Linda’s DIY by Design

Friday, October 16, 2015

Classic Murder Mystery Configuration Box (DT Project for Reneabouquets)

As I started to create a Halloween themed project, one of my papers that I pulled out to layer with, had a title on it that said, "Possible Case" and that stirred an idea....an old black and white murder mystery movie! All of the elements I used reminded me, somehow, of this murder mystery. From an actual piece of a metal film reel to a mini camera charm reminiscent of the shout of news headlines from the street-side curb....this piece is sure to take you back to yesteryear, while still keeping in with the Halloween color scheme! It all came possible with some great product from Reneabouquets! I will list all the links to the products I used below the pics!

Saturday, October 3, 2015

Shabby Chic Shadow Box (DT project for Reneabouquets)

I found this arrow shaped shadow box on clearance at Joann's. I thought it would be cute to create a configuration type box that played off the arrow design! My thought process was to decorate it as if finding your "happy wishes, love and dreams" are right this way. I wanted all the embellishments to coordinate with my thought process and relate to the words I had chosen to use. I used black gesso with a pounce brush to paint and create texture on the shadow box. For the " dream" word, I used Prima heavy white gesso and the pounce brush again for texture. The other words, I used Prima color bloom sprays to match the paper line I was using...which was DCWV Immortal Love stack. I loved the color combo of black, grey, pink. I chose to use flowers from Wild a Orchid Crafts, Prima and some of Micheals dollar bin flowers (my usual array of chosen flowers). I chose to bring the whole project together with many products from Reneabouquets. And I completed the look with the beautiful handmade butterflies by Renea as well as her excellent quality of Glitter Glass . It adds a romantic touch, don't you think? The individual links to the products I used will be below, or if you would like to go to the home page of Renea's shop, just click on the store link to the right on my sidebar. You can also chose to shop Reneabouquets.com. Here are the pics and YouTube video link explaining the project in more detail....

YT video link:

https://youtu.be/3HuekaAUIac

Links for Products Used from Reneabouquets:

Reneabouquets Tiny Treasures Butterflies (Sweetheart): https://www.etsy.com/listing/189365192/reneabouquets-tiny-treasures-butterfly?ref=shop_home_active_1&ga_search_query=sweetheart

Reneabouquets Tiny Treasures Butterflies (Ice): https://www.etsy.com/listing/190626088/reneabouquets-tiny-treasures-butterfly?ref=shop_home_active_4&ga_search_query=ice

Reneabouquets Glitter Glass (Diamond): https://www.etsy.com/listing/201027976/reneabouquets-chunky-glitter-glass?ref=shop_home_active_2

Prima Finnabair Art Extravagance White Crackle Paste: https://www.etsy.com/listing/238111650/prima-finnabair-art-extravagance-texture?ref=shop_home_active_19&ga_search_query=Prima

Prima Shabby Chic Treasures Resin Ballerinas: https://www.etsy.com/listing/230934441/prima-shabby-chic-treasures-collection?ref=shop_home_active_7&ga_search_query=Prima

Prima Shabby Chic Treasures Resin Baroque Frames: https://www.etsy.com/listing/236494495/prima-shabby-chic-treasures-collection?ref=shop_home_active_12&ga_search_query=Prima

Prima Vintage Mechanicals Clock Face (large): https://www.etsy.com/listing/238129191/prima-vintage-mechanicals-trinkets?ref=shop_home_active_11&ga_search_query=Prima

Prima Junkyard Findings Metal Clock Faces: https://www.etsy.com/listing/208016443/prima-junkyard-findings-collection?ref=shop_home_active_1&ga_search_query=Prima

Prima Junkyard Findings Metal Clock Hands: https://www.etsy.com/listing/220850750/prima-junkyard-findings-vintage-metal?ref=shop_home_active_16&ga_search_query=Prima

Prima Jodi Lee Butterfly Collection Flowers (Chorion): https://www.etsy.com/listing/226732523/prima-marketing-jodie-lee-butterfly?ref=shop_home_active_10&ga_search_query=Prima

Prima Color Bloom Sprays (Pearl White): https://www.etsy.com/listing/205853631/new-item-prima-color-bloom-spray-mist?ref=shop_home_active_9&ga_search_query=Prima

Monday, September 14, 2015

Shabby Chic Birdcage (DT Project for Reneabouquets)

Soooooo... I had a small "house" shaped birdcage in my stash waiting for the perfect project and this was the one! I was asked to create something special for a newly married wedding couple and thought this birdcage would be a wonderful addition for their home décor. I wanted to incorporate this project with their wedding colors (peacock) and one of their stunning wedding photos. I thought this project would be a beautiful accent to remember their wedding day for years to come! You might find it interesting to see some peacock feathers in the background of the cage, but there is a great reason for this...the peacock feathers are from an actual hairpiece worn during the wedding, so I wanted to be sure and include it as part of the project! The beautiful photo was taken by my friend, Sharon, who owns a local photography studio, http://simplydesignstudios.com/ and was the photographer for this wedding.
I painted the entire birdcage with an off-white chalk paint mixed with sand and then began layering a ton of flowers and product, some of which are from my stash and some of which are from Reneabouquets Etsy shop! The links to the products I used from Renea's shop will be below the photos....as well as my Youtube video, explaining this project in detail! You can click on each individual product link if you are interested in a certain item, or to go directly to the homepage, click on the Reneabouquets link to the right on my sidebar.

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Mixed Media Shabby Chic Frame (DT Project for Reneabouquets)

For this project, I decided to alter a inexpensive frame.

I will list a few products I used From Renea's shop in this description, but for the complete list of links to products I used, these will be identified underneath the pictures, for your convenience, should you want to go take a look in Renea's shop! You can also just click the Reneabouquets link to the right at my sidebar, which will take you directly to the main page!
I purchased this frame from Walmart. I purposely chose a frame that had enough outer area space for embellishments and the picture area needed to have a nice depth to it. The base of the frame is a plastic. I used Black Gesso and a round foam brush in a pouncing motion to create texture on the frame. I pulled out Prima Tea Thyme paper to use on the frame. I distressed the edges with the Prima distress tool and sewed around the perimeter with my sewing machine. I removed the glass of the 4x6 opening which created a shadow box area. In this area, I layered some of the paper with natural cluny lace from Reneabouquets. This gave it a nice texture. I layered a lot of Wild Orchid Craft flowers, with flowers from Micheals $2 bin and Prima flowers from Renea's shop. I also used a Reneabouquets flower in Camellia pink. Amidst the flowers I added gears from Bead Landing and Prima. At the bottom of the frame I used a wood word from Micheals (LOVE) and added Lindys Stamp Gang shimmer mist in Clam Bake Beige prior to using the Tim Holtz Crackle paint in White Picket Fence. It worked great spraying it first, because then this spray, which is a pinkish beige color, came through the cracks! I like to play off letters in wood words to give it a little whimsy, so I played off the "l" and "o". By this, I mean that I will use embellishment which, when adhered, will still look like the letter, so it still "reads" like the word! I laid a Prima resin angel on the "l" and added quite a few items to the "o". I first added a Prima Junkyard Findings Clock Face, a Bead Landing gear, a Prima Shabby Chic Treasures Oval Frame, a Prima Resin Ampersand symbol, a Prima Junkyard Findings Clock Hand and some Prima Finnabair findings along with a rolled rose. I even added a Prima Resin Parenthesis at the end of the word! To add a little movement, I hung two swags of chain from the Finnabair piece that swings over to the right on the side of the frame and is attached to a Spare Parts little knob. Underneath the "LOVE" word, I placed another wood word titled "Memories" so that the complete title says "Love & Memories". If you look on the outer part of the frame, you will notice Prima Pipe Parts, Water Faucet and Water Drip. I thought these elements would add a touch of girly grunge! I wanted it to appear as if "time" (the word on the water drip) was dripping on your "Love and Memories". To top it all off and give it a touch of romance, I added two beautiful Tiny Treasures Butterflies (Emmie's Dream) and Glitter Glass in Pink from Reneabouquets. I adhered the Glitter Glass in various places using Prima 3-D Matte Gel. Here are the pictures:

Sunday, July 26, 2015

Shabby Chic Miniature Bench (DT Project for Reneabouquets)

Soooo, I found this miniature bench and decided to turn it into a shabby chic piece of art! I won't get into too much detail about this piece, I will let the pictures show the cuteness! I will say this, however, this was originally a piece of Easter décor. The backrest looked like a row of carrots! I left the "carrot tops" exposed, because I liked the scallop edge it left, but I covered the rest (front and back) with a thin piece of wood that I had in my stash. To being with, I painted the whole bench with Martha Stewart chalk paint in the "Wedding Cake" color. I used Prima Romance Novel paper, sewing around the perimeter and distressed the edges with a Prima distress tool. I painted the large wood word with Tim Holtz Crackle Paint in the White Picket Fence color. Then I just began layering with lots of yummy Wild Orchid Craft flowers, Prima Flowers and Petaloo Flowers. I used lots of yummy product from Renabouquets shop that by Prima, Reneabouquets Glitter Glass, Butterfly lace and a beautiful handcrafted Reneabouquets Butterfly! I will have all the links to the product I used from Reneabouquets below the pictures! I also wanted to have a little "movement" on the project, so I added some chain connected to the "Love" word with some Tim Holtz eyehooks and topped it off with a hanging key charm from Prima. Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, June 25, 2015

Shabby Chic Mini Album/Clock (DT Project for Reneabouquets)

I started with a Prima Memory Hardware Gatefold Mini Album-Frank Garcia's line, and papers from Dovecraft-Sweet Paris collection, Prima-Debutante collection and 1 sheet by K&Company. I wanted to create a shadowbox on the back portion of the album, so I cut and opening in the back panel, used a wood frame that I dissembled from a pre-made canvas and glued that to the back of the album to make a "shadowbox" area to house the clock. since I dissembled the canvas to use the frame, I cut a piece of chipboard to cover the back portion...and then used all the beautiful papers to cover everything up! (I used my sewing machine to sew around the perimeter of every piece of paper/cardstock used in the mini album-this adds a great extra distressed look) For the pages on the inside, I used two of the 4 page "sections" that came with the mini album. I had to detach those pages, to take half of them away. The pages were in the size of 6.5x6.5 and I wanted them to be 1/2 pages, like the front cover, so I used a craft knife and ruler to cut the remaining pages in half. I only wanted to decorate the two front pages when the album opened to leave plenty of space to add some photos, if desired. I also decorated the back shadow box page and added my clock to that portion. On the large wood word, I used Tim Holtz Distress Crackle Paint in Tattered Rose. For other added texture I used Prima 3D Matte gel and Glitter Glass in Sand color. This Glitter Glass came from Renea's shop. I also used this Glitter Glass and pressed it into the texture paste (where I used the Prima Crackle mask on the cover of the album) when it was still wet to give it a romantic look, and also added it to some of the elements around the album. I wanted the "O" on the wood word to have a playful touch, so I layerd some fun elements, so that it still looks like an "O" at a glance. I think it came out well! There are tons of great RB products I used on this project as well as Prima product from Renea's shop. I will list the products/links used below the pics. If you just want to browse Renea's shop...to get to the home page, just click the Reneabouquets link to the right on my sidebar!

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Shabby Chic Embellishment Holder (DT Project for Reneabouquets)

I found this metal frame with a glass votive holder at a thrift shop for $1.00 and decided to turn it into a shabby chic embellishment holder! I thought it would look cute on anyone's craft table holding crafty embellishments. I wanted to change the color of the bronze metal stand so I mixed Delta acrylic paint in Oyster White with a fine grain sand (for texture) and used this to paint my base. I also used this for texture on top of all my embellishments to tie it all together. I loved the shape of the glass votive holder so I didn't do much decoration to it. I just added some pink lace and sheer pink ribbon at the top and then a Prima zipper pull in the center. I wanted to create a 'garden' at the bottom and every garden needs a swing! So, I handmade a little swing and used a cotton crochet thread to hang it just under the glass votive holder. I think it turned out cute! In my garden, (and on the swing) I used tons of Wild Orchid craft flowers and a few Prima flowers from the Jodi Lee Butterfly collection. These Chorion flowers came from Reneabouquets! On the left I added a cute metal heart that I painted white, and layered some Prima yummies... a Vintage Mechanicals Clock, A Junkyard Findings clock face and clock hands...you'll also find another set of clock face and hands on the backside of the project. These are my favorite staples to use in my crafts and you can find these at Reneabouquets!! Thank Goodness! On the right side, I layered a Resin frame, a Prima resin word "love" and topped that off with a beautiful Reneabouquets Tiny Treasures butterfly, called Pink Bubblegum! On the very front of the piece, I decided I needed a fence in my garden, so I used a pre-made fence from Joanns, painted it with Tim Holtz White Picket Fence Crackle paint, added a Prima metal sign ("Home") and a Prima resin bird. I wanted the garden scene to continue around the project, so on the backside, you'll find more Wild Orchid Craft flowers, the Prima clock face/hands, I mentioned earlier, a resin bird cage (tucked behind the metal heart) a beautiful lace butterfly trim from Reneabouquets ( I cut this trim apart to use a single butterfly) and topped it all off with the guardian angel (a resin piece by Prima). Also, in various places around the project, I wanted to add some of the Glitter Glass in the Diamond shade, (found at Reneabouquets) as I thought this would add a touch of shabby elegance! The products used from Reneabouquets will be listed below the pics. You can click on each individual link if you like one of the products or to get to Reneabouquets main page just click on the link to the right on my sidebar.