Die-Cut Paper Garland

I'm making some things for Ronda's seasonal (Spring is coming!) display table - first up is this easy die-cut paper garland. Using a Stampin' Up die (from the Swirly Scribble thinlits)  I cut out a bunch of different colored swirly circles, saving the center piece that popped out after cutting them. Then I just arranged them how I wanted, including the center pieces, and stapled them together. This is over 3' in length for Ronda to drape wherever on her table she wants - simple and a nice little touch to add some color, texture, and dimension to her display. More projects coming soon!

Paper Covered Letters

I started out with the idea to sort of collage these letters but after doing the first one I didn't love it so switched to covering the fronts only with a solid piece of scrapbook paper (yep, I'm still using Ronda's Stampin' Up papers - they are reversible so I'm finding lots of uses for them!).
















If you like the collage idea here's what I did: tear the paper into little pieces; spread mod podge on the part of the letter you are working on and the piece of paper you are applying and stick it down; then randomly add more paper until the whole thing is covered. If you don't like a certain area just add more paper on top of it until you're happy with it.

If you like the plain covered letters: I painted them black first so I wouldn't have to wrap the one sheet of paper around the edges and in the center of the letters - this was my being lazy for sure. If you want to take the time to completely cover the letter inside and out then go for it you crazy OCD crafter you. I went for the easiest way :). After the paint dries trace the letter onto patterned paper, cut it out, glue it down.

Funky Pumpkin Decorating...starring Brooke

Lisa sent me inspiration pictures for this project, she found cute crazy funky decorated pumpkins in a store and thought of me - love that, thanks Lisa! She sent a few examples and Brooke loved the idea so much she wanted to make one - watch the cutie show you how she did it:




I have been helping out my friend Ronda at her Stampin' Up studio (lots of punching, using the Big Shot die cut maker thingy, stamping, etc.)  - she has the idea for me to work on setting up a "seasonal display" area in her shop so I've been busy thinking about fun crafts to use in the display. This pumpkin turned out so cute I want to include it but Brooke used old paper that I've had forever to make her pumpkin and since this will be in the Stampin' Up studio I wanted to use current scrapbook papers so quickly remade the pumpkin...also full disclosure, the tape Brooke used didn't hold the buttons on the pumpkin and they fell off! You can still make it using her directions but use a different form of glue for any heavier things. This is my finished product:

I bought a standing flat wood pumpkin at the craft store for about $3. Trace the pumpkin shape onto whatever paper you want the base to be, and glue it to the pumpkin form. I randomly cut a triangle for the nose and a jaggedy mouth, make whatever shapes you want. I reused the stacked buttons held together with twine that Brooke made, and for the right eye I glued a large flat bottomed marble over a different piece of paper. Burlap ribbon is tied on the top to finish. Super fast and easy - maybe took 10 minutes top. Gotta like that :)

Picture Frame with Clip

Super simple decorating idea - I took a dollar store frame, put a piece of scrapbook paper inside, and hot glued a clip to the front of the glass. Now I can change out the picture so easily, although this is such a cute picture of handsome Sarge (my neighbor took this picture and really captured his serious little expression) that I probably won't change it any time soon haha ;)

Couple problems: initially I was going to paint the frame a fun color and fill it with bright paper, but the paint I was using wouldn't stick - I could wipe it right back off without any staying on the frame! So yeah, that was a fail. I just found a piece of paper that matched the frame instead.

painting the frame didn't work...

...and neither did using e-6000!

The second problem was gluing the clip on with E6000, maybe I didn't let it set long enough but I couldn't get that to hold... I hot glued it instead and that worked immediately. So if you get a frame that you can use without painting and just hot glue the clip on in the first place (see, I saved you some time) then this is like a 2 minute project. And it's cute!

The clip I had on hand was also a tack, I just removed the tack part with a pair of pliers - it came off with no effort at all.

removing the tack from the back of the frame

I measured where the center of glass is to get it
right in the middle, normally I would have just
eyeballed it though!

Thanksgiving Tree

Made this Thanksgiving tree as part of our Thanksmas decorations, saw the idea in a magazine but as usual I can't remember where..

I found a piece of wood in the yard that the tree trimmers must have missed and drilled a small hole in it to fit a branch that I collected on one of our dog walks. Cut some leaf shapes out of  plain and patterned scrapbook paper, wrote a few things that I'm thankful for on the plain ones. Hot glue the leaves to the branch and it's a Thanksgiving tree!

This is how I organize my scrapbook paper - works good for me. In a hanging file holder I have all the paper in different sections (cardstock, 12x12, patterned, smaller sized paper...) and in an expandable folder I keep scraps of paper - I find that I need a small piece of paper for lots of projects so I keep the leftover scraps to use so I don't have to waste a whole sheet when I just need a little. Then I have the paper standing on a shelf in my craft closet along with other types of paper organized in a standing file holder.