DCC Blog Hop: Colorique and U-Paint Metal Crafts

Today, I am blog hopping with the Designer Crafts Connection, ColorBox Colorique by Lisa Marie Jimenez, and U-Paint Metal Crafts!

U-Paint Metal Crafts are the perfect addition to any of your holiday decor projects. I took this plain wire basket from drab to fab with the Holiday Horn metal piece and ColoriQue ink. ColoriQue is amazing -- it's so easy to create a verdigris patina effect in just a couple of steps!

I started by washing the metal piece with soap and water. This removes any grease or metal dust that may be on the piece from the manufacturing process. After drying, I painted the piece with a light coat of white acrylic paint to serve as a primer as well as a base color for my patina effect.

Once the primer coat was dry, I then applied Clearsnap ColorBox ColoriQue by Lisa Marie Jimenez in Verdigris using a foam sponge paint brush. I applied it lightly using a tapping technique so that some of the white paint can still be seen.

Lastly, I applied Clearsnap ColorBox ColoriQue by Lisa Marie Jimenez in Black Diamond using the same sponging technique. This really helped to give the piece an antiqued look!

I finished the piece by sealing the color with a heat tool. Just make sure to protect your fingers -- this piece is metal so it will be hot! I then took a wire basket that I picked up at my local big box store and attached a velvet Christmas bow. Using hot glue, I attached the Holiday Horn to the bow.

Imagine how pretty this would be in your bathroom holding hand towels for guests or as a beautiful gift basket filled with kitchen items!

Now go check out all of the other beautiful holiday pieces from U-Paint Metal Crafts and ColoriQue over at the Designer Crafts Connection blog -- you are sure to find something that will inspire you to make something beautiful!

Personalized Keychain Using JOY Embroidered Letters

Disclosure: As a member of the JOY design team, I received the embroidered letters for free in exchange for my design ideas. The other products used in this project were purchased by me.

You won't lose your keys again... well, ok, you might still misplace them, but when you find them, you will know they are yours with this fun keychain!

Father's Day Baseball Stand

Disclosure: As a member of Deflecto Crafts and Buttons Galore design teams, I received products used in this post fore free in exchange for my ideas and creativity. 

Is your dad or husband a baseball fan? If he is, then I have the perfect project for a Father's Day gift that will "knock it out of the park" -- a place to display his best souvenirs!

Deflecto's Acrylic Display Block is such a cool way to show off your treasures. It's a solid piece of acrylic that is just the right size for displaying smaller items: a baseball fits perfectly on it!

In keeping with the baseball theme, I decorated the display block with these adorable buttons from Buttons Galore. They are so easy to attach to the block -- just put a little dot of hot glue on the back of each button!

I placed a baseball stand on top of the display block to hold the baseball. I actually made it myself using my 3D printer! But if you don't have a 3D printer, you can always keep the ball from rolling off the stand by placing a large metal washer on top of the block (attach with hot glue) and then placing the ball on top of the washer -- the hole in the washer will hold the ball so it won't roll.

Now, Dad has a fun way to display his favorite ballpark memories, either at home or at work!

For even more fun projects using Deflecto products, check out the Deflecto Crafts blog. We have such a talented team of designers that make awesome things every month!

Graduation Photo Frame

It's graduation time again! This is one of the most exciting times in a person's life, and is always a great opportunity for some unforgettable photos. Make sure that you display those memories -- it's easy with a Deflecto acrylic frame and a few simple embellishments!

I started with Deflecto Crafts 4x6 purple border craft frame. I love the transparent quality of acrylic frames so I wanted to play off of that and use translucent embellishments that wouldn't overwhelm the frame. I chose some silver rub-ons to go around the frame opening. Rub-ons are fantastic to use on these frames; they are easy to apply to the acrylic and they adhere beautifully. Plus they are crazy easy to use - just rub and go!

Next I chose a large fancy "frame" rub-on to apply to the bottom left corner. In keeping with the translucent feel, I used a piece of vellum printed with the word "dream". I fussy-cut the word and adhered it straight onto the rub-on using vellum adhesive (this is a staple in my craft room because vellum adhesive won't show through). I finished by adding a beautiful glittered flower from Prima.

This frame would be a great display piece for a graduation party - so inexpensive and so easy!