Gift Boxes

Another post sharing some of my Christmas crafting from the last couple of years.

[  Apologies in advance for some of the bad photos. Me and my shaky hands you know :-)  ]

Allan gives his nieces and nephew a gift card for Christmas each year. I've always had a problem with just sticking a gift card in an envelope and instead have searched for ways to package the gift card in a fun way. *Val - I think you had the same thoughts when you gave you nieces and nephews their Christmas cash. I seem to remember some origami for dollar bills. You'll have to refresh my memory on all the creative ways you came up with.

One year, we enclosed it in a puzzle box that they had to solve before they could get to the card.  Another year we wrapped it with flat pieces of quartz we bought at the Renaissance Art Fair.

This year (2014) I thought it would be cool to stand the gift card up in a box fill of M & Ms and make each box a personalized keepsake that would fit for each one.

The one above is for Alexis, the youngest of the Mozingo nieces. She seems to love the bling so I did hers in bright pinks and black with a really cute monogrammed "A" I cut out of SU glitter paper with my Silhouette.

Allan graciously agreed to do all the decoupaging. So now Cricut man has earned the title of the "King of Mod Podge".

  

After multiple coats we started loading up the M & Ms and tucking in the gift cards. . .

This is Abbey's box.  Another "A" monogram with some bling and a digital patterned paper in Tiffany blue - the color of her teenage bedroom.

This is Caroline's box - done up in her high school colors with some clip art I found of the school's mascot.  That happens to be Allan's alma mater - the New Bern bears.

Next is the box we did for Kaitlyn, the oldest of the nieces.  She's now a cosmetologist.  I found a really cute clip art in some really hip colors.

And last but not least if the box for the only nephew in the bunch - John Ross.  He loves South Carolina and we just found out a few weeks ago that he was accepted there.  So his box was one that I hope will be put to good use in his dorm room next year.

Thank goodness for Pinterest and all the good ideas floating around out there.  Stay tuned for posts about what I did for 2015 and 2016. Not sure what next year will be but I'm sure I'll come up with something.!

Treat Bag Toppers

Backing up a little in time to show you a few things I made last Christmas.  This is a treat bag topper that I made for my next door neighbor's annual cookie exchange.  Most who know me know that I don't can't bake so I've never felt right participating in the cookie exchange with "real" bakers.  Plus, I really don't need all those calories cookies in my house at that time of the year.  So I decided to tell Robin I'd only go if she agreed I didn't have to bake, didn't have to take any cookies home and told her that I'd papercraft something for my part of the exchange.

My new Silhouette Cameo really came in handy.  I found this really cute pattern for a treat bag topper.  I thought it would fit nice with the theme of the cookie exchange in that the other ladies could use it to package up their cookies for gift-giving.  I used a Stampin' Up Christmas paper pack which came in so handy because everything coordinated.  I made 25 of them and dropped the topper down in a cellophane bag.  I put a store-bought molasses cookie in one of them so everyone could figure out how the bags would work. I have to tell you they were a big hit!  I may be doing it all over again next Christmas for the folks at work.

A New Project

Cathy Zielske's 30 Days of Thankful

Hi Gal Pals,

Back from Jacksonville.  Had a good time last week with Mom & Dad and the rest of the family.  Weather was spectacular!  So thankful to have the time with them.

And speaking of "thankful", I wanted to share a new project I'm doing with my mother this month - "30 Day's of Thankful".  It's based off something I found on CathyZielske's blog although there are lots of other papercrafters doing similar type things for November and Thanksgiving.  All in an effort to remember the joy of this month and the Thanksgiving holiday and not let it get lost in the big leap from Halloween straight to Christmas.  Plus after having been a little down in the dumps a few weeks ago, I was wanting to revive my daily gratitude practice to get me back on track.

So I downloaded the digital kit and was going to do the 4x4 mini album but then in talking with Mom and realizing we needed a better way to share our gratitude items long distance I decided to set up a new blog for the project.  I called it Cross Country Gratitude.  Click here to check it out.  We're only on Day 2 but already it's been a lot of fun and others in the family are joining in.

Hope you have a good day at work today.  With the Election Day holiday tomorrow it's going to seem like a Friday.  Now that's something to be grateful for!!!

Val's Alcohol Ink Tiles

What a perfect Fall day to post this picture of one of the alcohol ink tiles Val made in a recent Memory Lane class.  Isn't it bea-u-ti-ful!!!!

She shared her work during our get together last month.  It sounded like a fantastic class.  They took just regular white ceramic square tiles from Home Depot and used alcohol inks and techniques to create these different looks.  Aren't they fantastic?!

Sure do hope they offer that class again.

Organizing Scraps

I don't have a BEFORE picture so you'll have to trust me on this one.. . .I went from 2 big plastic filing boxes of scraps taking up one whole shelf in one of my cabinets down to this. . . .

I decided to pick some standard sizes for scraps - ones that I find myself using alot - (1 inch strips, 2x2 and 3x3 squares, 3x4 and 4x6 mats/journaling blocks).  I then spent a good portion of my Spring cutting the 2 boxes of all my scraps down to those sizes.  Anything that was smaller than that or couldn't be cut to one of those standard sizes was thrown away.  It's working out GREAT!

Here's a "scrap" card I made this weekend. . . .

I pulled out a very, very old Stampin' Up set - "Fun & Fast Notes" - all a part of my stash busting. . . . very fun set by the way. . .

. . .then I combined the pencilcolored image with some scraps - two sets of 2x2 pieces (the orange and grey), a circle cut from an orange 3x3 scrap and then a 3x4 yellow mat.  Kind of liked the design.  It may need a little bling or texture but because it's going in the mail to an old friend I'm going to keep it flat.

One last comment about the scrap system - it really makes for easy cleanup after a card or scrapbooking project.  I take the leftover paper and cut it down to one of the standard sizes and the rest goes into the trash.  The hoarder in me gets a little uncomfortable sometimes at not saving every morsel but I have to keep reminding myself. . ."it's just an 80 cent piece of paper Julie - it's OK to toss a little" :-)

Clear Stamp Organization

I wanted to share a few more pics of the organizing I've been doing in my craft room.  I think I finally found a solution that's going to work for me for my clear stamps.  I've adopted Jennifer McGuire's method of putting all the various sized clear stamp sets from all the different manufacturers in standard sized clear envelopes with standard labeling.  Here's a link to her video about her method.

I just love Jennifer McGuire's blog.  It's so technique focused and she does lots of clean and simple cards which fits my style.  And she's got the ultimate of craft rooms and has so many great organization tips.  I bought the label maker she recommends and have been using it all over my craft studio.  It's kind of funny. . . just seeing things labeled makes me feel more organized :-)

Here's a close-up of one of the sets.  Name of set and manufacturer at the top.  Depending on the size of the clear stamp or stamp set I sometimes have 2 in one envelope - one on each side of the white card insert.  And for the really large stamp sets I cut the acrylic sheet they came on in half so half the stamps in the set are on one side of the card insert and half on the other.  

And here's one of the 2 wicker baskets that they all fit it.  So far it's working out really well.  I can easily flip through them to see what I have and what I want to use.

During all the organization I did decide to have multiple storage solutions for my stamps.  

• One for all my Stampin' Up
• One for my Gina K Designs 
• One for everything else - Hero Arts, Art Impressions, Inkadinkadoo, etc... 

You can see in the picture above the 2 binder cases sitting to the right of the basket.  These are old DayTimer storage binders that I'm repurposing to hold my Gina K stamps.  They fit her 6x8 stamp storage sheets just perfectly.

Again, I really like being able to easily flip through her sets to pick what I want to play with.

So there it is - stamps all nice and tidy.  Now the trick is finding ways to use them all and resisting the urge to buy any more! 

Getting Organized

(http://www.scrapbook.com/classes/getorganized.php )

Hope everyone's Fall is getting off to a good start.  We couldn't have asked for any better weather this summer.  Mostly sunny days, none too terribly hot, with a few rainy days sandwiched in now and then.  Those rainy day made for some very fun time in the craft studio.

I've been scrapbooking some and made a few cards in recent weeks which I'll share next week but the biggest news was that I took another BIG step forward on the re-organization project.  

Since January I've been working through the 27 lessons in this FREE online class from scrapbook.com.  I really like the methodical way she approaches getting organized and there's tons of different suggestions and ideas for how to organize all the different types of craft supplies and tools - from paper to scraps to tools to sketches, etc.

So I'm going to share a few pictures of the things I've done to purge and get better organized.  First up is the project from Labor Day weekend. . . . .ribbon

I had 4 plastic shoeboxes of spooled ribbon which because of the different sizes of the spools never really fit standing up the way I wanted them so they just became a jumbled mess.

So after doing a bunch of reading and Google searching and Pinterest browsing, I decided on a method that I think I'm going to like.  And best part about it is that it didn't require the purchase of any new storage solution!  Here's the new system. . . 

I took 4x5 pieces of chipboard (old cereal boxes) and depending on the width of the ribbon was able to get 3-4 spools of ribbon on each card.  I then filed the cards by color.  LOVE IT !!!

I was able to get all my spooled ribbon in 2 shoeboxes - downsized by 50%!  I still have 1 shoebox that holds all the wide ribbon which I mostly use for Christmas bows and gift wrap and 1 shoebox for ribbon scraps - all organized in baggies by the same color scheme.

Feels so nice to have a place for everything and everything in it's place.

Fun with Washi Tape

(image credit)

I have absolutely no idea how I stumbled on this blog with a fun idea for using washi tape but I just had to share it.

This idea is from this really cool book that just seems loaded with cool projects - all using washi tape!

Here's the link to it on Amazon where you can "Look Inside" at a bunch of pages with some really cool project ideas.  I may just have to put this on my Wish List.

Hope you have fun browsing!

Ready to Go

Remember during one of our "Show & Tell" sessions, the handmade craft carrier my Aunt Shirley gave me for Christmas?  Well here it is all ready to go.  I took a few of my half finished card projects and loaded them into the baggie sections with all the supplies I needed to finish the projects.

It looks a little overstuffed but it sure seems like it will be nice and convenient for those nights I want to grab a project and work in the living room or for an evening at the shop with my Gal Pals.  Love all the different size baggies.  Can't believe how many projects it holds.  Can't believe how many unfinished projects I have!! :-(

Lo-o-o-o-ng Weekend

Cricut Man was gone this weekend.  He's been in Denver bringing up the State of Colorado on their new administrative systems.  Can't begin to tell you how much I miss him.  I've discovered "Party-For-One" time is only fun when done in short bursts - not so much fun when it drags on for 2 weeks.  

But enough complaining!  I tried to fill up the long holiday weekend with catching up on things around the house and crafting.

Spent the 4th having some fun with my neighbor family.  Great ribs from the smoker and lots and lots of wonderful side dishes and desserts.  Made a really cute hostess gift for Marilyn - a patriotic inspired candy box full of M&M's.  Forgot to photograph it but here's another I made from all the leftover scraps for Cricut Man's desk.  Hope he likes it.  Notice on the 2nd pic that on one side I used accounting ledger paper just for him :-)

I wanted to put some ribbon trim around the box lid but didn't have any blue that was just the right color.  So Distress Ink to the rescue.  Rubbed a little Brushed Corduroy on a bright blue polka dot ribbon and presto-magic! I had navy blue.

Had just a few little scraps left and couldn't let them go to waste so here's another little 2x2 box just for me.  Nice and simple.

All in all a great way to pass the time on a husband-less Saturday night.  Hope your long weekend was a good one too.  Can't wait to here all about it.  Hopefully Wednesday night will work for catching up with the Gal Pals!  See you soon.

A Fresh New Year of Life

This newspaper clipping of a panel of an old Rose is Rose comic has been on my bulletin board for about 14 years.  It really reminds me about the need to just close the door on work and chores and get out to see what the day might hold.  Carpe Diem!  

Spent my birthday wallowing around in my craft room and making a few fun things.  Like this door hanger using a blown up version of that comic.  

Used lots of scraps and old stash which made me happy.  The color scheme matches a sign for my craft room that  my brother's family got me for Christmas - I'll post that tomorrow.  (By the way. . . .I've decided it's not a craft room anymore. . .it's a studio!  Sounds so much better don't you think?! )

After a weekend of goofing off and lots of celebration, I'm anxious to start this fresh new year of life.  Fresh day, fresh week, fresh year - whoo hoo!!!

(Thanks Google for my Birthday Day Doodle)

Birthday Hooky

Hi Gal Pals!

Playing hooky on the eve of my birthday and having a grand old time!  Finding more ways to use up some paper scraps.  Made this goofy little container to hold Maddie's treats.  Used my empty Nestle's Quik jar, some 1 inch paper strips and some washi tape.  Messed up some of the seams so I added a little creative deviation with a cute stamp that Val gave me a long time ago.  I kind of like it - and so did Maddie!  OK - he really only liked what was inside but I'm going to take his approval any way I can :-)

Hope you had a good Friday the 13th.  Beware of that full moon tonight. Someone told me today we won't have another full moon on a Friday the 13th until 2049.  What a fun fact to know and tell, huh?!  (Val - no wonder you haven't been able to sleep this week!  That old moon has been playing tricks on you.)

See you back here on the blog next week.

Easter Cuties

(picture credit)

Good morning Gal Pals! Hope your week is going well.  Glad we're on the downhill side now.  Looking forward to the weekend and a little time in the craft room.

While catching up on the PaperCrafts blog this morning, I found a link to a cool DIY blog that had these cute, cute, cute Easter printables.  I download them and will use them for our Easter dinner at the neighbors.  Thought I'd share just in case you thought they were fitting for your table too.

Take care.

Gratitude Journal

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, here's a pic of one of the pages in my Gratitude Journal / Memory Log.  I did this to experiment with some scrapbooking techniques I've been wanting to try.  It felt a little safer and less intimidating doing that experimentation on a small page format and something that was for my eyes only.  I know Staci always laughs at me when I say this, but somehow a 12x12 page just seems to scary.  I can handle a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card front just fine and even this 5x7 doesn't scare me.  But put a 12x12 in front or me and I just freeze.  Weird, huh?!  Better get over it soon as I've got lots of pictures to scrap and lots of memories and stories to capture.

3 days and counting :-)

Brad-itudes

This was my first "stash busting" item submitted to my Gal Pals for review, suggestions and "what-were-you-thinking!" giggles.  Here's some of the great suggestions:

• Separate the words from the corresponding face - an "Ah-Ha moment for sure! Can't believe I never thought of that!  Geez Julie, you really can color outside the lines if you want to!  There are no paper crafting police!
• Use the faces as centers to flowers or in place of a letter "O"
• Use the words as part of your journaling

I've been keeping a Memory Log / Gratitude Journal in my DayTimer - just experimenting with other forms of memory keeping.  Some of the pages I treat like little scrapbook pages (I'll post one of those tomorrow) and some I just doodle on.  So I decided to use one of the Brad-itudes as part of the journal.  I kind of like the splash it gives the page - don't you?

P.S.  Forgot to mention yesterday that I posted a new page on the blog that holds our shared stamp sets and who has what.  Here's the link.  You can get to it from the left-hand side of the page under the "Stamps and Tools to Share" section, the link labeled "Shared Stamps - Who Has What".

The Opposite of Messy

Yesterday's post was all about being messy.  So to balance things out for the week I thought I'd share a Pinterest board I stumbled on that's all about clean craft rooms.  After looking through the pictures I think you'll agree the board's title is just perfect -- Craft Room Envy!!!

By the way. . .did you know there's a Gal Pal's Pinterest board??  Hope you'll be a Follower!  I've got lots yet to post but it's a start.