DESK CALENDARS 2018

Hello friends, we are almost at the end of 2017. Hope its been a wonderful year for all of you.
Today I have crafted desk calendars to welcome 2018. They make perfect utility gifts for friends and family. 
The calendars are made on mdf planks of size 6 x 6 inch and have a stand behind to sit on the desk. The space for the calendar months can be used later to frame the most magical moment of the coming year.

Here's the duo, one for him and one for her. Have painted the planks with chalk paint WILD WASABI from Itsy Bitsy.
I simply love the colour, its very fresh and as you see can be used to create products for both genders.

For the desk calendar for men, I have done the distressing and stamping. Its a wonderful technique that can be done with chalk paints.

The calendar for her is more shabby. I have done doily stencilling, and embellished further with hand bag sticker and pretty flowers.

One paint colour, lovely chalk finish and two techniques, simply love the end result !!!!

I am entering my creation using chalk paint Wild Wasabi to the current Itsy Bitsy blog challenge10. 

Best wishes and  good luck to everyone from Craft Express for the coming year 2018.
I welcome the new year with my lovely goodies.

Lots of Love 
Vaishali Khandwala

MIX MEDIA BIRD HOUSE PIGGY BANK

Hello everyone. A warm welcome to my bird house !!!!

Today I have a step wise tutorial of my mix media project....A  bird house shape, mdf, piggy bank. So here you go....

Sand the mdf bird house. Unscrew the door of piggy bank and keep it aside. 
Stick some corrugated sheets of packaging on the roof of the house. 
Now cover the entire house with white gesso, including the corrugated sheets and let it dry completely.

Next I decided to add some crackle effect and exposed brick wall effect. 
For this, I  applied white crackle paint with palette knife on the roof and some areas of wall. While applying the paste, I varied the thickness, to get various sizes of cracks. 
I have used crackle paint from Decoart. As the paint dries, it gives egg shell cracks. Thicker layer gives larger cracks and thinner layer gives smaller cracks. 

Its worth the wait to see the cracks appear !!!!  They add so much dimension to the project. 
Remember let the crackle paint dry naturally. Do not use heat tool.

Next step is to create exposed brick walls. I did so by using brick stencil with Mont Marte modelling paste.

Let all the mediums dry completely, preferably overnight. 
Now begins the fun part.....To colour and embellish !!!!
I have stamped some leaves with black archival ink on the roof and base. Also done some random hash, background stamping. Do not do any work in the part, where door is to be fixed. 

I have coloured using spray colours from Lindys. Some purple, yellow and pink hues on the walls. A dash of orange and yellow on the roof. Highlighted the corrugations with copper colour acrylic. 
Spray the colours and spritz water to move them as desired, especially in the cracks. Give natural drying time between two colours or set with a drying tool. 

Colours can be of your choice and play with them till you get the desired effect. 
Now embellish with available materials from your stash. 

Final look of the bird house piggy banks, with some close ups

Small tip- when arranging the flowers, use a mix of small and big. Do not leave much gaps between the flowers.

I have covered the door with gesso. Stamped with my favourite lattice stamp and distressed the edges with pearlised rust acrylic paint. 

This bird house piggy bank  can be a wonderful piece of decor in a girl's room ...a wonderful gifting option as well. 

Hope you loved this beautiful bird house...I enjoyed making it.!!!

Happy Crafting....

Create, Express, Enjoy !!!!

NAME PLATES

Name plates play very important role in enhancing the entrance space of a house. They speak volumes, not just of the decor inside but also of the person staying in the house. It is important to have a name plate as per vastu as well.

Today I am sharing with you few unique, handmade name plates. I have recycled left over planks of wooden flooring, decoupaged them to create these lovely name boards. You can use any piece of wood. 
Most houses have left over pieces of plywood during renovation, that goes to trash. Why not use them instead. Name plates are just one of things you can make with them, you can create many more handmade stuff for your home !!!!

                Left over piece of wooden flooring. I had a few of these in different sizes. 

I decoupaged this plank with a pattern paper, using mod podge. Choose a paper that compliments the wall colour on which the name plate is to be fixed. Also fit the ears ( metal hangers) at the back to hang the name plate. Do so before starting the work so that you do not spoil the finished surface later. 

Now select alphabets of colour that compliments the paper. Here I have used foam cut alphabets. You can use paper die cuts, mdf or acrylic laser cut alphabets as well. Colour them with acrylic colours,if required to match the paper. 
I have made small dashes on  the alphabets with permanent black marker to give a stitch effect. 
Next step is to embellish the name plate further. I have used  paper flowers, metal charms and chipboard laser cut out. The house numbers are of foam, painted with maroon acrylic colour. 

Making the chipboard piece-  First I coloured the chipboard cut out in a dark maroon shade of acryllic paint. Let it dry. Then gave a coat of clear crackle medium. Let this air dry. As the medium dries, egg shell cracks start to appear. Size of cracks depend on the thickness of coat of crackle medium. Now I highlighted the cracks by rubbing metallic pink acrylic paint and distressed the edges of the cut out with black. Happy with the crackle effect....

Crackle effect on mdf pieces, done in a similar way. The pieces are hung with the help of jute rope and I added a paper flower as seen. The jute rope is stuck all around the name plate like a border using silicon glue. 

                 Complete look of the name plate, ready to adorn the entrance of a home.

Do not forget to varnish the name plate. I have varnished using aquadur wood varnish.

Would love to share some more name plates made by recycling the wooden flooring pieces. 

                                                Warm welcome to the guest 

Now this decoupaged plank fitted with other left over acrylic piece to form an elegant name plate. 

                                             Light plays a crucial role in interiors......

I hope you enjoyed this post...Create, Express, Enjoy !!!!
Happy Crafting....

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL....LIVE IT....CAPTURE IT !!!!

Hello everyone. Hope everyone is doing great !!!!

Today I have a mix media project to share. I have used the white washed alterable photoframe available at Itsy Bitsy as my base. Photo frames means memories to me. They hold the beautiful moments that we cherish and here is a great way to frame them up .....

I have a step wise picture tutorial for this project. 

This is the frame ready to start the work. 

       
                                                        

                   Step -1

Step -2                                                                             Step -3

                          Step -4

Step -5

Now here is how the frame looks......

Some close ups showing the gold shimmer of the alcohol sprays

So go ahead and frame one of  your precious moment....Life is beautiful....Live each moment to the fullest !!!!











I am entering this project to the Itsy Bitsy monthly blog challenge. I have used gold alcohol splash Golden Mocha and Citron Breeze. They definitely splash  golden touches to my crafty expression. Happy Crafting .....

Create, Express , Enjoy !!!!

                                                                                                      

BURLAP GOODIES

Hello everyone, Today I would like to share my creations using burlap sheets.

I have crafted a co-ordinated gift set for girl's room....A name plate, door hanger and a magnet. 
Burlap has great texture and it gives an instant character to the project.
As I was creating products for a young girl's room, I opted to use the white polka dot burlap sheet.
It made a wonderful background for the other elements in pink, yellow and green.
I have decoupaged the rice paper fussy cut flowers, butterflies and borders on the burlap sheet. Further did the colouring with the distress inks.
Added the name/ initial and further enhanced with a burlap border and pearls.

                                                             DOOR HANGER

                                                                NAME PLATE

                 The cute doll with burlap dress....love the character, added by the burlap.

DECOUPAGED MAGNET WITH BURLAP BACKGROUND.

THE LOVELY SET

I would also like to share bookends made by me sometime back. They compliment this set very well and can definitely be an add on to this one. The common elements are the burlap sheet and the colours.

                                       

                                       BOOKENDS WITH A LOVELY BOOKMARK

      

       FAIRY, FLOWERS, PINKS, PURSE...ALL SO MUCH A  PART OF GIRL'S WORLD

I always love making home decor utility products and completely enjoyed creating this beautiful girl room's set. Hope you liked it too.

I am entering my creations to the current Itsy Bitsy monthly blog challenge, using the burlap sheets. These burlap sheets from the store are great for projects and can be used in various ways.

CREATE, EXPRESS, ENJOY ......

HAPPY CRAFTING !!!!

FRENCH ROSE PLANTER

Hello everyone. Hope everyone is doing great. Posting after a long time with a lovely creation.....French Rose Planter !!!!!

Had picked a wooden planter from Itsy Bitsy store sometime back. The well shape of the planter is what had caught my attention. Recently purchased the new released chalk paints from Itsy Bitsy and thought would be perfect to try them  on the wooden planter.

A little share about chalk paints. The  chalk paints work on all surfaces like wood, glass, metal, plastic and give a wonderful matt finish. They are great for distressed look as well 

Coming back to the process. I started with colouring the white planter. Applied a coat of grey acrylic paint and let it dry. When completely dry, I applied some candle wax on areas where I wanted the grey to be seen.

This was followed with a coat of chalk paint FRENCH ROSE from Itsy Bitsy. I truly loved this beautiful pink pastel shade....so much so that I call this creation 
FRENCH ROSE PLANTER !!!

When the paint was still wet, I used a thick brush with hard bristles to create some texture. This was followed  with a second coat of french rose chalk paint. After the paint dried completely, I used a sand paper on areas where the wax was applied, to show the grey below. Can see the distressed look in the picture below

This was folllowed with decoupage using  printed paper napkin and mod podge ... I think chalk paints and decoupage go hand in hand... the matt finish of chalk paints truly compliments the decoupage work 
After decoupage, added some textures with honey comb stencil using modelling paste. 
Stamped  some sentiments and embellished it to my liking. 
Did not add a pail to the well but hanged a decorated resin shape...which gives the planter the desired dimension. 

Isn't it a pink french rose beauty !!!!
Wanted it to look soft and pretty...found a paper napkin that blended  just perfect with the colour of chalk paint ....

Decided to use this planter in the dining area, it can hold glass jar with sweets for the guest... best for my daughter's birthday celebration....I am sure the girls would love the pretty pink....
The glass jar is also from Itsy  Bitsy. Embellished it with flowers and lace from the store as well .....

Some more pictures from different angles....Enjoyed using the chalk paints and creating this home decor product !!!

Thanks for stopping by ....Life is Beautiful....Choose a reason to smile....Be happy !!!

I would like to enter my creation for the Itsy Bitsy Blog Challenge #3 -2017

Apart from most of the other supplies from the store, I have used Chalk Paint French Rose for my creation