Pretty In Pink Valentine's Cards

I've never been a big pink person. Maybe it was because I was supposed to like it as a girl and being the contrarian that I am, I didn't.  But for this year's Valentine's cards I was kind of drawn to the idea of it, especially when I found pink glitter paper at Michaels. 

For these cards I combined the pink glitter paper with gold foiled paper I picked up during the holidays and used Paris themed stamps by Tim Holtz. What's more romantic than Paris?

Supplies: 

• Cardstock for base card ( I used Stardreams black metallic)
• Craftsmith Gold Foil Paper
• Pink and Black Metallic Glitter Papers
• French Themed Stamps ( I used Tim Holtz)
• White cardstock for stamping
• Black pigment ink ( I used Recollections)
• Pink and Gray Inks ( I used Fresh Ink)
• Punches, embellishments,stickers

I stamped the images in black pigment ink, set with a heat gun and then dusted pink and grey inks on top. Trimmed and mounted as shown on the black and pink glitter papers, then embellished with punched hearts and the black, white, and gold "LOVE" stickers ( Recollections, Michaels). 

I used foam dots to mount the focal images to the front of the card and embellished with self adhesive pink pearls. Also Michaels in their 2 for $3 section. My name is Carol and I spend too much time at Michaels. 

Game Board: Necessity Is The Mother of Invention

It was great having our son home over the holidays and we spent a lot of time just hanging out, watching movies, playing games, even doing some crafty things.

We played Yahtzee one night and spent the first part of the game chasing the dice as they skidded off of our marble table. Then we tried using a Tupperware lid which worked but the whole time I kept thinking "I can make something better than this" so I did.

 Supplies:

• Wood surface with lip ( you can always count on me for the technical terms).  I found this at Michaels...it's technically called a Wood Plaque. OK. 
• Paint ( I used Burnt Umber)
• Glazing medium
• Paint brush
• Template 
• Felt 

Pretty straightforward. Paint the wood with as many coats as you are happy with. I wanted a stained look more than a painted one so I thinned with glazing medium.  When dry, I sealed it with a coat of Mod Podge glossy. 

Measure the inside of your wood surface and cut a paper template to fit. I rounded the edges with a pair of edge rounding scissors. Use template to cut out felt. Glue felt to painted wood. I just used a spray adhesive. Pay closer attention to rounding the edges. My fancy scissors didn't cut through felt so I had to do this manually and oops'd.   

This is still better than the Tupperware lid! I had everything on hand except the wood piece so my total cost for this was $2.99 less 40% coupon! 

Bright and Shiny Cards for The New Year

Happy New Year! Little slow getting started but have some cards to share. Sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas I picked up a steal deal at Michaels. Their "Hot Buy" paper pads were on sale for $5 and of course I couldn't resist. I picked up two gorgeous metallic 12x12 pads ; one in gold and one in silver. These papers are so gorgeous that I let them stand alone and didn't do a lot of embellishing. 

January brings several occasions so this week it's a Birthday, a Retirement, and a Thank You note. 

I was able to make all three cards using two sheets from the deck. One was an embossed quatrefoil pattern that I used as the background and the other was a sheet with sentiments (12 on one page) that  you can cut down and use for multiple projects. For the Birthday card I chose this one that says "Happy" and mounted on dark silver metallic and glitter paper before adhering to the card using foam dots. I love love love metallics. I hate hate hate photographing them. Things to work on in 2016!

For the Retirment card, I used the same idea, choosing this sentiment "Live A Beautiful Life" . I did embellish this one a bit with some silver glitter washi tape , sequins, and buttons. 

The Birthday and Retirement cards are 5x7. With the paper I had left, I made a Thank You card (5.5x 4.25) using another sentiment "My Favorite Things"...perfect since this was a Thank You for a chocolate gift basket I received! 

For my big $5 investment, I still have 29 more sheets of paper and 9 more sentiments from this one page to play with ! 

Supplies Used 

• Craft Smith Silver Foil Paper Pad 12x12
• Cardstock
• Double Sided Adhesive
• Foam Dots
• Misc. Embellishments

Spring Wood Fun With Michaels: Gray and White Photo Prop Board

Disclosure: I wrote this post as part of a paid campaign with Plaid Crafts, Michaels and Blueprint Social. The opinions in this post are my own.

I have been meaning to make something to help me with taking pictures of jewelry projects and when I recently had the opportunity to work with Michaels, Plaid, and The Blueprint social, this idea came together. Michaels has a wide assortment of unpainted Spring wood pieces that are a perfect blank canvas.

For this project I used:

• Large scallop edge frame ( 11x14 opening)
• Plaid Folk Art paints in Steel Gray and Titanium White
• Plaid Folk Art stencil “Ditsy Floral”
• Paintbrush
• Paint Spouncers
• Recollections Gray and White Floral scrapbook paper
• Washi tape sheets
• Mod Podge ( Matte)
• Foam Core
• Fabric
• Cotton Batting
• Trim

The washi tape sheets, fabric, batting and trim I had on hand. All other supplies are available at Michaels.

Step 1:

Paint surface with two coats of Steel Gray paint. The picture below shows one coat and I debated about whether to add the second because I liked the almost stained effect of one.

Step 2:

After applying the second coat, I used the floral stencil to add some detail on opposite corners of the frame with the white paint using the spouncers :

Step 3:

Using the spouncers, I randomly added dots of white around the frame and tore pieces of the scrapbook paper and applied as shown with Mod Podge.  I added torn pieces of the watshi sheets and then sealed the whole thing with another coat of Mod Podge.

Additional Steps:

To fill the center of the frame I cut foam core to size, covered with cotton batting and canvas drop cloth. I probably should have ironed the drop cloth but I’m sure the wrinkles will smooth out :)

I adhered this to the frame from the underside, attaching with strong carpet tape. To finish, I hot glued upholstery trim around the covered foam core.

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Here are what some other crafty peeps have been up to:

Halloween: French Gothic Coffin Boxes

A couple of years ago I had so much fun altering these little coffin shaped boxes I found at Michaels. Darn if they don’t keep stocking them and darn if I don’t keep finding ways to play with them.

It helps ( or doesn’t help depending on whether you’re Mr. Chocolate) that I love digging through clearance aisles and 50-60% off bins which is where I found the embellishments that inspired this project.

The metal Fleur de Lis and Crown pieces were in the $1.50-$3 bins and were 60% off when I found them. On a previous hunting expedition, I’d found the Jolee’s Boutique embellishments on sale. 

We went to France several years ago and while there we toured the Catacombs which are not for the faint of heart but an amazing piece of history. The ornate metal embellishments brought back memories of that trip and the coffin boxes brought back memories of the Catacombs so voila. Gothic Coffin Boxes. Welcome to my brain.

I left a couple of the boxes unpainted and painted the others black. Using the boxes as a template, traced around them and cut out coordinating papers and Mod Podge’d them onto the boxes.

I love it when  a plan goes awry. I intended to use the polka dot paper on the BACKS of each coffin and oops…one made it on the front. Oh well. Lemons / lemonade.

You can’t really see it but I crumpled the skull and bones paper before applying so it would be a little wrinkly. And for once, I was patient and let the boxes dry overnight so the paper would be good and stiff when I sanded the edges.
TIP: Package of emery boards from the Dollar store work great for this

I glued the metal embellishments to the front and added the Jolee’s embellishments as shown. Edged the boxes with torn pieces of  coordinating washi tape.

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Thrifty Finds at Michaels: Easy to Make Birthday Card

I've always loved the "used to be a dollar" section at Michaels ( yep...still bitter that it's now the $1.50 - $3 section). So when I find things there that are 50-60% off, I'm ecstatic. 

If you've been a reader of this blog you also know that I just shake my head at the price of cards when it's so easy to make your own. 

On a recent trip, I stumbled upon some finds from Spring. Papers and pre-made tags 60% off which turned out to be $.60 per package. So for a whole $1.20, you can make at least 16 cards from these two things. 

The paper pack had 12 8x8 sheets of 6 different patterns. The gift tags came in a pack of 16 and coordinate with the papers. 

For the birthday card I made I used :

• Light metallic gold cardstock
• White cardstock
• Embossing folder and embossing machine ( I used my Cricut Cuttlebug)
• 2 papers from package
• 1 gift tag
• Self adhesive  pearls
• 3-D Cupcake , candles, metal sentiment stickers from stash

Cut gold cardstock to 7x10 for 5x7 card. Score down the middle

Cut patterned paper 4.75 x 6.75 , attach to card

Cut white cardstock 4x5 and run through embossing folder

Mat on solid paper as shown

Tear solid paper scrap, adhere to middle of white panel

Attach tag, 3-D stickers as shown

Embellish with self adhesive pearls 

Even if you don't have extra stickers in your stash ( a concept with which I am completely unfamiliar!) picking up a package of birthday themed stickers will still put you way ahead of what you'd spend on a single card. 

Yes I Made A Card for $.50

We all have those things that soothe us right? For some it’s a new pair of shoes. For others it’s a spa treatment or digging in the dirt. For me ( in addition to chocolate of course) it’s a stroll through Michaels. I just like wandering the aisles ( sometimes talking to myself…this is completely normal so don’t call anyone!). It doesn’t even take spending a bundle to make me giddy. Case in point, a recent trip where I was elated to stumble upon a treasure trove of $.50 finds. Yes you read that right FIFTY CENT finds!

Well you didn’t think I was going to buy just one thing for $.50 did you? Silly.. They had this whole collection of coordinating elements and I may or may not have bought 1 or 2 of each.

I used one of the embellishment packs to make this just because card for a friend.

The colors went perfectly with a DCWV stack ( Lemon Flower) I had in my stash. I did have to will myself not to buy any more paper on this recent trip. SO hard.

I chose a coordinating piece of paper from the stack and grabbed a couple of scraps from previous projects including a white embossed panel. Then I just sat and played and used up all the elements on the embellishment card. Should have thought ahead to include the card the embellishments were on since it matched but yes, saved it for another project TBD.

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Mod Podge Rocks Stencil Podged Box

My readers know that I love Mod Podge. I've joked before that if it stands still long enough I'll probably Mod Podge it.  I didn't think I could love MP more and then along came self adhesive stencils you can use with Mod Podge  and glitter! 

For this project you will need: 

Surface to decorate

Mod Podge ( I used my go to Matte)

Paper

Glitter

Mod Podge Rocks Stencil (I used Starlite)

The stencils come in 6 designs and are available at Michaels: 

I used a little wood box in my stash for this project and  covered two sides and the top with black and white polka dot paper and left the other two sides bare wood. To stencil, peel the stencil from the backer and adhere to your surface. The adhesive on the stencil lasts for 20 uses. 

The easiest way to use Mod Podge with the stencils is to use a sponge spouncer. Dip lightly and then spounce your Mod Podge on.  For glitter projects,  the instructions say to peel the stencil away at this point but I decided to just plop my glitter on first. I thought I might get cleaner images this way and was happy with the result. 

When the stencil was peeled off, perfectly symmetrical glitter diamond shapes were left behind! The stencil (glitter and all) cleaned up nicely with soap and water so I could finish the other side of my box. 

While I used a flat surface, I love that the stencils are flexible and can bend to rounded surfaces like jars, bottles, vases etc. Possibilities are endless! 

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Zombie Cookies and Monster Fingers: This Year's College Boy Halloween Treats

If you’ve followed my blog for the past few years, you’ll know that I usually do a Halloween care package for College Boy. Halloween always falls around mid-terms and if you’re the parent of a college student, you might be familiar with the “send your kid a care package” letters that usually come out this time of year. Some company will deliver a care package to your student but needless to say, I’d rather make my own.

I try to make these fun but keep the cost down especially since we have to mail these. Dollar Tree, Michaels, and stuff I had on hand came together. 

This year I went with a Zombie / Monster theme . We’re huge “Walking Dead” fans. While Zombies aren’t known for eating bones, I couldn’t find any candy brain sprinkles so bones it is.

For this project you will need:

• Oreos
• Candy Melts ( I hadn’t yet decided between the green and the black but ultimately just used green)
• Bone sprinkles ( if anyone finds brains, let me know!)

Dipped Oreos are about the easiest thing you could ever do. To start:

Melt candy melts. I usually do mine in the microwave.

Once melted, dip. Place on wax paper. Sprinkle with stuff. Done. Seriously.

I had some green goo left over and I’d picked up a Halloween themed silicone mold at the Dollar Tree because I have wanted to try using them . I have had mixed results with the clear plastic molds. I’m hooked on the silicone molds!

I made crunchy candy Monster Fingers! I spooned the leftover green melted candy into the mold until about half full.  I spotted some M and Ms and decided to sprinkle them on top of the green candy. Then went over that with melted dark chocolate. When you bite into the finger, CRUNCH, just like a bone. I know, I’m twisted.

For the bone shapes in the mold, I filled with dark chocolate.  Not a great photo but didn’t have time to worry about lighting when I was trying to “set my bones”.

To package everything, I used these purple chevron striped cups I got last year from Pick Your Plum. I stacked the cookies and wrapped them using clear cello bags. Same for the fingers.

Paired the cups with these black and white star bags I picked up on one of my dig through the clearance stuff trips to Michaels. 75% off!

While I was at the Dollar Tree, I also picked up some pumpkin decorating kits. No carving required, the pieces just stick to the pumpkin. Last year I recall he and his friends went in search of no carve options so hopefully they still want to do this!

Filled the paper star bags with the cookies, finger, and additional candy and stapled the kits to the outside.

Dollar Tree also had some Zombie Outbreak tape that went well with the theme so added that. All packed up and ready to go!

2012 Halloween Treats  "Fangtastic Treat Bags"

2011 Halloween Treats  "Reverse Trick or Treat"

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