A New Addition

My newest craft room addition.... my Big Shot =)

I was excited to put it to use! Today's craft is short and sweet.

 I had a friend ask me to make some handmade card for her. Surprise, surprise... my favorites were the Baby cards.

Supplies Used:

Aviary - Birdcage(Stampin Up)

Best Friends Forever - Leaves (Stampin Up)

Happy Everything - Words (Stampin Up)

D'Vine Swirls Embossing Folder (Cuttlebug)
Owls & Birds - Bird (Stamp set from JoAnns)
Green Galore Classic Stamp Pad (Stampin Up)

Pixie Pink Classic Stamp Pad (Stampin Up)
Jet Black Archival Ink (Ranger)

Supplies Used:

Best Friends Forever - Top Part (Stampin Up)
Baby - Words,Bottle,Rattle (Tampons Clairs)
Damask Embossing Folder (Sizzix - Tim Holtz)
Tempting Turquoise Classic Stamp Pad (Stampin Up)

Stamp Envasion

I love stamps! And I love them even more when they are clear block stamps!
1) They are cheaper than wooden block stamps
2) They take up less storage space
3) You can see where you are stamping

But, when my Stampin' Up Demonstrator sells her retired collection of wooden block stamps for an extremely discounted price, I can't pass it up.

So I decided to convert my block stamps over to clear block stamps. Here is today's How To:

My collection:

Take one of your sets. Remove the stamp from the block, then remove the sticker from the block. Place the sticker on the back/wrong side of the stamp.

Cut around the stamp and remove the excess sticker. You will then need Aleene's Tack it Over and Over glue. Apply a very thin coat onto the sticker. Too much glue will pull the sticker away from the stamp when applied to the clear block.

I then placed the stamps back into the box them came in, in order to let the glue dry.

Meanwhile, I took the DVD sleeve out of an old DVD box and used it as a template to cut down cardstocks to the correct size. Once the stamps were dry, I then stamped them onto the cardstock so that I am able to see what stamps are inside each box. I also applied the sticker from the original Stampin Up box onto the spine so that I can see which stamp set it is when on the shelf. Viola!

 My collection of blocks:

Now my stamps fit nice and neat on my shelf - no bulky storage container. =)

Bad Chair Day

I love my craft room, but most of my items came from Hand-me Downs, Garage Sales, or Craigslist. So I'm in the process of sprucing up some items to make them a little more bright and cheery.

So today we are working on my bland chair:

Supplies needed: Fabric of choice, screw driver, and staple gun:

 Unscrew cushion from chair. Then lay the cushion down on the wrong side of the fabric. Simply staple gun one side, then staple an adjacent side leaving the corner for last. Repeat until all sides are stapled. Pull tight, but not too tight that you create wrinkles. Screw back onto the chair. And...

 Viola!

I would love to have painted it either white or blue, but my husband is a little weary of me painting "quality wood." I'm hoping I can talk him into letting me. ;)


Happy Friday!

Pont des Arts

Around the world, there are several bridges where lovers hook padlock on bridges to symbolize their eternal love and throw the key in the water. Pont des Arts bridge is the "Love Bride" in Paris.

Paris is our first stop in our Europe Trip coming up! (Can't contain my excitement!!!!) One of our many adventures will include leaving our mark on the love bridges. I hope to leave our mark on each city we visit: Paris, Venice, Florence, and Rome.

My random craft for today is my Spiced Up Padlocks =)

Before:

A little paint and some jewelry accents and voilà...

T-Minus 27 days until Europe...

Flower Power

Today's craft was more of a dry run for me. My family and I recently took a trip to Disney World a couple months ago. We had just bought a brand new camera for the trip and I made sure to bring it everywhere in order to capture all my dreams coming true =) Therefore my camera bag also became my purse, due to the fact I did not want to carry around 2 bags. Unfortunately, my camera bag is the perfect size for my camera only! The silver lining is that I probably ended up spending less money because I just didn't want to bother trying to fish my wallet out. Now, we are headed to Europe in less than a month and knowing that this could possibly be my one and only trip over seas I will be taking thousands of pictures. I probably won't even need a bag due to the fact my camera will not leave my hands. Never the less, I want a stylish camera bag/purse and don't want to pay high dollar for it. So I decided to just make my own. Anyway, to make a short story long... ha!

I really want to make a quality bag. Since I have never made one before and I have yet to get any foam in order to make it camera friendly, I decided to make a similar purse for practice.

I combined 3 different tutorial/patterns for this project:

First, I took a kit that I got on clearance from Walmart. I really only used it for the fabric and lining:

Second, I used 2 tutorials to help me build my bag.
I found this super cute Pleated Purse Tutorial for the basic structure.
And this helpful Lined Zippered Pouch to help me insert a zipper. I have been told that there are several Expert Pickpocketers in Europe so I don't want to give them easy access with just a button.

Last but not least, the kit provided extra little flowers.

At first I was just going to toss them, but then I had a great idea to make a pocket! =)
Using Steam-A-Seam I created a collage of them and ironed them onto the wrong side of some extra lining fabric I had.

Then, I just cut around the flowers and sewed it unto my lining. (Note: I did this before I sewed the whole bag together.)

And the finished project:

 Also, as you can see I made longer straps than showed in the the tutorial. Overall I like it, but I will say I am glad I did a dry run, so I can improve some things.

Hope you felt creativity was brewed... =)