Owl Pillowcase Box

I know I say this a lot, but, seriously, how much cuter can you get???  This is an owl made with the Stampin' UP! tag punch and the scalloped circle punch.  The circles of the body is a 1 inch circle punch I got from Hobby Lobby.  The tiny circles for the eyes were done with my Cricut and the feet are tiny flowers from a mini punch I bought at Micheal's.  The pillowcase box was cut out on the Cricut using my SCAL software.  You can find a template as well anywhere on the Internet!  Just fill the box with treats, decorate and send to someone you love!  Have fun and remember, it is always homemade!

Button Card Set

  So this is the cheapest thing you can make!  I bought the felt buttons at Big Lots for ONE DOLLAR.  I used 1 1/4 piece of white cardstock and then stamped the words on each and it made such a cute little set of 3x3 cards.  Simple, cute, easy and cheap.  That is what I like best!

Always simple, always homemade!

Wall Streat Area

Here is a layout I did this week of our NYC trip.  These pictures were taken in Lower Manhatten.  They are of the Bowling Green Park, Charging Bull Statue, U.S. Custom Building and the view up Broadway.  It was nice getting back to scrapbooking after being out of town for four weeks.  This page seemed a little plain, but I just can't get used to working with an 8 1/2 x 11 page. 

On the other hand, I did make a cute journaling box!  :-)  The picture below the layout is the other 3 I made for future projects.  I made these out of graph paper index cards with embellishments of all kinds.  I saw this idea on the blog listed on the right side of this page labeled Mish Mash.  She has such cute ideas!  Very simple and very cute! 

Hope you all have a great day and remember, it is always homemade!

Gum Wrappers

These are sooo cute and soooo easy.  I saw these on MY PINK STAMPER and I decided to make these for my kids' Bible class teachers at the end of their quarter.  Easy, cheap and cute.  I am all about it.  Go over to Robin's blog and check out all the dimensions!  Have fun and remember, it is always homemade!

Birthday Cards

Hey everyone!  I am finally back home for a while!  We were out of town most of the month of July!  Literally!  We had a lot of fun but I am so glad to be back in my bed, my house and in my shower.  Those are the three things I miss the most when I am not at my house!  But, with coming home you have to get back in the swing of things and get back to work in the real world.  When you are out of town you don't have to do laundry (like you do at home), you don't have to cook much, you don't have to clean....so, to say the least it is taking lots of motivation to get back into the real duties of being a stay-at-home-mom! 

One of those duties (which I love) is to get back to crafting, stamping and scrapbooking for you guys!  :-)  Another one is to keep up with the family birthdays for this month!  So, one of the first things I did last week was get a couple of birthday cards made for a couple of family members.  It was so good getting back at my craft table and creating!

The first card is made with the Sweet Scoops SU stamp set and it turned out really cute.  The "celebrate" stamp is from another set of mini words that I picked up somewhere along the way.  The Stamp-a-ma-jig made this card so simple and easy to get it all placed perfectly!  Best $5 I ever spent at Joann's! 

The second card was made for my brother-in-law who turned 50 this year.  I wanted it to be simple but "over the hill-ish" too.  So this is what I came up with.  I really liked the "celebrate" stamp, I used it again on this one as well.  I cut out the numbers with my SCAL using the A&S Jiggy Roman font.  Such a cute font!  Thanks to my friend Jennifer for introducing this font to me!  LOVE IT!

Hope you all have a great day of crafting and remember it is always homemade!

Ellis Island

Just like last week, this is another layout I did while out of town with a limited amount of scrapbook supplies.  The paper behind the pics on the right side is really pretty paper....it reminds me of vintage stamps.  I thought it would go well with the Ellis Island theme of the page.  The squares on the right side are an actual photograph of the floor in the main building on the island.  I wanted to incorporate that somehow and this is how I chose to use it.  Hope you enjoy and remember it is always homemade.

Treat Bag Holder

I was browsing my Paper Crafts Magazine the other day and I came upon a marked page and a circled project that I have been wanting to try and this is the result.  The original is in the March/April 2012 issue on page 67.  It has a few differences but the general idea is the same.  The thing about crafting is that you have to make it your own.  This would be perfect for some candy, nuts, or anything in that genre for someone special. 

Here are the dimensions:

Cardstock is 2 3/4 x 11

With paper laying HORIZONTALLY on your scoreboard, score at 4 1/2 and at 6 1/2. 

Cut one edge with a border punch or decorative scissors.

Cut out a piece of patterned paper and border punch it and adhere to the back panel.

Decorate BEFORE closing!!!

I secured mine with a staple and tied the ribbon over the staple. 



Have fun and remember it is always homemade!

3x3 Card Set

I have been wanting to make some little card sets for a while to use basically when you need a quick card to put with a gift.  I saw some in the new Stampin' UP! Catalog and that was the "push" I needed to get on with it and make some!  You could do these with whatever type of stamp you wanted.  I chose to do them in two different ways today to show you two different ways to "color" the stamps.

The first set (fruit set) are colored different colors with the stamp pad used or with markers and then stamped onto the white.  This takes a little time and patience but the outcome is obviously very cute! 

The second set (the "nature" set) is a variety of stamps that were originally stamped in brown ink and then colored in with watercolor pencils and a blender pen.  This is a fun technique that I am still not great at, but it turns out very cute when done right!  :)  I especially like the tree stamp!  I may do a whole set with that stamp alone! 

The envelopes were cut out using the Cricut Beyond Birthdays Cartridge at 4 1/4.  It comes out to be a perfect size for the 3x3 cards.  I did do something a little new for me and that is I lined the envelopes and made them that much more cute!  It only takes a couple extra minutes to do that and it adds much more character.  Also, as a side note, these little 3x3 cards it perfectly into the little magazine holder that I showed you in a tutorial back a couple of months ago.  You can see that tutorial HERE on my blog as well as Beth's blog (where I saw the idea) HERE.

You could make these with any stamp.  The good thing about them is that they are quick and easy and you can make them to your liking.  I thought you could stamp babys on them, girl or boy themed stamps, demask stamps...etc....the list could go on and on.  Make them to fit your needs.  If you give a lot of gifts to kids, make them fit that need.  Keep a stash so that when you need that quick card, you can always go grab one in a flash!

Be creative and remember, it is always homemade!

Statue of Liberty

So, while I was at my in-law's house for a week at the beginning of July, I brought a few things to scrapbook.  Obviously, I didn't take my whole scrapbook room with me but I took the normal go to tools.  So, this isn't the most glamourous page layout, but it works for what I had with me.  Hope you enjoy and remember, it is always homemade!

Easy Gift Bag

I picked up the new Stampin' UP! Catalog a few weeks ago and of course it is filled with wonderfully cute ideas!!!  This is one of them.  It is on the back page (if I remember correctly) and it is just a simple addition of paper to a plain paper bag.  I added the brown strip at the top but other than that, it is basically the same idea.  This is just a really cute, easy gift bag idea because we all have these things in our craft stash.  A plain paper bag and some scraps is really all that makes up this bag.  Have fun and put one of these together when you need something cute but quick!  Have fun creating and remember, it is always homemade! 

Being "Square" IS Cool!

So this is the easiest, quickest card you could ever make and see how classy it looks!  I know I say all of these cards are easy and quick but this one really is a no-brainer!  I saw a similar card in the March/April 2012 Paper Crafts Magazine (Pg. 39).  I changed it just a bit but used the overlapping square idea.   All you do is make three score lines at the bottom of the card that are 1/8 inch apart.  Then, use a square punch and punch out 9 squares in all different prints of paper.  I chose all polka dotted paper so that there was a general theme, but it can just be a hodge podge of prints.  Next, adhere the squares one on top of the other.  Finish by stamping a sentiment just above the squares.

It may only take 5 minutes, but it is always homemade.

Shabby Chic Wedding Shower

This is a sign-in sheet I made for a shower last Sunday after church services.  This wedding decor is mason jars, candles, and burlap as was the shower decorations.  So, I went with the theme and started creating.  I did a quick video below to show you how I did the mason jars....SCAL program is awesome!  This could be easily made into a scrapbook page for canning or anything "southern".  Hope you have a great day and remember, it is always homemade.

Dressed Up Water Bottle Gift Idea

 

Seriously, how cute are these? (As promised last month, here are the dimensions of the water bottles that I gave out at the Stampin' UP! Party I hosted last month.) I have been wanting to try one of these for a while for something, I just couldn't find a reason to get it done!  So, I made one just for fun about a month ago and then decided to give each person, who came to the Stampin' UP! Party that I hosted, one of these for a "thank you" gift.  I think this would be a cute gift for a teacher at school or church...I actually almost made them for my kids' Bible class teachers but had already had something done (that you will see later) for that purpose.  :)

Here are the dimensions for the base piece:

2 1/2 x 7 1/2

Score (while laying horizontally) at 2 inches

Circle punch a hole at the short end of the strip so that you can fit it over the top of the bottle.  I used a circle punch that was 1 1/4 inch diameter.

The pink circle is about 3 inches in diameter.

The lemon is a stamp from Stampin' UP! that I punched out with the same circle punch that was used above.  They are all adhered with dimentionals.

The leaves were stamped on white paper and cut out and placed under the lemons.

I cut slits on the side of the pink circle and tied ribbon through the slits and tied a bow on the back of the bottle.  The lemonade pack is glued on with glue dots to keep it in place.

Have fun and design one however you would like.  There are so many different flavors of the Crystal Light powders....think outside the box.  For a tea packet, make a tea bag.  For a raspberry packet, make a raspberry embellishment.  You get the picture.  Make one for someone today and remember, it is always homemade.

Another Triangle Folded Card

This card is just another take on a triangle folded card.  The front flap (as seen in the second picture) is folded to the front and the blue square is glued flat onto the folded triangle.  This turns out to be a 5x5 card in the end.  It is really cute and a little out of the ordinary which gives it character!  :)  The decoration on the front is pretty self explanatory.  Hope you have fun making one of these!  Remember it is always homemade!

Archiver's, Stampin' UP!, and Joann's Haul

Sorry guys, no scrapbook page this week.  I have been out of town the last two weeks and leaving again on Tuesday so, to say the least I have been busy!  I am working on a layout for a sign up sheet for a wedding shower at church for tomorrow night and I had planned on posting that today, but it may not be finished until tomorrow afternoon....just in time for the shower.  It is really cute so far!  Anyway, instead of the normal scrapbook page, I did a quick video of things I picked up while out of town this past week.  My husband does some contract work with a company in Louisville, KY and we spent the week there with him this past Sunday through Thursday.  He worked.  The kids and I played.  I stopped into the local Archiver's and also went to the local Joann's just because I could!  :-)

As I have told you, recently I hosted a Stampin' UP! party as well, so this following video is what I bought from Stampin' UP! with my hostess "money" and what I snagged at the Archiver's and Joann's.  Have fun watching and I can't wait to show you how I use some of these products when I get back from being out of town AGAIN!  I will be home most of the fall!  :-)

Have a great day and remember it is always homemade!

 

Layer Lace Flower....Pinterest Project

Very cute flowers that I saw on Pinterest one day.  So, today I tried them...very easy but I suggest playing with scrap paper on your first one!  For glue I used a hot glue gun instead of the glue the orignal creator used.  If you go to her tutorial, she has several other types of flower tutorials as well.  Have fun and remember, it is always homemade.

Triangle Tri-Fold Card

I had fun making this Triangle Tri-Fold Card but it is a little out of my "comfort zone" of a basic A2 card.  I don't know why but it took me a while to decorate it after I made the basic fold.  The dark purple square on the front is a paint chip that I got at Lowe's.  It has a velvety feel to it.  I stamped the circular image on a vellum circle that measures about 3 inches in diameter.  It turned out really cute even though it took me a while to decorate.  Many of these types of cards are hard to keep closed just because they want to spring open so a bow around it or a cute designer paperclip would be cute to hold it closed.  Just a thought....  :-)

Here is a diagram of where the score lines need to be made.  The size of the piece of paper is 12x4 and then scored at 4 inches and 8 inches and then at the diagonals shown below.  The finished size of this card is a 4x4 square. 



Have fun making this card and remember, it is always homemade!

Blue Sky

Call me crazy, but, yes, I took a pic of the sky in NYC! It was so rainy and cloudy almost the entire time we were there! We worked around it but some of our views were not the best (Empire Sate Building and the Rock) but we made the best of it. The only day we had sunny skies all day was the last day. That is when we did all of our outdoor activities! We had to change our days around a bit, but it was not really that big of a deal. Anyway, here is a quick page showing off the beautiful blue sky! The white dash marks really added to the definition to this page. I love the white gel pen! If you don't have one, it is such a cheap addition to your stash of supplies. They come two in a pack at Hobby Lobby for only a couple of dollars.....especially if you use your coupon! Have a great day of crafting and remember it is always homemade!

Happy July 4th!!!!

These lanterns were made for the kids.  They had a blast making these.  We actually made them last month and they have been hanging on our mantel for a few weeks.  They were very proud of them!  My son cut his own slits in the paper.  Obviously I "helped" Darcie with hers!  I am not looking forward to the day that she has scissors in her hand!  I let them pick out their "star" paper at Hobby Lobby and these are the selections they made! 

We also made this standing 3D star.  I cut the shapes out on the Cricut using my SCAL software and then we all glued them together to make the finished project! 

Our family hopes you have a great day of celebration of our Independance Day and hopefully you are spending it with family and friends!  We are! 

Have a great day and remember, your kids LOVE to make anything homemade!  Just let them show you!  :)

Reuse of Gift Card Holder

My Mom gave me a gift card one day and it was attached somehow (it has been a while) to this flower.  Being the crafty person that I am, I thought that this flower would someday be used for SOMETHING.  It was so cute I decided to save it.  I have had it for quite some time....it has been hanging on my bulletin board that I have above my craft desk just waiting for the day I would use it for something.  Well, today is the day.  I added the stamp and the pink ribbon and glued it down.  I added the white dashes around the edge and called it done!  Repurpose anything you can!  It is just as cute the second time around!  Have a great day and remember it is always homemade!