Sweet Inspiration Link Party #140

Welcome to our #140 Sweet Inspiration Party!

Happy Friday, everyone! Changes are in store for the party! It's a bittersweet day for some of us. This will be the last day for Mary, Christina and myself. We are off on new adventures and journeys! We've enjoyed being your co-hosts for this wonderful party. Mary has been here from the beginning and Christina not far behind. I've only been hosting for a short time but I've been linking my projects from the very start and I'll continue to do so! Don't worry though, we are leaving the party in very capable hands with Amy @ Health Home and Heart. Amy will be joined by Eileen @ Just Measuring Up and Lidia @ Design Inside the Box.  I hope that you will support these ladies as much as you have supported us! As an extra special send-off, each host has selected two of their favorites this week!  

Please remember that the party starts at 7 am EST or 11 am GMT and runs until Tuesday. By joining every week you will be able to grow your blog and gather inspiration from so many others who link up to the party.  

 Please keep in mind that linking up with stock photography or using photos without express permission by the photo owner is not allowed. Links of stock photography or photos that are not owned by you and Link Parties will be removed without notification.

Christina @ Art Decoration and Crafting

Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter

Instagram | Google + | Youtube

Amy @ Health Home and Heart

Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram

Gail @ Purple Hues and Me

Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter

Instagram | Google + 

Mary @ The Boondocks Blog

Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter

Instagram | Google +

And now for our Features:

Salmon croquettes. So easy to make them and they look delicious and crispy. Full recipe from Tracie at Somewhat Awry http://www.somewhatawry.com/salmon-croquettes/

This is by far my favorite edition for falafel. I've never seen a recipe like this before so I'm going to give it a try the soonest possible. You can find the recipe from Jas at All Thats Jas https://all-thats-jas.com/baked-beet-falafel.html

I loved seeing all of the different paints and techniques that Vicki from Entri Ways used over the past year. She has done some fantastic projects the past year, and I'll definitely be trying some of her techniques in the future. 

https://entriways.com/2019/01/01/2018-year-in-review-part-2-the-paints-finishes-i-use-most/

                                                                              

I'm in love with this winterberry fur wreath from Beverly and Gloria over at Across the Boulevard. It's just perfect for winter, and I think one of these would look perfect with my decor. ;)

https://acrosstheblvd.com/winterberry-faux-fur-wreath/

We all have problems hiding those unsightly, awkward containers in our laundry room and Ann @ The Apple Street Cottage shares her easy, and beautiful solution!

https://theapplestreetcottage.blogspot.com/2019/01/laundry-detergent-dispenser-cover.html

I was amazed how Kimberly @ DIY Party Mom helped arranged her parents 50th Anniversary Party. Thinking of my own 50th this year, this celebration was truly gorgeous! https://www.diypartymom.com/.../love-is-sweet-50th...

I was smitten with this coat that Laurie of Vanity and Me shared with us. I can just dive right into it what with the weather being so horrid these days. I love that blue color and also the fact that it is not heavy. Winter you can stay as long as you want if I get to look as stylish as Laurie!

https://www.vanityandmestyle.com/2019/01/perfect-timing-cosy-teddy-coat.html

Lately I have been getting up early while everyone is still asleep and I marvel at all I get done in the morning. And with a smile on my face! Candice of She's Crafty has a great routine for the morning and I am going to follow some of her suggestions too.

https://www.shescraftycrafty.com/2019/01/12-steps-to-successful-morning-routine.html

Our most popular post is from Michelle @A Crafty Mix! It was by far the most interesting post we've had! Michelle shares a tutorial on how to make a fur baby pool ramp for one of her fur babies, Eeeee Deeeee, whose loves to swim but has legs too short for her to get out of the pool. What a cutie pie! Check out how you can make a pool ramp for your fur baby,too!

https://acraftymix.com/blog/2019/01/07/diy-dog-pool-ramp/

If you were featured, proudly display this button on your site! Congratulations!

Party Rules

• It would be appreciated if you follow us on at least one social media.
• No link back to our blogs required but it would be appreciated. We have our buttons as “nofollow” links so not to upset SEO.
• You can link up to 3 posts, DIY’s, Home décor, Crafts, Recipes, anything family friendly goes!
• Yes, you can link up posts with Affiliate links.
• Please link up your own work, no ads.
• Linking gives us permission to share a credited photo on our social media accounts.
• If you wish to pin the features please do so by going to the original post.
• No repeat linking up. Otherwise, it will be removed. Click the button to link up below! Get inspired, have fun & share!!!

Disclosure 

By submitting a link to the Sweet Inspiration Link Party you are giving the party hosts permission to feature your link/post on our blogs, social media and future round up posts. This includes images from the linked post as well as linking to your social media accounts. All Sweet Inspiration Link Party co-hosts respect you and your work; everything will be properly linked back to you and credit given.

An InLinkz Link-up

No Sew Felt Pug Tablet Cover

Welcome to the January Pinterest Challenge Blog Hop, hosted by Erlene @My Pinterventures. The purpose of this Pinterest Challenge is to motivate all the participants of this hop (and you, too) to not just pin, but to make it happen! This month, I chose to create a No Sew Felt Pug Tablet Cover! 

You've probably seen the animal shape covers for iphones and tablets done in felt on Pinterest! I think these are so adorable! There are lots of different kinds of doggies and I especially like the pugs.  My dearest best friend loved pugs and raised a few before she passed. Every time I see anything related to pugs I think of her and I miss her everyday! 

The thing about these pins is that there are lots of images, especially from Etsy, and a few false links on Pinterest, but not one step by step tutorial. Don't you just hate it when the links take you to sites completely unrelated! The following pin illustration was the closest to a tutorial that I could find.  And it's just pictures of the different parts used - all in a foreign language.  

Here's my version of this pug tablet cover! I really had to adjust the sizes of the pieces and do a bit of tweaking for my Amazon Fire tablet size.

Let's begin by measuring the width and height of the Amazon Fire tablet and then add one inch to the width (4 1/2" + 1") for seam allowance on the 18"x12" felt. If you have an iphone or ipad, etc. you can adjust your measurements and resize the pieces to make the cover that suits you. 

 Then cut out the felt to measure 18" x 5 1/2"

Next, make a pocket for the tablet  .  .  .

adjusting the flap where the pug head will go.

Run a bead of Fabri-Tac fabric glue along the pocket seams and clamp in place until dry.

Next, using the pinterest patterns, copy to word to adjust the sizes (I had to lengthen the ears to fold over) and then cut out.

Next, cut out all the pug pieces in felt using the image as a guide for colors to assemble the head.

Gluing on the pug face pieces:

1.   Glue on the head.
2.   Next glue on the muzzle.
3.   And then the mouth (that curls up)
4.   And the nose w/nostrils
5.   Add the outline of the eyes (brown) with the white eyeballs
6.   And then the gold color pupils
7.   Next add the blackness of the pupils
8.   And then the white dots for glare.
9.   Add the brow wrinkles - eye expressions over eyes
10. And finally, the ears (shape bottom around head) and fold over to glue

11. Trim the flap side edges round
12. And finally add stick-on velcro closures

This is for you, Sandra! Love you always!

To join next month's #pinterestchallenge, click here to sign-up ⇒ February Pinterest Challenge.

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Now let's see what other things Pinterest inspired! Head over and visit the other hosts to see what they crafted, cooked, built, or tried!

              

Erlene - My Pinterventures • Jenny - Cookies Coffee and Crafts
Debbee - Debbee's Buzz • Laurie - My Husband Has Too Many Hobbies 
Bri - Halfpint Design • Kelli - K's Olympic Nest 
 Cherryl - Farm Girl Reformed   •  Beverly - Across the Boulevard
 Debra - Shoppe No. 5   •  Roseann - This Autoimmune Life
 Terri - Our Good Life   • T'onna - Sew Crafty Crochet  
 Joanne - Our Unschooling Journey  •   Habiba - Craftify My Love 
 Gail - Purple Hues and Me   •  Kristie - Teadoddles 
Lydia - Lydia's Flexitarian Kitchen  •   Kristie - Love My Little Cottage 
Michelle - Our Crafty Mom • Julie - Sum of Their Stories

Alexandra - Eye Love Knots • Marci - Stone Cottage Adventures 

Ali - Home Crafts by Ali • Lauren - Mom Home Guide 
Susan - Suzerspace • Audra - Renewed Projects 

An InLinkz Link-up

Checkered Plaid Deer Plaque DIY

Welcome to our Monthly Challenge Blog Hop! I've joined a group of creative bloggers to bring you a monthly challenge blog hop on the 2nd Monday of each month. For January, the challenge is to upcycle glass, plastic or metal. We can all relate to upcycling or repurposing anyone of these materials from time to time! So let's get started!

For this challenge I've chosen to enhance a galvanize metal sign into a decorative wall plaque by first painting the galvanized metal with the colors in a napkin I found online and then decoupaging the napkin on top of the checkered pattern design. I thought this to be a pretty cool idea for me to do!

Meet the co-hosts:

My Husband Has Too Many Hobbies | Across the Blvd

Purple Hues and Me | Peppermints and Cherries

Stone Cottage Adventures | Domestic Deadline

Our Crafty Mom | Cookies, Coffee, and Crafts

Sum of Their Stories | Mom Home Guide

An InLinkz Link-up

Checkered Plaid Deer Plaque DIY

Imagine my delight when I found napkins online with a deer silhouette design in some of my favorite colors! Just perfect for a winter-time theme!  And what a theme! Checkered patterns are very popular now and work with just about every design style. So whether your space is traditional, rustic, shabby chic, coastal or modern, this versatile pattern can be a welcome addition to your home decor in any season! 

Take a look at the galvanized plaque and napkin that I'm using! The colors in the napkin are quite lovely! A deep pink and shades of plum/berries! Who would have thought to color a deer with these!

Besides the metal plaque and napkins, the following materials were used:

• FolkArt mult-surface acrylic paints
• Spouncer sponge brush/cosmetic sponge
• Duck Clean Release painter's tape - .94"
• Mod Podge

Let me first say that in hindsight, I should have used a primer first ( I knew this), but I was eager to get started and thought using a multi-surface acrylic craft paint would be ok since the label said for metal, too. So, unfortunately, there was some small lifting of the paint. Plus, every time I added the painter's tape I was quite worried that the paint would come up in even larger chunks. Oh well, thankfully that didn't happen!

Anyway, to be safe, cover the entire sign with a good metal primer paint first and let dry completely and then use the paint colors of your choice (deep pink) to cover again .  .  .

 adding a second coat and let dry.

Then, find the center of the sign (I eyeballed it using the v shape protrusions as a guide) and lay down a narrow strip of painter's tape across the entire width (this will be the spacer strip). Then add two more strips to the right and left of the first tape, smoothing down and out the side edges. You don't want paint getting under the edges.

Remove the spacer strip and add it next to the strip that's there. Make sure you are lining up all the strips as straight and accurate as possible next to each other, smoothing the edges down as you go. Then continue to add new strips of painter's tape.

 And keep re-using the spacer strip for the entire sign, left and right, so the lines and spacing will be straight. Continue as before until you reach the end of the sign.

 Once all the tape is in place and smoothed down, begin painting over the exposed areas with a spouncer sponge brush. I'm using the color Mulberry for this.

 Paint all the open spaces not covered by the tape.

Once all the open areas are painted,  remove all the tape strips and let the paint dry completely!

 In the pic below, the painted lines looked nice but the edges could have been sharper. It was probably because of the painter's tape that I used. I noticed that it didn't have a good gripe. So I bought Frog tape to try instead and found that its' gripe was too good and lifted the paint even more! So I stuck with the blue tape.

 

 Once dry, add painter's tape strips in the opposite direction, following the same steps as before, completely covering the sign.

 Next, paint the open areas with the same color as before.

 I made the mistake of removing the painter's tape once I had painted all the exposed spaces. Instead, the tape should have remained on and left to dry before moving on to the next step.

So I had to re-tape over the areas to paint on the next color.

This time I used cosmetic sponges that I got at the dollar store to paint the spaces. This type of sponge seemed much easier to use and didn't leave bubbles like the spoucher sponge brush.

Once all the open spaces were painted, I removed all of the painter's tapes to reveal this lovely pattern.

Since the napkin has broken strips in the pattern, I thought I would add a couple of narrow strips along the top and sides  .  .  .

using the sames steps as before but lightly brushing on the paint in small lines!

To decoupage the napkin on to the plaque, paint mod podge along the center following the size and shape of the napkin. Lay the napkin down, face up and smooth out. 
*I did not remove the white layers of the napkin because I didn't want the stripe pattern of the plaque to show through as much. 

Once dry, I added two more pieces of napkins over the first one to define the image and dabbed on a bit of white paint and water to the background. 

And finally, I painted on additional mod podge over the entire plaque to seal once it was completely dry.

Sorry about the lighting. It's showing like a cranberry, but it really is more of a plum, as shown above.

This plaque was oh so fun to create! It's such a simple and easy way to bring color and a trendy pattern to any decor!

Be sure to check out how the others met this month’s challenge by clicking the links above!

Thanks for stopping by

and take a little time to enjoy,
Happy Crafting!