Christmas Decorations

I love decorating for Christmas.  Well, pretty much any holiday, but Fall and Christmas are definitely my favorite times of the year.  I have quite a few totes full of decorations in the garage and every year I make a few more with Chalk Couture!  Here are my decorations for this year!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!  I am all ready for the big night with decorations and goody bags!

Here are the decorations I made this year with my Chalk Couture products ~ so much fun!

Thanks for stopping by!  If you are in the US or Canada and would like to make your own Halloween decorations for next year, be sure to check out my online chalk boutique for everything you need! https://www.chalkcouture.com/samanthaburns

P.S. There are lots of ADORABLE Christmas projects there to make too!!

And don't forget to join my chalk art group for more inspiration!

Chia Seed Mixed Berry Jam

In my quest to eat and cook healthier, I ordered some of the Epicure Chia Seed Jam Mix.  I have never made it before and figured it can't be that difficult to make.  And it wasn't!  I even used some frozen mixed berries I had stashed in the freezer.  The recipe was ridiculously easy and I ended up with one half pint of jam.  Perfect!  It will last in the fridge for about 2 weeks ~ if I don't eat it all first!


Ingredients

2 cups (500 ml) fresh or frozen berries
2 gbsp (30 ml) Chia Jam Mix

Preparation

In a Rectangular Steamer, combine the berries with the mix. Microwave on high, uncovered, for 5 minutes (my microwave is 900 watts). Mash, let set up for about 15 minutes and then spoon into a sealable jar.  Store in the refridgerator for up to 2 weeks.  Yum!!

Epicure Chia Jam Mix

Canada https://samanthaburns.epicure.com/en-ca/product/1001064

USA https://samanthaburns.epicure.com/en-us/product/chia-jam-mix

Rectangle Steamer

Canada https://samanthaburns.epicure.com/en-ca/product/1004213

USA https://samanthaburns.epicure.com/en-us/product/rectangular-steamer

Thanks for stopping by!

Fall Decorations

My most favorite time of the year is almost here ~ Fall!  🍂  

I normally hold out until Fall officially begins, but I couldn't take the pressure any longer!  I finished up my Fall Chalk Couture creations and couldn't wait to get it all up.  I even added some touches to the front patio!

Thanks for stopping by! If you are on Facebook, stop by and join my group Let's Chalk with Chalk Couture and check out all of the other gorgeous home decor projects you can make for yourself too!  The Chalk Couture Holiday Suite 2019 catalog just came out and there are TONS of beautiful Christmas projects just waiting to be made!

Easy DIY Farmhouse Beads

Hey, Everyone!  I've been seeing a lot of home decor posts on the internet, and also staging pictures in my Chalk Couture team Facebook group, that have farmhouse beads in them.  I'm like, "what the heck are farmhouse beads?".  Well, turns out they are just pretty, wood bead necklaces or garlands for your home.  They are super cute and add a nice layering touch around home decor items and mantles.  They can be made in different colors too!  I saw some cute painted ones and did a search on the internet to see what painting technique everyone was using.  A lot of them were painting the wooden beads ONE BY ONE.  Yikes!  That's too tedious for me.  The older I get, the less patience I have for projects that take FOREVER!  So I figured what the heck; I can figure out an easier way.  And I did!

I found a farmhouse bead kit on Amazon for around $10.  It came with 3 difference size wood beads and some jute twine.  I had some chalky style paints in my stash in a pretty light blue and an ivory color that were perfect for the project.  I also had some empty nut containers on hand which turned out to be the perfect paint pot for the beads.  I added about 1/4 cup of paint and 1/8 cup water to the container and gave it a good stir to make it a nice soupy consistency.  I added the medium beads to the container and then stirred them around for a minute or so, making sure they were covered in the watered down paint, even in the holes.  Then I repeated the process for the small beads.

I put a layer of parchment paper and some paper towel on some sheet pans and spooned the beads onto the paper towels, trying not to get too much extra paint on the paper towels.  After all the beads were down, I gave each tray a little shimmy to move the beads around to get the excess paint off.  I repeated the process for the smaller set of beads.  I moved the beads around in their trays about every 15 minutes or so to make sure they weren't sticking together and after about an hour, I transferred them to a clean paper towel for them to dry.

I let them dry for a couple hours and they turned out perfect!  I worked on my Halloween Chalk Couture projects for the rest of the afternoon.  It got hot again today, almost 90°F and really muggy.  Yuck.  So hanging out in the cooler craft room was definitely the right call!

I finished my projects and figured I might as well make the farmhouse bead garland.  It was super easy and after I was done, I couldn't wait to make more!

To make the tassel, I started out by wrapping the jute twine around the width of my hand, about 20 times, then cut jute in half.  I measure a length of twine, about 40" and tied it around the middle of the cut jute bundle. 

Then I added the beads in a nice pattern to the long length of jute.  The jute tended to fray as I tried to thread the beads, so I put a piece of tape on the end make it sturdier.

 I left enough of a tail to be able to tie onto the next jute bundle and got it tied on to the end of the garland, tight up against the last bead.  I wrapped some jute around the bundle about 15 times to form the tassel, tied it off and added a bit of glue to the knot to keep the knot from coming undone, and repeated for the other tassel.  I measured each tassel at 3" and cut off the excess.

 

Ta Da!  Talk about super cute!  I can't wait to make some more!  As for painting them, I'm sure an acrylic craft paint mixed with water would have the same results, just be sure to shimmy them around on the paper towel to get off the excess paint.

Yep, definitely going to make some more!  Some Christmas colors maybe? Yep!

Thanks for stopping by!

Chalkable Chips

Hey, Everyone!

It's a scorcher out there this afternoon ~ about 96°F.  I'm not one for the heat, so I am holed up in the craftroom in the back of the house, chalking some chips. I am making a country garland with the chips for my kitchen and I was on a roll, so I figured I might as well get the Halloween garland chips done too! I put designs on both sides of the chips, so that can hang either side and won't have any blank spaces.

Have you heard of chalkable chips? No? Well, these 3" circles are a chip off the ol' chalk block! They are ideal for mini projects like garlands and tree ornaments, and they make great gift tags too!  They come in a 12-pack in either white or black.  I easily punched the holes in the tops with my Crop-o-dile so that I can use some ribbon to tie them to my felt ball garlands that I found on Etsy.  I will post pictures of the finished garlands in another post.

Here's a list of everything I used:

Chalkable Chips (White, 12-Pack, 3", Round)
Chalkable Chips (Black, 12-Pack, 3", Round)
Chalkology™ Paste Black Velvet
Chalkology™ Paste Bright White
Let's Get Wicked
Locally Grown

Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for the finished garlands and more Halloween chalk designs to come!

Corner Market Collection

Hello!  Cute personalized art pieces for your home don't have to be expensive to make!  

I made these out of an aluminum sheet pan set I found at Walmart for about $5. I used a can of Rustoleum Chalked spray in a creamy color and the chalk paste color is Eucalyptus. The knobs are wooden ones (also Walmart) I found for a couple bucks for a set of 2 and painted them with some brown chalk paint and then used the copper chalk paste over top to make them look like oil-rubbed bronze. They turned out pretty cute! 

Chalk Couture products used:

Corner Market Collection—Mercantile
Corner Market Collection—Sheep
Corner Market Collection—Groceries
Fresh Catch
Chalkology™ Paste Eucalyptus

See?  How cute is that!  And yes, it's super easy and you can make it yourself!  Click here for more information!