My Craft Show Creations

I haven't been very active this year. Mainly because my life changed drastically. Things are starting to get settled now and I managed to do some fun things for my once-a-year craftshow at a local church. This was my third year doing it, and I'm so happy I did. I love seeing the other crafters, and meeting new ones.
Most everything I create is from something I find at my favorite local thrift store. I found a big bag of kids wooden play blocks and thought..I could glue stuff on to these! I also found little stuffed boyds bears there too. I was SO excited because I knew exactly what I was going to do with them! I put them in old tins and embelished them. My
favorite is the "celebrate life" bear..a celebration wouldn't be complete without a party hat and frappaccino of course!

Painted Rocks Craft

Theres a really awesome movement going on and I didn't even know it! 

You paint a rock and hide it  for someone else to find. Facebook groups are popping up and whom ever finds the rock can post a picture of it. Such a cool idea..

and even making someones day better is great

My two boys and I painted these rocks. Although the boys got tired quick and wanted to play outside instead :)  I didn't want to spend a lot of money on the rocks so I got a big bag of egg rocks at Lowes. Those were the only ones that Lowes had that were cheap, reasonably sized, and shaped. Nice round smooth rocks would be so much easier to paint, but I didn't want to spend a lot of money. I found that if I painted the rock with acrylic craft paint first the Sharpie markers didn't work well. Maybe it was the paint I was using, but Sharpie paint pens and Faber Castell pens worked much better. I also recommend an array of paint brushes. Such as a medium one to paint the base coast, and a super fine brush for detailing.  Here's the steps I used to make my rocks..

1. Clean your rocks. My rocks were extra dirty so I soaked them in soapy water and gave them a good rinse. I let them dry overnight.

2. Cover your area with news paper ect. (I'm a messy painter so that's a must!)

3. I got my brushes, paints and water all ready to use. I also like to have baby wipes, and
    napkins/paper towels on hand.

4. I gave the majority of the rock a base coat of white or black. I set up a "drying station" with a fan so that the rocks would dry faster. I would kind of cycle the rock through..starting one rock, set it at the drying station and then start another rock and switch them out as I worked. This made the process so much faster. 

5. I looked online to see examples and went from there..I mostly did encouraging sayings. Although I will be on the lookout for nice flat rocks to snag for future more  paintings. 

6. I sealed the rocks. You want to seal them so the weather doesn't wash away your beautiful creation! 

7. The BEST part..go out and hide them!  :) 

I really enjoyed this project ..it was fun and lifted my spirits knowing that my rock might make someone smile! 

Happy Creating, 

Melissa 

Paper Sack Gift Bag

I love working with paper bags. I save them and make scrapbooks and giftbags. My favorite was a starbucks bag scrapbook I made a couple years ago. I needed a gift bag to give my friend her Bride book, so I thought I could jazz up a big paper bag. The bride loves wood, doilies, burlap and ball jars. So I  thought I'd incorporate some of those elements. Here's how I came up with it..

1. Painted one side of the paper bag white.

2. Printed out the Ball jar on vellum and glued it onto the bag with farbi-tac. I left the top open so I could put flowers in it.

3. Added the burlap trim and white flowers. 

The bag was perfect for her present and fit perfectly with the theme of her celebration! 

Happy Creating, 

Melissa 

Bride Altered Wedding Memory Scrapbook Journal

When I was visiting my favorite local craft store (more of a gift and hobby shop rollled into one!) they had a bunch of books in thier clearance section. As I rummaged through the books I found a few thin off white children's ones. The covers were made from a course cotton fabric. As my fingertips felt the lines of the fabric and I could imagine the possibilities....a travel or nature journal maybe? I ended up buying the three they had, and each one was only a dollar!

I haven't made any travel or nature books, but I did make a brides book with one of them. My friend's cousin was having a Boho inspired wedding and loves lace, ball jars, baby's breath, and burlap. I was invited to her shower so I thought I would make her a Brides book to write down all her favorite memories of the wedding in. 

I started out by cutting out a few pages from the book. I cut pages out so that the book won't be so thick when I start adding things to it.

Next I paint an edge around the pages of the book. The scrapbook paper I cut and put in the book won't go all the way to the edges, so I dont want the images showing.

Then it's the fun part..adding the scrapbook paper and embellishments! I add one journaling page with prompts and one scrapbook paper page. Here's a few of my favs..

I love making books for others, knowing in a few years they will go back and read their memories. I know how glad I am that I took the time to write down my wedding memories 16 years ago! 

Happy Creating,

Melissa 

  

DIY Mixed Media Journals

  

            

I've been just surviving this past year and doing very few crafting/scrapbooking projects. I have been sick for some time, and working towards feeling better. For me it's really hard to juggle family, work, and being sick. Sometimes I never know how I am going to be feeling from one day to the next. But as I work through that uncertainty, I feel as though I must try to blog again. I am happy to say I have had some time to gather photos of this past years (very few) projects. I joined a Lupus group on FB and I have gotten so much information and support from the members. I had so much fun doing a giveaway for the necklaces that I did a journal giveaway. The Dollar Store is my go-to place for getting notebooks and journals for altering. They don't always have the ones I like, but when they do I clean them out! I made two journals...one for a mother who posted that she would love to win a necklace for her 12 year old daughter Faith. I made Faith a necklace and a journal because I can't imagine having this crazy disease at 12! I thought she could really use  something happy coming in the mail too! Here are my steps for completing the journals. 

1. Paint the surface of the journal desired color and let dry.
2. Layer ephemera. I layer it and then arrange how I want it, then I take off the top layers. I modge podge the bottom layer, and then so on, and so on until all the layers are modge podged on the journal. I ensure I use thin layers of modge podge so the ephemera won't bubble and let dry.
3. I glue on any buttons, sequins or thicker embellishments and let dry.
4. Add last layer of modge podge and let dry.

Once dry you'll have a nice journal that you can keep for yourself or give as a gift! 

Happy Creating,

Melissa 

Craft Fantastic Warrior Necklaces

Last year I went to Scrap Expo and learned about an AWESOME way to create jewelry without resin or anything like that. I was surprised it was SO easy and fun! The company that makes the supplies is called Craft Fantastic (CF). I was at Michaels and bought a 3 pack of bracelets I liked. That's how my idea train started lol!!   

I thought' how perfect!"..purple for my sister-in-law for Lupus. I made a "Lupus Warrior" charm with a purple butterfly. I thought it turned out really nice! 

 

Then I got to thinking...I could make a few necklaces and do a giveaway on the lupus support group I am a part of on Facebook. I made one necklace and there were like 254 comments to enter the giveaway! So, I made a total of 6 necklaces to giveaway. Here's a few of them...

I also made some other ones..Lyme, and cancer warrior. I want to make some for MS, breast cancer and ALS..there are so many things one could associate warrior with! 

The basic of the CF jewelry is a charm tray and jewelers glass. The charm tray is where the jewelers glass sits perfectly to create the domed look. Its really an ingenious way! 

Here's the steps I took to make one of the necklaces...

1. Create the saying or picture. If you print out the image or saying from your computer make sure you use card stock and let it dry thoroughly. I did a few and the used it 20 mins later and the image color bled. It's best to make a laser copy of your photo or image then the colors won't bleed at all. I don't have quick access to a laser copier so I just used my normal cannon color printer for these ones. 

2. Choose your charm tray and glass.

3. Trim your image a little. Place a small dot of glue on the glass and center the glass on the image. Press down slightly to ensure the glue spreads throughout your glass. Take a cotton swab and swab the edge of your glass piece to removed extra glue. 

4. Let your glass piece dry completely. This is the hardest part because I am impatient! But if you don't let it dry completely it will pull away from the sides when you trim and marks will appear on your piece. When its dry trim around the glass. It doesn't need to be totally perfectly exact..just close. 

5. Place a jewelers dot (AKA super strong glue dot) in the center of your charm tray. I imagine you can use a glue of some sort, but I use the dots because I use card stock and the card stock might soak up some of the glue ect. CF sells the glue dots and they are fairly inexpensive. 

6. Place the glass in the charm tray and  press down. There you go! You have a completed charm! Now you just need to choose a bracelet or necklace chain! 

I've ordered quite a few things from them..here's their link so you can start making these easy and fun charms! (No endorsement frills here..I just really like their products!) :) 

Craft Fantastic

Happy Creating! 

Melissa 

Planner Shaker Page

When I saw this paper at Walmart I knew I wanted to use it to create a big fun shaker page for my planner. Here's how I created it..

If you don't have a sewing machine you could use staples that are put close together. I sewed the page protector onto the paper and then adhered (the fully sewn with confetti) paper to chipboard. I inked it, punched 3 holes in it, and then put it in my planner. Evertime I turn to the page it makes me smile! 

:) Happy Creating, 

Melissa