Woodland Table Centerpieces

My best friend Julie, is almost due to have her baby.  I was more than happy to help in the preparations of her baby shower.  Since her nursery is going to be a woodland theme I thought it would be appropriate to incorporate that into the decorations of the shower.  I created the favors, centerpieces, a banner, wishing tree and a few other surprises I will share with you in my next few posts.  Enjoy!

 I created the birdhouses from plain birdhouses I found at my local craft stores.  Each birdhouse was uniquely decorated.  I used my Ranger paint dabbers to paint the houses.  Each house was decorated with it's own combination of decorative papers. Most got additional details added with paint, die cuts, embellishments, etc.  I then used a strong epoxy to attach them to a candlestick I painted to match.

The woodland animals I cut from the Cricut cartridge Give A Hoot.  Our area was hit hard with storms and I was able to use some fallen trees for the pedestals for my creations.  My wonderful Dad help me cut the wood into the sizes that I wanted and then I used some heavy adhesive to attach the top to the bottom.  A few pine cones and other nature elements added to the centerpiece. 

Because I wanted the centerpieces to look great no matter where you were sitting at the table I added mason jars filled with flowers and greens.  Not just ordinary mason jars though, I painted these with the delicious colors from my Ranger Paint Dabbers.  I simply poured a little into the jar added a little water and used a brush to coat the sides and bottom.  The outside of the jars remained the beautiful shiny glass but showed the gorgeous color that coordinated with the decor.  Lovely!

I will be selling the bird houses along with many of my other creations at my next show 

36th Annual ALL NIGHT Flea Market

August 18th, 4 PM - 4 AM

Yes, you read that right

4 o'clock PM till 4 in the morning!!!

DuPage County Fairgrounds

2015 Manchester Road ,Wheaton, IL 60187

Table 1 Centerpiece

 Table 2 Centerpiece

Table 3 Centerpiece

 Table 4 Centerpiece

 Table 5 Centerpiece

 Tables 6 and 7 Centerpieces

Wearable Art - Grungy Monday 37

 This weeks Grungy Monday hosted by Linda at Studio L3 is Wearable Art with Tim Holtz products.  And everybody knows how I love everything Tim!  I must have a knack for them as my pocketwatches that I bring to shows have been featured in the Daily Hearld newspaper. Most I don't share online but  I thought I would share a few of them with you today.

One of my favorites. 

 Most housewifes can relate to this one when they need to escape reality once in a while.

March Madness

This March is going to be a busy one for me!   I'm doing 2 crafts big shows which I'm very excited about.  I'm working on filling my piggy bank for a big surprise for all of you!  One that I hope you will be as excited about as I am.    If you are in the area please come on by and stop by my booth.   I have tons of stuff there that I don't have in my online store.  Plus, I would love to meet you!  Hope to see you there :)

March 3rd and 4th I'll be back at the DuPage Expo
for the Festival of Art and Craft Show.

DuPage Expo Center

4050 E. Main St

St. Charles, IL

(on North Ave. across from Pheasant Run)

170 booths

Saturday 9am - 4pm

Sunday 10am - 4pm

$2.00 admission

Get map

I am then heading over to Harper College March 17th and 18th.

for the Festival of Art and Craft Show there.

Harper College

1200 W. Algonquin Rd.

(corner of Algonquin and Roselle Rd.)

Palatine, IL

200 booths

Saturday 9am - 4pm

Sunday 10am - 4pm

$3.00 admission

Get map

Lastly, I finish off the month with the Shower of Craft Show on
March 24th and 25th at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn.
College Of DuPage
College of Dupage Gymnasium
Park Blvd. & College St.,
 Glen Ellyn, IL
200 booths
 Saturday 10am - 4pm
 Sunday 11am - 4pm
Get Map

You Can Find Me In A Store

I am very proud to announce that The Blue House Gift Shop & Gallery is now selling many of my creations!  The owner saw my collection at the show this past weekend and was very interested.  I came into their shop yesterday and today it's on the sales floor!!!  They were very excited about all that I had to show them, and let me tell you I had lots to show!  In the end I think I stocked the store pretty well.  Lots of journals, sticky note holders, pocket watch pendants, wine charms, key chains, pregnancy journals, diaper creations, decorative pillows, etc.  This is the first store that I have been featured at so I am very excited!!!   The Blue House is a gift shop and gallery including fair trade, local artists, equestrian items, and home decor.  Recently they hosted the Barrington’s Blue House hosting Bowl of Love benefit you can click HERE to read the article.   If you are in the area The Blue House is in downtown Barrington, IL. near the train station.  Stop on in and say hi! 

  

A $2 Transformation!

This weekend I had a show at the DuPage Expo.  Since I just started doing shows in October of last year I am still very much of a newbie.  

 I needed some new displays for this show so I created one out of an old lamp I found at the Goodwill for $2. 

I was looking for one with a strong wire shade and a decorative bottom, also the shade needed to be supported by a harp (the metal thingy instead of clamped on the light bulb).

I first stripped the shade of all it's stained fabric.  No need for that.  I sanded down where they had glued it to the metal frame. 

I Then whipped out my Claudine Hellmuth Studio Black Gesso Paint.  In ONE coat I covered the  base, the metal shade, and the harp!  Can you believe it only took ONE COAT! Love this stuff. 

 And I will let you in on a little secret.  The black gesso can double as chalk board paint :) 

 How cool is that!!!

Once dried I had the perfect place to clip some of my items on.  I love it!  I loved it so much the hardest part was cutting the cord on it.  I almost wanted to keep it as a lamp and not a display piece.

 I also made the boxes in this last photo the same way except I used cardboard boxes from my Project Life and painted them black.  When it was dry I created a thin wash using Espresso Paint Dabbers and water.  I adorned the fronts with Tim Holtz Ornate Plates

Tagging Made Easy

I needed some price tags for my upcoming craft shows and didn't want to just buy some boring ones that everyone has.  So I decided to create some of my own.   I really like how they turned out and they have a very vintage feel to them.  I used the Tim Holtz Alterations Ticket Strip Die in the photos below but you can also use the small Ticket Movers and Shapers die. I used that my first batch which is pictured in the above photo. 

  I started with some kraft card stock and cut it into 2 inch strips. I then made the "sandwich" for the Vagabond (same as for the Cuttlebug).  Base plate, thin clear (B), Die, Paper, thin clear (B).

Run it through your machine. 

The Vagabond has tons of power to I ran a couple  sheets of card stock at a time with no effort.

I then used the Stampers Anonymous Odds and Ends stamp collection to stamp both sides of the tickets.  The first side has a large blank area that I can put the price of the item.  The other side says Limited Edition created by: leaving a place for me to sign my name.  This makes the customers feel confident that they are getting a handmade item that is not mass produced but that was made with special thought, care and love.

Lastly, I punch a small hole in the tickets and tie it on with some thin twine.  Now I'm good to go.  Love this!  I think I may make some for my Christmas tags next year :)

Pocket Watches Featured in Newspaper

I did a craft show before Christmas and a reporter and photographer from one of the newspapers came to cover the show.   I was honored and surprised to find out that MY altered pocket watches were featured in the newspaper the next morning!!! How exciting!!!  I am new to the whole craft show thing but I thought it would be a way to help with the costs of my addiction to crafting! LOL 

Craft Shows coming up!

Time to make some money to afford all those awesome new products coming out at CHA this year!!!  I have a few craft shows coming up in Febuary. If you are in the area I would love if you could come on by and say hi!  On Febuary 4 & 5th I will be at the DuPage Expo Center.

DuPage Expo Center
4050 East Main St
St. Charles, IL 60174

SHOW HOURS: SATURDAY 11AM - 5PM & SUNDAY 9AM - 3PM         

*****

On Feb 25th I will be participating in the Minooka High Craft Fair

to raise money for their band.

Saturday, February 25, 2012 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM

Minooka Community High School

 Central Campus

301 South Wabena Avenue - Minooka, Illinois 60447

Stop on by and say hi!  I would love to meet you!

I will be at Grey Barn Holiday Market

This weekend I will be at the Grey Barn Holiday Market will all of my creations that I have for sale.  As you can see on the flyer the sale is Friday October 14th 6-9pm and Saturday, October 15th 9-3.  Since many of the items are in my online Etsy shop I will have to put my Etsy shop on vacation hold during sale hours.  For all of you that don't live in the area don't worry it will be open until Friday. Also if you have been eyeing an item in my store this is a great time to pick it up before it's gone, I am offering a 10% discount with discount code greybarn.   You can click here check out A Creation By Christie, my online Etsy store.  I am really looking forward to the sale this weekend.  I have been busy making sure everything is perfect for it.  I have tons of products that I haven't listed in my Etsy store yet that I'm very excited about.  I'm bringing all my stock of Post It note holders, Diaper Creations, Candles and I have created 100's of pendants and charms.  I hope to see a lot of you there :)