Setting the record...

We're back from our week long hiatus from blogging.  I hope you got everything you wanted for Christmas and that it was everything you expected it to be.  I finally got my tree decorated two days before Christmas (that might be a record for me) so each night since, the lights have been on so I can enjoy it before it comes down on New Years Day.  I promised my husband that next year I wouldn't wait so long to decorate!

 Loving the SIMPLE bottle  brush tree display I did on the mantle.  When the fireplace it on each night the hanging stars flutter in the air coming from the fire.

Santa brought me a Silhouette Cameo.  I have never owned a cutting machine before...not too much a gadget girl.  But Santa thought I needed something new.  So I will try it out this week and see what it can do.  Hope I can figure it out!  Any advice will be appreciated!

 With CHA (industry trade show) in only a few short weeks, Deb and I have already started the booth planning...getting all the product into the right area, getting samples made, and planning the displays that have become a big part of the booth.  Sometimes it's hard to top what you did the time before, but we're always hopeful we can.  In the end, it all seems to come together and the booth looks magical, at least to us.

Of course we've seen the NEW 7gypsies collections...just fabulous. 
I know you are going to like what they are offering this winter!  I am also sure the sneak peaks will begin in the next few weeks so we will keep you posted on that.

Today, I'm going back into the archives to a project that I don't think I have ever shared before here.  It's a wall hanging I created for the show booth a few years ago but since it's made from many found things I thought it still relevant to today's trends.

I started with a base piece of black foam core.  I gathered the photo folder in the right bottom corner, the book spine at the bottom center and the book cover second from the top left.  Those items were a set size that couldn't be changed.  Then added each individual piece like a puzzle until I had a mosaic of pieces that fit the foam core.  It did let the pieces at the top run past the foam core about 1" so I could add the eyelets used for hanging the piece.  When I look at it now, I wish I had created it in a frame instead of the hanging method but there is always something one might change about a piece so at some point you have to say, done and walk away.

 All the pictures are photocopies Mod Podged onto book board, sanded and inked.

 This center piece is a copy of my mothers bank book that was zeroed out two days before she got married.  I found the words, "just a little more than seventeen" in an old book.  The key is 7gypsies.

 I wired a button to the top picture.

And used a 7gypsies elastic to make the center piece a door that comes down.  I added the polka dot paper over the black foam core backing.  Inside the secret compartment is a letter my mother wrote my father before they were married.

 This is the door closed.  The hinge was made with the ribbon that hooks into the book below.

 At the bottom, a paint brush is wired to an old book spine with the number 28 (year she was born).

 The metal tag is the year the were married.

And there is a copy of the Enchilada Recipe I talked about on day one of the 7 Days of Giveaways.  By the way, I will be having leftover enchiladas for lunch today.

 Just some gathered things on the linen added to the book cover.

And the hanging chain.

As I said before, the 7gypsies Design team is currently working on samples for the trade show booth.  For me, that means I have three projects (that I cannot divulge) due in the mail by Friday.  So I better get to work!

cheers!
paula