Giveaways Archives - Page 3 of 6 - Spoonful of Imagination

Recapping A Great Night

October 29, 2013 By Erica Deuel 18 Comments

I keep thinking about my Spoonful Lab and a huge smile comes across my face. It was so much fun. Yesterday, I showed you the ruffle aprons I made for it. Today, I want to show you the night.

When everyone arrived, they got to get a drink, browse my decor and supplies, and find a seat. They immediately got to mingle, talk and start creating a colorful fabric garland.

It was open and relaxed and I couldn’t have been more pleased. I loved seeing how although I explained some things…everyone took my instruction and put their own twist on it. I am so glad everyone felt the freedom to create what they wanted.

I love seeing the creative process take place, and being apart of it was just icing on the cake. These girls were creative and have skills!

We enjoyed some amazing desserts made by my sweet friend and fellow blogger Libby at Lemon Grass and Green Tea. She really out did herself on the amazing and beautiful treats we got to enjoy!

I shared some of my tips that I use and run through when I paint wood signs. I’ve walked you through a few techniques in different blog posts, but being live I got to babble and go in more depth. It was so fun to explain my creative process without having to worry about how many characters I said it all in. I loved it.

Rust-oleum was so generous to supply the spray paint as the main supply item for our wood signs. The colors are gorgeous, and I loved seeing how almost every color I had was used.

I loved to see the different personalities come out in everyone’s work. We had so much fun!

Don’t feel bad if you missed out on this one. There is another lab coming! I am already dreaming and planning for my next event. On December 5th, I have a lab in Alpharetta, Georgia. Out of The Box Art Studio is generously giving me their place for the night to host this event.

We are going to create a white feather wreath that is perfect for your Christmas decor and can even carry over into the new year for winter. We will also be creating some Christmas ornaments. This will be a great chance to get out with your girl friends and have some fun and laugh, after (I’m sure) a crazy Thanksgiving weekend. Sign ups are now live! Please go here to reserve your spot today!

Also, if you want to get your hands on some of the woods signs I made to explain my painting techniques, they are going up for sale in my shop this week. A lot have already been added.

I will have swag bags again for my attendees at the Handmade Christmas Lab. Here is what was in our last lab’s swag bag:

Everyone’s earrings, magnets, bookmark (that also acted as our name tag), and card were slightly different. I think they were a hit. I am already planning the next bag of goodies. If you would like to get your hands on the swag items above, please leave me a comment below. I will randomly select a winner this weekend. I would also LOVE if you share my graphic for my Handmade Christmas party around.

Thank you so much for all your support!

DIY Burlap Greeting Cards

September 6, 2013 By Erica Deuel 17 Comments

How many of you have lost your significant other to the re-start of the football season?

Matt loves the NFL, especially our hometown Atlanta Falcons, and he tops it all off with multiple fantasy football teams. You may love football too, which is great. But for me, growing up with 5 brothers, football became a yawn fest for me. But I love Matt and he needs his down time too, so I try to muster up the strength to support him through a game or two each week. What I have found is that this can be an amazing few hours of crafting time. I don’t know about you, but I love when I can “find extra time” to create. So as Matt settles into a game, I start-up my craft on the other couch. We still get that time together but get to both focus on something we enjoy.

So, while the NFL started it’s season last night I created these Burlap Greeting Cards. Win, win, win! I get to do something I love, I get to encourage my husband with some football time, and now I’ve got some fun cards I get to mail out and encourage some friends. And I’m going to give you the supply list, DIY instructions, and a free printable so you can make them too! Maybe even during the games upcoming on Saturday or Sunday!? 🙂

Supply List:

Cardstock

Scrapbook scrap paper

Glue stick

Scissors

Burlap

Mini round brads

Print out of graphic

Envelopes

I started by folding one of my big pieces of scrapbook paper in half and measuring how much needed to be cut off, so it fit perfectly in my envelope. For other cards I used my cardboard cardstock. The main idea here is to use a thick piece of paper to give it a real greeting card feel while also providing a sturdy pallet for all the embellishments.

Once I had the size of my card, it was my blank canvas to decorate. I started on my first card by ripping the edge around one of my graphics to add a fun textured look.

I cut a piece of burlap slightly bigger than my ripped graphic. I pulled a few strands off the ends of the burlap to create a more fringed look, and used a mini round brad to attach both the graphic and the burlap to my folded card.

I love the layer look and the mix of frayed edges with the clean straight lines of the card’s background. I started playing with my paper and came up with a few other designs. This next one, I cut the graphic out with straight lines (rather than the ripped technique) and glued it to the card. I then ripped a decorative piece of paper to border it. and glued it on top. Lastly, I cut out small burlap circles, pulled out a few strands again (to create a fringe), and used a mini round brad to attach the burlap flower to my card.

I made these so quick. I love the textured look with the burlap, but you can keep your design even simpler. The following two I created with just scrap paper and glued them on the card with my graphic.

These cards are all 5″ x 7″, but I then made some easy smaller ones as well. There are so many possibilities and designs when creating cards with just a few supplies.

These were so easy to make. You could of course create your own printout with a special saying, quote, or picture and that opens the door for even more possibilities. You could also do the same techniques but put it in a frame rather than on a card like I did for my sister here.

I feel like I have been tired and trying to figure out the new normal routine with school here. I don’t think I am alone, as I have seen FB messages and Instagrams of others in the same boat as me. I am excited to share this valuable truth with all of you, You Are Worth Far More Than Rubies. I created this graphic for you to use and create your own cards. Click here to download the larger graphic I used for my 5x 7 cards and click here to download the graphic for smaller cards. Enjoy!

I plan to write a few friends this weekend. Do you have friends that could use some encouragement?

Share this post somehow through social media, let me know how you did in the comments below and you’ll be entered to win a set of these cards to send out to your friends. I’ll randomly draw a winner on Monday for the first four 5″ x 7″ cards I shared on here.

Thanks so much for stopping in. I hope you have a great weekend and are able to add a spoonful of imagination into your day!

DIY Ruffled Shower Curtain

July 6, 2013 By Erica Deuel 9 Comments

It’s been a while since I took on a good sewing project and the kids’ bathroom was calling to me. I did away with the old rubber ducky shower curtain they have had for years and created this DIY Ruffled Shower Curtain to take its place. It was relatively easy to sew. It just requires doing the same few steps over and over (for as many ruffled rows you want to create).

Here is how I made mine in case you want to make it as well! I started with gathering some fabrics together that I loved. I had some on hand, but I also went out and bought a few more to have enough fabric. I used a painter’s drop cloth as the foundation that I sewed my fabrics onto. I love the way the drop cloth added a heaviness to this project as well as a plastic lining that I think will help it to hold up well.

I cut all my fabrics into 12″ wide strips. I didn’t measure the actual length in inches but just sewed enough 12″ strips together to make a long strand that I could then use to ruffle up to cover the length of the drop cloth (which just so happened to measure the width of our shower stall). After all my fabric strips were cut, I ironed the edge of one side of each strip about 1/4″ up and sewed down that fold to create a nice finished edge for my strips to become ruffles.

I then folded and pinned my fabric in a way much like I did on my ruffled fabric bag to create ruffles. I simply sewed down the line of pins to attache the ruffles to my drop cloth. Make sure you are not sewing along the edge of your strip you just hemmed. You want that neat, pretty side to stick out and show. This was the start of my shower curtain coming together. Note: if you have any seems you want to try to hide, space your ruffles so they get hidden in the center.

After I had the first ruffled row sewn on, I drew small little lines where the edge of the ruffle laid on my drop cloth. I then pinned a row of pins two inches above those penned line marks. I wanted my ruffles to overlap a good bit, and this two-inch space created that. I then simply picked up each pin and pinned it right back down to hold the next ruffle in place. After that whole ruffled row was pinned, I sewed it. I then started this process back over until all my fabric rows were complete.

At the end of my fabric ruffles, I saw I had a small margin of drop cloth to still cover and my new shower curtain was way shorter than my old shower curtain (when laid on top).

I decided to line burlap and create a ruffle using that for the bottom of my shower curtain. I decided that the contrast in fabrics would look good, especially since this last ruffled row measures more like 17″ than my 12″ fabric ruffled rows. Once the burlap ruffle was attached, I folded all my fabrics over the edge to wrap around the drop cloth, and I sewed down the side. This step created a finished side and now prevents any of the ruffles from completely flying up.

I then turned the shower curtain over and trimmed all the back pieces off to make the inside look clean and finished; although, I will still use a cheap plastic shower curtain to hang with this decorative shower curtain.

I couldn’t decide if I wanted to create loops, make eye holes, or sew my new shower curtain onto an old one to create the eyelet holes at the top in order to be able to hang it. I think I will go back and create the eyelet holes, but for now I was afraid I would ruin it, if I was to try that. I am a lazy sewer and don’t like changing the foot on my machine. 🙂 I simply folded some ribbon over to create a double thick loop that I sewed onto the top of my shower curtain. These could be easily removed later down the road, if I get brave enough to try the eyelet holes, but they work for now.

I love the way it came out! I have some fun art and other accessories that I am working on using in this bathroom, but the space already feels so much different with the new shower curtain.

It turned out a bit more girlish than I was intending, and as my six-year-old son pointed out, there are two boys using this bathroom. I promised him green towels and a boy-ish picture on the wall to help compensate…more to come on this I am sure 🙂

I love the way these fabrics look together. I used some of my scraps to sew two embroidered hoops. I would like to give them away to one of you! Simply, let the rafflecopter widget load below the picture, and enter as many ways as you want! I will announce the winner right here on Friday, July 12, 2013.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
I hope you had a great Independence Day and are enjoying this weekend!

iBlog Sneak Peak: Simplicity

May 14, 2013 By Erica Deuel 2 Comments

The three winners of my iBlog giveaway are: Rachel R., Tara T., and Karen B.

I will be in touch with each of you! But wait, everyone is a winner today… Here is a very short excerpt from my chapter to give you a preview of the kinds of info shared in this e-book.

As you know the internet is quite large. There is a lot of content out there and more being produced every single day. The truth is, there is a lot of noise and a lot of content that is competing with yours.

Fortunately for you and for me the majority of content publishers out there don’t get the idea of simplicity. Rather than pulling back and creating something special, most sites just turn up the volume. Tons and tons of sites end up becoming hectic and busy billboards. You know the sites I’m talking about. You don’t know where to start and you just end up moving on because it hurts your eyes to stick around.

Remember we are talking about Curb Appeal. I am all for really fun, unique, and detailed posts. However, is your design simple? Intuitive? Easy to navigate? Is it easy to load?

Here are a few ideas on simplicity:

Navigation: I would encourage you to limit your site to have 4-6 tabs or pages when it comes to the navigation. Once you get beyond 6 tabs you can end up with lots of layers or nested navigation. This can be too much for someone to digest. It ends up looking busy.

Widgets and Gadgets: You can install a number of elements into your site that can assist with simplicity. WordPress calls them Widgets and Blogger calls them Gadgets. To put it simply these are plugins you can install into your site to help its functionality.

Mobile Responsiveness: Massive amounts of web content are being viewed on these tablets and smartphones every single day. Yet the majority of websites are not mobile responsive. Mobile Responsive is a design or a plugin that will adapt the layout of your site for a mobile device.

Load Times: If you are anything like me, if a page doesn’t load in about 5 seconds, I move on to the next site. I consider something to be wrong with it. I would suggest a Load Time plugin. There are a lot out there, find the one that suits you. The primary idea is that it will prioritize the order in which your content loads. Text first, pictures next, advertising last, etc.

Easy to Contact: As your blog grows people will want to contact you. It may simply be through a comment on your blog or the desire to send a personal message. Either way, make sure that your readers can easily contact you.

One of the primary elements of your design can be found in your consistency of creating new content. Think about your blog like a magazine. As you stand at the check out lines the new covers of a magazine draw your eye. Imagine if every week for several months the magazine covers never changed? Eventually you would lose interest because “I’ve seen that before.” But at the end of the day it’s about what is inside your home (aka blog) that makes it truly special. Be smart in your initial design, tweak as you go along and learn more, but keep the consistency of fresh new posts at the forefront of your work and your site will turn out just fine!

I wanted to share a few tips and encourage you that I think this e-book is a great read. If you didn’t win a copy, You can still buy one here.

Thanks so much for all your support!

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