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.