DIY Lightbox

I was disappointed with the picture I posted of the soaps I recently made and after some investigation (yay for the internet), I decided to make my own lightbox. There's a tutorial here. I had most of the supplies on hand except some daylight bulbs and I also bought a worklamp. My pictures were yellowish until I figured out to change a setting on the camera to "incandescent." Also, no fancy SLR camera needed. These were taken with my point and shoot:





These toys happened to be in reach. Can you tell I have a boy? I'm still playing around and need to practice and experiment but I was happy with how these turned out for a first try. Here is what the set up looks like in case you are interested:

Spooky Soaps

A friend got me thinking about soaps again. Here are some spooky soaps embedded with toy finger puppets. My son loved them! He was excited to use his new soap and very anxious to get to the toy. It will be a lesson in patience. I tried to explain that it will take a while before the toy will "come out." It will be a good motivator for hand washing during this crazy flu season.

By the way, I used a muffin pan for the molds.

Cowboy baby shower invitations

Thought I'd share the baby shower invitations I made for a dear, dear friend who is due to have a little boy in May. We're having a cowboy/western theme, and I got this jean-patch-pocket idea from a friend who used to have her own invitation business. I cannot take credit for that darling lil' cowboy drawing. The baby's daddy is an artist and that was his contribution to these cute invites!

Beary Cute

Photo from Familyfun.com

I love this idea that I saw in Family Fun magazine. I know that teddy grahams and gummy bears still have sugar but I bet it's less sugary than most Valentine's Day candies! This is a cute and easy treat to send with your kids for their buddies on Valentine's Day.

Details and instructions here.

Valentine's Day Candle Holder

Hello! We are back with a very cute and easy Valentine's candle holder.

Here's what you will need:
Glass votive/tea light holders (I used Galej from Ikea, $1.49 for 4)
Thin paper (tissue paper, decorative paper, whatever you like)
Scissors
Glue

Start by cutting out some hearts. My preferred method is to fold the paper over and cut 1/2 a heart on the fold (so that the fold becomes the center of the heart). Since you are using a thinner paper, you can layer a few sheets at a time. I used my curved scissors to help with cutting the curves of the heart.

Next I glued a few hearts to the outside of the glass candle holder.

Then I cut a piece of tissue paper, large enough to wrap around the glass.

I glued the tissue paper to the holder and then trimmed the paper at the top and bottom.

I added a few more hearts on the outside of the tissue paper to add some dimension.

For another version, I used a two-sided handmade mulberry paper. I cut hearts out in various sizes and glued those directly to the holder.

Here's how both versions turned out:

Craft Quickie Thursday: Paper Organizer

Photo from Family Fun

How cute is this paper organizer? This would be cute as a decoration in a kids room or a craft room. You can use different designed papers to achieve the look you want. I like that this project uses supplies you mostly likely already have on hand:

• Card stock or double-sided scrapbook paper
• Scissors
• Tape
• Tacky glue
• Paper clips
• Pushpins

You can find directions over at Family Fun.

Welcome to the year of the Ox!

Happy New Year! Today marks the beginning of the year of the Ox.

The Ox is the sign of prosperity through fortitude and hard work. This powerful sign is a born leader, being quite dependable and possessing an innate ability to achieve great things. As one might guess, such people are dependable, calm, and modest. Like their animal namesake, the Ox is unswervingly patient, tireless in their work, and capable of enduring any amount of hardship without complaint.

You can go here if you would like to find out your sign and read more about it.

I was born in the year of the Rat. Although I don't love the thought of being a "rat" based on our preconceptions, I find that I agree with the positive attributes of being meticulous, hardworking and industrious. (I like to ignore those negative attributes - hopefully they aren't true!) Linh is a Dragon (as is her mom as well as my son) and the description of generous, loyal and self-assured are right on. My husband is an Ox, and he is absolutely dependable, but everyone's heard the term "stubborn as an ox", it's so true!

With all of that being said, here is a cute felt ox to commemorate this new year.

photo from kaboose.com

Felt Fortune Cookies

So I was back on kaboose.com today looking at some of their cute Chinese New Year crafts and found felt fortune cookies! Think about it... you can have them around, feel the spirit of the coming holiday without ruining your resolution! Gotta love it!

Lucky Money Envelopes

Chinese New Year is almost like Christmas for Asian kids. We Vietnamese call it "Tet." I remember during that time of year there was food and festivity and most importantly (to us kids) there was the lucky money envelopes, or as we call it in Vietnamese "li see." We had to earn it though, by folding our arms, giving a little speech wishing our family friends and relatives a healthy and prosperous year, and generally looking cute. Then we would collect the "li see" envelopes and see what crisp new denominations of bills were inside. Of course, even that tradition became Americanized when one year a relative filled our "li see" envelope with a crisp gift certificate to McDonald's!

You can make your own lucky money envelopes by going to this site where you can print templates, cut them out, and fold them.

Craft Quickie Thursday - Paper Lanterns

Traci's post about paper plum blossoms brought back memories. My beloved grandma used to make these. I wish I had saved some, or at least had pictures of some she had made.

Anyways...it's CRAFT QUICKIE THURSDAY which means something easy! Something quick! Something "Chinese New Year" related! PAPER LANTERNS!


Photo from About.com

The best part about this one is everyone should have the supplies on hand:

• 1 Piece of Paper (You can use bond paper, construction paper, or even cardstock. For best results, use a piece approximately 8.5" x 11")
• Pencil
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Markers or Crayons (Optional)
• Stapler or Tape

You can find the easy, excellent step-by-step instructions with photos over at about.com.

Chinese New Year - Plum Blossoms

I love these simple Plum Blossom decorations.


Photo from kaboose.com

You will need:
-Brown chenille stems
-Pink tissue paper
-White craft glue
-Styrofoam ball, cut if half
-Scissors
-Paint brush
-Brown Paint

How to make it:
-Cut chenille stems into unequal lengths, some long some medium.
-Twist two unlike lengths together and bend and twist ends to make them look like branches.
-Cut pink tissue paper into ½” squares.
-Lay branches onto work surface and line with a layer of white glue. Do not put glue on the stem. -Place the handle end of a thin paintbrush into the center of a tissue paper square. Twist the tissue paper around the handle.
-While tissue paper is still on the end of the paintbrush handle, dot it onto the glue on the branch. Tissue paper should stick to the glue and slide right off the handle. Leave a space between tissue paper flowers and repeat process. Let dry.
-Turn branches over and repeat on other side.
-Paint the Styrofoam ball with brown paint and let dry.
-Insert branches into Styrofoam ball.

These make great table decorations for any Chinese New Year celebration, then keep them and reuse them in the spring.

Happy Inauguration Day!

I'm taking a quick departure from Chinese New Year crafts to wish you a Happy Inauguration Day! Can you believe it's finally here?

How excited are you? Excited enough to make an Obama symbol/logo paper plate?


Photo from Kaboose.com

For this and other Inauguration Day crafts at Kaboose.com, click here.

Chinese New Year - Welcome Door Hanger

To start off Chinese New Year week, we've got this cute Welcome Door Hanger. I found it on kaboose.com.



Here's what you need:
-Red door hanger (available at a craft store, or make your own from red foam or paper)
-Gold glitter glue
-Orange foam circles in various sizes
-White craft glue
-Pattern

Here's how to make it:
-Print out the pattern of Chinese letters. This spells out "Welcome."
-Use the pattern and a pencil or pen to draw the Chinese letters onto the door hanger.
-Using gold glitter glue, carefully trace the Chinese letters. Decorate the rest of the door hanger as you like. The sample shows a border around the hanger and decoration on the corners.
-Allow the glitter glue to dry for at least three hours.
-When glitter glue is dry, glue the orange circles onto the lower half of the door hanger. The larger circles are oranges and they represent wealth. The smaller circles are tangerines, which are symbolic of good luck.

Chinese New Year Week

Monday, January 26th marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year. 2009 will be the year of the Ox. We will spend the next week highlighting crafts that celebrate this holiday. Most will be kid-friendly so hopefully you can share these with your family.

Happy Birthday, Dr. King!

Today we remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and all he did for our country. Take a moment and think about his powerful message. Share it with your children. During this amazing week of change and hope, he would be proud. Happy Birthday, Dr. King!

Yet another gift card holder

Here is one more gift card holder. I found the template at FamilyFun.com. They do not post the entire instructions, but all I did was download the template, trace it onto thick kraft paper and folded. I used double stick tape where you fold it over.

You can also do this using old greeting cards or any cardstock.

Gift Card Box

I guess it turned out to be gift wrapping week! How about another way to present your gift cards?



This pattern is by Heather Bailey. The instructions say to use cardstock. I used cardstock for the tray, but regular weight paper for the outer part. I think it worked just as well.

Craft Quickie Thursday - Knit Gift Card Holder

In continuing with our (unintentional) gift packaging theme this week, I started thinking about another way to use up those small amounts of yarn us knitters have lying around - make a gift card holder.

Here's what you will need:
Yarn
Knitting Needles
Approx. 1 yd of ribbon or yarn
Embroidery Needle

Start by knitting a rectangle to approximately 4"x8" in a pattern of your choosing (purl, knit, rib, etc). Once finished, lay your knitted piece flat and fold the bottom edge up approximately 2". Find the center point of the ribbon (I used silk cord) and place that inside the folded piece, centered inside the fold at the bottom so that the ribbon sticks out of both sides. Thread an embroidery needle with your ribbon on one side and stitch a few times up that side, ending with your ribbon on the back of your piece. Repeat stitching on the other side, also ending with your ribbon on the backside.

Insert your gift card, fold the top over, bring your ribbon around to the front and tie a bow.

The best part is that in using up your left over yarn, so it's not costing anything!

Paper

Paper is such a huge part of everyone's lives, but even more so for crafters. I started thinking how we toss around terms, but don't always know what they really mean. So today, I thought I would go through a few of the most common paper-related terms and maybe throw in a tip or two...

Paper - A thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon or packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets.

Acid free - Paper that is free from any acid content or other substances likely to have a detrimental effect on the paper or its longevity. This is a very important term anytime you are working with photos, albums, scrapbooking and anything you want to be archival. Always look for "acid-free" on the description when purchasing for those purposes. If you've ever seen an old photo album where the pages and photos are turning yellow, that is an example of what happens when you don't use acid-free paper or albums for long-term storage.

Weight - The weight of paper is usually expressed in lb (pounds) per ream or gsm (grams) and refers to how thick or thin a paper is. Text weight paper is thinner than cardstock.

Grain - The direction of the fibers in a sheet.

Parent Sheet - This is the name for a large sheet size of paper before it is cut down to smaller or standard sizes.

Deckle - This term refers to a frame that handmade paper is made on as well as the feathered or ragged edge that handmade paper sometimes has. It looks like this:

You can duplicate this look by taking the following steps:

1) Fold your paper where you want your deckled edge

2) Using your finger or a small paintbrush, gently wet the folded edge of paper. If the paper is thick, you may need to wet both sides of your fold. Once you've wet it, unfold the paper - it should look like this:

3) Lay your paper flat on your work surface and gently pull the paper apart at the fold. The paper being wet will allow the fibers to separate more easily.

4) And you are done! Soft and fibrous papers work best for this technique as the fibers pull apart and give that handmade look.

Obviously I love paper and could talk about it all day... hopefully I've passed some of that on to you.

Recycled Gift Bows

It's funny that Traci posted yesterday about using I-cords to make a bow for your gifts. We didn't plan this, but here's another gift bow idea! This one was made using a page out of a Pottery Barn Kids catalog. You can make this using any paper: magazines, cards, recycled gift wrap, scrapbook papers.

You can find the tutorial from Instructables here. Super easy. YOU CAN DO IT!

I am never paying for bows again!

I-Cord Ribbon

I was recently introduced to ravelry.com. I love to be organized, and for me, that is the great thing about this site. It has forced me to sit down, pull out my yarn and see what I actually have hiding in my stash. It has also inspired me to try and use up some of that left over yarn.

In my family, January is one of our big birthday months. I thought, what better than to use yarn as a decorative element on a package. Instead of just using it as is in place of ribbon, try making an i-cord (you can see directions here - scroll down that page to see the how-to video).

It's very easy to do. You'll need some yarn and double point knitting needles. The yarn I used is Berroco Comfort Nylon - 9743 Goldenrod and my needles are a US4. I cast on 3 stitches and continued knitting until the piece measured approximately 30 inches. One nice thing about an i-cord is that it has some stretch to it, which made it perfect for tying a bow.

No crafts today...

So, life has gotten away from me this week... no exciting, cool craft idea from me today...

But as I plan for things for next week and beyond (because I will be prepared!), I've started thinking about the things we want to accomplish here at Crafting Bliss. One is to be inspiring and help people remember how satisfying crafting can be (and that it doesn't have to be hard). Another is to highlight budget-friendly craft ideas, especially that reuse and repurpose.

But one we haven't touched on yet is to is to be a place people can come to for tips, advice and how-to’s for anything craft related. A place to look up ideas as well as the best way to accomplish it. Our goal is to be informative and while some of this information will be basic knowledge, we hope that everyone will learn something new.

So, with that being said, please send us an email (or post a response) and let us know if there are certain things you would find helpful or that you think would add to the content of crafting bliss. Thanks and we can’t wait to hear from you!

Magnetic Bookmarks & A GIVEAWAY!

I saw a tutorial for magnetic bookmarks from Martha herself. I wanted to make some that weren't Father's Day themed.



To make this, download the template here. It looks like this:



Print it on your color printer, cut out the bookmarks, and then fold them in half. I used a corner rounder punch on one of them:



You can use peel and stick magnet strips to attach to the inside bottoms of the bookmarks. I found the magnets at Michaels for $1.49. Yes, I used my 40% off coupon to save a whole $0.60!





And here they are in action:



These are great to include in birthday cards for my friends who enjoy reading. You can also make your own by cutting out a rectangle to decorate or embellish. Mine were about 3" x 7" but you can make it any size you want.

I will mail these two bookmarks to the first person (within the United States) who comments with the name the book in the picture above. **Brimful Curiosities was the first to comment: the book is "Where the Sidewalk Ends" by Shel Silverstein**

Technorati Tags: bookmarks

Craft Quickie Thursday: Personalized Photo Books

Every Thursday we will be featuring crafts that are very quick and easy to do. This week: personalized photo books! Check out your local craft, general or dollar stores for a 4x6 photo book. I was able to find these ones at my local Dollar General store for $1.00 each:



The cover and back can be removed:



I removed the cover and traced and cut out some white cardstock so that they were the same size. Then I decorated. I wanted to show that you can go simple and add a picture (with a glue stick, scrapbooking adhesive, or double-sided tape) and just doodle, draw, and decorate using markers or pencils. If you happen to know Photoshop, I found a tutorial on how to doodle using Photoshop. You can also get a little more fancy with this. I made a second book using scrapbooking paper and some ribbon I had saved from a gift someone had given me.



These make great inexpensive but personalized gifts especially for new parents, grandparents and other releatives. I think they are a fun gift for kids too. They like seeing pictures of the favorite relatives, friends, and things in their lives.

Please be sure to come back each Thursday for other quick and easy craft ideas!

Tags: photo, book, album, gift, crafts

Recycle your Holiday Cards Part 3 - St. Jude's

If you don't have time to turn your old holiday cards into ornaments or gift tags, consider sending them in to St. Jude's Ranch for Children. I read about this at Mom Goes Green.

"St. Jude’s Ranch for Children rescues abused, abandoned and neglected children of all races and faiths from the vicious cycle of child abuse."

The children at the center use the fronts of donated cards, attach a new back, and sell them. In addition to holiday cards, they are accepting thank you, birthday, religious, Easter, and other all-occasion cards.

You can mail them to the following address through February 28, 2009:

St. Jude's Ranch for Children
Card Recycling Program
100 St. Jude's Street
Boulder City, NV 89005

You can learn more about their Recycled Card Program here.

Tags: cards, recycle, St. Jude's Ranch for Children, Recycled Card Program

These are a few of my favorite things…

Can you hear it in your head? The Sound of Music was on recently and that song is still stuck in mine. So I thought, hmmm… what are a few of my favorite craft things? That list could be pretty long, so I’ve narrowed it down to my top 5 paper craft tools.

1) Paper Trimmer
I seem to collect these... all in all I think I have 4 of differing sizes, but with my love of paper, it’s not really a surprise. This small trimmer by Creative Memories is so great when I’m in the mood to craft. It’s small enough to not take up too much of my workspace and it even has storage inside!

2) Curved Scissors
I found this cool little tool when I began teaching lampshade covering classes. They are so great because they make cutting circles and curves super easy. Once you try them, you’ll wonder how you ever cut a curve with regular scissors!

3) Drill Punch
There are many different types of hole punches available, but this one rocks! It’s not inexpensive, but I think it is so worth the money. You can also purchase additional bits that are interchangeable and come in different sizes so it works great for invitations, scrapbooking, bookbinding, almost any craft your mind can think up.

4) Circle Patterns
Linh talked about these last week, but I use them all the time so they definitely earned a place on my list.

5) Punches
Particularly the square, circle and corner rounder punches… these tools make complicated designs easy.

So, pull out your favorite tools and create something inspiring!

Tags: favorite, craft, supplies, paper, trimmer, punches, curved, scissors, drill, punch

Craft Store Coupons

Over the course of several years of crafting I have accumulated a small stockpile of various craft supplies. I call it small, but I'm sure my husband would choose a few different words to describe it. The budget is tight these days so whenever I can find a project to do using supplies I already have on hand it's like winning a jackpot. It does not take much to make me happy. When I do need a craft supply though, I try to always use a coupon to make my purchase. Why pay full price for something if you don't have to?

If you live near a Hobby Lobby or AC Moore store, you are lucky! They consistently have coupons on their websites that you can print for 40% or 50% off any one regularly priced item. Of course, there is some fine print and certain (usually big ticket) items are excluded, but you can use the coupon on almost anything.

You can find the Hobby Lobby weekly coupon here. For the AC Moore coupon, follow this link and enter your zip code. It will tell you the nearest store and also have a link to a coupon.

Michaels does not regularly post coupons on their website but if you check the Sunday paper, they often have a store ad with a coupon on it.

Joann does not have store coupons on their website but their supplies are available for online purchase. Here are some coupon codes:
40% Off the Regular Price of One Item (Code: DECA840)
Free shipping on orders of $35 or more (Code: DECFSA835)

These coupons expire 1/16/09.

Also, if you sign up for their email lists at their websites, you will receive notices when their weekly store ad is out in addition to periodic special offers. I just received an email today from Michaels which included a printable 40% off store coupon.

I'm hoping to get a rotary cutter and mat soon and will definitely be using a coupon when I make that purchase!

Tags: craft, store, coupons

Snowman Soup

This is a great idea that one of my son’s teachers gave to the class before winter break. We’ve made it a few times now that the weather is colder (or at least cold for San Diego) and he loves it. Now I’m passing it along to you.

Ingredients:
1 package of hot chocolate mix
A few chocolate kisses (2-4 work well)
A small amount of mini marshmallows
1 Candy cane



Here are the instructions for making Snowman Soup:

When it's so cold that
you holler and whoop,
It's time to bring out
the Snowman Soup!

Pour the packet into a mug.
Add the snowballs too.
Then throw in the kisses
from the snowman to you!

Now add some hot water
And use the cane to stir it.
Sip slowly and soon you'll
feel the warm winter spirit!

Here’s one idea for quick, inexpensive packaging if you want to give it as a gift. Just print the “instructions” out with some clip art or rubber stamp an image on it and place everything in a zipper bag.



Quick, easy and yummy! I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Repurposing Wrapping Paper Cardboard Tubes

My friend Mary Jessica shared a fun idea on what to do with the leftover cardboard tubes from wrapping paper. They make great tunnels for Hot Wheels cars!



Apparently, they also make great alpenhorns:



... and telescopes:



"I SEE THE CEILING!" he exclaimed, as if he was very surprised to see it through his telescope.

Thanks Mary Jessica!

You can find some more ideas on what to do with cardboard tubes using this link. I don't think any of them are as genius as a toy car tunnel though. ;)

Card Collage

This one is an oldie but goody. You can also use your holiday cards to create a collage. I put mine in my scrapbook but you could do a variation of this to frame, or to hang as a decoration for next year.



If you happen to own a square punch, it will make this project super easy. Otherwise, you could find a small square object you could use to trace, or use a ruler to measure and cut squares. Use some adhesive to attach it to some cardstock and you're done!

Idea and tutorial found at Ali Edward's Blog.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from Crafting Bliss!
Wishing you and yours a great 2009!

Linh and Traci