Archives for March 2015

WISHING YOU A JOYOUS EASTER!

Supplies:
Cottage Living 6 x6 Paper Pad (732798)
Happy Day 6 x 6 Paper Pad (732717)
Home Grown Foliage (732803)
Home Grown Partly Cloudy (732805)
Home Grown Family (732808)
Home Grown Icon & Phrase Stickers (732812)
Home Grown Ephemera Flowers (732820)
Special Delivery Boy Printed Glassine Bags 5″ x 7″ 24/Pkg, Blue with White Dots (732474)
Special Delivery Girl Printed Glassine Bags 5″ x 7″ 24/Pkg, Pink with White Dots (732475)
American Crafts Knock Outs Border Punch Value Kit, Simple Scallop (63013)
American Crafts This to That Dimensional Dots (61709)
American Crafts Precision Pen .03 Point, Black (62311)
American Crafts Becky Higgins Project Life 4 x 6 White Cards (380071)

Hi friends, it’s Wendy Sue again, sharing my most recent happy little project with you! I really love giving little “just because” gifts to family members and friends. Seeing the look of surprise in someone’s eyes when you give them a special little gift, just out of the blue, is the BEST! It’s really easy to do these types of things, without a lot of planning ahead, if you have a nice stash of gift cards, gift bags, gift tags, etc. on hand. I recently discovered that my stash was getting low. I decided to use some fun little phrase cards from the “happy day” collection to create some quick and easy tags. And of course, I had to use the coordinating papers, along with my Gift Bag punch board, to create some sweet little gift bags – just perfect for tucking in a delicious treat…chocolate anyone?!?

I trimmed some of the 3×4 cards from the “weekend” patterned paper. I knew I wanted to use these cards to make some really easy tags.

I trimmed the excess “white space” from the left and right sides of the images.

Then I created the top of the tag shape with my gift bag punch board. I simply lined up the left edge with the “start line” and punched.

Next, I flipped the card over, lined up the other edge with the “start line” and punched again.

Easy!

To finish off my tag, I cut a small square piece of coordinating paper from the 6×6 paper pad and added it to the tag top

Followed with a pretty enamel dot!

I followed the instructions included with the Gift Bag Punch board to create a “medium” gift bag, cutting my paper at 7″ for the height.

I attached the tag to the gift bag.

And now it’s ready and waiting to be filled with a yummy treat for a special somebody…whenever the mood strikes!

Supplies:
Happy Day “Weekend” Patterned Paper
Happy Day “Let’s Chat” Patterned Paper
Happy Day 6×6 Paper Pad
Happy Day Enamel Dots
We R Memory Keepers Gift Bag Punch Board
This to That Double-Sided Super Sticky Red Tape

Spring Cards of Encouragement

Mar

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Hello there! It’s Mendi here today with a heartfelt set of encouragement cards perfect to brighten a friend or family member’s day!

Today’s cards were all about focusing on the sweet sentiments found on Happy Day Phrases & Labels Cardstock Stickers sheet. Up first I have a card using the darling “Hello” banner stickers on the diagonal, paired with the adorable birdie and bicycle images from the companion icon sticker sheet. I was able to make this card in a matter of minutes and yet it turned out to be my daughter’s favorite.

Up next is a card using the short pennant sticker with the word “smile”. I love how the shape of this sticker is super easy to lengthen into a longer pennant with the help of a little patterned paper, becoming the base for the focal point image of my card! This card also came together quickly with the fun flower bouquet sticker and some epoxy dots.

As soon as I saw the “Insta-Awesome” sticker I knew it would make a great card sentiment for a teen. To complete the phrase I added the “UR” stickers using the woodgrain thickers from the collection. A grid design with the cameras and matching tone-on-tone patterned papers were the perfect embellishments to finish off my card.

Up last I thought it would be fun to create a one-of-a-kind paper-pieced wavy background using the “Be You” sticker. To create some separation between the wavy design and the bottom portion of the card, I temporarily adhered hand-pleated ribbon across the transition and stitched it into place.

I thought I would share how I created this fun wavy design and give you some tips on how you can easily create one yourself! 🙂 To start off I cut a piece of printer paper to 5.5″ x 3.75″. Next I lightly sketched out a wavy pattern with a pencil, having each wave end at the same point, roughly 1/3 from the right edge. I then cut them apart and labeled them with the paper color I wanted to cut them from so that I could keep them straight as I traced and cut.

To hide pencil lines, flip your desired patterned paper over (as well as your pattern) and trace the shape from each of the coordinating patterned papers. As you cut, leave approximately a 1/4″ margin to the left of each piece.

This is what all my pieces looked like after I cut, leaving that margin to one side.

These 1/4″ margins make piecing your shapes back together a breeze. It means you don’t have to worry about cutting them out perfectly and seeing slivers from your base as you piece them back together. Taking another piece of printer paper sized to 5.5″ x 4.25″, draw a pencil guide line .75″ from the bottom. Next, layer your pieces starting in that bottom, left-hand corner, working your way around each of the 4 corners. When your paper piecing is complete, you can add stitching if desired and top with a 5.5″ x 1″ strip of paper along the bottom.

Here’s on last peek at the completed cards. I hope I’ve inspired you to pull out your supplies to make a card of encouragement for someone special on your mind this week. Nothing beats getting a good old-fashioned card in the mail when it’s least expected. 🙂

The Science Behind Crafting and Health

Mar

Non-Photo Layout

Mar

1 Comment

Hi everyone! Eva Pizarro here bringing you an easy tutorial for a non-photo layout. Sometimes you want to tell a story but just don’t have a picture to help you illustrate it. That’s what happened to me when I started this layout.

During my last two years of engineering, I decided I wanted to go abroad and finish my school in Italy. I had already studied the language but hadn’t really spoken Italian very much. While living there, I met my husband and we started dating (not everything was study). After a few months together, he told me that I had a few funny phrases I would say all the time that didn’t really exist in Italian! He said he had never told me because he didn’t want to make me feel bad! This layout tells that story, and every time we remember those phrases we can’t help but laugh.

To do this layout, I cut a world map with my electronic cutting machine. I simply traced an image I found online.

To attach the map, I adhered the negative image with some washi tape and used liquid glue to put all the countries in their correct places.

I thought it would be fun to make a visual connection between my home country and where I met my husband and had such a good time, so I included some twine to connect Chile and Italy.

I used my dies to cut gold speech bubbles that I could put cute numbers on.

And that was it!
Here’s my finished layout. I used the alphabet masks for my title because I loved the big bold font.

I love how those gold speech bubbles shine when you look at the layout from different directions.

At the bottom I included a hidden tag with all the mispronounced phrases (no need to embarrass myself any longer).

Next time you want to tell a story and don’t have a picture, don’t let it discourage you! You can make beautiful layouts that still tell a story without photos.
Have a great day!
Eva

Supplies:
Cottage Living Hardwood (732753)
Cottage Living Petals (732762)
Cottage Living Delightful Dots(732766)
Cottage Living Gold Foil Accent Cardstock 12″ x 12″, Chevron (732773)
Cottage Living Thickers White & Gold (732776)
Cottage Living Gold Dipped Tags (732783)
Cottage Living Dies, Polaroid (732785)
Cottage Living Puffy Phrase Stickers (732791)
Cottage Living Rubons Phrase & Icon (732782)
Cottage Living Alphabet Masks (732793)
Happy Day Phrase Stickers (732703)

Archives for March 2015

Hoppy Easter Treat Bags

WISHING YOU A JOYOUS EASTER!

Gift Bag and Easy Tag Set

Spring Cards of Encouragement

The Science Behind Crafting and Health

Non-Photo Layout