Grad Party Centerpieces & Candy Banner

I was really excited when my sister asked me to make my niece Jennifers graduation party centerpieces using inspiration she found on Pinterest. I got to use my Silhouette and even learned how to layer plain numbers. I am SO happy every time I learn how to use my machine better! I did notice that it really matters how thick (good quality) your card stock is when cutting. Some card stock cuts smooth and wonderful, other stuff not so much. I cut the hat, ribbon and diploma seal using cut files on my Silhouette. I then painted kabob skewers white and washi taped them to the back of each item. I made the grad hat tassel by cutting cross stitch thread and taping the top with washi tape. I hot glued each tassel to a grad hat. That worked out so much better than waiting for glue to dry.

 I also made a banner for their candy bar. I had to cut the colored banner pieces by hand because the paper was so thin it ripped when I cut it on the Silhouette. But the background and letters were easily cut.

Altered Tickets

This is my first time altering tickets. I have to say it was really fun! Such a small space but I had two ideas that have been brewing for a while that I finally tried on the tickets. I did a vintage theme ticket strip and a bird "winged things" ticket strip. I haven't made several of something in a assembly line way in quite awhile. I first made one ticket strip completely, then I made each part 4 times and laid it all out. After all the pieces were made it was a quick process to assemble. I did the pointing hand on my Silhouette as a print and cut. I cut banners out of manila cards and stamped "Live your life" and "Inspire" on them. I cut circles out of sheet music and stamped "dream". I had the film strips in my stash from (goodness knows when!)

For the vintage one I first started out by embossing the ticket strip with a Sizzix Tim Holtz (TH) embossing folder. I used a rolling pin instead of dragging out my big shot..

After I embossed the strip I then used my TH blending tool to ink it. 

I really like how it all came together..and vintage is my most favorite style! 

The second one was a little harder for me to embellish. I knew I wanted to use my new brayer and do some pinkish colors. I started out by using my brayer to paint each ticket. It was a lot of fun!! I found 5 brayers for $1.00 at a rummage sale and I've been waiting to use them ever since! I just painted (with acrylic paints) the colors onto the brayer and then rolled right over the ticket. 

I stamped "soard" onto grey cardstock and then banner cut each word. I sprayed little white flowers with grey mist. I punched flowers out of sheet music and inked them. I had little mini white tags I inked grey  and wrote "free" thinking that the saying would kind of read Soar free...ah-it was hard for me to embellish these ones! Lastly I used Prima brads. 

I'm so glad I got these done..and now for summer break from Swaps :] 

Happy Creating,

Melissa 

Handmade Flowers

I've always loved flowers...especially since they are so versatile. I needed to make a few different kinds for my swap at 2Peas in a Bucket. I signed up for 4 groups. White textile, black textile, white paper and neutral paper. I made the black textile flower out of felt. I picked up thin sheets of felt at the dollar store. I first cut circles out and then cut each circle in a spiral.

I rolled each spiral starting at the open end, rolling in towards the middle. I don't roll mine super tight as I want some of the layers to be loose to show more petal. 

I made the next flower out of some embroidered trim that I had in my stash. I first began by weaving my threaded needle through the straight edge of the trim. 

Then I pulled the thread tight leaving enough thread at both ends to tie the two together in the middle of the gathered trim. That make the flower. I sewed a button in the middle to complete a flower. I'm really happy with how they turned out. Now on to my paper ones! :] 

Scrappin Tricks to Use My Stash

I don't buy glittery "gold" items often (really ever) so when I wanted to do a page with gold embellishments I didn't have any to choose from. Especially letters. To make my own letters I chose yellow ones and put stickles on each letter. To dry I lightly stuck them to my stamping block. They dried pretty quickly (by the time I was ready to use them!). You just need to be careful not to bend them too much. My yellow alpha stickers had a very smooth and slightly glossy surface, so when I bent the stickers to put on my layout the stickles flaked off one letter. I reapplied the stickles when I was finished with the layout. I also covered the butterfly at the top with stickles.

For the background I didn't have exactly the right color to mists my white paper with. So, I mixed 3 colors (Tattered Angels Spicy Mustard, Mister Hueys Custard and Artso Gold) into one of Rangers mini misters. Yesss...I got the color I wanted-not too brown-not too orange!

Most of the time my paper gets bubbled or wrinkled from the alcohol inks or mists I spray on it with. To help reduce this I use washi tape and tape it very tightly to a piece of chip board. You can use any flexible surface that's small enough for you to hold. I then bend it, spray it and lastly blow dry it (with my hair dryer). Depending how much you saturate it, it shouldn't bubble too much.

I used strips of scraps from my stash and some AC Glitter Strips. I turned my photos black and white and made them smaller in Monkey Pic (awesome free photo editing site). Hope this inspires you to use your stash in a different way too!

Happy Creating,

Melissa 

Alcohol Spray Inks

SO excited to share this idea I got from a FB group I am in called "A Documented Life". II started off with a trip to the Dollar Store to purchase:

When I got home with my goodies I covered my area with my homemade "Messy Mat".

I used needle nosed pliers to remove the end of the marker and take out the ink tube.

Then I wanted to remove the plastic tube around the ink tube . I didn't put on gloves for the first one and ink was all over my fingers after I was done! I did use a baby wipe to hold the ink tube but the ink still got on my fingers/hands. I highly recommend using plastic gloves.

To cut the plastic I used plain old kid scissors and cut right up the middle from bottom to top.  

After I separated the plastic from the fiber I slid the whole thing in the spray bottle.

I filled up the bottle with rubbing alcohol and waited about 20 minutes before I started to use the sprays. It was really fun using them, because they dried so quickly! First I sprayed glossy photo paper, let it dry and then stamped on it. I used another piece of photo paper to "mop up" the leftover ink on my mat.  I think of all the papers I used,  I liked the photo paper the best. When I stamped on it, the image was really clear and crisp. The bad thing is that the stamp stuck to the paper. I used a less stickier stamp for the butterfly and I was able to peel it right off.

I sprayed Heidi Swapp butterfly resist paper and swirled a baby wipe on it.

I took a Tim Holtz blending tool with a felt pad on it and sprayed several colors on it. I put the nozzle of the spray bottle right up on the felt pad.

I love the water color look without the dry time! On the stamping paper I did two circles, dabbing and straight lines  The velum looks like a stained glass (hard to tell in the photo!).

I also sprayed some sticker sheets as well for the Hi, today and airplane. The colors didn't show as bright as the photo paper, but it was still pretty. I used some stamps to stamp words/images then drew circles around today and the plane (then cut it out with a circle punch). I can't wait to incorporate some paint and other colors!

 

It was SO fun to make the sprays and play with them! I have a few more papers I'd like to try out and see how it works out. Maybe even some glass and metal.

Happy Creating,

Melissa

 

 

 

 

 

Easter Pennants

 

Yesterday was a croppin day for me at my favorite spot.. Our Lady of Lordes in Omaha. Tricia puts it on once a month. I love it because I get a 6ft table all to my self and can bring everything but the kitchen sink (without ladies saying wow-a sewing machine?) Not to mention 12hrs of creative time. Its a really fun and relaxed atmosphere too! I made eight of these pennants for a 2Peas swap. I send these eight in and get "Easter" back for a banner. The style was vintage using pastel green, blue and pink. I cut out the pennant from my silhouette on brown cardstock. I cut out lace from an old table cloth and sewed it on each pennant. I then adhered the pennant to a thick piece of chipboard for extra stability. I inked the "seed" packets and circle that's from K & Co before I adhered them to the laced pennant. I cut out the chocolate bunny and R from my silhouette. Lastly, I added buttons and bakers twine. It took me a long time to complete these, but I it think was worth it and I hope the ladies like them!

Happy Creating,

Melissa 



Valentines Day Hershey Nugget Mailboxes



My sister made these with her daycare kids, and sent me a picture of them. They were so cute! I decided I would make some for Ben & Jacks preschool teachers and the nurses where I get my iron treatments. I started out by I cutting a coordinating color of solid cardstock into 1 inch wide x 2 inch long strips. I used my corner rounder and rounded one end of the strip. I then glued that to the bottom of the nugget (it will be the open door of the mailbox). I then cut strips of patterned paper as wide as the nugget, and trimmed them into 2 inch little strips and put glue on each end. I wrapped the strip around the nugget. Then I cut the little "hand" (that signals the mailman to pick up the mail) and punched out a heart to glue to the top of the hand. I used my Silhouette to print and cut the Happy Valentines Day scallop. I think they were really easy and turned out so cute!