West Elm + Crafts + Hot Chocolate!

What a great way to spend a Sunday morning -- crafting at my local West Elm store for a private event!!

West Elm Indianpolis + Williams-Sonoma Indianapolis teamed up to host all of these amazing local Indy bloggers, including mysef for a little crafting, shopping, and hot chocolate sipping.  Both Williams-Sonoma and West Elm can be found in the Keystone Fashion Mall in Indianapolis.  

This private event was really made possible all because of the great people at West Elm.  I gathered together all of my favorite local bloggers here in Indy.  And we came together to have a fun little morning crafting.  West Elm was kind enough to provide us all with the supplies and tools to create custom DIY coasters.  The 4x4 coasters were just white ceramic tiles.  We then took mod podge to one side of the ceramic tile.  Let that dry slightly.  Placed a photo of our choice onto the tile.  And then applied more mod podge.  Once those were dry, they were sprayed with a clear shellac for water-proofing.  Great little gift idea for the holidays!!

It was so fun to see how each blogger customized their coasters!  We were encouraged to bring photos to the event ahead of time.  I brought 4x4 instagram photos that fit perfectly on the ceramic coasters.  Others brought stock scrapbook paper.  Or used Christmas cards to decorate the coasters.

i love how Elise from Sunday Charm used instagram photos of her coffee mugs!  they're adorable!!

here are my coasters with freshly applied Mod Podge....waiting to dry now.....

While we wait for our coasters to dry.....time to pick up some hot chocolate and snacks and do some shopping!!!!

Thank you so SO much Williams-Sonoma for all the yummy treats and the peppermint hot chocolate!!

I mean seriously...I pretty much die for everything in West Elm.  If I had to pick just one, just ONE, place to shop for home decor, I really think it would be West Elm!!!!  I love their style because it is modern, yet traditional.  A bit transitional, with a lot of Mid-Century thrown in.  Yet it is an eclectic style that fits in with a lot of different styles!  It is casual and comfortable, with just the right amount of glam for a more formal look!

My only complaint is that it went by WAY too fast!  I wish we could have had the store to ourselves and just craft all day long!

i love how my coasters turned out!!!

left to right, bottom to top:

Eva from Eva Marie Typography

Amber from The Browsing Brunette

Aleks from A Slocum Story

Elise from Sunday Charm Blog

Kelsey from Apples & Honey Photography

Julie from JLM Moments

Me! Jessica Stout Design

Kelly from Sequins & Scissors

Mackenzie (coming soon!)

Valerie from Chicken Scratch Blog

Chalkboard Inspired Wood Slice Christmas Ornament

Did you catch my Craft Day post yesterday?!?

Well, if you missed it, I showed step-by-step instructions on how to make these adorable Chalkboard Inspired Wood Slice Christmas Ornaments.  I call them chalkboard inspired because I didn't use chalkboard paint or chalk.  They are actually made from black craft paint and a permanent chalk marker.

I just wanted to show you a few more ideas of what you can do with these wood slices.  These are some of the ornaments that made their way into my Christmas decor at my house. 

I also made this cute little banner with the wood slices to hang on my stair banister along with some artificial garland. 

This has been such a fun craft this holiday!  I love making something each year and keeping the same theme throughout my holiday decor.  I am even thinking about using some of these as gift tags!!

How to Host a Craft Day {4th Annual Craft Day}

Another successful holiday Craft Day is in the books!!  It was the 4th year in a row now that my sister and I have hosted a very successful, fun Craft Day with friends & family.  I think this year was the best yet!!  

Anyone can host a Successful Craft Day with just a few essentials:

ONE craft for everyone to make

(in the past we've tried to do multiple crafts and we have found it to be easier 
to have just one craft that we can all individualize in our own way)

food.  snacks.  appetizers.

a fun cocktail, wine, or champagne to bring holiday cheer!!

The Food.

roll out paper on the counter tops for easy clean up and a fun way

 to let your guests know what food is on hand! 

The drinks.

my drink of choice was champagne and fresh raspberries.  we also had some

wine spritzers for our guests to enjoy!

The craft.  Wood Slice Christmas Ornament. 

I LOVED this craft idea because each one of us were able to personalize the wood slice into anything we wanted.  Some opted to make a Christmas Tree ornament.  Some decided to make the wood slices into coasters.  And some even made chalkboard banners by stringing multiple wood slices together.  

To create a really successful Craft Day, I have learned over the years, that it is easiest to provide just ONE craft that each person can personalize and make their own.  It also helps to have some ideas printed from Pinterest to give the crafters a little inspiration.

  I also provided everything from paint, paint markers, chalk markers, glitter, scrapbook paper, mod podge, stencils and stamps from my crafting collection for everyone to make whatever came to their creative minds.  

How to Make a Photo Wood Slice Ornament:

For all of these ornaments, first you need the tree slice!!  My step-dad was awesome and cut up some tree limbs for us to use!  Any type of wood should work.  These limbs were about 4" in diameter.  A perfect size for an ornament or a coaster.  And about 1/4" or less in thickness.  

After these were cut, I let them dry out for about a week.  Some of the slices did crack and split, so they were tossed.  It is important to do this step to make sure they don't split once you have them hanging on the tree!!

For the photo -- I printed my photos right onto regular computer paper.  Some of the girls used actual photo paper.  Both worked.  The photo paper was a little more vibrant than just the computer paper.  Make sure the photo is small enough to fit on the wood slice.  

Cut your photo to size first.  We found that the bottom of our wine glasses were the perfect size circles to trace around!!  Place mod podge (a mixture of watered down glue) onto the wood slice.  Carefully place the photo, already cut to size, onto the glue on the wood slice.  Then paint more mod podge on the top of the photo.  Be sure the edges get enough glue so they don't peel up.  If you see streaks of glue, don't worry, it will dry clear!!  

I used my drill with a small drill bit to get a hole in the wood slice.  Perfect size for any type of string.  I used jute string.  But you can use a small ribbon, yarn, or even a wire ornament hook. 

And that's it!!!  It is SO easy and fun!  Don't forget to add the year on the back or the front so you will remember for years to come!  I love having a memorable DIY ornament each year to add to the tree!!  

How to Make a "Chalkboard" Wood Slice Ornament

This one was by far my favorite!!  We didn't actually use chalkboard paint, but you could!  I just used regular craft paint in black.  Paint the front of the wood slice with the craft paint.  

If you want to change it year to year, you can still write on it with chalk.  But if you want it to just look like chalk, then a chalk marker or white paint pen is a lot easier to write with.  This is where the fonts and clipart and doodles from Pinterest comes in handy!! 

I wrote on these with a chalk marker to create a Christmas ornament.

These were turned into fun little banners to string across your mantle!!  If you are going to make a banner like this, drill two holes at the top about an inch apart so the wood slice can be hung on the string and they won't move around as much!

I used a regular Sharpie to write on this wood slice to create a monogrammed Christmas ornament. 

I used a deer head silhouette stamp from Hobby Lobby to create a more rustic Christmas ornament here. 

 Serious crafting going on here!! 

What a fabulous day with friends & family crafting!!  Now the pressure is on to start thinking of next year's craft!!  I really liked this one...maybe we will just do it again!!

Do you have a craft day with your friends around the holidays?  What have you made at your craft day?