Fondue Gala Details

Annually my friend Erin and I host a fondue holiday party for couples only (kiddos have to stay at home). We provide the meat (chicken, steak, sausage, shrimp) and everyone else signs up for different sides. This year we made three different fondues - oil (for the meat), cheese (for the bread and sausage) and chocolate (for the breads, fruits and cookies). Wanted to share a few photos of the festivities....

Prepping for the party:

 We had 24 confirmed guests, so we converted the space with our specified color scheme (red, silver and white). The table cloths are scrap fabric, and the white plate have been collected over the year at garage sales. Each table had 2 oil fondue pots and two cheese fondue pots. (The chocolate pots were in the dessert station in the kitchen). We even covered the already beautiful curtains with red draped fabric.

We wanted everyone to have two similar color forks (to help alleviate confusion of whose meat is whose!)....however some of the forks didn't match, but Erin came up with an AMAZING idea....NAIL POLISH!!!! Not so sure why she had white and emerald green nail polish, but I didn't judge because it solved our problem!
 

 Along wth the matching white dishes, we wanted white napkins. At last minute I cut the last twelve napkins, but I didn't get a chance to serge the edges, but I came up with a very quick fix......sear the edges with FIRE!!!!! Worked out beautifully and no one new any different!

One cool feature we had was a "photo booth room" for our guests. We provided props, a camera on a tripod and a backdrop. It was a HUGE hit of the party! Below is Erin giving us a quick trial run....

We also like to give our guests a little take-home treat, to which we were inspired by an idea on Pinterest  from "Not So Idle Hands" (who doesn't love Pinterest, right?!).

Here's how we made them.....

Get inspired today, Becky

Liberate Creativity & Mod Podge Rocks

Guess where my project is today????



Click on her the icon to check it out!

Thanks for the feature Amy!

Santa Mailbox

So....for some of us Santa will come on Christmas Eve, the kids will leave a note for Santa with some cookies on the table, go fast asleep (We hope!) and in the morning run down the stairs to find presents under the tree! The whole thing is quite magical for them...so let's make it a bit MORE magical!

What about a special "Santa Mailbox" where the kiddos can send notes to Santa, AND Santa can send messages back???? Oooh, how fun! Here's what I did!

Update Your Lamps!

So.....I had an okay lamp on our end table in our bedroom, but I'm never okay with "just okay"
So of course I have to update it! I found some buttons, some straws, spray paint, glue gun.....and forget about it!!!!

Buckle Earrings

Topic: Accessories
Time: Less than an Hour

Why do I have an entire muffin tin full of unpaired earrings? Simply put is because I have an unrealistic idea that somehow I will one day find where my 1 year old "hid" mommy's pretties. The day I find the pairs to some of my fav earrings is the day all of my socks find their pairs, so I might as well do something else with the pieces I do have! Rooting around my drawer of randomness tonight drew up a couple funky silver belt buckles! Here's a little scrappy summary of my creations.....

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Poppy Summer Garland

Hi I'm, Jen from LipstickandLaundry, trading places with Becky from Liberate Creativity ... Hope you enjoy the Summer California Poppy Garland!

California Poppy Garland...

Viewmaster Pouch

Level: Intermediate

Time: Expect 1-4 hours

Topic: Accessories, Sewing

Hi there! I'm Jess from Craftiness is not Optional and I have a fun little project to share today!

Plastic Fusion

Level: Intermediate

Time: Expect 1-4 hours

Topic: Repurpose

I'm stoked to be making a guest appearance on Sweet Rustic today! Check out my Plastic Fusion tutorial here.

The Craf "tee" Tote

Seriously, I'm completely humbled and pumped that Megan from Brassy Apple agreed to make a guest appearance here! I have been a follower for years, and to be perfectly honest, I don't think she realizes how completely uber talented she is! Megan was given a crazy gift of creativity, and it shows in her work! She's posting such a great project, so make sure to enjoy!

-Becky

 

Spring Banner

Hi, I'm Nicole from Our Cozy Nest and I'm excited to do a little guest post here today.   I decided to do a  Spring Pennant Garland Tutorial.  I was hoping that maybe if I hung this outside, mother nature would get the hint and stop sending snow here to Utah.

Level: Intermediate

Time: Expect 1-4 hours

Topic: Sewing, Household

My inspiration were these gorgeous Easter dishes from...

Jewelry Designer

Can I just tell you how completely thrilled I am to introduce you to Maria Goti Joyas?! Her jewelry is uber amazing and she is ridiculously talented. Check out a few of her pieces throughout this posting, but be sure to check out her other sites as well.....every single piece is stunning. I'm humbled that Maria is willing to let us in on her life, inspiration, creativity and artistry.

Q: Tell us a bit about yourself
A: My name is María, I’m 25 and I live in a little town in the north coast of Spain called Navia. I studied jewelry and gemology for 3 years in the European Center of Gemology and Jewelry at Oviedo’s University. I’ve been working in my own workshop since I finished my jewelry studies designing and creating my own jewelry line. I do every piece one to one by hand, from the melting to its finish. I mainly work with silver because I love the variety of finishes, textures and contrasts I can create with it, combining it with gold, copper, pearls and natural gemstones. I love natural gemstones, especially raw and druzy. What I like the most is working with one of a kind and unique pieces.

Zen Garden

Create your own Zen Garden with House of Hepworths.

Level: Beginner

Time:  Less than an hour, easy!

Topic: Housewares

Materials Needed:Shallow glass dish or bowl
bag of polished stones filler
three 5" white or cream candles
twine

This is such an easy display to put together, but it has such a huge impact! I found my glass dish from goodwill, but I've seen them at Michaels and Hobby Lobby.

Tin Earrings

Constance, from Studio C Jewelry & Gifts has a wonderful Tin Earring tutorial for us today! Be sure to check out her beautiful items in her Etsy store here ....or next time you're in Baltimore go visit her shop at 4337 Harford Road, Baltimore, MD 21214!

How to Make Tin Earrings

Level: Intermediate

Time: Expect 1-4 hours

Topic: Jewelry

List of Ingredients:

Gloves

Tin Snips

Eye Protection

Oval and Round Plastic Templates

Various Pliers (Flat Nose, Padded)

Files

Tin Item (Plate, Canister, Tray, etc.)

Spray Cleaner

Paper Towels

Lint Roller

Sharpie Pen – fine point

Settings

Jewelry Findings

All of the above items can be found at your local hardware store, office supply store and on Etsy.

Step 1: Safety First!  Tin tends to produce lots of tiny splinters and shards, so wear protection!! 

Step 2: Clean the tin with the spray cleaner and paper towel, dry off before marking with Sharpie.

Step 3: Using your template, choose a design on the tin and mark your oval and/or circle with the Sharpie pen. 

Step 4: With the tin snips (I’m right handed, so I’m using the “go-left” snips that work for right hands – there are left-handed tin snips as well) cut through the tin and work as closely to the black line of the pen as possible.  Just so you know, some tin is really difficult to cut as it can be pretty thick and can be a bit painful.  Canisters are usually thinner than trays.

Step 5: Clean up any tin shards or splinters with the lint roller.

Step 6: Cut and file the tin to fit into the lace setting.

Step 7: Pull back the lace loop where you want it to hang from the earring finding and also where you might want to place a bead (though this step is optional).

Step 8: With the tin now in the setting, use the pliers in a closed position (hold them closed) to push the lace down over the tin without pushing it all the way down.  Use the padded pliers to crimp the lace on top of the tin.

Step 9: Open the loop on the earrings (I’m using leverbacks, but any earring finding will do) and place the tin on the finding and close the loop.

Step 10: If you are placing a dangle at the bottom, like I did, thread a bead onto a headpin and then loop it around the lace loop and wind it closed.

Step 11: File off any sharp spots from the setting, you’ll be able to feel the roughness with your fingertips.

 Final Step: Wear & Enjoy!

Chalkboard Coat Rack

I'm Becky from Liberate Creativity. I'm honored to be visiting you all today! Two things you should know about me before I continue....

1. I'm constantly looking for updates and creative ways to spice up the norm

2. I'm addicted to chapstick


Wanna meet me?????



Okay, okay, this isn't a photo of me, but it just so happens to be a photo of my fav person in the entire world - my Gramama! Isn't she BEAUTIFUL???????
She's the woman who gifted me with my creativity and personality so wouldn't you prefer to see a photo of her way more than me????? Of course!!!!! Okay.....let's get on with this tutorial....

How to Make an Earring Display Card

Julianne, from Made By Jewls has stopped by to offer a great and easy tutorial on how to make cardstock diplay cases for earrings (or any jewelry for that matter!). What a great way to make a gift more personlized or begin selling your pieces! Also, be sure to check out Juilianne's Etsy shop here

Level: Beginner

Time: Less than an hour

Topic: Accessories

Hello, I'm Julianne from Made By Jewls! I've had a lot of people ask me how I make my earring cards and so I've decided to do a tutorial. It's really easy. Here's what you need to get started...

a rubber stamp with your logo on it. (I did my design in Illustrator and then had it made into a stamp at http://www.rubberstamps.net/. There are other companies that make stamps like vistaprint and make sure to check out your local companies because you may get a better deal)

an ink pad. I used black, but you can use whatever color you want

scissors, a paper punch (this will make your cards the shape and size you want), and cardstock (I used an oatmeal color but you can use any color you want or even patterned paper!)

Okay, now I'm going to show you how to make your cards.

Place your stamp on the ink pad

 

Then press the stamp on your paper and repeat the process until your paper is full. Make sure you leave about a 1/4 inch space between each one so it'll be easier to cut them out.

  

Now you're going to cut them out with your paper punch. I turned my punch upside down when I was cutting them so I could see what I was doing.

 

Continue using your punch to cut the rest of your cards out of the paper.

 

Use your scissors to cut away some of the left over paper on the outside so you can get to the ones in the middle of the page.

 

Once they're all cut out, you just need to poke holes in them (if you're using them for earrings) and then you're done! Enjoy you're new cards, I bet they look awesome!

 

You don't have to make your cards look like mine, get creative and make them your own! Of course you can use a circle if you want, but you could also use a rectangle, square, heart, etc.

I've seen some really creative cards out there...

like this one from Allora Handmade

 or these by Emily Sparks

Let me know if you have any questions, would like me to whip up a logo/stamp design for you in Illustrator, or even to show me the cards you made! I really would LOVE to see what you come up with! Have fun!