... just Laura

altered christmas gift boxes: a my mind's eye project

back when i was guest designing for my mind's eye, in october, i was also asked if i wanted to contribute a project to their december "holiday hoopla" on their blog. of course i would! they sent me over the 12 days of christmas collection, and here's what i came up with for my project.

i'm really not a "project girl". meaning, i would much rather stick to layouts and cards. but one altered project that i have created a lot are these covered paper mache boxes. i picked up a few different sizes and shapes at the craft store and went about covering them up with fun patterned paper.

before i started, i picked out a few chipboard accents that would work nicely with each box. this long box was perfect for the "merry & bright" banner piece. once i picked those out, i was able to choose my papers to match.

i kind of want to roll up socks and put them in this long, narrow box. it's the first thing that came to mind. and it wouldn't be weird, since the girls usually get some warm, fuzzy socks every christmas.

before i adhered the papers, i painted all the edges of the boxes, with white acrylic paint. i knew the papers would cover the majority of the boxes and lids, but i didn't want to fully wrap them around all the edges. by simply painting the outside edges of all the pieces, it gives a very finished look.

don't ask me what i'll put in here. if i knew, that would mean that i would have actually done some of my christmas shopping already. which i really havn't.

i used mod podge to adhere the papers to the boxes and lids. one coat of mod podge to adhere the papers on, and another coat of mod podge directly over the papers to give it a nice shiny look. it also helps seal the papers on better, so they can stand up to more wear and tear, and not risk the papers starting to peel off.

i'm all about using decorative boxes and bags at christmas. or even birthdays. the less actual wrapping i have to do, the better :)

you can see my projects on the my mind's eye blog today. and they're also doing a giveaway on that post, where one lucky winner will receive the 12 days of christmas collection. so head over and leave a comment, for a chance to win!

my last-minute gifts: kerri bradford & lori whitlock blog party

It's day two of the "Last-Minute Gifts" Blog Party! You'll want to stop by kerri's blog, to grab your freebie shape for the day. Remember, it's only free for one day, and then it goes into a kit that can be purchased at the end of the week. You'll also want to stop by both kerri's blog and lori's blog, to find the details to be entered for a chance to win a $50 gift card. My projects went up today, so I thought I would share them here. And if you read all the way through, you might find a little giveaway here as well ;) 

I often make little cards, or envelopes, for giving out gift cards. I didn't set out to create this fun box, for holding a gift card. But it turned out, that the size I choose to cut my box in was quite a bit smaller than I realized, once I assembled the box. It turned out to be the perfect little size for a gift card.

I used Lori's box with bracket flap (SVG's on Lori's site. shape also located in Lori's Silhouette store), and cut it from some red tone-on-tone pattern paper. I used a few snowflakes from Kerri's This & That Winter: Shapes Only kit, and adhered them to the front of the box using glitter brads.

When I saw Lori's Photo Box (SVG's on Lori's site. shape also located in Lori's Silhouette store), I knew I wanted to create a few, for sharing photos with family over the holidays. I have family members that we only see a few times a year, and Christmas is always one of those times. 

I tend to save up photos of our family, and my girls, and hand them out when we see everyone. I think it'll be so much cooler to hand them out in such adorable little boxes. And the recipients can easily keep them in the box, until they're ready to find a home for them.

I embellished the front of the box, with a loopy frame from Kerri's Life Additions #1 kit, and some pretty flowers from her Modern Nature kit.

With several golfers in my family, golf balls are a very popular gift of choice around here at Christmas time. There are usually a few boxes under the Christmas tree, or tucked in stockings. Instead of leaving them in their original boxes, I thought it would be fun to create a more unique box to hold them in.

I cut the "Play Hard" title from Kerri's The Ol' Ballgame kit, to add to my boxes. I love the grungy look to it.

Love the amazing details, that cut perfectly on my Silhouette.

Lori's Bracket Closure Box (SVG's on Lori's site. Also located in Lori's Silhouette store) was the perfect shape for it. When I adjusted the size of the box to fit the width of the golf balls, the box ended up being just long enough to hold four golf balls.

And now for the giveaway part! Kerri and Lori have generously given me a $25 shopping spree to EITHER of their stores, to give away to one lucky blog reader. Just leave me a comment, telling me your favorite handmade gift that you love to make every year, for gift giving. I will announce a randomly drawn winner on Friday!

seasonal framed set: a kerri bradford studio project

I have another share for Kerri Bradford Studio today. As part of "Get Started Now" week on Kerri Bradford's blog, the design team has been sharing ideas on creating cards/gifts/decor for Christmas now before the real craziness of the season begins.

As I was trying to think of a framed project I could make for gift giving, I came across Kerri's In Transit #1, which is full of subway art. I really love the look of subway art, but had yet to try cutting any of these on my Silhouette.

After a few minutes of pondering the themes in the kit, I decided that I would make a set of framed pieces that could be used throughout the year. The beauty of my plan, was that even though I created 5 different themed pieces, I only needed one frame to use with all of them. I choose to do a Valentines Day piece, a St Patrick's Day piece, a spring piece, a summer piece, and a family piece.

I started by taking out a really nice, worn wood frame that I happen to have handy. My opening on the frame was 8x10, so I cut all of my subway art pieces at about 8.5" tall. The designs are wide enough, that you can cut two of each design at once, on one sheet of cardstock. I just copied and pasted the shape, so that I could cut two of each. That way, I can make two sets of these framed pieces for gift giving. I find it so much easier, to mass produce things right from the start, if you have any thoughts of making more than one of something. When all my shapes were cut, I adhered them each to a piece of white cardstock that was slightly larger than the subway art piece, and I distressed the edges of the cardstock.

I then picked out some basic pattern papers, with tone on tone prints, in coordinating colors. I added some machine stitching around the edges, and adhered my matted subway art piece to the pattern paper.

I took some scraps of white cardstock, and misted them with different colors of mists, that would coordinate with each piece. After they dried, I used my favorite scalloped edged border punch on the strips, and slipped them under the sides of the subway art. I then raided my stash of flowers and brads, and added a few to each piece. Really simple and really easy.

A family themed print.

A Valentines Day/Love themed print.

A St Patrick's Day print.

A spring print.

A summer print.

All this took was a few sheets of cardstock and pattern paper, some flowers and brads, a frame, and a little creative energy. And you have a great seasonal framed collection of pieces to give as a gift, where the recipient can change out the pieces throughout the year.

Don't forget about Kerri's "Get Started Now" sale, that ends tomorrow. You still have time to load up on great designs, so that you can start preparing and working ahead on all your cards, gifts, holiday decor, and scrapbook creations!

tiny notes gift jar - a kerri bradford studio project

Kerri Bradford Studio is having a Get Started Now sale this week, that you won't want to miss.

Discounts are shown in the store and indicated with a 'sale' tag. NOTE: Please make sure you do all your purchases through the Store. There is a Store link along the top menu and over to the right. You can also go into the store HERE.

Today, she's sharing a gift giving idea that I designed, on her BLOG.

I have this huge collection of jars that I have stored away, that I used to use in my scrapbook studio years ago. I love finding new ways to use these jars, for gift giving at birthdays and holidays. I was thinking ahead to Christmas, and trying to come up with some ideas for gifts that I could make.

I thought it would be cute to make some tiny little cards and fill up a jar with them.

I used the Fancy Long Envelope, from the Signed, Sealed, and Delivered kit, to create my envelopes from white textured cardstock. I made them pretty tiny, so they're only 4 inches tall, and about 2 inches wide. I also the Circle Insets, from this same kit, to add some interest to the fronts of the envelopes.

For the flower and vase, I used the shapes from the This & That: Lucky kit, and cut them from tan, green, and orange cardstock. After I adhered them to the front of each tiny envelope, I added a small staple at the neck of the vase, and an orange jewel to the flower.

I also trimmed small pieces of blue cardstock, to slip inside of each envelope. I thought these would be fun to write tiny, little messages on. Then they could be slipped into someone's lunch bag, purse, or desk, to find later.

I created 12 of these envelopes/cards, and slipped them into a jar (from target). I dropped some shredded kraft paper in the bottom of the jar, before adding them.

Then I embellished the jar with ribbon and a fun little tag hanging from a chain. It's a cute little gift that you can give to a friend or family member, and they will have tiny little notes on hand, that they can then share with their friends or family. 

Be sure to check out Kerri's blog, as the design team will be showing fun ideas all week long!

bella blvd + silhouette: an advent calendar

how many of you own a Silhouette? and how many of you have seen the NEW Limited Edition Advent Calendar?

The 2011 Silhouette limited edition advent calendar is the best way to use your Silhouette to count down to Christmas. The calendar is a 15" wood shadowbox which includes a special download card redeemable for 25 boxes and drawers from the Silhouette Online Store. Each box and drawer template is downloaded automatically into My Library and is pre-sized and labeled for each compartment of your shadowbox advent calendar. Fill each box or drawer with a holiday message or a little treat and enjoy the holiday season.

i was lucky enough to get to work with one of these, for bella blvd. and today, i've posted all about it on the bella blog. here's just a few peeks of what i made. 

you can see the full project, along with lots more images, and hear all about how i went about putting this together. RIGHT HERE. and at the end of the bella post, there's a special offer from silhouette, for a discount on purchasing one of these great Limited Edition Advent Calendar for yourself. find all the details in that post.

also, check out the silhouette blog for links to other participates in this promotional event, and to see lots of other manufacturer's takes on the advent calendar concept!

halloween class treats - my mind's eye guest designer

i have a really quick and simple project up on the my mind's eye blog today. just a few ideas for creating fun little treats for a halloween class party at school.

you can read all about them, find more photos, and hear why i created such simple treats RIGHT HERE.

bella blvd sneak peeks: too cute to spook

it's day three of the collection reveals on the bella blvd blog.

 

a fun halloween collection! now, i'm the first to admit, that i'm not a big halloween scrapper. this might be because my girls are never dressed up in typical halloween colored costumes, which means my photos don't necessarily match the fun halloween collections. BUT. i do enjoy making halloween projects and cards. and for me to enjoy and love a halloween collection, it has to be fun and bright, with colors that really "pop". and "too cute to spook" is just that. 

 

there was this one year, that sarah actually did wear a witch costume, in typical halloween colors. thank you, sarah!  because i really wanted to use that little witch chipboard piece :)

 

 i love the mix of purple, orange, green, and black for halloween. that black cloud chipboard piece is so simple, and yet it was one of my favorite chipboard pieces.

 

or maybe the polka dot chipboard border was my favorite piece. i love the funky scalloped border, and it was the exact height of my photo.

 

small secret. i messed up on my hand written journaling. the very last word that i wrote. the journaling block was already stitched down, and i didn't want to have to take it apart. so i re-wrote some of the words on another paper, cut them out, and pop dotted them over the original words. looks like it was planned, right ;)

 

i love all the little word and phrase stickers. i'm embarrased to admit, how long i actually spend picking out the right mix for my projects, in the right colors. lol!

 

i couldn't resist using this boo-tiful monster girl cut out. too stinkin cute.

 

normally, i would have pop dotted the cut out piece. but i knew i wanted to pop dot the little thought bubble, so i just adhered the monster girl directly to the card front.

 

i was stressing over what my project was going to be for the halloween collection. i'm not always the best at coming up with ideas. we were out to dinner, for joe's birthday over the weekend, and i made everyone stop at michaels. i left them in the car, and told them to give me 3 minutes. honestly, i do believe i was in and out of the store in about that time, with this metal bucket in my bag. ran in, did a quick scan of the sections that i usually go to for project ideas, and found the bucket.

 

i love how this turned out. in fact, i'm going to have to go back to michaels and get another bucket. because i need one of these for halloween. i cut one inch strips of a bunch of my favorite papers, and machine stitched around the edges of each one. to adhered them around the bucket, i simply used glue dots. the ribbons tied around the handle are all just random, older ribbons that i had in my stash. i just looked for ribbons in orange, purple, aqua, and black.

 

i cut a few of the cute  monsters and bats out of the pattern paper, and adhered them around the bucket using pop dots. i finished it off with some of the phrase and word stickers.

head on over to the bella blvd blog, to see the entire collection, piece by piece. and don't forget to comment on the bella blvd blog, to be entered in a giveaway for this entire collection. 

the letter "Z": a little yellow bicycle project

i have a cute little project up on the little yellow bicycle blog, as part of my may guest designer spotlight. i know, today is the first day of june. but it's for may, i promise ;)

 

i used the adorable baby saurus collection to create this "Z" monogram for little zachary's room. you can read all about how i created this, along with the next batch of my Q&A session HERE.

end of school year gifts - bravissimo projects

this is my second post of the day. wanted to sneek this one in, in case tomorrow is the end of your school year and you need a gift idea. scroll down for my layout share from this morning.

it's that time of year. the end of the school year. time for teacher gifts and graduation gifts. i managed to sneak one of each in this week, just in time to hand them out.

 

most of us have family members or friends that are graduating from junior high school, high school, or college. i think one of the most given gifts for graduates is good old fashioned cash. it's usually my gift of choice. and while opening up a card to find a $20 bill or a $50 bill is pretty cool, i wanted to come up with a more unique way of giving the gift of money.

 

so i picked out a few pieces from the bravissimo collection, by making memories. you can find these at your local michaels store now. i picked out a small rosette, a medium streamer, and a medium sentiment. i choose the silver and white sentiment first, and then matched the streamer colors. then i picked out a rosette to compliment them both.

 

these pieces are so easy and simple to assemble. they come with glue dots or foam dots, depending which piece you're buying. it even tells you, "place sentiment here", "place rosette here". you can't mess up. i adhered the sentiment to the rosette, and then rosette to the streamer. 

 

then i glue dotted the ribbon to a glass jar. this is just like the jar i used for my oreo cookie jar, last week, except it's taller. they were both from target. then i filled up the jar with money.

 

instead of giving a $50 bill, i asked for all one dollar bills. i loosely rolled each one, and placed it in the jar. i just thought it was a fun and different way, to give the gift of money. i have a certain neice, who is graduating from high school tomorrow. i think she'll like this ;)

 

next up, is a fun teacher gift. i started this one, by choosing the sentiment. the "A+ Teacher" sentiment came in a 4 pack. you get 3 sentiments, and one metal piece. the teacher sentiment had a touch of green around the outside. so i choose this fun green ribbon. this ribbon was all assembled, and i just had to add the sentiment to it.

 

i had bought a few boxes of pencils. i knew i wanted to bunch them up, or put them around something. i went in search for a container and found this. it's from a wall vinyl piece that i had gotten in the mail. i took the vinyl piece out, to find a spot for on my wall. the container is made from a thick chipboard type of material. once i took the lid off, it was the perfect height for the pencils. 

 

i used a hot glue gun to adhere the pencils around the container. it took me about 5 minutes, and 36 pencils, to cover the container in pencils. then i hot glued the ribbon to the front. the inside of the container is empty. so you just have to come up with something to fill it with. i figured it would make a cute pencil cup. and i still had a box of pencils left. so i stuck all the remaining pencils inside. you could also stick candy inside, extra school goodies, or even flowers. some daisies would be cute. not in water of course, but just for presentation.

 

i think you really have to see these in person, to appreciate how nice they are. i'm super impressed with the quality of the ribbons. each one has lots of layers to them. fun papers, chipboard pieces, and really cute ribbons. and they're durable and strong.

 

in fact, i was actually trying to bend this ribbon a little bit. i wanted to see it curve a little more around my pencil covered container. but it's made with such quality, that it won't budge. which is a good thing, in my book.

for more fun ideas, check out the bravissimo blog. it's called a daily dose of happy. how fun is that! and if you're on facebook, make sure and become a fan of the bravissimo facebook page, to keep up with ideas, news, and giveaways. speaking of giveaways, i saw that maggie holmes is hosting one on her blog today, for a chance at some bravissimo goodies ;)

a fun award for my girl

a certain 14 year old in this house picked up some awards at school this week. if you guessed alyssa, you'd be right. partly, because she's the only 14 year old in the house. lol! the high school band had a concert on monday evening, and afterwards they had an awards ceremony. they handed out the participation awards, and then moved on to a few special ones. she picked up one of the two "director's awards" for the freshman band members.

then, on wednesday evening, they had the academic awards at the school. she snagged three awards. a honor certificate, for a GPA of 3.0 and higher for the year. a honor pin, for a GPA of 4.0 or higher (her's was higher ;)) for the year. and a baby buff scholar award (their school mascot is the buffalo) for freshman earning a GPA of 3.5 or higher for the year. we could not be more proud of her, and how well she has done in high school.

 

i think maybe a certain someone deserves a little something from her family. something fun, to let her know we think she's pretty cool. and do you know what she thinks is pretty cool? oreo cookies! she's not big on candy or junk food. but she is all about the cookies. it's an easy way to make her smile.

 

have you seen the new bravissimo collection by making memories? it's a fun reward and recognition collection, that can be personalized to fit your occasion. they are perfect for all the big occasions, like birthdays, graduations, and weddings. but they're also perfect for all the little occasions in between. just like giving alyssa her own little award from us, in recognition for all the awards she got at school this week.

the bravissimo collection can be found in michaels stores. they come in a variety of styles and sizes. you can pick out all your own pieces, and assemble them from start to finish. you can find semi-finished ones, that you just add your sentiments too. you can find finished ones, that are ready to go right out of the package. there are extra add-on pieces to really personalize the awards. there are even wands, medals, and shadow boxes. so much to choose from.

 

the semi-finished bravissimos can be customized with the perfect sentiment to fit your occasion. i chose this red and white semi-finished piece. there are 4 pack sentiment sets, that have 3 sentiments and one metal piece to adhere it too. i chose this fun "you are awesome" sentiment. all the pieces come with little adhesive dots as well. so it really is super simple to assemble these. i added my sentiment to the metal piece, and adhered that to my bravissimo piece. and i was done. 

 

i found an empty jar, and filled it with almost an entire package of oreos. i added my bravissimo ribbon to the front of the jar, and used some coordinating ribbons to decorate the lid of the jar. super simple. but sometimes, simple is all it takes to let someone special know how proud you are of them. i wanted to get a photo of her with her fun little jar of oreos. but the poor thing is so sick right now with allergies. so i'll have to snap a photo of her later.

for more fun ideas, check out the bravissimo blog. it's called a daily dose of happy. how fun is that! and if you're on facebook, make sure and become a fan of the bravissimo facebook page, to keep up with ideas, news, and giveaways.

a mother's day gift idea - a bella blvd project

 

it's mom's week over on the bella blvd blog. lots of inspiration planned, just in time for mother's day. which is this coming sunday, by the way. i'm hoping that i'm not the only one that didn't realize this. lol!

 

yesterday, one of my gift ideas was featured. you can read more about what's inside this jar, and just how simple it is to make one of your own, right HERE.

 

bella blvd also announced a fun contest for mom's. here's all the info:

spring canvas set - a making memories project

a few months ago, i created this fun project for making memories, using their new dilly dally spring collection.

 

i knew i wanted to create a canvas project of some sort. when i went shopping at michaels, i intended to get a 12x12 canvas to work with. i'm more of a square person, and can't really get into the rectangle shapes, such as the 8x10 size. anyways. i came across this set of three canvases, by artist's loft, with each piece being 4x12. i loved the idea of it. creating three seperate canvas pieces, but having them all hang together, to still give the look of one complete project. 

 

i started out by painting each canvas with some light yellow acrylic paint. not super light yellow, but not super bright either. yellow can be a hard color for me, but i happen to have a few decent ones in my stash. i knew i was covering the fronts with pattern paper. so i just painted the edges on top, and then all four sides of each canvas. i then choose my pattern papers, and trimmed each to fit the front of the canvas, leaving some of the painted edges to show. i sewed a zigzag stitch with my sewing machine along the edges of each paper, and inked the edges with brown ink. i then adhered them to my canvases. i used glue dots, and they held just fine.

 

these fun rhinestone "spring" stickers come in the cute banner kit. i wasn't using the other banner pieces, but decided to use the rhinestone stickers. i pulled some basic white tags from my stash, inked the edges with some brown ink, and cut the bottoms of each tag at an angle. i took my floral fabric piece (also from the banner kit i believe), and ripped it down the middle. i love the frayed edges on here. i tied small pieces to the top of each tag, and then adhered them to the first canvas in the set, adding the "spring" letters on top of the tags.

 

i wanted the butterflies to appear as if they were flying off the canvas. i'm not sure i totally captured that feeling, but i tried. lol! these cute die cut butterflies come in all different shapes and colors. i folded each one in the center, and then bent out the wings a bit. i used mini pop dots behind each wing, to lift them up off the canvas.

to see a short video, that shows part of the making of this project, visit making memories. there's a "video inspiration" section on the right side. you can also watch it HERE on youtube, where you can find all their videos.

some jillibean soup projects

i have a few projects that have been up on the jillibean soup blog recently, and thought i would share them all at once. i keep trying to come back here, and post about my layout, and have just been too busy and distracted to finish typing it up. so making this a quick and simple share, so at least they get shown :)

 

i admit, i'm not actually a huge fan of kraft cardstock or pattern paper. i feel bad saying that. lol! but i was drawn to this floral kraft paper, and had to use it. i think mixing it with other bright and fun colored papers helped.

 

 

 

the girls gave me this frame for christmas, and it was sitting up a shelf unused. decided to just make something simple to put inside.

 

 

been working on getting all my tax information together, for my appt tomorrow. joe and i have 3 small business's between us, so it's a lot of tedious paperwork. so glad to almost be done with it all. wish me luck, because i think i'm going to need it.

altered "love" box: a making memories project

i have a project up on the making memories blog today. a valentine's project. which just made me realize it's only a week until valentine's day. 

 

i used the new jet' adore collection to alter this paper mache box. i thought it would be a fun little box, that you could tuck little candies, lovenotes, or trinkets into. or you could even use it to store valentines cards from over the years. you can find these paper mache boxes at any craft store. don't quote me on this, but i'm 83% sure this box was about 8 inches x 8 inches, and about 3 inches tall.

 

i started out by painting all the edges and corners of the box and lid, with white acrylic paint. i cut all my paper pieces to size, to fit the sides of the box, the sides of the lid, and the top of the lid. i inked all the edges of the papers, and then decoupaged them onto the box. after they dried, i brushed on an additional coat of mod podge over the papers. this helps secure them even more to the box, helps them hold up to the wear and tear of being an altered project that people like to touch, and gives the papers a nice shiny look to them. you can watch a little video on the making memories blog, that shows you the basics of decoupaging the paper onto the box.

 

then i added some fun embellishments to the lid of the box. i love the little ticket stubs. i picked out four of them, and stapled them together in a row, adhering them to the lid with pop dots. that sheer polka dot ribbon is so cute, and i tied it all the way around the lid. the heart frame is made of a ceramic sort of material, and i adhered it with mini pop dots. then i simply added a heart die cut in the center, and the gold glittered "LOVE" to the die cut. and it's all ready to give to that special someone.

framed flower art tutorial

i created these framed flower art projects about 6 months ago for a tutorial on little light studio. it never quite made it up onto the site, before kayla aimee delivered her precious baby girl at just 26 weeks. she's been devoting her every second to helping her daughter fight for her life. it's an amazing story to follow, and things are looking so good for them right now. 

i figured i would go ahead and share my little tutorial here on my blog.

 

i have had these framed pieces in the girls bathroom for years. eight years, to be exact. it was time for a change. they're cute. but the colors have gotten brighter and funner in their bathroom, as they have gotten older. and i wanted something to match that. the frames are good, solid, wood frames. there are four frames in the set, and they are about 11 inches x 11 inches in size.

 

i picked out some pattern papers that match the colors in the girls bathroom. the colors here look a little light. they're actually nice, bright shades of turquoise, orange, pink, and green. i choose pretty basic patterns, that wouldn't stand out all that much. i also dug out these older chipboard flowers from fancy pants. they're large flowers, that were a perfect fit for the inside part of each frame.  

 

if you have a regular frame, you would simply open up the backing, and take out the matboard that comes in the frame. these were prints that i had purchased at a store years ago, so they had a paper backing on the frames. i sliced into the paper, and peeled it all off from the edges of the frame. then i got to the staples that hold the matboard in place. i did my best to lift them up carefully, so that i would be able to use them to hold my finished project in place when i was done.

 

i cut a piece of white cardstock, to fit the center part of my matboard. then i cut my pattern paper to fit the outside part of the matboard. to cut out the center piece of the pattern paper, i just measure how far from the edges i need to cut. so on this, my pattern paper was 10x10 inches. and i needed to go in two inches from each side. so i cut out an 8x8 piece of the pattern paper from the center. then i adhered both the pattern paper and the cardstock to the matboard. measure, trim, and glue for the other three frames :)

 

next, i picked out four different acrylic paints. one to match each of the patterned papers. i used a foam brush to paint the chipboard flowers. i didn't spend too much time on this. didn't even paint the edges of the flower petals. two coats of paint gave good coverage.

 

next up, i choose four colors of embroidery floss, to match the chipboard flowers. one shade lighter or darker than your paint works best.

 

not sure why i keep showing three of the sets. there are four total. lol!

 

then i simply wrapped the floss around the flower petals, over and over. no need to overthink it, or make it too perfect. just randomly wrap, back and forth, along each petal. until it looks good to your eye. then move on to the next petal. when i was finished, i just taped the end of the floss to the back of the flower. looking back at this pink flower, i should have wrapped it around that center part as well. same with the turquoise flower. oh well.

 

here's the orange flower.

 

i think the green flower was my favorite.

 

after i had wrapped each of the flowers with the floss, i adhered them to the coordinating matboard. i used 3-D squishy pop dots to stick them down, since they're super strong, and sort of mold over all the string to give good coverage.

 

then i cleaned the glass on each frame, added the matboard, and secured them with the staples in the back of the frame.

 

the girls bathroom is terrible for taking photos. and small. i tried, but i just couldn't get a good photo of these in the bathroom. but trust me, they're super cute in there. i hung them just like you see here. two on top, and two on the bottom. but i spaced them all about an inch apart.

this was a pretty effortless and fun project. i love when i can re-purpose things around my house, and give them new life.

photo holders: a making memories project

i had some other layouts to share, and started to type one up for you. but then i had this nagging feeling that i should only be showing christmas projects. lol! so, i came up with this one. i think i showed a quick photo of this project i created for making memories, back in july. in the summer. because that's when we all think about christmas, right? lol! figured i would re-show it, now that we're actually IN the christmas holiday.

 

i used the new making memories noel colletion to make these photo holders. i have made these before, for valentine's day. these are wooden blocks, with the curled wires already in them, all set for holding photos. i found them at michaels, for about $1.50 each.

 

i started out by painting the unfinished wood block, with brown paint. then i cut some pattern papers to size, for the front, back, and sides of the blocks. i used mod podge, to decopauge them onto the blocks. after that had dried, i added another layer of mod podge over the papers, to give the entire block a nice, shiny finish.

 

then i simply added a few embellishments to the fronts of the blocks. on two of them, i used a noel rosette. that was as easy as peeling and sticking. and they have a ton of dimension, with all the layers to them. on the third one, i layered together a few paper flowers, a glitter foam pointsetta sticker, and a snowflake brad.

 

then all you need to do is print out a few smaller photos, and stick them in the metal spiral clips up top. then set out to enjoy, with the rest of your christmas home decor :)

christmas frames: a making memories project

my christmas tree is not only up, but it's decorated as well. i have a few decorations sprinkled around the house, and a wreath hanging on my front door. it's starting to feel a little bit like christmas. so, how about a christmas project share. i created these for making memories, last summer, when the new christmas collection was announced. 

 

i used the noel collection for this set of wood frames. i found these frames at joanns, and thought they were so cute. they are unfinished wood, and about 4 inches by 4 inches in size. the backing does open, but there is no glass or front piece to them. so i loved that they were sort of like shadow boxes.

 

i started by painting them with a sage green acrylic paint. then i choose my pattern papers. i used a solid piece in the back of the frame. and for the front, i used a pattern paper, which i cut to fit around the frame. i adhered these to the frames with mod podge, and then painted another layer on top to give the frames a nice, shiny look to them.

 

for the centers of two of the frames, i simply added some paper flowers. i adhered the green flower to the back of the frame using a pop dot. then i adhered the music flower on top of the green flower, using a few layers of pop dots, all stacked up. since these are shadow box style frames, i had plenty of room to "pop" out the flower. i finished them off with a threaded button.

 

i wanted to add a word to one of the frames. i went with "noel", since it was a short word, and would fit nicely in the frame. these are chipboard alphas, and i used mini pop dots to adhere them to the backing of the frame. i'm almost positive i used 2 layers of the pop dots.

such a simple and easy project. i really need to head back to joann's, and pick up some more of these wooden frames. they'd be cute for any holiday.

a fun pebbles card + project + giveaway

i have a fun little project up on the pebbles blog today. today is all about felt.

 

i designed this card around these cute felt flower embellishments, from the new arrival girl collection. i love premade embellishments, because you can take them right out of the package and stick them on your project. easy peasy. but they are also fun to alter, and add a little something extra to them, to make them more unique. these felt flowers are so thick, with 3 layers of felt, secured together with a tiny threaded button. cute as can be.

 

but i wanted to make them into larger flowers. all i needed was two 12 inch pieces of brown dot ribbon, a scrap piece of felt, and a needle with thread. i hand stitched a running stitch along the bottom length of the ribbon. once i got to the end, i pushed the ribbon down the thread, so that it bunched up, and tied off the thread. then i glued the gathered up ribbon, into a circle, on a small piece of scrap felt. i adhered the felt flower embellishment right in the center of the ribbon.

 

what i thought made this a fun card, is that it's like getting a gift right on the card. i turned the ribbon and felt flowers, into hairclips. perfect for a little girl. i simply adhered the flowers to a metal hairclip, using a glue gun. on the card, i adhered those bottom two pieces of tan grid pattern paper, using pop dots. so it gave them a raised effect. to add the hairclips to the card, all i had to do was clip them onto the pattern paper. no extra adhesive needed. they just slip on and off of the card. cute, right :)

and make your way over to the pebbles blog, to see a few more projects from the design team. they are also doing a fun giveaway on their blog. leave a comment over there, and you'll have a chance to win all of the new felt embellishments.

nice job - a creating keepsakes accent

i have a project to share with you today, from the 101+ creative ways to use your scrapbook supplies idea book.

 

as seen in the 101+ Creative Ways to Use Your Scrapbook Supplies special issue of Creating Keepsakes magazine. copyright creative crafts group. posted with prior permission from the publisher.

i created this accent piece to demonstrate the use of debossing on our projects. debossing is the opposite of embossing, which is raising up an image or element. so when you deboss, you're actually pressing the image or element down. i used the chip art tool by melody ross, for GCD studios, for my debossing.

 

i started by painting my 4 inch chipboard coaster with turquoise paint, giving it a good two coats and then letting it dry. then i choose a orange and white dot pattern paper, and tore off teeny tiny pieces. I lightly spritzed the painted chipboard piece with water, to soften up the chipboard some. then i placed a torn piece of pattern paper down, put the die over it, and hammered it down about 4-5 each. this embedded the paper into the chipboard.

the water helped to hold the paper in place, and then i just gently tore off the excess paper that wasn't embedded down. it was really simple to do, and the paper tore off so easily, leaving behind the parts inside the chipboard. to make sure the paper didn't go anywhere, once it was dry, i brushed a layer of mod podge over the entire chipboard piece. it also gave the accent a finished and glossy look.

 

then i just added a few embellishments to finish off the accent. the "nice job" accent was feature in the special issue, along with step-by-step instructions. the "best friends" accent was my original design for the assignment. but they had too many flower accents already lined up, so i created another version with the stars.

 

supplies: chipboard coasters by bazzill basics, pattern paper by making memories, chipboard stars by american crafts, felt flowers by american crafts, ribbon by lil davis and making memories, brads by making memories, tags by making memories, scalloped punch by stampin up, chip art tool by GCD studios, paint by making memories

making memories slice fabrique (part 3)

how about i share the last of my slice fabrique projects with you today? i think this next one was my favorite out of all my projects. 

 

it's an art box, and i think it's just adorable! when i saw the little monster girl on one of the four new slice fabrique design cards, i just knew i had to use it on something.

 

i kept telling wendy that i was so jealous that she was working with baby clothes for the majority of her projects. they could all be sewn onto. meanwhile, i had frames, wooden boxes, and hair accesories to make. most of which could not be sewn directly onto, so i had to do some creative thinking too. i was also painting, decopauging, and using papers and ribbons. so it was sort of a mix of fabric and scrapbooking.

 

but this art box was fun to make. how could this adorable monster girl NOT be fun to work with ;) she was created with seven different cuts on the slice, and then all pieced together.

 

i also sliced the letters for "ART", and hand stitched them all before adhering them down.

 

and last, but not least, another favorite. a vase of flowers. i choose one of the flower designs, and cut that design from about 12 different fabrics. numerous times. i believe i ended up using 24 flowers total, for these 3 flowers.

 

each of the flowers had 8 seperate fabric flowers, all put together. each flower was machine stitched, thanks to my mom. i fused two flowers back to back for the center part of the flower. then i bunched up 3 flowers and stitched them together, adding a button to the centers. to put them together, i hot glued the center, and 2 bunches of flowers all together. the stems were made by twisting a pipe cleaner around a small wooden stick.  

 

and with that, i was done. 4 days later, and hours and hours of crafting. when i got that email with final approval of all my projects, and those magic words "love them. send them in", i just about screamed with excitement. lol! everything got boxed up, and sent off to the making memories office to be photographed. and then they traveled to the international quilt market, in texas, where they have spent the weekend in the making memories booth. i can't wait until they get back from the show, so we can see some photos of the booth and how all these rooms looked put together. don't forget to check out wendy's blog today, to see a few more of her projects :)

making memories slice fabrique (part 2)

i have some more projects to share that i created with the new slice fabrique, by making memories. if you're wondering what i'm talking about, check out yesterday's post. here are some more additions to the "little girl's room" section of the booth.

 

a fun headband. i've admired so many of the cute headbands, with fabric flowers on them. so here's my take on the style, complete with layered sliced flowers.

 

i covered the headband with pink ribbon, and added the flowers off to the side. i handstitched all nine flowers, and then layered them in groups of three with buttons stitched in the centers.

 

a little bumble bee hairclip. i think this bee is the cutest little thing.

 

i made him puffy too. i cut the four parts of the butterfly with my slice fabrique, and then fused them onto a piece of white fabric. then i trimmed it down, and cut another piece of white fabric to the same shape. i handstitched the two pieces together, adding a little stuffing inside each section as i went along.

 

it might be hard to tell what this one is. lol! i really wish one of the girls had been home when i made this, so that they could have modeled it for me. it's a ponytail holder. i was thinking about the ribbon ponytail holders that you see on the soccer field all the time, and thought it would be fun with the fabric.

 

i tore TONS of strips of the fabric, and tied each one onto a regular black ponytail holder. then i cut some butterflies with the slice fabrique, and hand stitched around each one. i added a button to the center of each little butterfly, and stitched them randomly onto the ends of some of the fabric strips.

 

and this one is pretty simple. just a quick and easy bracelet. i used this same green and pink ribbon throughout all my projects.

be sure to check out wendy's blog, for her second round of projects. and keep your eye out on the making memories site for more information on the slice fabrique. more projects to come tomorrow :)

making memories slice fabrique

guess where making memories is this weekend? they are at the international quilt market in houston, texas. they are there to introduce their brand new slice machine that is specifically designed for cutting fabric. the new slice fabrique, and the new slice fabrique design cards, were designed with the fabric appliqué quilters in mind. want to see this new machine? here's a photo, courtesy of making memories. 

 

the first thing i have to tell you, is that i don't sew. i don't stitch. i don't even iron. i actually do own a sewing machine, that i bought years ago, so that i could machine stitch on my layouts. never learned to use it. i LOVE the look of machine stitching. and i do LOVE fabric projects. i have done all of 2 fabric projects in the past, which were for the slice infomercial last year. but i didn't stitch on those.

so when i got asked to work on this assignment with the slice fabrique, i was a little worried as to whether i could actually pull it off. but i'm always up for any challenge that comes my way, and of course, i said "yes". i was excited to learn something new and push myself to try new things. and that's exactly what i did. for hours and hours on end. lol!

i give some major props to anyone that works with fabric. or makes quilts. or hand stitches anything. it takes patience. lots of it. it was also tons of fun. but working with fabric is an involved process. once i got started, i was fully invested in it. for 4 days straight, all day long. every waking moment. ask my family. nothing else mattered for those 4 days. lol! i felt better, knowing that my BFF wendy, was also fully into the same project. we kept each other on track, compared updates and notes, gave each other tips, asked each other opinions, laughed together, and i'm pretty sure we even cried together at one point. lol! seriously, i love when we work on things like this at the same time. we keep each other sane :)

ok, enough rambling. on with some projects. i was assigned to create some projects for one of the "rooms" in the making memories booth for the show. and my room was a little girls room.

 

first up, a lampshade. i'm sure they have a cuter lamp base at the show. this is one i found in my garage, so i could get an idea of the overall look as i worked. i was going to adhered the butterflies randomly around the frame, as if they were fluttering all over. but i'm so glad that i decided to adhered them all in a row, around the frame. i'm going to use this same idea for a lampshade in my family room, except with flowers ;)

 

how cute are these butterflies! and the fabric is just adorable. it's all from my mind's eye. i'm going to be honest on this one. my mom machine stitched the butterflies for me. i did ALL my own hand stitching, but she did help me out with the machine stitching. but i really do plan on learning how, because i love the look. and because now, i have this weird desire to make fabric stuff again ;)

 

i adhered each butterfly to the lampshade, using a glue dot in the center of the butterfly. then i used some glue dots on the outer edge of each wing (top and bottom), so that i could curl the wings slightly before adhering them down. this way, they're not totally flat on the lampshade.

 

next up was a picture frame. this picture of alyssa didn't stay in the frame. they had a little girl in mind for the booth. i just stuck this in there, so that i could take a picture of it :)

 

the new slice fabrique design cards have a fun cutting tool. most of the cards do have the mirroring and shadowing options (MS+). but the fabrique design cards allow you to cut shapes in different pieces. like this pinwheel on the frame. it has 6 pieces to the design. the 4 triangle pieces for the main part, the stem (which i left off of here), and the center of the pinwheel. and because you cut each piece individually, your shapes can end up larger than the typical 4 inch slice size. the largest choice on the pinwheel, will actually give you a 5.6 inch tall shape.

 

isn't this pinwheel so fun! i cut all the main pieces twice. so i had 8 pieces total. then i ironed 2 pieces back to back, and hand stitched them around the edges. i folded the corners over, just like the design quide showed me, and stitched that down too. i added a few fun buttons to the center, and a pipe cleaner for the stem. there's more pipe cleaners on another project, that i'll share later. so they tied together. i also sliced out the letters to spell "FUN", and hand stitched those as well. 

 

and how about a cute tote bag? giving credit and props to my mom, who machine stitched this for me too :)

 

i have to tell you, that i did fix his button eyes, after taking these photos. i have no idea why i stitched them right there, in the middle of his face. it wasn't until i was looking at some of wendy's project peeks that she shared with me, that i noticed HER frog's eyes were on the top of his head. i had to ask her about it, because i suddenly couldn't remember where a frog's eyes are. this is where the "asking each other for advice and opinions" comes in handy. lol! his button eyes are now nicely stitched where they belong.

 

another example of the pieced together cuts. the frog is actually made from 6 different cuts on the slice fabrique. his head, his body, each leg cuts seperately, his hands cut together, and his eyes cut together (i didn't use those). so it makes it really easy to cut pieces from different fabrics, and then tie them all together. the kite is made from 4 different cuts. the 3 pieces for the kite, and then the tail piece (which i cut 3 times).

 

these flowers are one of my very favorite parts out of all my projects. i LOVE these flowers! i used the largest size cut on these, so they are 4 inches wide and 5.8 inches tall. good sized flowers. each one was 4 cuts. the 3 parts of the flower, and the stem. we stitched down the outer flower, and the center of the flower. i left the middle flower as it was, so that the edges lift up and give some extra dimension to the bag. i hand stitched on the buttons to the centers of the flowers.

ok, it's almost 2:00am here. and i have to be up at 7:00am for the girls soccer games. so i'm calling it a night. i'll be back tomorrow (sunday, since it's technically saturday right now) with some more of my slice fabrique projects. and make sure and check out wendy's blog, to see her projects too. her "room" was a baby boy nursery. and she did some super, duper cute stuff. and make sure to leave her some loving comments. we both worked so hard on these, and we really hope that you like them. we both love making memories, and are so grateful to work for them. we hope that they are getting an awesome response to the new machine and the new design cards at the quilt market this weekend, and that our projects helped make their booth a little cooler and prettier :)

treat bag tutorial - little light studio

i have a new tutorial that went up at little light studio today. i created a fun fabric halloween treat bag, using some fabric i've had laying around for years, my slice, and even my super old foam stamps. here's a small peek for you. head over HERE, to see step-by-step photos and full instructions :)

 

my wish for you - a jillibean soup card

monday's are card sharing day on the jillibean soup blog. and yesterday, i had this fun twist on a card go up. 

the new sugar picks and corrugated shapes come in the cutest packaging. it's the large, thick chipboard flower shape. it's brown speckled, and the inside of the flower is a brown/white grid pattern. if you tear off the clamshell packaging from the front, very carefully, you can still use this great flower for a fun project. i decided to use it as the base of my "card".

 

this shows the backside of the card. this is where i would write something to whoever i was sending this card too. i traced the flower shape onto some jillibean soup pattern paper, and then cut that out and adhered it to the back of the chipboard flower. then i sanded down the edges, on both sides.

 

i started out by adding the striped paper to the bottom part of the flower. one of my circle cutters made the perfect sized circle, so that made it super easy. then i trimmed off the top part of the circle. i tied some of the bakers twine around where the top of the striped paper was, and added a cardstock sticker right below it. then i just started layering in fun embellishments. started with the shipping tag, which i trimmed to make it look like it was tucked under the pattern paper. then a journaling sprout, a canvas flower, a corrugated flower, a button, and some cute sugar pick pins.

supplies: pasta fagioli romano cheese pattern paper by jillibean soup, pasta fagioli journaling sprouts by jillibean soup, pasta fagioli cardstock stickers by jillibean soup, repair tag kraft tag by jillibean soup, brown text canvas flowers by jillibean soup, green cool bean buttons by jillibean soup, buttons corrugated shapes by jillibean soup, green/quartz sugar picks by jillibean soup, orange/turquoise sugar picks by jillibean soup, blue/green bakers twine by jillibean soup, 5 color polka ribbon by jillibean soup 

some making memories halloween shares + a winner

i just now remembered that i had said i would share my top product picks, when i announced the winner of 101+ creative ways to use your scrapbook supplies. but it's almost 1:00am, and i'm too tired to make my picks and write about them. lol! so i will have to get that over the weekend, or next week. i'm thinking my 10 favorite tools will be a good thing to cover too. so, on to the winner. the random number generator (who thinks it's 8:00am, but it's 1:00am here) has choosen:

 
Do I really have to choose?? What a hard decision.....I guess I have to go with patterned paper.....But that can always change! ;) Can't wait to get my hands on this magazine! Love your LO & Jennifer's ideas are always awesome!! Posted by: Sara Rossi | October 04, 2010 at 03:49 PM

congrats sara! email me your mailing address, and we will get that mailed out to you :)

 

i was really excited to see these lanterns up on the making memories site, and on the blog. i had such fun making these last month. i never tried putting lights inside of them. i just held them up to the window as i was creating them. so i loved seeing that they worked so well, and am thinking i might need to make another set to display in my own house. lol! you can watch THE VIDEO on the making memories blog, to learn how one of these was created.

 

i had shared a few 6x6 halloween layouts around CHA time. but in case you don't remember them, you can check them out HERE.

 

and here's another VIDEO, on how to create this fun halloween card. i thought the little paper doll pattern paper was so cute. takes me back to the days of punching out the dolls, and all the clothes, dressing them, and then pushing the little tabs down on the back to hold them in place. so cute.

slice kitchen frame project + winners

first up, the winners of the stampin up stamp sets. i used the random number generator, and it choose #8 and #26. congrats joanna and michele! email me your mailing addresses, and i'll get those sent out to you this weekend :)

I love the color book idea. It sounds like it would be super helpful. And thanks for doing such a neat giveaway! Posted by: JoannaG | September 22, 2010 at 06:10 AM

Love the detailed instructions you have provided on this layout. I love using stamps on my layouts...as you can see by my email address. Posted by: Michele Marshall | September 22, 2010 at 09:19 AM

yesterday, one of my projects went up on the making memories blog. i used my slice and the bon appetit design card, to create 3 fun little frames for the kitchen. you can see more photos of the frame set HERE, and even watch a video about how they were created. and in case anyone is wondering, the colorful frames are from target :)

laugh banner - a jillibean soup project

today, on the jillibean soup blog, it's all about projects. and one of them is mine :)

i created two banners for the jillibean soup booth at CHA, back in july. one of them was a christmas banner. and this banner was an everyday banner, using the new pasta fagioli collection. forgive me, this isn't a great photo of it. i couldn't find a spot to hang it in the house to get a good picture, and was rushing to get it mailed out in time.

for each pennant, i cut a triangle from pattern paper. then i lightly adhered that to a piece of kraft cardstock, and trimmed the side edges with scalloped scissors.  it was easier to use the scallop scissors and get it straight, with the pattern paper flat on the cardstock. then i took the pattern paper off of the cardstock, and used pop dots to re-adhere it to the scalloped edged cardstock. 

want a tip for making a perfect triangle? this is something that i would usually over-think. but i found an easy way that works for me. for this banner, i cut my pattern papers into 4x4 inch squares. you can do whatever size you want, but start with square pieces of paper. along one edge, use a ruler and a pencil to make a mark in the middle of the paper. so for my 4 inch wide piece, my mark was at 2 inches.

you will want to cut from the pencil mark, to the opposite corner. and then from the pencil mark to the other opposite corner as well. did that even make sense? lol!

i don't normally trace it onto my paper. i just use the trimmer as my guide. but i wanted to show a better view of where the cuts will be. although you could certainly trace the lines onto the backside of your paper, just to be sure that you're cutting it right.

i use my trimmer as my guide on where to cut. i just line up the pencil mark and the opposite corner right along where the blade cuts.

and you should end up with one of these. a perfect triangle. if you do NOT end up with something looking like this, please don't blame me and my instructions. just try it again. lol!

another not-so-great photo. to finish off each triangle, i added a journaling sprout to the center of the triangle using pop dots. and then added my corrugated alphas to the journaling sprout, with pop dots also. i love my pop dots, and i might even have a legit addiction to them! i used a long length of brown polka dot ribbon, and strung some wooden bobbins onto it. i then used mini wooden clothespins to hang the pendants from the ribbon, spacing them inbetween the bobbins.

home decor challenge - making memories blog

i have a fun home decor challenge up on the making memories blog today. the challenge involves using vintage groove jewelry by making memories in a different way. not to make something pretty to wear. but to make something pretty to display in your home. check out the MM blog for all the details :)

making memories noel collection

summer CHA started today, and i'm going to be stalking all the blogs and sites over the next few days, looking for all the great new products coming out. one of those sites that always has a ton of CHA excitement is the making memories blog. they keep the new products under wraps until the show actually starts. even though i design for them, most of it is all new to me too. so i'm seeing most of it for the first time, just like you.

one of their new collections that i did get a chance to work with, was the new noel christmas collection. you can see images of all the products in this collection HERE and HERE. here are a few of my projects that i saw in a photo of the booth, so i think they're safe to show you. will share more as soon as i can :)

 

panorama project - making memories

i had one of my projects featured on the making memories blog yesterday. it's a fun door hanger project, using their new panorama collection.

i had a lot of fun working on this project. this collection has so many great pieces and embellishments to choose from, so i think i might have used a little bit of everything by the time i was done. i couldn't even show you my pictures of all the different pieces, since i can't seem to locate the photos on my laptop now. ugh, so frustrating.

luckily, all you have to do is go check out THIS POST. you can see the door hanger, and all the fun stuff that's tucked inside of it, along with a fun video on how to put one together for yourself. enjoy :)