Let's Go Nuts Swivel Surprise Card

 In the previous post I introduced a card that I made using the Lawn Fawn Swivel Surprise die set.  Here is another Swivel Surprise card with a squirrel theme this time.  I just love how the squirrels circle around the nuts as the card opes.

It's very hard to show the squirrel action with still photos but I am not skilled in making videos. The squirrels and acorns were stamped and die cut using Lawn Fawn sets Big Acorn and Let's Go Nuts. The images were colored in with Copic pens.

The words, 'Let's Go Nuts' were from one of the stamp sets.  I curved the words on an acrylic block before stamping .  The stamped words were then free hand cut in an arch.

I just can't stop opening and closing this card to see the squirrels circling around the acorns. LOL!

Oh yes, the panel on the front of the card (fall is in the air) and the inside one (love you) were taken from a Simple Stories printed card stock pad.  The leaves on the card front are actually an autum leaf garland I purchased from HM BFC a few  autumn seasons ago. Now that I understand the mechanics of making a Swivel Surprise card, I know that I will be making a few more this holiday season....spinning gnomes?  Please return to this blog site again to see what I create using the amazing Lawn Fawn Swivel Surprise die set.  Woo! Hoo! Let's Go Nuts!

Hanafuda Card Necklace

After showing you hanafuda card tags on a previous blog post, I started to think about what else I could create with the colorful rectangle Japanese playing cards.  I decided that they might make unique jewelry. I began by using a hand drill to make two small holes on the top of a card. Then I strung some brass wire through the holes and formed hanging loops.  Next, I coated the front of the card with one minute UV LED resin (Padico (sold at HM Ben Franklin Crafts)). I used a LED light (available at HM Beb Franklin Crafts) to set the resin.  I applied the resin to the back and edges of the card as well before setting it with the light.

 It took a long time to select just the right beads from my stash and wire them together to form a 24 inch beaded chain.  I didn't put a clasp on the necklace because it is long enough to slip over my head.  I am so happy with the outcome of this project that I am making another necklace using the resined hanafuda card in the photo below.  I hope that you will look around and see what non-traditional items you can incorporate into your crafts. I'm sure you will create something wonderful because you ARE so crafty.  Happy Creative Crafting!

Everything Pumpkin Spice Card and Tag

You know it's fall when the pumpkin spice flavored drinks and desserts start appearing everywhere.  Although I'm not a fan of boba tea, I do like the Lawn Fawn Build-A-Drink-Bubble Tea Add-On die set.  I thought it would be fun to make a shaker confetti element out of the bubble tea cup. I thought about the construction for a long time and then decided to just cut the plain cup out of another piece of vellum and then glue it to the back of the cup using Fabri Tac glue. Although this shaker confetti element doesn't have very much room for the pumpkin pie and green sparkly confetti, they do move around enough. Because I used vellum for the cup lid and straw, it was necessary to adhere them to the card with a special tape that doesn't show through very much.  (I'm not sure if the tape dispenser I have in the supplies photo is a brand sold at HM Ben Franklin Crafts, but the store does carry other brands which I'm sure will work under vellum, too. The Whimsy character hugging the cup actually was holding on to another cup that I fussy cut out. The words and image was stamped with permanent dark brown ink before coloring in with Copic pens. The background of the card was made from the front and back of a printed card stock sheet which is probably no longer available, but HM Ben Franklin Crafts has stacks of 12x12 two sided printed autumn themed card stock so I'm sure you can find something to please you.

With the leftover paper scraps on my work table, I fashioned a matching Everything Pumpkin Spice tag.  At first I was going to deorate the doughnut with colorful sprinkles but decided I wanted it to look like it came from a fancy bake shop so I applied Nuvo white Crystal Drops to look like a sugar glaze and then sprinkled on some gold flakes (sold as craft confetti) so that it appears to be edible glitter like the type used in some classy bakeries.  Although I'd love to linger longer and play with my autumn craft supplies, it's time to move on the Christmas craft goodies. I can't wait to get started.  HO HO HO! Time to be JOLLY!

     

Autumn Leaves Blessings Card

Even though we don't really have an autumn season in Hawaii, it still is my favorite time of the year.  I love the colors of autumn and the idea of the trees dropping their leaves....so pretty.  In honor of this gorgeoius display of nature, I made a card with golden, sparkly leaves. The leaves were cut with metal dies from Cutter Bee and Spellbinders.  I used Japanese washi papers that were crinkled and came in really large sheets.  I think they are available at HM Ben Franklin Crafts (Mapunapuna).  One sheet was green with gold/copper/silver flecks of foil and the other one was crinkled white with colored spots.  Before die cutting the leaves, I sprayed the washi paper with Tim Holtz Distress inks. (I only had green and golden yellow sets but a reddish rust color set would have been a good addition.)  Once the inks were dry, I used the leaf dies to cut out crinkly leaves with vein details.  Using a Hero Arts (old wood handled one), I stamped the saying on a small rectangle of paper that coordinated with the card.  The edges of the rectangle were rubbed with the same ink color.  I used my Misti stamp aligner to make sure my TPC Studio  (Autumn Harvest) clear stamp images would end up exactly where I wanted them to be.  The final step for this card was gluing down the golden, speckled leaves.  Once I was satisfied with the arrangement I applied the 3 in 1 Fabri-Tac glue (from HM BFC) to get a quick, secure, clear adhesion.  This card was super fast and fun to create and I think I'll use the leaf technique to decorate other items like tags, boxes, and calendars.  I think you should try making your own autumn leaves. It will make you feel a little like Mother Nature (LOL) and result in a pile of lovely, sparkly, leaves!

Chocolate Fruitcake Brownies

                                

As the holiday season quickly approaches, I find myself searching for new recipes that will yield edible gifts for friends and family.  I saw a Martha Stewart recipe (Big Batch Triple Chocolate Brownie Bars) online which seemed tasty but really huge for a pre-holiday taste test. I love fruitcake and brownies and this recipe appeared to be a delightful combination of both desserts.  However, I also didn't want to prepare the recipe because I already had a box of Ghiradelli brownie mix in my pantry.  Mainly, I wanted to taste test out the combination of dried fruits and nuts in a brownie.  What you see on this post is the result of a  box of brownie mix for an 8x8 pan and 2 cups of dried cranberries, golden raisins, dates, walnuts and pistachios.  I think the end product is worth trying again with the original Martha Stewart recipe.  I love the texture and taste that the fruits and nuts add to the brownies.  I think in the future I will reserve some of the fruits and nuts to sprinkle on top of the brownies before baking.  That will make the brownies more attractive and give the consumer a hint of what's inside.  I used a mini nine loaf pan to make the fruitcake brownies and paper liners to make clean up easier.  You can probably find both the mini loaf pan and liners at HM Ben Franklin Crafts.  There are lots of baking/candy making supplies available at all the HM Ben Franklin stores. The messy photo below shows why you should use paper liners.  I plan to freeze the brownies and then remove the liners before wrapping them in plastic wrap or decorative wax paper before packaging them for gift giving.  Wouldn't they look yummy in a pretty hand decorated gift bag?

Autumnal Mushroom Fairy Treat Bags

                                     

When we travel on Hawaiian Airlines to places beyond the islands, I look forward to the snack/meal bags they pass out...not because of the food inside but because the bags are charming and perfect for decorating.  This time I chose to use a Penny Black stamp set (Missing You) to stamp out images, color with Copic pens and fussy cut.  I added the images to the bags with adhesive foam dots.

I added some artificial autumn leaves (cut off from a garland purchased at HM Ben Franklin Crafts) and  glued on some die cut fern fronds and mushrooms.  These were made with Hero Arts Mushrooms and Ferns Fancy Dies. Some specialty yarn (from my collection) was added to the bottom of each bag to give the appearance of a forest floor.

For the back of the bags, I decided to add some ribbon and wax seals with mushroom designs which were leftover from my previous post about mini calendars.  These wax seals on the back of the bags, as well as the autumn leaves on the bag fronts, were added for decoration and to cover up the Hawaiian Airlines logo.     

I am hoping that I will continue to receive a supply of the Hawaiian Airlines snack bags even though the airline was bought out by Alaska Airlines. This year my decorated HA bags will be used to hold homemade cookie hostess gifts. If you are a frugal crafter who likes recycling, I hope that you will start saving HA snack bags too.  I'm certain you can create something fabulous from them.

Autumnal Mini Calendars with Wax Seals

I recently purchased a large wax seal tool with a mushroom design. Because I couldn't wait to try it out I immediately started to melt some wax pellets with my hot air gun (done on a silicon mat).  Although the hot air gun blows the pellets around a bit, little pools of melted wax can be formed.  I pressed the wax seal tool into the puddles of wax and after the wax hardened and cooled, pretty, shiny ovals resulted. (You can still purchase wax sealing candles to make the melted wax puddles, but I don't like using fire in my craft area.)

I glued these wax 'jewels' and ribbons to the top of calendars.  The calendar bases were made from 4"x12"  printed card stock folded into stand up forms that can be flattened to fit into an envelope. I admit that I'm a wax seal junkie so I am very happy that HM Ben Franklin Crafts sells both the wax pellets and the handled metal sealing tools.  If your pressed seals don't look quite right you can always remelt the wax or even trim it into a more pleasing shape before remelting the edges.  Using wax seals is a very old fashion stationery decoration, but it is really fun to create and collect all the different metal sealing tools.  I hope you'll give making wax seals a try but be warned, "It's addictive!"  

P.S. I haven't purchased my 2026 mini calendars yet.....hence the use of old 2025 calendar pages for my mini 2026 gift calendars. 

Halloween Bookmark Treats

 Sometimes it's nice to offer trick-o-treaters something other than candy for a treat.  This year I decided to make bookmarks from my Halloween paper scraps and give our trick-o-treaters a sweet no-sugar treat.  It was easy to use my paper trimmer to cut the card stock into bookmark-sized pieces.  I glued two pieces, facing plain sides together.  Next, I added stickers and Halloween ephemera to the fronts.

For the backs I adhered sticker letters, mini cats, and candy stickers.  On the top of each bookmark, I punched a hole and attached some colorful specialty yarn.  It was super simple to make these Halloween bookmark treats but you could also offer mini soap bars (be sure to label them, 'Do Not Eat'), small toys (Daiso and HM Ben Franklin have lots) mini books,or perhaps sticker sheets.  I hate wasting even small scraps of paper, so making bookmarks is super satisfying.  Surprise the trick-o-treaters this year and offer them something that will make the fun of Halloween last longer than some sugary sweets.

Gnome Sprinkle Birthday Card

I love gnomes and my daughter-in-law loves cats so I decided to combine the two themes into her birthday card...also I just bought a gnome stamp set (Whimsy) which I just couldn't wait to ink up. LOL!  I started this card by cutting the colorful heart frame using the Sizzix die on some heart print card stock.  I used the same die to cut out a frame out of plain white card stock.  I saved the inner piece of the white card stock frame and stamped the 'Happy Birthday' and gnome with cake onto it before coloring the image with Copic pens.  I also used white glue to add some fine clear sparkle glitter to the cake.

I glued down the white scalloped frame to the front of the blue card and then inserted and glued the inner piece with the gnome and words inside the frame.  Next, I added  double stick foam adhesive to the backside of the heart frame to form a complete seal for the confetti. (I had to cut the foam tape to make it 1/4" as I only had 1/2" tape.) I carefully placed the scalloped rainbow heart frame onto the white scalloped frame. Before completely sealing the pocket, I added the heart, cat paw print, and cat face confetti into the clear window pocket.

For the inside of the card, I stamped the melting gnome image (Trinity, Simon Says) and the cat images (Poly Clear, Hero Arts) onto white card stock.  I cut out the images after coloring them with Copic pens.  They were adhered to the card with glue and adhesive foam dots (behind the cats).  White glue was used to adhere some fake confetti sprinkles.

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I think this birthday card is successful because it makes me smile.  I'm hopeful that the birthday girl will enjoy the humor of the card. (The cats are gray like hers and they often cuddle up with her husband (my son) while he is sleeping...Hahaha!) Hope YOU have an extra sprinkles kind of day!

Halloween Treat Bag Cards

 Yes, these are CARDS, not trick-o-treating bags.  These bag cards fit into standard 5x7 envelopes.  I created them as a way to send treats to my favorite trick-o-treaters who live too far away from me to knock on my door this Halloween.  I started by cutting up some large brown paper bags and their handles.  Using just a ruler, serrated scissors, and glue, I formed the 4"x5" mini bags and added the handles (made from the original large bag handles).  It was incredibly easy to cut the Whimsy printed Halloween card stock sheets (from a paper pad) to fit the bag fronts.  

Next, the Happy Halloween words were die cut from gold foil card stock using the Whimsy die.  Fabri-Tac 3 in 1 glue was used to adhere the words.  Also glued on in the upper left corner of the bag was a cobweb cut from vellum using the Sizzix die.

On the back of the bag card, I plan to write a message to my sweet trick-o-treaters.  I didn't want to leave the back of the bag bare so I sprayed it with Tim Holtz Distress paint and stuck on some puffy candy stickers.  Rather than sending candy through the mail, I decided to eat the candy and fill the empty mini candy wrappers with folded money.  This way the recipients of the Halloween Treat Bag cards can buy their own treats....toys, books or even CANDY!  I hope this post has inspired you to make your own treat bag cards to surprise your favorite faraway tirick-o-treaters!

Autumn Agate Necklace With Pendant

While looking in my stash for beads to string into strech bracelets, I 'found' an agate pendant.  In the plastic zip bag were two strands of beads hat matched the pendant.  Since I had my jewelry tools out, I decided to whip up a necklace. The two strands of beads were not the same size or colors, but they did both match the pendant so it wasn't hard to complete the necklace.  Since the pendant had a sterling silver bail, I finished off the necklace with silver ball beads and a silver hook clasp.  It was simple to use crimps and a crimping tool to make sure the closure was secure.  I'm glad that I took the time to complete this piece whose parts were patiently waiting for me to put them together.  I know that I will happily and proudly wear this Autumn Agate Necklace this fall.  Hope that you will take the time to check out the beads at HM Ben Franklin Crafts to select the perfect ones to make into some autumnal and holiday jewelry.

 

Halloween Treat Bag Tags

To make my Halloween treat bags even more special, I decided to make some spooky tags to tie onto them.  I started by die cutting the black card stock paper with a Little B tag die.  Next, I cut a piece of printed burlap ribbon to fit the tag and attached it with 3 in 1 Fabri-Tac glue.  For the bottom of the tag, I cut a piece of Whimsy printed card stock (black and white stripes) to fit and glued it down. Onto the striped paper I adhered some Martha Stewart and Stiko stickers. (I've had the Martha Stewart stickers in my Halloween supply box for years but I'm sure that you can find suitable stickers at HM Ben Franklin Crafts.) The final touch for the tags was to attach unique yarns to make the tags even more special. Okay, time to bake the treats to go into the bags which will be tied closd with these cautionary, spooky tags.  I love the scary fun of Halloween...don't you?

 

Stretch Bead Bracelets

After seeing Joy making stretch gemstone bead bracelets on Joy of Crafting, I decided to give it a try. It was amazingly easy and fast to make the bracelets and I couldn't resist making a bunch.  I used turquoise, amazonite, amethyst, and agate beads. 

I also made two glass bead bracelets. The one on the left was made with African glass beads.  The colorful candy-like glass bead one was made for Halloween.  The only problem I had with the construction of the bracelets is knotting the elastic cord.  I wanted to make sure that the knots were secure so I did double surgeon knots but then these knots were bulky and hard to hide between the beads.  Doing a single surgeon's knot and G-S Hypo Cement was a better solution for the completion of the bracelets.

There are so many gorgeous beads for sale (especially at HM Ben Franklin Crafts) so your bracelet creations are limitless.  I hope you'll give this easy craft a try and make yourself some beautiful, fun jewelry. I know that you'll be unable to stop your bracelet production after making just one...like eating potato chips...hahaha!

P.S. I used both .7 and 1 mm stretch elastic for my bracelets.  I feel that the 1mm is sturdier but the knots are bigger and harder to hide. For smaller beads .7 elastic cord is easier to thread through.

Japanese Gift Bags with Tags

 These Japanese design gift bags were purchased from HM Ben Franklin Crafts (or was it Daiso?).  I really loved the grafic designs on them.  All they seemed to need were matching tags. 

Because I feel that Hanafuda cards have great graphic designs, I decided to incorporate them into tags for these Japanese designed gift bags.  

I chose Hanafuda card designs that I thought matched with the bag graphics and glued them onto simple die cut tags.  

I stamped appropriate Japanese characters on the backs of the tags and heat embossed them with metallic embossing powder.

These tags were then tied onto the bags with unique yarns from my ever-growing yarn collection.

Even the backs of these gift bags were decorated with gorgeous designs.  The bag backs are so lovely they could actually be the fronts.

I hope that you'll take a look at the spectacular Japanese themed gift bags at HM Ben Franklin Crafts and Daiso.  I'm sure they'll inspire you to make some matching tags or maybe you'll fill them with Japanese goodies.  The Japanese man bag is going to my son who loves anything from Japan.  The more feminine bag is for a just born baby girl and it will contain a kimono.  I think these bags will add to gifts by making the presentation exciting. Arigato!