Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Vintage ChrisMouse

There is a Vintage Christmas challenge going on over at the Kraftin' Kimmie blog.  Take a look at the card I made for the challenge.


Okay, I know that mice usually aren't cute....but this little guy is adorable...especially since he is asleep and not running around my house!   

Supplies used:

Kraftin' Kimmie Stamp - The Dormouse
Stampin' Up - snowflake stamp (used to "decorate" the teacup) - Confetti stamp set
October Afternoon - sentiment from Make It Merry 8x8 pad 
Martha Stewart - colored pencils (for bow)
Stampin' Up ink pads - Crumb Cake (mouse/cup image) and Riding Hood Red (teacup decoration and distressing around edges of cream cardstock)
Cream and red cardstock - Bazzill Basics Paper




Monday, December 9, 2013

Whisker Graphics Giveaways

The fine folks at Whisker Graphics have some giveaways going on.

How about this gold metallic Divine Twine....wouldn't that look nice decorating some Christmas cards?

Gold not your style?  They are also giving away silver too!

And if that doesn't excite you, take a lookie at the Kit and Kaboodle prize pack they are giving away.

Yay! for Whisker Graphics!!


Sunday, December 8, 2013

Another Custom Envelope

Last week I had a short blog post about an envelope I made using the new Stampin' Up envelope punch board.  Here is another envelope I made recently using the envelope guide that came with my Martha Stewart scoring board.

front  

Inside

Sealed back of envelope

Supplies used:
Martha Stewart Scoring Board with Envelope Guide
Graphic 45 Joyous Noel paper - Christmas Emporium collection

Wonder whose mailbox this will end up in?  It may be you.



Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Lookie What I Found

You know that misplaced postcard I mentioned in yesterday's post?  I found it today and I wasn't even looking for it.  I was looking for yet another item that I've misplaced ~;o)


Tuesday, December 3, 2013

The Fine Art of Being an Organized Person......NOT

I can't decide if I am the most organized unorganized person or the most unorganized organized person.  I think the very act of getting organized overwhelms me.  I have good intentions......really I do! Anyhoo, where was I going with this?  See what I mean?  I can't even get my thoughts organized.  ;o)

Let's see....organized unorganized person......unorganized organized person.....overwhelmed......good intentions....Okay, now I remember.  

Thanks to my bestest crafting buddy, Cheryl (let me invite you to visit her crafty blog here), I *will* be organized this year for holiday planning.

Take a look at the adorable Christmas planner that Cheryl made for me.  It arrived in the mail today (don't you just *love* that kind of snail mail?)




I've been out most of the day but have plans to hibernate for most of the balance of this week so I'll be working on getting my plans "organized" in my Christmas planner.  Here are two more photos showing some of the different sections in the planner.




To end this post I had good intentions (see paragraph one) to include a photo of a postcard that I found in Austin a few months ago.  It had a funnny little saying on it about being organized.  When I saw it in the bookstore, I immediately knew that it needed to be a part of my postcard collection since the saying described me perfectly.......and once I figure out where I put said postcard (an organized person would have put the postcard with the rest of her collection), I'll be sure to post a picture of it! 






Monday, December 2, 2013

How Cute Is This??

Take a look at the envie I made with my new Stampin' Up envelope punch board.


I have 5,000 things to do this evening or I would go into more detail about the envelope punch board.  Let me just say that it is a paper crafting tool that allows you to make your own envelopes.  

I needed to mail a Christmas treat but didn't have a festive envie large enough for the item.  So I finally tried out the envelope punch board that has been sitting in its box since I bought it two months ago.  

As you can see from the above photo, my item fit perfectly in the envelope.  YAY!!  

Here are a couple more photos.






Supplies used:

Stampin' Up Envelope Punch Board
Graphic 45 Merry & Bright two-sided paper from the Christmas Emporium collection

BTW, isn't the address label cute?  It is actually a gift tag.  I covered up "FROM" using a thin piece of washi tape.

Gotta run....lots more to do.  


Tuesday, November 26, 2013

A Tutorial Request - Paper Boxes

Someone left a comment on yesterday's blog post requesting a tutorial on the paper box that I had made.  So, here goes!  I do recommend that you read thru the entire tutorial before beginning your project.

Supplies needed:
box bottom - paper cut 8 3/8" square
box top - paper cut 8 7/8" square
insert for box bottom, if desired - 3" square
insert for box top, if desired - 3 1/8" square
embellishments for box top, if desired
bone folder, for nice, crisp creases
stamp pad and sponge dauber, if desired
adhesive of your choice

For the bottom of box, you will need a piece of 8 3/8" square patterned paper.  I'm using double-sided paper but single sided will work just as well.  Here is what I've chosen for the box bottom - "Alpine" from the Studio Calico Wonderland Collection.





For the box top, cut a piece of coordinating paper 8 7/8" square.  My box top is "Handknit" from the Studio Calico Wonderland Collection.  You don't have to use paper from the same collection but I would choose a coordinating color (we want our box to be pretty....don't we?)



Okay now take the paper that you've chosen as your box top, turn the WRONG side facing you and draw lines from opposite corners as shown (you'll end up with a big "X" which is very difficult to see in the photo below...sorry!)



Keeping the WRONG side facing you, fold each corner into the center of the paper, creasing with the bone folder that I'm sure each one of you has.  One corner done......

That 'X' is a little easier to see in the photo above.


Now fold and crease the other three corners.  When you are done, it will look like this - 



The next step is to fold the outer edge to the center, crease, and then open.  Do this on all four sides.  Confused?  First, fold the outer edge to the center and crease....like this




Now open it back up (you can see the crease at the bottom), 



Turn the paper 1/4 turn and do the same to that side.  (My first crease, which is hard to see, is now on the left hand side.)



After folding, creasing, and reopening the second side, turn the paper another 1/4 turn to fold, crease and reopen the third side.  And finally, repeat the same steps with the final (fourth) side.  When you get done with all four sides, your paper will look like this.



Alrighty, now fully open two opposite sides.  You should have something that looks like this.



Next step, bring the two folded (red above) sides upright and fold the open (blue above) ends up and into the box.  Here's where the fun begins with me trying to photograph this process.  I'll give it my best shot!  

Bring the two folded sides upright......




And then bring the open ends up and into the box......

Following are several photos that will hopefully prove to be helpful.





 
 












Finally.....a box top!



You follow the same steps with the paper for the box bottom.  The bottom will turn out just like the top (hopefully!) just a little bit smaller.  Here is my box bottom.



If you want to add an insert in your top and bottom pieces to hide the paper edges, you will need a 3" square to insert in the bottom and a 3 1/8" square to insert in the top.  I cut the bottom insert from the paper used for my box top.  The insert will fit in pretty snug but if you want you can also add a bit of adhesive so there is no chance for it falling out. 
 
Here is the bottom with the insert.



And the top with insert.



Put the box top on the box bottom and add embellishment to the top, if desired.  I decided to go with the December 25 stamp from the Stampin' Up Joyous Celebrations set.  I stamped using green ink on white paper, punched it out using the Stampin' Up 1" punch.  This was adhered to green cardstock on which I had used my Stampin' Up postage stamp punch.  Foam adhesives were used to "pop" this on the box top.





Some of your box edges may look a little "rough" from the creasing.  If you notice in some of the photos above, some of the edges have a white look to them.  This is from using paper with a white core.  If this happens, you can sponge around the edges of your box using an ink pad color that matches your paper. 
 
I hope this tutorial helps.  It was difficult at times trying to snap a photo with one hand and show a folding technique with the other hand.  If there are any questions, please leave a comment or email me and I'll do my best to answer.  So, on your mark, get set, GO! construct a paper box!

Monday, November 25, 2013

Paper Boxes

My friend, Judy, belongs to a needlepoint guild.  At their last meeting, they actually did a papercraft project - constructing paper boxes out of cute scrapbook paper.  While Judy is crafty in the needleworks area, she isn't quite so crafty in the papercrafts area (or so she says).  Anyhoo, instead of making her paper box, she brought the materials and instructions to *yours truly * to finish.

Since the paper for this project was 1) so cute and 2) not a part of my own personal inventory, I decided to try constructing a box using some of my paper.  If I happen to read the instructions wrong and end up with a lopsided box, I would prefer that it be done with paper from my stash and not with this cute paper that Judy entrusted to me........


Isn't this sewing-related paper adorable?  This particular paper is one-sided so the bottom of box will be made using the thimble paper and the box top will be the needle/thread paper.  How cute is that going to be?

But first, back to me making the box using *my* paper.  I actually used two-sided paper ('Tis The Season from Graphic 45's Christmas Emporium collection); however, I made the box (top and bottom) using one side and used the opposite side to line the box.

Let's see how it looks.  Here is the bottom of the box - 


And a similar looking top (this shows the inside of the box top) - 



To "finish" the top of the box, I added a strip of the inside lining paper and adhered a "joy" sentiment.  Let's see how it looks.....






Cute isn't it?  Okay now so how about the finished box using Judy's papers?  Well, since Tom and I are having Thanksgiving dinner with Judy and her hubby, I have decided that Judy and I will have a little papercrafting lesson after dinner.  I'm sure she will be excited about that ;o) - I will take a photo of the finished box and post it on a future blog....but until then, keep crafting!





Saturday, November 23, 2013

A fine day to stay inside and craft!

While there is no snow blowing outside and it is not raining cats and dogs, the temperature is still frigid enough to entice me to stay indoors today.  And you know what that means........craft time!

A few months ago I stitched a little piece from the 2012 Just Cross-Stitch magazine annual Christmas ornament issue.  Today I finally got around to doing the finishing work on it.  Here is the finished ornament.


This is a Glory Bee design.  I stitched it over one on a high-count linen which made the stitched area approximately 1.75x2.25".  To finish it I blanket-stitched it to a piece of gold felt, added a button and
 ribbon hanger.

So what is keeping you occupied on this cool autumn day?

Monday, November 18, 2013

Sleigh Bells Ring

......are ya listening?


Supplies used:
Red cardstock and silver bells - Stampin' Up
Patterned paper and sentiment - October Afternoon:Make It Merry collection
Season's Greetings washi tape - Recollections - (Michaels)



A Last Minute Holiday Project

Today I decided to work on making some Christmas cards.  While looking thru my Christmas supplies,  I found this vintage looking 8x8 paper collection Make it Merry by October Afternoon.  Isn't it adorable??





Well, while thumbing thru the papers, I saw this one and immediately thought of a little "spread some holiday cheer" project that I would like to do.  



Normally, these numbers would probably be used for a Christmas Advent calendar papercrafting project and that is how I plan on using them......with just a little twist to it.  

Everyone likes to get snail mail, right?  Well, here is my plan.  

1.  Come up with a list of twenty-five random friends.
2.  Make up some really cute envelopes using Christmas-themed paper
3.  Place some little "treat/gift" in said envelope.
4.  Adhere one of these little numbered squares to outside of said envelopes, and
5.  Mail to said random recipient.

Sound like fun?  I think so.  Depending on where the recipient lives (either locally, a few states away, or even another country) I will mail the envelopes so they arrive close to the date (ideally they would arrive *on* the date) corresponding to the number on the envelope.  

I'll keep you posted!  Guess I better get my craft on.  December 1 will be here soon!