Tuesday, October 16, 2012

I Conquered The Wreath. Finally!!!

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Hey y'all. I hope you're having a great week so far. I'm sad to say I haven't stamped anything for myself since Friday night. I'm going to have to come up with something though or I won't have projects for the rest of the week. Nothing like a little pressure to make the mojo work. :) Today's project isn't something I stamped, but it makes me smile. It makes me smile because I finally conquered the blasted thing and now that it's done, I smile every time I walk into my kitchen and see it on the wall.

Here's today's project-



Fall Wreath featuring Spice Cake DSP
Why yes, I know you're surprised to see a project featuring retired product. I try to not do that very often. The truth is that when I started this project not only was the product not retired it was brand new! I know you're probably doing the math right now, yep this @*%#! wreath was a whole year in the making. *SMH* The truth is I got so frustrated during the class with trying to get the lolly's to adhere to the bases I just gave up. I seriously got a headache from doing it, I was soooo frustrated.

Fast-forward a year....We now have our amazing little silicone mats and after reading everyone else's blogs last year on how Hot Glue Guns made doing theirs so much easier I decided to give it one more try. The Catholic guilt in me just wouldn't allow me to trash the whole thing. So during our Columbus Day weekend 2 weeks ago, I sat down with all the pieces and started nearly from scratch. The lolly's were all removed from their bases, (I never thought Tombow would let me down) they all removed easily from the bases without any ripping or tearing. In its defense, there might have been enough Tombow that it was acting more like Temporary adhesive than permanent. Next, using my hot glue gun I applied it to the back of each lolly and stuck it back down to the base. WOW!!! What a difference the hot glue made. If I had known it would be that easy, I might even have completed this project last year. :) Once I had all of them done I started figuring out placement and discovered that I was short a small one. It would have been fine without it, everyone else in the class' was nice without an extra one, but I couldn't make myself do it. It just wasn't going to be symmetrical enough. So, surprising even myself, I went down to the studio, found some old Spice Cake DSP and made myself another lolly. *Gasp!* I know, it's still hard for me to believe. (It's the small blue one at the top right side) Once it was done I was ready to assemble & complete my project. I did make one other alteration from the original. My stamping buddy April had used a straw wreath to mount hers and I liked how it gave her wreath a little more dimension so I had purchased a 12' wreath myself, in the anticipation that I would one day complete mine. Instead of leaving it bare though, I took my remaining Crumb Cake Tulle and wrapped it around my wreath. I had just enough to wrap it completely. It was meant to be. I used my Hot Glue Gun to secure the edges to the wreath and then hot glued everything to the wreath. Finally, it was done! I found a nail to mount it with and then went in search of somewhere to mount it. Luckily, I found a bare section of wall in my kitchen that looked like it needed a little love and mounted it there. Now I see it every time I go into my kitchen. I think it was meant to be there. What do you think-

Sorry for the blurry pic

My kitchen is done in a warm gold Venetian Plaster (Yes, I watched way too many episodes of that darn house swapping/remodeling show a few years back and had to try it. Yes, it was a pain in the rear. I froze my shoulder finishing it up. No I don't recommend it to anyone. I sponged my living room in a similar color and it butts up to the edges of the kitchen and looks almost identical with much less work and no frozen shoulder. Any-who, I think it's the perfect compliment to the Spice Cake Colors used in my wreath.

Believe it or not, now that we have the Die to make these and the silicone mat, I'm almost thinking of trying my hand at another one....almost.

Well, that's all I have for you today. I hope you liked it and I hope you'll bear with me as I struggle through the next few days/weeks. I updated my FB yesterday to say my heart was headed to Cali without me and I'm hoping I won't feel this way too much longer, because it really SUCKS!!! I just have no desire to do anything and I'm already ready to be over that feeling, so I really do hope you'll bear with me as I transition through this. Thanks in advance for being so wonderful!

Thanks for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated! Till next time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but learning to Dance in the rain. 

Please also remember that October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month-
Love Does NOT Hurt!

Be Safe-
Shan
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2 comments:

  1. Omg! I had such a chuckle when I read your post! It's shades of what happened to me! Gosh it was frustrating! Your wreath is gorgeous and I'm sure it was worth the extra effort! It looks beautiful on your wall! Thanks for sharing your dilema and success!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for taking the time to share a little love with me. I hope you find this blog to be as much of a blessing to you as you are to me. :) Be Safe- Shan