Quilled Tree

I thought I would take a minute to show you the progression of my quilled tree. I loved making this project, and love it even more now it is complete!

I started out with just an outline.

I started gluing down the leaves first. I had to make sure I had the larger outer branches done first, before I moved onto the smaller leaves.

Once I finished with the larger branches, I started filling in the leaves from bottom to top.

I was using 2 shades of green to give it a little bit of dimension.

Here it is with all the leaves, and I added a small heart to give it a little pop of color.

Then I worked on the trunk. Again I started with a basic outline first. I also used 2 shades of brown.

Here it is all finished and framed! This really would be a great addition to anyone's living room.

Final product photo:

I hope you enjoy seeing this piece being put together as much as I enjoyed putting it together! I can not wait to start my next project!

Creative Daily Week #2

I am having so much fun trying to take pictures to go along with Lu & Ed's Creative Daily prompts. Each day has a word and you need to take a picture to match that word. Here are my week 2 pictures.

January 6, 2014 - Notes - I have been changing things up lately with Thank You notes to my customers. I rotate between handwritten notes on these journaling cards, printing them out on my computer or writing on back of my business card. Which do you prefer?

January 7, 2014 - Package - I am getting this package ready for my Grandmother's birthday! 

January 8, 2014 - Colorful - It is gloomy and cloudy out so I am practicing making rainbows!!

January 9, 2014 - Black - I don't use black very much in my quilling. You can't see the coils very well, so I use it sparingly.

January 10, 2014 - These Hands Make - Here I am holding one of the little critters I make. He is so small and delicate. I love it!

January 11, 2014 - Cup - Here I am with my cup of joe, while helping my son with his new Hobbit Legos. My oldest daughter gave me this cup for Christmas and it is definitely one of my favs!  

January 12, 2014 - Paint - We don't have much paint around here, so my girls and I are attempting to make our own glitter paint. We are using gold and pink glitter with Mod Podge.

It is not to late for you to join in the Creative Daily fun! Just click here for details! What do you think of this weeks pictures? Which is your favorite?

Creative Daily with Lu & Ed

Lu & Ed has came up with a Creative Daily Photo Challenge for the month of January. I have joined with the hopes of everyone getting to know me better! I have 5 days under my belt, and I am enjoying the challenge of coming up with pictures to the prompts. If you would like to participate you can still join in! You can see all the details, just click here.

I am hoping to post every Monday a round up of my pictures here for you to see. You can also see them as I take them over on Instagram. My name is LadyLacksDesigns. :)

January 1, 2014 was new. Here is some new quilling paper I can't wait to get started creating with. The top paper is two toned, it has blue on one side and white on the other!

January 2, 2014 was old. Here is my old quilling tool. I bought it 10 years ago! It is a little beat up, but I think I am going to keep it forever!

January 3, 2014 was favorite color.  I wear my fav color Teal everywhere I go!! 

January 4, 2014 was least favorite color. Mine is pink. It does not mesh well with my skin tone. I do love this shirt though! My son wears it all the time.

Janurary 5, 2014 was lists. I don't have many lists around here, but this is still up on my dry erase board.

I love this daily challenge and I am looking forward to sharing with you for the rest of the month!!
 

Cristmas Crafts

I love decorating for Christmas, but my main problem is my kids! I had 3 kids in 2 years so we really didn't decorate for years. By the time those three were old enough to get serious about decorating, my little man showed up. Sure we would put up our tree, but only use non breakable decor, and somehow things would still get broken. Now that my little guy is 4, and not touching and putting everything in his mouth, I can get serious about decorating again! Now my problem is funding. With 4 kids, and extended family to buy presents for that leaves my decorating budget seriously lacking. So I have decided to start turning my items on hand into Christmas decor.

I started with this wreath:

My daughter Jenna bought this for me last year. She was participating in a church group and earned bucks to spend at a Christmas store. She saved all of her bucks and bought everyone gifts. I was so proud of her using her money for others instead of herself! I gladly hung it on my wall and enjoyed that proud Mama feeling every time I looked at it. I sat her down and explained that I wanted to start making items I have into Christmas decor and she gladly offered her wreath for my first experiment. After a lengthy trip to Hobby Lobby(seriously, who can get through that store in under an hour?) I walked out with some embellishments for 50% off!

So first step was removing all the previous decor from the wreath. I was lucky they used pipe cleaners to attach most of it. There was some glue, but it easily came off. With a good dusting it was just like new.

The only supllies I needed was:
Christmas ribbon
2 poinsettia flowers
1 mistletoe
Wire
Wire cutters
Wreath

I started with the ribbon. I just attached parts of the ribbon with the wire to the wreath in spaces a couple of inches apart. I made sure the wire was hidden underneath the ribbon. After the ribbon was attached I added the flowers and mistletoe. Again, I just attached them to the wreath with the wire, making sure to hide the wire.

Here is what it looked like when I was done:

I love the fact that I used no glue for this! When Christmas is over I will have no problem taking off the embellishments and converting it to a winter theme.

Here it is hanging on my front door:

Not only do I love my new wreath, but Jenna is very happy with how it came out. I know when I want to change it. she will be more than happy helping pick out the new embellishments!

Have you made any new crafts for Christmas this year? I would love to hear and see your crafty items!!!

Kids Gift Guide Part 1

There are a lot of awesome stores in the Storenvyflash30 sale. There are a lot of them that offer items for kids. Which is great because I have 4 kids! So when I started the Kids Gift Guide, I am really listing items I want to get them, or wish I had when they were smaller.

We will start off with Ribbons & Robots' Unicorn.

This is perfect for my oldest, Jamie. She loves anything mythical, and she loves rainbows. I personally love the blue eyes, and the colorful mane.

Next up is Landon's Toy Box's Superhero Peg Person.

This would be for my 4 yr old Monster. I can just see him running around with these sounding off various sound effects. So he just ran in here, saw the picture and said "Cool, I want that". See! Moms always pick the best toys!

Here is another on my wishlist for my kids.  Mollie Dollie - Chloe from The Mollie Shop.

This would be for my Jenna. She loves purple. Anything purple. I could see her snuggling up in bed with Chloe, and dreaming about pretty clothes and hair bows.

I can't leave out my other boy Jesse. For him, I would get Drew Lion by Kiser Krafts.

Jesse loves cats of any kind. He doesn't have a blue one yet, and I think Drew would make a purrrfect addition to his cat collection.

Lastly for today is what I would get them, because they not only need it, they would love it to! I would get all of them Gadget Mon-stors from Lu & Ed.

What a great way to store and protect their DS's while they aren't playing them! There are plenty to choose from, so everyone would get their "own" Mon-stor.

Again, these are just a handful of shops that are participating in the StorenvyFlash30 sale. For a complete list click here. All 50 shops will have their entire stores 30% off for the entire day on December 2, 2013. Cyber Monday is going to be EPIC!

What do you think about the picks for my kids? Would you get these for your kids?

Gifts that Give Back

I have noticed that some shops are giving back to their communities this Christmas. So if you are looking for gifts that give back, here are some products for you!

We will start off with a collaboration Ornament that was designed by 2 shop owners. Cody of Lu & Ed and Danielle of Squshies designed this limited edition holiday ornament featuring Gabos, Lu & Ed's mascot. 50% of the sale price will be donated to Drumm Farm, a home for kids and young adults in the Missouri foster care system. http://drummforkids.org/

I love Gabos and think he would be a perfect addition to any Christmas tree! You can find him over at Lu & Ed's shop.

Next up is for the writers in your life. Little House of Crafting created this button to help support National Novel Writing Month.

 50% of sale price will go to support National Novel Writing Month (www.nanowrimo.org)!
You can find it at Little House of Crafting's shop.

Lastly Fairy Tale Accessories does a variety of donations to multiple organizations. So today I will show you one part of her Breast Cancer Awareness collection.

This Breast Cancer Angel Blessing Stretch Bangle is gorgeous. Proceeds go towards "Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Fund" of American Cancer Society. You can find it here at Fairy Tales Accessories shop.

I love businesses that give back to their communities, and think we as consumers need to fully support them! Have you seen any other businesses giving back this year? If so, please leave a link in the comments!

Around the House Gift Guide

OK, I had to take a couple days off from my Gift Guides due to my husband and kids all being home this weekend. :) So now I am back and ready to go!

Today we are going to see what Cyber Monday Storenvy Flash sale has to offer for Around the House.

My first pick would be this lovely handmade Large Owl Rug - Rope Rug by Twisted Thread and Hook

This would be a great addition to any room in your house, and I can't get enough owls!

Next on my list would be this Deluxe Wine Set by Mystic Eye Creations.

I am known to enjoy a bottle of wine after the kiddos go to bed, and I think this set would be perfect for any wine lover!

Along with the Wine Set, I think these Multicolored Chevron Coaster Set by Sweet Pepper Parties would be a great addition.

I can just see me now, my wine time would be heaven with all the accessories!

Lastly I can't forget my Husband. He loves to cook and I think these Star Wars Comic Pot Holders by Poppy's Garden Gate would be a great gift for him!

I can imagine him using these exclusively, and never touching the other pot holders in our house!

These items are just a small sample of the products offered in the Storenvyflash30 sale happening on Cyber Monday, December 2, 2013. For a complete list of shops click here. All stores will have 30% off for the entire day, just use the code storenvyflash30.

Would you use any of these in your home?