Crafty Fun with Project Life!

I'm sharing this pocket page scrapbook layout over at the Scrapendipity Way Of Life blog today. I used some of the cut apart journaling cards in the Shimelle True Stories paper collection, as well as cutting some of the papers into cards to fit my pockets. There are so many companies that are now including cut apart journaling cards in their paper lines, and I love that you instantly have coordinating cards and paper!

I created a tag using a 'Craft' journaling card and added some enamel dots to coordinate with the cute polka dot paper.

I cut a camera and Polaroid, and I punched some fun circles as well as hand cutting some banners- all from the papers! Don't be afraid to cut elements from your papers to create your own matching paper ephemera. A little blue ink around the edges pulled it all together. Perfect to document my daughter's crafty fun!

This cute quote, above, is a rub-on that I layered over some watercolored paper that my daughter had created with markers and a paintbrush.

Thanks so much for joining me today! I hope you're inspired to look at elements in your papers to see what other fun things you can do with them!

Christmas Creations

Yesterday I did an awesome tag class at Scrapbooker's Paradise.  In the spirit of Tim Holtz tags they are doing tag Tuesdays and once again did two beautiful tags!

For the first tag we embossed a Santa image onto a tag, then sponged on some red and green distress inks.  We added die cut, sanded holly leaves, a die cut flourish, a flower and a couple other embellishments, then some mica flakes (so cool) around the edges.

For the second tag we embossed the greenery (Inkadinkadoo) with a puffy embossing powder then used the Tim Holtz distress stains to blot on red and green over the tag.  We then added die cut trees and fence (colored with the stain as well) and sprayed the trees with Goosebumps spray, which is a clear texture spray.  We added some glitter and threaded some leather cord through the edge and added a metal embellishment and then tied with some twine through the top.  I think this one is my fav; I love how the embossed image resisted the stain!

I also made a few more cards and for this one used the Tim Holtz seasonal paper pad and added a snowman cut from the Cricut with the Gypsy Wanderings cartridge.  His scarf is covered with green crackle paint and popped up with foam dots, his arms have brown crackle paint, which actually looks woody, and I painted him and his hat with a shiny paint to add sparkle.  I sponged some brown Distress Ink over the ribbon to add to the vintage look.

I had colored in the scarf with markers, but wasn't happy with it, so added the crackle paint over and you can actually see a bit of the polkadots underneath!

 I embossed these cards with a Sizzix Christmas embossing folder and added a popped up Christmas door cut from a 12x12 page and Stickles to add some bling!

 I bought this plain pressed wood tree last year and didn't get around to doing anything with it (I think it is Making Memories) so I pulled it out and covered it with Christmas scrapbooking paper.  I painted the ornaments, but felt the colors were too bright, so I covered them with decoupage glue and microfine glitter to create a 'sugared' look and then attached them with Glue Dots at the base.  The cards slip in between the ornaments and the tree.

Hope you're having a Merry Christmas!

Linked up to Get Your Craft on Tuesday, Tip Me Tuesday, Too Cute Tuesday, and Hoo's Got Talent.

Week in Review!

It feels like I've been up to so much over the last 10 days! I'm really focusing on getting ready for Christmas and have also been trying to get as much crafting time in as possible before baby arrives! Counting down to 6 weeks :)

 From the December 2010 Create and Decorate magazine I stitched up these cute felt bells with appliqued details.  The felt flowers were cut freehand from felt and layered 2 together with a brad in the center.

 I used the Gypsy and Cricut with the Wall Decor and More cartridge to  make these two cards.  The top was for a little girl's birthday and the bottom was for Thank You cards for a baby shower (which my awesome sister and oldest daughter surprised me with!!) I was able to easily make 10 cards assembly style this way.

inside sentiment

As always Scrapbooker's Paradise had another awesome Toonie Thursday project- they made a really beautiful, super easy Christmas card with Smooch ink spread on a tree stamp, an embossed image at the top of the card and some cool Shimmer spray along with an envelope cut from 1/2 of a regular, long envelope with a piece of coordinating paper glued on the edge.

I made one with a 'Smooch' stamped flower image on brown cardstock, which I embossed with a sentiment and sprayed with Shimmer spray.

I also finished a pair of mittens for Amie from the Crochet World Babies and Kids issue.  They were super easy and are going to be really warm!

Also wanted to share a crafty website: http://www.wileycraft.com/
and a really good scalloped potato recipe: http://www.canadianliving.com/food/classic_scalloped_potatoes.php

Well, tomorrow's a scrapbooking day and then I've got a few more projects to finish up (and maybe address my Christmas cards!)

Linked up to Creation Corner's Friday Link Party, Simply Designing Simply Link Party, and My Romantic Home Show and Tell Friday!

Hobby Dough

My mother recently sent my daughter a 'Robin Hood' Hobby Dough book with a recipe for salt dough and instructions to make several different ornaments and gifts.  I actually remember this book and making these dough ornaments with my sister when I was younger!  We had lots of fun molding the dough and then baking it or air drying and painting our masterpieces.  Funny, some of the cheapest crafts provide the most memorable entertainment!

One of the best parts - mixing the dough with your hands!

Ready to bake

The finished product!

Recipe for salt dough:

2 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 cup Salt
4 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1 cup Water

Mix dry ingredients, add vegetable oil and stir in.  Add water a little at a time and stir until it holds together.  Knead 5-10 min's until dough feels smooth.

Store in airtight container or ziploc bag to prevent drying out leftovers.

You can air dry for 48 hours or until dough is hard and white in appearance or bake at 325 degrees or lower (if pieces are thinner than 1/4") on a cookie sheet, allowing 1/2 hour baking time per 1/4" of dough.

You can varnish or use acrylic sealer on both sides after painting to protect dough from absorbing moisture.

This post was shared with Tip Me Tuesday, Made for you Mondays, Get Your Craft on Tuesday, Too Cute Tuesday, and Tuesday Time Out.

Crafty Wreath Making

I decided to try my hand at wreath making since I had some silk flowers and wreaths I bought at Michaels at the end of the summer season. To coordinate the colors I bought some Krylon spray paint (with my 40%off coupon!) and some wire edged ribbon, gold ornaments and mauve picks on sale. I used my Imaginisce glue gun to glue it all together.

The spray painting was easy to do; I took the flowers apart and put them into a box with one side cut down and sprayed them outside, of course. They dried fairly quickly and I was able to make the wreath in no time.

Supplies

I'm linking up to Tip Me Tuesday!