More Cuppy Cakes!

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!

My second gel-a-tin stamps project!

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

Patriotic front door time!

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

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 :)  



I give up!

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

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!

Busy, but still here!

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!

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!

Birthday Treats

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!

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 :)

Treats for my little guys

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

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!

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!

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.

A Travel Journal

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!

Wintertime Fun!

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 sparkly Christmas trees!

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