A Christmas Carole Accordion

As the New Year approaches I'm trying to get out all of my current card projects so that I may work on all new stuff during the New Year.  That's not to say that I will be able to accomplish that....just that I'm going to try.  I have odds and ends projects all over the place and some I'm not even sure if I had posted already so I'm really hoping that I will not be "Duping" anything.  LOL
So....lets start with this one.  I know I haven't posted it yet because the first time I took a picture was today to send off to a brand new friend.  Just a little background before I jump into this.  She saw a post I made on Splitcoast Stamper and private messaged me.  She was originally from my state and just thought it was a good idea to reach out on a personal level.  I am so glad she did.  We have been having so much fun describing our lives, our likes and dislikes.  We have become Old Fashioned Pen Pals!  Ok maybe Keyboard Pals!  LOL  But for sure we will be using the US Snail Mail too!  There is a strong bond among strangers.  So if your ever down on life just remember my little story about 2 people becoming friends from miles away and know that good does exist.  And Now...........on to the card!!  

As I said it's an accordion card and it measures 4x6 closed and 4 x 24 fully opened.  I used the Graphic 45 collection A Christmas Story.  Here it is closed.

Here it is opened.  Not sure if you call this the front side or inside.  The first page has a little pocket that I added my grandkids Christmas picture to.  The third section also has a pocket and I just added a couple tags.  I love the Tiny Tim one!

One the back side or outside, we start with a postcard.  Though this one is not written on it was put there for me to write our   "To and From" on.  This way I'm not messing up any of the pages signing the card.  Hmmm...looks like you can't see the post card very well.  I'll take another pic of the back of the accordion closed.

The 3rd section also has a pocket where I was able to slip a family picture my son had done for their Christmas pictures.

Ok here we go this is the accordion closed and the back side.

Well I'm off to find other projects so until next time...........................................

HAPPY CARDING!!

Christmas Mini Album

Remember awhile back I shared with you my Interactive Halloween Book seen HERE.  Well I had also made some Christmas ones but couldn't show them to you because they were gifts.  Now that the holidays are over I can share.
A bit more involved than the Halloween one, this one has lots of pages for holiday photos.
Soooo......lets start the view...............

Here's the front

 This book has alot of flip pages where the book just keeps expanding to the right after you open the first page.

open 1st page to the left

 When first opened we have a gate door on left that when opened you can place a photo here.  The bottom pocket holds little tags that you can adhere photos to the back.  On the blue page (on right) we have 2 flaps.  when opened you can put 2 pictures inside.  Now take that blue page and flip it open again to the right.

 Here on the right we have a 4 flip waterfall.  Flipping each one up to expose more photos.  Then on the right that page has a place for a photo on top of the little decorative square on the top left corner.  The bottom right corner is a little spot for journeling a Christmas list.  Now flip the right page again to the right.

This shows the middle section having 2 more flaps for more photos and on the right is a "Book in the Book"  This has 6 more pages for photos.  Some of those pages have tags where you could do some journeling.

The photo below shows the entire unfolded inside of the book.

And here above is the entire outside of the book unfolded.  I believe this little album can hold about 22 photos!!  That's pretty good for something that is only a few pages and measures about 8.5" x 5.5"

Oops for got a photo.  Here's the book within the book. You can see the little pocket on the left with a tag for journeling and I think the rest are just pages for adding the pictures.

Any way this one went to my sister and she loved it!  I made another one in Graphic 45 Papers the St Nicholas collection which I gave away before pictures and I made one for myself with the Night before Christmas collection which is not totally completed yet.  Will I make another???  Absolutely!!!  These are so much fun....time consuming but fun.

If I ever finish my other one I'll share but until next time......................

HAPPY CARDING!!

Gift wrap time

Quick stop in to share a little idea I had for this years wrapping.  So many of us use those paper gift bags for wrapping.  I agree they are convenient.  Especially for large items like coats, or certain toys like trucks that just don't wrap right.  This year I have been shopping with more and more of the re-usable bags when going to the grocery store.  I got so tired of always having a ton of plastic bag laying around the house.  Now some store bags are not pretty.  They are made of some sort of weird material that kind of feels like gauze.  But other stores have these GREAT, colorful, very sturdy bags.  For example Trader Joe's.  I bought a couple of their bags a few years ago and LOVE them.  They hold alot and are pretty.  Another place near me is the Fresh Market.  Their bags are also very pretty.  During the holidays I usually always end up buying a few gift bags for gifts but this year I decided to get the re-usable shopping bags.  This way the recipient gets a gift with the gift!  Cleaver right????  And as fate would have it Trader Joe's came out with brand new designs on their bags!!!  Yay for me!!  Since I usually spend around $1.99 for those paper gift bags, seeing that these Trader Joe ones were only 99 cents made me extremely happy!  Here's what I got:

Now this is just the one side...The picture is different on the reverse side as will as the sides when you open them!  So awesome.
So this year when people use their gift that the gift was bagged in I hope they think of me and say "Wow this was a great idea".
That's it for now.........I highly suggest you run out now to your local stores and take a peek at what they have to offer in the way of re-usable bags. Its a gift that will keep on giving.  The environment will like it too.

HAPPY CARDING

Quickie Little Gifts

OMG...I'm so sorry...this is another late post but written a week ago.  I couldn't find the finished product for a picture.  I probably already gave it away so I quickly made another 2 so I could photograph them.  LOL  Another senior moment or the Christmas season is getting the best of me!



So it's very cold here and the snow we got last Sunday it still here. It was the first measurable snow this season.   Funny the weathermen kept saying that my area would be getting about 2.5" and we ended up with close to 7"!!  I don't think many were prepared.  I still need to go get some salt because we didn't have much left.  There is also a cold snap heading our way.  I guess it's about time winter arrived.  We have been pretty luck with the most awesome fall!  Beautiful weather right through November! A new storm is brewing for the weekend.
With a cold front coming and me being one who would rather stay in, I decided to make little gifts for those who need to be out in this weather.  Whether be a Mail deliverer (like my PC??  LOL) or just people in general who must go to work.  So I'm making little packet covers for a tea bag.  I mean who doesn't like to snuggle up with a hot cup of tea?  Ok maybe some of you don't like tea but this could work for hot cocoa too!
Here's what you'll need:  
1  12x12 double sided DSP
1/4" score tape
scrap white, red or green card stock
Sentiment stamp of choice
corner rounder
2", 1 3/4" and 1 " circle punch
Label punch
From 1 sheet of paper you will get 3 tea folders.  Cut you 12x12 into 3 strips measuring 3 3/4" x 9 3/4".  Save scraps you will need them.  Next score each strip at 3 1/4" on both short sides.  As in below photo. 

 Fold on score lines and on last third cut off top piece to form triangle pocket.  (see above Photo)

Use score tape on bottom of triangle and fold inward to form pocket for tea bag.  Now just decorate!  If you want the piece you cut off can be used as a second pocket on the opposite side.  The bottom image shows that the inside has 2 triangle pockets.  Hope its not confusing.  
If you don't have any double sided DSP use what you have.  Fold the paper with printed side on inside and then cut 3x31/2 pieces of coordinating print and glue to white side of paper.  Example of that is in photo below.

Slip your tea bag into the pocket and your done.  Great little thing to give to bus drivers too.
I think I may have the grand kids make a few of these to give out and I'll make some for my D.I.L. to hand out at the school she teaches at.  After all the janitors should get a little something and the other teachers just might find one in their mail slots!

Have fun and til next time...........................

HAPPY CARDING!!

Crafting with Ama

With more snow predicted for the weekend I had decided that it would be a good weekend for a Sleepover and crafting with Ama (my grand kids call us Ama and Apa...pretty cute.)  So with the grandkids over we started crafting as the snow was falling.  The first would be those cute Christmas balls I made earlier with the rolled DSP inside.  This time I used bigger bulbs so the hole was larger for putting the papers in and I got plastic ones!!  Great thinking on my part because you would not believe how many times they dropped their ornaments!  Although not quite as full as the ones I had made previously they still turned out cute.  They also added some chunky snow glitter inside.  It doesn't show up well in photos but its there.

The next craft was a count down to Christmas.  I actually bought a kit from Hobby Lobby but since I wanted multiples I had my husband use the store one as a template and he cut a bunch out for me.  The blocks are 2"x2" square and the stand piece is 2"x4 .   I used scrap Christmas card stock that I had and cut all the necessary pieces out.  You will need a total of 14 squares(2 of which are for the sides of the stand) measuring  1  7/8 x 1  7/8 and 4 pieces 1  7/8 x 3  7/8.   The numbers are cut on my cricut and measured  1  3/4.  I used a label punch and stamped the sentiment on it and then glued and glittered the outline.  We used Mod Podge gloss to adhere everything.

And last but not least we made door hangers.  We have a ton of pine cones here since my yard is in the woods so I always have some gathered pine cones lying around.  All we needed was some jute and jingle bells.  Seriously what grandma wouldn't have jingle bells for holiday crafts?   That's right up there with glitter!  LOL

That's it for now!!!  Kids are going out sledding again and it's snowing again!!  Going to be a hot chocolate kind of day!

Stay warm and HAPPY CARDING!

Ooooppppssss............just noticed that I forgot to post this as well as another one!  Senior moments!  LOL

Paper Craft Gifts

Hello!!  Brunch is over and was fantastic.  We all had a great time and ate well.  
As I said before I had to unwrap a gift in order to take the picture I forgot to take.  Heehee.  But lets start with the boxes.
I made these with the box maker by We R Memory Keepers.  Great little tool for a quick box that doesn't really require many measurements.  Actually all you have to do is cut the right size paper for the box and then follow either small, medium, large or extra large score lines.  Fold it up and your done!

Ok...... well most of the boxes are covered up by another ornament that I made.  But you all know what boxes look like so on to the 1st ornament.  I was at a holiday open house at a local nursery and on one of the trees were these cute little wooden ornaments with decoupage papers on them.  The wooden blocks that they used were about 3" x 4" x 1/2" .  They were very cute BUT I could make them.  So off to Hobby Lobby where I found these small ATC size blank wooden plaques.  They had a real tiny hole in the top middle and came 8 to a pack for $2.99.  I had alot of left over pieces from my Graphic 45 papers that I trimmed to fit.  I stained each plaque a walnut color and then decoupaged the papers on them.  I then coated them with a thin layer of Glossy Accents and sprinkled Martha Stewart Tinsel Glitter on them.  After dried I added a swirly hook through the little hole that I made just a wee bigger with an awl.  I then just hooked them onto the ribbon over the boxes.  Cute right?  I love them and now need to go get more wood for more ornaments.  Here's a close-up of 1 of them.  Isn't that glitter awesome?

Inside each box was the other ornament.

Hard to tell from photo but this is just a glass clear ornament with rolled up scraps of DSP stuffed inside until it is full.  Add a bow and swirly hook and TA DA cute ornament.  Now I will admit this is time consuming.  Each piece of paper is about 1/2" wide by 6" long and it takes well over 40 rolls per bulb and that is for the regular size ones.  I bet the larger ones would take forever.  I made six so far and let me tell you my fingers were sore from rolling around a skewer.  But once done they are so cute.  I bet you could color coordinate to a persons likes too.

Everyone also received a small plastic test tube, from Michael's Halloween clearance, that I filled with just a few of my favorite things.  1 being the steel tip for glue by Art Glitter.  Love that tip and I use glue alot.  This rarely clogs and if it does you can clean it out with real hot water.  I also put in the tubes a Dr Brown Baby bottle brush.  This is pretty tiny and cleans out those tips pretty well.  Strictly by accident I realized that it was usable for my craft supplies because I had them here for cleaning grandbabies bottle inserts.  Now I can't live without them.  Another item is the metal lacier for turkeys.  Ideal for poking holes in glue tips or for pushing out the clog.    The tube itself is great for in our craft totes.  We will be less likely to loose those tiny things when kept in the tube.  Plus the tube is plastic so it won't break.

Hope you enjoyed my paper crafts and the little favorite things tubes.  Now I'm off to my next project...Getting my Christmas cards mailed!!

Til Later
HAPPY CARDING

Holidays are Coming!!

With Christmas coming we have started our decorating.  What a lot to do!!  Sometimes I think I should start decorating in September just like the stores do.  Then by Thanksgiving all I need to do is sit back...relax...and enjoy the scenery.   This year I did start the week before Thanksgiving hauling everything up stairs and making sure everything with lights still work.  I am happy to report no re-stringing was needed!!  In between all of that I still had to take care of the grand kids and finish the gifts for my lady friends for our brunch that is actually taking place on Sunday. I have come to the realization that at this time of year it is a shame that my friends have access to my blog!  LOL  I mean seriously........how am I to share with you things that they will be receiving, without them seeing it here first??  Frustrating for sure!  But I can tell you that I had to unwrap the gift because I forgot to take a picture!  Yep I'm THAT organized!  heeheehee  So I got a picture...re wrapped....and added embellishments to my packages.  Oh!!!! AND I made all the boxes for the gifts!  You'd think I'd be tired of boxes! LOL  All the small bows were made with my bow maker that my husband made me a few years ago.  Love that thing and could not do without it!  Perfect bows every time...and we all know how difficult it is to make those tiny bows we use on our cards.  I will post those gifts after brunch on Sunday.

This weekend it is also Dickens in Dundee here.  The entire town is decked out for Christmas.  There are living windows, carolers, Santa, horse and carriage rides, reindeer and certain businesses open their shops for cookies and hot cocoa treats for all on Friday night.  Candy Canes too!  These are all small businesses as Dundee is a quaint little town in the Old town district.  Saturday there is the Dickens in Dundee parade, gingerbread house making and community tree decorating contest. Busy busy weekend.  I also have my annual cookie bake with my sister and our DIL's on Saturday.  A special tray is always made for our firehouse too.

Well that's it for now and don't forget to check back for Paper craft gifts later!

HAPPY CARDING!  

Scene cards for Christmas

Well it's a foggy day today so it's a good day to sit around and finally share these scene cards I made with my fellow card makers over the weekend.  First let me say they looked WAY easier than they actually are.  All the fussy cutting and trying different layout arrangements took alot of time!  Second...this was ALOT of fun.
  I found a video on YouTube by XANNERO1 found here .  Her cards were stunning and the ladies and I were eager to make them with the same papers.  What I didn't realize was that it was an old set of papers.  They are by Graphic 45 (which I love) and it's the Twas the night before Christmas collection.  After a lengthy search I finally found someone on eBay selling packs of 8 different sheets and lucky for me she had 6 packs available.  So I bought all 6 and sat down to figure out dimensions.  Not so easy because some of the measurements, when following the videos, were not accurate and though she said to go to her blog not all measurements were there either.  It took me about a week, fiddling on and off, to get everything rights.  Actually after I typed it all and we actually started making I found some mistakes so corrections were required.  But all in all they are cute cards.  Fully closed I believe they measure 4.5 x 6.  I should have measured them before I put them away.  Sorry.

I think I need to decorate my trees more on the first card.  The back sides are just the plain black card stock and 1 of the ladies decided to add a little ribbon and tag.  Mine is not done yet so I'll share hers.

Isn't that cute?  She did that because it was a cute way for the card to close.  The way it was designed it is called an envelope card so after folding it up on the score lines you would secure the flap with some score tape and then add an address label to the other side.  So the card and envelope are all the same piece.  Cute idea but personally I wouldn't take a chance mailing it this way because the sides are not closed so anyone could actually peer inside or it could get snagged and then torn open and by the time the recipient gets it ...well it could be a total mess.  I suggest you either hand deliver or use a regular sturdy envelope to go through the mail.  Extra postage will probably be required due to thickness.
Well that's it for now .....til next time..................................

HAPPY CARDING

HOLIDAY BOX DECORATION

Hello again!  Can you believe that the holidays are almost here???  I feel like I have so much more to do and not enough time.  Boy that's familiar.  Seems I say that every year.  LOL
So I love to decorate EVERYTHING!!! Windows, door knobs, cabinet knobs, lamp switches, etc.  Like I said everything and these little boxes do the trick and don't cost a fortune.

At first I was going to give these out for gifts but then the recipient couldn't use it for long.  So I decided to just hand them out whenever I saw someone I wanted to give a little gift to.

The red one is 2.75 x 2.75 and made with the box maker by We R Memory Keepers.  I used an old set of Sizzix dies for letters to spell HO using the positive part of the cut on all 4 sides.  Guess the green on the red box doesn't show up so well so I'm making a few more that pop out more.  The 3 box strand is a template for a 2x2x2" box with jute strung through on a diagonal with a jingle bell between each box.  Once again I used the positive cutting of the letters to embellish all 4 sides to spell out JOY.  The twine is strung through the little opening between the box and the lid as your closing it.  I started with the top loop being weaved through the back left corner of the lid as your closing it , pulling the tail end through the box and coming out the right front opening of the bottom of the lid.  Hope I didn't totally confuse you.  Then repeat for all additional boxes. (Top left back, bottom left front)  The third on I strung straight with 3 wooden beads between box and this time used the negative cutting of the letters to spell NOEL.  I punched tiny holes in the middle of both the top and bottom lids and strung them together that way.   I have probably made at least 20 of these so far with various words.  

Well now I really need to get on with these scene cards so til next time............

HAPPY CARDING

Scrap Holiday Tags

Hello!!!  Long time...I know sorry.  Life got crazy with medical issues of my daughter in law and we had the birth of a new granddaughter.  Who, by the way, is totally a doll!  I get lots of baby-grandma time with her and just love all the cuddling.
So slowly, I am getting back into my craft room and I started with making some Christmas gifts.  Sorry can't post those!  heehee  Santa wouldn't approve but what I can post are the lovely tags I was able to make from my scraps.  First I made a trip to the Dollar Tree to get some file folders.  These can turn out at least 80 tags when cut up.  You get 10 folders in a pack. Take 1 folder, cut off the tabs (save these to make grommets) and cut the folder in half.  Then cut each piece into 2 3/4 x 6 1/2 tags.  These are large so you will get 4 from each half folder. Totally 80 if you do them all this size.   I love this size tag and it is the one I use the most.  Another great medium size is 2 3/4  x  5 1/2 and a smaller size of 2 3/4 x 4. You should be able to get 10 tags from each half if you use these sizes and that would be a whopping 100 tags from just one $1 pack!!!  Now that's a deal!

The 5 tags on the bottom right are the 6 1/2" long ones.  Top and middle are the 5 1/2" ones and the 4 on the bottom left are the 4" long ones.
The grommets on all of these I made by cutting out 3/4" circles and punching a hole in the middle and they turn out nearly perfect.  I'm a strong believer that your tags need the extra support for the ribbon, jute, yarn or whatever you choose to use. 
 In the next few days I hope to share some scene cards that I'm C.A.S.E.ing from a you tube video I saw.  I'm trying to figure out all the dimensions before I post and I will put up the link to the video then too.  Sooooo stay tune and til then................................

HAPPY CARDING!

POP OUT FOLDING SCREEN CARD

So here's another one I found.  Though I no longer have the card I made with this template, you can probably figure it out if you refer to the Asian Screen card I made quite a bit earlier.   At the moment I just want to get these posted before I forget all together!  So here we go........................

Today's card took me forever to get down dimensions.  I saw this on line tutorial on how to decorate the screen cards from the Hunkydory Screen card pack called Eastern Promise.  I had earlier tried making a Screen Card and if you look back at the post  Asian Screen Card     you can see how that one turned out.  I really liked it and even decided to show the Stamp group how to make it.  Then I saw this one and "Oh My Gosh" !!!!!  Soooo pretty.  I was up for the challenge, So I sat down one afternoon and started measuring.  I penciled in numbers and lines everywhere.  Cut where I put cut lines and folded the others, only to find I was off by maybe 1/8 inch on one side and about 3/16" of an inch on the bottom center cut....DANG.  Back to square 1.  Next one I some how totally eliminated 1 whole section due to improper fold measurements and silly me folded and started cutting until I got  frame 3 done and realized there wasn't any frame 4.  Oh for "Pete's Sake"!!  I think I finally have the base of the card right.

cut on solid lines and fold on dash lines

See...I figured it out!  Whew!  LOL   So after cut and folding....and I know it looks complicated but really it not, The card is ready to have it's feet put on the bottom.  

Using a 2.5 label punch, center half of the label in each of the four sections.  This is done the same way as the original Asian Screen card I did earlier.  Should look like this:

Ignore all the number scribbles on there.  I wanted to use all my bloopers so as not to waste a ton of papers.  The label punch just gives you a little bit of elegance to the screen.
Now your ready to decorate.  Some measurements for some of the pieces are below.

I really need to think about how I want this one to turn out.  I keep leaning to butterflies because it seems to go with the Asian theme of a screen but I want different.  I like my cards to have multiple uses.  Unfortunately I started with pink DSP because I needed another birthday card (figures).  So as much as I would like to do something totally off the beaten path I think Flourishes and Flowers will adorn this card.  Because of the "I" shape of the template I decided not to double up on the paper and just use 1 layer of DSP.  

Enjoy and 
HAPPY CARDING

Birch Tree Winter

Ever go through your posts and realize there are a few you started and saved as a draft but then never remembered to post it?  No???  Really???  Is it just me??  Probably!  Sometimes I just get carried away and will write 2 or more posts but not think they are complete enough so I save them til later and then I forget!  LOL  Well this is one of them.  I actually wrote this wayyyy back in November of 2015.  Actually I found a few so I'm going to go into edit and see if they are worth sharing.  So here's Novembers............

Ahhhh....the woods.  My favorite spot.  So why not make a woodland card?  I had watched a tutorial by Linda Bauwin on a Faux Illusion Technique.  I totally C.A.S.E.D this card.  Twice!!!  The first time was with my friend June.  We used her new Sizzix birch tree embossing folder.  This is a large folder so you could make a 6x6 card if you'd like.  Ours was actually a 5.5 x 5.5 

We used a piece of light blue cardstock. Not sure of the name because it was a scrap.  She had a tree stamp and we used Artichoke stamp pad.  The trick to getting the spruces behind the birch's is that you stamp your image on the recessed part inside your folder.  If you open your folder you will find that 1 side is raised and the other indented.  Stamp on the indented side.  Then run it through your Big Shot or Cuttlebug.  Remove cardstock and the trees are behind the birch's!!!  WAY COOL!!   Then with White ink pad and a dauber rub on white ink to the raised birch's to turn them white from blue.  Someone else used white card stock and inked both the sky and evergreens on the inside.  I think it's easier this way but you choose.  Once all the trees are white use a brown marker and just go over some of the hashes on the birch.  We decided we really liked our scrap piece and decided to turn it into a card so we trimmed it to 5.25 x 5.25 and adhered it to Artichoke cardstock.  I had also showed her a quick idea for sentiment's so we whipped up 2 and put the Christmas greeting in an unexpected red on our blue and green card.  It works well don't you think?

Speaking of the sentiments....we needed some for the Residents to put on their homemade cards so I just whipped up a few.  Still need a bunch more but it's a start.  Here's what I have so far.

Till later
HAPPY CARDING

Accordion Halloween Cards

Hi!!  I'm in the middle of a road trip my husband and I planned and I thought I'd taken a minute for a quick Card "Show & Tell".
Every year I make cards for my grand-nieces for Halloween and I try to do something different every year.  I'm sure one of these days I'm going to run out of ideas but for this year it will be Accordion fold card for the older girls and then different ones for the younger girls and 2 boys.  I decided on this after my grand-daughter made a accordion interactive booklet for her brother.  Here's what I came up with:

Closed

Inside

Back side

 I think the girls are going to love flipping through these little booklets.  I still need 3 more cards but they are for babies so no booklet for them!  LOL  I also have to decide what to do for my own grandkids!  Yikes!  It better be just as amazing Hahahahaha.

Well have to go back to my road trip....Oooooo I found an awesome scrap/rubber stamp store in Eau Claire Wisc!  Spent W A YYYYYY too much money.  But hey...mom and pop stores are hard to come by!  Ok so to be honest so far on this road trip I found a tiny one in Galena Illinois, and another small but WELL packed one in La Crosse Wisc...  Not exactly what my husband had in mind when we decided this road trip...hahahaha....oh well............

Til next time

HAPPY CARDING!

Homemade Embellies for Halloween cards and books

Ooooooo..............can't resist!  I love playing with scraps and what better way to use them than with making embellishments!
With my recent venture of making Halloween Mini Albums (I have another I'll be posting soon) and the need of Halloween cards I decided that while I was up at the cabin that I'd spend some time crafting little embellies.  Could only make so many because the humidity finally hit and all my papers started going limp.
Basic supplies are all you need. something to cut a straight line (or not so straight!  hahaha) 1" circle punch, glitter pen or glitter, scrap paper.  And remember to recycle too.  I've often gone into my recycle bin and grabbed paper bags and bottle caps to add interest.  Even soda pop can tabs can be an embellishment.  Check it out>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Flowers were made from paper bags and black card stock.  Just cut freehand a curvy circle about 2" in diameter, mist it with water, and crunch it up.  Once dried layer 3 together reshape by crunching then highlight tips with black ink pad.  Little banners I used a 1/2" x 8.25 piece of black cut curvy then cut another piece of paper bag about 3/8" x 8.25.  Layered them together, wrote BOO across then cut between the Boo's.  I added pop dots to the back of the black so they weren't so flat.  Seed packets pockets and coffins are on previous post with template.(Interactive Halloween book)  Little ghosts were cut out of DSP and pop dotted to 1" circles.  Witch's hat, Halloween bats trick or treat pumpkins were all from DSP.  Look for papers with small images or works that can be cut around and mounted on scrap card stock in Halloween colors.  They make great little add on's.

On the left is my clip made from a shower curtain clip and a bottle cap.  I popped a sticker inside and ran some scrap yarns and treads through a hole I punched on the bottom.  Attached to the treads I have some little charms.  Bottom left is another bottle cap stuck on a 1.25 green scallop circle with some purple scrap ribbon behind it.  A little book was made using cardstock and small raven clip art, some orange raffia was added to look like a book mark.  2 small buttons had bakers twine from dollar store threaded through them and tied in bows then just glued to a round stock circle.  Little spiders on top of picture had dimensionals under them to pop them a bit.  Spiders were from a Martha Stewart punch.  

As you can see it's easy to come up with a bunch of ideas.  For me they were all nearly free.  The only thing I had to buy was more pop dots!  Though I guess I could have used the grandkids fun foam and glue!  LOL

Well I hope I gave you some inspiration!

HAPPY CARDING!

Interactive Halloween Book

So Halloween is approaching and I loved all the various papers I've seen on line from Graphic 45, Tim Holtz, etc.  I want to use them all!  But I don't scrapbook so the next best thing for me is a Mini Album.  I had been gathering sheets for about 2 months now.  Locating them at local craft stores and my favorite Mom and Pop stamp store in Door County.  As well as eBay, Amazon, and Scrapbook.com.  And Here's what I came up with.

The front just has small decorations of a banner, homemade flowers from grocery bags, a tea stained doily.  A bottle cap attached to the side of the book with a clip from old shower curtain rings has various yarns and charms added to it for texture.  Inside left orange page has a seed packet pocket with a tag inside that you can turn over and attach a photo. The next page (the striped one) has a 3 flip waterfall and photos can be add to that as well.  What can't be seen is a triangle double pocket with 2 more tags to put photos on.  The next orange page has a coffin on an angle which opens up to hide another photo or 2.  Last but not least the far right page has 2 photo mats.  My granddaughter just loves this book!  In fact since she wouldn't leave it alone (and I needed it for a display for ladies night)  We had a sleepover and she made her own.

And she did a great job!  Instead of photos though she opted to use stickers on the blank mats.
Since I was getting together with the ladies I made all their book bases and a bunch of embellishments and templates.  So I decided to add the project sheets to this post.

HALLOWEEN MINI BOOK

BASE OF BOOK

1 sheet heavy 110# black card stock  8.5 X 11   scored at:    3.5,   4,   9,   9.5

1 sheet heavy 110# black card stock 8.5 x 6   scored at:     3 and 3.5 with 6"side at top of scoreboard

Attach the 9.5 side of previous paper to the 3" side of second paper

Total size of glued book is 8.5"  x 15  5/8"

 

Waterfall

3 pieces Orange card stock cut 3.5" x 4"  score at 3.5"

 

Seed Packet pocket

1 piece lime green card stock  6 x 5  scored at 1.75 and 4.25 with  6"side at top.

Turn so 5" side is top and score at 1" and 4.5"

Remove all 4 corner pieces and round the flaps.  Fold and glue

 

Other inside pieces

Template for tomb stones, witch hat, triangle pocket and small photo mats.

Well have fun and I'll answer any questions if you have any.

HAPPY CARDING!

GLUE TIP tip.

Well...............I know it's been a long time.  Crazy summer here, unfortunately not all good stuff but I got through the bad moments and it's time to brush off and get back to my obsessions!
So today we are talking glue!!  Well not really...... but the glue bottle tip.  Alot of people I know have been using the Art Glitter stainless steel glue tip (found here art glitter tips ) Many people use it on their Art Glitter Glue (found here art glitter glue)  for adding glitter details to their cards.  I love this tip!  I have used it on my Dollar Store liquid Adhesive (found here  dollar tree).  I have an obsession with this glue.  For a dollar it has held my cards together better than ANYTHING else I have ever used.  The tip goes on smoothly and I absolutely love the fine lines you can make.  One thing about this glue is you have got to work quickly as it dries real fast and once stuck it is STUCK!  But I work pretty quickly so that's OK for me.  Now back to the stainless steel tip. I had heard some reviews of the little pin getting stuck in the tip when left for a few days or another review of removing the tip and cleaning and then not being able to get the glue to come out like something is stuck.  Personally I have not had any problems with the tip on any glues I have used but I also remove the tip at the end of the day and clean it out.  I never gave a thought to the cleaning until one of the ladies in our group indicated that she was having a problem with her tip.  So to the sink I went running hot water through her tip but something was clogging it and I couldn't get it out.  I kept sticking that pin in through the top and then from underneath until finally a rock hard little ball of glue popped out.  What a pain!  Then once home and after using my glue I went to clean the tip and thought Hmmmmmm.....is this why mine doesn't clog?  I have always used the little brush that came with my granddaughters Dr Brown bottles. (extra ones..lol not the one I actually used on her bottles) These little brushes are to clean the flow devise inside the bottles. I don't remember why I started using it except 8 yrs ago it was sitting on the window sill and I just decided to use it I guess. (look for it here).   I have never had a clogged tip.  Now in all honesty I have NOT been using the Art Glitter Glue either.  No reason except the Dollar Tree Glue is cheaper!  And Hey I'm on a budget.  So the tip for the day is to clean your stainless steel tip (no matter what brand you may choose) and give the inside a little scrub with a Dr Brown brush!

Til next time
HAPPY CARDING