My First EVER Altered Cigar Box

Recently over at Mini Album Scraps, okay well maybe about a month or so ago, there was an altered cigar box swap that opened and I was curious to try my hand.  School has been demanding and hard so I was not able to join in a swap, but my friend Jules and I decided to do our own swap with one another with a little more time.  I sat and sat and sat for some time thinking about what I wanted to do, and then trying to do it.  I went through TWO cigar boxes trying to get the effect that I was looking for.  In case you are wondering, that awesome glue crackle technique...... not so much on cigar boxes, at least I didn't have any luck.....  After some time, and much love, thought, and labor, I came up with this:

 I really struggled with this box as I wanted it to be fun but grungy.  The roses are I Am Roses that I dropped distress ink reinker on and then soaked with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist.  The large flower was made using some Graphic 45 Romantique collection, Tim Holtz's Tattered Floral Die, and a tutorial I found on the web.  But the main piece of inspiration was this:

When I had dreamed up this box, I had wanted there to be a french memo board in the recess of the inside, so that little things can be tucked into this treasure eve after the goodies inside are taken out and placed in their proper places...

The memo board was made using fabric and lace I had on hand, some satin ribbon in my stash, and the round things are actually brads I made using the iTop Brad Maker (which I LOVE).  These were placed into the board by punching a hole at the intersections of the ribbon, placing some strong fabric glue in the back of the brad and then putting through the hole and securing in the back.  It was super easy and fun to make!  I hope that the recipient of this little guy loves it as much as I do.

Have a fun and crafty day!

Swaps, Swaps, and More Swaps

I love swapping, it really is a lot of fun, and a cool way to see new and different ways of doing the same thing.  Just love it.  As you all know, I've been spending a lot of time swapping over at Mini Album Scraps.  The last round, I participated in the Stick Pin, Flower, and "CREATE" word banner swap. And so, today, I thought I would share with you all what I have created! Grab some coffee, tea, hot chocolate, whatever your poison of choice and continue on..... It's a long post with lots of pictures today!

1.  Stink Pin Swap
I love stick pins, really.  And this particular go around, I was excited that it had the theme of Love/Valentines Day. I haven't always been so excited about Love/Valentines Day month, but to be honest, it is a holiday that tastefully surrenders eloquently to crafting girly style.  With that in mind, I went with the colors of love, well mainly Red, Brown and Cream, with some black thrown in.  Here is the finished product:

 A little bit of a confession:  I've been collecting Valentine's Day themed stamps and such for age with all these glorious plans for them that are never really executed. Either way, this is the first time that I have ever used the stamps for the tag!  Even better is the fact that the base that the stick pins are adhered to is corregated cardboard I pulled from the trash. Yes.  The Trash.  I just took of the surface from one side and added some Glimmer Glam and acrylic paint.  It gave it a shabby chic grungy look.  I love it.

And the close up of the stick pins:

 Check out those pins!  I love them!  For this particular round, I got some really pretty specialty beads.  My favorite were the heart charms.  I just loved them!

Supplies: Tag (Cardboard from trash); Cardstock (Bazzill Raven, Bazzill Pomegrante, Recollections Kraft); Stamps (My Sentiments Exactly, Studio G); Inks (Stmapin' Up! Cherry Cobbler, Chocolate Chip and basic Black; Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam; Pearlesent Pearl Paint); Stick Pins (Corsage Pins from Michaels)

2.  Flower Swap
Ever since I got the Tim Holtz Tattered Floral die, I have been on a "create my own flowers" kick.  And let me tell you, it is soooo much fun!  I know that I've said it before, and I'll say it again, if you do not get any other die you NEED this one.  I made all of these flowers from the same die:

 And some close ups of each flower:
These are a paper flowers.  I made these modifying a tutorial a bit to fit my needs.  The flower tutorial can be found here.  Before assembling my flowers, I inked all their edges, after they were assembled I took a toothbrush dipped in acrylic paint and added some color.  I think they turned out fabulous.

 These are a paper and aluminum foil.  This is just the standard rose that there are a bazzillon tutorials on, each is the same.  Just google it and find one that you get.

 And these (by far my favorite) are made with coffee filters.  You can find the tutorial here.

And the tag:

I kept the tag pretty simple so that it can be reused in another project.  The front has been covered in pattern paper, and the back is just plan for journaling and a cute little key stamp.  I sprayed it with some neutral colored Glimmer Mist and inked the edges.  The tag itself was cut from the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More Cricut Cartridge.

Supplies: Ink (Stampin' Up! Chocolate Chip, Stampin' Up! Early Espresso, Stampin' Up! Basic Black); Paint(Americana True Red); Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Walnut Gold, Red Nose Reindeer; Paper (Michaels Recollections Kraft); Patterned Paper (Recollections Stitch in Time); Cricut Tags Bags Boxes and More Cartridge; Stamps (Studio G)


3.  "CREATE" Banner
I seriously have a deep love for banners.  I never know what I am going to do with them, but I figure I might as well have a stash of them!  However, I am in the process of creating decorated spaces in my home where all the banners I am accumulating will go.  With that in mind, this month's banner swap was specifically for our craft space, and had the color scheme of Pink, Black, and White/Cream. Here is what I came up with:

Aren't they fabulous?!  I had such a fun time making these.  I got some awesome stuff for Christmas, and this was the first thing that I made following Christmas.  So I even got to play with some of my new supplies. And because we are always about the details, some close up pictures:

The hardest part about making these guys was trying to figure out how to use the Martha Stewart combination punches the edger and the corner rounder.   After some trial and error I totally got it, and if you want something else to add to your stash, her punches.  I am in love with them.  They are fabulous to have on hand!  The beauty of this project is that I used 4 sheets of 12x12 plus scraps from my scrapbox to make these all.  So not very supply heavy at all!  One of the benefits to making banners - you can use up all your random bits and pieces.

Supplies:   Bazzill Glazed, Bazzill White, DCWV Glitter Pack, GCD Patterned Paper, Recollections Pink Card Stock (Paper and Cardstock); Stampin' Up! Classic Ink (Ink); Gypsy Wanderings (Font); Cricut, Martha Stewart, Stampin' Up! (Punches and Tools); Prima (flower); Michaels Dollar Spot (Bling); Stick Pins were handmade.

Hopefully you have enjoyed my shares, and feel inspired to do some creative crafting yourself!

Work in Progress Share: Calendar Swap

Following in my current trend and love affair: swapping- here is another fun share.  I am still working on these, which let me tell you has been a feat because of my limited supplies right now.  But none the less, I am loving the outcome.  I am responsible for the months of November and February - both of which I love, mainly because I love doing fall and love themed paper piecing.  So here is what I have so far:

 I had to do a color theme of Black, Creme, and Beige with one color of my choice.  For the February one, I choose red (of course, what else for February?).  And for the November one, I choose "orange" - okay I cheated a bit and choose red and orange.  Here are some close ups of my embellishments:

I love those flowers, so delicious.  The tutorial can be found here.  So beautiful!  Another thing, I loved: the background on my November calendars.  I stamped that in different shades of beige and a burnt orange with Paper Trey Ink stamps, and yummo I LOVED how it came out!

Supplies: Paper Trey Ink (Masculine Motifs, Mehndi Medallion); Close to My Heart (Air Mail); Stampin Up (Neutrals, Cherry Cobbler); Prima (Heart Stamp); Glitter (Stickles); Tree (Paper Doll Dress Up); Cardstock (Bazzill); Pumpkin (EK Success 1" Punch piecing); Maple Leaf Punch;

Scrapbook Layout

 I know!  It's been months since I've shared a layout, and to be honest..... It's been months since I've done traditional scrapbooking with paper.  I've made lots of minis, and cards, and other paper related projects.  But scrapbooking..... not so much.  Despite this, there has been a particular handmade frame and some photos laying around that I wanted to get int my scrappy book.  Every time I look at it, I kept thinking " I really need to scrap those photos."  Well the other night, I decided that rather than just saying it to myself, I was for sure going to do it.  Right. Now.

I matched my papers and additional patterned paper to the paper on the photo frame.  My dear friend Mandy made those frames for everyone who attended the crop, and I wanted to make sure and incorporate it into my layout.  That meant color matching and them.  Sometimes I create my own layout design, but when I just want to scrap and get something done (which is a terrible attitude to have about my precious memories) I will uses sketches, only because I want to scrap, not spend hours trying to figure out how to arrange everything!  That was the case the other night, I wanted to scrap, not configure! So I used Sketch #186 from over at Nuts About Sketches.  Slight side note:  I love this place.  I love sketches, and sometimes I have more than 3 photos, but don't want to make a separate book.  Nuts about sketches is awesome, she does ONLY high number photo layouts.  I LOVE IT.  Seriously, check it out and her wonderful design team.

Here's a close up of the flowers:

I love them, made them using the Tattered Florals Die by Tim Holtz, running them through an embossing folder and my cuttlebug and then layering.  Delicious!

Hope you Enjoy!  And as always, I love feeling your love for my scrappy dappy crafty life!

Supplies: My Minds Eye Bella Blvd, Unknown (Patterned Paper); Bazzill (Cardstock); Pink Paislee (Foam Letters); EK Success Abstract Flower Punch (Border); Sizzix Alterations Tattered Florals (Flowers); Cuttlebug Textile Texture Embossing Folder; TimHoltz Texture Fade Embossing Folder; Stampin Up! Hostess Set (Stamp); Stampin Up! Cherry Cobbler Ink (Journaling Spot)

Home Decor and Wall Art

I love making handmade pieces of wall decor.  It's soothing, fun, personal, intimate, and well economical. So, today, I thought I would share some of the different pieces I have made over the past few years and hang on my walls.  I love them.

The first one, is a collage I made after my husband and I got married.  It is a slightly religious piece and focuses on the The Family: A Proclamation to the World, which is a little piece of revelation from the Prophet and his counselors of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  For me the family starts with the couple, all the love, respect, devotion, courtesy, admiration in the couple impacts and is reflected in the rest of your family or future family.  This is something that is important to both my husband and I and I wanted to capture it.  And this is what I cam up with:

 This project took a lot of time.  I had to measure, cut, layout and then glue down.  But it is also one of my most rewarding projects that I have. The paper I used in the background is actually large sheets of water color paper I got from michaels.  I used left over embellies from another project, and did a little bit of stamping.

This second one, was made as part of a National Scrapbooking Day challenge at Scrapjazz.  We were given a necklace from Urban Outfitters as inspiration for something.  And this is what I came up with:

I love it.  Always have, and always will.  It's whimsical, elegant, creative, inspiring, and touching all at the same time. The flowers were all made by me using wide pieces of ribbon.  I trimmed photos down to fit inside those Making Memories metal frames, and used some of Tim Holtz's fragments for the patterned paper pieces.

The third piece is a little bit of home I take with me everywhere.  I am a natural girl at heart, I love earth, trees, and no buildings.  It is grounding, inspiring, calming, and freeing.  When I moved to a California for school, I found myself far away from everything I love.  So to keep the homesickness at bay and improve my mood, I made this:

This last one was really more just for fun.  I was inspired by the stamps and wanted to try stamping with acrylic paint.  Again, it is a piece that I am just in love with.  Simple and fun, but a captured moment of bliss between my man and me.

I love this stamp from the Donna Downey Unity Stamp cobrand kits.  Just love it.  That bird, was paper pieced with handmade paper. 

I hope you enjoyed today's share and maybe found some inspiration for your own home decor and wall art!

Handmade Florals

 I am super excited about today's post.  And here is why:

I made these for a Flower Swap being held over at Mini Album Scraps , and this was my first flower swap!  Ever!  Very very exciting, but I will be truthful with you, I think I enjoyed making the tags and doing up the packaging than making the actual flowers.  (Sorry there are no photos of the tags upclose - I took the photos AFTER I had sealed everything and then remember I forgot to take pics of the tags!)  Making flowers are tough!  And super time consuming, but nonetheless, it was a lot of fun.  And the bonus is that you get to try out different techniques that you (okay maybe just me) would not try otherwise.  Not to mention that this did give me the opportunity to break out my stamps and use them (which I have been terrible at doing recently).

 And some upclose and personals with the yummy flowers that I made.  The Rosette ones were my favorite I think.

To be honest, the amount of detail in the packaging was VERY therapeutic.  I have been soo high stress lately that I took a scrappy break mid-week (which I normally do not do) and just played in order to calm and relax.  And let me tell you, doing detail scrappy paper crafty work is very therapeutic.  When I was done I had a product that I was proud of, a feeling or restored balance and control, and played with techniques, ideas, stash that I may not have otherwise.  All I can say is.... well done! So as the holiday season approaches and you're finding yourself a bit frazzled, upset, unbalanced - take some well deserved you scrappy paper crafty time and get lost in the details.


Supplies: DCWV Mat Stack (Patterned Paper); Bazzill, Joann's (Cardstock); Inkadinkado. Stampin UP!  (Stamps); Stampin UP! (Ink); Spellbinders (Embossing Folder)