Valentine Heart Pouches

It's fun to make Valentine treat pouches with the Lawn Fawn dies.  You just have to die cut two pieces, fold them, and assemble them with double sided Heiko tape.  The LF die even cuts out the holes for the twine.  For these pouches, I purchased a Doodlebug 12x12 Valentine design card stock pack that included some lovely printed and glitter sheets including some cute stickers.

For the foiled words on this pouch, I used a Lawn Fawn hot plate, silver foil, and a Minc foiling machine. I discovered that the  Lawn Fawn Ta-Da diorama heart die was able to perfectly cut out the foiled words heart.

To add some interest on the back of the pouch, I used one of the stickers in the Doodlebug pack to make a tag.

The second pouch was made using a mail envelope print card stock from the Doodlebug Design pack (only $15 from HM Ben Franklin Crafts).  Another two stickers were used to make the tag that I tied on the front of this pouch.

Although these pouches are not too big, they will hold some candies or a couple of cookies..enough to treat a friend, co-worker or classmate.

Here's a view of how the pouches are strung to form a container.  Twine fits nicely through the holes but you could enlarge the holes if you want to use ribbon instead.  The twine with the sparkly threads was purchased from Daiso and the other one is a Doodlebug Design product from HM BFC.  The Lawn Fawn heart pouch die makes it super easy to cut out and make dozens of treat boxes for a your Valentine friends.  Happy Heart Day!

 

Strawberry Shaker Birthday Card

I bought the Lawn Fawn strawberry frame because I wanted to use it to make a strawberry shaker element.  I'm not sure what the frame was supposed to be used for...perhaps it goes with one of the other LF stamp sets.  Anyway, I cut two red sheet foam strawberry frames and one red card stock one.  I glued (Beacon 3 in 1 Fabri-Tac) some clear acetate behind the card stock frame and trimmed around it.  Then I glued the two foam frames together and glued them onto some red card stock before trimming around the strawberry.  Next, I added the heart confetti (from Hm BFC) to the recessed area and then glued on the framed acetate strawberry.  Finally I die cut the leaves and stem and glued them to the strawberry shaker.  A sweet, crafty friend (that's you, Karen) sent me the Lawn Fawn stamp set and I couldn't wait to use it.  I thought the little mice with strawberries would look super cute with the giant shaker strawberry. The mice were easily stamped, colored with Copic pens and cut out before adhering them to the card with adhesive foam dots. I tried several die cut Happy Birthday words but none of them seemed to fit so I finally went with a birthday tag I had in my stash.  Using Heiko skinny rainbow colored ribbon added an extra pop of color and movement.  Because this card is for an older person, I chose an appropriate saying and stamped the message inside the card.  I KNOW the card looks like it was designed for a child but the recipient IS young at heart! (P.S. the shaker strawberry would be fun on a Valentine's Day card, too.)
 

Year of the Dragon

Happy New Year 2023!  It's the Year of the Dragon!  According to the Chinese Lunar Calendar, the year of the dragon occurs every twelve years. Because I was born in the year of the dragon, I am very excited to welcome in this year. Of course I felt obligated to make a special calendar to commemorate MY special year.  I started with a square rounded corner coaster purchased from Celebrations (Mapunapuna) in a pack of 50.  On the back of each coaster I glued a magnet sheet (purchased in a large roll from HM Ben Franklin Crafts).  The magnet sheet is easily trimmed with a regular scissors.  Next crinkled red washi paper with gold and silver flecks was cut to be slightly larger than the coaster and a dragon stamp was used to leave a clear image ink impression and then applying gold embossing powder.  After using a heat gun on the image, the red crinkled paper with the gold dragon image was glued onto the front of the coaster and trimmed. Gold cording was then glued around the edge of the coaster magnet. Finally, the Vippies mini 2024 calendar was glued onto the dragon decorated red magnet.

I am happy with the simple look of the calendars because they can be given to men or women. Also they look Chinese and very traditional which is exactly what I was hoping to achieve. I hope the recipients of my calendars will attach them to some visible area where it will remind them to enjoy the Year of the Dragon especially since it won't happen again for another twelve years!

 

Soapmaking 101

Soapmaking is unbelievably easy.  All you really need is the soap base, a glass mixing bowl, some molds, and a microwave oven.  It's really fun to experiment with colors and scents.  All the supplies are available at HM Ben Franklin Crafts. First you cut up the block of soap base.  You'll need about four 1-1/2" blocks of soap per bar (average size) you plan to make. Put the blocks in the microwavable bowl and melt for about 2 minutes at 8 power.  Next mix in about 10 drops of soap dye and then stir in several drops of soap fragrance.  Pour this colored and scented liquid soap into lightly oiled soap molds. Let the soap harden for a few hours before attempting to unmold the soap bars.

I scented my Xmas soaps with peppermint (pink swirl) and apple (seafoam green) but HM Ben Franklin Crafts has many soap scents and colors for sale.  For gift giving I chose to wrap my soap bars in cello bags (many sizes available at HM BFC) so that the scents or colors wouldn't bleed into each other. 

I found some really elegant bamboo trays at Daiso and thought that they would be perfect for holding the gift soaps.  I wrapped the trays in a washi paper that had some great raffia-like fibers in it and used raffia to tie up the package.  If you can't find interesting washi papers (check Celebrations) try using parchment paper.  I made these soap gifts for holiday hostess gifts and small 'just because' presents. It's so easy and inexpensive to make soaps that I think once you get started you'll be making them all year long for many occasions. Remember Valentine's Day and Mother's Day are on the horizon. Soaps are much loved and appreciated gifts!

 

Snow Globe Ornaments

Yes, I know that I should have made and blogged these snow globe ornaments before Xmas but I only purchased the Lawn Fawn stamp and die sets recently.  I had a light bulb moment when I found the Flat Fillable Ornaments at HM Ben Franklin Crafts.  It was a no brainer that I had to combine the stamped images with the fillable ornaments.

I traced the ornament onto some  two sided printed Xmas card stock scraps. Then I stamped the words on the backs of the papers and heat embossed them with gold or silver powder.

The bear, dog, desk and snow globe images were stamped on smooth white card stock and colored in with Copic markers before matching dies were used to cut out the pieces.

The hats were glued on as were the snow globes on the desk (which had its legs shortened) before foam dots were used to raise up the images from the backgrounds. About a teaspoon of 'snowflakes' was added to each half globe before the scenes were glued to the half ornaments.  Cording was then glued onto the edge of the flat ornament along with a bow of red ribbon with the words 'Let It Snow' on it. The 5 pack of fillable ornaments will actually make 10 ornaments because only half of the ornament is used to make each snow globe scene ornament.  I plan to get started on this style of ornaments earlier next year because they were so easy to make and turned out exactly as I hoped they would. There are so many scenes that can be incorporated into these flat snow globe ornaments. Maybe now is the time to purchase some packages of Flat Fillable Ornaments so you will be ready to make some NEXT Xmas....hey, they might be on SALE right now!!!

 

Wide Ribbon Tags for Next Xmas

Okay, Xmas is over but before you put away the gift wrapping supplies, why not make some tags from your leftover wide ribbons?  It's so easy to use the i-Crafter dies to die cut tags and embellish them with 2-1/2 "wide Xmas ribbon.

I think this Xmas birds tag is really successful because it looks almost like a miniature painting.  I love the woven texture of the ribbon which makes it look so rustic.  I chose a sparkly ribbon for hanging but twine would look good too. Just the upper corners of the ribbon had to be hand trimmed before the ribbon was glued down to the tag with Fabri-Tac Beacon glue.

This snowflake ribbon has a beautiful iridescent design on a sheer fabric so I paired it with a dark blue glitter card stock.  I think I should have used a lighter colored glitter paper because it was difficult to keep the glue from showing. For these three tags I hand cut the hole for the ribbon.  The tag die probably won't cut through most ribbon fabrics so it's best to trim with a scissors.  

Oh yes, before shaping the ribbon to fit the tag, be sure to remove the thin wire enclosed in the seam of the ribbons.  The tag die set also comes with a little die that cuts the hole topper.  I think this little addition really adds to the finished look of the tag.  Take care to choose just the right hanging ribbon, yarn, or twine as that also can make or break the look of the tags.  I know that you're probably all done with the holidays and maybe have even lost the Xmas spirit, but do take this time to quickly put together some wide ribbon tags as you will surely be glad you did when wrapping gifts next year. Believe me, you will be so happy that you have a jump  start when December 2024 rolls around!  

 

Recycled Xmas Cookie Tin

We finished eating the cookies from this tin last Christmas but I couldn't bear to toss out the empty tin so it stayed in my craft room for a whole year!  Finally, it is time for Xmas cookie baking and so of course I need to make cookie containers.  

It was super easy to adhere a printed card stock paper to the tin.  The only problem was that the circumference of the tin was a 1/2 " longer than the 12" Martha Stewart card stock.  To cover up this space along the seam of the tin I added some ribbon on two sides of the tin and left enough length of ribbon to be able to tie a bow on the top of the tin. I looked through my stash of baking labels and found the perfect one to adhere to the front of the tin. 

I also adhered the perfect Echo Park sticker (pack purchased at HM Ben Franklin Crafts) to the top of the tin.  I used Beacon Fabri-Tac glue as an adhesive for this project because it grabs quickly, dries clear, and is fast drying....also it is a staple at HM Ben Franklin Crafts.  I am especially pleased with the outcome of this recycled tin because it now will have a second more beautiful life.  Please try to upcycle as much as you can because we don't need more waste filling up our landfills.  Making an effort to recycle should be a goal for all of us in 2024!

                          Merry Christmas to All and May there always be COOKIES in your tin!