One of my favorite ways to use papers that I love is to create home décor pieces -- either to keep or give as a gift.

Featured Artist: Alice Golden

** Enter to win your own set of Design-It Drawers and High Society Paper Crafting Stack by leaving a comment on Alice’s blog by February 12, 2010 **

   Hello everyone! Thanks so much for asking me to be the Guest Blogger this week. If you’re anything like me, you have a pretty good size stash of papers hanging around. Maybe some that has been waiting for that “special” project or is just too pretty to cut up or cover up with a photo. One of my favorite ways to use papers that I love is to create home décor pieces -- either to keep or give as a gift.

   Here’s a peek at a few of the pieces I’ve created over the years:

Karen Foster Design just released their Design-It Drawers at CHA last week that are very versatile and perfect for altering. Today, I’m excited to share the details behind a project that I created for one of their ads.

In fact, I had so much fun designing the drawers that I decided to create an entire office set to match.

This is the way the drawers come. The knobs are included!

I used several black and white papers from the new High Society paper craft stack.

In addition to some basic tools, I also used glossy paints from Krylon, a super strong glue stick from Therm O Web, and a cookie cutter die from QuicKutz. If you don’t have this die,  you can cut the paper into squares and then round the corners.

The boxes have a glossy white finish, which looks great as is, but I decided to add a punch of color with Hot Pink spray paint. For the pencil holders, I recycled a soup can and peanut container and spray painted the inside and outside of those along with the entire drawer set. The paint looks better and is more resistant to chipping if you give each item two or three light coats rather than one heavy coat, allowing sufficient drying time between each. I also find that it’s less messy to spray paint things inside a cardboard box. {Note to self: use more hand cream}

I love these Short Cuts for craft projects – much less expensive and easier to store than a full size can. For this project, including painting the recycled cans, I used one entire can of Short Cuts.

To finish the set of drawers, I die cut the paper for the front of each drawer and cut strips to cover the outside edges. To get a really strong bond, I applied glue to both the paper and the boxes and waited a few seconds before adhering them together. I love a glue stick for this kind of thing because you get a little wiggle room if the papers aren’t lined up perfectly. I’ve also found that liquid adhesives, such as Mod Podge or PVA, don’t adhere as well to the glossy finish of these boxes.

The boxes each come pre-punched in the center. I decided to put the knobs closer to the top of the drawer so I simply turned the drawers around so the back becomes the front and used my Crop-a-dile to create new holes.

I cut strips of paper to fit around the outside and inside of each can.

I painted a chipboard flower and parts of a new Pizzazz Brad (released at CHA from Karen Foster Design) with some Hot Pink brush-on Short Cuts enamel. I love the glossy finish of this enamel paint. Think nail polish for paper! I used my Crop-a-dile to punch a hole for the brad.

For this can I used one of the new Ribbon Craft Clips (also released at CHA by KFD) to hold a piece of Raspberry Fizz ribbon from Papertrey Ink.

For the desk frame, I painted a very inexpensive white frame from IKEA with the brush-on enamel and then covered it with some coordinating paper.

I used two more Ribbon Craft Clips to attach a piece of ribbon along one side of the frame. I threaded two of Papertrey’s Raspberry Fizz buttons with Scrapper’s Floss  and adhered them to the frame with adhesive dots.

At less than $2, the clipboard was also fairly inexpensive. I found mine at Staples. I covered it with matching paper and added another Pizzazz brad at the top. My Crop-a-dile punched the hole for the brad right through the metal clip.

Guess what? I saved the best for last! I am hosting a giveaway on my blog where you can win a set of Design-It Drawers and a High Society Paper Craft Stack for your very own! All you need to do is visit my blog and leave a comment on Scrapbook News and Review Magazine’s blog by midnight EST on February 12, 2010 and I’ll select a winner at random. Please enter only once and international entries are welcomed!

Happy crafting!

Alice

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Bio: Alice lives in Massachusetts with her husband of 20 years and 3 boys – ages 15, 13, and 10. When she isn’t chauffeuring one of her kids to school or a sporting event or making her way through piles of laundry, you can usually find her working happily in her studio on one project or another.

Alice has worked in the industry for over 10 years and designs for several manufacturers and publications. In addition, she loves to inspire other crafters and has designed and taught classes both within the US and internationally. Alice’s work has appeared in almost every major US paper crafting publication and she spent two years serving on the Editorial Board for Paper Crafts magazine.

For more inspiration from Alice, visit her blog at www.alicegolden.typepad.com.