Chalkboard doily art.

Remember me?  It's Amy from Mod Podge Rocks, back with another project for your decoupage pleasure.  I've had a dollar store frame hanging around for quite awhile, and I decided it was time to put it to good use.  Given my recent obsession with spray paint, and the fact that I have a large fabric stash, I was inspired to make a sign.  I also love Chalkboard paint, so you can definitely say that I threw this all together.  Enjoy.

Such A Great Idea

Oh I wish I would have come up with this simple, yet cute idea!! Please head on over to the Freckled Nest to see how Leigh-Ann made this. I'm such a fan of hers! She's super creative and cute as can be!

Inspired Pom Pom Headband

I was inspired to create this little pom pom headband after visiting one of my favorite blogs.  This was my first attempt making pom poms and I was a little scared to cut them too small.  Now I feel a little more confident to give them a shorter hair cut the next time I try to make one! It turned out to be sooo easy.  I wondered what took me so long to try it! You may think of pom poms for winter hats but I love how they look on a cute headband too!

I learned how to make a pom pom through the You Tube instructional video below.  One note- I used my fingers instead of an envelope to wrap it. If you try this, I'd love to see a picture of your creation!

Lamp Shade D.I.Y.

BEFORE

I have this very stylish friend Jay. We met once at a Christmas party and then we quickly became Facebook friends-- but sadly he lives in another city and I haven't had a chance to hang out with him since. Even so, we still chat on FB and I was surprised to see he's got a little crafty in him today. When he posted the easiest D.I.Y. project for his friends to see I told him I had to share it with you! Here's what he told me:

"I was going to throw that heinous shade away. Then I had the idea of messing with it... I went to Michael's looking for sequins to glue on it and i found this kid's sheets.. i have no idea what kids would do with it, but it was a sticker so i thought how much easier it would be to use that instead of gluing each sequin one by one hehe."

He measured it out and stuck it on to the shade! SOOOO Easy!!! I have to admit-- I want to do this for one of my shades!! Thank you Jay! I love your new lamp shade!

AFTER

Dragon Lady

As promised...I'm sharing another of my scrapbook layouts for my China trip.

I put this together on a scrapbooking retreat I attended with Crafty Girl.  It is three straight days of scrapbooking and you keep yourself going with heat packs, chair massages, and pain reliever.  This is another do-it-yourself example.  I remembered a beautiful dragon boat on a lake in China and wanted to create something similar.  Giant dragon boat stickers aren't exactly easy to find.  So, I set out to make my own.  First I drew the outline on gold paper and cut it out, lifting some pieces to add depth.  Then, I created gold gills to put on top of the face and tail, using double-side foam tape to lift the layers.  You can read more about using foam tape in Saturday's post.

I used a little red flower as my fireball, cutting up the petals into fringe and layering a few on top of each other to make it into a little flat ball.

Working off the design of the paper I picked, I used black whispy fabric to add some texture on top of the hanging leaves already on the page...different lengths and blowing in different directions.  Finally, I added a little ink to the edges to give the dragon's skin some dimension.  It looked too pretty with the gold paper.  A little black ink around the edges made it seem more rough and real...in a scrapbooking sort of way.  I also added chain to the floor of the boat, like a metal railing....keeping my dragon lady safe on the shores of China.  Yes, it took quite awhile to make, but my DIY Dragon was so fun to create and I love going back to look at this page.