Holiday plates with vinyl lettering

I'm on a roll, woohoo! This is another project inspired by a pin on Pinterest. I found the original idea here : http://pinterest.com/pin/55591376619891512/ - from Better Homes and Gardens. They used 3 plate hooks/holders to spell out the word "JOY" with 3 white plates and red lettering. That is what I orignally wanted to do, and had planned on doing, until I realized that the plate holder that I had sitting waiting to be hung on the wall only had 2 spots, not 3.. I had to regroup. I hate to admit that it took me a lot longer than I would have liked.... I was trying to think of all the words that would go together for Christmas. Comfort and Joy would have been good too... I settled on Peace and Joy. At that point I cut them out with my Cricut in the last piece of my lovely red vinyl that I have rarely used. I'm so pleased with how they turned out. Okay... to be nitpicky, I should have recentered the JOY, it's a bit high on the plate, but oh well.... it was the perfect touch for my empty wall. I'm trying very hard to not just pin things on Pinterest, but actually attempt to make some of them. For right now, I'm doing alright I think. I do copy and save images to my computer so I can place them in a Word document in smaller pictures and print them out for my idea binder. I can't always get to a computer to look at something I've pinned, and it's easier to show someone else that way... I'm rambling... anyhow.. I found a set of 5 white plates at Goodwill for $4.99, I didn't think that was too bad of a deal, and I had the vinyl already. You can do this without a Cricut- and I plan on buying some Contact paper too- cheaper and cuts the same as vinyl too :) Try it out, it's easy and a lot of fun!

I think my picture is a little off kilter- didn't realize that until I posted it... sorry about that...

"Lets Be Jolly" sign- I made something I saw on Pinterest!

I've been on Pinterest for a few months now, and every day I find more things I want to make. Here is where I found this idea :http://pinterest.com/pin/94646029638585698/- to give credit to the owner of this idea. I found this scrap of wood in a lot in front of our house, and believe me, it was scrappy- wet, dirt clumps on it and all. I took it in and let it dry off, sanded a bit, then painted.

I used a buttery yellow for my base coat, and when it was dry, used my Cricut to make vinyl stencils. I painted over them with my red paint, and when it was almost dry, I peeled off the letters with my little Cricut pick-type tool..

To my delight, some of the paint came off with the vinyl. Normally I would be unhappy about this, and try and clean it up with some paint- but since I wanted this to look slightly distressed, it worked out great- and I didn't even have to try! (Always a plus :) ) I finished it up with sanding slightly around the edges and adding a wire hanger. I'm really happy with it, and it added the finishing touches to the decorations in our downstairs bathroom. I love the pop of the red. That, and you can't go wrong with the word "Jolly". It makes me smile every time.

DIY Superhero masks

Our MOPS group decided to make some superhero masks to go in our Operation Christmas Child boxes, so the first step was to find an easy template to use. I searched online and found some basic templates here: http://www.firstpalette.com/Craft_themes/Wearables/superheromask/superheromask.html

We used felt to make them a bit sturdier than paper- and to double up that sturdiness as well as offer 2 masks in one, we made them double sided, so the recipient could change around their look. I used my Cropadile punch/setter to make holes for the elastic. We also decided on elastic rather than ribbon or cording to tie, because then they didn't need to have to tie them, or need help. They could just start playing.

On this design, I cut out the center part of the mask template and traced on another color of felt for contrast. For the lightning bolts and stars, I just looked up some clip art and honestly- I traced on a piece of paper right there from my computer screen. I cut that out and glued it to cardstock, then used the star or lightning bolt to trace around as I had the masks.

These are also double sided - oh, just in case you're wondering, I cut out the entire mask piece first, then used the center from a second template that I'd cut out, to add a contrasting color. I used my hot glue gun to glue everything together. They came together pretty quickly, and you can personalize them to your little superhero- my daughters even wanted some- so don't feel limited to boys, by any means- make hearts, flowers, glitter glue, ribbons... There you have it, some basic superhero masks. Oh, and I bought the felt by the yard at Jo-Ann's- on sale, they have a lot of color options- and depending on how many you want to make (think birthday party, etc), it might be more cost effective to buy 1/2 a yard or so of your main colors. Happy mask making!

Easy little notebooks/drawing pads for kids

I made these little notebook/drawing pads out of scraps of chipboard and cardstock. The pieces I had were roughly 3 1/2 inches wide, so that's what I used. I was playing around and thought that there was no reason why it wouldn't work to make these little notepads for my girls- they love paper and drawing/writing, and they're the perfect size. I determined what size I had available for the chipboard, then cut the paper about a 1/16th of an inch smaller. I used my Cropadile to make holes in the paper- using the first punch as a guide for the rest. I had some book rings on hand, and "ta da!" there you go. I tied a bit of scrap ribbon around the ring, and used some leftover adhesive chipboard letters for their initials... They could have been decorated a lot more, but my girls were very happy with them ( apparently a little sparkle goes a long way with them). I might make more of them for stocking stuffers. You could make them bigger- a 6 x6 size would be cute too, giving a bit more room. You could use any cereal boxes or things like that to make your covers- especially if you wanted to decorate them more than I did. I figured I could use my Cricut to make some die cuts to glue on- you could easily do little boy notebooks like that with a car, star, or something like that. You could even use stickers- or give them stickers with it to decorate it themselves... no limits!

Photo Display /Hanger with ribbon and clothespins

For the record, it is REALLY hard to get a good picture of something that it tall/long, just saying... hence the multiple close up pictures. I used a piece of scrap beadboard, that was part of a scrap of beadboard that will hopefully end up as a different project- if I ever figure out how I want to do it. That is a different story all together. Back to the picture hanger. I painted it brown first, let it dry, then painted it an aqua color, let it dry, and then distressed lightly around the edges.

I used hot glue to glue ribbon ( on the back) at the top and bottom, and then used some scraps of cute paper that I still had to cover some mini clothespins. I found a package of 12 for under two dollars in the office supply section of Walmart. I used Mod Podge to glue the paper, then sanded around the edges. I used my Cropadile to punch holes in the top corners of the "wood"- I think it's actually made from the light MDF stuff, so it worked- otherwise I would have drilled. I used more ribbon to make a hanger for the board, then all that was left was to add my pictures.

This was part of my attempt to start doing things with all those "project worthy" scraps and miscellaneous items in my crafty stash.. I'm pretty happy with it, especially since 2 days ago I still didn't know what I wanted to do with this... :)

Scrapbooking Retreat Layouts

This last weekend, I got to go to a scrapbooking retreat- it was a lot of fun, and I was able to get a lot accomplished (for me ;) ) It was great to be able to focus solely on scrapping and not have to get stuff out, then put it away. Everyone had their own 8 foot table to work on and we could leave our supplies out the whole time. We scrapped into the late hours and woke up early to scrap some more! Crazy productive and TIRED! Anyhow, I was able to use a sewing machine on some of my layouts for the first time- I usually hand stitch- which doesn't leave the option of zip zagging really- so I tried it with the machine, and my oh my, that's fun! If you have the opportunity to go to a scrapbooking getaway, I recommend going, and having a friend along to make it more fun :)

Card Making day for MOPS

All of these designs, just for the record, are not mine- I used the basic layout of everything based on pictures of cards I'd saved to my computer from the Internet.... The cards themselves were made by me, and I picked out the papers and ribbon, etc. On the first card- I used a punch to make the little flowers and used self adhesive bling to go in the middle of them.

The stamped image on this card was a Stampin Up stamp- with the two images that work together. ( I don't know what the 'official' term for it is). I normally would have added some inking around the edges ( and I actually did on the first card- I pre inked all of them because I couldn't handle it), but since this is a project being done by over 50 ladies, adding a step like that means adding a lot of ink pads and such, and I didn't want to go that route this time with this craft. Not everyone likes that look anyway, so, they got the basic.

This one is my favorite, I think. I love the aqua color, and the stamp, and the embossing, and and and.... I used my Cuttlebug to emboss the basic white card, and then all the ladies had to do was put it together. It amazed me how many different ways they changed things up, and they all looked great! Again, I used the same small punch and bling for the flower. I definitely want to make more cards like this one. If you have a Cuttlebug, I highly recommend using it if you like to make cards, it adds such a nice look to it every time.