My Inner Circle Wanted Christmas

Oh you thought I was talking about confidantes or something? No. I'm talking about the inner circle of matboard left over from the book and bottle cap wreath I made! Which, I didn't take a picture of, but it's a circle. Of matboard. You get it.

Since coffee filters come in the bajillion pack, I had some of those left over. So I took a bunch out, crumpled them up ( this is a scientific process...I'm sure there's a physics theory that explains how crumpling increases body and volume because it does) and them folded in half, then in half again, then in half again. Staple to secure each one. If I was a mathematician instead of a physicist ( ha ha ha ha... so not either of those) then I'd know the fraction that comes out to.

Hot glued those around the circle of matboard and then tore a circle of scrap paper to  cover up my staples and then remembered I'd downloaded a cool Santa image from The Graphics Fairy, printed that out cut in a circle and glued to the middle of my whatever this is  I put a ribbon hanger on the back so it's an ornamenty thingy.  Framed it in buttons and added some clear rhinestones which don't glisten the same way in a picture so you'll have to just take my word on it. So what did I end up with?

So now you know what I did with my inner circle. Because I know that was keeping you up nights.

Linking Up At:

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

It's always great to go on vacation but there's also something wonderful about coming home ( I love my bed!).  We had a great two weeks away visiting my mom, friends, brother-in-law, colleges ( $$$) and I got to visit some great creative shops along the way. I blogged about a couple of them or tried to from my phone our the i-Pad ( still not convinced it's the best thing since sliced bread).  I got to go to two of my favorite bead places, Beads Galore and Scottsdale Bead Supply and stocked up on some great things to play with later.

Last year, one of my BFFs gave  my mom a present for Christmas that my mom fell in love with and wanted to give similar ones to a few of her friends. It was one of those glass blocks with lights inside like you see here So she asked if I could make them and if I minded doing any crafting while I was on vacation. HELLO? A chance to be on vacation AND use a glue gun?! In addition to the opportunity to go to craft stores including one I don't have at home? Bring. It.

I'd seen these glass block projects but hadn't made any and now I'm hooked. Maybe they're not new news but they're still fun to play with and there are endless possibilities. There are a variety of places you can get the blocks. Least expensive is your HW store but they typically don't come pre-drilled to put the lights in and I wasn't about to do glass drilling ( I understand you can go through several drill bits). So mom and I used our Michael's 40% off coupons and bought the more expensive ones they sell there ($16.99 pre-discount for the large one) that come with different closures for banks, lights, or simply plugging the existing hole. So started with this: 

Used a variety of ribbon (some from mom's recycled stash ... re-use, re-use!) stickers ( red and gold block) , Christmas picks from Hobby Lobby, and 1 string of 100 mini lights per block and ended with these:

She wanted one for a friend who wants to keep this out all year round, and the friend wanted black and white which I love working with so that's this one:

which I kept really simple using only black and white polka dot ribbon and two vinyl pieces I brought with me that I'd picked up at JoAnns on sale for $.50 !

Crafting on vacation?! WIN-WIN!  And mom now has a glue gun :)

Linking up at: