Wedding Anniversary Gift -- Sneak Peek

Here is a little sneak peek of a gift I've made for my son and daughter-in-law...it is a late 1st anniversary gift.  I did a collage video of Dana and Kyle's lives growing up and as adults, that was shown at their wedding.  The typical kind of video shown at weddings.  I decided to take those photos used for the video and make into an album as a gift.  The cover shows them along with their son Nick with the Pacific Ocean as a backdrop.  They had a beautiful ceremony overlooking the ocean in San Diego.  It was wonderful!  I hope they enjoy the gift.  We will see them soon and are looking forward to the trip!

Continue to Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

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!

Diaper Cake -- Round Two!

When I made my first diaper cake last year, an order was placed for the future from my then daughter-in-law to be, for a diaper cake whenever they decided to have a baby!  In fact she asked how I was going to be able to ship it out to them in Indiana!  Well, we didn't have to ship one out to them because they came to California to visit us before little Laila Olivia is born.  Dana, like many of us, loves to peruse Pinterest for ideas.  She had found this idea for a diaper cake and I set about trying my best to recreate it.

Here is a shot of the finished cake.  I changed the idea shown above in the following ways.  I chose to use some hot pink sparkly mesh ribbon as the base on each of the layers and then added the corresponding leopard print or brown and white polka dots ribbons.  I hot glued them on to the mesh and then wrapped that around each layer hot gluing it in the back to give it a finished look.  For the layers I used different sizes of diapers. For the top layer I used newborn diapers, for the middle layer I used size 2 diapers and for the bottom layer I used size 4.  I used the leftover newborn diapers in the center of the bottom layer to finish it out.  I took cake boards and cut circles out of some butterfly scrapbook papers from Susan Winget and KandCompany and covered the boards with that.

The little leopard print slippers I had found at Wal-Mart before I'd seen the cake idea, so they matched perfectly with the ribbon I was able to find at Hobby Lobby. I set those on the sides of the bottom layer.  In addition to the leopard slippers I also found a pair of pink sparkly shoes to set on top along with the pink butterfly headband shown here.  The original idea had a big bow on the top but I liked the idea of the shoes instead.  Can never have to much bling as far as I'm concerned.


I picked the scroll alphabet letter L for the front and thought briefly of painting it a different color but stuck with the white.  I tied it on to the second layer ribbon with a matching piece of thin ribbon threaded through the mesh.  Additionally, I found some soft baby spoons, some baby washcloths, some hair barrettes, some little girls socks, and a couple of pacifiers with little flowers on the buttons. All in different hues of pink!


It turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.  I thoroughly enjoyed all of the things I made for the shower, but I do think this cake turned out even better than what I had anticipated.  Of course any chance to buy pink girly things I'm totally on board with cuz there need to be more girls in my family!  Current count is 6 grand kids, 5 boys and 1 girl, so the upcoming birth of Laila is greatly anticipated!  Grandma and Grandpa need some more girls to spoil!

More fun projects to come, including how I dressed up the little hearts on top of the diaper cake shown here in this last picture.  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!

Christmas Covered Clothes Pins

I have previously done this project and decided to do some more upcycling with standard clothes pins. My mom hung her wash on the clothesline in our back yard for her entire life.  It wasn't until she moved in with my sister that she started using a modern washer and dryer.  She still had the old-fashioned wringer washing machine and rinse tubs when she sold her home, so I grew with these clothes pins in the house. Granted as an adult I have always had the convenience of a washer and dryer, but I have continued to rely on these little gems for other household chores. Holding card stock I am embossing is one of my favorite uses.  Keeps my hands free from the direct heat generated by the embossing gun when I am adding an embossed look to my projects. They also save my fingers from hot glue burns when using the hot glue gun. In the kitchen we use these for chip clips for the bags of chips, crackers, and nuts.

I utilized scraps of Christmas papers left from some of my other holiday projects and decided to do up a few sets of these covered clothes pins.  I used round magnets you can pick up at any craft store and glued those to the back.  They are a nice little addition to your holiday decor in the kitchen on the refrigerator.  I had some leftover snow flake buttons and stickers from some other projects so added these as accents to the clothes pins.









To give them a finished look, I took white card stock and embossed it with a holiday words embossing folder, I added about a two (2) inch wide scrap of Christmas paper, folded it around the edges of the embossed white card stock and used this to anchor the clips on.  I then slid them into a clear 5 x 7 bag, took another piece of Christmas paper scraps and trimmed it down to use as a bag topper, folded it in half and stapled it to the the bag.  I added a seasonal dimensional sticker to finish it off.

These are a sweet little item to tuck in and complete any gift sets and can be made for any occasion and with any papers.  Imagine, Create, 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!

More Birthday Cards

May is another one of those months for my family...lots of birthdays along with a number of friend's birthday's, Mother's Day, graduations.  So...this weekend has been about birthday card making and attending birthday parties.  I needed a couple of girl birthday cards and some guy birthday cards.  Here is what I came up with for the gals.

This one uses paper from the Far East paper pad by DCWV.  I inked around the edges of the card and then  mounted this smaller square on the card stock after stamping the sentiment...I added a butterfly with some bling on the front. Inside I cut a smaller piece of the butterfly paper from the Far East pad and the took another piece from the pad and cut the two rosettes with my Tim Holtz rosette die.  Love that die!

Here is the next one.  I used some paper from a 4x6 pad of the K&Company Susan Winget's Spring Blossom specialty pad.  I added birthday wishes on the outside, some bling to the printed paper flowers,

and then a paper flower of maroon and yellow, a die cut butterfly below the stamped sentiment, with maroon ribbon tied around the spine of the card.  Inside is a birthday wish, a schwoopie on the bottom and another one of those fun rosettes.  I added a pop up butterfly accent along with a small maroon ribbon there to complement the outside ribbon.  Since the die cuts two rosettes, I put the larger one on the outside of the envelope to spiff it up!

Now on to the guy cards.  I used Kraft stock for two of the three cards and then some ivory card stock that I inked up around the edges to give a kinda grunge look if you will.  The first one I also used my Cricut for the sentiments on the outside.  It was fun mixing and matching from my Cricut cartridge.

These next two are similar, I liked the idea for the first one and decided to duplicate it a little on the next one.  I used paper from the new Tradewinds stack by DCWV.  It has papers that will go well for both guy and girl cards.  Can't wait to make some more.

The card on the left used ivory  card stock the one on the right Kraft paper.  I used the Cuttlebug slider die cuts to make the little sentiment tags to put on the ribbon.  Used brown ribbon, and then attached the buttons from my stash.  All in all, I think it was a pretty productive weekend.  I hope you enjoyed today's post.  Thanks for stopping by, have a great week.
Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Photo Book/Journal

My niece Teri crafts through sewing.  She inherited a fabric supply when my mom, her grandma passed away awhile ago and she has been busy with her own set of projects.  We are now in the process of bartering goods back and forth…her bags for my paper crafts.  Why do I mention this you ask?  She asked me to make a different kind of journal for her as part of my barter payment.  It is more of a photo/journal album than a straight journal.  Because she makes quilts, she wanted a book to put pictures into and then be able to journal on the pages to add details about the specific quilts.  I think it turned out quite beautifully.

These papers are by K&Company, Susan Winget’s beautiful Spring Blossom floral paper pad and embellishments. I also tried a new idea.  I wanted to create a clasp/closure on this one and found some beautiful buttons by Bazzill called Bazzill Buttons. I took the button and sewed it on the front of the book through the cover.  I then covered the inside with matching card stock.  On the back cover I cut a length of elastic and glue mounted it with a loop sticking out the end.  I then put additional reinforcing photo mount squares over the elastic, and matching card stock covered it on the inside back cover.  The word Quilts is chipboard cards that match also from Susan Winget collection as are the butterflies on the front cover.   

Until next time.  Imagine, create, enjoy!