Wedding Bag

A wedding. The joining of two great things...paper and adhesive...I mean...a loving man and woman. It's been awhile since I've gone to a wedding and when we received the invite I was ready to break out the craft supplies! All I needed....an inspiration. So where would I go but Pinterest.

I can always count on Pinterest to get the old creative juices flowing. Perusing late one night, I came across a really great "Card Organizer" made of cardboard, cardstock, and ribbon. I'm totally "scrap-lifting" that ran through my head faster than a 10-year old on a soapy slip-and-slide. As with all my projects, I needed to let the ideas swirl around in my head for a bit. 

Complete Project at: http://becreativewithamy.wordpress.com/2009/12/21/card-organiser-tutorial/

The color palette I decided on was black and white. Classic right? Elegant? Regal? All things worthy of a wedding motif. I have to give tons of credit to Hubbs. I drug him to the craft store to find "the perfect black and white wedding paper." Easy? Um, NO! The only black and white wedding paper was text laden. Not exactly the feel I was going for. All of a sudden, it was like I was in the toothpaste aisle..."All I want is toothpaste!" I was moving so fast from paper to paper (remember Hubbs? Well, he's an in-and-out-with-what-we-need kind of shopper...time would run out soon!). Just as I was ready to throw in the towel, Hubbs carefully slides a Stack-Pack of black and white paper in my line of sight and says, "This may not be what you're looking for, but it has black and white paper. It's not wedding but I thought I'd show you." Don't you love his approach...this may not be what you're looking for...genius I tell you! At that very moment, the clouds parted, sun streamed through the windows and he was encircled in light....my Savior! Do you think he knows how often he'll be going to the craft store with me from now on?

The paper he found was just right. I love that many of the pages have a velvety texture. How perfect is that for a wedding? That's what I thought. Now the real fun began...

Isn't it pretty? (Don't mind the creativity covering the table in the background. ;) )

Since I had not made this particular bag before, I decided to follow instructions for cuts, scores, everything, as written. The result? Not too shabby although I did find places where pieces just didn't fit the way I wanted them to and made slight adjustments.

The text laden wedding paper made a perfect liner for the inside of the bag body.

Accordion side secured with beautiful ribbon.

A few embellishment pearls and plaque and it's done! 

Birthday Board

Update...Sadly, on February 3, 2013, my school was lost in a 3-alarm fire. Everything burned to the ground. I loved this birthday board, but have yet to remake it. Maybe this coming school year I will be able to recreate this. It was one of my favorite creations for my classroom.

Having time off work for Christmas gave me an opportunity to spend some much needed time perusing as many blogs as I could and Pintrest. Yeah, I know...I can't tear myself away from it either. My goal was to find an inspiration and boy did I! A Birthday Board that I just couldn't take my eyes off. Inspiration Birthday Board

Since it was Christmas time, I set out to create a Birthday Board of my own for as close to zero cost as possible. Where else to start than a dig through my supplies and garage. I hit the jackpot! A few years ago, when my girls went to a summer program, they each made a painted board. These boards have been in the garage for quite some time and I knew they wouldn't mind me repurposing one after they had already broken the boards into smaller pieces. The perfect scrap was 22 inches long by 4 inches wide. Perfect! Next, time to go through the cans of spray paint...I am loving spray paint lately have I mentioned that yet? I wanted the wood piece to be black and just so happened to have some black paint left over and found the can of primer as well. I was ready!

First, I sanded down the edges of the wood, primed and painted the wood black. It took a day or two for this process since I was spray painting in the wet, humid, winter temps and weather. While it was drying, I was able to start planning my next steps.

Normally, I don't care for primary color combinations. They feel to "primary" school to me. Just not my style. But, I was digging it for the project. Oh, yeah, this Birthday Board is for my classroom, which is a blue and green color palette. The fact that I did want to use primary colors this time surprised me a bit but just like all good design, too much of a good thing can be bad. There is already a lot of blue and green in my classroom and I don't want the color palette to start feeling "flat" so this pop of primary and black will fit beautifully.

A trip through my cardstock and I had 5 colors ready to cut into circles; red, blue, green, yellow, orange and purple. Using the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge, I cut umpteen million, okay probably more like 100, 1.5 inch circles. These would be the pieces hanging below the board with a student name and date on it. Using the Cuttin' Up cartridge, I made 1 inch, lowecase letters for the month circles on the bottom of the board. I made 2 inch letters for "Birthdays" in the same font.

I love the fonts on the Cuttin' Up cartridge.

Once the paint was dry, it was time to start planning out placement. I strive to be as exact as possible...my mom taught me that perfection is not attainable so strive for excellence. Over the years, I've added to that with learning that the beauty in so many things is actually the imperfections. So, from here on out, you'll see how I strive for excellence and yet allow for imperfection to enhance my projects.

Adjusting placement before gluing things down.

I'm a planner, plain and simple. An extra piece of posterboard lying around served as a great planning guide. I measured out the size of the board and began placing the letters and month circles on the board using the posterboard as my measuring guide. On the posterboard is a line marking the 4 inch width as well as a line down the center of the 22 inch length. Since "Birthdays" is 9 letters long, the "h" needed to be in the center of the board. Then, I adjusted the placement of the other letters to the left and right until I had it just the way I wanted it. The month circles were placed the same way...from June and July on either side of the center line to January and December on either end. Once I was happy with their placement, I glued them in place.

While I was waiting for the glue to dry, I used a white gel pen to write names and the day of birth on the hanging circles. It turned out that it was too hard to see the white gel pen on the yellow circles so that color was eliminated from the hanging circles. I intentionally placed colors so there were not any same colors next to each other.

Playing with placement...and keeping the numbers in order from beginning of the month to the end.

Attaching the hanging circles to the board was my next challenge. I went with white ribbon. It is inexpensive and would be easy to get year after year so I can continue to use and update the board. Of course I planned this out too, lol! Using a month with only one birthday, I decided how far I wanted it to hang under the board. Then, I marked that length on the posterboard planning guide to ensure all the hanging circles would be about the same distance under the board....imperfection at its finest!

Sorry it's sideways....do you see the small - indicating where the top of the circle should be?

Each month was done this way. Months with more than one circle were done as follows. Place the last circle for the month at the end of the ribbon with hot glue. Then, place the next one on the ribbon, adjusting for distance and finally gluing down with hot glue.

Strings hanging circles

Once the string was done, I used the measuring guide to cut the length of the ribbon at the top. On the back of the board, I measured and marked where I wanted the top of the ribbon to be. Be careful here...you'll need to make sure you're lining up with the month letters on the front of the board. My strategy was to hold the board up looking at the front, put the ribbon piece behind and mark the top of the ribbon with the white gel pen on the back so I knew exactly where to line up the ribbon when gluing it down.

Okay, so I didn't totally wait for the paint to dry...that's primer you see but it's on the back, no one will see in the end.

Marks used to line up the ribbon for the correct length.

I kept doing this until all the circles were in place. I used 3M Picture Hanging strips to adhere it to my classroom wall.  I put it right by my desk too so I can easily see whose birthday is coming up. :)

Voila!! I love how it turned out!

Merry Christmas Banner

I've always loved making things with my hands but when I decided to go back to school and earn my degrees, my creative side took a back seat to textbooks, papers and reflections. Like many others, I returned to college when my children were young. My girls have been amazing and such wonderful supports as I pursued my educational dreams. In 2006, I started working on my bachelors degree full-time. In May 2008, I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor's in Elementary Education with a K-8 teaching certification. 11 days later, I was offered my first teaching job and began my adventures in the classroom that August. The state I live in requires teachers to obtain a Professional Certification...which means, back to school. I knew I wanted to get a Masters degree also so I decided to bite the bullet and do them at the same time. Why not!? As I've said in an earlier post, I'm a glutton for punishment.

August 2010, I started working on both, my Professional Certification and my Masters degree in Educational Leadership. One CRAZY BUSY year and I'd be done! Well, this meant every minute of my time was used for homework. I realized that I am capable of accomplishing  A LOT when I put my mind to it. While finishing my educational degrees, I worked full time, still had my daughters, husband, house and dog to take care of too. Ah-che-wa-wa, it was quite the journey!

I was completely done with all of this in August 2011. It took me awhile to realize I could relax and do stuff for my family and myself again. It would take until December before I truly started to believe and practice this fully.

I decided to start little when I came across a Christmas banner inspiration at Silver Boxes. I started planning it out in my brain right away. What Christmas paper do I have? What about coordinating ribbon? I have a new Cuttlebug, what embossing folder could I use to add texture and dimension to it? What about Cricut cartridges for cutting the shapes? Honestly, I couldn't answer these question in my mental planning. It had been so long since I had used any of my materials, I truly had no idea what I had or didn't have. So...a trip through my supply storage and a trip to the craft store. Then, a few hours with my Cricut, ATG gun, scissors, pop-dots and voila!

I love how it turned out! I can't believe I forgot to tell about the project that brought me back in touch with my creative side. A few weeks later, I decided to start blogging, which is why I do not have process pics but you get the idea. Tootles!

Survival Kit 101

We've all had those times in our life when we come to realize the power and truth in the statement, "That which does not kill us makes us stronger." Most of us learn from these experiences and never want to repeat them, then, there are gluttons for punishment, like myself, who go back time and time again to see if it is true EVERY time. ;) My very dear Friend has just started nursing school and I wanted to do a little something to keep her spirits up as she learns just how strong she is.

When I started the Teaching Program, I was given a "Survival Kit." I knew this was exactly the type of thing I wanted to create for my Friend. So, I set off to brainstorm and get my bearings for the project. I don't know about you, but I do about 98% of project planning in my head, which makes putting together the project a "love/hate" type of experience. I knew I wanted to house the Survival Kit in a paper container that looked like a retro medical bag. First goal, figure out how to create a 3D medical bag out of paper. I scoured all my Cricut cartridges and found a 2D image but nothing 3D. I was beginning to regret not purchasing the Tags, Bags, and Boxes cartridge when I had the chance but knew that line of thinking would only derail my project. One night, the Fam and I went to the store and I decided I would just take a look at the craft supplies. Low and behold, they had the Cricut Sweet Tooth Boxes cartridge. I looked at the images and found this beauty.

Toolbox aka future medical bag

I swooped up the cartridge and rushed home to make a prototype. Bad pic, mediocre prototype at best but now I knew where I was going. I made the bag out of cardstock but it was still a bit too weak...when I put items in the bag, the bottom gave way. It's kind of boring just white with the traditional red so I knew I'd need to spruce it up.

If you use a Cricut machine, I highly recommend getting Cricut Design Studio Software. It is a lifesaver to me. I bought the software right after Hubbs gave me an Expression and it made using my machine so much simpler. On the screen, I am able to layout all the images I want to cut and can save entire projects for later. Take a look:

I love being able to see what will cut before hitting the button.

Just what I pictured! I used the "weld" function to create words instead of individual letters.

Design Studio lets you add pages to your project, allowing you to put all the cuts in one file. Love, love, love this feature! Here are the final cuts. 

Now, assembly! First, I put the decorative nurse patterned paper on the cardstock cut that will be the top of the bag and then finished putting the top together. 

Covered wagon? No, it's a lid!

Handle and "lock" attached.

Assembly is quite simple. There are tabs, scores, small holes, etc to help make this process as painless as possible. By making a prototype, I was able to figure out which order was best for putting the pieces together. So far, it's turning out great. Next, I put together the bottom half, the "box" and attached the lid. 

Lid is attached.

Back

Once the box/bag was assembled, it was time to adhere the words.

Loving it!

Still needs to be reinforced.

 I dug through my cardstock stash and found a great, complimenting color, sturdy cardstock. When I made these cuts, I decreased the size by 1/8" to ensure it would fit inside the existing box bottom.

Ready to reinforce.

Perfect fit!

With the box ready, it's time to fill it up! 

Much more sturdy and ready for goodies.

 My girls and I had a great time coming up with things to fill this kit with. The box if full of little things that I hope will bring a smile to Friend's face...if not, she can use the Smile-on-a-Stick. :) We included a letter describing the reasoning behind all of our choices.

Hmmm....what all is in there?

So many little goodies...

I'm sure you're wondering what exactly is in there and why. Here's what I wrote to Friend: 

Nursing School Survival Kit

I put together a little something to help you make it through the next few years. Allow me to explain…

·      Lifesavers, use them as a life preserver when you feel like you're going down but also remember, they are a symbol for what you will do time and time again.

·      The paperclip is to help you keep things together when it feels like they're going out of control.

·      This piece of string is for tying a knot in the end and hanging on when you're at the end of your rope.

·      The Band Aid protects those little hurts along the way, plus, sometimes, they just make you feel better.

·      A Tootsie Pop, to remind that you’ll lick your problems and enjoy the reward at the end.

·      A button- Just a friendly reminder to button up and listen, especially to upset family members, they just want to be heard.

·      Tissues-To dry your tears of joy, sorrow, and frustration

·      Gum- remember, just stick to it!

·      A license to ask a lot of questions…this is all for you, ask away Friend!

·      Hole punch—for when you want to PUNCH something!!!

·      Smile-on-a-stick—for those times when it’s the one you can put on.

I love you Friend and know you will be phenomenally successful in your endeavors; may you never lose sight of your goals. I’ll see you at the finish line!     ~Jeanette

We gave her the Survival Kit last night and she loved it!

Potter's Hours

My mom is an amazingly talented artist. Her passion? Pottery. Over the past few months, she and my stepdad have been building a pottery studio on their property where a wood "shed" once stood. It has been an amazing transformation! The studio opening was held on December 18, 2011. I knew I wanted to make something for the studio for my mom's gift this year. But what should it be? Then, I was inspired. An "Hours" sign! Perfect!

SAVI Clayworks

As with my other projects, once I have an inspiration, I put my imagination to work to implement. Here's the story of "Potter's Hours."

Inspiration:
"Potter's Hours: When Creativity Strikes"

Imagination:
Getting my imagination going needed little more than a walk around the craft store. I knew what I wanted to make, a sign or plaque with a saying. Ideally, it would hang underneath the porch light....outside. Could I make that happen?

Implementation:
Wandering through the craft store, thinking and looking, I'm hit with it! A piece of wood, nice paper, an embellishment or two, paint and sealer. I perused the wood pieces and found a great size and shape. Next up was looking at paint. I found a set of 16 outdoor paints. In the scrapbook section, I found a set of 3 adorable key embellishments that I just "had" to use and a beautiful decorative paper. So, with my arms loaded up I headed to the check-out.

Once I got home, it was time to prep the board. A little bit of sanding the rough spots, wiping clean, primer, spray paint and a few hours, this was what I was looking at.

Ready!

Remember that set of outdoor paints I bought? Well, they turned out to be a great return item! I ended up using an antique bronze color spray paint I had left over from another project. The color is just perfect...you'll see. :)


So, I have this great start...what next?! Yikes!! While I let my imagination work, I set to cutting out the saying using my Cricut.

The letters turned out just like I pictured. 

That was enough time for my brain to work its magic and I knew what to do next. I wanted to add the beautiful decorative paper to the plaque but didn't know if I wanted the entire surface covered. So, where better to start than covering the entire piece right? I didn't want any straight finished edges on the paper though but I knew just tearing the paper would run the risk of damaging the paper. Okay, maybe it has less control than I like, who knows. ;) To get the effect I wanted, I placed the decorative paper over top the plaque. Then, I smoothed down the edges around the entire thing, just like in the picture but with the deco paper.

I later use this paper for another purpose.

Then, I made sure to crease the edges of the plaque shape really well. Very carefully, I ran the creased edges under a small stream of water to moisten the crease just enough. I used the crease and water to help make a "controlled" tear of the paper. Here is the result.

The deco paper fits perfectly and so easy to make happen!

See the tattered, yet controlled, edges? ;)

Okay, so now I have this piece of paper...do I want to cover the entire surface? It'll cover up the amazing paint color if I do and I'm not sure how well all that paper will hold up outside. So I started experimenting. Remember those little key embellishments? They are perfect when paired with the deco paper. So, what if the deco paper is an accent.....like an edge. Hmmm.....let me start playing with that idea. This is where the piece of plain, printer paper came in handy. I creased it in the same way and then tried laying out the design to see if it would work. (The more crafting I do, the more I realize how valuable taking your time, planning, measuring and thinking really do help!)

We're getting there...

Using a scrap of the deco paper...not liking the angles at the top and bottom....

The keys are just perfect!

Checking that the letters do in fact fit on the plaque and experimenting with placement.

The experimenting paid off. I knew right away that I did not like the angles at the top and bottom of the deco paper so they would have to go. It looks too "new" so some distressing will be needed (on the letters too). 

A little distressing and adjusting and we're ready!

Before I glue the paper and hang the keys, I sanded the edges to distress the plaque just a bit.

Sanding

Just the right effect

I wanted to ensure the deco paper would stay put so I enlisted the help of my trusted, super sticky tape. You know, the"red" stuff? I lined the edges and put a strip down the center then on the plaque it went.

The "red" stuff

Perfect!

Mod Podge was the next step. I like the ease of adjusting placement it allowed when placing the saying on the plaque. After it dried, I applied ump-teen-million more coats and used a spray paint sealer as the final layer.

Dry faster! :)

So...it appears I've done it again....wrapped it up and given the gift without taking final pictures. "Shoot!" I'll be back......

Christmas Gift Tags

To say I've been bitten by the creative bug this holiday season might be an understatement. I blame it on my amazing neighbor who encourages me to use my creative side. The fire was reignited with a card making workshop we went to together. At the workshop, we made a set of 6 gift tags. Well, 6 gift tags just isn't enough, we all know that! So, I had to make more...as soon as I got home, of course! For this project, I enlisted the help of my Cricut Expression and my daughters.

While I cut lots of ovals in two different sizes and colors, they used the Christmas stamps we have and colored the images with Zig markers. Once the ovals were cut, I glued them together and used distress ink in Walnut on the edges. I also stamped "To: From:" on the tags. The girls finished coloring the images and cut them out, leaving a small white border. We used 3D-adhesive dots to make the images "pop" and add dimension to the tags.

Aren't they cute?!

We saved as many as we could for next year too! 

And lastly, I tied a piece of red raffia through the hole on each tag. I LOVE these and LOVE that my girls made them with me.

Graduation Announcements

In August 2011, I earned my Masters degree, yay! Commencement was held December 17, 2011. As commencement approached, I started to receive advertisements for graduation announcements. Of course, they cost an arm and a leg so I decided I would make my own. I have to confess, making these took me a long time. Not because it was difficult but what they represent...accomplishing a goal. Implementation!? Following through!? Doing what you set out to do?! At times, those things can be daunting even though it is all wonderful and fulfilling.

Back to the invitations...I found an inspiration, a black and white color palette and adapted it from there.

Inspiration

I love the simplicity of this inspiration piece. However, I wanted to add some flair and integrate University colors. I began with purchasing a premade set of blank, black cards with white envelopes. You can make the cards and envelopes yourself but I wanted to save a little time.

Pockets:
I cut a 1" piece from one side of the black card, rounded the corners and adhered the two sides to create the pocket for the insert. I was able to find the exact "Congratulations" paper at the craft store. It took less than 2-12 X 12 sheets for 10 cards. I cut the paper into 2" pieces. I wrapped the Congratulations paper around the pocket making sure the ends overlapped in the back before I glued anything down. If you gently crease the sides as the paper wraps, it makes lining up the adhesive on the front section easier. Next, I put adhesive on the section of congratulations paper that would go across the front of the pocket, lined it up and put it in place. After wrapping the sides around the back, I glued down one end and then glued the overlapping piece in place.

Graduation Caps:
I already had a graduation cap stamp on hand and was happy to finally have a use for it.  I started by stamping the cap on a piece of white cardstock, which I cut down to the size I wanted (making sure to round the corners). Next, I measured the piece of cardstock and cut the amount I needed. At this time I also measured and cut black cardstock for the background of the caps. Stamping the caps was fun and easy....little bit of ink, stamp and repeat. (Cut a few extra pieces just in case.) I found some great ribbon that sported my University colors but didn't want it to fold as it went through a hole so I devised a new plan. Using a small rectangular punch, I punched two overlapping holes to string the ribbon through. The ribbon was able to lay flat and looked great! After stamping the caps, gluing together the white and black cardstock pieces, I strung the ribbon being sure to have enough to overlap on the back of the pocket just like the congratulations paper. I glued the two ends, one to the pocket and then the overlapping piece. It looked great but the cap was sliding the length of the ribbon on the front so I glued the top and bottom edges to the pocket on the rest of the pockets before gluing the ribbon on the back side. This made lining up the caps very easy!

Inserts:
I cut white cardstock 1" smaller than the black pocket so the card would slid in and out easily (rounding corners again). For the ribbon pull, I used silver brads I had on hand. I love the look it gives and it's an easy alternative to a tie as in the inspiration piece. It took some time to decide what I wanted to have written on the insert but once I figured it out, I typed, printed, and cut it to the right size. All of a sudden, I was faced with a problem. White on white....bland, boring. My neighbor came to the rescue. She gave me some silver cardstock, PERFECT! So, I glued the message onto the silver cardstock and glued that to the white insert page. There was still some "dead space" at the bottom of the insert. What to do? What to do? I know! Cuttlebug! I used a border embossing folder to add texture and make the dead space purposeful.

Pocket and Insert

Finally Done!

In the end, I love the results and these really were fun to make. I wish the pictures showed the embossing better but that's what I get for taking pictures, stuffing envelopes and mailing before checking how the pictures turned out. Live and learn!