Birthdays and Birthday Cards

So my oldest little boy turned 6 years old on Friday.  That is also the same day I helped the PTO run the school's Fall Festival.  So we kept saying to Tommy that the WHOLE SCHOOL was having a party just for him!  He didn't buy it.  But he did make a point of telling EVERYONE he talked to that night, that it was his birthday!  This is the night where kids made the pumpkins that I showed you a few weeks ago.  They seemed to enjoy them, though if we do them next year, I have some improvement ideas on my design (assuming I can even remember them!). 

 

Well Friday, after having breakfast with my boy at school, I came home and made a 12x12 card for him from his whole family.  Using my Pazzles, I cut out a "superhero", he looks JUST LIKE Batman, but of course that name is licensed, so we will just call him a black and blue superhero. :)  He has a great tan, just like my Tommy boy.  Here is a pic of it before everyone signed it and I hung it up.

 

 

The superhero is on a wobble sticky too, so he "dances" when you bump him.  I thought it turned out cute and he is very proud to have it hanging on his door. 

 

So more on birthdays... I signed up for a birthday card swap for both boys and girls.  I have to send in 5 cards for each category.  They are due like November 9th, but I am on a roll getting things done and I had some inspiration today as well as time!  So in my usual "lazy crafter" fashion, here is what I came up with for the girl birthday card. 

 

 

I think they are cute, and my 7 year old daughters had a FIT about them!  The picture actually doesn't do it justice.  There is GLITTER EVERYWHERE! 

 

Here is the boy birthday card - did I already share this?  Can't remember so here you go!

 

 

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend.  I'm going to be starting on a family project that I cannot share until after the holidays, but I will still do Christmas cards, December Daily, and maybe some more swaps.  I am in TWO secret sister groups, but I can't show those items either!  Bummer.  That's okay, I will have enough going on to bore each and every one of you! 

 

Now on to make about 30 hair bows by Tuesday, for my Girl Scout troop.  These are different than the previous hair bows, though they still use bottle caps.  So I will post those in the next day or two.

 

Happy Sunday or "Church Day" as my little Robby used to say.  Hugs to you all, and God Bless!

 

OWH Cards

OWH is Operation Write Home.  It is a wonderful organization put together to send handmade cards to our Heroes overseas.  They are designed for all seasons, holidays, birthdays, or just general cards, blank on the inside, and sent to our Military Heroes to use to stay in touch with their families back home.  Postage for our heroes is free, so there is no need to include return postage.  You can read more about the program here http://operationwritehome.org/.  Since 2007, they have sent 1,821,024 cards to our deployed heroes!  That's phenomenal!

 

An online friend, or a few of them actually, help out with the promotions and collections of these cards.  Now that life is settling down a bit, as I get back into crafting more, this is something I really NEEDED to do.  So I sat down and made a set of Christmas cards that will mail out today. 

 

I looked through my stash for some not too bright and NON glittery (a no-no for OWH) paper, and found this stack I believe I picked up last year on clearance.

 

 

Green is one of the primary Christmas colors, although it USUALLY wreaths or trees I make in green.  I just could not seem to make a tree or wreath I was happy with sans glitter, so I chose snowflakes.  Actually a little ironic to send cards to Afghanistan or something, but still Christmasy.

 

As I looked around trying to decide the best way to make these cards, I chose my Martha Stewart punch (have NO idea what the name is) that looks like snowflakes.  This is the result on the front part of the card.

 

 

Isn't that pretty?  Might actually be stars, but in my world on THIS card, they are snow flakes!  lol 

 

So I played around with inking edges and overall layout.  I am just not good at less feminine cards!  I know we have a ton of female soldiers, too, but I just feel like cards sent to the military should be more masculine than feminine. 

 

 

So, on to embellishments.  I tried cutting several snowflakes with my Pazzles Inspiration, but just was not happy with the size the snowflake had to be to include the round sentiment I wanted to stamp.  So I decided on a Christmas Ornament, giving it a more Christmasy look, too.

 

 

Something is STILL missing!  My crazy mind keep wanting to use glitter or glimmer mist...  Hey, I have some GREAT washi tape! 

 

 

I am pleased with this card. I can't say I am thrilled 100% but for my first batch, I'm happy.  Mailing these out today, and will work on another batch here soon.  If you would like to contribute to this  amazing cause, just click the link above for more information.

 

Next, I will post the craft our Girl Scouts did for the Elementary School Fall Festival (it's tomorrow!) 

 

Please "Join This Site" and share with friends.  The more followers, the more opportunity for prizes!

 

Thank you and God Bless!!

Got my Mama a craftin'!

Even though I would often like to believe I was adopted, unfortunately I am not.  So, I just accept the role of "black sheep" in my family.  Well, I married the black sheep of his family, too, and together, we continue that legacy in both families, being the "oddballs". 

 

That being said, clearly, I am saying I am NOTHING like other members of my family.  My sister is 38, never been married, can't keep a job, and just had her first baby two months ago. So, she is raising her daughter as a "single mom" but my mom has more or less moved in with her as full time help.  They have a very very strange relationship.  I won't dwell on the oddities of my family, just explaining how DIFFERENT I am than the rest of them.  I have a brother, too, but we won't go there right now. 

 

 Even though I am not Suzi homemaker, I love to craft, cook and bake, etc etc.  My mom is not a good cook.  She takes pork chops and throws them in the oven for an hour and calls it dinner.  No seasonings, no marinade, just plain pork chops.  Or sometimes chicken.  My hubby and I have an entire cabinet of spices and add much flavoring to our food!  Mine and my mother's craft lives are much like this.  My mom likes to look at other people's crafts and say, "I just couldn't do that. I will just go to Hallmark."  Actually more like Wal-mart, but you get my point.

 

So, this all being said and having bored the pants off you, I got my mom to actually do some crafts yesterday!  She came over because she was bored and my sister took her baby to Denver. She wanted to just be upset, but I started showing off some cards I have been working on for a swap, and she perked up.  Then she had an idea.  So we tried it.  And she had another idea (so very weird!!) and next thing I knew, she actually made herself a set of 6 Halloween cards! 

 

 

They are very simple but very cute (she's a lazy crafter too!).  Just took me her 67 years to learn this about her!  She actually smiled, laughed and said a lot of positive things!  Ok, if you know my family, they thrive on negativity.  

 

So I thought I would show off her card.  Don't worry, she doesn't read my blog.  She is afraid of the Internet.  Despite all her oddities, I do love my mom.  I could complain about a lot of things I wish were different, but it's not necessary.  Keeping God in my life, mostly front and center (I'm not perfect), really gives me a different focus in life than the rest of my family. 

 

So here you have it, you CAN teach an old dog new tricks!  haha, don't tell her I said that please.

Multi Layer Hair Bow with BottleCap Tutorial

As promised, I am posting a picture tutorial of how to put together a multiple layer hair bow.  Or at least how I do it.  Two of my girls are in a local Youth Dance and Cheer Team, and the colors for the group are red, black and white.  So, being the handy little lady I am (cough cough, I know!), I decided to make them hair bows just to wear to practice and fund raisers.  A few moms commented that they like them, so while making some to pass out to other girls, I took lots of pictures to show how I completed this masterpiece cute hair bow.

I used 7/8 inch grosgrain black ribbon and 7/8 inch grosgrain "cheer" ribbon for the first part.  I cut three lengths 4 inches long, of each type of ribbon. 

 

 

 

The top layer is going to be a totally different type of bow, so for that I used 5/8 inch grosgrain red ribbon.  With this, I also cut 3 lengths, but these are 6 inches long.

 

 

On the black and cheer ribbon, I cut the ends at an angle.  To do this, fold the end of the ribbon in half and cut at an angle, from the outside down to the folded side. It should look like this as it's cut.

 

 

This is what all 6 lengths look like after being cut and heat sealed. If you aren't familiar with heat sealing, it's just running a lighter or other heat source (I think a lighter is quickest and easiest personally) over the ends QUICKLY to singe them and prevent any fraying.

 

 At this point, I use a CRAFT Needle, not a sewing needle, to start sewing the ribbon into shape. Sewing needles are frail, while craft needles are more durable. The color of the thread you choose makes no difference. You shouldn't see it on the finished product. I like to use a contrasting color just so I can see it better. 

 

 

Now you want to take your first ribbon, fold it in half in the middle, then turn the edges BACK on itself.  Not sure how to explain that and it was hard to get a picture.  Think of a bow tie, or for me, I kept thinking of a paper airplane.  You folded the paper in half, then folded each "wing" back so that you got a kind of accordion fold.  This fold makes the ribbon POP when it's all put together.  Using the craft needle and thread, stitch each of the six 4 inch ribbon cuts so that it maintains this bow tie shape.  It will take at least 5 or 6 stitches, just going over and over the same area, for it to keep it's shape. 

 

 

Once you are done with all six pieces, assemble the 3 matching colors together and stitch again to ensure they form a tight flowery type shape. Again, this would be next to impossible with a regular sewing needle.  IF you do not have a craft needle, you CAN just wrap thread around the ribbon individually above, and also in the cluster below.  However, I would fear that the wrap method might not hold the shape quite as tight. 

Now for the top layer.  Using the 6 inch strands of the 5/8 inch ribbon, again, seal the edges.  But no fancy cuts are necessary.  Make a circle with this ribbon as shown below. 

 

When you pinch the sides of this circle together, it should look like this.  I forgot to take a picture of this stitching, but sew this ribbon together, as you see it below.  The two ends should be part of the folded area.  I really don't think you could wrap this, but you could hot glue it if you needed to.  As much as I personally despise sewing, I think these are so much stronger and tighter in their shape when you hand stitch them. 

 

 

After you have sewn together (or otherwise assembled) the three narrower ribbons, lay them together as shown and stitch them together, similar to how you did the first two.

 

 

Now I reach for my hot glue gun.  I actually used my smaller gun on these.  It doesn't get as hot, and since I will be working with metal in a few minutes, I prefer that the glue not be quite as hot!  I use the glue gun to assemble the first two flowery ribbons assembled.  Twist them, turn them, use the glue to get the desired look with your ribbons.

Then hot glue (warm glue, whatever) the center of the top, narrower ribbon piece you assembled. And attach to the TOP of the ribbon you put together above.

I like to use alligator clips with teeth.  One of my daughters has ridiculously fine blond hair, and the other has very THICK hair, so the teeth help in both cases, to keep the bow in place.  I cut a small piece of felt, usually try to make it the same color as the lowest layer of ribbon.  Should be long enough to cover the top part of the clip with maybe 1/2 inch or so on each side, for attaching to the bow.  This will also help form a stronger bond to the bow.  Attached by itself, the clips tend to pop off.  But you can be more generous with adhesive when you incorporate a piece of felt.

 

Glue it to the bottom of your bow.

 

These are 1 inch circular designs I chose and purchased from a seller on Etsy.  The 1 inch design fits perfectly into a bottle cap.  If you have never used bottle cap designs in anything, they are really fun.  You can of course, add any other embellishment to finish off your bows, but I am in love with bottle caps right now!

 

These designs are printed on photo paper, so they are thick and glossy.  I use my one inch circle punch to cut out the design I chose for the top of the bow. Sticking with the cheer theme, I chose the one below, Peach, Love and Cheerleading.

 

Using a black bottle cap, the color I thought offset this whole design well, I put a few pop dots inside the bottle cap, and then attached the design I cut above.

 

I have tried a lot of different ways to seal designs into the bottle caps.  This has become my favorite, as it's the EASIEST!  I bought these Spare Parts epoxy stickers at Hobby Lobby.  There are 24 to a pack, and regular priced, a pack is $2.99.  However, if you know me, I NEVER pay full price.  About once a month, Hobby Lobby puts Spare Parts on sale for 50% off.  Then I stock up!  24 stickers for $1.50 is so much better, don't ya' think?

 

 

It only takes one sticker on top of your design within the bottle cap.  Now it's pretty much sealed and now it's even shinier!  Hot glue (warm glue, whatever you prefer with a STRONG bond) the bottle cap on the top of the bow. Here is the finished product! 

 

I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial.  These are lots of fun.  I would have tried a video, but my kids simply do NOT cooperate and I think hearing me scream at them during a video would take away from the purpose.

 

Hope this helped!  Would love to see some other designs you make!  Different colors, patterns, even use the techniques to mix and match lots of different hair bows.  Sometime I just make bows with just the initial design but instead of 3 lengths, I use 4, in two different blends of ribbon.  I would just recommend you remember to keep in mind the width of the ribbon, and keep the same type.  This was done using all grosgrain ribbon.  Had I used satin and grosgrain mixed, it would not look good.  Sometimes in our haste to make something, we fall in love with colors or designs and neglect to notice different widths or material.

 

Happy Scrapping, have a wonderful weekend!!!  God Bless!!!

 

Organization time!

I have so many good ideas coming up for the end of the year, I just HAD to get my craft corner organized!  So, after hubby woke up and kept an eye on my 3 year old for a bit (didn't actually help at all, he still got into everything while Daddy watched), I attacked my craft corner.  I feel so much better and of course, my mind is reeling with all the "oh, I should get a shelf here, I need a ribbon cabinet there..." But I will make it work.  I am blessed with a nice little nook and shelves and boxes.  I really am not complaining.  But now I can access the most used stuff from my chair, with the least used items on the top and bottom shelves, leaving 3 in between for more commonly used items. 

 

During the re-sort, I took kids' crafts and put them in a bin and put that in the top of the closet in their playroom - where the coloring books, crayons etc are already.  Then put my Girl Scout Troop stuff, most of it, on the very top shelf.  So I can see it and get to it, but I don't usually use it at my desk.  Typically I am rummaging through trying to find what I need for the craft of the week. 

 

Anyway, here's a peek at the middle shelves. 

 

My Yudu machine is on the lower shelf, that you can't actually see in this pic.  And the Girl Scout supplies are on the top of this one, again, you can't see it.  The set of shelves have 5 individual shelves.

 

Next to the top pic is this one.  Again you can just pretty much see the middle shelves with a cute little display area for things I am working on.  The hard to reach corners there also have some things I don't use as often.  A huge stack of canvas' and some boxes of soap making stuff.  Soap making isn't something you sit and do for just a few minutes. 

 

I also have a few pegboards hanging up around the desk, you've probably noticed them in the background of some of the previous pictures, a converted shoe shelf holding "plain" card stock sorted by color, and a few other things hanging on the walls for storage.  It's a nice little space, but really hard to take pictures of. 

 

Tomorrow I am going to put together a hair bow tutorial.  A friend wants to know how I made my daughters' cheer hair bows, so that gives me something fun, easy and very different to post about. 

 

Hope your Friday is Awesome!  God Bless!

DD update and my new WOBBLES!

After spending the last several days in bed with a terrible, horrible cold, it was nice to get up today and have the energy to do a few things.  Emphasis on FEW.  Hard to believe it's already Wednesday.  Thanks to my amazing hubby, I basically slept for 2 1/2 days.  Still not feeling incredibly energetic, but SO much better than I was!  Okay, I'm sure you are already bored with reading about my ailments.

 

I did some work on my December Daily album today.  Got a little bit frustrated, ok, maybe A LOT frustrated with my Pazzles Inspiration. But I still have A LOT to learn and I am just not a patient woman when it comes to that sort of thing.  I did get some work done on it - finished up December 1 and got MOST of December 2 done. Still need to tweek the second day a little.  I think I am making this a little bit harder than necessary, but OH WELL!  In time I will get my act together.  I need to figure out how I want to work journaling.  Not sure just yet. Thinking maybe removable tags, attached with ribbon?  Still working on that.  Well, here is completed day 1 (minus pic of course).

 

And here is day 2.  I just need to add the 2, and decide on a journaling item or pic frame.

 

 

Oops, just a little off center there.  December 2 is the first day of Advent, which is why there is ONLY 1 candle lit.  I saved the design to use on the following Sundays and then of course Christmas day, if I decide to go that route. 

 

Ok, so here is what I did with scraps tonight, and had lots of fun putting it together.  I wanted to send a Thank You card to one of my kids' teachers, and as luck would have it, the wobbles I bought in a BOGO on 10/11/12 came in the mail!  I have not used the actual wobbles before, so I was excited to make something to incorporate one.  One of my FAVORITE color combinations is pink and brown.  I don't know why, but I just LOVE those colors together! 

 

This is what I came up with and put together in about 15 minutes.

 

 

Now if you are NOT familiar with wobbles and what they do, I did this amazingly well put together video showing you exactly how they work!  I don't want you to get too excited about my phenominal video skills just yet.  I have a little bit to go before I actually make some tutorials.  So, are you ready for this FANTASTIC video, filmed just using my webcam?

 

 

Are you absolutely amazed?!  Ok, FINE be that way!  Well, it's time for me to get some rest.  Please pass on my blog and make sure you FOLLOW by clicking JOIN THIS SITE in the upper left hand side.  Pretty soon I will start doing some tutorials for the Pazzles with the little tricks I have learned, and I have some great holiday crafts coming up that are quick and easy - you know LAZY! 

 

Hope you all are having a wonderful week. May God continue to surround you with His love and many blessings!

 

 

Homemade Glue Dots and A Birthday Card

Can't help but love my odd titles, right?  Can't believe I haven't written since Tuesday!  UGH!  Well, we were busy with a Fashion Show Fundraiser for our Foster Care Agency and then my little one's 3rd birthday party today.  Along with the nightmare of dealing with the insurance company over hubby's accident, been a little bit busy.  So, between baking cupcakes yesterday, I decided to use the ten minutes between pans, to try making some of my own glue dots.  Love the brand Glue Dots, but goodness they get costly.  So, here is what I did, and of course later found a few examples of similar ones on YouTube!

 

 

I took a sheet of parchment paper, and some Aleene's tack it over and over glue (great stuff if you haven't tried it!).  Cut off maybe 18 inches of parchment paper, and made dots and lines of varying sizes on 1/2 of it using the glue pictured above. 

 

I let these sit overnight, though it actually ended up being more like 24 hours with a party at the house today.  They dry clear and work GREAT!  I did lines for using on ribbon and other really small lines that are too narrow for using my ATG.  I just folded over the other half of the parchment paper as a cover/protector and it works wonderfully!  You do need to weigh down the corners while it sits overnight.  You can't really tell, but I used trivets from the dining table to keep the paper from rolling up on itself.  If you love the brand Glue Dots, you should try this!  I made a few hundred dots and 40+ lines with about 1/4 of a bottle of Aleene's Tack it Over and Over.  This glue is about $4 at Michael's regular priced.  So you could probably make at minimum a thousand dots with one bottle.  Compared to 200 Glue Dots for $4.99, it's a cost saver!

 

So tomorrow is my sister's 38th birthday.  I didn't have much time to make her a nice card, seeing as I was more focused on my immediate family this week.  Hey, just ask her when MY birthday is, bet she doesn't have a clue.  I ended up using an MS punch and scraps that I got as a "thank you" from some people I bought things from recently.  Kind of funny, but it all fit together and made me happy!

 

 

So I hope she likes it.  Cost me ink for one stamp and an excessive amount of embossing powder, cuz I bumped the bottle over while I was putting this all together.  Stupid boobs!  I thought I would never use the scrap stuff, but surprisingly, it all went together well!  Can't wait to see how well I do with the remaining (a lot mind you) scraps from purchases!

 

Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend.  God Bless you!