Guest Blogger....reFresh reStyle!

Today's guest blogger, Debbie from reFresh reStyle, is one seriously talented lady! I "met" her a few months ago when I discovered THIS POST and I have been hooked ever since! (you really will want to check out that link, you are going to be blown away!) So...needless to say, I am so happy she is my guest here today!

Hi, I'm Debbie from reFresh reStyle! I'm excited to be here, I thought I'd share this fun, fast project and I hope you'll visit me and see what else I've been up too!

Thanks Carmella for the opportunity of guest posting!

The Cardboard "W"

Mrs. B and I go to lunch every Tuesday, and some of those lunches end with a trip to Hobby Lobby (less calories than dessert!). We walk around discussing items and what we would do with them. I don't know how many times we've picked these up and said, I want to do something with one:

The pressed paper cardboard letter! Finally, I came up with something! A framed cardboard letter! To create the frame I used a 10 cent (from a yard sale) cabinet door. The letter was $1.06 ($1.77 w/40% discount), that brings to total to $1.16. I know, I am a big spender!
I love the print on this scrapbook paper!
Traced around it, and cut out the shape, leaving enough to cover the edges. I used Elmer's white school glue to adhere.

I painted the cabinet door with the Country Grey chalk paint and trimmed the interior frame with a blue from Valspar (the free samples they were giving away). I like the worn look of the frame and combining it with the text of the scrapbook paper makes it interesting.

I sanded everything and finished with wax.

Leaned it on the mantle to take a picture. I think it will end up in the kitchen or among the photos in my gallery wall. I am trying to incorporate some blues in my decor!

Here are the other ingredients used to create the project. I used my Pampered Chef rolling pin to smooth out the wrinkles, the E6000 glue to adhere the letter to the cabinet door, books to apply pressure (while it dried).

Debbie, Thank you so much for sharing your talent with all of us!! I love this project so much, and can't wait to give it a try!

Guest Blogger.....Momma Made It

Today's guest blogger is Emilee from Momma Made It! Emilee just recently added a sweet baby to her family too, so she knows all to well that I could use a little help from my friends while I am taking care of my new baby boy. I am so happy that she stopped by to be a guest today.....



Meet Momma Made It! .......


So I am trying to get a few new things together for the "Nursery/Shared Room" for the kiddos! 

And when I saw this a few weeks ago I thought holy that's cute!

These are from dollarstorecrafts.com! 

I love Dollar Store Crafts.... cause well I love the dollar store!

So after I thought holy that's cute I thought I wonder what I could do with this.... and then this came out...

I am in love with them!

Here is how I did them... 

(unfortunately I was so excited while making them that I forgot to take pictures...)

First I cut down a cardboard box... shocking for me I know... 

I cut it to the size that I wanted (I cut four of them) and then I glued two of the sheets together with just white glue and I weighted them down with plates and vases... 

Next I painted them both white. 

Then I lightly sketched out each name and glued my crayons down over the sketched letters.

Personally I preferred to have them with the outside paper taken off and I cut them much smaller of course since I had more letters to make. 

Here is a close up of the letters....

For Max's I did all the letters in green, yellow, orange and blue... the colors I am using for his side of the room.

,

and for Delaney I used reds, purples and pinks. (the colors of one Strawberry Shortcake)

Then I used excess cardboard to make the frames, I did my best to make them a perfect mitered edge but clearly I didn't succeed, and at 9:30 after a long day with a very active girl I really didn't mind that it wasn't perfect. Then I just covered the cardboard with scrapbooking paper in coordinating colors... reddish for Delaney and orangeish for Max.

Here they are again... in full and a bit closer up!

I think they will look great against the green walls... Yup I am painting the walls green and I can't wait!

Make anything cute for your kids lately? 

I'd love to hear about it!

Emilee, thanks so much for sharing! What a cute project!

Guest Blogger.....Arlington Mama

Today's guest blogger, Annie from Arlington Mama, is truly one of a kind. She has been such a great friend to me that we decided recently that we should just be neighbors....she really is that great! Her wisdom and encouragement have meant so much to me. And did I mention she is pretty creative too! Just keep reading and you will know just what I am talking about.....



Hello CC friends! It's so great to be over here at Carmella's place. She has become a quick friend, as we have so much in common!  She just might be my long-lost sister or something; I'm sure of it.  She's the best, but you know that!

So my blog is a little bit of everything, but today I thought I'd tell you a bit about some of the crafting I've been doing lately for a wedding that I'm working on for a friend of mine.  I'm cheap and green (somewhat), so this decor is a challenge in creativity that I absolutely love!  It ties into my cheapness philosophies on financial and environmental responsibility well.  ;)

Okay, so the theme of the wedding is kinda antiquey-vintage-country, and the colors are yellow and grey, and the budget is shoestring.  She's getting married outdoors at this gorgeous little farmhouse, and there will only be 40 guests.  Okay, you with me so far?

So there will be 6 guest tables, and this is kinda what they're going to look like.

I've already changed it a little, but you get the gist.

At each place setting we are going to put these to double as place cards and favors.

They are baby food jars, wrapped in lace and grey ribbon, with a printout of the person's name on card stock.  They have tealight candles in them, and I think it will look pretty and sparkly when they're all lit as the sun is setting.  

The centerpiece is going to be a quart-sized Mason jar with flowers in it, and I'm going to put one of these in each to identify the table numbers.

It's basically a little wooden disc painted with the numbers, outlined with various things (ball chains, gold cording, a gift bag handle) with ribbon and raffia as bows hot-glued to sticks from my backyard.  I LOVE the way they turned out, and when they're in flowers, they'll stand a lot better.

The only things I actually bought for this project was the yellow raffia and the discs, probably about $3-4 total.  I LOVE the challenge of finding things that I already have and repurposing them into something beautiful.  Frugal and green!

This is for the front table to direct people to the ceremony.

I'll be posting about how I made it over at Arlington Mama soon.

And excuse the iPhone photo, but I made this for the photo booth that will be set up with all sorts of goodies like boas, big glasses, stick mustaches, and more!

The idea came from something I saw on Pinterest.  Also, the swallows are the same ones from her invitations.  I love making it cohesive with graphics.

This is my next project to tackle.  It's for the backdrop of the altar.  If you want to see the finished product, then come and see me at Arlington Mama!  The wedding is on October 1st, but I've been giving everyone sneak peeks.  I hope you'll come by and see me!  

Annie, thank you so much for sharing your creativity with us! I am so lucky to have met you and thanks much for covering for me today so that I would have a little more time to stare at your long lost nephew ;)



Guest Blogger....One Artsy Mama!

I am sooo excited to have my great blogging friend Amy from One Artsy Mama here today! She is such a creative girl and I always love going over to see what she and her Little Crafter have been up to! I know you will too if you haven't already ;)

Take it away Amy...

 

Hi!  I'm Amy, otherwise known as One Artsy Mama.  I enjoy being a wife to my best friend, mama to an adorable 3 year old I like to call my Little Crafter, and a professional ballroom dancer. 

When I'm not busy in one of those roles, I love doing artsy craftsy things of all kinds and blogging about them in the hopes that it might inspire someone else.  I'm so excited to be here today helping Carmella out, mostly because that means baby boy is finally here {yay}!  She asked me to share a kids' craft with you, so here's one of my recent favorite projects that Little Crafter and I tackled along with two of his little buddies...

Now that September is here, I'm not waiting any longer! 

Time to break out the fabulous fall crafts and activities!

My friend Shelley recently sent Little Crafter a Michaels gift card for his birthday, and she also sent us printed out photos and directions for a ton of fun holiday projects.  Little Crafter's favorite was a flowerpot painted to look like a jack-o-lantern.  We decided the only thing more fun than making it would be making it with friends!

So that is what we did.

We had a craft {and playground and Panera} playdate with some of our favorite friends, Owen, Ella, and Ms. Brandee.

To make your own, all you need are flowerpots {any size}, orange and black or dark brown acrylic paint,

and paint brushes.

First, you paint the outside of the pot orange.  Let it dry.  Then, flip it and paint the inside.

Finally, add a face!

I thought they turned out totally adorable!  We filled them with candy...AC Moore didn't have candy corn in stock yet, so the kids picked out Jelly Belly packages.  Now, after every meal, a certain someone I know asks if he can have three jellybeans...it's too cute!

Did I mention that the pots cost 89 cents a piece?  If you already have paint, it doesn't get much cheaper than that!

Thanks, Carmella, for the opportunity to share this project, and thanks to all of you for reading along.

I'd love to have you stop by One Artsy Mama; I have a Fall Craft Challenge going on and I'd love for you to come and play!

Happy Fall!

Amy, Thank you so much for sharing your talent with all of us!I just love seeing all those little crafters and I know my other "babies" are going to love this craft too, and they might just think their momma is still cool! (Don't worry I'll give you the credit!)

Guest Blogger...... Crafty, Scrappy, Happy!!

I am so excited to have Jamie from Crafty, Scrappy, Happy here today! If you haven't been by to visit her yet, you really should. Not only is she sooo talented and creative, she is one of the most encouraging people I have ever met. I am so blessed to have "met" her through the blogging world and I just know you are going to love her too!

 

Hi Creative Carmella friends and fans it is an honor to be here!  I am so excited and yess it is impart because I love blogging and meeting new blog friends, but it is also exciting because if I am here then it means that Carmella's newest little baby boy is here too--I am SO darn excited for her and her family!!

Soo, my name is Jaime and I am the "person" behind the blog Crafty Scrappy Happy.

I love doing everything I can to get a decor look that I love for a LOW cost!

I would be thrilled if you would come over and visit!!!

But for now I want to do a craft that is completely and totally inspired by Carmella.

I thought it would be a nice gift for her and her new little one!

Here is the final product!

and here is how I made it!

I started out with a canvas tote that I had picked up from a scrapbook convention for $1.00 each.

I have done a few projects with them but this might just be my favorite because it is a gift for Carmella!

for the L had fun doing a kind of messy type quilting together of old scraps of fabric that I had laying around from other projects....

I tried to keep the color palate a bit more baby boy-ish....buttt I think it may have ended up a little girly still---sorry little baby L and Carmella!

after I stitched everything together I trimmed up the excess fabric and then cut the L freehanded.

Then I ironed the L and the bag and just attached the L with my sewing machine.

I just outlined the letter---it gave the L an embroidered look.

I used my scraps from the L to make a little bow to add to the tote handles.

I added the words using a citra solv technique I use all of the time over at my blog----here are a few links you can check out if you are interested in doing something like that wording.

a lat and long. pillow.

Bicycle canvas tote

Dressing up old jars

I used the quote that Carmella used awhile back when she showed us--her blog friends a sonogram picture of little L

:o)


Again, it was a wonderful treat to be here to day!

Stop by anytime!!


(I host a linky party on Thursdays also---I would LOVE to see you there)


Jamie, you are soooo good to me! We do love our bag! Thank you so much for sharing your talent with us and for the amazing amount of encouragement you have given me since I started this blog! I'm so happy I get to count you as one of my friends!

PS: Liam LOVES his bag :)

Simply Sunday........

May your day be filled with blessings.....