Hand-cut gift tags...

Yet another work in progress of mine of late has been to make hand-cut gift tags from scraps of scrapbook paper big enough for the small gift-tag template I have (which, consequently, is a reused garment tag which came with something I bought a while back--can't recall what exactly it was but it served a great purpose to me).

I have an enormous amount of beautiful papers to use and thought, why not make gift tags? They're elegant and very romantic in their aspect and quite a crafty endeavor so, here they are:

My first hand-cut tags...

I have since hand-cut a few more tags and am now in the process of seeking out a smaller hand held hole-punch than the one I currently have in my possession to cut the small holes atop and add the thread I want to use for each tag to complete each set.

Hand-cut tags kept in a little pink and brown "carry-out" box which originally
had some delightful caramels in it...another reuse project, if you will.

I just love being able to use every bit of left over paper I possibly can....

Nestled away in their little box, upright and beautiful...a touch of girly pleasure...

Spectacular, aren't they?

Lovingly chosen and hand-cut...

I hope you've enjoyed reading this post as much as I have enjoyed writing it....until next time!

Cheers!

Tuesday Tutorial: Creating a collage out of what you've got...

I love collages and each one I make is always different. For this one I decided to do a little painting, a little cutting, a little pasting with some whimsy on the side! First, the supplies:

I used two different colored paints, one pink and one purple for the background painting, the back photos of CD cases (I got a CD notebook and got rid of all the plastic cases), a piece of yellow cardstock, some pens, markers and a glue stick.

First I painted the entire background pink:

Afterward I let it dry and caught up on a few blog posts by personal friends from college. It was great to be able to check out their blogs. Once that was dry I painted the trees and drew the flowers:

Once that was all taken care of I pasted down the photos I'd decided to use plus a print out of the Irish Blessing I had lying around. It was fitting because the band photo I chose was of U2, my favorite Irish band.

With a little bit of imagination and creativity you can turn anything into a work of art using that which you find just "lying around." I think I will frame this little ditty! Oh, and of course, chocolate must never fail to be around for crafting pleasure:

YUM!!! I love milk chocolate! Enjoy the craft and share your own!

Cheers!

Tuesday Tutorials: Decorating a notebook with gum wrappers...

That's right! Tuesday Tutorials are back in action! Late but nevertheless here. Anyone who knows me well knows that I have a chewing gum addiction that I just can't seem to kick! Everytime I chewed a new piece of gum I wondered what I could do with the wrappers and started saving them to see what I could come up with...the gum wrapper decorated notebook was born!

I took the following materials and embellishments to create my recycled work of art:

All the materials...

• Composition Notebook
• Various sticker packs
• Paris Rubber Stamps
• Stamp pads
• Gum Wrappers (kept inside 5 Gum box)
• Contact Paper

Using a normal glue stick I began to glue the colorful gum wrappers down in a pattern, like so:

The notebook, front cover

The notebook, back cover...

See how pretty it looks already? After having covered both sides with the gum wrappers I embellished another type of gum wrapper with a Paris Eiffel Tower stamp I have using the black ink stamp pad. The paper is patterned from Orbit gum. The rest of the embellishments are stickers but you can use cut outs, print outs and any thing else you can get your hands on. Get creative and go your own way! The main thing about this project is that you are reusing wrappers so they don't go to the landfill!

Paris stamp on patterned gum wrapper paper...

Finished front cover....

Back cover shot...

Once you'ved finished emellishing the notebook as much as you want you can go ahead and cover it in contact paper so that the embellishments and gum wrappers remain neatly on and don't start to peel off. If you decide to make this project I would love to see what you come up with! Please link back to this post and let me know what you have made or place photos of your own creations on the wall on our Facebook page.

Monday Musings: Favorite Crafting Supplies

When it comes to crafting there are some supplies that I really believe I could not live without and I long for the day when I can get my collection of supplies out of storage and back in my hands for proper use! A few years ago I bought a set of pens that I absolutely love and do not know how I ever got along without them! The Staedtler Triplus Fineliner pens are perfect for journaling which is why I originally bought them. The pack I got comes with 20 colors:

Their fine point is great for detailed doodles as well. Also from Staedtler, the ergosoft coloured pencil set is a great choice for coloring in doodles or small embellishments for scrapbooking or journaling. This is the set I bought at Arte Real in Venezuela:

I use pretty much whatever I can get my hands on when crafting and since I am environmentally conscious I try to reuse as many things as possible, from yogurt cups to cereal boxes and right down to the empty toilet paper rolls (I once used toilet paper rolls to wrap loose strands of ribbon on them to keep them from getting tangled). Another thing I love to use when crafting is wrapping paper. Some papers have such gorgeous designs that are perfect for embellishing.

Stickers are of course part of my supply list as is ribbon, cardstock, glues, other adhesives, paints, and much more! I use old expired catalogs for inspiration and sometimes even to cut things out from. A simple gum wrapper to me has much potential. Another of my favorite supplies is Mod Podge:

I absolultey love that stuff! When I am in the US that is what I use, when in Venezuela the equivalent is OroColor's OroPeg:

Another thing I often use for crafting is tissue paper and whenever I get a gift which has tissue paper in the wrapping I save that stuff for later use! It is handy in so many ways! What are some of your favorite crafting supplies?

Let's Connect...

I am not sure what title to give to today's entry, being that it is rather late in coming and I have not even really figured out what I will share this evening, it is more likely that I shall have a title by the end of the post rather than at the beginning. It's Tuesday and normally I would bring you some kind of tutorial but sometimes it is good to break from routine and write something more heartfelt.

Perhaps it is the music I am listening to (Love is Free by 101 Strings Orchestra Sampler) or the fact that I finally watched Julie & Julia in it's entirety but I'm a bit nostalgic this evening. I've had a lot on my mind these days. I am a firm believer in that thinking too much is dangerous so tonight I just want to talk, to share with you in the hopes that you too will share something with me. The movie was great! I think it was just lovely. It made me want to cook French food, drink Bordeaux and eat chocolate! It also reminded me that I really ought to continue my français lessons on livemocha.

I bought a little composition notebook at the Dollar Tree which I plan on decorating and keeping as a French book. I had started one before leaving Florida but it too is packed away in a storage unit in New Jersey, wondering when it will come out of the dark and back into the light. I am extremely used to moving and every time I move into a new place and open my boxes it's like Christmas. I know it may sound weird but I enjoy moving...it is how I have come to know so many wonderful places and wonderful people. I am in transition at present and God only knows where I will end up but I do so much hope to one day live a year in France, another in Italy and maybe even in India some day!

I miss my friends as well but I thank God for the internet! I relish letters but can reconcile myself to receiving e-mails or wall posts on facebook. I am nearly thirty but feel fifteen and somehow I think this will not change anytime soon. I was recently looking through photos I'd taken a about 3-5 years ago while living in Cheney, WA and found a few of my earliest crafts which I love! I have this composition notebook turned into cookbook project that I've been working on for several years now and it is one of my favorite things in the world. Here is a page from it:

Tea cookie recipe from a magazine...

This notebook is like a scrapbook of recipes from magazines, old recipe cards my mom had in a little box, school recipe papers from home-ec class and the like. That is what I love about it. It's very personal and unique. Another photo I found is one I took of a notebook I had decorated with my friend Melissa Mason. I'd been inspired by a scrapbooking magazine to decorate a journal and thought it would be something fun for both she and I to do together and I hope she still has hers. Here is mine:

Melissa and I being silly, as was our custom...

There was never a boring moment when hanging out with Melissa! I miss her and all of my friends in Spokane very much. Still, I would not trade the time I get to spend with my nieces right now for anything else in this world. They are adorable and I love being with them. Lord, I feel like I am confessing tonight! Anyway, I think this next photo is something worth getting a good laugh at. My sad attempt at making a guitar cake as per Betty Crocker:

Melissa loved her cake and it is the thought that counts...

I think that rather strange looking blob next to the cake was supposed to be a guitar pick fashioned from one of the left-over cut-outs of the assembling of the guitar itself. I'm not a cake decorating artist but I do believe this cake was not a total loss and it tasted quite good! For a first attempt I think it was not so bad! Definitely could be better but oh well!

One other thing I miss about Spokane, Jane Austen Tea Parties with my friends Johanna Darnall and Lynn Swanbom. I have very few other friends who enjoy Jane Austen as much as I do. When watching Emma on PBS I could think of nothing but them. I miss them so much!. Here is one of my favorites from one such event:

Tea being poured into my cup...

I've enjoyed sharing these things with you and I hope that you have enjoyed reading! Thanks for being there! I hope to hear from you all. Let me know how you are doing and what is making you smile this week! Have a brilliant Wednesday!

Cheers!

PS: I finally found a title! ;-)

Tuesday Tutorial: Reusing Plastic Gum Containers

Just a short tutorial for today, been quite busy lately and had very little time to do much for today's post! About a year ago I bought some gum that came in a plastic container and when all the gum was gone I decided to keep the container to use it for something else. I'd been using it to tote around my rechargeable batteries (2 at a time) but it was looking a bit bland all white, so today I decided to decorate it.

For this project you will need an empty gum container:

I used an old ice breakers cubes gum container.

Also, some embellishments, glue, scissors and whatever else you might need:

I used embellishments in the form of cut-outs

from my PB Kids catalog

First, cut-out and collect the embellishments you wish to use. They can be anything from stickers to magazine cut-outs. Second, paste the cut-outs on the container using a decoupage glue or make your own with glue and water, apply with a paintbrush.

A few of my embellishments

I love the woodland theme that is so popular

at present!

Little flowers on the back...

Don't forget to brush over top after you've added all the embellishments you want to add. It should look gorgeous and a bit shiny! You can store any small things in it. I use this one for batteries but you can use it to store needles for sewing, loose change, even gum if you do not want to deal with all that paper stuff!

Cheers!

Monday Musings: Literature Inspiration

As I watched Little Women last night with my nieces I began to think of all the beautiful crafts described in the book made my the March sisters and the ones pictured in the 1994 film version. I love the late 19th century arts and crafts, the Victorian ones in particular are my favorites. Today I decided to see if there were any arts and crafts inspired by Louisa May Alcott's wonderful book and found a listing for a book called The Little Women Book: Games, Recipes, Crafts and Other Homemade Pleasures. I have decided to purchase the book from Powell's Books. It should be here in 4-9 days.

I am very eager and excited to do crafts from that time period. Inspired by the idea of the Little Women book, I decided to find crafts inspired by other favorites such as Anne of Green Gables and found this blog: Steph's Cup of Tea. Steph featured the Anne of Green Gables Christmas Treasury on her post which is full of wonderful crafts and recipes inspired by that series of books as well as the films. I think I may wait on getting that one but it is definitely one to collect as well. I love old-fashioned Christmas traditions and would like to make some of those wonderful crafts in that book. Just looking at the cover makes me want to get cozy in a nice room full of wonderful supplies or keep warm by the oven in the kitchen while whipping up something delicious to eat!

Steph also mentioned another blogger who loved this treasury and had posted a few tutorials on her own site of Anne-inspired crafts: Christmas with Anne of Green Gables. The post makes me want it to be Christmas again! Looking back at the Victorian era, of which Little Women in a part, Victoriana magazine has wonderful craft links and tidbits for all to use. I found this tutorial for making your own Victorian ABC Dishes for children with printable alphabet illustrations:

Here is an article on Perforated Paper Needlework which, by the way, has made a comeback and has led this curious crafter to do some extra researching for possibly making a few adornments for the home using this antique craft style. Further research brought me to "bluing" which was a form of whitening clothing in the Victorian era. You can read all about it here at the Victorian Passage.

Another great find that has more to do with crafting and less to do with laundry which I found on A Victorian Passage is a set of Victorian e-papers designed by Edenshale Cottage. These are available for download here. The link directs you to the post on A Victorian Passage and allows you to access the gorgeous papers as I did! I cannot wait to use them!

{from A Vintage Passage}

I have enjoyed sharing these antique craft books and sites with you! I hope this week is beautiful and filled with the promises of Spring!

Cheers!

Card-Making: Some old projects...

I am adding today images of cards I have decorated, collage style:

A French Kitty Birthday Card I made a while back

Christmas Cards made with cardstock and cut-outs

Simple card for a child....

Combinations of cut-outs and paper scraps

With a little bit of edging...

Trying something new...

I have created this blog to post things about my arts and crafts projects. This is also an initial post to see how this new template I am trying out will look. Cheers!