Baker's Box Thinlits

For stamp club, I always try to have three cards and one non-card project for the ladies. July's project revolves around my newly bought Homemade for You bundle. The bundle comes with the Homemade for You stamp set and Baker's Box Thinlits. Now I don't usually make 3D projects, but I was intrigued by the size and shape of the Baker's Box. It's perfect for filling with Kisses or M&Ms or even a few small cookies. I pulled out a ton of old DSP, picked a fun subtle pattern from Park Lane and started cutting. The thinlit requires two passes through the Big Shot. If you place it carefully, you can get two pieces out of a 6" x 12" piece of DSP. From there, it's just a matter of folding along the score lines and gluing the two pieces together. Easy peasy! I added a few tags (dies included in the Baker's Box Thinlits), some ribbon, and a cute clothespin. Overall a very cute little project. I'm thinking about making 13 of them for our October retreat. Maybe fill with some candy...

Stamps: Homemade for You
Inks: Lost Lagoon
Cardstock: Park Lane DSP (retired); Whisper White
Accessories: Lost Lagoon Ribbon; White clothespin (not SU)
Tools: Baker's Box Thinlits

New Chalkboard Calendar

Remember my Blog Calendar that I posted a few weeks back:

Well it turns out our walls are crap and nothing sticks to them. My calendar ended up in a ball on the floor about a week after I put it up. On to plan B: spend a little more money and buy a chalkboard with a frame.

Here is my new blogging calendar. I bought a plain framed chalkboard and had a little fun. I looked into buying a pre-printed calendar, but most of them ran Sun-Sat. I prefer to think Mon-Sun. The ones that ran M-S were very expensive or the peel and stick kind that didn't work last time. So I grabbed a plan one that was only $5 at Michaels. I estimated my spacing and marked it off with washi tape. I realize that the spacing isn't exact, but that's the beauty of washi tape. If it bugs me, I just peel it off and redo.

Once I had my boxes, I went in and added dates to the boxes. It's hard to see in my picture as the dates are in white and very faint. I just wanted to have my markers. Then I went in and filled the dates with my proposed drafts. Each category gets a different color. Orange is SU News and Sunday Hauls. Green in Project Life. Pink is cards. Blue is miscellaneous.

So far, I am loving my system. As a draft is completed, I cross it out. At the end of the month, I take a wet cloth and wipe everything away. Simple, cheap, but effective. Just how I like my crafts!

Father's Day Craft

I hosted preschool a few weeks ago and our theme was Father's Day. Actually our theme was something different, but I had to switch weeks and had already prepped Father's Day themed activities and crafts. While searching Pinterest, I found the perfect relatively no-mess craft for toddlers: Golf Ball Painting! I started by stamping "I Love You Dad" onto a piece of cardstock. I've seen others just use paint, but I liked have a message behind the paint. Once stamped, I placed the cardstock into a disposable cake tin.

Then, I added a few drops of paint onto the paper. I found that less paint makes for a better card. Using more paint tends to clump together and obscure the stamped message.

Add some golf balls. I used some plastic toy golf balls instead of the real thing, but either would work.

Before handing to a toddler, make sure to add the lid. Arthur doesn't always follow directions, so a lid was essential to make this craft no-mess. Once the lid is on (and possibly secured with tape, let the toddler loose. The basic idea is that the golf balls will spread the paint around creating an abstract piece of art.

After a fun time shaking the container, a great piece of mailable artwork is left. I let my painted piece dry and then attached it to a folded card base. This made the perfect card to send to those special dads in our family.

Supplies:

Cardstock
Stamps and ink (or stickers)
Disposable cake tin with lid
Paint
Golf balls

Blog Calendar

I attempted a non-greeting card project the other day. While it's done and up, I feel like this was one of those potential Pinterest fails. I saw cute chalkboard calendars online and wanted one of my own. I bought some adhesive chalkboard sheets online. I pieced those together and adhered them to the wall. From there, I added washi tape to mark off the boxes. The month name is also done in washi tape. Finally, I bought some liquid chalk markers to fill out my calendar. The sheets on the side are my monthly goals. Posting them will hopefully keep my goals in my mind.

I like the look of the craft, but I can see some issues with this project. The washi tape and chalkboard pieces do not stay on the wall very well. Maybe it's just because our walls are too bumpy. At any rate, I have had to smooth this out a few times in the last four days. I will probably get angry at some point in the near future and rip it down. We'll see. Cute idea, not so great execution.

30 Days of Lists: Days 26-30

I'm participating once again in 30 Days of Lists. See days 1-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-20, 21-25. Here are my lists for days 26 through 30:

Sarah's Bridal Shower

Last Saturday, I hosted my friend's bridal shower. It was a production. I made decorations, invitations, food, and games. I started a few weeks ago trying to decide on the color scheme and decor. I settled on light pink, dark pink, green, black, and kraft brown mainly because of these great craft pIeces I found on clearance at Michael's. I packed all these supplies into my suitcase to fly back to Indiana. But before leaving I finished the invitations. See them here.

These are a few examples of the favor boxes that I decorated for everyone to take home. I took these simple white berry boxes and draped them in either washi tape or striped ribbon. Then I added a variety of flowers, bows, jewels, flags, and doilies. Each one of the 40 baskets ended up looking a bit different. I filled the baskets with colored Easter grass, jelly beans, and hershey kisses (bride-to-be's favorite candy).

The shower was held in my mom's flower shop warehouse. This offered a wide selection of tables and random centerpiece decorations that we could borrow. I bought black table cloths to protect the tables and give them a uniform look. I scattered the decorate berry baskets around each table along with extra kisses and sparkly diamonds. Very cute overall!

You can see the fun games that we played laying at each table. We ended up with bridal bingo, who knows the bride best, couple match, and what's in your purse. Everyone seemed to have a fun time playing the games. And the winners each got a little favor basket (candy, lotion, stationary, etc).

As an added activity, I had collection of Project Life cards laid out. Everyone was to write down a date night suggestion or marriage advice to the couple. I'm planning on adding these cards into the wedding scrapbook I am making.

As for the food, I went with simple with minimal cooking. Not having much time or extra helpers, I didn't want to spend a lot of time on the food. We ended up with fruit, veggies, chips with guacamole and salsa, mini quiches (only thing that was cooked), crackers and cheese, turkey rollups, lemonade, water, cookies, and cupcakes. I made a signature cocktail, raspberry bellinis, for everyone to enjoy. They were a big hit! And the cupcakes were to die for. I especially loved the chocolate ones, but the vanilla and red velvet ones were good also.

Here are a few good crowd shots.

At the end of the shower, the bride-to-be opened all her lovely presents.

Instead of making a ribbon bouquet, I made the bride-to-be a ribbon veil. She is definitely wearing this for rehearsal!

30 Days of Lists: Days 21-25

I'm participating once again in 30 Days of Lists. See days 1-5, 6-10, 11-15,16-20. Here are my lists for days 21 through 25:

Bachelorette Party Invites

For the past month, I've been working on various projects for my friend's bridal shower. Last week, I detailed the invitations. This week I'm highlighting the Bachelorette Party Invitations. I went with a modern palette of pink (light and dark), black, lime green, and kraft brown for the shower invitations. This party called for something louder and brighter. I glanced through my card stock and settled on Melon Mambo, Bermuda Bay, and Rich Razzleberry. Nice and bright! These colors put together remind me of the Lisa Frank folders and trapper keepers I had in elementary school. Perfect throw back memory for a bunch of women in their early 30s.

The front side of the invites featured a fun coloring technique using the Irresistibly Yours DSP. This paper can be colored a variety of ways to show the white embossed design. I choose to create a starry night effect using my three ink colors. I simply sponged on each color into a random splotch pattern. After coloring, I took a baby wipe and gently wiped off the embossed areas until they were white again. I love the finished look! And each invite looks a little different. I added a stamped image from Your Perfect Day onto a die cut oval piece of cardstock. Simple but fun.

The back featured a piece of pattern DSP in one of the three colors behind the white cardstock with all the information. The back was looking a little plain so I added the stamped ring image. I had to fussy cut the rings, but they actually weren't too bad at all.

Detail of the ring

.Detail of the stamp.

Stamps: Your Perfect Day
Inks: Bermuda Bay; Rich Razzleberry; Melon Mambo
Cardstock: Bermuda Bay; Rich Razzleberry; Melon Mambo; Whisper White; Irresistibly Yours DSP; Brights Collection DSP
Accessories:
Tools: Oval framelits