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!

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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

Recycle your Holiday Cards Part 2 - Gift Tags

So, I’m going to continue on where Linh left off yesterday with another use for all those holiday cards – Gift Tags!

To start, just gather a few of your cards:



Next, cut them into a shape that works with the design on the card:



Be creative… you can cut them in squares, circles (using those awesome Creative Memories Mat and Blades that Linh showed you yesterday) or anything that you can come up with.

Now all you need to do is decorate them. Embellish (or don’t embellish if you are a minimalist) to your heart’s content. Rubber stamp, add some glitter… punch a hole, add some ribbon and you are good to go!



Here are a few things to keep in mind...

• Some of the cards may have writing on the back - just add a layer of cardstock. It will add some dimension and take care of hiding anything that you don’t want shown.


• Have different types of pens available; the kind you use will depend on the type of paper the card is made from. Gel pens and Sharpies tend to write on most surfaces, but try it on a scrap of paper before writing directly on the tag if you are unsure.


• If you don’t want to use ribbon (hopefully you kept all the left over ribbon from the gifts your family received so you won’t have to deplete your stock), you can use double-sided tape and adhere it directly to your gift.

If you take on this project now, you will have one less thing to do (or buy) next December - and that is always a good thing!

So, we’ve given you 2 different ideas of what you can do with the holiday cards you’ve received… let us know - what else do you do with yours?

Recycle your Holiday Cards Part 1 – Ornaments

Are you wondering what to do with all those holiday cards you received? You can easily turn them into next year's ornaments! I picked out a few of our cards from this year:



I used my Creative Memories Mat and Blades (love these!) to cut out circles:



If you do not have some sort of shapes cutting system, you can just as easily use any round object to trace a circle and cut out.

I cut a small strip of cardstock and taped it to back of the round cutouts and then punched a hole in the top of the strip:



I used a white marker pen to put a dotted edge around the one that was a photo. You can get creative and embellish or you can just thread some yarn or string through the hole and voila - you have a few more ornaments for next year's tree!



I would have put these on my tree for a picture but I took my tree down the day after Christmas!

Start to finish this only took me a few minutes and you only really need supplies that most people have on hand:

• holiday cards
• something round so that you can trace a circle
• scissors
• cardstock
• string or yarn
• a hole punch
• scotch tape
  

If you create some of your own ornaments, please come back and share what you've done. We'd love to see them!

Tags: recycle, repurpose, christmas, cards, ornaments, crafts