Mojo Monday 153 - Birthday Card

This is the card I made for the Mojo Monday 153 challenge. This is also one of the first cards I've made. Just picked up my fist batch of foam adhesive, and distressing ink today. The scallop squares were die cut with the Cuttlebug dies that just came today! Just in time to make the card. I used chalk ink for the green stamps, and I love the smooth coverage it provides. I didn't have any stamps small enough for the "Happy Birthday" at the bottom, so I printed that with my ink jet printer and cut it out with scissors before adhering it to blue card stock.



This one is my nine year old daughter's version. I had to help a little bit, attaching the bow, and cutting out the ovals, but she did pretty good on her own. I like the colors she picked out.

This was a lot of fun. I'll be trying it again next week!

Plastic Storage Bins

Today I'm sharing some more really old pictures. This is my cheap storage solution for my craft/computer room. These are expensive plastic storage boxes from Wal-mart. I printed labels for each of them on card stock, and decoupaged them to the end of the box. Not only can I tell at a glance what is in the boxes, it also makes them look not quite so blah.

These have held up very well. I made them over a year ago, and no labels have pealed off. I wasn't sure at the time, because I had never decoupaged anything prior. The only complaint I have is I've now out grown them, and need to put up some more shelves with more boxes.

By the way, the shelves, they are closet doors from Habitat for Humanity. I think they were about $5. I can't remember if that was each or total. These are much longer than the shelves that were available at Lowe's and Home Depot. They are also hollow, so they aren't nearly as heavy as a regular piece of wood. They are also extremely sturdy.

Stamps from Craft Foam

This my very first attempt at carving a stamp. I tried to find the rubber normally used to carve stamps, but they didn't have it at Michael's or Jo Ann Fabric. I opted to use the cheap craft foam from Dollar Tree, since it was all i had. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. I glued the cut out to some recycled plastic and made a nifty clear stamp out of it. After this picture was taken i added a lid from a milk jug as a handle, and it is easier to use now.

I made a couple more stamps last night, and I plan to purchase some thicker foam to see if it is a better medium.

Jewelry Holder

Today I'm getting around to posting a project that was done quite a while back, maybe over a year ago. It is still just as useful as it was back then. This is my jewelry holder. It holds a ton of necklaces, but I'm just about out of space, and I'm going to need second one real soon.

To make the jewelry holder I found an old picture frame from my closet, some cup hooks at Habitat for Humanity, a piece of cardboard, some batting, satin ribbon and fabric.

Step one: remove the glass from the frame.

Step two: If you don't already have picture hangers on the back add them now. They are hard to nail in once the hooks have been added to the front.

Step three: Screw the hooks into the picture frame. As you can see, mine aren't all the same size. That is because I bought all of the large hooks they had at Habitat for Humanity the day I visited, so I had to buy some smaller hooks as well.

Step four: Paint

Step five: Cut the cardboard to fit the inside of the frame, and wrap it with batting. I think I actually used duck tape on this project, but I don't want to take it down off of the wall to be sure.

Step six: Wrap the fabric around the cardboard, and duck tape or hot glue in place.

Step seven: Hot glue the ribbons in place. Every where the ribbons intersect with each other they are glued to both the fabric and each other. Then they are also glued on the back of the cardboard. The remaining ribbon is left loose, and able to hold light weight earrings very well.

Step eight: After everything is glued in place, the cardboard is inserted into the frame, and the normal frame backing is placed back on the back of the frame to hold everything in.

Great Deal on Alphabet Dies

I'm so excited. I just got my new Cuttlebug alphabet dies in the mail. I ordered these on Ebay from OhMyCrafts, and got all three for $18 including shipping. I cant' wait to get home and try them out.

Covered Brads- No Tool Required

There is a sucker born every minute, and today it was almost me.

Lately I've started to admire fabric covered brads, and was tempted to buy the I-top tool from Imaginisce. This maybe a is handy little tool if you use a lot of brads, and maybe someday I'll want to shell out thirty-five dollars for it, but not today. I was very close to buying one on Ebay for the low low price of $10, plus $8.50 for shipping. Then this thought occurred to me, "Do I really need this tool?" Then I wondered if the tool that comes with Dritz fabric covered buttons would fit the brads, so I hopped in the car and headed to Michael's to purchase a package of the small Brad Daddies.

When I arrived home I couldn't locate my fabric covered button tool, so I went ahead and gave it a shot without either tool. The picture above is how it turned out. Both brads above were made without a circle punch or even a good circle cut out. These are the results of cutting the corners off of a square and wrapping the square around the top of the brad. With a little pressure the back of the brad pops right in.

Final verdict. Unless you use a lot of brads, or are just not strong enough to push the back of the brad on without the aid of the tool, don't buy the Itop tool unless you find it on sale...cheap! It just isn't needed. However, I highly recommend the Brad Daddies themselves.

Make an envelope for any size card!

I wasn't having much luck making or finding an envelope template for note cards. Then I found this tutorial on YouTube. It is very simple to follow envelope tutorial, that shows you how to make an envelop for any size card. I highly recommend it if you have been having trouble making envelopes for the cards you have created.

Shirred Smocking Tutorial

I haven't been able to find the video I was looking for tonight. I wanted to find the Sewing with Nancy episode that showed how to create smocking with a serger/over lock machine. It is a great episode, and the guest shows all kinds of great stitches that can be created with a serger.

I did however find this great tutorial on YouTube that shows how to create smocking with a regular sewing machine. Marking this one now, so I can find it later.

That word? That word?

Do you ever have a word on the tip of your brain, but you just CAN'T pull it up to the surface? Uggh! That is exactly what is happening to me tonight. I really wanted to learn how to do _____ with my serger. I've seen it done on one of the sewing shows on OETA on Saturday morning. I would love to Google..or YouTube it right now, but I can't pull the word up out of my brain to type it in. So... if you just happen to be passing by, and want to put me out of my misery, can you tell me what they call it when the fabric at the top of a baby's dress is all gathered up, and then sewn on top? Please?

Blog Makeover

I've been working on a blog makeover, along with an Etsy banner makeover. Although I like the colors in my old design, I really wanted something brighter and more fun. So here it is, my new blog just in time for back to school and the end of summer.

Doodle A Day

Kristen Has Her Driver's Permit!

It has been such a busy weekend around here. Thankfully I took Thursday and Friday off this week, because I knew I would need a little extra time. It is tax-free weekend in Oklahoma, and I thought it would be the perfect time to use my floating holiday at work. Only a mom would think tax-free weekend is a valid holiday, but hey if it works it works.


We took Thursday to relax. It was a good day to go to Big Splash with the kids, a little cool for an August morning, but it was not the least bit crowded. Then we finally took some time to go see the new Shrek movie. It was a good one, a nice way to spend Thursday evening.


Friday morning I took Kristen to get her driver's permit. It was about an hour and half wait just to take the test. She passed the first time, but I'm so nervous about letting her drive. She may just have to wait until driver's ed starts later this month.

Then it was off to do the back to school shopping. My legs were so exhausted by the time we arrived home Friday evening, but we are pretty much done with back to school shopping. Everyone has new shoes and new uniforms, and I didn't quite break the bank.

Time to get back to work. I have some Etsy catch up to do.

Doodle A Day

OK...so I couldn't quite remember what actually surrounded the Eiffel Tower, but I must have been dreaming of Paris during our weekly I.T. meeting today.

Space Bags

If you tell my husband I said this I will deny it, but I have way to much fabric, and not enough time... or space. I seemed to have lost my sewing machine under a mountain of bags of fabric. My solution, space bags. Plastic boxes, just don't seem to cut it. They are great for organizing, but they take up more space than the fabric does without them. I'm going to give Space Bags shot to see if I can really "triple my space." It worked for the linen closet, so it should work for my craft room as well.