6 Awareness Coasters

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, an Annual Campaign to increase awareness of the disease. Most people are aware of Breast Cancer, but sometimes forget to have a plan to detect the disease in its early stages. Annual Mammograms should be scheduled with your healthcare provider to identify any changes.

Most of us have a family member, friend or co-worker who has been diagnosed with Breast Cancer and the emotional and physical pain they have endured to beat this disease. One of my best friends was diagnosed with Breast Cancer this past summer. It has been almost three months of her visiting the Cancer Center every morning to receive the radiation treatments. She just finished her treatments and the prognosis looks good.

On a trip to Wal-Mart, I stumbled upon two packages of Breast Cancer Awareness napkins. Immediately I grabbed them and thought about creating coasters for my friend.

Materials:

• 4 - 4" Square Ceramic Tiles; purchased at Home Depot for 16 cents each
• Decorative Napkins
• Mod Podge
• Foam Brush
• Clear Acrylic Sealer

• Pink Felt
• Pair of Tweezers
• Pink Ribbon

Instructions:

1. Using Tweezers, remove the outer layer of each Napkin.
2. Apply a thin coat of Mod Podge all over the tile.
3. Apply Napkin to tile. Smooth out with the brush or your fingers or a Brayer to smooth the surface and remove air bubbles.

4. Fold the napkin edges towards the back of the tile. Smooth with the foam brush. Let it dry 5-10 minutes.
5. Apply 2 more coats of Mod Podge all over the tile. Let dry 5-10 minutes between coats. Let dry completely before spraying the Acrylic Sealer.

6. Trace tile onto the Pink Felt.
7. Following traced lines, cut felt squares. I use my pinking shears to add a decorative edge to the squares.

8. Using hot glue gun, apply felt square to tile's back section.

I love how these coasters turned out. I decided to wrap them with a Pink Ribbon to present them to my best friend. I hope she loves them. Please get involved and inspired others to help fight this disease every day of the year.

Linking to: Today's Creative Blog
debbie-debbiedoos

9 Spooky Halloween Pumpkins

Halloween is fast approaching and a great time for the family to join together and have fun carving the all mighty Pumpkin. I love Halloween decorations, especially Decorative Pumpkins.

I must confess, I am not a fan of carving pumpkins; a sometimes labor intense task. Do not get me wrong; some carving inspirations found on the web are just awesome. Last Saturday, I attended the Pumpkin Festival in Keene, N.H., the carvings were just amazing. Go HERE to take a look at some of the pictures I took at the Festival.

This year, I decided to decorate Craft Pumpkins and I just love how cute these pumpkins turned out.

To begin, I gathered the following materials:

Materials:

• 2 small and 1 large Craft Pumpkins. Purchased the small ones at the Dollar Store and the large one at my local Thrift shop
• Halloween Tissue Paper
• Plaid Folk Art Metallic Acrylic Paints. I used Pure Gold and Pearl White
• Fine Glitter - I used Martha Stewart's Carnelian/Red Orange
• Halloween Picks. I choose a Skull, Witch's Hat and a Black Crow
• 3/8" decorative ribbons. I used Pumpkin print and sequins
• Purple Feathers
• Mod Podge
• Spray Paint, I used Design Master Color Tool Spray in Flat Black; purchased at Michaels. When Spray painting foam Pumpkins make sure the Spray Paint is formulated for Styrofoam
• Foam brush

• Black felt
• Hot glue gun & sticks
• Elmer's Craft Bond glue pen

Directions:
Cut pumpkin's stem with a serrated knife. Spray paint all the pumpkins. I gave mine 3 coats. Let dry completely.



Skull Pumpkin:

1. Tear Tissue paper into small strips.
2. Apply one coat of Mod Podge to pumpkin.
3. Begin adding the tissue paper strips; smoothing the surface as you go to remove any air bubbles.
4. Continue adding Mod Podge and paper strips until pumpkin is covered.
5. Let dry 10-15 minutes
6. Apply a final coat of Mod Podge all over the pumpkin and sprinkle glitter all over while the pumpkin's surface is still wet.
7. Let pumpkin dry completely.
8. Remove the stem from the Skull pick. Using hot glue gun, attach to pumpkin's top section.

Witch's Hat Pumpkin:

1. Apply a thin coat of the Pure Gold Metallic paint over the entire pumpkin. Let dry completely.
2. Begin wrapping ribbon around the pumpkin in a crisscross fashion from side to side; tacking ribbon with Elmer's glue.
3. Continue wrapping and gluing ribbon until your pumpkin has ten ribbon strips.
4. Trace and cut 2 small circles from black felt. Using hot glue gun, apply the circles to pumpkin's top and bottom centers. The felt circles will prevent the ribbon crossings from slipping.
5. Remove the stem from the witch's hat and glue to pumpkin's top section.

Purple Feathered Pumpkin:

1. Apply a thin coat of Pearl White Metallic paint all over the pumpkin. Let dry completely.
2. Using the sequin ribbon, create and glue the word "BOO" onto the pumpkin's front section.
3. Apply feathers to pumpkin's top using the hot glue gun. Let dry.
4. Glue the black crow onto the feathers. Let dry.
5. Finally apply other embellishments inside the letters "O".
   I used glittered cat cutouts.

Although Pumpkin carving is a Halloween tradition for most people, there are other ways to decorate a Pumpkin without carving it.

I just love how my Pumpkins turned out. They were easy and fun to decorate, and most of all; I save time and money by using these Craft Pumpkins.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Linking to: Today's Creative Blog
debbie-debbiedoos
Every Day is an Occasion

0 Pumpkin Festival, Keene, N.H.

Welcome to the Pumpkin Festival in Keene, N.H. It was a beautiful day with Summer like weather. The Foliage is still spectacular. It has been years since I visited the Festival. I was not disappointed. The thousands of Pumpkins were amazing. So many different carving inspirations... These pumpkins were even more dramatic when lit. This year Keene was trying to top Highwood, Illinois for the most lit Jack-O'-Lanterns. Last year this town topped the World Record and Keene was ready for the competition. To make this "Pumpkin War" more interesting, the Property Brothers for the popular network HGTV were present to witness and film the event at each respective town; with Drew in Keene and Jonathan in Highwood, Illinois. The event will be premiere on HGTV Wednesday, October 31st, 2012 at 9:00p.m. Read all about it HERE.

Keene had a total of 29,381 pumpkins and unfortunately could not set the 32,000 record. Keene is a proud town for its eight-time holder of The Guinness Book of World Records category for the most carved and lit pumpkins.

Go HERE to view the entire album.

Enjoy the pictures. Happy Halloween!!!!

1 Pumpkin Wars in Keene, New Hampshire

Pumpkin Wars in Keene, New Hampshire

1 Foliage Fall 2012

The Foliage in New England is spectacular. Leaf Peeping is one of the reasons I love to visit New Hampshire in Autumn. I decided to take a Scenic drive through the beautiful White Mountains of New Hampshire, during the Columbus Day Weekend. This weekend was the perfect time for Leaf Peeping. My journey began in Lincoln via the Kancamagus Highway.This amazing highway stretches for 34.5 miles, offering an array of beautiful scenic areas. I thought I share my Foliage album and perhaps give you some inspiration to visit our beautiful New England States. Take a look at this drive suggested by Yankee Magazine, NH Drive.

Happy Fall!!

Click here to view these pictures larger

27 Raffia Sunflower Wreath

Oh AUTUMN!!! The Fall leaves are turning into beautiful hues of Orange, Red and the crisp Chartreuse.

I stumbled upon a few Raffia hanks in my craft stash. To my surprise they were the perfect color scheme to create a Country Fall Wreath.

Raffia is an inexpensive and versatile product with many decorative uses; from embellishments to covering a simple straw wreath.

To begin, I gathered the following materials:

Materials:

• 14" diameter Straw Wreath
• Burlap - Natural Shade
• Raffia Hanks - 2 or more colors
• Fall Sunflower Stems
• Felt
• Chipboard Letters
• Sunflower Adhesive Glitter Shapes
• Ribbon - 2 1/2" wide

• Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
• Sharp pair of Scissors

Directions:Wreath:

1. Cut Burlap into strips measuring approximately 36" long.
2. Wrap straw wreath with Burlap strips. Tack with hot glue gun as you wrap them around the wreath.

3. Take several strands of each color Raffia. Glue ends together to form a cluster. Begin wrapping and gluing Raffia clusters around the wreath.

4. Continue wrapping Raffia color clusters until the wreath is covered.

Embellishments:

1. Cut wire from Sunflower Stems so that they lay flat once glued to the wreath.

2. Glue 3 Sunflowers to wreath's bottom section.

3. Trace cardboard letters onto felt. I inversed my letters before tracing to avoid tracing lines from showing.
4. Cut letters around tracing lines.
5. Glue glittered shapes onto each letter's top section.

6. Glue letters to either side of wreath to create your choosen word or phrase.

7. Cut a piece of Ribbon measuring approximately 25" long. I used my Pinking shears to decorate the ribbon edges.
8. Wrap ribbon around wreath's top section. Tie to make a knot.

And here it is.... my colorful Raffia wreath will add a country look to my Fall Decor. I love the rustic look and texture Raffia added to my wreath.

I hope you give this tutorial a try.

HAPPY FALL!!!!

Linking to:

Today's Creative Blog
debbie-debbiedoos