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!

DIY Recipe Box

When I got married, I went from eating cold cereal for dinner to actually having to cook meals! I was at a loss for food ideas so I went on a search for easy family recipes. Oh how I wish someone had given me a set of recipes for a bridal shower gift!

So instead of buying the newlyweds something that they will never use, what about giving them a handmade recipe box filled with your family's favorite recipes?!

Mother's Day Floral Desk Set

The month of May is here, and we know that May brings two things: flowers and Mother's Day! I decided that I would combine those two lovely things into one beautiful desk set just for Mom.


For the frame, I started with Deflecto's purple border slanted 4x6 sign holder. The gorgeous purple color just lends itself to decorating with flowers! I found this wonderful family quote from Keller's Creations, and I attached it to a piece of patterned paper from the Recollections "Boho" collection and placed inside the frame.

For the outside of the frame, I took 2 doilies (also from the "Boho" collections from Recollections) and folded them into quarters. I attached them to two corners of the frame.

I then took paper flowers and added a little color and shimmer to them with some spray ink and shimmer spray, both from the same collection as the paper and doilies! Once those flowers were dry, I attached them on top of the folded doilies using adhesive dots. I finished them with buttons from Buttons Galore.

For the other half of my project, I used the Deflecto Stackable Cube Organizer. Using the same patterned papers that I used for the frame, I placed 4 pieces of paper inside the cube and attached them to the sides using adhesive dots. I then placed doilies on the outside of each side of the cube, and finished them off with a paper flower and button to match the frame.

Mom will love this set -- it can be used to brighten up her desk at work, hold her makeup brushes in the bathroom, or hold cooking utensils in the kitchen! She will think of you every time she sees it!

"Home" DIY Wooden Plaque

As most of y'all know, I am a Georgia girl, born and bred, so this little wooden plaque just speaks to my heart!

I made this adorable sign at the Pinners Conference here in Atlanta (if you haven't heard of it, you have to go check it out -- it's amazing). A company called Unfinished Wood Co. (based here in GA) had these wonderful wood pieces that we then finished using paints from Plaid Crafts (also based here in GA -- are you seeing a pattern here?).

The paints from Plaid are seriously fantastic. I mean, these people just know what they are doing when it comes to all sorts of finishes for crafting. For the background wood, I used FolkArt Home Decor Chalk Paint and then scraped the paint with a plastic spatula to remove some of the paint and give it a more distressed look. Then I painted the Georgia portion with more FolkArt Home Decor Chalk Paint and the new Folk Art Pickling Wash (love that stuff!), again using a scraper to remove some of the paint so that the wood grain could be seen. I distressed the edges with chalk paint and splattered the whole plaque to give it a more rustic look.

I wanted to give the sign a little more texture so I added embroidered letters from JOY, spelling out the word "home". I love the extra little bit of depth that the fabric letters give that I wouldn't have gotten from paint or vinyl.

I simply adore this little sign and I can't wait to hang it up and show everyone my state pride!

A big thanks to Unfinished Wood Co. and Plaid for this fun and adorable sign and awesome paint products!

Happy Spring Pencil Cup

This spring flowers are in bloom, and so is this adorable little pencil cup! With some buttons, a few flowers, and a little washi tape, a regular pencil holder brings a little of the outside straight to your desk.

"Eggstravagant" Easter Door Decor

Your front door will be hopping with this cute Easter egg!

Etched Glass Lantern featuring Etchall

Hello crafters -- Lorrie here and today, I am " blog hopping" with the Designer Crafts Connection and Etchall! We are bringing you some really cool etched glass crafts using Etchall, a glass etching cream that is like no other. I will show you how to turn plain glass into frosted "antiqued" glass using nothing but Etchall and a sponge!

St. Patrick's Day Frame featuring Deflecto and Oly*Fun

Show everyone what a lucky gal you are with this adorable St. Patrick's Day-themed frame featuring Deflecto craft frames and Oly*Fun fabric!

Coffee Station Organization

Do you have a coffee maker that uses those little KCups? We do and we love it! But sometimes, my cup stash is a mess. They are in different boxes in the cabinets and I have to dig through them to find the flavor I want. When you are in dire need of that morning cup, that extra effort is no bueno. When I go for my daily cup of java, I want to be able to get to it as quickly as possible (so that it can work it's magic even faster), so I decided to organize my KCups using Deflecto's Stackable Four 4-Drawer Cube Organizer!

"Cookies for Santa" DIY recipe frame and signs

We all know the importance of leaving cookies and milk for Santa. After all, he has to get hungry while traveling all around the world, right?

This year, I am keeping that tradition alive with this cookie display using Deflecto frames and sign holders. Both of these can be used over and over so that you can display them year after year.

"Santa Stop Here" sign

Want to make sure Santa pays you a visit? Then make a sign telling him! This quick and easy craft is fun for kids and adults alike.

Materials needed:

• blank wooden sign
• red acrylic paint
• foam paintbrush
• Design Master SnoBlast spray
• JOY embroidered stick-on letters

1. Paint sign with red acrylic paint using a foam brush. Allow paint to dry. I am super impatient, so I used a heat gun to speed up the process.  
2. Stick on the embroidered letters (I like to stagger my letters so that I don't have to worry about them being straight!)
3. Spray sign with SnoBlast spray. The amount of snow is all based on personal preference; I wanted my letters to really stand out so I just gave my sign a light dusting of "snow", but you can always add more! Also make sure you use this spray outside or you will end up with a covering of "snow" all over your house -- believe me!
4. Hang and enjoy!

There's no way that Santa will skip your house with this sign, even if you have been naughty!

Happy holidays and happy crafting!

Easy Thanksgiving Centerpiece

Every Thanksgiving table needs a pretty centerpiece, so let's make one using Deflecto Craft products and JOY embroidered letters!

 I started with a mini straw bale and a fall floral pick that I found at Hobby Lobby. I then split the pick apart into individual pieces so that I could arrange them the way I wanted.

I placed a Deflecto Flexible Sign Dangler under the metal pieces that hold the straw bale together. These sign danglers are amazing -- they are made of thin flexible metal so that you can bend them any way you want! They also have adhesive tabs on them, making it easy to attach a sign to.

I then made a sign using Deflecto Sign Tags and JOY embroidered letters. I cut the sign tag in half and applied the letters and leaves using glue dots (this style of letter is actually an iron-on, but I have had great success on non-fabric surfaces using glue dots or hot glue). Finally I attached the sign to the sign dangler. I covered the sign dangler with a leaf from the floral pick.

What a beautiful addition to my holiday table! And since these are so easy to make and budget-friendly, I may just make a few extras so my guests can take one home for themselves!

"Time Warp" Halloween Wall Hanging

I am getting ready for Halloween with a little dance number!

Can you guess what my favorite Halloween movie is?

If you recognize my project as the lyrics to "The Time Warp", then you know I love "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"! 

I decided to take the Deflecto Sign Tags and make a wall hanging featuring everyone's favorite Halloween dance.

The sign tags (which are awesome and they come with their own wet erase marker) start out looking like this:

But with a little bit of purple and green glitter tape and some Halloween embellishments from Michaels, they turn into this!

I punched holes in the sign tags using a Crop A Dile punch and then strung the signs together with some black glitter ribbon. Now this project can by hung on a wall or even on your door... stand back and let the dancing begin!

This project is a really easy one and is great for kids. You can always use lyrics from Halloween songs like "Monster Mash" or quotes from other Halloween movies too!

Thanks for checking out my project and happy hauntings!

Celebrating with Deflecto and DCC

"Celebrate good times, come on!"

OK, so I may not be Kool and the Gang, but celebrations are awesome! This blog hop with Deflecto Crafts and the Designer Crafts Connection is all about celebrating: weddings, birthdays, holidays, and any other occasion that make you want to party. And what better way to party than with dessert?!

Today, I am featuring the 3-Tier Dessert Stand from Deflecto. This stand is amazing because you can aadjust the height of the plates (great for taller cupcakes) and it completely knocks down to store flat. Yes, it stores totally flat so you aren't scrambling to find storage space for it in your kitchen!

It's made from beautifully clear acrylic that matches any decor and is easy to clean. However, I wanted to jazz it up a little, but still have it be able to match anything. So I used an amazing product called "Tint It" from Design Master. It's a transparent dye in a spray can that you can use to change the color of almost anything. It works beautifully on Deflecto's acrylic products! For this project I used their "gold shimmer" Tint It to give it just the right amount of sparkle. It also will also match any celebration decor!

I sprayed the under-side of all three tiers of the dessert stand. I only sprayed the under-side so that the top would still be food safe and easy to clean. I also sprayed the two supports. The great thing about the Tint It spray is that you can adjust the color strictly by spraying it a little or a lot! I sprayed mine a lot to give it a more opaque finish.

I then finished it off the edges with some gold sparkle tape from Darice. The great thing about this stand is that tape is easy to remove so you can customize it to any celebration! Add ribbon for birthdays, gold sequins for New Year's Eve... the possibilities are endless!

To see what other designers in this blog hop have done with these amazing Deflecto products, go to the Designer Crafts Connection logo in my sidebar.

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Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. As a member of the Deflecto Design Team I have been provided product in exchange for my creative ideas, views and opinions.

"Boo to You" Candy Holder Sign

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. As a member of the Deflecto Design Team, I have been provided product in exchange for my creative ideas, views and opinions.

Let's face it: Halloween is all about the candy. This "Boo to You" sign lets you combine candy with a cute decoration that can be used even after the candy is gone!

"The Eyes Have It" Halloween Frame

"Jeepers creepers,

Where'd you get those peepers?"

You are going to think "somebody's watching me" when you make this easy Halloween frame!