ILoveToCreate Teen Crafts Have Your Cake Jewelry Box

ILoveToCreate
Teen CraftsHave Your Cake Jewelry Box
Margot and Avalon Potter

It's been hotter than h e double hockey sticks around these parts so most of the activities that don't include a swimming pool have been indoors. Avalon has been helping me in the studio with the new book and my various and sundry design project deadlines. Yesterday we put our heads together on a decorative decoupaged box. She had mentioned needing a place to keep her jewelry and this is a pretty solution to that dilemma. Since we all know how much she loves the Cake Boss and decorated cakes, this box fit the bill for a faux cake project!

Avalon selected the tissue paper from a pile I keep around for craft projects and gifts. She did the decoupage and after it dried I added the coordinating floral embellishments. I am loving these felt buttons from Blumenthal Lansing, you can use them for so many crafty projects! Aleene's Tacky Glue makes quick work of stacking them up and Traci Bautista's Collage Pauge in 'Sparkle' was simple and safe for Avalon to use without my supervision. There are all sorts of shapes you can buy and decorate with decoupage, this is a great way for teens to personalize their decor.


Materials
Paper box
Decorative tissue paper (save this up from gifts for crafting!)
Coordinated Favorite Findings felt floral buttons
Craft flower with wired double stem
Traci Bautista's Collage Pauge in Sparkle
Aleene's Fast Grab Tacky Glue

Tools
Foam brush
Non-stick craft sheet
Wire cutters
Pointed tool (I used a clay tool)

1. Shorten the stems on your wired flower to about 3" using wire cutters.

2. Tear sections of tissue paper. Apply decoupage medium to the section of the box you're decorating and apply paper, then put a thin layer of decoupage over the top. Don't oversaturate everything.

3. Keep building layers of tissue paper until the box bottom and top are completely covered. We used two different papers, you can do the same or use all one paper or combine papers. You can also, if you like, decoupage the interior of the box. Allow decoupage medium to dry.

4. Use Aleene's Fast Grab glue to adhere each layer of the the stacked felt flower buttons around the edge of the box lid. Allow to dry.

5. Use a pointed object to poke two holes in the top center of the box lid, these need to be spaced to accommodate the flower stems.

6. Slide the flower stems into the hole and twist underneath to secure.

I Love to Create: La Tour Eiffel Decoupage Lampshade

(Click on images to view close up)

In the blink of an eye, little girls become young women. They’re more grown up and they want a more sophisticated bedroom. Total room rehab isn’t always an option but it’s not so hard to make quick and significant changes if you’re crafty. I bought this Eiffel tower lamp at Target about eight years ago, and it’s still available online! I wasn’t terribly fond of the shade that came with it, so I purchased a plain craft paper shade that I’d always intended to embellish. Flash forward eight years...

It’s perfect for my daughter’s newly revamped room! We used white tissue paper stamped with archival ink (you need to be sure your ink is waterproof or it will bleed when it gets wet.) I got a great decoupage trick from crafty diva Pattie Wack at CHA and used Aleene’s Tacky Glue® glue stick to adhere the torn pages on the shade instead of decoupage medium which can get very messy very quickly! Here are the instructions! Bon chance!

La Tour Eiffel Lampshade
Teen Craft
Margot Potter for I Love to Create

Materials
Kraft Paper lampshade
Eiffel Tower lamp base from Target
White tissue paper
Vintage or new off white buttons in various sizes
1 yard black chiffon ruffle trim (JoAnn Fabrics)
Ranger Jet Black archival ink
Hero Arts Old French Writing stamp H2365
Inkadinkado Flourish stamp 96253-P
Traci Bautista’s Collage Pauge Instant Decoupage™ in Glossy
Aleene’s Tacky Glue® glue stick
Aleene’s Fast Grab™ Tacky Glue®
Aleene’s Jewel-It®

Tools
Foam brush

1. Wipe shade off with a dry cloth to remove any dust or dirt.

2. Stamp a large sheet of white tissue paper with archival ink and the writing stamp. Add stamped flourish accents. Allow to dry.
3. Tear each stamped section leaving frayed edges.
4. Adhere paper segments to lamp using glue stick. Make sure to cover back of each sheet completely. Work from the center using your fingers to gently adhere paper to lamp and work out any wrinkles or bubbles.
5. Overlap sheets and don’t worry about any small gaps, you can go back and fill those in later with smaller paper segments.6. Spread a thin layer of decoupage medium over lamp using a foam brush. Use brush to work out wrinkles or bubbles. Don’t stress too much, texture is good! Allow to dry for several hours or overnight.7. Adhere ribbon trim to bottom and top edge of lamp using Aleene’s Fast Grab Tacky Glue. Allow to dry. 8. Adhere buttons of various sizes to shade using Jewel-It Glue. Allow to dry. C'est tres chic, n'est pas?