Trying my hand at cards

So I've been toying with the idea of trying to make some cards, and when I decorated the tin that I did recently, I thought cards would go nicely inside as a gift. These didn't end up going in that tin, but I made them for my sister, who really liked them- but I say she's my sister so she has to. :) I used my Cuttlebug that my best buddy gave me so generously, and used the Swiss Dot, Paisley, and a flower/vine (don't know the official name of it) embossing folders on store bought plain cards. I was inspired to do this by Maria from her blog Maria's Craft Room. She has so many cards that she used her Cuttlebug, and I thought it looks so nice without having to be a ton of work. I used an acrylic monogram stamp that my best buddy (again :)) gave me a set of, and stamped on the embossed card and then on some plain white cardstock. I then cut around the image on the cardstock and used foam pop up dots to pop it up over the image on the card. I attached the ribbon in the middle of the stamped image on the card before I attached the second one over it by wrapping ribbon around the card then gluing the ends in the middle of the image to hide it. I just tied a little extra bit of ribbon on the side to add a bit more visual interest, and added self stick half pearls in the middle of the stamped letter to make it a little prettier too. Very basic looking, but nice enough I think. Thanks Maria for the inspiration!

Altered Tin

This is a great way to re-use something that might be thrown away otherwise (not in my house though... if it's feasible). I used a tin that originally held a holiday cookie mix, and I'm glad I held on to it. It's pretty sad when I'm looking at a tin in the store that holds goodies and I'm thinking "that's a nice looking tin- I could do a lot with that!", and I haven't even bought it yet. I used Terrifically Tacky Tape by Provocraft- it's just beyond awesome for holding power to adhere my paper to the tin. I cut flowers out of the paper and inked, then stitched them, and used buttons in the centers. For the die cut, I used a Sizzix Top Notch die with my Cuttlebug machine, and then used the Swiss Dots Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug product) over it. I love that polka dotted look so much (or as my 3 year old daughter calls them "pokey doks".... I used an acrylic monogram stamp for the initial on the top. I plan on filling the tin with some hand made cards (definitely SIMPLE hand made cards, since I'm not a card maker) for the recipient. Maybe you'll be inspired to find a tin and reuse it, or buy one at the craft store and fill it with some goodies of your own, perhaps handmade :)

Mini Album- masculine themed, with distressing and black and white pics...

This album is a gift for one of my good friends. I was inspired by some pictures she posted of herself with her boys- six of them in all! She's a great mom, and I thought it would be neat to celebrate that in an album, as she doesn't really get much time to scrap and is overwhelmed by it all. I started out with the pictures in color, but there were so many competing colors, that I thought it would get really distracting. So, for the very first time, I changed them to black and white, and worked with them in black and white, and was so much happier with how they worked with the paper colors and print. I also distressed and inked around the edges of the pictures- a first for me there also, and I'm really pleased with how it looked- especially with the black and white pictures. I hand stitched around the pictures and various aspects of the album- again, another first for me. I've been working on it since the latter part of September- it was supposed to be a birthday gift (in October), and yes, I'm aware that it's the middle of December... and very late.... Fortunately my friend is very understanding- I showed her what I had started when I saw her on her birthday, so she knew to a degree what was coming. I've changed and added a lot since I showed her the beginnings of it. I painted and crackled the chipboard on the cover and added the pearls- it coordinates with the layout I did with the same paper not too long ago-inspired by the album and using extra pictures from this project. I would have liked to have added some of the pearls to the inside, but I was trying hard to keep it masculine- being all boys for the album- and I thought I was kind of pushing it with the scroll/flourishes on the pages for accents, so I opted not to add them inside. The cover though, I thought I could get away with it more, and like I said, it coordinates with the layout I made and framed for her that matches this. So, stick me with a fork, for I am done.. finally...

Teacher Gifts/Magnetic Memo Boards

Here are some more magnetic memo boards.. I didn't have enough time to pretty them up much, but I think with cute paper they are pretty enough to give as is. Once again, I went to my trusty Lowe's hardware store and bought the metal shingles in the roofing section for 63 cents each, bought cute paper and made the magnets with the glass pebbles and used extra paper for the magnets to coordinate. I would have liked to add some stamping or something else 3 dimensional to them, but when you're drying the Stickles glitter glue with a hair dryer 5 minutes before the bus comes, you're happy to just have the glitter dry!

Altered Notebook

Once again I reach to my trusty stash of notebooks set aside for the reason of "just because" to alter for someone. I made this one for one of my friends, pretty basic, but I love the velvet ribbon and the look that it adds. I used the little packets of self adhesive pearls found in the dollar section of my Craft Warehouse. I stocked up the other day- they're one of my latest "ooh I like the way they look on things" items. Altering a notebook really is a great cost saving and personal gift you can give someone- find their favorites (color, flowers, etc. etc.) and glue away, add ribbon to the coils and you have a fun little gift. I really like Terrifically Tacky Tape by Provocraft to hold everything down well. So go ahead, change a notebook up for yourself or a friend- get them in the dollar section at Michael's or anywhere else with inexpensive notebooks. Once you start, you'll want to make more and more...

Matchbox Advent Calendar

I discovered the directions for this in a scrapping group on Cafemom, but the original directions came from "Tracie Hudson copyright 2007 for Bubbly Funk". I had to give credit where it was due. The drawers are pretty small- I only can fit one Ande's mint in each drawer. So with having three children, I bought enough candy to put one in each drawer and have left overs so they can take turns pulling the drawer each day, but will all get a piece of candy. I have enough squabbles and declarations of "not fair" without voluntarily doing it to myself. I used eyelets on the drawers and threaded a piece of ribbon through- with the knot on the inside. There's so many ways you could do this, the original directions had a piece of ric rak with a brad in the center, but I couldn't find exactly what I wanted, so I went with the eyelets. It was a fun little project, but I'm not sure if I would do it again, I'm moving on to the next project now. My kids got a kick out of opening the little drawers tonight, a little bit of the wonder of childhood.

"Two Months Old" Layout

This is a "lift" challenge that I undertook- a little out of my comfort zone- trying to coordinate at least 3 different patterned papers. I tried flocking for the very first time on the letters and the flourishes- I just sprinkled the flocking over the wet paint (I painted the chipboard), then tapped off the excess and poured it back into the bottle. I used Martha Stewart's flocking- individual bottles at Michael's- I think I like that better than buying a pack of them with colors I'll never use. I hand stitched around the vellum squares since I don't have any vellum adhesive and my regular stuff will show through otherwise with vellum. I also handstitched around the white mat- inking the white paper slightly with pink ink, then distressed the pink double matting. I like how (to me at least) it kind of looks similar to the texture of the pink blanket. I used handstitching on the center of the flower too- stitching more on vellum. The little pink acrylic half-round I found at Craft Warehouse- a good size bag of them which I shared with some scrapbooking buddies of mine. The little felt hearts- I cut out of felt and stitched to mimic the arrow point- and I used a glass to trace little stitch lines to follow with more hand stitching. If you have the chance to try flocking- I recommend it, it's a lot of fun and adds more texture to anything you use it on. :)

Mini Magnetic Memo/Picture Boards

This little project idea came out of the bigger memo board I did recently. In our search for an adequately sized memo board, we had to use two 8 x 12 metal roofing shingles and put them together and stabilize them. Well, this is what only one of those roofing shingles looks like by itself when it's covered. Sixty three cents at Lowe's provided me a metal roofing shingle which I covered with scrapbooking paper (using spray adhesive to adhere). I used my Cropadile to punch holes for the hanger, but you could use a drill. Then I used a glue gun to put the ribbon on. This is a very basic version, you could add more detail and/or personalize it, but I'll be working on approximately 30 of them for childcare worker gifts for our MOPS group at church, so I can't go overboard time and detail wise. I used the flat bottomed glass pebbles that you can find in a floral section- I bought mine at the Dollar Store- the smallest size of them that would work. I then used leftover paper, traced around what I wanted under the glass and glued it on with Aleene's Paper Glaze- which I found at Michael's arts and crafts store (about $4.50 ). A little goes a very long way. After I glued the paper to the bottom of the glass pebbles, I used a hot glue gun to glue the magnets on the backs. At Craft Warehouse, they have bigger flat bottomed glass pieces that you can cut out pictures or cute paper, etc. and glue on the glass pebbles. I believe they use Diamond Glaze to glue the paper onto the glass pebble, and E600 glue (comes in a silver tube) to glue the magnets on. My experience with using the hot glue gun has been a good one, so if you have a glue gun and don't want to spend more on glue, then by all means use what you have. I hope this gave you a fun idea for teacher gifts or whomever else you'd like to give something fun to.

"Brotherly Love" Layout

This a layout I made as a gift for one of my friends- I've been working on a mini album for her with pictures of her and her boys in it, and had extra pictures left over. I'm still working on the album, but I thought it would be fun to incorporate these "brother" pictures into a layout with the same papers. I hand stitched around the pictures (before I matted them), and then stitched around the papers of the layout. I really like the effect of the stitching- it's my newest "ooh I like this" technique. I painted brown on the chipboard and used crackling medium on it, then painted the top color of paint over it when the crackling medium was tacky. I added Aleene's Paper Glaze over the top of the chipboard when dry to add that glossy look, then used stick on pearls for a finishing touch. I can't believe I've gotten more than one layout done in less than 2 weeks, I'm usually pretty few and far between.

Easter Sunday 2008 Layout

This layout was based on a sketch challenge in a super inspiring scrapbooking group on Cafemom- Julie, you and your scrappy ladies ROCK! Part of the challenge was to use the sketch, but to also incorporate some felt on the layout, in addition to some hand stitching. This was the first time I've used stitching on a layout, and I have to say that I am HOOKED on it now. For whatever reason, there is something calming and therapeutic with the stitching- now I'm just talking the basic stitch (not fancy embroidery), for the record- THAT would not be calming to me... :) Anyhow, I stitched around the pictures before I matted them- I used a single strand of embroidery floss for that. I stitched around other various aspects of the layout too, with more than one strand. I used my edge distresser (oh my, how I love my edge distresser! thanks to my best buddy Katherine for giving it to me- I have used it SO much! ). The distressed edges really soften up the look of the layout. Here's a secret- the paper actually says "growing boy" along the top of some of the leaves of the flowers. I used more stitching along those areas to hide it, because the paper and the floss and pictures all coordinated so well, and I couldn't find anything else suitable- so I improvised... I bought 2 sheets of the flower paper, so I cut some of the flowers out and used pop up dots to raise them out of the background to add depth. I then stickled the centers of them. I cut out more flowers and put them along the bottom of the pictures with rhinestones and buttons that coordinated. And then there's the felt- my first time working with it. To make the scallops, I used my corner rounder punch on a piece of paper to make it scalloped and then used it as template with a little bit of dry adhesive to stick the paper to the felt and cut around it . All I had to do was remove the paper and there you have it. I used beads that coordinated with the colors and sewed them on the felt, and I stitched around the border of the scallops with coordinating embroidery floss. It was really fun to do. I have to say that I'm really pleased with this layout- and that doesn't happen too often for me.

Magnetic Memo Boards ( MOPS version)

These are variations on the metal magnetic memo boards I've done before. This time we couldn't find the 12 x 12 metal sheets at Craft Warehouse (of course they have them there now when we don't need them anymore.. :) ) Anyhow, we improvised and found 8 x 12 inch galvanized metal roofing shingles from the roofing section in Lowe's- 63 cents each, Home Depot was thirty cents more, but still less than a dollar. For these I taped them together and then glued some foam core board on the back with spray adhesive for stability- this gave us a 12 x 16 inch memo board. I used my Cropadile to make holes for the handle. It took a full 12 inch sheet of paper plus a section of another (4 inches) to cover the board. I actually like how these look with coordinating paper. I used spray adhesive to adhere the paper to the metal board too. We used glue guns to glue the ribbon, but I originally used Terrifically Tacky Tape by Provocraft ( a red line tape), double sided and super tacky. We then made magnets with the glass pebbles that you can find in the floral section in the craft store ( I got ours at the Dollar Store- big savings there! ), you can also find bigger ones which give you more versatility. I used Aleene's Paper Glaze to glue paper to the glass pebble, then used hot glue to glue a magnet on the back. I also sacrificed our Scrabble game for the tiles and hot glued magnets to the back of those. The mini bulldog clip adds an extra way to hold something on the board too. I plan on using the single 8 x 12 metal sheets to make mini magnetic boards for pictures of quick notes for Christmas gifts this year, and make some cute magnets for them. Very easy and cute gift to make- especially the mini version of it.

MOPS centerpieces

It's that time of year again- time for our MOPS (Mothers of PreSchoolers) group to start up, and once again, I got to have fun working on the centerpieces. They were really a collaboration of ideas that once put all together, came out to something we're all pretty happy with. We have 6 tables, and each is a different "color"- which is why the centerpieces are the colors they are- to match the table's color theme. This year's theme for MOPS is "where two or more are gathered in my name, there am I with them". Believe it or not, these started as a pencil box with only one side to it (the house shape). I traced another house side out of chipboard to match up on the other side so no matter where you sat at the table, you'd get a nice view of the centerpiece. I put floral foam in the box and we made picture holders ( my favorite part! ) out of 20 gauge stem wire. I bought packages of it at Jo-Ann's for a couple of dollars, I think they had 20 to a package. We used needle nosed pliers to wrap one of the ends of the wire around the pliers 2-3 times- which made that spiral to hold the pictures. We then just gently wrapped the stem wire around our finger once in a couple of places along the wire, making pretty little loops. To coordinate further with the table color, we wired coordinating colored beads on a few of the loops. They turned out so cute, really fun and easy (and FAST!) to make- you could make your own and put in one of those pretty metal tins with floral foam in it and cover the top with shredded paper to hide the foam, and give as a gift- or make for yourself. In our centerpieces, we printed out pictures of the ladies' families to put in the holders for each table. All this from a humble pencil box! Maybe I'll show a little how to with pictures of making the picture holders- I know that I like pictures to go along with written directions.

Coaster Post-It Notebook

Oh my goodness, it feels like forever since I've done something scrappy or crafty at all!! A big thanks to Sara in Scrap Happy for this fun idea, recycling coasters- gotta love that! All I did was cover the coasters in pretty paper, then cut a piece of coordinating cardstock 6 3/4 inches by 3 1/4 inches, and scored the width of the Post-It notebook in the middle- I played around with this since right now I don't have sound on the computer and couldn't listen to the directions on the YouTube demonstration of these to see at what point they scored... This was such a fun little notebook to play around with. I'm considering suggesting it for one of our MOPS crafts this year...

Good Baby/Bad Hair Day redone

Well, I wasn't happy with the layout the way it was, so I trimmed the edges of the title pieces and inked them again (it looked neater than the distressed edges inked) and I added ribbon instead of the embroidery floss on the corners and the title pieces. It added more than the plain white floss in my opinion.. anyhow here is the new improved (anal retentive) version:

"Good Baby/Bad Hair Day" layout

Here's an actual layout that I finished tonight, not quite what I wanted it to look like- but then most things I work on never are... oh well... My daughter woke up from a nap with bedhead, which required a picture being taken of course! This was when she was a baby- she's 3 now...

Last 3 pages of Baby album and altered notebooks

I finally finished the last 3 pages of the baby album- who would think just plunking some buttons, flowers, ribbons on some pages would take so long.... but then this is me we're talking about ...... I also finished my best buddy's notebook for an altered notebook swap (technically this is after the pm date, but since we're buddies and I'm sending her a package at the end of the month, I've gotten a grace period on this... I used an edge distresser on the bottom print of paper so it has that distressed look in the middle of the notebook covers. I normally put some ribbon across the middle of the covers, but I thought this might add a nice look, and I was pleased with the result. The other notebook (the red and green one) is a thank you gift for my neighbor who helped me out recently, and I thought it would be nice to do something for her. I think I actually , GASP! , have time left in the month to scrap some layouts... must .... control.... self.... from playing with more mini albums..... I can't seem to resist those and there are some I want to try...., but it's been forever since I scrapped a page for myself... Anyhow, this is just my latest "finally done with them" projects.

the rest of the baby album pages

Here's the rest (minus the last 3 that I'm decorating still) of the baby album pages: