Mixed Media Love Canvas

My first Crafts Unleashed Design Team project is on

Crafts Unleashed today!

For full details on how I created this piece, head on over and

read my post at Crafts Unleashed.

Paper Flower Tutorial

Here's a simple tutorial on how to create gorgeous 3D paper flowers using your Cricut. I created these flowers to go on my mixed media love canvas for my first project on Crafts Unleashed.

Supplies:

Paper or cardstock

Cricut

George and Basic Shapes Cartridge

Mod Podge

Paint Brush

Scissors

Glitter

Hot glue

1) Place your paper or cardstock onto your Cricut cutting mat and load the paper into your Cricut. With your George and Basic Shapes cartridge in your Cricut, select the flower shape indicated below (you want to press shift, then the flower key to get on your cricut display). Then press the Shadow Blackout feature button as indicated below. Set your size dial at 2 1/2 and press Cut.

You will need 3 flowers to create one 3D flower.

This is what the flowers will look like once they are cut and removed from your cutting mat:

2) From your first flower, cut one petal as shown below. From the second flower, cut 2 petals as shown below.

3) Next take your first flower and bring the sides of the opening together to form a cone as shown below:

4) then add a thin line of hot glue to the one edge of the petal to finish your cone shape. Repeat this step with your 2nd flower to create another cone.

5) Next, take your third flower (with 5 petals) and fold it in half to find the center. cut a small slit in the center as shown in the first picture below. Then, fold the same flower in half in the opposite direction and find the center. Cut a small slit, just as you did before, which will leave you with an x cut in the center of your 5 petal flower.

6) Next, you'll begin to assemble your flower. Cut a small amount of the point off of your 4 petal cone. Apply a dab of hot glue to the tip of your 4 petal cone and poke it through the x that you cut in your 5 petal flower (see the picture on the left below). Then apply a dab of hot glue to your 3 petal cone and add it to the top of your bottom 2 layers of your flower. You should now have a flower that looks like the picture below on the right.

7) Next, curl the edges of each petal by wrapping the edge around a tiny paintbrush or other round tool. Once all the edges of your petals are curled, dip your flower in Mod Podge as shown below.

8) Scrape off any excess Mod Podge. Then pour glitter over your flower and tap off any excess. Repeat as desired until you have even coverage. Finally, place a scrap of tulle into the center of the flower and push into place.

Now step back and admire your glittery goodness!

These gorgeous flowers can be added to any project your heart desires. Think scrapbook pages, cards, banners, wreaths, photo frames, decorative candles, really the sky is the limit.

Happy crafting!

(Don't forget to check out the canvas I used these on over at Crafts Unleashed)

Framed Button Tree - Tutorial

This is a simple project that makes a festive piece of home decor for your home or as a gift for someone on you list! Let's get started with the tutorial:

Supplies:

* Unfinished wood frame (I got mine at Michael's for $1 - I never buy just one!)

* Red acrylic paint

* Scrapbook paper or fabric (for the mat behind the tree)

* a piece of cardboard the same size as the opening in your frame

* Aleen's Tacky Glue

* Green buttons and 1 brown button for the trunk

* Green Embossing Powder, Alphabet Stamps or "Believe" Stamp, Versa Mark Stamp Pad and heat gun (You could also just stamp the word but I wanted to emboss it to give it some extra pizazz).

1) Paint the frame

2) Adhere the fabric or scrapbook paper to the cardboard that will create your photo mat.

3) Now create your button tree. If you need to, in very light pencil, draw a triangle on your photo mat to use as your guide and fill in the triangle with buttons. Put a small dab of glue on each button and then stick each button to your photo mat. You can layer different shades of green on top of your base layer of buttons. Glue down your brown button at the base of the triangle to create the trunk.

4) If the paint on your frame is not yet completely dry, use your heat gun to dry it.

5) Once it's completely dry, follow these steps to emboss the word "Believe":

Stamp your believe stamp onto a versamark ink pad. Then stamp the stamp onto your frame. Then, immediately place your frame onto a piece of cardstock (to catch any excess embossing powder). Pour embossing powder all over the stamped image on your frame. Gently turn your frame over to remove the excess powder. Your image should now be covered with embossing powder. If it's not evenly covered, then repeat this step.

Next, with a tiny paint brush, remove any small amounts of excess powder (if you ended up with "edges" around your image, you want to be sure to brush the powder off the edges of the image).

Immediately after you've added the embossing powder to your image, use your heatgun and watch the magic as your embossing powder melts. Once it's shiny it's done! Ooh, ahhhh!

6) Now put your button tree into the frame and voila! You've got yourself a whimsical piece of holiday decor.

It's seems like there's a lot of steps to this project, but honestly, I created it in less than 1/2 an hour.

No Sew Stocking Garland

A close up...

and a full view...

Yesterday I gave you a sneak peek of what I've been making over the last few days. I was inspired to create this stocking garland by this project featured in a recent special issue of Woman's Day.

As I flipped through the magazine in line at the grocery store, this adorable garland caught my eye. I thought it was made from felt or fleece stockings. I thought it was a sewing project. I didn't have time to read the instructions but I knew I had to make it (and I loved several other ideas I saw in the magazine, too!). So, I tossed it on the conveyor belt along with my other items.

Well...when I finally read the instructions I realized it wasn't a sewing project. The stockings were made from...

baby socks!

I LOVED the idea even more once I realized this would be a special keepsake for my daughter's baby socks! Yes, my daughter is 4 1/2 and I still have socks from when she was an infant. In an effort to simplify, I always bought her the same white socks from Target. So, I have the same socks from 0-36mos. I read the first couple of steps of the tutorial in the magazine and then I let my own creative juices flow...

So, I started with several white socks and a bottle of red fabric dye.

I followed the instructions on the bottle of dye to dye the socks red.

(there's no cooking involved I just used my stock pot because I was afraid of staining a bucket or my white sink!)

When the dying was done, I washed them and dried them and I had beautiful red stockings!

Then I used a whole lot of this:

Some puffy paint, and little bit of this:

to create embellished stockings like this:

To create the snow effect, I used white puffy paint to create a snowman. Then, I sprinkled the Diamond dust on top of the paint and used my heat gun to dry it. It puffed up the paint and sealed the Diamond Dust, creating a look of real snow! I also use Diamond Dust on top of Glossy Accents to create a "sugared" look on fabric and paper flowers.

I had a whole lot of fun embellishing all of these little stockings to create a festive garland.

To create the peppermint swirl candies, I used this cording that I found by the spool at Michaels. I simply curled it and wrapped it tightly to create a circular candy shape. I've got a whole candy them going on this year...I really need to post pics of the tree and another handmade garland!

I embellished the other stockings with paint, felt, buttons and ribbons. Did I mention I had fun??? Then I used my Crop-a-Dile to punch a hole in the upper corner of each stocking and threaded a ribbon through the whole. Next, I hung the stockings from a wide piece of red ribbon and then tied various widths and colors of ribbon to the red ribbon.

The stockings would also work on their own as ornaments. What a wonderful keepsake to give a grandparent as a memento of baby's first Christmas. Or, if you've got a houseful of kiddos you could have them each decorate a few of their socks and keep it as an on-going keepsake that you add to each year. Or, do a collection of stockings for each baby's first Christmas.

However you choose to personalize this project, if you create your own I hope you have fun and be sure to send me a link!

Cookie Sheet Magnet Board

Very simple, oh so cute and oh so functional! Here's the tutorial:

Supplies:

2 cookie sheets (I got mine from the dollar store)

Spray paint (optional)

Coordinating scrapbook papers (I used 4 sheets of 12 x12 and had scraps leftover)

Coordinating solid cardstock (Stampin' Up has the best and it's worth the extra money)

Coordinating Ribbons in various colors, widths and textures

One Shoelace (or long piece of ribbon, rope or cord to use as your hanger)

A Drill or another tool to create the holes that the hanger goes through. You could also use heavy duty glue, I suppose, but not sure how it would up.

Step 1: Determine the layout of your papers and cut to size. My cookie sheets were 9x13 and I cut one paper 9x5 and another paper 9x7 to cover the entire back of the cookie sheet (the raised part). Then cut your accent strips that create the dividing border (in my project those are the striped strip on the top sheet and the polka-dot strip on the bottom sheet). Mine were 1" wide and then I cut one strip of red cardstock that was 1.5" wide and one strip of yellow cardstock that was 2" wide and. I layered each strip as shown in the photos.

Do NOT glue your papers to your cookie sheet yet!

Step 2: Drill holes at the top and bottom of the cookie sheet that will hold your hanger. Drill holes in the top of the second cookie sheet (These holes will tie the cookie sheets together).

Step 3: Spray paint your cookie sheets in whatever color suits your fancy!

Step 4: While your cookie sheets are drying, create your ribbon hanger. I started by folding my shoelace in 1/2 to determine the center of the shoelace. Then I simply cut ribbon and tied it onto the shoelace, starting at the center point, then cutting 2 pieces of the same ribbon and tieing one on each side of the ribbon at the center point. Then choose a different colored/textured ribbon and cut 2 pieces and tie one onto either side of the ribbons that have already been tied on. Make sense? I hope so. Be sure to alternate colors, widths and textures to get a scattered ribbon look.

Step 5: Once your cookie sheets are dry, glue your papers to the cookie sheets using Mod-Podge and then cover with another lay of Mod-Podge.

Step 6: Thread equal lengths of ribbon through the holes to attach the 2 cookie sheets and tie a knot in each ribbon. See the photos for clarification (I'm referring to the 2 pieces of turquoise ribbon that hold the 2 cookie sheets together).

Step 7: Thread your shoelace (now covered with lots o' pretty ribbon) through the holes in the top of the top cookie sheet and tie a knot in each end of the shoelace.

Now stand back and admire your work!

I made this magnet board for my daughter to use because our stainless steel fridge is not magnetic. This would be a great gift for a teacher, too!

Thanks for looking - leave a comment to let me know you saw this and leave me a link if you decide to make one of your own!

I'm joining these fun linky parties:

Tissue Paper Decoupaged Picture Frame

Taylor made this picture frame for Daddy's birthday back in September and I'm just now getting around to posting it.

I know I say this about most of my tutorials, but this is a super simple, easy, fun, inexpensive project. My daughter LOVES to play with glue. I have been known to give her a full bottle of white glue and some paper and other bits and have her sit at her table in the craft room, and empty the whole bottle and just play with it however she chooses (keeping it confined to the table, of course). It drives my husband crazy but is one of the best ways to keep her occupied!

Anyway, I knew she would love decoupage with her love of glue! So I decided this was the perfect project to create for Daddy.

Set up: Tear bits of tissue paper in desired colors. Pour white glue or Mod Podge into a small container.

Process: Have your child brush glue onto the frame,

then press tissue paper onto the frame, then brush another layer of glue.

Let dry.

It doesn't matter how "messy" it looks, the finished product will look beautiful!

These are on our holiday gift list, too!

Handprint art

First, my apologies for these pics. It's really hard to photograph artwork behind glass, but I wanted you to see the finished product in the frame.

Taylor and I made this gift for my mom for Mother's Day, but I never got around to posting it. With the holidays approaching I thought now would be a good time to share this project with you.

To create this gift, I had Taylor press her hand into a puddle of acrylic paint and then I pressed her hand onto white cardstock. Tip: With little ones, it really helps to have 2 adults help with this. One to hold the child's hand still on the paper, while the other presses down firmly to ensure even coverage. Then lift the child's had straight up off the paper to ensure the image doesn't smear. We repeated that with each color shown. I then cut out each handprint.

Next, I cut the flower pot shape out of brown felt. Then I cut the stems out of grossgrain ribbon and cut the leaf shapes out of green flannel scraps that I had. I machine stitched the ribbons to the 12x12 piece of cardstock. Then I stitched the leaves so that the stitching resembled the veins of a leaf. Next, I added a very small amount of stuffing to the back side of the felt flower pot and stitched it to the cardstock. Finally, I adhered the hand prints to the top of each stem with "pop dots" or 3D foam dots. (people call 'em different things). As a finishing touch I added a distressed piece of cardboard along with the saying "Happy Mother's Day 2009, Love Taylor".

Tiger Costume Tutorial

I know it's a little late to be posting a costume tutorial the day after Halloween but Taylor was so sick this week, we really didn't even know if she'd go out trick or treating. And although she's been telling me since the summer she wanted to be a tiger for Halloween, she came up with several other ideas once October hit so I held off on making her costume. (Seriously, how the heck was I supposed to make a DOLPHIN costume??? And, Friday night I was trying to convince her to be a ghost so I could just throw a white pillowcase over her head -- Oh, come on, I'd cut holes so she could see and breathe!) In the end the Tiger won out and I was frantically sewing this together Friday night and Saturday afternoon/evening. So, here's how I made this really easy, budget friendly costume:

Supplies - Orange Fabric (I bought a shower curtain on clearance for $10 - it was 72"x60" and I used about 1/2 of it to make a size 3T costume.

Black Fabric (I used black T-shirt that I got for free at a seminar last year)

Pipe Cleaners, Thread, Elastic band (optional for waist)

For the Pants, I used this tutorial as a guideline. I didn't make an elastic waistband, the pants fit her pretty snug, and then I just added a safety pin at the waist. Again, I wasn't even sure she'd be wearing it this year so I wanted it to be big enough to use for Dress Up play and to wear next year if she wanted to.

For the shirt, I used the Sienna Dress pattern as a guide. In cutting out my fabric I narrowed the bodice and shortened it so it was more like a long shirt than a dress.

AFTER CUTTING all my pattern pieces and BEFORE SEWING, I cut long strips of the T-shirt fabric. Don't worry about the width of the stripes. Random and MeSsY is GOOD in this step of the project :). mine varied from about 1/2" to 1" and I cut them so some of them were narrower at one end and then thicker at the opposite end.

Arrange your stripes on your orange fabric so they look like tiger stripes. Pin and then topstitch them to the orange fabric. Then sew your pattern pieces together.

For the ears, I cut out ear shapes from the orange fabric. I sewed black strips of fabric to the ears -- before sewing them together-- then I put 2 ear pieces right side together, and sewed 1/4" around 3 sides of the ear, leaving the bottom open. Then I curled up a pipe cleaner (loosely) and stuffed it into the ear to give the ears some stiffness. I did the same for the other ear. Then I sewed the ears to the strip of black fabric and simply tied a knot in the black fabric to make a headband.

I also made a tail that isn't shown in the pictures. I simply cut a long strip of the orange fabric (about 2 1/2 " wide), sewed on black stripes and sewed along the edge and one end of the tail. Then I wound together pipe cleaners, end to end to create a wire the length of the tail. I used multiple pipe cleaners to thicken it up (does that make sense? I held about 3 pipe cleaners, then I wrapped those to the end of 3 other pipe cleaners, so my finished wire was about the thickness of 3 pipecleaners).

For the nose, I cut out one section of an egg carton, painted it black (actually had hubby paint it black because I was working frantically on sewing the rest of the costume!) then poked 2 holes in the bottom section so she could breath through it, and 2 holes on either side of the egg carton. We used a strip of black fabric, cut in half and tied it through the one of the holes on each side, to be used as the strap to secure the nose to her face. We pushed 3 pipe cleaners through each of the other holes on the side, tightly folded the ends to avoid any sharp points, and we were DONE!

Of Course we had to snap some pics and she had to practice her ROAR!!!

The Fine Print: As mentioned, this was a last minute project, no pinning was done in making this project and the quality of the craftsmanship is much less than excellent. The finished product does not do justice to the patterns/tutorials used and cited herewithin. The ears could have been much better constructed. My sewing machine was very cooperative through the entire process of making this costume, but toward the end, it sensed that I was becoming waaaay too impatient and sewing much too fast. It also decided it DID NOT like sewing through pipe cleaners and it just wasn't gonna do it. So, I respected that and opted to use a safety pin to attach one of my ears rather than risk breaking my beloved sewing machine. Hence, the ears look a little funky. The first photo shows a better picture of the ears.

Variations:

Other ideas for creating a Tiger costume...

Paint black stripes on orange fabric instead of sewing the stripes on.

Use black face paint for the nose/whiskers. (My daughter has very sensitive skin so I intentionally opted to NOT use face paint)

Make a square hat and tie 2 knots on top for the ears.

I hope you all had a rip RoARing Good time on Halloween...what were your costumes?

Super Simple Sticker Book Tutorial

This truly is a super simple project and if you're a friend of mine with a kiddo of sticker loving age, then chances are, you're little one will be getting one of these from me for Christmas!

To make this Super Simple Sticker Book you need:

1 6x6 photo album (I bought mine in 2 pks from Target for $1 - in the dollar aisle - about a yr ago -- I'm sure you can find these at the dollar store)
multiple sheets of 12x12 cardstock (My album had 10 pages so I needed 5 sheets of cardstock)
Another sheet of cardstock to make your die-cut letters or alphabet stickers or pre-cut letters for the title of your book
Mod Podge
Ribbon for embellishment and anything else your heart desires to use as embellishments
Sticker sheets (of course!)

The process is soooo easy!

Cut your 12x12 cardstock into quarters (in case your mathematically challenged, each 12x12 sheet will give you 4 6x6 pieces of cardstock)

Slip a piece of 6x6 cardstock into each page protector in your album.

Cut another piece of cardstock to 3x6 (or maybe a little longer depending on the size of your cover). Use a small paint brush to apply a thin strip of Mod Podge to 3 sides of this piece of cardstock. Stick this piece of cardstock to the inside of the front cover to create a pocket.

Slip sticker sheets into the front pocket. Add your title to the front of your book (adhere your letters with Mod Podge for durability) and tie a ribbon around the spine of the book. Give the book to your favorite child! The child can then stick the stickers to the page protectors and remove them, then restick them, or they can remove the cardstock and stick the stickers to the cardstock. Either way, this is a fun easy gift that will give a sticker loving child, hours of fun!


*I made this book because Taylor and I are taking a 5 hr flight next Saturday to visit Grammie for a week. I've put together a special bag of new toys/activities for her to keep her busy on the plane. So stay tuned because I'll be posting about these goodies all week long!

Canvas Flowers - A Mini Tutorial

I was inspired by this post by my friend Jen, and wanted to create a flower bouquet for my craft room (as though I need one more thing in my craft room, but that's another post for another day!). I started by cutting felt flowers but quickly decided I wasn't achieving the look I was going for. I decided canvas was the perfect medium. So here's how I made these:

Materials:

• Cricut and George & Basic Shapes Cartridge (optional)
• a piece of raw canvas - I used a piece about 12x12 (also known as duck cloth - available from a fabric store)
• acrylic paint in your choice of colors
• coordinating buttons
• embroidery needle and embroidery thread
• wooden skewers
• floral moss (from the dollar store)
• a flower pot, vase or other container to hold the bouquet
• floral foam (also from the dollar store)
  

- I used my Cricut and my George and Basic Shapes cartridge to cut flower shapes out of cardstock in various sizes and 2 different styles of flowers. I used 1.5" and 2" flowers. The cardstock flowers became my template. If you don't have a Cricut, you can use a stencil or cut flower shapes freehand.

- I then set the template on raw canvas (also known as duck cloth) and cut out the flower shapes. You could trace them to make it easier.

- Once I had all my flowers cut (I used three flowers per stem), I arranged them in a way that was pleasing to me. Graduated sizes, and different styles and laid them in rows on cardboard. I wish I had taken a pic! Basically, I have 5 stems, so I had 5 flowers laid out and then 2 other flowers below them so that I wouldn't end up with one stem that had all pink flowers, does that make sense?

- I also cut out small leaves from the canvas (I just did this freehand but, again, you could cut a template and trace it if you find that easier).

- Then I used acryclic paint in my chosen color palette and started painting! In addition to the pink, purple, green and turquoise, I also used white to get varying shades of color on each flower. Be warned...this part is seriously addictive!

- Then I added a bit of glitter by simply smearing some glitter glue on the flowers and leaves.

- I then sewed buttons to the center of the flowers. (Getting the needle through the 3 layers of painted canvas took some effort!)

- To make the stems, I painted wooden skewers green and hot glued some pieces of green wire to the leaves. I then wrapped the wire around the skewer to attach the leaves.

- I filled the pot with floral foam from the dollar store (way cheaper than the craft store), stuck the stems into the foam, and topped it off with the moss...

I think this project is a great gift idea! I made them in just a few hours, and I could make more in less time, now that I know the process. Also, it's such a versatile project because it can be customized to match any decor or color scheme, you can use other fabrics, and any container!

Tip: The flowers alone can be used as embellishments for scrapbook pages and other projects!

I've been Published!

At least that's what my friend, Jen called it when I called her today to tell her my exciting news. The photo wreath I created over the weekend was featured on One Pretty Thing, today! I am a huge fan of that blog and I get so much inspiration from the crafters featured there! I've been told people aren't able to leave comments on my blog right now, and I'm pretty sure it's just a blogger error (I'm a little frustrated with blogger, right now!) so, hopefully people will be able to comment soon. Please rest assured, I know you're out there. I know you're reading! I'm going to check my comments settings again (already have like 3 times and as far as I can tell I've got them set right). Anyway, I just wanted to blog about my excitement and hopefully many more of my projects will be featured!

Photo Wreath

I've been thinking about this project for a few weeks and intended to make it at Craft Night last month at my friend Jen's. Well, last night I found myself home with The Monkey in bed and hubby out at a friend's and I decided to create this photo wreath. I got the wreath from JoAnn's a few weeks ago. Regular price is about $8 and I used a 40% off coupon. I already had all the other supplies on hand. I started by wrapping the twill ribbon around the wreath. Then I used my Fiskars Cutter and circle template to cut the cardstock and patterned paper to mat the photos. I made each of the emblishments and chose the spring color pallette of greens, blues and pinks. The wreath hangs above the airmoire in our living room and our couches are are a deep olive green so this color scheme works well in the space and brings a touch of spring to the room. I punched each of the matted photos and used ribbon to tie them to the wreath.
Once I hung it, the center of the wreath looked bare. I pulled out some canvas, painted it, printed the quote on patterned paper, sewed the felt heart, and added a flower from the same batch of flowers I used on the wreath. I framed it in an inexpensive cherry stained frame that I painted brown. I used my stylus dipped in pink paint to create the polka dots on the frame. As the final touch, I added the pink ribbon to the top of the frame. The frame just sits inside the center of the wreath.

I love how it turned out! Let me know if you create a photo wreath of your own. Leave me a comment with a link!