Stamping Sunday

Hello guys! Just a few more days left till Christmas!…. Are you ready? :)   I hope so. But, if you’re not quite there yet, here’s an inexpensive gift idea for you.   This little snow angel is a gift box that I altered to hold some snowflake shaped sugar cookies that the kids and I made. The nice thing about this type of box is that once the cookies are finished the recipient can keep the box as a Christmas decoration.

Here’s a before photo of the box, which was purchased from Hobby Lobby.  As you can see I removed the hat and added some wings.

I love the colors burgundy and green for Christmas, so I decided to mix a little of the Amber Road line with the Mistletoe & Co. on this.

Since it’s “Stamping Sunday” I pulled out my stamps for this project. The first stamping technique, is the pretty much the same one I used on my “Not so Scary” Halloween project. This time, I stamped out long  border strips, cut them out and then attached them to the edge of the jacket. To help the border curve around the jacket, I snipped the stamped border along the bottom edge before applying it.

The stars on the halo were stamped and then gold embossing power was applied to the images. I poured off the excess powder then used a heating gun to set the images. The stars were then cut out and adhered to the halo, a small piece of berry garland.

Here’s a picture of the box open.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, Everyone!!!

Big Hugs and Warm Wishes - Friday’s Feelings!

Happy Friday, guys!!!  Well today’s focus is suppose to be all about feelings and journaling! I don’t know about you, but gift giving at holiday time, always gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling inside, especially when it’s a gift I’ve handmade!

I decided to alter a picture frame for my mother-in-law,  as a gift from the kids for Christmas this year.  To make this gift more personal I added a little pocket (Kraft Envelope) to the center of the frame, so the kids could add little notes, to Grandma!

This is a really easy project to put together. All you’ll need is a picture frame, a kraft envelope, some raw chipboard, a few embellies, your pictures and of course your Pink Paislee supplies. For this frame I mainly  used papers and embellishments from the Mistletoe & Co. collection.

To give the snowman strength and some thickness, I glued three layers of chipboard together, before cutting out the pieces.

Draw, or use template to trace the snowman design onto the chipboard. Above, you can see the 3 pieces of chipboard after they were cut out.

Once your pieces are cut out, you can begin covering them with patterned paper and embellishments. Cover the brim of the hat and the nose before gluing them into place.  I used Mistletoe & Co. Patches and the star stamps from the Mistletoe & Co. Impressions Stamp Set on the hat, as you can see in the finished piece.

Next, cover the wood frame with patterned paper using Mod Podge adhesive.

Paint the inner edges of the frame with brown paint.

Adhere the snowman to the back of the frame, making sure to leave access to your pictures.

Apply patterned paper, Punchouts, Bella Brads and Press Ons to the kraft envelope, then attach it to the center of the frame.

Use the template to trace and cut out the mittens. You’ll need two mitten cut outs for the left and two for the right. Stitch each set together leaving an opening at the bottom.

Stitch, then apply the die-cut snowflakes to the front of each mitten. Note: The felt snowflakes where originally white. I wanted them to match the worn, antique look of the patterned papers, so I soaked them in a hot tea solution first, to stain them.  Of course, if you have cream snowflakes, that would work too!!!

Adhere the twigs (arms) to the back of the frame using a wood glue or hot glue gun. Then secure the gloves onto the twigs with glue also.

Lastly, use the Mistletoe Postcards to add journaling.

Pink Paislee Supplies Used:

Mistletoe & Co. Patterned papers, Patches, Impressions Stamp Set, Bella Brads, Punchouts and Press Ons.

Other Supplies:

Maya Road - Kraft envelope, chipboard (star) and pins.

Creative Cuts & More - Felt snowflakes

Hobby Lobby - Frame, pom-poms, embroidery floss, paint and Spanish moss

It’s Tasty Tuesday! …. Candy Anyone?!!!

Hi Everyone! With Halloween around the corner I thought I’d share this treat holder idea with you. I love to make these kind of boxes for the holidays.  I don’t get that many “trick or treaters” in my neighborhood, so I made this one kind of small, but the size of the box can easily be adjusted to suit your needs.  You can also change the theme of your box too. Christmas, Valentines and Easter are all really fun themes to try.

Here you can see the monster in it’s original form. Very cute as is, but I needed to do something food related, since my assignment was for Tasty Tuesday.

I removed the monster’s hands from the sign. Then removed all the wire from the piece, separating the head and legs from the “boo” sign. Using a jig-saw, I cut the sign so it wasn’t as wide and then rounded the corners to create the shoulders of the monster.

Tip: If you are not comfortable using a saw, you can use a couple layers of raw chipboard instead of the wood, that way you can cut it using a utility knife.

Once you’ve found the perfect size paper mache box for your treats,  you can begin covering all the components of the box.

As you can see, I used a lot of the Twilight collection on this piece. One of my favorite parts of this project are the monster’s eyebrows. I used “i’s” from the Expressions Glitter Alphabets for the eyebrows and one of the “swirly” elements for the mouth.

Some of the details:

The bolts were covered with Charming patterned paper, then spritzed with (Baby’s Breath) Shimmerz Spritz, to give a shiny metal effect.

Above, you can see I used a circle punch to cut a Punch-out. Then I painted the crescent shape with some Shimmerz, Pixee Dust (Blingz) paint to add a little sparkle.

The scalloped section of the border sanded then crumpled to give a distressed look.

The Chipboard Alphabets above were covered with Sunset patterned paper then painted with the same Pixee Dust paint, mentioned above. In the center of the “C” a  Expressions Glitter Alphabet I used the bat rub-on from the Twilight Press On set.

Have a TASTY, fun and safe Halloween!

Stamping’s Not So Scary

Hi everyone! Today my focus is on stamping!!!  Something that’s really is not in my comfort zone. In fact, coming up with a project for this assignment was a little scary for me. After playing around with the Amber Road Impressions Stamp Set, I decided to use the border stamp to enhance this Fall project. I have to say, I had a lot of fun using the stamp and will definitely have to try stamping more often.

Instead of a basic black, I used a plum colored ink, to stamp out my border images.

Below you can see a sample of one of the strips before it was stamped, and one after it was stamped and die-cut.

I used about thirteen strips in all, on this. Since the strips will overlap, only two of the strips need to be the stamped on along both edges (one for the front of the costume and one for the back).

The strips were then stitched along the border, before adhering to the dress form.

I used the discarded zig-zag strips as trim on the hat and on the base, seen below.

So I guess stamping is not as scary as I thought!! It was actually a lot of fun!!!

Pink Paislee supplies used:

• Patterned paper - Dusk, Sunset and Nightfall (from Twilight Collection) Harvest Hayride and Bonfire (from the Amber Road collection)
• Amber Road - Impressions Stamp Set
• Twilight - Bella Brads
• Twilight - Press Ons
• Expressions Glitter Alphabets - Licorice
• Chipboard Elements
• Topsiders - Borders

Other supplies:

Shimmerz Paints - Spritz (Licorice, Rock-a-Fella Blue and Bamboo Leaf) and Shimmerz (Vintage Wine and Mossy Stone)

Creative Imaginations - 16″ Bare Elements Dress Form

Fiskars - Scalloped border punch

Other - Beads, leaves and embroidery floss (thread) from Hobby Lobby.

Have a great week!

BeWitched By Twilight! - Thursday’s Trends

What’s going to be one of the hottest trends hitting the streets for Halloween this year?   It’s the new Twilight collection from Pink Paislee, of course!!  The hip, modern witch is sure to be “Bewitched” by the hot new styles in footwear that have been gracing the runways of Paris, Milan, and London lately.  However, don’t despair if you can’t afford these “high end” must have fashions.   I’m going to show you how to get the same fabulous look, for a fraction of the cost!!!

I know…I know…I’m stretching it a bit. :)  But, after creating a witch hat a couple weeks ago, I thought it would be fun to create another “BeWitching” accessory…footwear!

Today, I’ll be sharing with you how to create this fun boot from Christmas tree ornaments, scraps of chipboard, and recycled cardboard.  Once you know how to create the boot, you can use the same design for all sorts of occasions (other than Halloween).  This can be done by simply changing the patterned papers and embellishments.

Below (in PIC. 1) you can see the Christmas stocking in it’s original form.

PIC.2 shows two stocking cut-outs, sandwiched together using chipboard strips (I used the string to hold everything in place while the glue dried).

PIC.4 displays what your strips should look like.  They do not need to be perfect.  Because you will not see them after the project is complete.  Basically, they are just holding the wood pieces together for the next step (which you can see in PIC.3).  Note: Cut “V” shaped notches along the sides of the strip.  The black lines on the chipboard strip indicates score lines. The scoring and notches, will help the chipboard bend more easily around the curves of the boot.

PIC. 3 also shows how I wrapped the boot using cut strips of recycled cardboard (photo paper packaging)  while leaving an opening at the top.

PIC.1                                             PIC.2                                           PIC.3

PIC.4

Once the boot is covered  with cardboard, trim and sand the edges. If the cardboard you used has a glossy finish sand the surface lightly also.  Next cover all sides of the boot with patterned paper. I used Nightfall for the sides and Dusk on the sole and back.

Sunset patterned paper was applied to the front, then sprayed with Bamboo Leaf, Shimmerz Spritz.  This step will add a little sparkle and contrast, as you can see above.

When you are finished covering all sides of the boot, you can begin on the details.  Below you can see the main pieces of chipboard you will need to complete the project.  The four pieces in the top row were cut out of two scalloped ovals from the TopSiders - Shapes chipboard set.  The two border strips were cut from one of the borders from the Topsiders - Borders chipboard set.  Next, the boot cuffs were cut from two of the bracket shaped borders; also from the TopSiders - Borders chipboard set.

Here are some of the chipboard pieces - after I covered them with patterned paper, and then stitched them with embroidery floss.

Note: After covering the two chipboard borders with paper, then use a hole punch (I used the Crop-A-Dile) to punch out holes to create eyelets.  You can then lace with ribbon, before adhering it to the front of the boot.

The heel of the boot was made out of small wood parts (that I had laying around), a small toy wheel, a round disc, and a ball knob. They were all covered with patterned paper, spritzed with more Shimmerz Spritz, glued together, and then embellished. Glue a dowel into the hole of the ball knob, then drill a small hole into the heel of your boot, and then push the dowel into it.  Apply glue to the inside of the boot (using a hot glue gun) to secure the dowel in place.

The cuff of the boot is a mixture of chipboard and fabric.  AppIy the paper covered chipboard pieces to each  side of the boot.  Then cut a section of one of the fabric Patches, spritz it with Bamboo Leaf, Shimmerz Spritz, and then adhere it to the front of the boot cuff.  I used some scrap strips of fabric to line the inside of the boot, I let the raw edges hang over the top of the boot, and then glued them in place.

The stocking in the boot is a sock that was embellished with ribbon.  It can be filled with candy or stuffed with batting to help it hold it’s shape.

Have fun embellishing the rest of your boot with Press-Ons, Punchouts, Bella Brads, or whatever else takes your fancy.

Have fun!  Trick or Treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!!!!!

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