Happy last day of November everyone! Of course you know what that means, Christmas will be upon us soon! It’s time to deck the halls and get in the festive holiday spirit. I’ve been focusing on decorating my house these past few days and what I always love to have around are poinsettias. I was able to pick up four large pots for just one dollar each on Black Friday.  As much as I love them and think they are beautiful on their own, I always feel like there is just “too much red” involved.  I prefer the traditional red plants, but when they are wrapped with red foil or cellophane around the pots, it just becomes so “one-note”.

So how could I make them much more interesting, how could I shift the focus back to those beautiful crimson leaves? The first thing was to cover up as much of the red on the bottom of the potted plant as possible. A large swath of jute is perfect for this. It adds texture and visual appeal. A bold patterned ribbon, like a peppermint stick, would draw the eye straight in. Then, I finished it up with a Basically Bare Fanciful Frame that I painted white and covered in glitter and “snow”. It screamed “Joy!” to me, so I added that sentiment along with some holly leaves and I was done. The end result is something I absolutely LOVE, and what is so great about this, is that I can remove the jute when the holidays are over and save them for reuse next year!

I’ve been sitting on these amazing gears from Basically Bare since I first got them. Knowing that they would become a part of a canvas, just waiting for the full idea to come to fruition. Then it struck!!!! and let me tell you, out of all the things I’ve created since I started crafting, this is my favorite by far.

Hi everyone, Erika Taylor here today to share with you a large canvas piece I created using Bare Basics Gears set 1 and 2 as well as the bricks from the Climbing Ivy Set. First off for the gears, I’ve embossed them using a few different colors and also masked to create dimension. The bricks have been painted with Glimmer Mist and for the mortar I used Glass Bead Medium.

With a few of the gears, I’ve double embossed to really give texture. You can see that in the photo below.

You’ll also see that I’ve used a few different colors on the gears to give them a vintage /rusted feel.

I absolutely love how the bricks turned out. I used a combination of Marmalade, Harvest Orange, and Coffee Shop Glimmer Mist on them.

Yum yum yum!!!This canvas, although quite large, was so fun to create. I wanted a real industrial feel with just a touch of whimsy, hence the feathers and butterflies.

Thank you so so very much for stopping by today. I’m honored to be able to show you some different things you can do with the Basically Bare embellishments. Possibilities are truly endless.

Until next time

Toodles

Erika Taylor

The sculptural monuments in Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia are one some of my favorite things to photograph.  And, of course, that means they end up seeing a fair amount of time on my scrap table.

The place is amazing, full not just of great sculptures but also of flowering bushes and trees covered with Spanish moss, so the Basically Bare bird and the magnolia flowers seemed to be kind of made for this photo.

I covered the Basically Bare Stack-A-Bellies bird and the Bare Basics Heart with paper and inked them for definition.  Since the papers with which the embellies are covered is so close in color to the background, a little distress ink went a long way in really showing off the different layers and height the chipboard embellies bring to the project.

I fussy-cut all of the magnolias from a sheet of paper.  It took forever, but was totally worth it for the effect it created.

Some of the little magnolias are glued flat onto the background paper and overlapping the photo mat.

A few are adhered to the layout  using some pop-up foam adhesives so that the layers created by stacking the Basically Bare embellies continues throughout the whole thing.

It’s a little strange, I suppose, to find a stroll through a grave yard so inspiring, but every time I go I see the same sculptures in a new way.

There are always new ways of looking at them, and new angles to photograph from….just like these little chipboard embellies.  Since they can be covered, painted, glittered, embossed or whatever else you choose to do with them, there’s always a new way to look a them and a new result to be achieved.

Thanks so much for looking!

x Beth

Everyone have a good Thanksgiving?  I hope so!  And, for me, now that Thanksgiving is over it’s officially time to start decorating for Christmas.  And in that spirit, I have a quick and really easy Christmas project.

I started with a wooden box that I found in a closet when hauling out all of the Christmas decorations.  I have no idea where it came from, but I claimed it in the name of crafty business.

The top bit has a glass panel in it, which I covered with embossed metal tape.  I inked the metal tape and the fantastic (seriously, fantastic!) Basically Bare Climbing Ivy embellies with alcohol inks.

(Weird angle to show the embossing on the metal tape)

A few minutes and some quality time with the hot glue gun later, the whole thing was finished.

Thanks so much for looking!

Beth x

Jamie here with you today and I hope everyone is enjoying Thanksgiving Day!  In honor of Turkey Day, I thought it would be fun to make a couple of cute little table decorations.  Can you picture these guys as name cards on the dinner table?

Follow along and we’ll get started making these guys.  To start off, you’ll need a set of acrylic gears which have been cut in half. Next, I inked up all the pieces of acrylic with several fall shades of alcohol ink.

Once the alcohol ink is dry (which only takes a few seconds), layer and attach the pieces of acrylic with pop dots.  Be sure to only place the pop dots in the middle portion of the gears, otherwise they will be visible on the finished project.

Next up is the body of the turkey.  I took a 4 inch circle piece of fabric and inked it brown.  Once the ink was dry, I took a needle and thread and slip stitched around the border.  Next, add a bit of stuffing and then pull the thread.  By pulling the thread it will close up the fabric and you will have a little ball.

Lastly, just adhere the body of the turkey to the acrylic “feathers”, add a couple of googly eyeballs, the waddle, and the beak.

Now, off I go to finish my Thanksgiving Day dinner!

Hi everyone!  Angela here, Co-Owner of Basically Bare.  It’s been a while since I’ve posted on the blog, because I’ve been out and about spreading the word about Basically Bare, and teaching classes across the southeastern US.  The album I am sharing with you today is an album I taught in Tennessee and Kentucky in October and November.  Everyone that took the class just loved it, but  I am retiring this class project now that 2011 is coming to a close, so I thought I would share it with you here.

“Notes From Christmas Past” mini album by Angela Pruitt
Supplies:  Basically Bare “Krafty Keepsakes Plain Jane” album, chipboard stars, canvas hearts and felt bird; Graphic 45 “Christmas Past” and “Christmas Emporium” papers and cut-outs; Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Stains, Distress Inks; Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists

You can click on any of the pics in this post to see a larger, more detailed version.

Details of the front cover.

Each of the kraft envelopes faces becomes a photo/journaling page.

The center chipboard panel of the book.

We turned the postcards into tabbed photo mats…

And then tucked them inside the envelopes, which we sealed and then cut across the top, creating large pockets!

Which means that very soon, we’ll be trimming our tree! I make photo ornaments every year and this one is no different. I used Bare Basics Buttons and Fanciful Frames to embellish wooden sleds I colored with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists.

What I love the most about this fun little tradition of mine, is that every Christmas I get to watch my kids grow up again,  right before my eyes, as I trim my tree!

I started out with a chipboard heart shape. I covered it with glue.

Then I placed Core’dinations cardstock over it.

Then cut out the shape with an exacto knife.(not shown: I also sanded the edges to make them a little distressed and some of the Core cardstock for depth.)

assemble tag, and here’s a closeup.

Enjoy!!!

Leica Forrest

Hello Basically Bare Fans!  Jan here with a photo heavy post..12 Days and 12 projects!  I’ve used a variety of Basically Bare products including hearts, buttons and birds.  You’ll find fun techniques like stenciling with Glass Bead Gel Medium. misting, sewing, crumpling old newspapers…who knows what else!  Papers are all Authentique.

It’s almost Thanksgiving, so my post for today is a little Thanksgiving banner to string along a wall or over a door.  I used the Basically Embellies Large Pennants and covered them with paper.   Then I used the Crop-a-dile to set eyelets in the tops to string the cord through.

Once the pieces were covered and the eyelets set, I inked the edges with Distress Inks.  I am a huge fan of Distress Inks.  Even on projects like this one that aren’t getting the full distress treatment, you can see the difference it makes in defining the edges of the pieces.  The pieces above are just bare edged, and the ones below been inked with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink.

Once everything was inked and dried, I added some letters that I cut out of kraft cardstock (once again inked with my trusty Distress Inks) using the Cricut and then strung the pennants on jute cord.

I tied little knots in the cord before and after each pennant so that they stay put and don’t slide around.

One of the things I’m super thankful for this year is joining up with the Basically Bare team, which has allowed me to work alongside some fabulous designers as we show projects to all of the great folks who visit the Design Blog.

I hope that you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving!  Thanks for looking!