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Welcome! This is the place where I share my artsy and crafty projects. I am an evolving artist these days ... finding myself enjoying less of the cards and mini albums that I have made for years, and turning to art journaling and more artistic endeavors. I have always enjoyed some craft or other, and some of my earliest memories of my mother helping me make paper dolls and other crafts. I am now in my 60's and finding myself more passionately enjoying creating beautiful things and learning new skills and techniques and products.

While you are here I hope you will find inspiration and ideas for making your own projects, however any images or projects you find here are my personal property and should not be used for your own monetary gain, or for contests or challenges. Thank You!

12/31/2012

The Kraft Journal 'Something New' Challenge

Hello friends, and welcome to my last post for 2012!!!   Our last challenge for 2012 at The Kraft Journal is appropriately named 'Something New', and I decided to make a new baby card for this challenge.  Here is a picture ...



This was such a simple card to make ... well, all except for fussy cutting the image, but that just takes some time and a little patience!  Here are all of the details ...

Supplies:

Tools:
  • Martha Stewart / EK Success Paper Trimmer
  • Martha Stewart / EK Success Scoring Board
  • Detail Scissors
  • Scissors, Ruler, Craft Knife
  • 'Ditto' Alpha Stamp Set
  • Studio G Acrylic Stamping Block
  • Martha Stewart / EK Success Border Punch
Tips:
  • You can personalize the twill tying tape to suit any project by using your favorite stamps!  Simply decide on your design, and re-stamp it over and over along the length of your ribbon.
  • Fussy cutting is not hard ... just find a nice pair of small, sharp pointed detail scissors and take your time!
Thanks so much for visiting today!  And don't forget to visit The Kraft Journal to see all the great projects by our Design Team!  Blessings, and Happy New Year ...


12/17/2012

The Kraft Journal ... Our Favorite TKJ Project of 2012!

Merry Christmas!!!  This week's theme at The Kraft Journal is 'Our Favorite Project of 2012' and, although I looked through all of my projects made since I joined the team at The Kraft, I knew which one I would 're-play' with you for today!  It is this adorable vintage styled picture frame ...





The picture is of my brother when he was three months old in 1958, but the photo can be changed out any time because it is simply clipped on with the Tim Holtz hinge clip.  Here are the details ...

Supplies:
 *  Note:  I used the X-Small tag that came with this set, but wanted you to know which one from the set that I used. 



 Tools:
  • Scissors
  • Needle Nose Pliers / Wire Cutter

A tip for adding the hinge clip to the burlap frame is to simply put the wire through the hole in the back side of the clip, then push both ends of the wire through to the back side, down below the wood that stretches the burlap.  It is very simple.  I tied the grungy tag to the front hole of the clip, and adhered it to the burlap using a 'Gluedle' adhesive from Glue Arts.  To adhere the film strip ribbon to the bottom of the burlap frame, I used Beacon's 3 in 1 Advanced Craft Glue, applying it only underneath where the photo covers it, but it is not even visible without the photo covering it.

I hope you have enjoyed this sweet project!  As I said, it is so very easy to make, and would make great gifts for teachers, Sunday School Teachers or loving grandparents!  Blessings,

12/12/2012

The Kraft Journal Challenge 100 Anything Goes Tutorial

Hi Folks!  Just a quick post to let you know that I am doing the tutorial over on the blog at The Kraft Journal today!  I have made a cool 'home organization center' that is really easy to make! 




You can check out all the details at The Kraft Journal blog today!   Blessings,



12/03/2012

Happy December!  This week we are having a blog hop with Xyron, and so I got to use an assortment of their products for this project, and I have to say I am in L♥VE!  Their glue stick is the best one EVER … it glides on so smooth and holds so well.  Not to mention it’s shape makes it perfect for going into corners!  Here is my project for this hop …



As you probably know … doing the ‘December Daily’ journals is a huge thing these days, but I have never done one, simply because I know I would never finish one, but I love the idea of this diary styled mini album!   I am huge into making myself aware of ‘little gifts’ … you know, little intangible things that happen to brighten your day.  They can be as simple as seeing a cardinal on your feeder, the first snow of winter, your child getting a great grade at school, finding $10 in your coat pocket that you had forgotten about, or chatting with a friend from far away.  Just anything that brings a smile to your face and warms your heart.





For this diary I used the Basically Bare ‘Tiny Tabs’ mini album and Lily Bee Designs ‘Christmas Cheer’ collection of papers and stickers.  For the front cover, I used a ruler and kraft knife and cut a line just through the top layer of kraft paper from the corrugated cover, then sprayed it with a mist of water and waited for a couple of minutes.  Then I easily pulled the top layer off, revealing the corrugated cardboard.  I did leave about 1/2 inch of the top layer where the binding holes are for extra security.  Next up I cut a few triangles from the paper for a pennant, and a couple of bits of coordinating cardstock that I applied letter stickers to and ran them through the Xyron 1.5″ Create A Sticker tool.  I really love this thing for adding adhesive to chipboard, stickers that have lost their tackiness, and small bits of paper!  Then I simply applied the new stickers to the front cover.

I cut rectangles of patterned paper just smaller than each page.  The pages (not counting the binding) are approximately 3″ x 5 1/4″, so I cut the patterned paper to 2 3/4″ x 5″.  Then I adhered them to the pages and inked all the edges with brown ink.  To adhere the patterned paper to the pages, I used the Xyron Mega Runner, and I can honestly say I now have a very favorite new tape runner!  This one’s refills hold 100 feet of tape, and each refill has a little cover that is hinged and pops up to cover the end of the tip so you don’t mess up the adhesive.  And the adhesive holds great!








Then for each page I cut a piece of white card stock (Bazzill ‘Card Shoppe’) to 4 1/2″ x 2 1/4″ then trimmed the top and bottom using a decorative border punch.  I adhered these to the pages using the Xyron Glue Stick, added number stickers from the Lily Bee Design collection for 25 days.  Next I simply cut small lengths of Tim Holtz’ Idea-ology Tinsel Twine – Winter and tied it to the spiral binding.  I also punched 3 holes into the tabs on the clear acrylic sheets in the album and ran more of the Tinsel Twine through the holes and tied it on.  This added lots of color and texture to the album.

The Tiny Tabs mini is perfect for this, as it has 13 pages plus the two covers, and leaves you with enough pages for the 25 days plus a couple of pages for notes.  And if you have a few small photos that you want to add, you can do that, too!

Thank you so much for visiting today, and to Xyron for joining us in the fun blog hop!  Please check out all of the Xyron and Basically Bare Design Teams pages for lots of more crafty goodness! 

Blessings,

The Kraft Journal ... Challenge 99 ... Clean and Simple!

Merry Christmas!  Raise your hand if you are giving lots of gift cards this Christmas?  And how will you 'wrap' said gift cards?  Well, this week's theme at The Kraft Journal is 'Clean and Simple', and somehow as I worked on this project ... in my mind at least ... it became 'Quick and Easy', because that is what this project truly is!  A very simple and cute ornament holder for a gift card.  Check it out ...






Isn't that cute!  And you can hang it on a tree, or use it as a place card on you Christmas table, or just hand it to the recipient.  Here are all the details ...

Supplies:


Reverse Side

 Tools:
  • 5 1/4" Saucer ... use this to trace the circle onto the fluted paper, hand draw a rectangle on top for the hanger.
  • Scissors, pencil 

This is such an easy, peasy, quick and simple gift card holder, and would be great for making assembly line style if you need a lot of gift card holders.  Thanks for visiting today, and I hope to see you back again soon!  Blessings,