CTMH Products Blog Hop featuring Thick Twine

Hello and thanks for joining the Close To My Heart products blog hop featuring our lovely and versatile thick twine. You probably arrived here from Corinna's lovely blog but you are welcome to jump  in anywhere along the line and just keep following the links for some crafty fun and inspiration.  The next stop on the hop will take you to Kirsten's blog to see her fabulous project!


So here is how I used my twine to cover a little 7 1/2" vase I picked up at a yard sale.  I'm not sure where I got the idea for this project from, but I've had a picture of it in my mind for quite some time.  Of course, like so many projects, once I got started it took on a life of its own and turned out quite different from my vision, but even more lovely once I was done.









As you can see, I used three colors: Thistle, Glacier, and Pixie.  I pretty much covered the outside of the vase with an adhesive tape runner and to get the vase started, I simply unraveled and flattened out each of the three colors and used Washi tape to secure them at 1/2" intervals from the bottom of the vase along a vertical line of adhesive, and started wrapping around the vase with the first color.







It didn't take me long to figure out the best way to keep the various twines from tangling was to keep the two not in use inside the vase, and once I did that the project went really quickly.
(Never mind the large pearl buttons, I thought I was going to embellish with these but didn't like them once I got them on, so I had to unravel it, slide the pearls out of the project, and redo about half of it, lol.)






To change the colors, I made sure to hold the "oncoming" color with one hand while keeping the "outgoing" color taut and pulling it up along that vertical line of adhesive, making sure the two colors overlapped at the point of color change, which kept the two twines tight and in place, if that makes sense.

I made sure to really coat the bottom and top 1/2" of the vase with adhesive, and once I was done I held the three strands firmly in hand and applied another piece of Washi to them and then adhered the tape to the inside of the vase.  I think I'm going to seal the whole outside, as well as where the twines end inside the jar, with either Modge Podge or Liquid Glass.  I love the texture of the twine as it is, but I'm afraid the bottom and top strands may not stay in place when handled and as I want this piece to have a permanent spot on my bedroom dresser where it may get handled a lot, I think coating it with one of those adhesives will essentially seal it and keep it from getting stained by the natural oils found on skin.  For the embellishments, I dug out my last little crocheted flower from a long ago CTMH White Daisy assortment (adhered with the same tape runner adhesive I used on the rest of the vase) and the largest of the self-adhesive opaque pearls we used to carry.

Whew, that took longer than I than I thought so thanks for sticking it out if you're still with me. Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to check out the other ladies' projects using twine.
Happy crafting and Merry Christmas!~~  Annette

My first CTMH products blog hop!

Welcome to the CTMH Products Blog Hop featuring our new foil tape. Blog hops are a circular kind of thing so you probably got here from Kim's lovely blog but you are welcome to jump in anywhere along the line and just keep following the links for a shiny bit of inspiration.

I'm very happy to participate in my first hop but I'm especially excited because I LOVE this tape.  I was already a big fan of CTMH's shimmer trim so I was eager to get my hands on the new foil tape and test it out.  Now that I've created my first project with it, I have to say I love it every bit as much as the shimmer trim!  It's super easy to work with and adds the perfect finishing touch when you want a little shine.

details:  I confess, I couldn't stick with just one new product for this card; pretty much all the supplies are new.  I started with our new Sapphire cardstock and the Confetti Stars embossing folder, which I distressed using the block in the sanding kit, and Sapphire ink with the Christmas Star stamp.  Then I used the silver foil tape to create the "rays" emanating from the star, trimming the ends in angles or dovetails to closely border the points and angles of the stars.  To do this, I lay the loose end of the tape over my left index finger leaving a tail and just snipped the ends with scissors, and I never had any problems with the tape getting tangled or sticking to itself.  For the inside of the card, I used Sapphire ink again with the Reason for the Season stamp set, but before I set stamp to paper I wiped off the ink from the Christ child's halo and the star and edged those parts of the stamp in the Versamark and sprinkled silver embossing powder so they could be heat embossed.  All in all, I was pleased with how quickly this card came together but especially the shine this foil tape added.

Thanks for stopping by and I  hope you enjoyed the card.  If you jumped into the hop somewhere in the middle or if you want to take the tour all over again, you can head on over to Kirsten's blog and see her project.

Merry Christmas and happy crafting!  ~~  Annette