallop template to add layers.

I finished up by decorating the base of the frame with a few flowers.

The whole project was fairly easy and was pretty fast.  It would be a great Saturday project!  And a cute way to start your year with a bit of organization!  

Enter to win this set of Tiny Celebrate Templates!!

And what's better than a new project for the new year??  New supplies!! How would you like to win a set of templates to start your year off right?  Well, just leave me a comment telling me what project you are working on and you will be entered to win a set of Tiny Celebrate templates (like the ones pictured above)!  I'll even give you an extra entry if you start following my blog and let me know in your comment (one comment will work for everything!)  And if you are already a follower of my blog, let me know in your comment. :)  You have until Monday, January 19, 2015 at 11:59 p.m. MST to leave your comment.  I'll randomly choose a comment and announce it on Wednesday, January 21st.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Scrapping!!

Template list:

Tags 5, 6, 7

Adorn 3A, 3B, 1A, 1B

Tiny Accents 1T, 2T

Tiny Celebrate 4T

Tiny Shapes 3T, 7T

Tiny Tags 1T

Delight 1, 2

Tiny Brackets 2T

Tiny Nature 1T

Supplies:

Patterned paper- Simple Stories

Burlap paper- DCWV

Chipboard alphabet stickers, gray card stock alphabet stickers- American Crafts

Glitter alphabet stickers- Making Memories

Green card stock alphabet stickers- Scenic Route

Eyelets- WRMK

Small epoxy dots- Teresa Collins

Flower punch- EK Success

Ink- Ranger

Circle Punch- Marvy Uchida

Ribbon- Fancy Pants, Pebbles, AMM, May Arts, Polar Bear Press, Personal Sentiments

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!