Trick or Treatin' Scarecrow

Finally, a few moments to craft.  Some pretty sequins arrived today from Pretty Pink Posh.  Of course, I couldn't wait one more minute, so I dove in and whipped up this cutey using a stamp set from Avocado Arts.  A little ink, a little glue, some colored pencils and this handsome scarecrow is ready for Halloween.

#prettypinkposh #avocadoarts #cre8time #halloween

2014 Halloween Popcorn Box Blog Hop

Welcome to the 2014 Halloween Popcorn Box Blog Hop Party, hosted by Laura Kelly Designs.   Around 30 participants were invited to take an ordinary cardboard popcorn box, provided by Laura Kelly, and make it their own. 

Up for grabs is a fabulous prize which includes: a $50 Fandango Movie gift card, a pack of popcorn boxes from World Market and $45 worth of I Love to Create craft supplies to decorate with.  Comment and show some love to all the bloggers below, then enter the Rafflecopter giveaway.

But first, let me tell you how I made this Bubbling Brew box and my tribute to the Wizard of Oz!

If you know me, or delve further into my blog archives, then you know I'm a HUGE Wizard of Oz fan.  I knew exactly what I wanted to do;  a spin on the Wicked Witch.  Check out my tutorial below which includes the foaming brew and making your own colored glitter mesh filler:

Ingredients for this Bubbling Brew box:  1 popcorn box, Laura Kelly Design buttons (Buttons Galore), 4-5 feet of white mesh ribbon (May Arts), Black/white twine (May Arts Ribbon), DCWV Amber Autumn Stack 12x12 paper, October Afternoon Sprinklers Witches Brew paint misting spray, Wow Iridescent Key Lime glitter powder, Adhesive runner (Tombow Xtreme), Heat tool for crafting (The Paper Studio), Unity Stamp Co Halloween Chatter kit (witch hat/sentiment), Versamark clear watermark ink, Black embossing powder (Ranger), Adhesive glitter tape (American Crafts, medium Glue Dots, Scotch foam dots

Optional to embellish cauldron:
Tulip Beads in a Bottle fabric paint in gold
Marvy snow marker

1.  Create a template of one side of the box and make a duplicate sheet.  Adhere to the box with tape runner.

2.  Add a few spots of adhesive on the ouside of the papered box.  Wrap the mesh ribbon all around the box, about 4 times in a random criss-cross pattern, making sure it sticks to the adhesive in places.   Cut and tuck strip on backside of box.

3.  The fun part?  Melting!  How can we have a wicked witch without some melting going on?  Take your heat tool and use a side to side motion over different sections until the mesh starts to melt (burn).  Be careful!  You don't want to overheat and set your crafty domain on fire. 

4.  Adhere swirly twine circles.  These were formed on the medium glue dots. Lollipop Guild!  Another ode to the Wizard of Oz!

5.  Adhere embossed witch hat and stamped sentiment with foam dots.

6.  The cauldron: this was super fun to make.  This image was fussy cut from the same DCWV stack.  Embellishing is optional but here's what I did:

Run a snow marker where you want "foam".  Before the heat process, I added a touch of October Afternoon Sprinklers Witch Hazel droplets over the snow marker ink.  Take the heat tool and dry in a side to side motion.  Once it starts drying, it will then begin to foam.  I heated it a bit longer to get a nice burned look.  Add the Tulip Beads in a Bottle fabric paint in gold.  This stuff dries amazingly quick!  I love the texture and dimension of my bubbling witches brew.  Don't you?

7.  Make homemade green glitter mesh filler: Take a plastic zippy bag and add several spritzes of the same October Afternoon paint and mist some water as well.  Add about 2-3 feet of the white mesh ribbon in the bag and work all of it together by squishing outside of sealed bag.  Add a little more paint and water as need to get desired color.  Lay the damp ribbon on craft mat, sprinkle with glitter, and let dry overnight.  

Check out the other Halloween boxes from the amazing artists and designers, comment at each stop and enter the Rafflecopter giveaway below.  Good luck!

An InLinkz Link-up

a Rafflecopter giveaway

#wizardofoz #halloweenpopcornbox14 #Cre8time #wickedwitch #unitystamps #mayartsribbon #dcwv #gluedots

10 Crafty Ways to Recycle your Coffee Cup

You know that moment when lightning strikes, that "ah ha" moment?  That's what happened while enjoying my morning coffee.  I thought to myself, " I bet there's a lot of ways I could get crafty with this thing."

So, I proceeded to make a list of things that immediately came to my mind.  Here are the resulting projects:

#1 - Decorate it.  Fill it with shredded paper, put a gift card in it, samples of coffee, whatever.  Your coffee loving friend will love it!  I know I would.

#2 - Make a card.  YES!  Is this not the best idea ever?!  Plus, it knocks out #3 on my list .....make confetti.  Oddly enough, this confetti actually looks like coffee beans.  I used a hole punch and Glue Dots to adhere.  You could actually punch out a bunch and use in lots of different ways: a shaker card, decorative confetti on the table, use for googly eyes, etc.

#4 - A Megaphone.   Decorate it in school colors, wrap it in washi tape.  I guarantee my child will want to take this with him to the next pep rally at school.

 Giant #5 - Giant Googly Eyes.  Let the kids have fun with this.  They could make silly faces, stick a piece of magnetic tape on the back, put the fun on the fridge.

#6 - Yes I did.  A coffee cup Christmas tree.  PLEASE USE LED LIGHTS so you don't burn the place down!

#7 - Bowling!  Put the lids on, turn them upside down and let the kids have a bowling alley in the kitchen.

Lastly, 8, 9 and 10.  Not pictured but still, fun ideas.  

#8 - Make a gift tag.  If you have a large circle punch, punch out a section (or draw a circle and trim with scissors) then use a small hole punch to run ribbon or string through.  Use a sharpie marker to write the name on the back.

#9 - Another rainy day kids game.....fill multiple cups halfway with water and have a fun coin toss.  This will keep them busy while you enjoy another cup of coffee.

#10 - Make a coffee cup snowman.  Turn it upside.  Take a Styrofoam round ball and stick to top with a toothpick or glue.  Poke stick branches through the side for arms and decorate.  *Tip - the lid makes a cute hat!

Have fun getting crafty with these recycled ideas.  I can guarantee you'll create some great conversation pieces!

(Please note, the company that promotes this cup does not endorse this article.  To date, I have not received a response from a certain corporation to be granted permission to promote their branded cup)

Update:  McDonald's tweeted.  They like my project.  :)

#gluedots #cre8time #Christmas #recycle #upcycle #DIY

Disclosure:  If you decide to make a purchase through my affiliate links, I may receive a commission for it. This doesn’t cost you anything additional. These commissions help to keep the rest of my content free, so thank you!

Partial dry embossing, 3 different looks and some bonus tips!

Ever have a day when you start something but just can't seem to finish it?  This project started, oh, about 3 weeks ago.  Other things kept getting in the way.  You know, life.  However, today is a new day and I am going to finish this! 

 

We crafters are known for our tools and yours truly is no exception.  I love my Cuttlebug.  The hubs gave it to me for Christmas one year.  Well, actually, I said give me your credit card and I'll go buy my Christmas present.  Have you tried the partial embossing technique?  Don't you love it?  It's so easy and the possibilities are endless with what you can do.  Using this technique to embellish little things, such as these gift tags, are one way.  Just place your tag where you want the image stamped.  Usually on the the edge is where you want to do this. 

 

*Tip: Make your own tag template and stop spending money on tags!  Especially great for making tags using colored/patterned cardstock.

 

 

 

But don't stop there.  You can really jazz up your embossed image and I've got 3 different tags below that show you what I've done.  I used a snow marker on one (you can buy these at Hobby Lobby for 3.99 right now during the holiday season in the Christmas craft section, plus use a 40% off coupon!)  Snow markers are so fun.  Just run it where you want "snow" and use a heat embossing tool to dry it and it foams right up.

 

 

 On the next tag, I used a little paint and some Tulip Beads in a Bottle and for the last tag, some Zig 2 way glue and Doodlebug Designs glitter.  If you're going to make your own tags, like I do, get yourself a nice tag reinforcer die.  I love this one from Waffle Flower Crafts and it's only around $2.00!  Make all kinds of cool tag reinforcers.

 

*See that washi tape?  Tip: when using on colored cardstock, tape it over white paper, then adhere it to your project.

 

 

 

Hope you enjoy trying out this technique.  Have a wonderful holiday season!

 

Supplies:  Unity Stamp "Special Delivery" stamp from the October 2013 kit of the month, May Arts Ribbon twine, Marvy snow marker, Doodlebug Designs Sugar coating glitter in Lily White, Tulip Gold Beads in a Bottle, Plaid Folk Art white paint, Plaid Folk art Gold metallic paint, Zig 2 way glue marker, Basic Grey candy buttons, The Rubber Cafe sheer glue (for the "snow drops" which were, once dried, then painted white), washi tape, Quick Quotes Powder Puff chalk ink in yellow, Waffle Flower Crafts tag reinforcer die, SEI gold cardstock, The Paper Studio Christmas trees embossing folder, K & Co green plaid cardstock, Lil' Inker Designs stitched oval mat frame die

 

#waffleflowercrafts #unitystampco #mayartsribbon #ilovechristmas #plaidcrafts

DIY 20 Minute Student Desk Refurbish

I've got a quick, easy project for you today.  This student desk is a perfect addition to my craft room, but first, I've got to whip it into shape.  As you can see below, the desk is covered in some kind of painted scribble, and I've decided to put my scrapping, crafty skills to use.  It only took about 20 minutes of my  time and 4 supplies, all of which can be found at your local hobby store:

- Mod Podge
- Foam brush or medium paintbrush
- Metal paint scraper
- 4x6 adhesive mat stack (found in the scrapbook paper section)

 

I used an adhesive mat stack (DCWV) that has almost a quilted look once all the sections are in place.  I layered from left to right, alternating so the top and bottom rows are vertical and the inner row horizontal, trimming a few smaller sectional pieces to finish the last row.    

Once all sections are adhered, take your brush and brush on 

the Mod Podge, covering completely in a thin layer.  Before completely dry, take your paint scraper and gently scrape out any air bubbles.  If desired, add a second coat of Mod Podge.

#DIY #Cre8time #upcycle #modpodge #dcwv #craft

Disclosure:  If you decide to make a purchase through my affiliate links, Amazon will pay me a commission for it. This doesn’t cost you anything additional. These commissions help to keep the rest of my content free, so thank you!

Over-sized Shaker Card with Rudolph

You know that moment when you start to toss something and then......oh, wait.

That's what I did with the packaging from an embossing folder.  I've had this idea for awhile and finally decided to give it a try.  Let me tell you, shaker cards are not my thing.  Some crafters can pull it off and make it look effortless.  I am NOT one of those crafters!

This card required lots of measurements and even then, I had to trim the top of the kraft card so it was proportional. 

Rudolph was stamped, watercolored with Colorbox archival ink, then fussy cut and adhered to the vellum paper.  That's extra fine red glitter glued to his nose.  Most of the products used are from Pretty Little Studio:  the starry vellum paper, the starry sequins, the speech bubble and wording as well.  Under the vellum is a section of scrapbook paper that was cut from a Martha Stewart Christmas stack and features Santa in his sleigh. 

So there you go.  

Hope you have fun finding joy in re-purposing those almost tossed items too.  

Merry Christmas!

Supplies: Repurposed plastic packaging, Tombow Aqua Mono glue, Martha Stewart designer paper, Extra fine red glitter, Pretty Little Studio starry vellum, Christmas words, Starry night confetti, and speech bubble, The Paper Studio kraft card and white textured cardstock, Colorbox archival ink in Saddle, Marvy Le pen extra fine point black,, white gelly roll pen, Studio g kids rudolph stamp

Hope for a cure and Friends with Flair

As we all know, October is the month to raise awareness for Breast Cancer.  I know too many people who've suffered from this horrific disease, including my own sister and mother.  In the instance of my younger sister, she went years without a mammogram.  Too many years.  She found a lump but still procrastinated having a doctor look at it.  It wasn't until she noticed the lump was larger that she finally went to see a doctor.  Had she been attentive many years earlier, she may have avoided the ensueing chemo and radiation treatments, a mastectomy and all the horrible side effects; the weakness, the loss of hair, the depression, and so on. 

 

My mother?  They caught hers very early.  So early in fact, it was self-contained in one spot and she never needed chemo or radiation.  She did, however, have a mastectomy.  She has been cancer free for 7 or 8 years now.

 

Thank God, my sister is a fighter.  Thank God, she had medical resources at her disposal and a good support system.  Today, she is healthy, happy and loving life.  This is not the case for many women and men.  Get checked.  Don't put it off.  You may be saving your own life.

 

 

 

Please go visit the other projects from the Mountain Plains Crafters design team here. 

 

Would you like to make a difference for someone?  Help me raise funds for our local chapter of Steel Magnolias.  You can donate here:  http://www.steelmagnoliasinc.org/

 

If you would like to buy the above card or any other cards on my site, I will be donating sales to Steel Magnolias.  You can email me at momtojeb (at) gmail (dot) com for more information. 

(spelleded out to avoid spammers)

 

I'll be entering my card into the Unity Friends with Flair challenge, to further promote awareness.

 

 

Supplies: Unity Stamp  Co "Hope for a cure" sentiment, Colorbox Cat Eye pink ink, American Crafts pink adhesive glitter tape (hole punched), Ranger mini blending tool, Sharpie extra fine pink glitter paint pen, Ranger Adirondack black ink, Marvy black extra fine point Le pen,

Labor of Love with my Kaisercraft house and Graphic 45

 Once upon a time, a young girl......wait, back up.  Let's try this again.   Once upon a time, a middle aged woman (wink!) had a dream.  In that dream, were castles, kings and queens, and magic wands.

Ok, hold up.  That is NOT how it happened.  But very, very close.  The summer of July 2014.  It was the summer of love for this crafty chic. 

 

The journey of this house begins here, where I won a blog hop giveaway featuring the Papercrafts & Scrapbooking Magazine, Creative Spaces issue #3 from Stacy Cohen who's craft space was featured in the magazine.  The prize?  A Kaisercraft House. 

 

While waiting on my Kaisercraft house to arrive, I spent quality time at the Scrapbook Expo in Duluth, GA where I met some cool crafty designers; Jenny Bowlin (her paper from the Family Tree collection is used as the tag reinforcers for the keyholes), Richard Garay of Spellbinders, and other fabulous, crafty geniuses. 

Next, it was on to the CHA (Craft and Hobby Association) Paper Arts show in Atlanta where I scored the lucky gig of being the guest blogger.  I was priviledged to hang out with Graphic 45 who are sponsors of Mountain Plains Crafters, a crafty fun site of which I am co-founder.  It was so fun to meet Jeff and Joanna and attend the G45 workshop.  I decided then and there, that I would use the gorgeous "Come Away With Me" papers on my Kaisercraft house when it arrived.

 

This is what I started with:                                                                                                                 

 

 

And this is the finished project

 

 

First, I Mod Podged the roof and painted the house in white.  Thank you to the lovely folks at Plaid who gave me samples from CHA.  I used the Folk Art white paint, as well.  I tried to incorporate as many "CHA" products as I could into this project.  It truly is a labor of love and I loved my time with all the vendors at the Paper Arts show!

 

 

Next, I cut the covers for the drawers.  I made a template and cut multiple copies from the template, and Mod Podged these as well.  The Come Away with Me collection has many, many locations mentioned on it's papers.  It's all about traveling to far away places. 

 

 

Being a native New Yorker, I used as many of the NY graphics that I could find.  A homage to my home state that I dearly miss, along with my family, as well. 

 I also cut the Graphic 45 keys with my plier wire cutter, to use as handles on the drawers.  I ended up using 3 packages of keys on this house.  I've got to say, it's been really fun putting this together!  Slow going, but fun.   How are those keys staying put?  Tombow Aqua mono glue.  Front and back.  You've got to break out the good stuff for a project like this.  #smile

 I really wanted a gorgeous topper for my house so I made my own.  There's a bunch of product on this beauty; Maya Road (kraft doily), Prima Marketing (enamel dots), Unity Stamp Co (background woodgrain stamp inked onto the kraft doily), May Arts Ribbon (white rosette and kraft twine), Tombow Xtreme adhesive, Fabscraps, UmWow Studio (woodchip butterflies), My Favorite Things (Die-namics scalloped flower die for quilling) Pinkfresh Studio (Scribbles die).....much of what you see on this topper was inspired by the beautiful creations I saw at the Paper Arts show. 

 

I am finally finished with my house.  Now, it's all about filling it up.  I intended to use it as a keeper of small items such as sequins, buttons, etc.  I'm saving the maker labels inside each box and identifying each drawer with a glued item.  This lets me know where to find what so I don't have to pull out every drawer, plus, it adds a little more inventiveness to my house. 

I hate to admit it but I'm a little sad that I'm finished.  The saving grace is that I have so many memories of my "summer of love" tied up into this house.  I'll forever cherish the good times I had and look forward to making fabulous, new memories.

#CHA #CHASHOW #Cre8time #Kaisercraft #g45papers #graphic45 #plaidcrafts #prettypinkposh #maggieholmes #primamarketing #mayartsribbon #unitystamps #tombow #cratepaper #laurakellydesigns #vintage

Pink Butterfly on Bella Crafts Quarterly

I'm so excited to have my first project with Bella Crafts Quarterly online craft magazine published on their blog today.  I've done a watercolor and heat embossing tutorial.

Please follow this link, comment and share.  Breast cancer is a horrible disease and we need a cure!

http://bellacraftsquarterly.com/breast-cancer-awareness-card

Santa! I know him!

We are HUGE fans of Buddy the Elf, at our house.  In fact, we have absolutely worn out our dvd and I just might have to buy a new copy for Christmas.

 

I've had this awesome stamp set from Waffle Flower and one of the things I like to do, is use traditional stamps in a non-traditional way.  When I first saw this Christmas tree, immediately it reminded me of an elf hat.  That's how my crazy mind works, I guess.  Sometimes, crazy is good, right?

 

So I used green and yellow inks on the tree and added that famous quote from the movie, Elf.  I'm pretty sure my Elf-loving sister is going to want this card for Christmas.

 

Do you ever flip the script on stamping?  Tell me about, I'd love to hear!

 

My Pinterest-click here

 

 

Supplies: Quick Quotes Powder Puff green and yellow chalk ink, Ranger black ink, Wow! Green extra fine glitter, Tombow mono aqua glue, Spellbinders Celebra'tions Golden Glow ink, Inky Antics Serif font stamps, black glitter sticker letters, maker unknown, used for "I Know Him"

World Cardmaking Day and Graphic 45

 We are having a big celebration over at the Mountain Plains Crafters Facebook Community Page.  All you have to do is head on over there, like the page, comment and tag your friends in the comment section.  As many times as you want.  Just don't tag the same friend over and over, haha.

It's being sponsored by the lovely folks at Graphic 45.  And boy, did they send a doozy of a prize!

So here's my project.  I'm using the Come Away With Me papers and chipboard.  I used one of my favorite dies, the stitched oval frame from Lil Inker Design, and placed it off-center, using the Easy See tape from Crafter's Essentials to hold my die in place.  I've got the stitching of the die facing down on the paper as I want to have the outer circle stitched, and save the frame for another day.  I ran this die through my Cuttlebug using plates A, C and B.

I love that this tape does NOT stick to the paper so no worries about peeling off any of my lovely vintage designer paper.  This is going to be a panel card with a photo underneath the panel.  I also distressed the paper edges with my Tim Holtz distressing tool.

 Now, I'm going to take this lovely flower from May Arts ribbon and "magically" change it's color, using Tim Holtz Brushed Corduroy distress ink, and then spraying with some Clearsnap Smooch Spritz in Cashmere.  I used the Brushed Corduroy on my paper also to really give it that "tarnished", old look in places.

I quilled some flowers for the first time!  So proud of myself.  I used the My Favorite Things Die-namics rolled scalloped flower die, a quilling tool and the double-sided polka dot paper from Come Away with Me.  The flower was held together with some Tombow Mono Aqua glue at the base.  That stuff is awesome.

This photo is of my Great-great Grandfather, Harrison Samuel Landers.  My Uncle Everett says, his feet never touched land before he had to turn around and head back to sea.  I believe he served in World War I as a Lieutenant Commander in the Navy.  So when my Aunt sent me this photo, I knew I wanted to do something vintage with it and pay homage to my ancestor.  Graphic 45 was the perfect setting for this photograph.  I'm so grateful for the wonderful vintage style products they make.  

Additional supplies: UmWow Studio wood stars, Prima Marketing enamel dots, The Paper Studio Sticky Doo pop up squares, May Arts Ribbon natural burlap twine, piece of old lace

#CHA #Cre8time #graphic45 #tombowusa #clearsnap #mayartsribbon #craftersessentials

#mftstamps

#WCMD Oct 4 2014 and Winnie & Walter

There are all kinds of fun events going on today for World Cardmaking Day.  Winnie & Walter would like a picture of your craft space so here's a panoramic view.  And yes, its messy.  You can also enter here: 

http://www.blog.winniewalter.com/2014/10/wcmd-2014-welcome-details-craftie.html?m=1

World Cardmaking Day & Pink Ribbon

October is near and dear to my heart.  It's the month of recognizing breast cancer awareness.  Unfortunately, my family is all to familiar with this disease. 

Also, Saturday is World Cardmaking Day and I plan on knocking out 2 birds with one stone; entering this card in various challenges and reminding women to get their mammogram.  Don't go years without having this done.  Your life could be at risk! 

Entering inthe following challenges:  

Unity Friends with Flair

Little Tangles Anything Goes Challenge

Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge: Smooch

Simon Says Stamp monday challenge: Finishing touch

Newton's Nook design