HANDMADE WISHES!  

Springtime is here; Summer is soon to follow. Birthdays and 4th of July are special events deserving of a banner to shout out our best wishes for a great celebration! Below are two examples and inspirations for celebrating by giving a "shout out" with die-cut banners.

For the Birthday banner, I chose five shades of cardstock and layered the background with two; then mixed up the remaining three colors for the letters.  You can cut the letters as big as you like and then cut out the background papers accordingly.  I have noticed that many Cricut cartridges have a cupcake design and you can top the cupcake with a heart, cherry, berry, or mix it up with something to match the birthday theme.

For the 4th of July banner, I cut little strips of paper and glued one to the top edge of each letter.  Each strip was then folded into a loop over the cording and adhered to the back of the letter to secure.  The little paper hooks were included with the die-cut I used for the stars, but you can substitute ribbons for the paper hooks.

To hang up my banners, I use CraZy TACKz.  They are available at many craft stores and online at www.crazytackz.com. You can pin a die-cut behind the tackz, then use the hook to hang ribbons and balloons. The blue pack contains red, white and blue stars.  Perfect for the 4th of July celebrations!

Hope you are enjoying this time of year.  I have visions of picnics and outdoor parties dancing through my head!  Wishing for you some great times in the sunshine!

HAPPY CRAFTING,

MARILYN

Pop of Color to Celebrate Spring!

SMOOTHFOAM BIRDS FOR ALL SEASONS!

Do you have a wreath, table decor or a plant that needs a little color and livening up to welcome spring? Check out these cute little birds! They are easy to create using Smoothfoam balls and they’ll add that “pop” of color you’re looking for. A smaller version of this design in holiday colors would be perfect for Christmas decorating and tree ornaments – attach a painted clothespin to the bottom of the bird for clipping to a tree branch.

Supplies for 2 birds – one large, one small:

Two 2″ Smoothfoam balls
2-1/2″ Smoothfoam ball
1-1/2″ Smoothfoam ball
Any size Smoothfoam sheet
Acrylic crafts paint: Yellow, Black, White, Orange
3/4″ teardrop wood shape
Jute twine
Two black rhinestones
Yellow craft feathers
Toothpicks
Serrated craft knife and scissors
Glue gun and low melt glue sticks
Craft glue
Sand paper
Water and paper towels
Powder blush
Optional: 12″ wood dowel, silk flowers, greens and berries, glitter

1.  For each bird, cut the bottom portion off of the bird’s body (larger ball) and head (smaller ball) to allow for a flat surface on each. Lightly sand the foam edges to smooth.

2.  Cut a triangle shape from the Smoothfoam sheet using a serrated knife. Cut the point off one end to create a flat surface that will fit against the body. Turn onto one side and sllice this piece in two, reducing the thickness.

3. Poke a toothpick into the flat side of each foam ball and into the end of the tail piece. Paint both balls and the tail yellow, using toothpick as a holder. Place into the foam sheet and allow to dry.

4. Adhere the head and tail to the body with the toothpicks. Paint black wings on the sides of the body as shown. First outline each wing with a brush, then fill in the color.  Paint a black strip on the top of the head. Highlight each cheek with some powder blush and a white paint dot, then highlight each wing with a little float of white paint.

5. Paint the wood teardrop black and allow to dry. Gently push the pointed end into the spot where the beak will be placed to create an opening. Push the rounded portion of the teardrop into the opening and adhere with glue. Adhere the black rhinestones to the face for eyes.

6. Choose a couple of feathers for the tail and trim as needed. Poke a small hole in the top of one bird’s head with a toothpick and glue a piece of feather into the hole.

7. Wrap and glue jute twine around the bottom portion of the bird’s body.  For a simple nest design, leave plain. For a floral nest, cut pieces from a spray of silk flowers, berries, etc. and glue into the jute. A dowel or wire can be inserted into the flat side of the bird if you would like to display it in a plant.

Below is another design option with glitter that I love!

You can find Smoothfoam at your local Michael's Store!

Hope you are enjoying everything new that comes with Spring!

Happy Crafting!

Marilyn

DCC April Challenge - HANDMADE FLOWERS

"April Showers bring May Flowers!"   If you are checking out the designer blogs today, you will see that flowers are blooming early!

Tissue paper, ribbon, paper and foam are some of the craft supplies I have used to create flowers.  Over the years, fads have come and gone, but I love the fact that there are a plethora of ideas and techniques left in their wake that we can implement in today's world of crafting!  There are sooo many tools available to us just a drive away to our favorite craft stores!

In the early days of my design career, I thought that I had to create every single bloom and blossom that went on my designs.  I chose to create ribbon roses for the most part as embellishments.  I realized that no one would know if the ribbon rose was made by me or purchased at the store, so that light bulb moment cut a lot of time off of my "create" time!  Whew!

Having said that, I still love creating flowers and I decided to share some recent (and not so recent) designs that feature handmade flowers.

 The cork board wall decor pictured above is embellished with punched-out flowers that are layered to create a dimensional effect.  Punched out flowers and die-cuts are featured in most of the pictures that are posted below.  The fun part is in layering, and choosing various colors and sizes.

To add more depth, apply some ink to the petal edges using a sponge and inkpad, or/and use dimensional adhesive between the layers.  I like to add a little bling to the center of the bloom.  Rhinestones, pearls, glitter and cabochons work great!

Above are some flowers with an embellished CraZy TACKz in the center.  These can be attached to a bulletin board or put directly into the wall to hang jewelry, belts, etc.

Above is a set created to accommodate jewelry.  The CraZy TACKz were attached to each flower.  Pretty and useful!

More of the same.  Paper blooms and CraZy TACKz.

Ribbon flowers....below.....I used a needle and thread for these.

Below are some flowers made out of chenille stems and felt.  The ribbons are from JoAnn's.  They have CraZy TACKz now too!

I coiled the chenille stem into the shape I wanted.  After gluing to a piece of felt, I cut out around the design, making a complete flower.  These can be used to embellish whatever you like.  The CraZy TACKz were glittered and then glued to each flower to make this into a useful wall hanging.  Jewelry, etc. can be hung on the hooks!

Hope you enjoyed browsing through these flower ideas.  You will find lots more as you travel through the blog hop.  Just click on the blue DCC button to go forward or backward to see what our other designers are highlighting today.

Happy Crafting!

Marilyn

Check out CraZy TACKz at www.crazytackz.com for project instructions and more ideas!

A little bit of EASTER!

 

Hello there!  It is still March, but Easter is pulling a fast one this month and will be here on the 31st.  I am ready!  Are you?

 

 

 

My Workshop for this month was an Easter Basket with Bunnies and Chicks.  I decided to do a re-make of the baskets for Easter dinner favors and made them much smaller than my original basket that is shown above.

 

I found some embellishments by K & Company (I love their products), and put them on the top of the bow of my basket handle.  They added the perfect touch.  The embellishments are about an inch in diameter, so you can see how big the baskets are, relative to that.  CTMH also has some Chantilly button embellishments that would be perfect for this project.

 

I used my Close To My Heart Cricut cartridge.  There are two, (Art Philosophy & Artiste) and the patterns here are found on the "Artiste" cartridge.  I have not even touched my other cartridges since I got these.  I highly recommend "Artiste" and if you would happen to want one, you can take a look at them from the CTMH widget on the side of this blog.  I guarantee, you will love it!  (These cartridges come with chipboard punch-outs and rubber stamps too!)

 

I will be happy to share the dimensions of the Cricut cuts used here if you would like.  Just drop me a line and let me know!

 

Following are some pics of the mini baskets.  I will be heading to the store soon to find some cute and delicious little chocolates to put in them.  I am thinking some cute wrapped bunnies, lambs and chicks and some eggs.  Belgium chocolate would be great!

 

 

 

So there are several different views.  I am making enough to give one to everyone at dinner.  I made some little 1" chicks to go with them.  Each one will be holding an Easter greeting attached to its' wing.  I am looking forward to sharing these with our family and friends.  If you don't get some done by Easter, they will be perfect for May Day!

 

Hope you are enjoying the first days of Spring.  I always look forward to this time of year when everything is rich with color and a fresh outlook.

 

 



 

 

Happy Easter &

Happy Crafting!

 

Marilyn

 



 

 

A FAVORITE CRAFT TECHNIQUE

Today is the first Monday of the month, and the posting day for the Designer Craft Connection!  If you are not familiar, this is a group of designers that belong to the Craft & Hobby Association and we post a project pertaining to a different theme each month.  Look for the blue DCC widget to the right of my post and click on it to go forward or backward to view the work of our other contributing designers.

 

The theme for this month is "A Favorite Craft Technique".  I have lots of favorites, but decided to post pictures of some cards that I created a little more than few years ago (2006!).  This was my one and only iris folding binge, but I would like to work on some designs again when I get time.  I was unaware of this technique until my little sister introduced me to it and she doesn't even consider herself a crafter!  What is it, you ask?

It is a technique that I think has been around for quite a while, called "Iris Folding". Instruction for this technique can be searched and found online, but here are a few examples of my creations.

 

I got a little carried away once I learned the technique and came up with different patterns to experiment with.  Once I was done playing, I had a pretty good collection of artsy cards.

Once the pattern is cut out of the card stock, it is filled up with folded paper strips filling up the image until there is just a little opening in the middle of the image.  That is called the "iris", as in the iris of an eye.  I placed a pretty piece of paper behind the iris on most if not all of my cards.  If the "iris" is left open enough, it can also frame a photograph.  I tried this out with geometric shapes and it worked well.  This technique can also be applied to scrapbook lay-outs for a special touch.

 

Here is an example of a geometric shape, and the opening was the "iris", large enough for a photo.

Well, this is about all I have to share for today.  I hope you are inspired to go and create, maybe trying something new!

 

Happy Crafting!

 

Marilyn

 

P.S.   When you see highlighted words in my Blog, no need to click on them!  Blogger has seen fit to slip pop-ups into my text box and I do not know how to get them out!  They are just ads that do not apply to anything else on this blog.   Thanks!

A TISKET, A TASKET...A CHANTILLY BASKET!

Easter is on it's way!

 

March is nearly here!  Good thing because I love Spring and Summer, bad thing because time has flown by!  Easter will be here by the end of March this year and has me thinking about colored eggs and Easter baskets.  I found a Cricut cut that I thought would work nicely for a basket.  So, I went to work trying it, and it worked!  I will be holding a workshop next week and this is the featured project.  CTMH has new papers for this time of year, and one of them is a stand-out to me.  The Chantilly paper collection is like a smile.  So cheerful and colorful, I have really enjoyed working with them.  Below is another pic of the basket, but with some Easter friends!

I couldn't stop at the basket.  I had to make some cards.  So, here is a sampling of cards, cut and assembled from the same papers.

 

 

The last picture is an Easter badge I made with the same stamp set  as the card above it.  This is a fun way to use a themed stamp set.  Layer the elements into a dimensional piece, suitable for wearing!

The Cricut cartridge that I used to cut all of the projects you see here is the "Artiste" by Close To My Heart.  There is a shopping cart button at the side of this post to go and view the catalogue if you would like.  I have many a Cricut cartridge ....but this one has the best variety of 3-D and great stuff that I have seen in a while!  Well worth the price!

I hope you have been inspired now to get started with your Spring projects if you haven't been already! 

Happy Crafting!

 

Marilyn

(Some)....CRAFTS I LOVE!

Good Morning Blog Hoppers!  I realized that I had a project posted, appropriate for the month, but had not yet posted my project for DCC's monthly blog hop for today!  I decided to dig into the archives, because there are so many crafts that I love; but my all-time favorite has been craft painting.  I am posting some pictures from a Hot Off The Press publication, circa 2001.  I may be dating myself, but I still love purchasing an item for around a Dollar and making it into something to be proud of to decorate with or give as a gift.  So, the following are some ivy bowl projects that were painted with a paint that is especially for glass and clay pot surfaces.

(For a close-up view of the pictures, click on one for a slide show!)

 

 In honor of February, the picture above is the "Queen of Hearts".  Two ivy bowls with fluted edges and some small embellishments made this cutie worthy of "giving"!  Lift the top bowl, (head), and fill the larger bowl with candy or some kind of surprise!  The photo shown below is a cute little bee snack plate trio.  A candle is burning in the small ivy bowl head.

 

Below is a zebra painted ivy bowl.  Hide a little treasure inside, then finish off with a small ivy bowl and a candle!  Perfect for a romantic evening!

The little cutie shown below is filled with cinnamon hearts.  The head is a wooden ball knob, glued to the top or the cork stopper and painted.  Not sure if you can still find the raffia hair in stores.  She is another gift that is fun to give for Valentine's Day!

The design shown below was created from a glass ivy bowl and a clear glass flower pot.  Detail for the face is shown in the thumbnail photo in the bottom corner.  I have a friend that loves lady bugs and she decorated for a small reception using this as her theme.  Cute!

 

 And finally, another bottle!  This one was painted and put together using the same technique as the Cinnamon Hearts bottle.  The embellishing is the frosting on the cake and so much fun to do!  Easy too!

That is it for today.  I had fun going back and looking through some old books.  These publications have been out of circulation for some time, but I enjoy going back in time and bringing some of these projects to life again!

Hope you have an awesome month of LOVE and enjoy the rest of the hop.
Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Crafting

& Celebrate Love!

 

Marilyn