Sunny Side Up Designs

I've Moved!

2011-09-08T22:23:00.001-07:00

The new blog is still under a bit of construction (Wordpress isn't quite as easy to work with as Blogger), but it will be linked to my web page once that's up and running. Check it out and follow me there! I'd appreciate it!

Sunny Side-Up Designs

Another layout, anyone?

2011-08-16T13:21:00.000-07:00

I know, another challenge layout. This time Kelly chose a Page Maps sketch for the Summer Nights challenge. I loved the sketch and was so happy with how my layout turned out!

This sketch has been showing up all over Pinterst since we did it over at Scrap Chicks. I had a lot of fun with it and was proud of myself for actually using my machine to sew on it and for changing the thread to brown. I tend to just use white thread on everything :)
I hope you're having a great week! Go be crafty!

My 10 on 10 pics

2011-08-13T08:51:00.000-07:00

I decided to play along with the 10 on 10 challenge this month. I don't have a logo or any real info to share, just that you take one photo an hour, for ten hours/photos on the tenth of each month. Here's a peek into a regular, fairly boring day at our house :)

10:00 Up and watching some TV

11:00 Tucker's on the DS and I'm working on my computer

12:00 Lunch time! We leave for school at 12:30 and this kid takes forever to eat

1:00 Dropped Tucker off and stopped at McD's for a drink and ice cream cone for my friend and her daughter.

2:00 Scrapping with Kim! The highlight of my week, for sure :D

3:00 Still scrapping and Kim is going through some of the crap I threw at her :)

4:00 Kim left and I was snapping a card I made for gel-a-tins

5:00 and guess what Tucker is doing again? I was working on the Scrap Chicks sketch challenge.

6:00 and Glennifer is making the tacos!

7:00 Tucker's out of the shower and back on the DS, Glen and I are trying to relax and watch some T.V.

Anyway, they're ugly pictures, but I'll work on that next month. Hopefully my day has more to it than a kid playing video games :)

I do other things besides challenge layouts :)

2011-08-10T07:44:00.000-07:00

See? I do cards for DT work too! :D

I used the Many Thanks set by gel-a-tins to stamp the ribbon with the leaves and also used it for the greeting. I layered and attached all that ribbon with my Xyron 150 (love it for that). I used my Xyron 510 to attach that canvas to the card blank too. Any other way I would have tried would have been a mess for sure!

Remember the Sassy Lil' Sketches e-book I mentioned? I got some more details! It'll be out by the 15th of August and the cost will be $8.99. That's a great deal for a book of about 70 sketches that's also filled with samples!

I've started a new feature at gel-a-tins~

2011-08-09T11:22:00.000-07:00

If you haven't already seen it today, head over to the gel-a-tin stamps blog. We're doing a new monthly challenge. You have to use your gel-a-tin stamps to make a project, making sure that you meet the details of the challenge and you'll be entered in a drawing to win a stamp set!

This month I'm challenging everyone to use their stamps to make the embellishments for their page. Check out the sample I made with the Super Star set...

Go to my side bar for the link to the blog!

Another challenge layout!

2011-08-05T08:18:00.000-07:00

Before I get to the challenge layout I did last night, let's talk about Sassy Lil' Sketches. Cherie is the one drawing all these amazing sketches and very soon she'll be releasing an e-book filled with them! I'll be sure to let you know when it's officially been released, and I want you all to check it out because I'll be in it! I got a little peek last night and it's going to be amazing!

Now, on to the layout. We had another summer sketch challenge last night at Scrap Chicks. These have been a lot of fun and I was pretty happy with how my layout for last night's challenge turned out.

The sketch was for an 8.5x11, but I do 12x12 so I just laid the smaller layout on top of a piece of cardstock.

What have you been crafting lately?

How to get better project/layout photos!

2011-08-01T04:02:00.000-07:00

If your layouts are important enough to share and post, it's important to know how to take a decent picture of them, right? We don't start scrapping and immediately know how to take a good photo of a layout. If you've only ever used your point and shoot on auto mode, it may not even occur to you to turn that flash off. I have read a lot of tutorials and hints since I first decided to start trying for design teams, and I thought I'd share some of what I've learned with you. You don't have to be on a DT to be able to take a good picture of your work, but in all areas of scrapbooking, good photos are important.

First, the don'ts...
1. Don't prop or stand your layout up to take a picture.

This plate holder doesn't support the layout anyway. When you look at the side view, you see where it really gets ugly :)

That big bend is what keeps your layout from being square in your picture. Even if you have a piece of chipboard behind your layout to support it, you still end up with big old legs of the plate holder in the shot. Kinda takes away from the layout too.

This was the best I could do with cropping that picture. Not pretty!

This time it's just propped against a jar. It's in a more suqare shape, but unless you're careful you're not going to get a square finshed picture.

See what I mean? Cropped, but not square. Very distracting.

2. Don't take your photos against a busy background.

Just look again at the pictures we just checked out. It may be very tempting to just throw your layout down on the table where you've been scrapping a snap a picture, but don't. Clear some things off or head somewhere else. The mess ends up being what everyone looks at, not your work.

3. Don't use a flash!

Seriously, you guys. NEVER. Don't do it. It doesn't matter how dark it is. Wait for daylight or turn on all the lights, get some lamps, etc. to brighten things up. Don't use a flash.

This is not pretty. You can't even see the pictures you just spent time scrapping!

How about some do's now? :)

1. Get as much natural light as possible without being in direct light.

For a layout, it's best to go outside, but take your photos in the shade. The direct sunlight will just wash out all the color and you will just end up with a photo of your shadow over your layout :)

Here's what I do:

See? Just out of direct sunlight.

See my feets now? :) That's because I stand with them wide apart and lean forward so that I'm directly over the layout and can get a square shot of my layout.

I usually leave a little frame of the concrete around my layouts because I like the way it looks. If I'm working on a white layout the grey helps to show off the edges. I can trim it down to the layout and have that square shape, and it's because of the way I take the photo. Now, don't get me wrong, this isn't exactly fun when it's 110 outside, but it's important to me that I take a picture of my work that shows it off, not one that just gets a photo on my camera.

What about projects and cards? Same thing with the natural light.

This is in my scrap room right in front of the window. You can just choose the brightest room in your house. I use some foam core board in white (to help reflect the light) and set up there. I use patterned paper as a background for my shots when I can (like, when the project is smaller than 12x12). Something that coordinates with the project but doesn't distract from it.

I turn on all the lights in my room as well as opening the shutters. This picture may be crooked, but with a little cropping...

Voila! Bright and fun.

Now, what if it's night time, you're on a deadline and there's no natural light for you to use?

2. Use uncovered lamps. No flashes! :)

I happen to have fancy lights that I totally stole from my younger brother when he moved out of my parent's house. Not everyone has them, and I get that. You can just as easily take a couple of lamps, remove the shades, and use them instead. It'll be a little more harsh for lighting, but still wayyyy better than a flash. Here's what I do when I have to take my pics at ngiht:

Same scraproom, but now it's late. I get my lamps as close as possible (having 2 helps with getting enough light and with shadows), and squeeze myself and my camera in there to take pictures.

This is also a larger project photo, so instead of using patterned paper for the background, I used a roll of shipping kraft paper and used it. Picked it up at the dollar store!

Granted, this works great for cards and projects, but what about layouts? Here's something I do when that comes up.

Remember this stuff from school? Mine is empty because I think it fell behind my desk or something. Ugh. Anyway, grab a little of this.

Stick it on a wall in whatever room you want to take your layout photo.

Stick your layout to the wall. Turn on all the lights and get some lamps too (uncovered means take the shades off)! :)

Is it the best photo ever? No. But, you don't see a flash, the layout is square in the picture and you've got a fairly decent picture to share, right? That's something!

If you have more tips, feel free to share them in the comments! This is just what works for me.

More Cuppy Cakes!

2011-07-30T08:19:00.000-07:00

I had another project on the gel-a-tins blog this last week and it may be one of my favorites yet. The Witchy Poo stamp set comes with the cutest banner and I thought that mini size would be perfect used in a cupcake (the way a slightly larger one looks cute on a cake). I also used my Cricut to cut out some cupcake wrappers and stamped them to match. I even use the same banner stamp (attached to my Fiskars Stamp Press) on a curve to stamp around that bottom edge. I think these would look great on a treat table!

I hope you're having a great weekend! Don't forget about the Scrap Chicks crop that's going on right now too! We'd love to have you come play and win some prizes! Link is in the side bar!

Get ready to crop!

2011-07-27T09:13:00.000-07:00

I know I mentioned that I'm part of the team over at Scrap Chicks now :) Well, this weekend is our first crop! I have three challenges and I am so excited to see what everyone does with them! Please come by this weekend (starting Friday). Join up if you haven't already!

I also have a new project on the gel-a-tins blog today! Just a little tag that you could use for a million things this Halloween. Head over to that blog to see how I made it.

I need a schedule :)

2011-07-23T10:05:00.000-07:00

I blog all the time (almost every day) over on the gel-a-tins blog, but rarely over here. I'm pretty sure that has everything to do with me making a schedule for that one. It may have a teeny bit to do with the fact that I don't make enough stuff to be able to post every single day either, though.

Over at Scrap Chicks the Sizzling Summer Nights sketch challenges are still going strong. It's a timed challenge where a sketch is posted and you're given a certain amount of time to complete a layout and get it uploaded. They have been a lot of fun and this week's sketch was no exception. Here's what I did with it.

The sketch was really cute and we were challenged to rotate it, only distress either the rectangles or the circles, to use two fonts for the title and to use more than one color of ink or mist. I love all these Sassafrass Lass papers and had fun working with them here.

Just a few more days until the twins are back in school (and I have more quiet time to create)! Woohoo! :)

My second gel-a-tin stamps project!

2011-07-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

Woot! I am having so much fun playing with these stamps! The detail you get is really amazing. I also used some scented embossing powder tonight and it is so cool! The color is silver and it's called Storm. It's a masculine scent and I like it a lot. These aren't like scratch and sniff scents, think more like a yummy candle. They smell great! Anyway, check out my project!

I used some frames I was given to make these cute little shadow box style decorations for my house. I can set them on a table or hang them on the wall. Can't wait to use them! That Halloween banner that comes in the Witchy Poo set might just be my new favorite stamp.

Supplies Used:

Witchy Poo stamp set and Storm scented embossing powder by gel-a-tins

Cardstock by Coredinations

Texture rollers by Xyron and texture folder by Provo Craft

Versamark and Staz-On inks

Twinery twine, Daisy D's stickers, Martha Stewart accents
Xyron adhesives and a hot Glue Gun

I'm running a challenge...

2011-07-14T17:31:00.000-07:00

...and gel-a-tins is sponsoring a give-away!

I was asked to put up a challenge over at a forum called Piece of Scrap :) I am challenging users to take their stamps and make a background paper with them. Here's my sample:

I used a star set by gel-a-tins to make that background. I love the set! I even used the same stars to make an embellishment and a journaling spot!

Here's the deal. The thread is here. You'll have to join to play along if you want a chance at the prize. That prize? This fab star set of stamps!

So, head over, get to stamping and win some starry goodness :) Good luck!

Blog Hop Winner!

2011-07-11T08:11:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much to everyone that took part in the hop! I hope you all were inspired by the projects that were shared and will keep coming back to the blogs!

The winner picked from my blog comments was....

Bishop's Mommie

Congratulations!! Just email info@gelatinstamps.com with your info and your choice of the stamp sets so we can get your prize out to you!

Coolness and Crazy Times!

2011-07-07T09:43:00.000-07:00

This week is INSANE! If you haven't seen it, there's a blog hop going on over at gel-a-tin stamps. It's the first one I've ever run and I really want it to go well so my previously type-a self is going all nutso about it. I really want to see lots of comments and winners!
Then, I signed up for a class this summer semester. An internet class about the internet. Sounds a little nuts, right? Well, I've taken internet classes before and did fine, so we'll see how it goes. It's just that there are seven assignments due this first week of class and I don't completely understand the directions for the first one. Always a good sign.
Also, I agreed to do some projects from Xyron and those are due this week. I finally was able to get the supplies and I did sketch everything out that I want to make so now it's just a matter of cutting, printing and sticking it all together. Shouldn't be too bad, but this is the busiest week ever.
And then? I have a project to do for a board/gel-a-tins challenge. I know what I'm doing, but it's still that whole put it together thing.
None of that includes the swimming lessons, laundry, grocery shoppping, hair appointment or cleaning that I need to do/have already done this week.
So, I'm here :) Just running around like a loony toon. I did get a GIANT box of goodies from Bonnie at gel-a-tins on Tuesday and I'm dying to dig into that too. I'll be sure to share things as soon as I can.
The specific coolness I wanted to share? I am going to be published in the Sassy Lil Sketches ebook! I am so excited to be a part of it! Cherie's sketches are fab and I just love them. The book is going to be amazing! I'll be sure to share more info as I have it.
Hope you're having a nice, calm week :) Somebody has to make up for all this crazy!

The gel-a-tins Blog Hop! Woot!

2011-07-05T05:00:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of the first ever gel-a-tins blog hop! There are 12 prizes up for grabs and I want to see YOU win!
Here's what you have to do...
Go to each of the blogs on the hop and leave a comment on the blog hop post. Then, go to the gel-a-tins blog and follow our blog (using the link in the sidebar). We'll give one prize a commenter on each blog and then well also draw a name from the blog followers and give away a prize to them too!

These are the stamp sets you have to choose from if you're one of the comments winners...

Butterfly Love:

Peace on Earth:

Or Admission is Free:

I don't have any gel-a-tins projects to share with you, but I will soon :) I have a box of goodies on its' way to me this week. WOOT!
Be sure to check out all the blogs and comment, and don't forget to follow for a chance to win a bigger prize on the gel-a-tins blog! You have until Sunday the 10th at midnight to leave all your comments. Winners will be announced Monday.

The next blog in the hop is Cherie! Head over and leave her some love!

Another fun announcement!

2011-06-29T10:29:00.000-07:00

I'm just full of them lately :)
It was just announced yesterday over at Scrap Chicks that I'm going to be a part of the team! I'll be helping with challenges and doing my usual chatting. I am so excited to be a part of the team and I hope I can be as inspiring as the other girls have been since the site opened.

Feel free to join and chat and scrap along with us!

Cards!

2011-06-23T09:51:00.000-07:00

I am the worst card maker. I have some kind of crazy mental block when it comes to them. They announced a card making class and Scrap Chicks for this month and I decided that I'd give it a go. Well, it went pretty well and I actually even like some of the cards I made :) Check these ones out...

My Favorite! Monochromatic with tons of trim :)

Simple, but sweet!

Used scraps of Mickey Mouse paper on this one :)

Hope you're finding lots of inspiration this summer!

The scraproom: A work in progress

2011-06-21T14:14:00.001-07:00

A video from today of my room now that I've spent a couple of days working on it :)

Happy Father's Day!

2011-06-19T13:02:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone is having a great Sunday! We have plans to go see my Dad and my Grandpa over at my parents' house today for Father's Day. Some swimming and some visiting and it should be a great day! My husband chose what he wanted for breakfast and dinner (and even ran out for doughnuts for those of us that don't like bacon and eggs).

A friend made this card and shared it, so of course I wanted to make one too. How cute is that? She found it first at Playing with Paper. I'm giving this one to my Grandpa. He always prints out special cards for everyone for their birthday and Christmas, so I thought I'd make him a little something too.

Have a great day!

I like it a lot

2011-06-18T08:44:00.000-07:00

I posted on Facebook the other day that I made a layout and I liked it :) That doesn't happen with every layout I make!
This one was based on a sketch for the Helmar June challenge. I don't own any Helmar goodies, so I can't enter their contest, but I loved the sketch so I thought I'd go ahead and use it!

I don't usually like the look of photos cut into shapes, but I think the circle looks really cute here.

I hope you're having a great weekend!

Go swimming layout

2011-06-16T10:07:00.000-07:00

This is another challenge layout from a Scrap Chicks summer challenge. We only have an hour and 20 minutes to make the layout and get it posted online. I totally started late again :) but I still managed to get it posted just in time. Now, the pencil marks I used for my circles still need to be erased, and I'm sure I'll have to go back and add more to it because it's just not one of my layouts unless I go crazy on it, but here it is :)

I do really like the sketch and I think I'll be using it again!

A challenge layout!

2011-06-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

Over at Scrap Chicks they're doing a weekly challenge. Last week we had and hour and twenty minutes to do up a layout using a sketch we were given. We were warned about how many pictures we would need, but that was about it.
Well, I got started late and didn't actually turn the layout in on time, but it's still pretty cute and I had a lot of fun playing along.

A little bird even told me that she was going to use it for an inspiration of the day over at Sassy Lil' Sketches. How cool is that?

Here's to hoping that I can get my layout done in time this week! :D

Patriotic front door time!

2011-06-12T09:10:00.000-07:00

I still had my spring wreath up until earlier this week and I decided it was time for an update. I had already replaced the flowers that weren't doing very well in the heat and I wanted the rest of my front porch to look nice too so I grabbed some things at Joann's on Thursday.

This is what it looks like now! The wreath is pretty simple and I just made with with things that were on sale at Joann's.

This little sign was half off at Joann's too and it cost me less than $10. I really like how it looks there.

The wreath. Pretty simple, but I like it. You can definitely see that red, white and blue when you drive by :)

To the left of the door. We got the big (and very heavy) letter "B" from one of Glen's brother's.

My new (and not dead) flowers! The flags came three for a dollar at Target. I bought the moisture control soil and it really seems to be helping. Everything in the yard has a bubbler, but these are by the door and have to be watered with the hose. It's nice that they don't have to be watered every single day to keep them from dying.

Well, I hope you like it. I do!

Quick altered gift bags

2011-06-09T09:24:00.000-07:00

Today I thought I'd share some gift bags that I altered for Xyron. I seem to have a birthday party to go to almost every week this summer. These bags were very affordable at Target (they were 99 cents to $2-3). They come in a great kraft color and the ribbon handles were included. You could easily use your scraps to make these bags for any occasion.

The dies are all by Spellbinders for the Xyron Creatopia. I really love that flower on the pink bag. I see lots of those in my future :)

The June Chicken Scratch Sketch

2011-06-06T14:19:00.000-07:00

Over at Scrap Chicks there's a monthly sketch challenge. I'm sure that I've said before that I love using sketches when I have some layouts to get done and feel like I'm all out of mojo. The sketch this month was really cute and I used it right away after it was posted.

And here's what I did with it.

The pictures are actually from Hanukkah a couple of years ago. (I'm a tad behind on my scrapping if you hadn't noticed). If you use the sketch, come on over to Scrap Chicks and share it with everyone!

A girly layout!

2011-06-04T09:42:00.000-07:00

I do like some pink. I even have pink hair right now :) I don't get to use the color very often in my scrapbooking, but when I scrap for a friend of mine I get to work with pictures of her super cute little girl.
I did this layout last week. It was fun and I got to use some papers from Basic Grey that I got a great deal on over at the Scenic Route store.

I hope you like it and that you're getting a lot of time to be creative this summer!

I have some exciting news!!

2011-06-02T18:05:00.000-07:00

I'll just come right out and spill the beans...

I've been asked to be the Design Team Coordinator for Gel-a-Tins stamps! I am just so excited to get to work with the great people and products and I can't wait to get started.
I'll be working on some fun stuff to be happening soon and I'll keep you all posted so you'll know when it's time to go check it all out and blog hop and win some goodies!
For now, though, I'd really appreciate it if you'd go check out the Facebook page and like us! Projects and contests will be shared over there too so it's a great way to stay on top of what's happening.
I'll be back soon with some of the things I've been working on lately for myself and for Xyron. Things were a little crazy around here with the end of the school year and art classes and general wacky stuff, but I'm back! :)

I give up!

2011-04-12T08:46:00.000-07:00

On getting a good picture of this project :) Sorry. I've been stressing about it for a week, and it just isn't a great picture, but I hope you'll still appreciate that it's a cute project!

Silhouettes are a tad popular right now, and I thought about this one night and decided that I'd do this project to add a little something to my Easter decor. I like how they turned out, but I did manage to buy two out of three frames with no built in stand and I have to do something about that. What a dork!

I searched the web for pictures that I could trace in my Create and Cut software. Cut the chicks out in two different sizes and flipped one. I used mostly scraps of paper for everything else. Clouds were cut freehand and all the inking was done with a sponge for an antique sort of effect. I hot-glued the goodies to the outside of the frames because I like that look. I also chose three different frame styles to make it have that eclectic look. (They are all white, not that you can tell from this awful picture).

Anyway, thanks for looking! I hope you're having a good time getting your house ready for spring!

Family Quote Frame

2011-04-04T08:31:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to make this project for Xyron to use in Michael's. It'll be on a tear off sheet in the aisle with the Creatopia once they're in stores (at least I think so :) ). I don't have instructions to share right now, because they will be in stores, but I thought I'd share it so you can at least see the project. I was pretty happy with how it turned out!

The supplies were all purchased at Michael's, and the dies that I used are the new Spellbinder's dies for Xyron. They're really pretty!
Thanks for stopping by!

HSN fabric projects!

2011-03-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

I was asked to work with some fabric by Riley Blake Designs and the Xyron Creatopia to make projects for HSN. The fabric is adorable and I had a lot of fun working with it!
Here's what I made:

I made this first because I had to make something for a boy! Everyone makes projects and clothes for girls and there's so little out there for boys. It's a real bummer when you have four sons and no daughters :) I like to have cute stuff for my kids too! I drew the tie myself and cut it out, then added the Xyron Fabric Adhesive to it so it was like a big sticker. Once I had it where it needed to be I just did a quick zigzag stitch around the edge.

To go along with that, I made a little girl's t-shirt into a dress. My ruffler foot came in pretty handy on that skirt :) I got to use my Xyron Fabric Adhesive on the flower applique and on the ribbon that I added. It makes it so easy! I didn't hem the skirt, I just serged the edge. I like that it looks a little rough.

The last project I made was this little wall hanging/doll quilt. I used the fabric adhesive for the hearts that I appliqued onto the white squares. And those hearts? Cut them out using a Spellbinders Die made for Xyron. It's really cute in person :)

Be sure to keep an eye out for the Xyron Creatopia on HSN tomorrow and let me know if you see any of my stuff!

Fun to share!

2011-03-25T10:29:00.000-07:00

A friend shared a link with me last night. I'm sure that most of us that scrapbook have heard of Colorbok. They sell cute (and very inexpensive) supplies. I actually just picked up some of their stuff the last time I was at Joann's. Anyway, you can be a part of a group that takes surveys for them and they'll send you goodies for helping out. How cool is that? Just go here and fill out the survey. Be sure to say that you're willing to do more surveys when it asks that question. You can certainly give them my name when it asks who sent you as well :)
Also, as you can see from my side bar, I like to hang out at a few forums and one of them is Scrap Chicks. They're looking for more fans on Facebook, so if you'd be willing to go to their page and like them, I'd appreciate it!
Have a great Friday!

Busy, but still here!

2011-03-23T14:57:00.000-07:00

I feel bad when I go a little while without crafting and have nothing new to post. This time, however, I have actually been crafting a lot, but it's either stuff that I can't share yet, or it's stuff that's keeping me so busy that I'm not posting like I should. Sorry about that!
Today I had a little time so I decided to take the stuff I bought for a new spring wreath and glue it together :) I made us a new wreath for the front door last year, but a little bird decided that it would be the perfect place to build a nest. I had to start over this year!
So...here it is!

You may have noticed that I have a thing for orange right now. I liked the spring bunch of flowers with the orange in it, and I already had the ribbon from Costco, so that's what I went for. Last year's wreath was pink and white. I guess we'll see which color combo the birds like more.

My flowers are still alive by the front door too! That's pretty nice considering that I planted them in October or November.
I'll be back soon with more projects that I can share :D

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T16:11:00.000-07:00

I had never done anything for St. Patrick's Day until I was in high school. I got a job at Bennigan's my sophomore year and when I showed up for my first St. Pat's I wasn't even wearing green. I kept getting pinched and EVERYONE that came in wanted to know why I wasn't wearing green. Apparently having green eyes isn't enough :) After working there for a total of over four years, I got into the holiday. It's a fun, crazy night when you work at an Irish bar!
As a grown-up, I don't get to celebrate anymore, but that's okay :D I did want to do something for the kids this year, so I baked green cupcakes with green sprinkles and I made them these little pot of gold treats.

They were pretty excited. I actually had some help with these from the lovely and talented Emma :) My friend and her daughter Emma came over the other day to learn a little about quilting and her Emma was a big help. She painted these and put all the goodies in them while her mom sewed and I ironed.

Have a great night!

Xyron Friends Friday!

2011-03-11T13:10:00.000-08:00

Who doesn't like winning great stuff? Head over to the Xyron Facebook page and leave a comment on their Friends Friday post for a chance to win some awesome Xyron machines!

Here's what they have to say:

Friends Friday: We would like to add some new Facebook Friends during Craft Month. Help us and post first names of your friends that might be interested in Xyron products and tell them to "LIKE" us. We will "GIVE AWAY" Blue machines.. 1.5", 2.5" and 5" create-a-stickers, Magic Sticker Maker, and a Every Day Stories Album to 5 random posts below on Mon. Start sharing the link. Have a great weekend and good luck.

So, suggest the Xyron page to your friends and become a fan too! Good luck!

Brotherly Love

2011-03-11T10:43:00.000-08:00

Another layout for you today! This was based on a recipe challenge over at Scrap Chicks. I used another old Studio Calico kit along with some other bits and pieces. I can't believe how big Tucker is now compared to the chubby little guy he was in this picture!

Mr. Magoo

2011-03-10T07:38:00.000-08:00

This is one of my new favorites. I used stuff from one of my old Studio Calico kits and a challenge from Scrap Chicks. We had to interview someone and I just used the questions that the DT member, Kari used when she interviewed her daughter. I love the blues and yellows together!
Thanks for stopping by!

Canvas Corp. Burlap

2011-03-04T13:46:00.000-08:00

A little while ago Canvas Corp. sent me a cute box full of goodies for me to use with my Xyron adhesives. Now, I was asked to make up a layout based on a sketch for Scrap Chicks and I thought that their black and white patterned paper and burlap sheet would be perfect! Here is what I came up with...

I had these pictures of my mom reading to the boys and my nephew up at the cabin and thought that they'd look great for this sketch and with the Canvas Corp. stuff.
Thanks for checking it out!

More layouts

2011-03-03T16:43:00.000-08:00

I've been working on challenges and sketches the for the last two days, so I thought I'd share some more of them with you! These are both based on sketches from Scrap Chicks.

These were both made with Imaginisce papers and embellishments, and my Xyron adhesives. The new mega runner is awesome! This line has the cutest embellishments that go with it, and I love their little stamps. It's a good thing that I have so many more birthday pictures to scrap :)

Layout and Sketch Class!

2011-03-02T08:53:00.000-08:00

Wow. Things have been a little crazy around here. My youngest has pneumonia. One of the twins has Influenza A. I still have party decorations up. Not a lot of crafty time happening around here.
I did get about a half hour yesterday to run into my room and scrap. Over at Scrap Chicks (link is over on the side bar) there is a sketch class going on this month. I LOVE sketches. Whether you just don't have any mojo or you're short on time, a sketch can really help you to get some layouts done! I hope you like it!

The Party!

2011-02-23T07:12:00.000-08:00

Man! This party took a lot out of me! The house still hasn't recovered.
I think things went well. Tucker seemed pretty happy with it. The kids were excited for all the sugar (and then they ran around the house like a wackos they are).
Here are a few pics...

The table! Stars are paper ball things were from Oriental Trading. Mickey balloons were from BrithdayExpress.com. Mickey stuff was from party stores around here.

He didn't smile in the first picture, so I showed it to him and told him to smile. This is what I got (because he's a goofball).

Didn't want to buy a Micky pan and have to do all those stars, so I did this. The shape was fine, but the color didn't work. I've used the color spray before and got a deep blue with the blue can, so I thought I could get black with the black spray. Not so much. Oh well. I knew that if I colored all the frosting black all the way through no one would eat it so this was my idea.

Treats and bubba teeth. It's a fancy combo :)

Candy! Mini swirl pops are Oriental Trading and almost everything else is from the candy store. Pinwheels were three for a dollar at the dollar store (and I need to get more because the kids stole them).

Happy guy during the birthday song.

Any questions about something specific? Just let me know!

Birthday decor/treats

2011-02-18T08:19:00.000-08:00

Cute, right? I saw this idea on a blog a while back and thought that it would be perfect for Tucker's party (or any party that I throw for that matter, because I get all OCD about the colors I use at a party matching). They were so quick and easy to make!

I bought the pre-colored candy melts at the store and just melted them and dipped the Oreos in them. I do have a dipping tool, and that does help. I used it for the brownies I dipped at Christmastime too. I also used color-coordinated sprinkles (shocking, I know).

I'll be sure to let you know if they're a hit :)

Birthday Treats

2011-02-17T08:07:00.000-08:00

Tucker's 4th birthday was on Tuesday and because I'm not having his party until Saturday night I have all week to get ready. The first bunch of goodies I made were the treat boxes for him to take to school and give to his friends. Now, I had a crazy weekend and was short on time so they aren't nearly as cute as I had hoped (not to mention that I couldn't find boxes that held individual cupcakes so I had to work with these ones). The kids liked them and the moms did too. Cupcakes to take home that are wrapped up in a box? Not too shabby for moms used to food all over the car :)

The boxes were with the cake decorating stuff at Michael's and the papers were on clearance. I've actually had this ribbon for a long time and I got it at Costco. If I'd had more time I probably would have drawn Mickey ears on all the dots (because I'm crazy like that). I cut the tags by hand from white card stock and hand wrote on them. The Mickey is a punch that I got.

This is what was inside. Tucker picked strawberry banana cupcakes and I made my butter cream icing. The toys are all from the party store. I sent the extra dozen cupcakes in so they could have one in class without having to open all the boxes.
Anyway, I'll post more treats tomorrow!

Another quick Valentine's Day craft!

2011-02-13T11:23:00.000-08:00

I've had this Bare Essentials heart for a while and I knew that it would be perfect for a little Valentine's Day decor.
I covered it in some BoBunny paper that I ran through my Xyron Creatopia and added the few embellishments from my stash. I punched a hole in that little old Queen and Co. heart and tied it to the wire and done!

It's nice to have more than three things out to decorate with this year :)

School Treats for the Twins

2011-02-12T11:23:00.000-08:00

I decided to make the boys' Valentines this year and when I saw the bags of candy watches and bracelets at CVS I knew they'd be perfect!
I bought some paper at the scrapbook store and measured the candies. They fit inside a matchbox made of a 3x6" piece of paper. I was able to get eight matchboxes out of each piece of paper and I made a total of 60 of these little guys. The twins got the ones that have the punched strip of reddish paper across the front, but I made two others so you could see other ways that they could be embellished.

The bags of candy were something like $2 each and I bought four. Not as cheap as paper valentines or anything, but cute and affordable. The boys really like it when I make things for them to share with their friends.

Treats for my little guys

2011-02-11T10:18:00.000-08:00

I never do anything special for the kids for Valentine's Day. I mean, I make treats for them to exchange with their friends, but never anything special just for them. This year I saw these cute little buckets at Joann's and picked up one for each of the twins and Tucker. I kept the altering pretty simple, but I think they're going to be pretty excited on Monday morning.

The actual bucket sides are clear so I just cut paper to fit inside and slipped it into the buckets. Valentine's paper is pretty much all pink, but I'm okay with that. I don't think anyone will be complaining when they see all the candy I stuff in these things.

Look at all that loot! I probably could have fit more in there, but they're set for dessert for a while with this crap.

I also found these. Tucker is crazy for Mickey Mouse, so that was a no-brainer, and the "You Rock" suckers were pretty cute for the twins.

More Valentine's Day goodies tomorrow!

Lovey Dovey Frame

2011-02-10T15:45:00.000-08:00

I picked this up last month at Michael's. The frame was about a buck and I think the little wooden heart was about half that. Pretty affordable when you throw in paper from BoBunny that I got from Xyron last year and embellishments that I already had or made from things I already had. I think this is my favorite project of the things I made today.

I added a little extra bling to the details on the paper with some Stickles. The flowers are more that I made out of those old, little bitty Primas I still have a bunch of jars of :)

Like that picture? I think it captures our marriage pretty well.

Valentine's/Birthday Treats!

2011-02-09T15:41:00.000-08:00

My littlest guy, Tucker, turns four on February 15th. He doesn't have school that day, so I'm sending treats on Monday. They've got a Valentine's theme, but they're extra cute and have more stuff in them that I would normally send for Valentine's Day.

I already had these little tins from back in the day when I used to teach scrappy classes more often. There are only eleven kids in his class so I have no problem doing something that's a little more involved and expensive for him. Now, I don't mean to act like I went out and spent a bunch of money on all the stuff that wasn't already in my scrap room. I bought the paper and die cuts at Target in the dollar spot. The ribbon, stamps, ink and punches I already had. I ran the paper and die cut wraps through the Xyron Creatopia to attach them to the tins.

The goodies I put inside were just inexpensive little things from the Target Valentine section. Tucker is pretty excited to share, and even though I still have more work to do (I have to bake treats!), I'm excited for his first birthday that he'll get to celebrate with his new school friends.

First Valentine's project of the month!

2011-02-07T08:09:00.000-08:00

I had so much fun designing and making this that I wanted to be sure to share it with you all. I love my Wishblade for projects, but I am no expert. The more I play, the more comfortable I am and the better my projects are. I really do a lot of things with text when I'm using this cutter, and having all those free fonts available on the internet really helped me out!

I went into the Create and Cut software that comes with the Wishblade and started typing out the word "Love" over and over in just about every font. Then I started arranging them in a shape that would fit inside my mat. I resized some of the words as I went along and turned them in different directions. I cut it out of vinyl (which is pretty easy to find at just about any craft store these days). I'll explain why in a minute.

This is the close up of it after I've peeled the letters out. Some of those are pretty delicate cuts and because I used the vinyl I just had to pop the letters out instead of worrying about how I was going to get the paper peeled off the cutting mat, know what I mean? Pretty sure that I would have had some tearing that way.

I just put it in a cheapo frame and mat that I bought. Got the mat a while back at Michael's for about $3 and the frame was $7.50 at JoAnne's. Not too shabby if you ask me :)

I made the fuller flowers out of some old Primas and hot glued the thicker embellishments right onto the glass. The little sequins go right through my Xyron 150.

I hope you like this one because it's one of my favorite projects right now. I have very little stuff to use for Valentine's decor and this looks pretty cute in my front hallway.

CHA Photos!

2011-02-02T14:22:00.000-08:00

I am back! I was so lucky to get to go to CHA. I knew that I'd be busy, but I had no idea just how busy I'd be the whole time! I thought I'd get a chance to walk the show for a little bit every day, and that just didn't happen. I did manage to get 91 pictures, but I'm not sure how :) Most of them were taken in the morning before most of the companies had even gotten to their booths and some were taken as I walked to our booth. I apologize for not getting more pictures to share! The show was a lot of fun and it was nice on the last day that I got to walk around a little bit and talk to some of the people in the different booths. The girls at the Adornit booth were so nice! I even chatted to Melissa Frances (without realizing it at first. Because I'm a dork like that). Anyway, here is a link to my Flikr pictures! Have fun looking!

Grab Bag!

2011-01-26T15:24:00.000-08:00

While cleaning my crap room, I found this pattern that I'd printed out a while ago. I have a lot of printed out patterns and instructions for making mini albums and projects like that but I keep most of them together in a binder so I can grab the whole thing and look through it.
The pattern is from All People Quilt and I obviously thought it was cute when I found it the first time. :) It's a pretty quick and easy bag to put together and I think it's neat that it gets held a little differently than your average bag.

I found this fabric for the outside as a remnant at Hobby Lobby and it was only a little over $3. I already had the black fabric for the lining and used a little leftover quilt batting for the padding so it was a pretty cheap bag! I also had the flower already (got that at Hobby Lobby too) and thought it made a cute addition to the bag.

This is what it looks like when it's open and plain. The long handle slips through the short handle and you carry it by the loop that sticks through. It has six little pockets on the inside too.

I actually made this bag to take with me this weekend. I'm actually going out of town...to CHA!! WOOHOO! I am so excited that I get to go to the show. I'll be doing make and takes in the Xyron booth and helping in the Xyron classes, but I'll have a break every day to go look around and drool on everything. I'm taking my camera, but not my computer so you'll have to wait until Tuesday to see the pictures because I don't come back until late Monday night. I'm leaving Friday morning and I'm totally geeking out about it. If there's a booth or product you want to see, let me know! I'll try to do some pictures and videos from my phone as well and they'll upload to my regular Facebook profile.

Have a great weekend everyone!

A Travel Journal

2011-01-21T15:12:00.000-08:00

I'm a little under the weather today, but I wanted to share my altered journal. It's up today over at the Glue Arts blog. After I went to the quilt show in Houston I thought it could be nice to have something that I use to take notes about the places I visit (especially because I don't always get to blog right away).

Supplies:

Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro with High Tac refill

Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive Squares

Girls Paperie On Holiday Papers, Letter, Word and Shape stickers

Blank journal

Paper trimmer

Scissors

Stapler

Brown ink pad and sponge

Nail File

Ribbons

Scalloped paper to use as template

Edge distresser

Bone Folder

1. Trim papers to fit the front and back outside and inside covers of the journal. Ink the edges of all papers with the ink pad and sponge and attach two of them to the outside covers using the Glue Glider Pro with High Tac refill and the Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive squares in the corners.
For the inside covers, add a smaller piece of paper to the larger paper to be used as a pocket for holding small paper memorabilia. Run adhesive around the bottom and sides of the smaller paper and attach to the larger paper to attach the pocket. Add staples for decoration.

Use the Glue Glider Pro and the Extreme Adhesive Squares to attach these pockets to the inside covers.

2. Use a scalloped circle of paper as a template to cut out a scalloped circle to use on the front of the journal. Cut out the shape and trim to the size that you'll need for the book. Ink the edges with the ink pad and sponge and attach it to the book with the Glue Glider Pro.

3. Cut circles out of the papers and distress the edges of each.
Ink the edges of the circles with the sponge in the same way that you've done the other papers. Dab the sponge on the ink pad and swirl it around the edges of the paper for an aged look.
Attach the circles to the journal front along with some inked scrap paper strips using the Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive Squares.

4. Choose letter stickers for the title and other stickers for accents for the journal front. Use the nail file to rough up the edges so the stickers can be inked. Attach the stickers to the journal front.

5. Use more scrap paper to make two small tags to hang from the spine. Ink the tags and add more inked stickers to them. Attach them to the spine with some ribbon or twine.

6. Fold long strips of paper in half and attach to a few pages in the journal for reinforced dividers. Use a bone folder to get a crisp edge and attach as many as desired to the pages using the Glue Glider Pro. For tabs on these dividers, fold inked stickers in half and attach to the page edges.

7. Tie additional ribbons to the journal binding and trim the ends.
TIP: To add extra interest and dimension on your layouts and projects, use a combination of the Perma-Tac adhesive on some pieces, then use the U-Cut it foam on others, layering more than one thickness of the foam to lift some things higher off the page.

Have a great weekend!

Layouts!

2011-01-18T06:40:00.000-08:00

There was a crop this weekend at Scrap Chicks and I got to play along for a bit! It's been so long since I just scrapped for fun and for myself that I really enjoyed it. I get to do so few layouts anymore and my albums are pretty sad and neglected.

This was a sketch challenge (I love sketches when I am fresh out of mojo)

I used a Sassy Lil Sketch for this one, and it was a recipe challenge. Three patterned papers, chipboard, handmade journaling spot, 7 round elements.

This challenge was a lot of fun. We were told what to do with the layout step by step without actually being shown a picture of the layout we were lifting from. I think it's my favorite.

Wintertime Fun!

2011-01-13T11:16:00.000-08:00

This week at Glue Arts the sponsor is Echo Park, and these winter time papers are so fun! I love the blue and red combo especially. I actually wanted to put them in my guest room for a little project (and I still just might)!
I decided to take the pictures from my parents' cabin and scrap a mini album of my kids playing in the snow.

I also decorated the front of my album.

Thanks for stopping by!

More gifts!

2011-01-09T15:00:00.000-08:00

I didn't share these because one of them wasn't actually done until the day after Christmas :) Oops! Sometimes things just get a little too crazy around here and those extra projects fall to the side.

I made these as gifts for a couple of people. I bought the actual scarves at the quilt show I went to in Houston. They say that they're cashmere, and who knows if that's true or not. They are very soft and pretty so that's what counts. I picked up some of the thicker embroidery threads and added stitches I saw in a little book I picked up for $2 at Half Price Books.

These are the result! (please forgive the cell phone pictures)

This one I made for a friend. It didn't take too long and I think the leaves are pretty. The one in the book also had little sequins on it, but I didn't think they'd stay on very well so I just did the leaves.

This is the one I did for my mom. It took longer, and the lines were difficult because when you're sewing in a hoop it's hard to see whether you're keeping the stitches straight or not.

Anyway, these were pretty easy and quick to make and I think they're great gifts. I know I'd appreciate getting something that's useful and pretty and it's nice to know that someone spent time making something just for you.

Ooo la la! A video post!

2011-01-05T15:03:00.000-08:00

Hopefully the video works. This is my first post like this :)
My new birthday cell phone has video camera on it and I can upload directly to Qik to share the vids. So I thought that rather than just trying to explain to you why I can't seem to get anything done, I'd show you what my room looks like right now. I'm working to try to reorganize and move things around, but I haven't touched this room yet. It's ugly. It makes me want to do anything BUT scrap. I miss being creative every day so I'm trying to get things truly organized and under control.
And now...THE MESS!

A quick way to add some cute to your party

2010-12-28T10:24:00.000-08:00

I had this idea in November. Bought the stuff to make everything. And then...yeah. Sometimes getting cute pictures taken really holds me back. These would really be fun for any party, holiday, birthday, tea, etc.
I love cake plates and when I saw these mini candlesticks at Hobby Lobby I thought they looked like a cake plate base. I had a little trouble finding a ready made top, but you can see that I worked that out for one of them and made my own for the others. Have a look!

This is the base with a few layered chipboard circles on top. I cut them out and stuck them together with my Xyron Creatopia and adhesive. They won't be coming apart any time soon and they're smooth and sturdy. I used hot glue to attach the top, then painted the whole thing white. Once they were dry I added the ribbon with hot glue as well.

Another simple one that I made the same way. This one just has silver ribbon because you all know I love me some sparkle.

For this one I punched out some white paper with a Martha Stewart punch and added that with some hot glue. This one really looks like an old fashioned cake plate and I love it.

Speaking of sparkle, there's this :) I bought these mirrors at Hobby Lobby as well. The little teardrops are mini glitter ornaments from the same place. For the glitter on the base I gave it a coat of Martha Stewart's glue (comes in a nice sized bottle with a brush built in to the lid and it's awesome) and then I sprinkled it with Vintage Glass Glitter from Art Glitter. Definitely nice for a fancy dessert.

I hope you like these! I had a lot of fun making them and once I decide which one I like best I'll be sure to make a bunch up for my next party.

Gift tags!

2010-12-22T12:25:00.000-08:00

This is just a quick post to let you all know that I haven't forgotten about you :)
I do have some more projects that I'll be posting over the next few days, but I have to get them finished up first!
These tags are sooo easy. I use them on layouts and projects all the time and you could make them into ornaments (like they suggested last month over at Scrapfreak) or make pretty little gift tags like I have here.

To make the main part, just score 2 pieces of paper that are 1-2 inches wide by 12 inches long. I score about every half inch. Accordion fold, cut the folds to points on one side and glue the ends together. Shape into a circle and hot glue the shape and a loop of twine or ribbon to a scrap piece of paper to hold in place. (I usually use a punched circle). Glue a stamped die cut to the top. Easy peasy! I hope everyone is enjoying the season!

More sparkly Christmas trees!

2010-12-17T07:36:00.000-08:00

I told you I had a lot of glittery things drying in my craft room :)
These were made for Glue Arts with some amazing paper sent to us by Graphic 45. They are a little bit time consuming, but the part that takes the longest is one of those things that you can do while you sit and watch TV. You know I love projects that work like that!

Christmas Tree Set

Designer: Jessica Barnett

Supplies Needed:

Glue Arts hot glue gun

Graphic 45 Christmas Past paper pad

May Arts green faux suede leaves

Silver Pearl trim

Small ornaments

Paper trimmer

Scissors

Ruler

Postage stamp shaped punch

Glitter Mod Podge and brush

Liquid glue

Opaque white glitter

Paints that coordinate with chosen papers and brush

Glimmer mist

Paper Mache tree kit or foam trees, pots and dowels to make your own set (my set was purchased a while back at Oriental Trading)

Instructions:

1. Choose your papers from the stack. You'll need at least one sheet for each tree. I was so excited that colors other than just the traditional red and green were included in this pad!

2. Use the paints and brush to paint the pieces of your tree kit. Paint each tree a color that will coordinate with the paper you're going to use on it. The paint will help hide the natural color of the trees in case you don't get full coverage from your paper pieces. Paint the bases the same color and don't forget to paint the dowels. Allow to dry.

3. Cut the pieces of paper into 1 by 12 inch strips. Cut these strips along the bottom to create a fringe, then cut the strips into smaller pieces, like shingles. The trees can't be covered with the strips when they're still in one piece because the cone shape of the tree doesn't allow them to lay flat. You can hold two of the strips and cut them at the same time if your scissors are sharp.

4. Start at the bottom of your tree and use the Glue Arts hot glue gun to attach the pieces of paper to the form. Curl the ends of the strips up as you go.

5. When your tree is covered, use the brush to give the strips a quick, thin coat of the glitter Mod Podge. Use the brush to fluff up the cut ends as you go so they don't dry flat against the form.

6. Use the bottle of liquid glue to add drops of "snow" to the branches of the trees. The opaque glitter is great for a wintry look.

7. Use a postage stamp shaped punch to make little postcards from one of the sheets of paper, and spray them with the glimmer mist.

8. Use the hot glue gun to attach the postcard shapes and mini ornaments to the tree.

9. Measure the top of each flower pot shaped base and cut a strip of paper to fit it. Attach each strip with the Glue Arts hot glue gun, and then attach a strip of pearl trim under the strip.

10. Use the Glue Arts hot glue gun to attach a small ornament to the top of each tree. A strip of pearl trim can be added to hide and other imperfections near the top of the tree.

11. Cut the May Arts leaves apart and attach to the base of each tree with the Glue Arts hot glue gun.

I hope you like them! I'll be back soon to post another little idea I had that involves a little sparkle :D

Cookie time!

2010-12-13T09:29:00.000-08:00

I did my holiday baking this weekend! I hate it when I get so behind that I don't finish it, so it's a relief that I'm done with it now. Lots of treats at my house!

This is the finished product. Trays are from the dollar store and I already had the ribbon and cellophane wrap from past food gifts :)

There is fudge, lemon sandwich cookies, peppermint whoopie pies, chocolate covered brownies and spritz.

Here is the finished tray with the sugar cookies piled on top!

They turned out pretty cute and everything is yummy. Hope you all are getting things done on your holiday to-do list as well!

Another project down!

2010-12-11T09:34:00.000-08:00

This project was shared with me a little while ago and I knew that I wanted to make a set for my house. The originals with instructions are over at Shanty 2 Chic and they are so cute! Those are shabby chic, and I like that style a lot, but it doesn't really go with my Christmas decor. I'm all about the glitter and sparkle! My fake tree is silver if that helps you understand :D

Anyway, here are the trees that I made...

I bought one large and two smaller styrofoam tree forms. The ribbon all came from Wal-Mart (believe it or not) and I don't have a ruffler foot, but my mom came over one day and gathered it all for me after I told her I was too lazy and impatient to do it myself. The candlestick bases are from Hobby Lobby and so are the glass doorknob tree toppers. All on sale, woohoo! I added a little more cheapo wired ribbon around the toppers to help hide the top and wrapped it around a pencil to give it that ringlet shape. The bases are attached with liquid nails.
Anyway, I hope you like them! I know I do :)

DIY Shadowbox Ornament

2010-12-08T05:00:00.000-08:00

This week Glue Arts paired up with Making Memories to bring you ornaments! I decided to make this little shadowbox and had a lot of fun with it. Now I just need to finish the ones for the other boys (they're jealous). These are pretty quick and easy and they look awesome on the tree. If there's a little something that's special to the person in the photo, you could include it in the box. This one should probably have a little Hot Wheels car in it or something :)

Mini Shadowbox Ornament By Jessica Barnett

Supplies Needed:

Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive Squares

Glue Glider Pro with Perma Tac refill

Glue Arts 3-D Combo Pack

May Arts Shiny Green ribbon and Green Stocking shape ribbon

Making Memories Journaling Spots

Making Memories Noel papers and embellishments

Glitter Glue

White opaque glitter

Dries clear liquid adhesive

transparency

craft knife

scoring board and bone folder

scissors

chipboard

black paint and brush

black chalk ink

paper trimmer

scalloped scissors

pinking shears

heart shaped pin

Instructions:

To Make Shadow Box:

1. Cut 2 pieces of 6 by 6 inch chipboard for each box.

2. Score in one inch from each edge all around the squares.

3. Use scissors to cut along 4 of the 1" lines. Make sure you do the same lines at the top and bottom of the box.

4. Use the craft knife to cut out a window in what will be the box lid.

5. Use a bone folder to crease all folds to the same side of the box.

6. Attach the tabs to the inside of the box (for the lid) and the outside of the box (for the box back) using Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive Squares.

For the lid:

For the back:

7. Paint the box, inside and out, using the black paint and brush. Allow to dry.

To Embellish Box:

1. Use the Glue Glider Pro to attach a piece of transparancy to the inside of the lid to make a window.

2. Use dries clear adhesive and opaque white glitter to make a snowy effect on the window and allow to dry.

3. Trim the edges of 1 inch strips with scalloped scissors and attach to front of box to make a window after inking. Add to the paper detail with glitter glue.

4. Attach more one inch strips of paper around the outside edges of the lid after inking.

5. On the inside of the box, layer elements with Glue Arts 3-D adhesives to add dimension. Ink all papers and photos. Cut the picture out with pinking shears before inking. Add any special trinkets to the box using Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive squares.

6. Place the lid on the box and wrap the box in a piece of May Arts shiny green ribbon. Use the knot to hang a beaded ornament hanger from the top.

7. Attach a metal Making Memories embellishment to the front of the box.

Let's catch up!

2010-12-06T09:11:00.000-08:00

How about we talk about why I've been so absent lately :)
We can start with Thanksgiving! We stay home and cook our own meal (that way we get leftovers). We were busy with that on Wednesday and Thursday of that week. The meal came out great and I even made some of the little pilgrim hats that I shared on Facebook. If you get the Fiskars newsletter you've seen them too. The kids all loved them!

They hold crayons. I gave the kids each one with a new pack of crayons inside and some cardstock to draw on. They liked getting to color while they ate dinner.
I also made some pies to take to our friends' house after dinner. I don't like pie, but I think they turned out okay because they were eaten!

Pioneer Woman's Scrumptious Apple Pie

Martha Stewart's Pumpkin Cream Pie

So we wrapped up Thanksgiving and had to haul some booty to get the house ready for Christmas and Hanukkah. I had to take down the fall decorations and get out my Christmas stuff and all that takes time. We didn't really have time because this year Hanukkah started on December 1st. I host Hanukkah dinner every year for my husband's family and some of our friends. I make a ton of stuff from scratch and have to clean this whole monster of a house and it takes a while! We were scrambling to get done, and I had to change and eliminate some things from the menu so that we'd get done in time for everyone to be here Saturday night. Some friends came early and helped us to do all the last minute things that seem to slow us down at the last second and we were actually ready to go by the time everyone else got here!

Star of David shaped butters. Because I'm OCD.

Challah! I made a TON this year.

Placecard/Favor boxes

Remember those tissue paper balls I showed a couple of weeks ago? Here they are!

Anyway, that whole bunch of busy time is done, but I have plenty more coming up. Celebrating both Hanukkah and Christmas makes for a busy December, but then you add in my birthday, a holiday party and holiday baking and things get lost in the shuffle.
I'll be back this week with a holiday ornament and I'll get to posting the holiday crafts I've been working on. Have a great week!

Potato Soup!!

2010-11-23T08:22:00.000-08:00

I LOVE potato soup. I worked at Bennigan's for years and would eat a little every morning for breakfast before we opened. It was a go-to food for me when I was pregnant and nauseous. I had really been missing that good stuff when all the Bennigans' around here closed down. I tried other soups at grocery stores and restaurants, but they weren't as good. (I worked at Black Angus for years too and their potato soup is just watery and gross. I never understood why so many people came in for it). I really missed that soup when I was pregnant with my youngest son.

Recently a girl on one of the forums I belong to shared this recipe with everyone. I decided to try it, but didn't have high hopes because I'm a freak and I like my soup to be really creamy without any dried out/rock hard bacon bits and without any leathery potato skin in it and that's all I seemed to be able to find out there.

Well...THIS STUFF IS DELICIOUS. Holy cow. If you like potato soup (and would appreciate a really easy recipe that even uses pre-cut potatoes to save you time), this is the stuff for you.

Cream Cheese Potato Soup

6 Cups water
7 teaspoons chicken bouillon
2 (8oz) packages cream cheese, cubed
1 package frozen hash brown potatoes
1/2 Cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dill weed
Combine water and bouillon, add cream cheese. Cook and stir until cream cheese is melted. Stir in remaining ingredients. Simmer uncovered 20 minutes or until veggies are soft.

I actually like to start it earlier in the day and just leave it on low and let it thicken up before dinner time. It's so easy and everyone that I've made it for seems to like it too! I serve it with chives, cheese, oyster crackers and bacon bits on the side so everyone can add what they want to their bowl.

Enjoy it now while it's nice and cold outside :)

Busy!

2010-11-20T12:49:00.000-08:00

I can't show everything I've been working on, but here's a pic of something that's been keeping me busy this week. :)

I'll be sure to share pics of the whole to-do once it's all done, but for now here's a peek.

Also, this has been keeping me busy today...

Gotta love pretty presents! I think I'll be putting the tree up this week so I can have the house decorated in time to host dinner on Dec. 4th. Then I'll have somewhere to put these!

Is it just me...

2010-11-19T09:36:00.000-08:00

or is the holiday craziness catching up to everyone else too? I know that it's early, but I'm trying to be caught up on as much as I can be early this year. I'm trying to buy gifts and work on decorations now so that when the holiday parties and dinners hit I'm not completely overwhelmed. Except that I'm overwhelming myself now :) Oh well. It still feels great to be getting things done around the house and I know I'll be very happy with how things turn out in the end.
Today I'm going to share the Glue Arts project I made this week. In keeping with my trying to stay ahead of the game, I decided to use these Crate papers to make the gifts for the teachers at the twins' school.

Now I just need to do some snooping and find out what the teachers' favorite candies are so I can fill the jars with them!
The jars were purchased at Hobby Lobby (they had a half off sale on all their glassware so they were pretty affordable). One of the teachers is more girly than the other, so she's getting the one with the flowers on it. I had fun making these and I think they'll be happy with them. Much happier than they would have been if I would have waited and then let it get to be too late to make anything for sure :)

Holiday OCD

2010-11-15T09:43:00.000-08:00

Those of you that know me well are aware of my craziness when it comes to party planning. I work on menus, guest lists and favors months ahead of time. I make lists, scour magazines and the internet for recipes and tear ideas out of the paper. When one of the girls at ScrapFreak posted a holiday journal project I knew it would be the best thing for me to make! This was so quick and easy to put together and I've been filling it with lists since I finished gluing everything down :)

I bought a little album at Hobby Lobby on clearance for a little over $2. I took the binding rings out so I could cover it completely with the paper (which is gorgeous doily paper by Hambly). I used my Xyron to attach the paper to the covers because I know that no matter how much this thing gets used and taken in and out of my purse, the paper won't be going anywhere. The tabs that I added to the pages were just little circle die cuts that I made with my Spellbinders scalloped circle dies. I ran them through my Xyron, and folded them in half over certain pages to make the tabs.
Some embellishments, ribbon and silver mist spray finished it off.

May Arts altered chalkboard

2010-11-13T08:38:00.000-08:00

I was with the kids one day at the dollar store and saw these little chalkboards and knew they'd be fun to play with. I bought them thinking that I'd make one for each of the boys, but then I got all this pink ribbon from May Arts and Glue Arts and it looked like I was going to have to make one for myself :)

Supplies:

Glue Arts hot glue gun

Glue Arts Ribbon Adhesive

Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive squares (small)

May Arts striped grosgrain ribbon (2 styles)

May Arts velvet ricrak trim

Small, wooden framed chalkboard

Needle and white embroidery floss

Scissors

Flower stamps (I used the Hero Arts Bold Blossoms)

Black ink

Small green buttons

Scraps of patterned paper in pink and green

Acrylic block

Instructions:

1. To make the large flowers, cut a length of the grosgrain ribbon that is 12-18 inches long. A longer piece will make a more ruffled flower. Make a running stitch along one side of the ribbon with the needle and thread, leaving a tail at the end.

Once you've sewn along the edge of the ribbon, pull the string to gather it tight, still leaving tails at both ends.

Tie the ends into a knot and trim the thread to make the flower.

To make the smaller flowers, just fold the ribbon in half before running the stitch along the open edge.

2. Add the velvet trim to the chalk board buy first running Glue Arts Ribbon adhesive around the frame, then attaching the trim to it.

3. Stamp the flower centers using black ink on patterned paper. The leaves should be stamped the same way, but on green paper. Cut out all images with the scissors.

4. Add the flower centers to the ribbon flowers, then add the flowers and leaves to the board using The Glue Arts hot glue gun.

5. Tie knots in the buttons with the embroidery floss and needle and use a small Glue Arts extreme adhesive square to attach them to the center of each stamped flower.

You can also add some of the ribbon to the back of the board and use it for hanging. I think I know some boys and girls that will be very excited to get these for Christmas.

Ditch those plastic veggies bags...

2010-11-11T11:19:00.000-08:00

This week Glue Arts and May Arts have teamed up. I had so much fun playing with their beautiful ribbons! The first project I made were these muslin veggie bags. I hate to use the ones at the store and just throw them away and I've been meaning to make some for a while now. Once I had the ribbon I knew that it would be fun to embellish them a little. There are so many colors and types of ribbon that you could use a different one for each kind of veggie so you'd know what was in the bag before you opened it :)

Supplies:

Glue Arts Glue Glider pro with Fabri-Tac refill
May Arts ribbon of choice
May Arts cream colored rope
2 muslin squares that are 10" by 15" for each bag
Sewing machine and thread
Scissors
Iron
Fray stopping liquid
Instructions:

1. To make the bag, press in 1/4", then 1" on the top of each muslin piece. This will be the channel that the rope runs though. Sew along the channel bottom, leaving the ends open for the rope to pass through.

2. Sew along the sides and bottom of the bag, avoiding the channel. Turn bag right side out and press.

3. Run a 36" length of rope through the channel and the the ends together in a knot. Add fray stopper to ends of rope. The finished bag will look like this:

4. Wrap a piece of ribbon around the bag to measure the length that needs to be cut to wrap around it. The ribbon should be long enough that there is at least 3-4 inches that overlaps. Attach the ribbon to the bag with the Glue Glider Pro and Fabri-Tac refill, leaving the overlap alone.

5. Take the overlap at fold it into a loop. Attach the loop to the bag with more Fabri-Tac adhesive.

6. Cut a 2-3" piece of matching ribbon and use the Fabri-Tac to attach it to the bag, looped around the seam where the ribbon meets itself on the bag.

7. Heat set the adhesive following package directions.

I'll post the other May Arts/Glue Arts project tomorrow.

I'm back and I have a quick Thanksgiving craft for you...

2010-11-10T13:22:00.000-08:00

My trip to Houston with Xyron was so much fun! It flew by and I was totally pooped when I got home, but it was really great. I have a few pictures of the booth (and my projects!) but first I'd like to share this quick, fun and (almost) free craft. I did have to buy a frame, but if you've got something laying around that you can use, this is one very inexpensive project.

The picture can be found for free here. I thought it was really cute so I printed it out at home on some cardstock. Yesterday I grabbed a matted frame at Marshalls and added a few embellishments to fancy it up a little. Voila! I have it sitting on a table in my front hall and I'll be bringing it out every year.

I only got a few pics in Houston, but I thought I'd share. When I went to take my camera out on the first day my batteries were dead! I didn't get any pics from dinner the first night, or of my nice hotel room or anything.
The booth was pretty nice. I liked all the color and there were cupboards and things for storage that were very handy. Nothing like not knowing where to put your purse, right? I had my luggage on me the whole time so it was especially nice to have somewhere to put it.
No pictures of me either! I'll have to see if I can get the one from the other person that took pics :)

Look at all that fun stuff!

I recognize that wreath!

There were women at this super fancy quilt show checking out my quilt! How cool is that?

I did do a little shopping (which kind of defeats the purpose of working at the show, but that's okay. Some of it was for Christmas gifts. They'll be another project that I'll share as I finish them.

My jars...

2010-11-03T09:42:00.000-07:00

If you've looked at the pictures of my scraproom of facebook, you know I have a thing for rainbow order :) I thought I'd add a little extra color and labels to my rain drops jars (but I think you could label just about anything this way).

Supplies needed:

Glue Arts hot glue gun

Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive squares

Twinery twine in Lemondrop, Cappucino, Peapod and Caribbean

Scissors

Scalloped circle punch or die

1" circle punch

Small letter and circle stamps

Chalk inks in yellow, blue, green and brown

Paper scraps

Jars

Black ink

Instructions:

1. Attach a Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive square to the front of the jar.

2. Lay the end of the twine along the bottom of the square and start wrapping the twine around the jar. Keeping each line close to the last.

3. Wrap until the entire square is covered and trim end of twine.

4. Cut out scalloped circles with the die or punch, and punch out cardstock circles with the 1" punch. Ink the edges of all circles with the chalk ink.

5. Attach the cardstock circles to the scalloped circles using Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive squares.

6. Use the black ink to stamp a circle design onto each cardstock circle.

7. Use the chalk inks to stamp a letter or message onto the carstock circles, inside the black design.

8. Use the Glue Arts Hot Glue Gun to attach the labels to the jars

Thanks for stopping by! These are also up on the Glue Arts blog today, along with a few chances to win some great prizes. Be sure to go check it out!

My latest quilt!

2010-10-30T10:39:00.000-07:00

A friend sent me a blog link to this pattern and I immediately knew that I wanted to make it and that it would be great to use the Xyron fabric adhesive to hold those circles in place while I sewed them down. First, go check out this great blog with all the patterns and ideas!

I have got to make a cover for my camera strap and I think her tutorial will be great for that.
Now, check out my quilt....

This was much easier to make than I thought it might be. I was afraid that cutting everything out and matching up the pieces once I cut up the blocks would take forever, but I got the whole top done in a day. I love that it frays a little after you wash it too.

Just two more Halloween projects...

2010-10-28T16:19:00.000-07:00

I am so sorry for neglecting my blog this week! I have been very busy working on other projects and time just got away from me.

This first project was on the Glue Arts blog yesterday. I bought the kit for this frame at Tuesday Morning a long time ago. It was supposed to be a baby theme, but I thought it would be cute with Halloween pictures on it.

You could certainly make your own frame pieces from layers of chipboard or cardboard. I'd cut them into a headstone shape if I was making this from scratch :)

Halloween Stand up frame by Jessica Barnett

Supplies Needed:

Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro with Perma Tac refill

Glue Arts U-Cut-It foam adhesive

Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive squares

Glue Arts Ribbon Adhesive

Echo Park Happy Halloween collection

May Arts webbed weave ribbon

3 Photos

Frame kit (or mdf cut into tombstone shapes)

Black ink

Black pen

Paper trimmer

Edge distresser

Grey satin ribbon

Thin black ribbon

Staple gun

Hot glue gun

Ruffled ribbon

Spider themed embellishments

Black paint and brush

Sandpaper

Scissors

Instructions:

1. Paint the edges of the three shapes and allow to dry.

2. Cover the shapes in papers from the Echo Park Halloween collection using the Glue Glider Pro to attach them. Sand the edges for a clean fit after the papers are attached.

3. Attach ruffled ribbon around the edge of the Happy Halloween sticker with the glue gun, then attach the sticker to the center frame with Glue Arts U-Cut-It foam adhesive.

4. Distress the edges of the photos and mat with the Echo Park papers and the Glue Glider Pro. Add names to the photos with the Echo Park letter stickers. Ink the mats with black ink.

5. Run pieces of grey satin ribbon along the frame pieces, just below center. Attach the pieces with Glue Arts Ribbon adhesive. Use the small Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive squares to attach the May Arts web ribbon over the satin ribbon.

6. Attach the photos to the frame pieces using Glue Arts U-Cut-It foam adhesive.

7. Fill in around the photos and over the ribbon with strips of paper and stickers. Trace around the stickers with black pen to help them stick out against the paper.

8. Attach the frame pieces to each other by stapling short pieces of black ribbon the backs of each piece.

These were the treats that I made for my kids to give out to their friends in class. I made a total of about 75 of them so they needed to be cheap and easy. These definitely fit the bill. Especially with felt on sale for Halloween.

They're just little DumDum suckers. Square of felt, pipe cleaner at the neck, hot glue on some googly eyes and sharpie for the mouth. I printed the tags onto patterned paper, then cut, inked and added the name. That way each kids' suckers just said their names instead of all three of my boy's names. (Also, a big thanks to Kim because she actually did all the inking for me). The tags are also hot glued to the back of the ghost heads.
Tucker and my nephew were playing with them and making them fly around and talk to each other at school today, so I guess I did okay.

Hero Arts and Glue Arts projects!

2010-10-22T07:01:00.000-07:00

I am such a fan of acrylic stamps, and the ones that I got from Hero Arts were awesome. The images were perfect every time and they're so versatile.

First I made this layout. I am a project and layout kind of girl, they're my favorites! The picture is of a friend's daughter. I needed a girly subject for these stamps :) It's so easy to take a gorgeous, big stamp like this and make your own background paper with a little kraft cardstock. It's my first time machine sewing on a layout so I hope you like that too!

Love layout

Supplies Needed:

Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro

Glue Arts U-cut It foam adhesive

Glue Arts Raisen's

Glue Arts Adhesive Squares

Glue Arts Micro adhesive squares

Glue Arts Extreme adhesive squares

Hero Arts Delicate Blossoms stamps

5x7 photo

Kraft cardstock

Assorted embellishments and stickers

Sewing machine with white thread

Edge distresser

Purple and green watercolor pencils

2 patterned papers

Edge punch

Fine tip scissors

Black ink pad

File

1. Stamp the larger flower image along the bottom of the card stock in black ink. Vary the height of each stamp. Color the images with the colored pencils.

2. On a scrap piece of cardstock, stamp the smaller flower stamp five times in black ink. Color the images and cut out with the fine tip scissors.

3. Attach the cut out images to the background paper with U-Cut It adhesive. Vary the heights of the attached images and trim any excess off the bottom of the page.

4. Sew along the top and sides of the layout with the sewing machine and use different stitches.

5. Attach an inked piece of paper that is 7 3/4" by 4" to the right side of the layout with the Glue Glider Pro.

6. Trim another piece of accent paper to 5.5"x7.5" and use the edge punch along two sides. Ink and attach over the first piece of paper with the glue Glider Pro.

7. Distress the edges of the picture and attach of the other two pieces of paper with Raisen's.

8. Cluster the embellishments on the left side of the page. Lay the word stickers down first and fill in around them with the other embellishments. Layer flowers and attach with the Adhesive Squares. Attach heavier items with the Extreme Adhesive Squares. File the edges of items with a shiny finish before inking. Choose some items to attach with the U-Cut It foam to add dimension.

9. Ink around the edge of the background paper with black ink.

You know how I said that I'm a layout and project kind of girl? Cards are just not my forte. I don't know what it is about them but I'm very rarely happy with a card when I finish it. I was okay with this one. I really loved this pad of paper from Cosmo Cricket when I got it and I knew it was going to be perfect for cards.

Simple Hi card

Supplies needed:

Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro

Glue Arts Ribbon Adhesive

Glue Arts U-Cut It foam adhesive

Glue Arts Adhesive Squares

Hero Arts Bold Blossoms stamp set

Hero Arts Big Hugs stamp set

Card blank

paper scraps

Brown distress ink and sponge

Black ink

Cream ribbon

Paper trimmer

Scissors

Edge punch

1. Cut a piece of paper to fit the front of the card blank and ink and sponge the edges. Attach to card front with Glue Glider Pro.

2. Cut a strip of paper to 1.5" wide and ink and sponge. attach to front of card with Glue Glider Pro.

3. Cut a strip of paper to 1.5" wide and use the edge punch along both sides. Ink and sponge and attach to card with Glue Arts Ribbon adhesive.

4. Cut two pieces of cream ribbon and tie in a knot. Attach to card with Glue Arts ribbon adhesive and trim all ends.

5. Stamp the sentiment onto a piece of paper in black ink. Ink and sponge in brown ink.

6. Stamp two sizes of flowers onto paper with distress ink and cut out. Attach in a cluster using Glue Arts Adhesive Squares.

7. Attach sentiment over flower cluster using Glue Arts U-Cut It foam adhesive.

Using the distress ink to stamp the flowers on the patterned paper made it easier to actually see the paper through such a solid stamp.

Thanks for stopping by!

Felt for Halloween

2010-10-18T13:10:00.000-07:00

I had seen this idea shared from a couple of different blogs (neither of which is coming to mind right now). They used felt to make these fake blood drip table covers and I knew the kids would love them. Felt is such a great material to work with! It doesn't need to be finished because it doesn't fray, so it's prefect for people that are afraid of breaking out their sewing machine. It comes in a 72" width (wider than decorator fabrics) so it's great for table cloths. I'm actually hoping to get enough to make a table cloth for the whole length of our dining room table for next year. They put felt on sale a lot in the fall because it's great for making costumes. I paid about $2.50 a yard for this stuff and I love the way the covers turned out.

This table is in my entryway and it was the first one I tried making. I laid a piece of felt over the table and put in pins along the top edge so I wouldn't cut the drips up too far. I turned it onto the backside once the pins were in and drew the drips with a sharpie. Just cut along the lines and you're done!

This is the hutch in my dining room. Same basic steps as the other cover, but I didn't have to do any corners on this one because the sides fit along the inside of the opening.

Argyle Pumpkins!

2010-10-16T12:13:00.000-07:00

I had originally seen pumpkins like this at a local decor store. I really wanted to buy some, but the smallest ones were $12 each and I just couldn't swing that. I ended up buying some of the craft pumpkins (I chose the white ones because they're different and i liked them a lot). If the pumpkins are out of your budget, wait until after Halloween and keep and eye out for a good clearance sale. I am totally getting more for next year if I can find them at 75% off!

I used latex artist paints on them (they put the tubes on sale at Michael's all the time), but the black lines on the smaller ones I just drew on with a sharpie.
Now, these aren't prefect straight lines, but that's not what I was going for. I did a lot freehand. I started by measuring around the widest part of the pumpkin, then dividing that measurement up evenly. On the small pumpkins I made a mark every 1.5 inches, but on the large one I made the mark every 4 inches. Just do whatever you want whether you like the smaller diamonds or larger ones.
I didn't draw lines to fill in, I just made little dots and did everything else freehand with the brush and the marker.
These are very easy to make, and they fit into that category of decorations that I can leave out after Halloween because they're great for fall and aren't covered in bats and skeletons :)

Decorating on the Cheap: Halloween Candy!

2010-10-14T07:00:00.000-07:00

I really enjoy decorating for the seasons and holidays, but it can get expensive. For some parts of my decor every year and for every season, I use candy. It's cheap, easy to find, and pretty. There are hearts for Valentine's, hard and ribbon candies for Christmas and for Halloween..TONS of goodies!

(All of the containers I use in this post are things that I've had for years. Some of them you can still buy, but some you can't. I'll try to share where I got things when I can.)

This is the first thing I put together this year. I've had these out for a little while (so forgive the fact that they're looking a little low. Some of us can't resist the decorations :)

These are vases I bought years ago from Southern Living at Home. You could easily buy inexpensive bud vases at any craft or big box store, and candy corn (or Indian Corn, which is what they call this stuff with the brown on the bottom) is one of the cheapest and easiest things to buy this time of year.
I also bought these goodies...

The two bigger bags were 88 cents each. The caramel filled chocolate eyeballs were more expensive, but they were just too awesome to resist.
Here are some things I did with those eyeballs :)

This is a vase that I've had for a while, but I bought it for about $3 at Michael's and I'm pretty sure that you still can. I added some super cheap paper from the dollar spot at Target to it and a couple of Halloween embellishments. the skulls, mice and snakes? A buck a package at either the dollar store or the grocery store.

This is a mini ice bucket (again, I've had it for a while. Bought it at an antiques store). I just layered the stuff in there. They layering would be really cute in a great bog apothecary jar, but I don't have any of those. The crow is from Michael's.

This is just a cup that I bought years ago to drink my mudslides out of :) They're not cheap (about $6 each at Cost Plus) but I love the fact that it looks like a cauldron.

I dipped in to my stemware stash for these too:

I don't drink champagne that often, but these would be so cute at a place setting for a fall dinner. The little pumpkins are cute and cheap for a little scatter/confetti for a pretty table.

I also layered the pumpkins and candy corn in the ice bucket for a different look.

Just take away the Halloween accessories and this can stay out to decorate through Thanksgiving.

I also keep these candle holders out on my dining room table all year. Just switch out the candy and the ribbon for a different look for every season.

Those little acorns came in a bag at the dollar store.

Finally, a re-do of the first picture with the vases. This time with a different fall candy in each one. They were getting low anyway :)

I hope this helps if you are looking for some ideas for decorating for Halloween on the cheap!
My husband is going to be soooo glad that I finally got this post up. He's been trying to eat this candy for a week!

A few quick quilt pics!

2010-10-13T14:35:00.000-07:00

I said that I'd post the quilt once I finished the binding and took pictures, so here it is!

This is it, all finished. I think I like it, and I would really like to take an intermediate class and learn more about quilting. I need practice for sure, but I still think I'm missing something when it comes to getting my seams perfect. I want to be able to make blocks with triangles!

For the binding, I picked my favorite fabric of the bunch. It's a pretty funky, modern one and I love it. If I get to make other things for this room and need to buy something, this will probably be what I choose.

When I originally bought this fabric for the quilt, it was still full price. When it was time to buy the backing it was half off. Woohoo for that! I usually just use muslin, so this is a treat. My quilt is pretty on both sides :)

Tomorrow I'll be posting about a way to decorate for Halloween on the cheap! See you then!

Echo Park and Glue Arts Halloween Decor

2010-10-12T09:37:00.000-07:00

Echo Park sent the Glue Arts DT their Halloween line and I had a lot of fun working with it! I love Halloween papers and scrappy projects.
This broom took me a little while to make, but it involves paint drying and that's a big part of the time. Other than that it's fairly simple. I bought the broom at JoAnne's in case you're wondering. It's pretty cute and sparkly in person :)

Boo Broom by Jessica Barnett
Supplies Needed:
Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive Squares

Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro and Perma Tac refill

Glue Arts U-Cut It foam adhesive

Echo Park Happy Halloween collection

4-5 yards of 2” wide black ribbon

Broom

Wooden letters for BOO

Staple gun and staples

Buttons

Embroidery thread and needle

Black paint and brush

Black pen

Scissors

Craft knife

Sandpaper

Pencil
Instructions:

1. Use the black paint to paint the edges of the letters and allow to dry.

2. Trace the letters onto the wrong side of the papers with the pencil and cut out using the scissors and craft knife.

3. Attach papers to the letters using the Glue Glider Pro and Perma Tac refill. Sand the edges to get a smooth finish.

4. Add the sticker to the letter B and trace with a black pen. For the other letters, attach the stickers to scraps of paper, then cut out and attach to the letters using Glue Arts U-Cut It foam adhesive.

5. Tie the embroidery floss through the centers of all the buttons. Attach buttons to the letters using Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive Squares.

6. Fold one-yard pieces of the ribbon in half, and staple the center of the fold to the backs of the letters. Tie the ribbon into knots , then staple through the knots to the broom. Tie a second knot and trim the ribbon ends. Attach a button to each knot with Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive Squares.

7. Tie a bow around the broom bristles and trim the ends of the ribbon.

This treat basket is the easiest thing to make! I found the basket in the $2.50 section at Target. I like making things like this with my scraps and leftovers after I'm done with a bigger project.

Treat Basket by Jessica Barnett

Supplies Needed:

Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive Squares

Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro with Perma Tac refill

Echo Park Happy Halloween collection

Paper trimmer

Scissors

Spellbinders Nestabilities scalloped circle die

Black chalk ink

Ringed Basket

Ruler

Bone folder and scoring board

Hot Glue gun

Instructions:

1. Use the ruler to measure the height of the two rings on the basket. Cut two strips from two different patterned papers that are 12 inches long and are a little less tall than the measurement.

2. Ink the edges of the papers with the chalk ink, then attach them to the basket using the Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro and Perma Tac refill. Use small Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive squares on the ends for an extra secure hold.

3. Cut two strips from a third color of paper that are 12 by 1.5 inches. Score every half inch, and accordion fold. Ink the edges and creases with chalk ink. Trim the ends of the folds at an angle to get the points. Attach the ends to each other with the Glue Glider Pro and Perma Tac refill. Shape into a circle and attach to a scrap circle of paper using the hot glue gun.

4. Cut out a scalloped circle with the Nestabilities dies that is just larger than the Oct. 31 sticker and ink the edges. Attach the sticker to the center and use Glue Arts Extreme Adhesive Squares to attach to the piece made in step 3, then attach the piece to the front of the basket with the hot glue gun.

Skull and Crossbones

2010-10-09T13:40:00.000-07:00

My kids love the skulls! Love them on their clothes, we have a blanket that they fight over with skulls on it, they even have skulls on their shoes!
My older two got little aprons as gifts that have a skeleton all over them, but my youngest doesn't have anything to wear when he helps me bake. (And by "helps" you know I just mean that he eats whatever I'll let him touch).
I made this one with my Glue Glider Pro with the fabric refill, some felt and a little kids apron from Hobby Lobby. Total cost was under $4. I cut everything out free hand, but it shouldn't be hard to find something online that you like and trace that onto the felt. Or you could use a cookie cutter. Those are my go-to patterns for Christmas stuff especially.

Someone was being a ham for the camera :)

Pumpkins!

2010-10-06T11:21:00.000-07:00

Every year I get that Martha Stewart Halloween magazine and drool over all the projects. I have been loving the pumpkins that they carve using a bunch of different drill bits for as long as I can remember. I had some craft pumpkins, and when I got my vinyl for this month's Glue Arts Halloween project I thought that I'd use them together!
This is a great project that anyone can make because even if you don't have a die cutting system, you can still cut out circles for the pumpkins.

Glue Arts Car Accents pumpkins by Jessica Barnett

Supplies Needed:

Glue Arts Car Accents in Apple Cider and Blackout (Or choose other colors that you like. Purple, green, orange and black would be really cute too!)

Assorted craft pumpkins

Manual or electric die cutter or circle templates

Circle dies for manual cutter

Instructions:

1. Cut the vinyl into assorted circle sizes. I used my manual die cutter and a die that had four sizes of circles on it.

2. Stick the circles to the pumpkins and smooth out with your fingertips. If there are creases you can pull the vinyl back up a little and smooth it back out. TIPS: Use the larger circles near the center of the larger pumpkins and the smaller ones to fill in. The curve in the pumpkins at the ends will make it more difficult to get a smooth look on the larger circles.

Xyron+Fabric+Store Bought Purse=CUTE!

2010-10-05T15:52:00.000-07:00

To show off the Xyron Fabric Adhesive for the Creatopia, I decided to alter a simple purse that I found at Target a while back. You could buy and fabric purse (this one cost under $10) and choose from your own fabric scraps or use fat quarters to embellish it!
Pre-wash all fabrics before using.
Cut circles in different sizes out of the fabric(s) you choose using pinking shears.
Run the circles through the Creatopia with the Fabric refill.
Bunch the circles up as you place them on the purse to get a flower shape. You can readjust until they're just how you want them because this isn't a permanent adhesive.
Sew circles or lines through the center of your flowers to permanently attach them to the purse.
And sew button centers onto the flowers.

Thanks for looking!

Quick and easy treat project!

2010-10-01T15:29:00.000-07:00

I made this a year or two ago, but it didn't get used by the company I made it for. I still think it's cute :) If your child is having a Halloween party this would be a great treat to give to the kids!

I took a long, skinny strip of white paper and folded it in half. I pretty much freehand cut out the skull shape, leaving in long on the bottom so I could fold it under for a stand. Also drew the bones freehand on another piece of white cardstock. The eyes were punched out with a 1" circle punch and I backed them with black, glittered cardstock. I inked all the edges and inked on the nose shape and the lines for the teeth with a black chalk ink pad. The bottom for the stand can be stapled or glued together and so can the little bag of treats. Write a message on the back if you like!

See? Quick and easy! Have fun!

InStyle stamps and Glue Arts

2010-09-28T07:31:00.000-07:00

Last week my cards were posted on the Glue Arts blog, but I thought I'd share them here too for anyone that may have missed them.
Thanks for looking!

InStyle Stamps Cards by Jessica Barnett

Supplies Needed:

Glue Arts Glue Glider Pro with Perma Tac cartridge

Glue Arts Adhesive Squares

Glue Arts 3-d Adhesive Combo pack

Glue Arts Ribbon Adhesive strips

Intyle Stamps: Birdhouse and Framed Bird

White cardstock

Acrylic block

Patterned papers

Patterned paper die cut flowers

Buttons

Small bling squares

Paper flowers

Tag/label punch

Small letter stickers

Card sentiment embellishment

Edge punch

Black, blue and brown inks

Colored pencils

Paper trimmer

Scissors

Ric rac or other trim

Corner rounder

4 by 5.5 inch card blank

Embroidery floss and needle

Directions for Framed Bird card:

1. Stamp the Framed bird stamp onto white cardstock. Color the image with the colored pencils, shading near the edges of the trees and birds. Cute the stamp out with the scissors and set aside.

2. Trim a piece of patterned paper to 4 by 5.5 inches and attach to the front of the card using the Glue Glider Pro. Round the corners of the card and ink all edges with black ink. Trim another piece of paper to 3.5 by 5 inches and round corners. Ink the edges with black ink and attach to the card using the Glue Glider Pro.

3. Cut a strip of patterned paper that is 1.5 inches by 5.5 inches and use the edge punch to add a design to both sides of the strip. Ink the edges with black ink and attach to the card using the Glue Glider Pro. Trim a strip of ric rac and attach to the strip using Glue Arts ribbon adhesive.

4. Punch a tag or label from white cardstock and ink with blue and black inks. Spell out sentiment using small letter stickers.

5. Attach the Framed Bird stamp to the card using Glue Arts U Cut It foam adhesive. Attach the sentiment to the card using Raisen’s. Attach four paper flowers along the top of the card using Glue Arts Adhesive Squares. Put bling in the center of each flower.

Directions for Birdhouse card:

1. Stamp the Birdhouse image twice on white cardstock. Color the entire first image, but only color the bird on the second image. Cut out the first image into a square shape, and cut out the bird from the second image. Layer the second bird over the first and attach using Glue Arts U Cut It foam adhesive.

2. Trim a piece of cardstock to 4x5.5 inches and attach to card front using the Glue Arts Glue Glider pro. Ink the edges of the paper in blue ink.

3. Ink the edges of five assorted size die cut paper flowers with brown ink. Attach two to the front of the card (using the Glue Glider Pro) where they will be under the stamped image. Attach the stamped image to the front of the card using the Glue Glider Pro. Attach two more flowers to the card using Glue Arts Raisen’s. The final flower should be attached using Glue Arts U Cut It foam adhesive.

4. Tie knots in the button centers using embroidery floss. Attach the buttons to the flower centers using Glue Arts Adhesive Squares.

5. Attach metal sentiment near bottom of card.

Vintage Groove Jewelry by Making Memories

2010-09-25T14:12:00.000-07:00

So on Facebook yesterday I mentioned that I'd have a little something to say this weekend about the Vintage Groove jewelry line that's out now, so here goes...
Recently Making Memories posted something on Facebook asking for people that were near one of twenty cities they listed. One of those cities was Tempe, so I responded. That led to me setting up the Vintage Groove jewelry display at the Michael's store at Tempe Marketplace! The stuff is really cute and there's even an amazing idea book for people that like saying that they're not creative :) Here's what the set-up looks like

If you don't live in AZ, you can check out the Making Memories Vintage Groove website for other store locations

I got a few samples of the jewelry last week and got the chance to make some things and take pictures of them today.

I love all the little details on the charms. There's such an big assortment of things, from cameos and rhinestones to pearls and birds.

There are different metals too. For this necklace I mixed two chains and just added one pendant.

Be sure to check it out! The stuff is just amazing and they make it so easy to create your own jewelry that looks like it came from a boutique!

Basketball treats!

2010-09-24T18:36:00.000-07:00

My twins, Carter and Parker, played their first sport this year. They have been doing a little basketball camp over the summer for two years now, but this is the first time we've signed them up for a season as part of a team. I think they've really had a lot of fun and have learned a little about the sport. Their coach has been pretty awful and I feel bad for the kids that show up every week (when the coach doesn't). There has never been any organization and so every week when the kids on the other teams have had snacks and treats after their games, our kids kinda sigh and ask why they don't get anything. Well, this Saturday will be their last game, so I decided to go all out today and make something special for them since they've missed out on a lot of things the other teams had all season.
This is what I spent today doing...

I think they're cute (and I am bringing an actual snack and some juice box things for them too so I don't just load them up on sugar before I send them home :) My boys are very excited and won't stop asking me who they're for and when they can have them so I think I've done something right.
I'll be back with more crafty posts this weekend. I've had the craziest week!

Family wreath and instructions

2010-09-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

I made this wreath recently for Xyron and I have been asked to share the directions so here they are! I had to send this one in, but I might just need to make another one for my house :)

Family Wreath by Jessica Barnett

Supplies Needed:

Xyron Creatopia with Fabric adhesive refill and Permanent adhesive refill

6 or 7 assorted fat quarters in black, cream and beige

Scrap of fabric in cream pattern

Charm pack or assorted fabrics in approx 5” squares

Small wooden spools

Chipboard circles

Spool of gathered black ribbon

Scraps of coordinating patterned paper

Small (1/2 inch) white buttons

Large (1 inch) black and white buttons

Jute twine

Black and cream threads and needle

Sewing machine

Scraps of quilt batting

Metal “Family” sign

Scissors

Rotary cutter and mat

Black paint and brush

Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Circle templates

Pencil

Three black and white photos sized to fit the chipboard circles

Iron and ironing board

MDF wreath Form

Instructions:

1. Press all fabrics. Tear 2.5 inch wide vertical strips from the fat quarters with the long side of the fabric facing you. Tie the fabrics in knots on the wreath form alternating the knots on the inside and outside of the form.

2. Choose 10 of the squares from the charm pack and cut the largest possible circles from them. Sew the circles into yo-yos.

3. Choose four more fabrics from the charm pack and run them through the Creatopia with the Fabric cartridge. Fold the corners of the squares to the center and press to help hold the shape.

4. To make the flowered quilt squares, cut six, 5” squares from the cream patterned fabric and three, 4” squares from the quilt batting. Choose three fabrics from the charm pack and cut an irregular flower shape from each in a small, medium and large size. Run the flower shapes through the Creatopia with the Fabric cartridge. Layer the squares with a 5” square on bottom, then batting, another square and the three flowers from largest to smallest. Pin the squares and batting together to keep it from shifting while you sew. Sew through all layers around the edges of the flowers in black thread. Go around the square, ½” in from the edges in a cream thread. Fray the edges of the squares by pulling out threads on all sides. Use black thread to sew a large black button in the center of each flower.

5. For the photo circles, use a pencil to trace the circle shape onto the pictures. Cut out the pictures and run through the Creatopia with the Permanent Adhesive cartridge. Attach the pictures to the circles and trim any excess from the edges. Paint around the edges of the circles and pictures and allow to dry. Once dry, hot glue the ribbon to the back of the circle to add a little ruffle detail.

6. Cut strips from scraps of paper to fit the middle sections of the spools. Run the strips through the Creatopia with the Permanent Adhesive cartridge and attach to the spools.

7. To make the garland, string spools onto a piece of jute and tie scraps of fabric in knots between them. Hot glue jute-tied buttons over the fabric knots. Tie the garland to the wreath from.

8. Hot glue smaller white buttons to the metal word for the wreath.

9. Begin laying out the wreath by placing the larger items first, then layer and add the smaller items. Try to leave some space free so that the metal word will still be readable and won’t cover up too many of the wreath elements.

10. Hot glue the decorations to the wreath, including the metal word. Add some twine to help hold the wreath in place and cover it with buttons. Fill in any small blank spots with more buttons or spools.

Thanks for looking!!

A secret recipe

2010-09-17T12:21:00.000-07:00

Every time I make these cookie cups, I am asked for the recipe. I sent some into school yesterday for one of the twins' teacher's birthday and he comes home saying that she wants the recipe. That big secret recipe? A chub of cookie dough and canned frosting. Don't get me wrong, these things are delicious. When I was younger, every time I went to the mall I had to get one of these at The Cookie Company. These are great for a quick dessert to serve at a party because you can make a ton of them in no time. I won't tell if you choose to keep the recipe a secret :)

Cookie Cups
Chub of Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough (this time I used the smaller one and it made 24 cups)
Homemade or canned (whipped style) butter cream frosting
mini muffin pans
decorating tip and bag
spoon (or that little Pampered Chef wooden tool for smooshing the dough into the cups)
Non-Stick cooking spray
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray pans with non-stick cooking spray.
Break the dough into pieces and distribute evenly in the muffin pans.
Use tool to smoosh the balls of dough into each cup so that it takes the shape of the pan without gaps around the dough.
Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes. It may be more or less depending on whether you like your cookies soft and yummy or gross and crunchy, but 10 min is about right.
Allow to cool and remove from pans. (I will spin the cups as I take them out of the pans to try to keep them from breaking off into pieces.)
Use the decorating bag with tip to add a little bit of frosting to the middle of each cup. (Only the whipped style of canned frosting can be piped like this, so don't just buy the regular stuff).
Decorate with sprinkles if you like! Enjoy!

Qulting!

2010-09-15T09:34:00.000-07:00

This month I am taking my first quilt class! I have been making quilts for a while, but never quite knew what I was doing. My blocks were always different sizes and nothing ever matched up. Frustrating! I've wanted to take a class for a long time and this month I got to do it!
This is the pattern they're teaching this month. It's called Flower Power.

The only problem with this quilt is that those flowers just don't do it for me :) I'm making it to go in a guest room, but I still didn't want them on the quilt so I am leaving that row of flowers out (and saving myself a TON of work) and I just added another row of the blocks and a border instead. The colors I'm going to put in the guest room are a sort of baby blue and red.
Here's my quilt top so far!

And because the color is a little wonky in that one, here's a close up of part of it

Thanks for stopping by!

Fall colors layout and shadow box

2010-09-14T08:30:00.000-07:00

I know that there are a lot of people out there that love Fall as much as I do. When you live in AZ, Fall is exciting because it means that summer is finally coming to and end (and summer seems like it will never end). We still have 103-105 degree temps here for as long as I can see on the weather, but while I'm inside I like to pretend that it's actually nice outside. :)
These projects were made for Xyron.
I didn't start with a shadow box, I started with a (much easier to find) scrapbook frame and went from there. An inexpensive way to get the shadow box look.

Fall Shadow Box and Fall Colors Layout By Jessica Barnett

Supplies Needed:

Xyron 510 with Permanent Adhesive Cartridge
Xyron 150 with Permanent Adhesive Cartridge
Xyron Adhesive Runner and refill
12x12 Scrapbook Shadow Box Frame
5 – 12x12 Sheets of assorted fall patterned papers
1- 12x12 sheet Kraft cardstock
1 sheet 12x12 black cardstock
2 – 5x7 inch photos
Green, gold, orange and brown glitters
Green, yellow and brown glitter glue
Black ink
Scissors
Paper Trimmer
Felt letter stickers
Assorted fall –themed embellishments
Bone folder
Chipboard embellishments
Buttons
Foam adhesive dots
Ruler and black ink pen
Sand paper or nail file
Embroidery thread and needle

To Make Shadow Box:
1. To make the dividers, cut 4 strips of black paper into strips that are 2 inches wide and fit the length inside the frame. Score at ½ inch, 1 inch and 1 ½ inches. Fold the center score, the fold the two outside scores to make the dividers. Attach the middle of the divider to itself using the Xyron Adhesive Runner, and then attach the two flaps to the frame back using the runner. The first two strips should divide the frame into thirds in one direction. For the other lines, measure and cut the strips into smaller pieces that fit in between the solid strips that are already attached.
2. Cut 9 squares from the assorted patterned papers (measure the inside of the squares) then ink the edges and attach them inside the squares. These squares will cover the bottom flaps of the black paper.
3. Lay out your embellishments to fit inside the squares. Run the chipboard through the Xyron 510 and cover with glitter. Attach smaller embellishments using the Xyron Adhesive Runner. Tie knots through the holes in the buttons with the embroidery floss, and run the buttons through the Xyron 150 to attach them to the project. Attach some embellishments with adhesive foam dots.

To Make Layout:
1. Cut a 9” square from one of the patterned papers, ink the edge with black ink and attach it to the center of the kraft cardstock using the Xyron Adhesive runner.
2. Matte the two photos with black cardstock and one of the other patterned papers. Ink the edges and attach to the layout using the runner.
3. Add title with felt letters.
4. Glitter paper leaves using the Xyron 510. Attach to the layout using foam adhesive dots.
5. Fill in blank space with Fall stickers that have been sanded on the edges and inked.
6. Tie knots in buttons with embroidery floss and run through the Xyron 150 to attach them to the layout.
7. Use the pen and ruler to draw a thin line around the edge of the layout.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

2010-09-13T09:34:00.000-07:00

The random number generator was used to pick the winners from the blogs. The winner from my blog was...........

JEN!
Jen said...

I'm an AZ girl too!! So I completely appreciate the need to travel to snow. I prefer it that way. I lived in snow for several years so I like having to travel to snow. Love the layout... the light blue/gray flower used as a snowflake is brilliant!
And the BOO screen and bats... LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!
Thank you for sharing
SEPTEMBER 10, 2010 8:52 AM

Congrats to you Jen! It's so nice to hear from another AZ scrapper too! (Winners if you would please email us your mailing information at Gluegirl@gluearts.com. Please let us know which refill you would like! If you need refresher...please visit our Glue Arts website).
Now, I mentioned it in the last post, but if you'd like to see the instructions for the projects, just head on over to the Glue Arts website.
If you have any questions about my projects or need more details, just contact me by leaving a comment or sending me an email to jesslcooper at hotmail dot com.

Thank you again to everyone that came by for the blog hop! I really appreciated all the kind comments!

Blog Hopping for Glue Arts!!

2010-09-10T03:00:00.000-07:00

Woohoo!
So, things are changing up a little in Glue Arts land :) There are four brand new team members that we need to welcome. As you visit the blogs, you'll get to know them. You'll want to visit every blog in the hop because you have a chance to win at each stop just for commenting! And just what will you win?

A Glue Glider Pro and the refill of your choice!
This is one of my very favorite scrappy tools. The Perma Tac is my favorite cartridge, but I have been LOVING the new fabric refill too.
There are 12 chances to win a Glue Glider Pro and refill, and there's a bonus chance to win the GGP, a refill AND some of the new Extreme Adhesive Squares! How to you try for that bonus chance? Just email the names of the four new DT members to Gluegirl@gluearts.com for your chance to win! Be sure to comment and send in the email by Sunday for the chance to win. The announcement will be made on Monday.
I'd just like to share a few of my favorite GA DT projects. The instructions can be found over at GlueArts.com.
My most recent fave are these aprons that I whipped up and embellished using the fabric adhesive.

These were so fun to make (and the girls that I made them for loved them). A little secret? I made my boys model them for the pictures. They weren't as impressed :)
I really loved making this winter themed layout last year. I'm in AZ, so we had to travel to go see the snow. Those pics are so fun to scrap! And all the little buttons and bits that I stuck on here aren't going anywhere!

It's just about time for more projects like this! Halloween and fall are so fun to decorate for, and I loved the way this project came out. With the Wall Art adhesive I got to attach the little flying bats to the wall for the holiday, and they popped off the wall without leaving a mark when I was done!

Well, that's it for me! Next, go stop by Patti's Blog.
Happy Hopping everyone!

Valentine's Day projects from Glue Arts and me!

2010-02-07T18:13:00.000-08:00

Just in time for Valentine's Day I have a couple of quick and easy projects to make.
First, a card.

I don't usually like making cards. Don't know why, but I just don't feel like I'm great at it. I did like how this one came out. Pretty quick and easy to make too!
I also made a tag.

This was my favorite of the two. Great to add to a gift or a scrapbook page!
For instructions, just check out the Glue Arts website!

Glue Arts and Imaginisce!

2009-12-02T16:39:00.000-08:00

So, these peeps sent me an awesome box of goodies the week of Thanksgiving. I got a chance to play last week and these are the things I made!

These kiddos belong to the girl that did my nails. I thought they looked really cute with these Christmasy papers. Cut the circle after tracing it onto a paper. It was cut using scalloped scissors, but whatever I did, I held the scissors backwards. I still think it looks cool :)

A double layout of my Tucker in the snow.

Cut this box from a template (there are many out there that you can find for free online). Wrapped it in ribbon and placed a ribbon flower under a scalloped circle that I stamped with one of the Imaginisce stamps. In place of the stamp you could also write a name or initial and use them for place cards at a holiday dinner.

This card was made with a few different papers. Used the Glue Arts adhesive along the back of a strip of paper, pleated it as I attached it to the card. The sentiment is actually cut from a different piece of paper. You could make a ton of cards with these!

For this one I traced an ornament shape onto the papers and cut them out. I attached little ribbon loops using the Glue Arts adhesive to hold them in place.

These are ornaments I made. Cut out five scalloped circles in each paper, and used my Glue Glider Pro to attach them to each other (But I ran a length of ribbon through them before attaching the last two). Ran some beads onto the ribbon for a little detail and sparkle, then stamped onto two more circles and attached them back to back over the ribbon.

Hope you like these easy holiday projects!
Thank you to Glue Arts and Imaginisce for the fun stuff to play with!

Thank you for stopping by!

2009-09-03T19:10:00.000-07:00

This blog will cover my scrappy/crafty/making/selling parts of my life. Not as personal, but hopefully fun and full of eye candy. Sunny Side Up Deisgns is also my Etsy store and there will be a link available in the sidebar here.
Thanks for coming by and stop back by often!