Love Frame

This was another project I did for the first issue of Scrapbook News + Review using the same window frame from Walnut Hollow as the clock I shared yesterday. This time I simply painted it black. I cut Prima papers to fit each window opening and actually just used masking tape to attach them to the back of the frame. My intention was to be able to pull these fully decorated inserts out of the frame and rotate them with other seasonal looks, but these papers happen to look nice in my living room so for the time being, I've just left it, lol! The chipboard letters are from Zsiage, covered in Prima paper and edged with a gold pen from Sakura. I used the same pen to edge these silk flowers from Michael's and layered them with tiny gold heart brads,

4th of July Frame

This is another one for the Bringing it Back Challenge - this time for the bottlecap challenge. I started with a wood frame from Michaels and blue paint from Plaid. I Mod Podged on a paper from Reminisce and finished it up with a few printed bottle caps (some flattened with a rubber mallet and one left alone) from Li'l Davis. My printer went a little wonky on me and spit a few droplets of ink onto my photo so I'll have to reprint that once I get a new ink cartridge but the pic is of my son at a park we stopped at last year on the 4th. Sticking the tongue out when being photographed has been his "thing" now for quite some time. I seem to have a lot of pictures with this identical facial expression from him...


In other news, I took a drive yesterday to another lss of mine that used to be about five minutes from here but moved out into the middle of nowhere (seriously - the address popped into Mapquest says it doesn't exist...luckily the town has a population of about 50 so it was still easy to find. Yes, 50 is a completely fabricated number. It's a really tiny town, lol, no idea the actual census). They are also a manufacturer - Creekbank Creations. The store no longer keeps regular hours as Julie travels and teaches at scrapbook conventions and such - the whole store travels with her! I'm so glad I emailed back and forth a few times to find a time to come in - it was definitely worth the trek out into farm country! Finally was able to pick up a Tim Holtz hammer and some grungeboard (lol, among other things, of course!) so I am really, really excited to get some playing done today!

St. Patrick's Day Birdhouse - Luck O' The Irish Pub

Yup - it's time to switch holidays, lol! Relax - I have surprisingly few papers and zero embellishments for this holiday so there won't be much. I LOVE doing these little mini birdhouses though! There will definitely be one for every holiday by the time I'm done! I started with the Reminisce papers and then got a little Prima crazy. I considered completely covering the rooftops with them, but didn't have enough of the green. I had a bottle of iridescent shamrock green Scribbles and used that to do the flower centers and the perches. The bird - from the same package that the ones I used for the Valentine's Day birdhouse (from the miniatures section of Hobby Lobby), but there wasn't a green. So I took a blue one and used shimmer chalk from Pebbles to alter the color! The darker green spots on the wings were done using a touch of Sakura paint pen. At this point I decided I wanted to make it into a little pub for the St. Patrick's Day theme but couldn't figure out how I was going to make a little sign (or what to call it, even). I stumbled across this little scrap of paper and found my answer! The paper collection I used was "Luck O' The Irish" from Reminisce. Guess what the edging of the paper had on it - the cutest little title identifier for the line in just the perfect size to cut out, mat on the darker green, and cover in Glossy Accents (Ranger) to make my little sign! Of course, it sports a fingerprint from testing to see if it was dry (I just can't ever help myself with Glossy Accents for some reason) and a crack, but I still love that little sign! Then I used some letter brads (with the tabs removed) from Provo to finish off the look. I seriously had zero embellishments for St. Patrick's Day, which surprised me since I have overloads of every other holiday, it seems! So a quick trip to my soon to be extinct Hobby Lobby (what the heck are we supposed to do with NO craft stores in town anymore???) to see what I could find to finish this off. The selection was pretty sparse there too, but I did come across these shamrock buttons from Jesse James Dress It Up collection. I used more than I planned because I thought it was kind of cute to think of them as little shamrock shrubbery surrounding my little pub, lol! And there it is, my second in what I've decided will be a series of holiday birdhouses! :)

Checkbook cover and a tiny wreath

I've decided I have too many projects going at once. Each in various states of "something" needed drying time so it was left "overnight". I just don't always get BACK to said project, lol! I have them everywhere. So instead of finishing any of them, last night I at least started projects I could finish in one sitting. It's a start, isn't it?

First is this checkbook cover. I can't believe I've never done one of these. I've put up with the ugly ones you get from the bank or the check companies. I found one of the Creative Imaginations blanks at Blessed 2 Scrapbook in Champaign and last night decided it was time I had a pretty checkbook cover I won't be embarassed to pull out in a store! Cheryl, one of my fellow Zsiagettes, recently sent me (among other things - she's so sweet!) the Stone Rose collection from Prima. I LOVE this line! Then again, I love a lot of their paper lines (totally in love with Angelique and Cavalier from the upcoming CHA release!), lol! I thought the paper was pretty enough on its own to not need a lot of miscellaneous "stuff" added. I did use a rubon that came with the collection which I embellished a bit with glittery Scribbles (I wanted the pattern to show through so used those rather than the Stickles, which would have covered completely). I used some Bo Bunny letter stickers I had hanging around and an old EK quote sticker. I'm in a "less is more" kick right now...except when it comes to sparkles! Oh - and the center of the flower IS in Stickles in a teal color. Click on the picture to get the gigantic version where you can see details.



I found these adorable little tiny grapevine wreaths at Hobby Lobby in the miniatures section (actually I found several really cute little things over there to play with - would it be totally weird if I want to do a full dollhouse altered style even though I only have the one little boy so there will be no one to play with it?). Simply covered it in tiny Primas and used glittery Scribbles (just because I still had them out from the checkbook cover) for the centers. I was debating adding some ribbon and other embellishments, but think I'll hold off. I rather like this one as is...after all, I did buy several more to play with! They can get a busier design. It's about 3" by 3" - thinking I might add a magnet to the back and pop it onto the refrigerator.

Valentine's Day Wooden Tree

This was a little unfinished wood tree kit from Joanne's. The tiny finished sample pictured was just painted and I thought "oh no, we can't have THAT". Yea. I wish I had, lol! This was, in no uncertain terms, a pain in the butt to do. Even with the Basic Grey file kit I broke down and bought. I ended up giving up and leaving it kind of ragged. The paper is from Reminisce (same collection as I used for the gift bag and mini album). I was originally going to paper all the hearts too, but after the tree, there was NO way I was going to mess with them, lol! So they just got painted and then decorated with Sakura Glaze and Souffle pens - which was actually a lot of fun! Did those while one of my favorite movies of all time (Fried Green Tomatoes) was on last night.

Hanging Valentine's Day Decor

Love this little mobile! It came as just an unfinished wood piece already assembled from Hobby Lobby - couple of bucks regular price and you know how Hobby Lobby is...closer to the holiday the better the sale! It was actually really easy to alter too. I used double-sided papers (from Bo Bunny's collection from last year) and laid a piece down onto my glass cutting "mat" (ok, it's just a cheap picture frame glass I pulled out!) and used my Xacto knife to cut in between each section - plenty of room to not be precise. This gave me two options for each size heart. I repeated this with another double sided piece and I had four options for each size heart and I just picked my favorites, lol! It's meant to kind of spin, so I just made sure no paper was used on two sizes closest to each other. Adhered all the paper with Mod Podge, did my trimming, and voila! It was pretty much done! I added a little bit of dimension with some pearly Scribbles. I was going to decorate them more, but realized that once again, I had something where the paper just seemed like "enough" to me. Plus, because this hangs on its own little cotton cord, care must be taken to get weight evenly distributed, so if you try this yourself, just watch any heavier elements you might add so that it doesn't hang crooked!

I hit Hobby Lobby last night (finally gave in and got the Basic Grey file set for a project I'll be posting later) and wanted to share a few cute finds. The first was they had (sorry, last week's sale but they run it so often I'm sure you can catch it!) these floral bushes on sale for 50% off. Now I LOVE Prima's flowers, but have zero access to them here in the "sticks". I've been dying to play with some of the bigger ones, but even going over to Champaign, with a Michael's, a Target and 3 scrapbook stores, still NO decent selection (I saw exactly ONE type in my last trip) of Prima's! Soooo, I have to make do. This was ONE $7 bush (which I actually thought was kind of ugly as a bush) that was on sale and after a quick check of the construction, I could see it would come apart beautifully. And it did! So for $3.50 I got 8 each of the large (which are 5" across) in each color and some random smaller ones. As a bonus, the red and pink ones are very lightly flocked! Just enough to be soft. Check your local craft store floral department - especially during sales (which are frequent - especially during season changes!). While not all are suitable for scrapbooking, your options open up dramatically in altering! There are some beautiful colors and textures available and if you especially watch for bushes like these, you can get multiple colors at a time.

This is the other cute find! I have been drooling over all the cute projects I've seen done with Say It With Letters' little wooden houses! Here is a recent one they shared on their blog from Valerie. Cute! Well anyways, I found these teeny tiny ones that Hobby Lobby puts out. There are four in a package. They are tiny (3 3/4" x 4"), but I can't wait to do a little playing!

I'm back!! With a super quick Valentine's project!

See, I knew I shouldn't have gotten on that blogging every day roll I was in a couple of weeks ago! My computer crashed! I finally got a new one, but am still getting things caught up and organized. And trying to FIND all the disks to reinstall all my software! However I really wouldn't have had a whole lot to blog about - I've been doing tons of creative "stuff", but most of it can't be shared yet! {wink} - Doesn't that sound mysterious, lol! It's really not. I made a bunch of things for the first issue of Scrapbook News + Review (I'm on the staff so this is my shameless plug - you're going to LOVE this magazine!) and some random things I just want to hold onto for various calls and such.

I HAVE, however, replaced my Christmas kick with a Valentine's Day one. Which is odd - the holiday itself is rather depressing for me, a single gal and all, lol, but I am just in love with creating in pink and red and hearts for some reason! So here is one more item I've made to decorate my house and show the love of my life (who turns 7 next week!) how much I love HIM!
I have more, but need to get better pictures.

This was a 50 cent wooden heart plant stake type thing I found at Hobby Lobby. This took less than a half hour, including drying time on the paint! The paint, ribbon and buttons are from Making Memories and the flowers from Heidi Swapp. One of my secrets for getting this done so quickly was the glue I used. Can I just RAVE about Beacon's 3-in-1 Advanced Craft Glue? This stuff really grabs onto embellishments and holds almost immediately. Dries clear and FAST. Love this glue!! A little goes a long way and its hold is similar to E6000 (it smells too, but not nearly as bad as the E6000 does) in that it will take metals and all kinds of things and hold them strong. Seriously - if you haven't tried it yet, do so! I have buttons everywhere and never use them and one of the reasons is it's just a pain to get them to stay put long enough to dry where I want them. On layouts I usually can get away with Glue Dots, but on altered items I just don't have the faith that they will stand up and take a little abuse. I'm so glad I pulled them out and tried them with this glue! The pictures are of the front and back - which are pretty interchangable, but I plan on putting this in a plant hanging in an opening between my living room and dining room so both sides will be visible.

Love Nest Altered Mini Birdhouse

As seen in my article in the May issue of Scrapbooking.com Magazine!

Remember the cute little birdhouses I found for $1 at Michael's the other day? I finished one and now I'm so hooked! These are the perfect size for using up scraps you've got sitting around. I had been using Prima's Romantica line for a bunch of Christmas items and decided to use up some scraps for a love themed project as they were meant for and I'm just so excited at how CUTE it came out! These papers are double sided so I ended up using scraps from two different papers (sorry, I can't find the scraps that happen to include the name of the papers themselves though!). I Mod Podged them all to the house (I measured and cut these precisely - this is just too small a piece to mess with trying to sand edges on). For the roof, I cut strips of the polka dotted paper and used a little Martha Stewart (EK) cutter to give them a decorative edge. A couple extra coats of Mod Podge made the overhanging areas nice and sturdy. Then I realized I had the actual matching set of flowers to this line and started tucking them in behind the little fence to create a little garden. Then if that wasn't enough Primas, I started decorating some more with the flowers and some antique gold heart brads. Then I had to run out to Hobby Lobby and find some little birds to live in the house! I was hoping to find lovebirds but the ones in the bridal aisle were just too big so I had to find something in the miniatures section. I've only got a few more houses sitting around but I'm envisioning a little shelf with a birdhouse village all lined up, lol! Guess where I'll be going next weekend! Back to Michael's for more birdhouses! And darn it, why on earth couldn't I have done this project before the Prima DT applications were due, lol! Have you all seen the new DT, by the way? I'm so excited - there are some of my favorite designers on that list and I can't WAIT to see what they do for Prima!!! Congrats, ladies!!!

50th Post!

Wow! Just realized my little blog has hit a milestone! It makes me glad this is a picture-heavy day, lol! This is the matching album to the wooden gift bag I posted yesterday. It's made from a wooden mini-album from Kaiser Craft (I desperately need Hobby Lobby to pick them up so I have easier access - I LOVE their stuff!!!). This went super fast because I found a quick, easy formula and stuck with it. I used the same paper I used for the gift bag (total between the two projects was under two pieces - I still have tons of scraps) and Mod Podged it onto the fronts of all the discs. I painted the backs and edges with Lipstick paint from Making Memories. All the glittered chipboard hearts are from Scrapworks and again, I have tons of these left over from the original box. This was my one attempt at proper "design" - I used the visual triangle to "frame" my pictures. The pictures themselves are printed on self-adhesive cotton from Shortcuts (now distributed by DMD). This stuff is amazing! It can go through your printer, you can stamp on it, whatever! Gorgeous texture - you end up with a canvas-like end result. I have tons and tons of this and had forgotten all about it but will try to bring it out again to show you some of the fun tecniques you can do with this. The last thing I used on every page was 3D paper paint from PSX that I outlined all the pictures with. I used a few other things on the cover and back, but will mention those near the pictures.

The whole album


The cover. I used Papier Glass Finish from Plaid inside the hearts. This is very similar to Ranger's glossy accents. The one I used happened to be a tinted version in baby blue. Which I totally did not notice for some reason (and actually thought it would eventually dry clear because I just wasn't paying attention) but it worked out nicely because of the blue in the paper...crisis averted, lol! I literally noticed this when I grabbed the bottle just now to make sure I credited the product correctly. I KNEW this product usually dried crystal clear, lol (and it does...when you don't use baby blue...). Anyways. Now that I've embarassed myself, just wanted to let you in on HOW I did the heart on the left that's hanging off the edge. Since the outline hearts are open in the middle all the way through I was kind of bummed that I wouldn't be able to fill that one in like I had the one in the middle then I got a brainstorm. I took a piece of clear packaging (in this case it was the little plastic box the Target ribbon came in) and glued it under the overhang. Once that dried, I was able to fill that heart in as well and after the glass finish (blue...) had dried, I was able to use a craft knife to cut off the excess plastic and it left the heart transparent. As always, I've uploaded these in hi-res so if you click on any picture you can get a gigantic version to see close up (eek, and any mistakes I've made). I mention this here because only close up can you see the oops moment I had when I was trimming the excess and just under the left side of the heart I cut into the dark pink stripe. I used a tiny piece of scrap to Mod Podge over it. Another crisis averted. Are you sensing a pattern? LOL!


The inside pages.

The back cover. Here I've used a chipboard coaster I've had forever from Little Davis. I love finding things I'd forgotten about just at the right moment! I surrounded it with Prima's and used the same PSX 3D paper paint as the centers. I use this a lot for flower centers because I love the way it keeps its chocolate chip shape after it's dried.

And the whole gift. You'll notice I didn't photograph any of the backs of the pages in the album, well those will be used for the sentiments for the recipient so I figured they didn't need to go on the blog. At least PART of this project will be a surprise for her, lol, since of all days, she started reading my blog yesterday. Thanks, mom, lol!

Valentine's Wooden Gift Bag

Ok, trying to break away from Christmas projects still so I started a few Valentine's Day, St. Pat's Day and Easter projects. This wooden gift bag will eventually hold a wooden mini-album I'm working on that will match. The patterned paper is from Reminisce as is the "love" block which is cut from another sheet from the same line and inked with black ink from Tsukineko. The glittered chipboard hearts are all from Scrapworks. The paint is Lipstck from Making Memories. I'm so NOT a pink kind of girl, but for some reason I just love this color! The ribbon is from these cute little $1 sets of 6 mini spools from Target. And, of course, Mod Podge from Plaid and a $1 wooden gift bag from Hobby Lobby or Michael's.

A tip about the brads along the bottom. I removed the tabs in the back using wire cutters in the middle, then used a pair of flat pliers to gently squish the remaining section of the tabs in flush with the edges of the brad. This gave me something for the adhesive (I used Aleene's Jewelry and Metal Glue from Duncan) to grab onto.

Front

Back

Sides

More Christmas goodies!

I made a bunch of these wooden gift bags for teachers/bus driver, etc. and just hapened to finish these two up last night and actually remembered to get pics, lol! Both are super quick (the only thing that took a while was drying the Scribbles, which I left overnight but was able to at least tie the ribbons after about a half hour). Papers and metal charms from Flair. Ribbon from Stampin Up. Mod Podge from Plaid. I used tons of Scribbles glitter paint on these too. On the left one, every star has clear glitter Scribbles in the center. On the one on the right, I used tons more and in matching colors - red, green, gold, and clear - to embellish all the ornaments. If you click on the picture you'll get a gigantic version in which you can see some of the detail. They are filled with peanut butter cup bells and hot cocoa kisses (yummy!!!)

Deck the Halls

I love Christmas - have I mentioned that? I love decorating for it. I love making and buying presents for the people I love. And I LOVE making Christmas crafts! In fact, I've been so busy making Christmas crafts this year, that for once my house doesn't yet look like an elf threw up all over it! Yet, lol! The tree is up, but very little else has been unboxed yet and if I keep making new stuff I won't have room!

But yes, I made yet another wooden gift bag anyways! I'm in love with this one too. This would be why I've had an Etsy shop for months now and have never put a single thing in it yet - I make these things then can't bear to part with them! This one comes with a few little tips and tricks I'd like to share...and my signature not-so-great photography! I used more paper from the Romantic Collection from Prima - I know this line is supposed to be geared towards romance, but every time I look at it I just see Christmas! I edged everything with a gold marker from Sakura - it's a very subtle detail but adds a nice touch to transition to the interior. I painted the interior with a metallic green from DecoArt (they really do some fantastic shades of metallics!). The holly leaves and berry brads are from Making Memories. The original red just didn't work for me, so I used gold glitter Scribbles over them.

Scribbles vs. Stickles. I have been using these like crazy lately! Both kinds. Stickles are from Ranger, and once dry, have complete glitter coverage. Scribbles are from Duncan and are actually meant for fabrics. They come in dimensional regular colors, neons, glitters, metallics and pearls. And are less than half the cost of Stickles! The Scribbles glitter gives a random glitter pattern with plenty of the color showing through from underneath (which is why I used them for this application). Both definitely have their very distinct uses though so I keep lots of both on hand!

The rubons are from American Crafts, from the Christmas Book Two MiniMarks. What I want to focus on is the design below the words. I used two scrolly rubons. I also made a mistake and wanted to let you know how I fixed it! As I was twirling them around trying to get the placement the way I wanted it, I wasn't paying that great of attention to which side was up (ahem, here's my plug for using a good natural light such as an Ott Light or Daylight lamp - I have several and just didn't have one on, which would have saved me this step...). I put the first one down and began to rub and it was upside down. So part of the design was gone. I used a needle tool to remove the rest of the section to a joint where it would make sense then repeated the process on that exact same section out of the matching rubon. Obviously this won't work on words, but then again, who's going to get a word upside down anyways?

Another Christmas Frame!

I've been noticing a trend in my sitemeter tracking. I am completely addicted to it! My readership just keeps going up and I just marvel then want to know where on earth you're all coming from, lol! Well in recent weeks I've found the #1 search that leads people to my blog is for Christmas frames. Eek! Of course, I had to pull down my Christmas frame picture because it's in an online magazine! So, this morning I decided to remedy that and do up another one really quick. Yes! These REALLY are quick projects and the perfect beginner project as well. These $1 frames from Michael's are my favorite way to get a quick altering "fix". They're great for last minute gifts as well! If you don't add a coat of Mod Podge on the top, you can literally give someone one of these in an hour. Another half hour and you can add the top coat, just warn the recipient to keep it from touching anything overnight to be sure it cures completely! It's all nice, straight lines (with a little curve around the corners for practice!). There simply is no easier altering project.

For this frame, I began by adding two thin coats of white Apple Barrel paint (if you keep them thin, they'll dry really fast!) to the back and sides (don't forget the inside edge!). Then I added Merry & Bright paper from Scrapworks' Season of Joy line. When everything was dry, I simply added a few matching chipboard embellishments from Scrapworks. I really love their glittered chipboard - the glitter stays put -no brushing sparkles out of your hair days later! I had originally planned on adding more, but after looking at it at this point, decided I liked it just the way it was.

Altering is a wonderful way to use up extra embellishments (especially bulky ones!), but it's also a great way to keep the focus on papers!

Really not a fan of snow!

I just got done shoveling. Again. And watching the weather it looks like we're due to have snow/icy rain/sleet for the next six days straight. I'm so no looking forward to this! Guess I'll just have to stay cozy indoors and do some more crafting (gee, darn...)!


I wanted to share a little frame I stickled to death the other night. I took a super inexpensive wooden frame (the tiny, lightweight, inexpensive kind) and first aged it a bit with two shades of Clearsnap chalk ink. Just use a direct-to-wood technique and keep dabbing them on until you like the colors. I then used a stamp from Sugarloaf (now Inque Boutique) and stamped it all over the frame using Staz On. I was kind of bored with the look so I grabbed some red Stickles (from Ranger) and some crystal Scribbles (same as Stickles but from Duncan) and plopped down in front of the TV to watch Dirty Sexy Money (my new must watch show, lol) and started adding some sparkle. I did all of the berries in red then covered EVERYTHING else that was stamped in the crystal. It brightened up the green once everything dried (overnight). Even with all the sparkle it had a nice vintage look to it so I decided to use a nice red twine for the bow, then stickled some film letters from Zsiage (1.5" Monica font). I was originally going to frame a black and white picture, but now I'm thinking I might hunt down an old vintage postcard to finish this off. After I go stock back up on Stickles and Scribbles, that is! They're addictive!



Has everyone been keeping up with the 12 days of creative tags going on over on Tim Holtz's blog? If you haven't, go there immediately! He's been sharing a new tag a day with complete instructions and tons of great techniques! I'm wondering how all these techniques will translate to wood...

Christmas Ornaments

I had some help with these from my 6 year old - what a fun way to spend an evening! I apologize for the photography - still haven't figured out how to photograph these! I wish I were a better photographer!!!

This one uses paper from Hot Off the Press, rubons from EK, and glitter.



Paper from Hot Off the Press, outline stickers from Making Memories, and glitter.



Poinsettias from Hot Off the Press, glittered brads from Making Memories, and glitter.



Paper from Making Memories (really old paper!) and rubons from Making Memories (also really old!). Also, although I really love the way this looks with the little paper spirals, please be forewarned that this takes FOREVER! That's about 3/4 of a piece of 12x12 paper and took well over an hour (ok, so I was watching Dancing With the Stars too - yay Helio! Is he adorable or what!). I'll be sticking with larger strips from now on! Although I'm thinking this would look fantastic done up with some of the glittery Bazzill...hmmm.

The Puzzle Results!

I've been tweaking for days but finally have the pictures to show you! I ended up with 10 little projects out of my simple $1 quilt puzzle I picked up at Michael's (it's from Darice, if you're interested in that information). While there were a couple of pieces that just didn't turn out how I planned, I simply turned those into magnets - after all, you can never have too many of those! All in all, I made 2 magnets, 2 bracelets, a frame, 2 pairs of earrings, a Christmas pin, and a paintbrush rest (lol, yes, see the story below the picture!). I also went back to Michael's and picked up another handful of these as well as dug out some other wood pieces I've had around for years for more play! It's a tiny size to work with, but the possibilities (and scraps to use!) are endless - I haven't even pulled out my stamps yet!



So here again is the original...

And here's the finished 10 projects!


As you can see, I'm still in a pretty big Basic Grey Blush kick, but mainly because I pulled everything for this project out of my scraps (lol, see my post of my organizer spinner to see one of the reasons I have lots of small scraps from this line right now!). I tried to grab a few things that had been sitting around gathering dust for years too, just because!



Starting with the magnets. The pink and brown one is BG paper, covered by a clear acrylic faceted "gem" from the Tulip (think fabric paint) line a few years ago (not sure if they even still make them but there were a whole bunch of different shapes and sizes) and "grouted" with dimensional paint from PSX. Used an acrylic butterfly from the same line on the other magnet, but used glitter underneath. This looks really neat...up really close. The paper was from an old Making Memories line. Both the magnets were originally intended to go into necklaces, but I just didn't like them well enough to bother. Attach the magnets with E6000 adhesive. I promise they'll never move again! Another note on working with magnets (I used the little button type) - always test your magnets before you adhere (especially with E6000) to be sure you know which side to adhere to and which side will be stuck to your refrigerator or wherever you put it!
For the snowflake ornament. I used the blue diamond pieces as is! I glued together 8 of them - they didn't fit EXACTLY in the middle but that gets covered) and then edged the whole thing in silver Stickles. I then embossed a technique tile from Technique Tuesday in silver and glued it on top and drilled a small hole to thread some metallic string for hanging.


On the earrings. The red and yellow ones I also left their original color. They were just scattered on my table and the color combination just looked kind of fun so I went with it! I drilled through from top to bottom (more on the drill later - I used it on almost every project!) then strung them like beads. The diamond ones were covered in paper from 7gypsies and while I liked the look, I just thought they needed something...so I dug through my embellishment drawers and came to the drawer I had full of those little spiral clips that were "in" years ago...I have a LOT, lol! These little ones added just the touch I wanted. I then drilled through the tops and created the earrings using these like beads again. I didn't have jump rings big enough handy so I grabbed some of the bigger spiral clips and they were the perfect substitute!


The pin changed forms many times. I had painted the square black because I meant to stamp on it with an interference ink. But I was being lazy and didn't feel like hunting down a stamp (again, this is a TINY size) so I dug through my scraps and found this paper from Prima. After I Mod Podged it on, I added some gold glaze over the top and sides and loved the look. Again, it needed something. I was putting away groceries and came across a bowl that for some reason got stuck in a kitchen cabinet (no idea, lol) that was full of charms...yup - back from when charms were "in" and I bought gobs and gobs of them! I found this little gold candy cane and snipped off the hanger and voila - the Christmas look for my red and green paper! I haven't attached the pin back to it yet because I'm still debating - might end up as a zipper pull or something instead!


I had several mishaps during the course of all this because I was working with several paintbrushes at a time and hanging them off the lids of the paints and Mod Podge. My table picked up a few new colors. But again, serendipity reigned while I was scooting little pieces here and there and four triangles glued together became a perfect little paintbrush rest! A little bit of Basic Grey paper and some DecoArt paint in rich espresso metallic (same as I used for the kitchen spinner - gotta have my little matching details!) and it now holds two paintbrushes handy yet off the table (and they won't roll off like they do off of lids...).


The two bracelets are by far my favorite projects out of the bunch. The Asian bracelet was actually the first project that came out of this. I had the red squares and had some paper from Zsiage that had the perfect sized characters - for the record, the symbol is double happiness - what a cute concept for a bracelet! I used an old Family Treasures punch that just happened to be the ideal size and Mod Podged them on - I used glossy to give it that lacquered feel. Side drilled them and strung them onto stretchy jewelry cord with some silver beads and blackstone. For the pink and brown one, I painted the squares with the same espresso metallic paint and also painted some wooden beads with the same to match. I covered the squares with Basic Grey paper (the squares are identical front and back) and really wanted to put rhinestones in the middle. Well, I couldn't find exactly what I wanted. The flat-backed Swarovski just seemed like overkill, yet the cheap plastic was just too...cheap plastic. I was in Michael's and happened to find a cell phone sticker set with little rhinestones in the clearance section for $1! Yea, I'm all about the clearance and sale and $1 items, lol! I used an Xacto to pull single stones out and adhered them to the centers of the designs and found matching glass beads from Blue Moon Beads to finish the bracelet off (again with stretchy jewelry cord). Love it! Note to self - there's a reason I despise working with stretchy cord though - I just didn't want a clasp interfering with the design on these!

And finally, I used the base as a little dimensional frame. Same espresso paint (can you tell I really love this with the Blush line?) and also another metallic, kind of a light teal that's used on the inside edges. Added the Basic Grey paper, a photo, and a tag from the Blush collection. Then I took some of the remaining diamonds and painted them and added the letter stickers.


A few notes about supplies. When altering small items (trust me, after working with them, I think trying to line up an actual photo on them would NOT be easy!), the 6x6 pads of patterned paper REALLY are the best answer! I used full-sized patterns on a lot of the Basic Grey (just because I had all these scraps!), but have a lot of my trusty 6x6 pads handy for later! I very rarely scrap in 6x6 but just can't resist the cute little pads and paper packs in this size and am always glad when I'm altering something small. MOST manufacturers shrink the entire pattern when doing 6x6 and 8x8 sizes and this can really make a difference in how things look!


Now, I'd like to introduce you to the tool that really inspired most of the projects - my handy dandy hand drill. This is from Forster (they do wood dowels and such you'll find in craft stores - I know Hobby Lobby has this drill right there with them but don't think Michael's carries it) and probably the #1 best craft buy I've ever made. They're on sale right now at Crafts Etc. for $3 (regularly still only about $4) - you get the drill handle and 3 drill bits. Seriously. Buy several and keep one in your toolbox, one in your scrapbook tote, one in your junk drawer... There is a bit of a learning curve to keeping it straight while drilling, but a little practice is all it takes. It will go through wood, acrylic, chipboard, etc. It is invaluable for altering small items. I. Love. This. Tool. I have several other craft drills (such as the Fiskars that you have to crank) and real drills, but this still gets pulled out more often than anything just because it's simple and does the job.


Well, I hope you've enjoyed the fun that has come out of this little $1 find as much as I have!