Guest Post -- Crafty Goodies

Hi Everyone~ I'm so excited to be on The Country Chic Cottage to share what I love. You can ALWAYS find me in one of two places, either in my craft room creating or junkin'!! I am a crafty girl who loves to create with a vintage flair. What is junk to someone else is a diamond in the rough to me. I love crafting with and re-purposing old things among other paper crafts. As always, I love to share creativity with others and invite you to visit me at Crafty Goodies.

I took legal size note pads and had them cut into thirds and decorated them with Jenni Bowlin Studio's paper and embellishments.

 Here is a close up of the toppers.  You can go here for more details.

A card using the same Jenni Bowlin pattern papers. 

One of my features, on my blog, is"Try it Tuesdays" where I share something totally out of the ordinary and show you how to create a treasure of your own. I also have my "Remember This" posts at least once a month in which I share a goody I have wandered across and re-purposed. I also post pictures of my junkin' finds right along side my crafts.  I so hope you've enjoyed my post and have come away inspired and once again I extend an invitation  for you to visit me at Crafty Goodies.

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Easy Ways to Start Scrapbooking

Today I’m participating in the Ultimate Blog Swap. You’ll find me posting over at My Life's a Treasure about my blog, and I’m excited to welcome Jennifer from Simple Scrapper to The Country Chic Cottage:

Before I started scrapbooking, I thought it was a hobby that required serious dedication and the purchase of a lot of stuff to even try. I had a specific notion in my head that these scrapbookers were a serious bunch and to jump in you had to go all-in.
Times have changed and modern memory keeping looks a lot different than moms packing crop rooms on Friday nights. Scrapbooking now offers options for any design style, stage of life and budget. The
scrapbooker of today probably looks a lot different than you might imagine and it is easier than ever to get started.


Four Ways to Try Scrapbooking

At its heart, scrapbooking is about adding words and, in some cases decoration, to your photos. It can be as simple as that or quite a bit more. These strategies can help you get your feet wet and see if the scrapbooking of today works for you.


1. Share Photos Online - Scrapbooking is a way to share more of your life with friends and family. The easiest way to get started sharing the photos you take is with Facebook or other online services like Flickr  or Instagram. You can even adjust privacy settings to control who can see your images.

2. Start a Journal - Documenting your stories with words no longer requires pencil and paper. You can use services like OhLife to prompt you with an email or capture your daily thoughts with apps like Momento.
If you still crave the touch and feel of a real journal, try a Memory Logbook, which is a journal for
scrapbookers.

3. Create a Photo Book - The most straight forward method for combining words and decoration with your photos is a photo book. These are hard- or soft-bound books where you can upload your photos and drag-and-drop them on pre-made pages. One of the most popular services for easily creating photo books is Shutterfly, but many of your major stores like Walmart will even let you create photo books too.

4. Utilize Shortcuts - Many scrapbook or craft stores carry page kits that just require your photos and acid-free adhesive. Purchasing page kits can minimize the up-front investment since everything is cut for you. For the latest on-trend products and help coordinating products, you can order kits online from clubs like Studio Calico or Cocoa Daisy. These supplies, however, will also require a paper trimmer.

Scrapbookers today, especially those who are involved online, embrace a wide variety of techniques to capture their most important stories.  Whether you decide to create embellished pages or simply share your photos on the Internet, to a modern memory keeper it all counts!

Jennifer S. Wilson is a scrapbooker, writer and creative entrepreneur living in the heart of the midwest with a husband, two stepkids and a sweet baby girl. She is passionate about helping people find more time for creativity, especially documenting life's stories through words and photos. You can get more practical ideas for scrapbooking at Simple Scrapper.

Visit Life Your Way to see all of the Ultimate Blog Swap participants!

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Guest Post -- Shannon with aka design

I must say that aka design is one of my favorite blogs!  I love Shannon and Dean's style!  I am thrilled they are here today to introduce themselves.

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Hi, I'm Shannon! My husband Dean and I are a Canadian couple and we share our thrifty design finds, oranization ideas & affordable DIY projects on our blog aka design. We're thrilled to be here at The Country Chic Cottage today!

(That's us having a little fun last summer!)

Two years ago we purchased a war era bungalow (that means it's turning seventy years old this year!) in the suburbs of Toronto. It was a complete disaster when we moved in. Like floors rotted through to the crawlspace disaster! It was also only a two bedroom - and there are five of us! Needless to say we have made a lot of changes.

We created a bedroom for ourselves and two bedrooms became three.

We made our son's room to his specifications during a contest called Crafting With The Stars - lots of trains! Our girls' room will be getting the princess treatment in the next couple of months.

We had some water damage last year and as a result totally redecorated our addition - which holds our living and dining rooms.

Along with major renos and redecorating, we try to add some simple DIY crafts into the mix too...

Spray Painted Chalkboard Chargers

Embellished Joy Canvas

Handmade Glitter Letters Sheet Music Garland

We've also done our share of knockoff projects...

Our DIY Restoration Hardware Shelves

Pottery Barn Numbered Canvas Knockoff

Pottery Barn Decorative Ledge/Mantel Knockoff

In December we released our first eBook, called Welcome Home. It's 50+ pages full of my tips, tricks and ideas for creating a beautifully cozy home. My passion is to help others create a welcoming haven out of their home; one of my friends said reading my eBook was like having me right there beside her having a chat. We started with a PDF version, but now it's available for most ereaders too!

A couple of other highlights in 2011 for us was being featured bloggers on the Steven & Chris show and part of Apartment Therapy 's home tours as well as Casa Romantica Shabby Chic magazine in Italy this spring! Colour us flattered and humbled all at once.

That's pretty much us in a nutshell. Thank you so much for having us today Angie. And to Angie's readers, if you've made it this far through our guest post - thanks! We would love it if you came by to visit us!

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Paint and Stencil a Vintage Cabinet

Head on over to Mom It Forward to see my stenciled and painted cabinet!  I will be posting more about it over here next week! 

I love how it turned out!  A special thank you to Royal Design Studio for providing the stencil.  

~Thanks for stopping by!~

~Angie~

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Painted Towels with Amy of Mod Podge Rocks

This is Amy from Mod Podge Rocks,  so pleased to be here today! I have been blogging for almost four years at MPR, and I am (as you can guess) addicted to crafts and DIY. I love creating, but I also love writing. I co-own Decor Hacks with Heather Mann, and I contribute to Babble.com's The New Home Ec. Not to mention that I have a new book coming out this June called Mod Podge Rocks.  You could say I keep busy.

I hope you enjoy my painted towels. I made it with bright colors and paint because that's what I like, but you can customize it to fit your decor. Here's how I made it!

 

  

I’m so excited for spring!  I was sprucing up my apartment the other day and realized that I needed some additional spring-like decorations.  Something pretty and fun just to liven up the place.  I decided to jazz up some white towels using paper stencils and fabric paint.  The great thing?  You can also give these as gifts – and you won’t believe how easy they are to make.

First you’ll need to gather these supplies:

White cotton towels

FolkArt Fabric Paint

Flower Towel – Red Violet, Lavender, Coastal Blue, Yellow Citron

Bird Towel – Azure Blue, Teal, Pure Orange, Coastal Blue

Plaid Paper Stencils

Flower Towel – 6.75” x 8” Houndstooth

Bird Towel – 6.75” x 8” Vase Silhouette

Stencil Brush(es)

Wax paper

Wash and iron your towels.  Fold them so that the side is showing that you want to paint on.  Tear a sheet of wax paper off and place between the layers of towel – then your paint won’t seep through as your are completing your project.

Think about your design and even sketch it out on another piece of paper.  Punch out the paper from your first stencil and lay it down on the surface.

You have two options – you can hold the stencil down with your hand or secure it with tape.  My preference was to just hold the stencil down since the paper didn’t slip on my surface.  If you have a more slippery surface, you should definitely use tape.

Start painting.  Stenciling works a lot differently from regular painting.  With stenciling, you will “dry brush.”  This means to dip your stencil brush in paint and then remove most of it by tapping it onto your plate or paper towel.  Once you are ready, dry brush a light layer onto your fabric surface.  Keep repeating until your shape is filled in.  DO NOT put too much paint onto the brush or it will seep under your stencil design and ruin your project.

Move to the other side of the project.  Paper stencils are nice because you can cut the elements apart (or if you are a slob like me, tear).  Repeat the dry brush process.

If you are completing different parts of the same design element like I did above, you’ll want to wait until the first part you paint dries.  That means paint the top of the flower (petals and center) first, and wait 15 – 20 for it to dry.  Then go back and lay the stencil back over and paint the stem and leaves.

Keep going until your towels are completely painted with your stencil design, then allow to dry.  Follow the finishing instructions listed on the bottle.  Save your paper stencils by wiping them off and putting them back into the bag for later.  They are completely reusable!

 

Thank you Angie, for having me today! Please feel free to visit me at Mod Podge Rocks anytime, or follow me on Facebook or Pinterest. Have a great day!

 

Amy

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Guest Post -- Always in Wonder

Hi everyone. My name is Jennifer, and I blog over at Always In Wonder.

I am a stay at home mom with two little ones, ages 3 and 1 1/2. My kids and my husband are pretty much at the center of my world. I love them to no end, but after my daughter was born I felt like I needed a way to connect to other people. It was hard going all day and the only conversations I got to have were with an infant and toddler. I know plenty of you know how I was feeling, right? 

So I started blogging. I started posting about decorating my baby’s nursery, and moved on from there. I found I loved being creative, making our house into a home, and sharing my love for painting, cooking, and my family with others. 

I’ve only been blogging for a little more than a year, but it’s been an amazing year. I’ve befriended amazing women who share the same passions about creating as I do, I’ve stepped away from boring browns and beiges in our home and fell in love with color.  I’ve tried new foods, taken steps to eat less processed foods, and searched out bloggers whose recipes inspire me to create more in my own kitchen.

Blogging has become an escape, an outlet for all this creative energy trapped inside of me, and something I am truly passionate about.  I’d love it if you would come over to my blog and introduce yourself, and stay for a while. I absolutely love making new friends, and sharing all the things I love doing, with you.  So come find me on Facebook, Twitter, or even Google+ and say hi!

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Hello Spring Wreath with @momitforward and @plaidcrafts

I am teaming up with Mom It Forward and Plaid Crafts to bring you a project today!  Plaid sent me some fabulous glittery paints to try out and I had a blast coming up with this one.  Head on over to Mom It Forward to read the full tutorial and make your own Hello Spring Wreath!    

Plaid sent me products in compensation for this post.  However all opinions and ideas are my own.

~Thanks for stopping by!~

~Angie~

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Doily Curtains on The CSI Project

My doily curtains are over on The CSI Project today!

Head on over and check out how I made these!

~Thanks for stopping by!~

~Angie~

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Blog Swap -- Potentially Beautiful

Hi everybody! I'm Gloria from Potentially Beautiful.  Thank you so much, Angie, for having me over today.  This is actually my first guest post, so be gentle with me.  ;-)

So, here's a little about me and what goes on over at Potentially Beautiful.

I've been a single mom of three for the last 12 years.  Two are in college now and one a senior and all are still at home.  Being a single mom, broke all the time and loving to redecorate my home, I have learned how to DIY and decorate on the cheap.  My moto over at PB is to "Love where you live."  I'm also a renter and that throws some challenges in the mix too.  I love sharing ideas and tricks with my readers so that they too can love where they live.

Probably one of my favorite and most popular projects was my $20 bathroom makeover.  Yep...$20.

Come on over and see what magic I worked in that horrible 1970's half bath.

I also L.O.V.E. thrift shopping and yard sales and I've shown my readers many projects on how I saved some thrifted furniture and repurposed other finds.

This is my most recent furniture save.  It was a beat-up dresser from Goodwill that got a brand new life with just a little paint.

I love what a change in lighting can do for a room and I've made over several lamps and light fixtures that I picked up thrift shopping.  So easy and a it makes a big difference.  Come see how I made this one here.

Well, I hope you all come on over and visit and of course would love for you sit and stay a while.  You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. I really enjoy talking and sharing ideas on all these mediums.  Don't you just love social media?  :-)

Thank you again, Angie for having me over.  See y'all soon!

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Blog Swappin Fun -- Truly Lovely

Hello hello there lovely Country Chic readers!!

My name is Kassi and I blog over at Truly Lovely!

I am SO excited to be here today blog swapping with the lovely and talented Angie!
She shared a post over at my place yesterday, so hope you'll pop over to say hey there when you're finished here! :) 

Truly Lovely is an 'all things lovely' blog created by me with snippets of fun from my sister, Kayli! You can click that pic above to learn more about us and our blog!
Lately I've been sharing a few Christmas decor related posts as I prep my home for the Holidays! Including these Cowboy Boot Stockings hung by our chimney with care. ;)
*Click each of the pictures to visit the post. ;)

Or these SUPER quick and easy Christmas Ribbon Candles I whipped up!

From time to time I share a What I Wore post... 
Lately it's been all about my new riding boots! ;)

And every now and then you'll get some kind of tasty treat like these biscuit dough donuts...

Or these Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes! 

We also host a link up every Friday where we want to see what you FANCIED up over the week! Hope to see you at the link up today!!!

Thanks SO much to Angie for having me over!!! :) 

And for being the Bloggie Bestie at Truly Lovely this week! 

She pretty much rocks!!! ;)

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Fabric Coaster with Handmade by Hilani

If you are looking for the Holiday Card Blog Hop -- head on over here.
I'm super excited about guest blogging here today.  I’m a new follower to CCC and have quickly come to learn that Angie has some pretty amazing fans!  I look forward to being inspired by her and those that she collaborates with, like me.  I’m Hilani (pronounced – HillLonnie) and I’m a super big lover of many things like my family, girls-night-out and chocolate.  Over a decade ago, which makes me sound old, but I’m only in my early thirties, I discovered a love for sewing.  It’s turned into a wonderful, healthy addiction I can’t get enough of, which then, by accident, turned into a small business because of a friend and a zipper. You can read more about that here.  I’m passionate about inspiring people and helping them gift unique one-of-a-kind items.  So, when an opportunity became available to inspire others by sharing my tutorial I was overjoyed, 

like Christmas morning when you're 5 years old!

Below you’ll find a tutorial on how to make Fabric Coasters.

Get creative, use sports fabrics, favorite colors or

vintage material collecting dust on a shelf somewhere.

 

What you’ll need:

Fat Quarter Fabric (18”x18”) or 1/2 yard of fabric

Stiff Interfacing Medium to heavy weight (20” x 5”)

Matching Thread

Cutter/Ruler/Pins/Iron

#14 Sewing Needle

Specifics:

Project time Start to Finish:

           Beginner:  1.5+ hours

           Intermediate: 1 hour

           Advance:  45-50 minutes

Ideal for nap time. :0)

Above is a picture of all the materials you’ll need to complete this project. If you’re a beginner, you’ll probably want to break this into two 1 hour time slots to allow for enough time to complete a job-well-done finished product.

Step 1: Cut {8}  5” x 5” squares from your Fabric Material

Step 2: Cut {4} 5” x 5” squares from Medium to Heavy weight interfacing

Step 3: Pin 2 Fabric squares right side together, with 1 interface square underneath. Do this to all cut fabric making for 4 pined coasters.

Step 4: Draw your sewing line with a pencil on the pinned side of each square.  Use your clear ruler to mark 1/2 inch lines from edge to edge, all the way around like above (left photo). I find a pencil makes the best markings for me. You should have straight lines all the way around (bottom photo). These lines make the finished product straight.

Step 5: Set tension @ 6 or 7, Length Stitch @ 2 and begin to sew. Place needle on your line and follow your markings as best as possible.  **Remember you’ll need to leave a 3 inch gap from your start stitch to your end stitch. This gap will give you the space you’ll need

to turn the coaster ‘right-side’ out.

Step 6:  Bottom picture, cutting of excess fabric and diagonal corners. Keep extra fabric at opening long, do not cut.

Step 7: Iron wrong side of fabric on cotton setting so to ‘loosen’ the fabric for ease of manipulating the fabric while turning right side out.

Step 8:  Turn excess fabric from opening, inwards, and pin shut (bottom photo).

Step 9: Return to the machine. Change Length Stitch to 3, keep Tension @ 6-7.  Depending on what thread color you chose, find a spot on your material that best matches your thread color; start your stitch there.  This will make your starting point less noticeable.  Now give your coaster a finishing seam.  First seam line, 1/4 of an inch from edge of material. Second seam line, 1/2 an inch from edge.  If you follow your universal foot edge well, and your cut lines are good, you should be able to sew straight finishing lines.  Having your initial sew line straight, makes the world of difference too with a finished product.   Happy Sewing. :)

I hope I've inspired you to create something special.  Hop on over to my new blog, 

I love connecting with creative people like myself.  {Happy Sewing}

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