Butterfly Fairy Wands!

My late friend Jayne was a wonderfully creative person who was inspired by the most unusual things and made some really beautiful and unique paper pieces. One of the things she had made was a decorative item for her niece's baby shower, shown here.  It is a butterfly fairy wand!  She had a butterfly die she used to create the base for the wand using some chipboard which she then covered in scrapbook paper on both sides.  Once she did that she cut some rosettes with the Tim Holtz rosette die. This die has two sizes of rosettes, pre-scored so all you do is cut with your Sizzix or Vagabond and then crease and glue together.  The die even has a circle to cover your glued spot in the middle of the rosette.  She put one rosette on each side of the butterfly.  Before she affixed the larger of the rosettes, she painted the stick a silver color and then wrapped it in some ribbon we found in the dollar bin on one of our craft shopping lunches.  She also backed the larger rosette with some of the ribbon and added some ribbon tendrils.

I loved the idea and have used it as inspiration to create my own set of fairy wands for Laila Olivia's baby shower.  The butterfly die I have is a little different in that it is more solid with only a couple of cut outs on each wing.  I decided to go with a (what else) heavy, pink glitter card stock for my butterflies. Liking Jayne's original idea of rosettes I did a reverse to her design and made the rosettes larger than the butterfly by using my Cricut and the Ribbons and Rosettes cartridge and cut these large rosettes with a small heart border. I then cut the smaller rosettes with the Tim Holtz die and used the smaller one on the front of the butterfly.

For the wand portion I used pre-cut dowels in 12 inch lengths you can purchase at any craft store.  I then painted them in a pearly white paint I had leftover from my "Grandkids" project.  I then grabbed a number of different rolls of ribbon from my stash...mostly pinks and browns, some I had also picked up to match the polka dot theme we had going on the cake ribbon and started cutting different lengths.  I hot glued 5 of these differing lengths to a small 3" strip of ribbon and set aside.  Once the paint on the wands was dry I wrapped each wand from top to bottom in a variety of ribbon allowing some of the pearly paint to show through.  


Next I hot glued the ribbon band to the back of the butterfly and then hot glued the wand on the back as well.  Once dry, I hot glued this piece to the large rosette and let them set.  I had picked up some brads, a variety pack of approximately 3/4" size in two shades of pink.  I took the brads and snipped off the prongs on the back with my wire cutters and then hot glued the brad to the top of the small finished rosette.  The brad became the center of each rosette.  Finally I hot glued the rosettes on to the front of the butterflies.


Here is a close up of my finished "Fairy Wands."  I made enough to use as part of the decorations at the shower and once the shower was over my daughter-in-law kept some for Laila's nursery and the rest were given to their nieces who attended the shower.  I'm very proud of my little creation!  They were fun to make and share at the shower.

Go on, Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Recycled Baby Food Cups

I have frequently admired other crafter's ability to use recycled materials and the ingenuity they show in some of the projects they make.  While this little project is not extremely unique, it is a cute little use for those small plastic baby food containers.  They are the ones that have replaced the old-fashioned baby food jars we used when our children were small.  I had washed out a few from when my grandson was visiting and hung on to them for one of these type of projects.

I wanted to include some sweet treats in the Christmas packages I was mailing and these turned out to be the perfect size.  I also was able to use up some scraps of Christmas papers I had laying around.  Love it when I can upcycle and use up scraps from other projects.  I found enough matching scraps to create a band to go around the base of the container and the cut a smaller piece to go on the top of the lid.  I cut it to size and then rounded the corners to fit the lid perfectly.

I added the holiday M&M's to each and tucked them in with my other gifts and off they went. Another project checked off my list!

Once again, Imagine Create, Enjoy!!

Christmas Journal

I have a Christmas Journal that I either bought or received many years ago when my children were small.  The idea behind them...to write down your favorite family Christmas memories each year. Then you can look back each year and read the history of your family and see how things have progressed and changed. I wish I could say that I was one of those moms who religiously filled it out year after year; unfortunately, I never started the book.  I don't know why, the busyness of the holiday season, etc., etc., I really have no excuse! I thought though in my motherly wisdom that I might give one as a gift to my new daughter-in-law in hopes that as they start their new family, they will start writing in the journal each year to log how the years go by...the traditions they establish, the memories, the changes they go through, and that they are able to enjoy each year the journey back through the years to see where they've come from and look forward to where they are headed.  Maybe this year I'll start mine finally.

See you around!  Continue to Imagine, Create, and Enjoy!

One Sheet Flat Storage Gift Boxes

I was looking for an easy to make small gift box for my small mirror baubles.  It is that jewelry box size that used to be a standard item you could buy at the stores but when I went looking this last Christmas season, none were to be found.  I really didn't want to use the standard take out box size...which was a little too big for my items.  So, I went in search on You Tube and found a short little video here for a small gift box that uses one sheet of 12 x 12 scrapbook paper.  Perfect.  Once you learn the folds in the box it is easy to replicate and because of the versatility of paper these days you can make one for virtually any occasion.  It is also a good idea to use double sided 12 x 12 paper, that way it gives you a nice pattern on the inside of the box as well as the outside.


Here are a couple of the ones I did.







As the video explained, to keep the box closed you will create a belly band to go around the box.  I also like the alternative of wrapping it with a piece of ribbon or bakers twine with some other little tag or trinket tied on the top.  The feature I like best is that the box will fold flat for storage so you could make these up in advance to have on hand and pull them out when you need them.  They would also be a great gift idea...put a half dozen of these and some birthday cards or other greeting cards together for that special friend or co-worker.

See you next time!  Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Gift Card Holders

Last fall sometime, I was surfing the net and found a cute little StampinUp! tutorial on some easy as pie gift card holders (I don't recall the blog or video offering, sorry).  I thought I'd give it a try since I had lots of scraps left over from my journal gift making marathon!  The paper scraps were mostly from Christmas pads but some of the patterns and colors were generic enough they could be used for general gift card holders.  I have altered the original design.  That demonstrator used solid card stock with patterned paper on the flap only; I used patterned paper mounted on card stock for the entire card holder.  The measurements are approximately 7-5/8” long by 4-3/4” wide and then scored at 1-3/8” and 4-1/2” to provide the cards folds.  They use a standard 4-3/8 x 5-3/4 inch envelope, sealed and cut in half, which provides you with two pockets.  These are glued together back to back and then glued to the card stock.  One half of the envelope holds the card you see below with your sentiment on one side and blank on the other side to personalize and the other half of the envelope holds the gift card.

On the outside you cut 3 pieces of solid card stock, patterned paper, and then your other solid card stock for stamping your sentiment or decorating as you see fit with stickers, etc.  In these samples they have Christmas holiday sentiments stamped on them.  I then glammed them up with some Stickles and some bling. Once completed, this block is adhered to the lower front of the front flap with pop dots to make it stand away from the background.  It functions as the piece that holds the flap in place once you have put the sentiment card and gift card in the envelope pockets.

The last card is more generic, although the papers, as noted above, were from a Christmas paper pad.  This one will be used for a thank you gift for someone.  These are handy little gift card holders and can be adapted for most any gift situation.  I showed them to a friend who made some for her BUNKO gifts when it was her turn to be hostess. 

Thanks for visiting today.  Imagine, Create, Enjoy.

Journal/Planners



Black Friday Shopping
Gal Pals



So last fall, a friend of a friend and fellow blogger Cathy –Scrapping Cat! took the journal idea to a whole new level by making it into a holiday planner with beautiful Christmas papers.  Well I just had to give it a try as soon as I saw it!  They would be a gift for my Black Friday shopping gal pals!  These turned out great and very beautiful…the papers and embellishments out there today are wonderful. These particular papers are DCWV The Christmas Combo stack. 



Christmas Planner and Mini Book



I also found mini composition notebooks at the Dollar Tree store!  Love that place!  I used leftover scraps to doll up a small version as a little shopping list notebook, or place for notes, or whatever!  Just the right size for the pocket or pocket book!  



Everyday Planner



These have tabs at the top of the book with 4 different focus areas for the holidays: to create, to bake, to buy, to do, all subjects that Cathy had used in her original design.  Once I had done a few of these I was chatting with a co-worker on how they could be made for everyday use and what the tab subjects would be. We came up with the following subjects: Shopping, To Do, Appointments, Bills. I then made one that can be used for everyday use.  I used my Cricut to cut some hearts of the matching papers from My Mind's Eye "Home" paper stack, added some texture to the hearts with a dots embossing folder, cut a label for the front, and used my EKSuccess edge punch to give it some swirls and added a little bling in the corner.  This was a birthday gift for a sweet friend who is an expert list maker!

So this idea as Cathy mentioned in her blog lends itself to a variety of adaptations, daily planners specifically tailored to individual needs, travel planners, etc.  You get the idea.  Soon I’ll be posting another take on this traditional idea that my niece came up with.  First I need to send her the finished product!  Until next time… Imagine, create, enjoy!