Watercolored Coaster Tiles

 I discovered some watercolor paper tiles and watercolor crayons at a tourist shop in Cape Cod and immediately thought that they would make good small art projects for my grandson. He loved drawing on the tiles and painting water over them to see the colors wash and blend.  Even the adults at the beach house had fun designing paper tiles.  After they were dry, I glued them to cardboard and adhered clear contact paper to the tops to waterproof them. Now we all have pretty memory coasters that remind us of the fun we had at the Cape Cod beach house.  If you can't find small tile watercolor paper, you can always cut them yourself from large watercolor sheets.  I think the watercolor crayons should be available at most art supply stores like HM Ben Franklin Crafts. Color yourself some beautiful memories!                                                              

Halloween Candy Bar Envelopes

 Halloween Trick-o-Treat candy doesn't have to be handed out from a bowl.  You can make cute decorated envelopes to enclose a much desired chocolate bar.  Starting with a long colored envelope from Daiso, I used a Whimsy die set to cut out the background for each envelope.  (The moons were cut from marbled foil paper purchased at HM BFC.)  Next, it was easy work to stamp out the characters (Lawn Fawn), color them and die cut or hand cut them out.  

Even the backs of the envelopes can be decorated...in this case with die cut Lawn Fawn  ' Trick-o-Treat' words.  I think especially older Trick-O-Treaters will love receiving  treats like this. Making these candy bar Halloween envelopes is a fun way to pass out some sweet treats. Your home will be the top Halloween house on everyone's list!

Puffy Sticer Resin Charms

I really love the puffy stickers from Japan that are selling at our HM Ben Franklin Crafts.  They are so cute and squishy but I don't use stickers too much so I came up with a craft to use them....resin charms!  I started with some small resin molds sold at HM BFC for jewelry making.  I covered the bottom of the molds with tiny sequin glitter and added some UV resin.  After mixing up enough to cover the bottom of the mold, I set the resin with the UV light.

Next, I added more clear resin and placed a puffy sticker in the mold.  This was then set with the UV light.  That's it!  Some of the molds have a peg that will form a hole for hanging the charm but you will have to resin on a tiny jump ring cap on the ones without a charm hole.

Even the backs of the charms are pretty because of the glitter pieces which are easier to use than resin powder colorants.  The charm cords maybe available at HM BFC but I bought mine from Daiso.

P.S.  When trying to attach the charm jump ring caps I often feel like I need three hands so I came up with this solution.  I found a small container and filled it with coarse salt.  The resin charms were then propped up in the salt while I added a small dot of resin to the top of the charm.  The jump ring cap could then easily be placed on the drop of glue before setting the resin with the UV light.  I'm patting myself on the back for this clever solution for a 'sticky' situation. LOL! Hope you will try making some squishy fun charms for everyone!

Honey Jar Tags

In a panic, I remembered that I needed tags for my jars of honey (We belong to Alan Wong's Bee Project progaram.)that I planned to give to some friends.  Becuse time was of the essence, I chose to use paper from my bee themed paper pads and ephemera. Uaing my trusty Little B tag die cutter and my Big Shot Machine it was quick work to produce four die cut tags.  A little glue was all I needed to assemble the tags....no stamping, cutting or coloring needed.  Finding coordinating ribbons was fun and really perked up the tags.  When you are in a pinch for time, don't be ashamed to use the convenience of ready made ephemera and words.  I'm sure the recipients of your gifts will just be thrilled to get a pretty tag tied onto a special sweet gift.  Honey is a delicious gift from the BEES!  

'I Love You Mower' Anniversary Card

Sometimes when I see a really small stamp set at HM Ben Franklin Crafts I wonder, "What can be made with just those few tiny stamps?" Usually I think that they could be used as add ons to a bigger card. This time when I saw the 'I Love You Mower' by Lawn Fawn, I thought that it would make a really good anniversary card for my husband who always seems to be in the yard cutting the grass.  I started with a long piece of white watercolor paper ( 14" x 3-1/4") and accordian folded it into fourths.  Then I stamped on the mouse, mower and words using black waterproof ink.  After handdrawing the clouds, I painted in the background using Copic pens. Additional coloring was done on the mouse and mower. This simple card was done in minutes and has a childlike quality (my husband calls me his biggest kid) which really pleases me.  I used grey imk to stamp the extra moving mice which livens up the card without adding extra thickness. Since some of the colors soaked through the watercolor paper card, I glued on some solid green card stock to the back of the card.  I am super pleased with how this card turned out...it was easy and my husband liked the humor of the mower mouse...aka 'the husband worker mouse'!!!! LOL!

Watering Can Thank You Tags

 These two tags were completed a lot faster than the last two because they didn't require fussy cutting and hand coloring. All the parts for the watering can tags were easily die cut using a simple die cutting machine and the Lawn Fawn dies.  Happily, I was able to use random paper pieces from my scrap pile. Artificial flowers were chosen for their color/size and glued on.  Finally, specialty yarn from my ever-growing yarn collection were selected for texture and color.  Finding just the 'right' yarn is my favorite part of making tags.  Perhaps I will attach a mini calendar to the back of the tags as an added bonus to a package of goodies. That will make it a gift that lasts all year long! (P.S. the Totoro images on the seed packets are simply small pieces of Totoro washi tape.)

Summer Cookout Tags

I noticed that my stash of tags was running low so I am working hard to increase the types and number of tags I have available to use on the spur of the moment.  I tend to use tags way more than cards as I like to give baked goods and 'just because' gifts to friends and family.  Tags just seem to be a quick way to send a message of gratitude/thumbs-up rather than mailing a long, hand written card.  Also tags just use a small amount of supplies and they are quick and easy. Don't forget if you receive a handmade tag think about trimming it down and gluing it onto a small gift card.  You can also recycle a clever tag into a magnet by attachig a piece of sheet magnet to the back.  I hope that you will upcycle small sheets of printed paper into tags and pass them out to friends and family...of course be sure to tie it to a cello bag of homemade cookes!