Easter Table Decoration - Ruby Rock-It Creative Team

Hello Ruby Rock-It Fans.
I am so excited to be sharing my first project for Ruby Rock-it with you.
Have you seen the fantastic Greenery Range?  When I saw that grass paper I knew it was perfect for some grassy hills on a layout or even on a Table decoration.
And then I saw all the gorgeous new Crafter's Choice Bling and thought it was perfect for enhancing some die cut Easter eggs.
So these thoughts andmy love of picket fences informed my decision to make a picket fence basket decoration for my Easter table this year.

 

Ruby Rock-It Products:

Bella Greenery Grass Paper GNY530

Bella Magic & Wonder Stripe MAW 600

Bella Magic & Wonder Gem MAW53
Bella Cosmos Mantras CMS51

Glitz Cardstock Grape GZ43

Glitz Cardsock Powder GZ29

Fundamentals clear stamp Happy Days HYE56

Various Crafters Choice Bling in pink and purple.  I used Bling Flowers in pink, Bling Purple 3mm and Bling Borderlines Purple.

Mini Distress Inks in Hickory Smoke, Gathered Twigs, Aged Mahogany, Abandoned Coral, Spiced Marmalade, Pickled Rasberry, Victorian Velvet, Wilted Violet and Shaded Lilac.  Or other colours of your choice.

Additional supplies needed

Popsicle Sticks

A sheet of Chipboard or other thick cardboard to make the base of the basket.

Helmar Premium Craft Glue

Die cutting machine or scissors to cut a bunny and eggs out of papers.

Creating my basket

To create my basket I made 4 picket fence panels out of  Popsicle Sticks.  Unfortunately I didn't get photos of the process of making the basket but I will talk you through it.
I simply laid down 3 Popsicle Sticks on my table and glued Popsicle Sticks with a slight gap between each one to them with Helmar Premium Craft Glue until I had a complete panel.

To make my Base I measured my panels and added 1 inch to this measurement.  I cut a piece of chipboard this size and then scored a half inch all the way around and cut out the corner.

I glued my panels to my base with Helmar Premium Craft Glue and with some left over scraps of chipboard I created little reinforcing pieces in the corners high up the panels to ensure a good hold.

When Decorating I need to be mindful of covering my corner reinforcers..

Now it was time to prepare my pieces for decorating.  I started by tearing strips of the Greenery Grass paper keeping in mind I need to be able to create a hilly effect with my tears.

For my eggs I cut a assortment of sizes with my Silhouette Curio from 3 gorgeous papers from the Bella mini themes.
MAW 60 Magic & Wonder Stripe
MAW53 Magic & Wonder Gem
CMS51 Cosmos Mantras
I also diecut some smaller eggs with a manual die cutting machine and a Lawn Fawn die out of Glitz Cardstock in 

While I had my Silhouette hooked up I cut a rabbit and some eggs out of white cardstock.

I wanted to colour my Bunny and white cardstock eggs with assortment of  mini Distress Inks.

I simply dabbed each ink onto my craft mat, spritzed with water and used a brush to paint my colours where  I needed them.  

I soaked up each ink with my eggs by swiping them through it to create individual and unique eggs.

I started with the butterfly and was hoping to leave the bunny white but the ink from the butterfly wound up going onto the bunny's nose so I then used coloured the bunny with Hickory Smoke and Gathered Twigs.

Now it was time for bling.  All that gorgeous Crafter's Choice bling.
I selected some pink and purple bling and cut off small sections to add to some of my eggs.
I love how they turned out.

Starting with the bottom layer first I glued my grassy hills to my basket with Helmar Premium Craft Glue, wrapping them around the corners.

Then I added more sections and tore some smaller to create more hills.

Then I added my Bunny and gave him a cute little pearl tail by cutting 2 of the larger pearls from one of the bling boarders

Finally I started adding my eggs randomly around my basket, trying to get a balance on each side as I went. 
But first I decided I needed to stamp a couple of my eggs with the cute flower in the Happy Days stamp set.

Thank you so much for reading my first Ruby Rock-It post. 

If you would like to see more of my work you are welcome to visit my blog.

 

Upcycled box Fireplace and Pool Noodle Centrepiece - Helmar Creative Team

I hope you are having a great Christmas Eve.  Today I have 2 Christmas Decor projects to share with you.  But first I wanted to start by sharing how I came to be creating my project.
I originally started created the word MERRY from large wooden letters that I was decorating with various papers and embellishments, I was in the middle of my first letter when I thought to myself this decoration really needs to be on a mantel but I don't have a mantel.  So I decided to make a box fireplace.  There are so many versions of this on the internet but I wanted to make one that was kinder to the environment and stronger thanks to using Helmar wherever possible.

So I collected 6 identical wine boxes and 2 laptop identical laptop boxes and assorted non-recyclable clean plastic rubbish and foam packaging that was't recyclable to fill the boxes to give them stability and strength, I sealed the boxes with packing tape, this was the only time I used tape in this project.
I set to work constructing my Fireplace.   I glued my boxes together with Helmar Hobby & Craft Glue at first but later switched to Helmar Premium Craft Glue as I thought it would give more strength and it definitely worked better when I experimented to add texture with fibreglass tape.


I created my base by cutting down a box from a fan and adhering my fireplace to it with Helmar Premium Craft Glue.  I also cut multiple strips from the fan box to use for adding details to the fireplace.
I stacked some boxes of books on top while it was drying to ensure enough pressure was applied to both sides while the glue dried.  And I was hoping it would help my laptop boxes straighten out as they were a little warped.

I added a back to the fireplace and then I added details to the front with the strips I cut from the fan box earlier.










I decided to try covering my fireplace in crushed packing paper and then a coat of beige paint to give it what I hoped would be a rendered look.
When adding the paper I found it best to work in small sections to ensure the details came through.
I used Helmar Premium Craft Glue where the packing tape was to ensure a strong hold.  Adding the glue then applying the paper here first.
Then I used my Helmar Craft & Hobby PVA for the parts that didn't have tape on.  Again working in each detail section at a time.

Once these front sections were covered I applied the paper to the sides and inside as far as it would go.

Now it is ready to be painted.

I was hoping my sample pot would be enough to give me a good coating but still allow my details to show through and that the overall effect would be a rendered look.   However I ran out of paint after 1 coat and my back was not happy so I decided to love it the way it is.
Here is a close up of the top.  What do you think?  Did I get a rendered look?







During one of the breaks I took while making the Fireplace  I saw a post about creating a pool noodle table centrepiece in a Mum's group and there were so many Mum's who had burnt themselves using hot glue to create this, I knew I had to make one with Helmar so people would know they could avoid the burns by using Helmar for projects like this.
I wanted to be as environmentally friendly as I could be by using old/damaged decorations a friend gave me and a damaged pool noodle.  I wound up buying the green pine tinsel on sale for 50% off and some extra red and gold decorations as there wasn't quiet enough in the box my friend gave me but I tried to keep my environmental footprint for this as small as possible so I only bought what I needed.


I first experimented with doing a all gold one just to see if it would work.  I looped the tinsel garland and bead garland and applied Helmar Premium Craft Glue in sections to add these garlands to my pool noodle.  This was a great way to get it on quickly.  I would wind up removing this before it was dry so I could instead use green pine type tinsel garland and a mix of red and gold decorations.






So the LED candles could easily be turned on and off and fit where they needed to go easily I cut the packaging they came in into 3 and added it onto my pool noodle where I wanted them to be with Helmar Premium Craft Glue. 

I added some of the gold bead garland to the candle packaging as it is clear and I needed to hide the pool noodle when the candle is in it.
I then started adhering the green pine tinsel around the bottom and cutting some pieces off the end to fill in the top between the candles.

I then started adding decorations, just adding them where I thought they looked best and keeping in mind when putting them near where the candles would go that they should help provide stability and support to the candle packaging.
When adhering each decoration I would put some Helmar Premium Craft Glue to the parts that would be touching something else, I would hold whatever it was touching together until dry, whether that was the tinsel and another decoration or 3 decorations.

I used Helmar Premium Craft Glue for the entire pool noodle decoration.  It has been great for this project.  This was my first experiment creating anything like this and next time I will experiment with Helmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive as I think this will give me a even better hold.

And here is the finished Fireplace and Pool Noodle decoration all set up with LED candles and LED wire lights ready for our Christmas celebrations.  I love how they turned out.

EEK Banner

I loved my Paper Clay Halloween Embellishments I created with the left over paper clay from making my Pumpkin Stack and I felt they were just perfect for creating a small banner for Halloween.

In addition to my Paper Clay Embellishments I also used 

3 burlap banner flags from my stash 

some trims from my stash 

some of the last bits of my Scrapping Fun Kits October 2017 Kit 

Paper scraps left over from making my Halloween Mini Album  You can find this paper pad here.

I die cut the letters for EEK from black cardstock using my Silhouette Curio and the font cut file from the Silhouette Design Store called SW SPOOK 31 FONT.

Once I had all my bits ready to go I started playing with each flag.  I used Helmar Premium Craft Glue to put it all together so it will last.

Here is the Process video for creating my banner.

I love how it turned out.

How cute is that treat bag?  And that little Pumpkin charm from the Scrapping Fun Kits October 2017 Kit was a perfect bit to add to this cluster.

I love how the Moon turned out.

How cute are those Jack 'O' Lanterns?

Why not give making paper clay embellishments a go?  They are a lot of fun and if you use archival paper scraps and acid free glue they will be photo safe and perfect for your memory keeping needs.

Easter Egg Decorations - Scrapping Fun Kits DT

I was inspired by a post from Jennifer Dawn to make these cute Easter Egg Decorations with the boys using the papers from the March 2018 Kit.

I have created a Silhouette Cut file for this project due to my hand issues, it cuts 2 large and 2 small from each paper from the kit and is designed for use with 5.5 x 7.5 inch papers.
You can download the cut file here https://www.dropbox.com/s/1it5uoogbewcavv/Easter%20eggs.studio3?dl=0

Fold each egg in half, adhere 1 side together of 2 eggs, adhere some wool or ribbon in the middle, tying a knot at each end of the egg or adding a bead.  Adhere the last 2 eggs to finish the 3D effect.

This was a quick project that the kids enjoyed working on with me.

There are still a couple of these great kits left so if you would love one head to the Subscription Tab and fill in the form, enter March in the promo code box so I know you want the March Kit.