Wedding Collage

Hi there...it's been awhile since I've posted.  Holidays, moving right after the holidays, and then wedding helper!  My oldest son was married in March in San Diego, California.  We instantly gained a beautiful daughter-in-law and another handsome grandson!  The weather was beautiful, the venue was lovely, a local park in La Jolla that overlooked the ocean and the reception was on Coronado Naval Air Station in a reception room looking out at the beach and ocean.  Before the photographer left San Diego I talked her into leaving a few of the wedding photos on my laptop.

Prior to the wedding I had picked up this heart shaped collage frame at Michael's.  I figured I would do a gift for the newlyweds with some of the pics from the wedding. As you can see the frame is divided into four sections with fixed dividers. Since the wedding was at the ocean I wanted to commemorate that fact in the background.  So these are the supplies I started with, the collage frame, some beach scrapbook paper, jewels, mini envelopes, flowers, and other accents.  When I first picked up the frame I knew I would have to cut the paper to fit each section.  I had precut a blank paper pattern to play with the sizing of the sections.  When I finally got the patterns to fit nicely in each section I had to decide how to cut the paper.  I wanted the word beach to be somewhat visible on the frame.  The word beach is at the bottom of the page and obviously that wouldn't fit around the curved bottom of the heart frame.  I took the patterns from the top of the heart and used them on the bottom of the scrapbook paper.  The word BEACH was divided and even though the divider falls in the middle of the word, I still feel it looks very connected.  I then took the patterns for the bottom of the heart and cut those sections from the top of the paper with the waves on them. I'll be honest, I bought extra pieces of the paper because it took a couple of times of cutting the shapes to get them nicely fitted in each section.

Once I had the paper glued in to the frame I started playing with all of the accent pieces to see how I wanted to lay out the design.  One of the examples I saw for this frame was to put the couple's wedding vows in envelopes in the design.  I found these cute little scalloped edged envelopes in the Martha Stewart section of Michael's and decided to ink them up to reflect the colors of the wedding which were brown's and roses.  I used Tim Holtz Vintage Photo ink and inked the envelope and the card insert.  I printed their vows on the computer with a small font.  In order for it to fit and still be readable I had to use both sides of the card.  I had these beautiful pink scroll letters and added their initials to each envelope.  I added pearls and brown gemstone schwoopies above and below the envelopes, lovely brown flowers with jewels in the center, and a pair of doves in the lower right corner.

Latrel Smith took a beautiful picture of Kyle and Dana praying together and I wanted to highlight that picture. I put it up in the upper right corner of the heart and added a small brass cross over the picture and a set of doves from Jolee's and a pretty jeweled heart with schwoopies next to it.  In the bottom left of the frame was one of my favorite pics of the kids.  They are facing the camera with Kyle's arms draped around Dana.  It is a beautiful shot of them and they look so very happy.  I added some more of the pretty brown and rose colored jeweled flowers and more schwoopies to finish it off.  All in all I think it turned out beautifully.

The finished result is shown below.  The kids were very excited when they received it.  I sent it to them with a couple of other items in the box.  This was on top and the first thing they came to...they didn't finish going through the box, they called me right away!  I think it was a hit!

Until next time, Imagine, Create, Enjoy.

Christmas Panorama

This month's Monday2Create evening focused on a Christmas Panorama.   My friend Tina over at The Crazy Stamp Lady had featured a Christmas Frame gift box she did last year for Christmas gifts.  One of the options was a panorama of the Nativity.  We decided to make this the project for this month's group and liked the idea of doing it using blue papers.  I popped over to Jo Ann's for some blue papers, various shades, and I picked up a silver pigment stamp pad.  I have many blue and silver Christmas decorations so this project was made to blend with the rest of my decorations.

We chose three shades of blues, the outside piece stayed a 12 x 12 paper, the mat for the panorama was cut to 10 x 10, and then the third piece of paper was cut into 3 x 3 squares and then stamped with the images for our picture.  Frames with scripture, the Nativity scene and wishes for Peace on Earth, and the rest of the elements of the Nativity, shepherds, wise men, Bethlehem, the Star.  I chose to ink my stamps with silver pigment ink by Colorbox, and then added Embossing Tinsel with silver in it and embossed each frame.  I added a silver jewel to the middle of the star over Bethlehem.  Once I completed stamping and embossing all of the frames I added pop dots to the back and centered the frames, three in each row and column to reveal the Christmas story.  Once it was completed, we added some shimmer mist to the entire project.  I had picked up a white shadow box frame at Jo Ann's and framed the completed project.

It's a little hard to see the glitter and sparkle but it is there.  I love the colors and the simplicity.  Until next time, Imagine, Create, Enjoy.

Baby Gift Shadow Box

When my children were born, I saved some of those things of importance that reminded me of their birth, their hospital wrist bands, their hospital pictures, their hospital crib cards, etc.  Recently I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought what a great way to display your child's collectibles.  Well my babies are grown men now and one of them is expecting his first child, a son.  I figured this would be a great gift for him at the baby shower.  I had my hubby find the storage tub with baby memorabilia in it and found my boy's things.  For this project I used his hospital going home outfit, the ankle ID band he wore, his first picture at the hospital, his crib card, the measuring tape that measured his length, and a ceramic plate my best friend from high school made when my boys were born.  It had their vital statistics on it and a cute little poem about boys.

I happened into Jo Ann's during one of their Moonlight Madness sales and got a 16 x 20 shadow box frame in basic black.  I took off the back and covered the insert paper with blue scrapbook paper for the background of the shadowbox. It also complemented the outfit he wore home.  I attached the outfit on the right side of the background and I used fasteners to hold them in place on the board so it wouldn't slip down board.  Along the top the case I put the measuring tape and with his length circled on the tape.  In the upper left I put his going home from the hospital picture here.  I cropped it an oval and added a blue and white set of mats under the picture to make it more visible.  Below his picture I put his crib card from his hospital bassinet. I also mounted it on coordinating mats as well.  Between the picture and the outfit I put his hospital ID band.  Finally, in the lower left corner of the box I set the ceramic plate my best friend made.

After getting it all mounted in the frame, I didn't have any room for his first shoes, so I had to come up with a different idea for those.  I was describing to my friend Judith what I'd made and about my dilemma about the shoes.  She gave me the solution which you see here.  I tied the shoe strings of the baby shoes in bows and then ran a 3/8" blue grosgrain ribbon with brown edging through the lace.  One for each shoe and one longer than the other so they would hang at different lengths.  I knotted the ends of the ribbons for each shoe and knotted those two together.  The back of the frame had two eyelets.  I picked up another role of blue ribbon like the one I used on the diaper cake.  I cut two pieces of ribbon the same length.  I knotted one end around the eyelet on the back of each side of the frame and brought them together at the top of the frame tying the first part of the bow and then looping the ribbons with the shoes through the knot and draped them in the middle and tied the bow.


And here is the finished project.  I hope my son likes it, maybe he will hang it in his son's room.  What a special treat it was to make for him.  I'm sure he will be a great Daddy!


Congrats to Nathan and Tiffany!

Until the next time, Imagine, Create, Enjoy.

Diaper Cakes!

I am becoming a grandma again...my middle son is expecting his first child at the end of January 2013.  We are excited and for the baby shower I decided to make a diaper cake.  I've seen various types and shapes of diaper cakes on Pinterest, but decided I would start with one of the easier designs in a traditional cake style. So after checking out a couple of You Tube videos on the basics, I gathered my supplies and got started.

This particular idea used diapers rolled up into sausages and rubber banded in the middle.  Since I was going to build a three tier cake I found three round pans/bowls in graduated sizes in my kitchen to use to help me hold the banded diapers in place until I could put the final large rubber band around the entire group of diapers.  For the first two layers I used newborn sized diapers.  The first layer is 7" in diameter the second layer is 9" in diameter.  I used about 1 1/2 packages of newborn diapers for the first two layers.

Once I completed a layer I added ribbon around the perimeter of the cake and covered over the rubber band with the ribbon.  I chose blues and browns using some ribbons from my stash...they are expecting a boy!  For the third layer of the cake I used the next larger size of baby diapers, and again finished it off with a ribbon around the center.  The diameter of the third layer is 12" inches and I used the entire package of diapers and supplemented in the middle of this layer with some of the newborn sized diapers.

Once I had all three layers completed and tied with ribbon I added some accents to complete it.  After a quick trip to Wal-Mart I found some small blue clothespins and small colored plastic baby rattles.  With the layers stacked on top of each other I distributed the baby rattles around all three tiers of the cake.  On the top of the cake I added a circle cut from scrapbook paper and mounted on the top a pair of baby shoes with monkey's on them.  Monkeys seem to be the theme for the layette and shower!  Around the second layer of the cake I took two sets of baby socks and pinned them with the clothespins around the top of the ribbon on that layer.  For the final layer I added some baby spoons tucked in behind the ribbon and a couple of pacifier's.  The cake will be set on a cake board like an actual cake.

This was a fun project to make, made even more special because it is my grandchild!  My future daughter-in-law was wondering if I've figured out how to mail one yet!  Hmmmmm...I'll have to work on that!

Until next time...Imagine, Create, and Enjoy!

More Fall Decorating!

October came and our monthly craft group was once again looking for ideas...Pinterest to the rescue!  We found this cute idea shown here for a framed craft.  I decided to go with something in the fall theme as my Fall and Thanksgiving decorations are not as plentiful as say my Christmas decorations.  Once again I attempted to use everything from my own stash and was fairly successful!  I do believe Tina contributed some of the stamps and ink for the sentiment and she found great frames at Wal-Mart for $3.  I picked up one package of KandCompany fall accent pieces/die cuts and was ready to roll.

I used a solid piece of Gemstones tan card stock for the back ground and I used five different 1/4" ribbons and one 3/4" ribbon from my stash.  I pretty much followed the Pinterest idea for the basic layout, but added my own personal touches.  I utilized the die cuts around the centered sentiment piece rather than offset it to the left.  I used a golden colored card stock and chose a fairly large sentiment stamp so needed something to make it pop from the other brown tones.  I added a scalloped edge die cut in a deep reddish/burgundy behind the sentiment oval.  I added a small brown bow at the top of the sentiment and jeweled up both the sentiment and the background die in gold jewels. It's a little hard to see the shimmery paper with this picture.

I think it's time for some Christmas projects!  Imagine, Create, and Enjoy!

Fall Decorations

So I have been perusing Pinterest as I know many of you do.  I found this cute little idea for a Christmas decoration, but because I have so many Christmas decorations I decided to use the idea with a Thanksgiving or Fall theme.  The original post was found here.  I decided to do the word Thanks.  I found these cute wood letters on sale at Jo Ann's and picked them up along with a bottle of Folk Art metallic bronze paint.  I painted the entire set of letters front and back with the bronze color.  I think I did about 3 coats to make sure it was covered well.

In the original idea the letters are painted white and hung with green ribbon.  Because I have a brown china hutch and this is where I wanted to hang the letters I decided the letters needed a little more "punch" so they would be seen against the brown hutch.  I found in my craft stash some pumpkin colored glitter.  It was the perfect color match for the letters so I glittered each of the letters up and sealed them with Mod Podge.  I then found some glittery fall ribbon at Michael's (on sale of course!) and picked that up to hang each letter from.  Since I wanted the letters to drape down from the top of the hutch I needed a piece of wood to hang them from, something that was sturdy enough to hold the ribbons and weighty enough to stay on the top of the hutch but would remain hidden.  So off to Jo Ann's I went again and found a 1/4'  by 3" by 24" piece of craft wood to use as my mounting board to hang the letters from.  I spaced the letters evenly but staggered them slightly so they were not all at the same level.  And here is the finished product!  I'm still thinking I might add some more accents to the top of the letters, maybe some small colored fall leaves or pieces of pine cones, maybe some buttons?  We'll see!

Go on, Imagine, Create, Enjoy!

Wreaths

Hi there, it's been awhile...there have been big life happenings in my little corner of the world, but finally feel like I'm getting some of my time freed up again.  I have a small group of friends who try to meet once a month for a craft night.  It's a pretty eclectic group of ladies with a wide variety of styles and tastes.  We started the group to encourage ourselves and each other in our crafty pursuits.  We wanted to specifically set aside time for ourselves, visit and touch base with each other and hopefully accomplish something during that two hour window, one night a month.  We have no set rules, we don't require everyone do the same project, we put out suggestions and usually bring our version of the supplies to create our project.  Something unique and different for each of us.

Have we been successful you may ask?  Depends on how you rate success!  Have we met every month, nope...but in the months we have met, we have done what we set out to do, we've visited, crafted, and most every one of those times, made something new or different, something outside our comfort zone, something we'd seen on Pinterest or somewhere else and wanted to try, and done it with enthusiasm and most importantly...enjoyed ourselves.  For September's evening everyone decided they wanted to make wreaths.  Because we don't have strict rules or a set format everyone did something a little different.

I have a lovely Fall wreath that I had made a few years ago so decided to focus on a wreath for Halloween.  My design utilizes a couple of different design ideas I had seen on Pinterest.  I tried to use only supplies that I had at my house but ended up buying a couple of items as noted.  The first idea was to use wire insulation tubing from Home Depot (.97 cents) to create the wreath.   I cut the tube to the length I needed to create approximately a 15" round wreath.  I duck taped the ends together and then wrapped the entire wreath in black tulle.  I found some black 1/2 inch wide ribbon with glittery dots in Halloween colors at JoAnn's and wrapped that around the circumference of the wreath.  I found the same kind of dotted ribbon in 2 1/2" wide and made a bow for the top of the wreath.


The oval at the top was cut from an old file folder 2 times (recycling at it's best!) and covered in orange paper.  I used a strip of black paper and my Martha Stewart Drippy Goo punch to have some black goo dripping from the top of the oval.  I bought "eeire" words from K&Company, this one says Boo! and has a bunch of glittery, swirls and such.

For the main part of the wreath I decided to go with rosettes!  My eyes are always bigger than they should be and I don't often take into account all the work involved in the particular design I've decided on.  I folded a lot of rosettes!!! Lucky for me I had the Tim Holtz rosettes die and the Ribbons and Rosettes Cricut cartridge which had a rosette pattern with spiders on the edges.  This helped a lot!  I used a variety of patterned Halloween paper I had at home as well as plain card stock in the standard Halloween colors, purple, black, orange, grey. After cutting all the rosettes I folded and glued and folded and glued, and folded and glued some more...you get the idea!  I started arranging the rosettes around the wreath, stacking and hot gluing.  I found a small bag of colorful little spiders that I also added as accents.  I then had enough of the 1 inch dotted ribbon left to make a hanger which I looped around the wreath and tied in a bow at the top.

Fun times!  Cya later!  Imagine, Create, Enjoy.