Eye Candy - Tutorial

I love all the new shiny bits and baubles that many of the scrapbooking companies have come out with lately and I new as soon as I saw them that I had to try to make my own.  I tried label paper with glossy accents, inking them, chalking them, pearling them, alcohol inking them, hot glue dots (which I had a hard time making a actual bauble), and more.  Each time the product wasn't quite what I was looking for.  Just using glossy accents left flimsy pieces that seemed to bend and stick to itself too much.  So this time I tried something a bit different.

First, I used Aleene's Tack it Over & Over glue (you remember - the stuff I use to make my own pop dots?)  and placed small dots on the backside of a vinyl sheet that was used up.

I gave it a moment to dry.  Meanwhile, I punched lots and lots of circles with a regular circle hole punch.  I love this because I used up so many little scraps!  Then I stuck each dot on the glue and covered a bit with glossy accents.  Don't be shy here.  It will shrink a little when it is done and you want a bauble not a shiny dot!  Although you can go over with a second coating of glossy accents.  Let dry and VOILA!  The dots come off easy due to the tack-it and stick to any project.  Best yet, I can make them in any color, number, etc.  Here is a picture of the dots that I made.  Looks like that dot candy from when you were a kid right??

Washi Tape Buttons

Good Sunday Morning everyone!  I just thought that I would pop by and share a quick little tutorial that I did this morning.  In my surfing on Pinterest (Yes I know it is addicting) I found this cute little tutorial on Washi tape covered tacks and thought - hmmmmm . . . buttons?  brads?  So I thought that I would give it a little try.  Here is what I came up with:

1.  Gather supplies - Unwanted buttons - My father picks up tons of buttons at garage sales for me and so I have a tons of those not-so-appealing white ones, washi tape, a darning needle or piercer, and maybe an exacto knife.

2.  Lay your button on the washi tape tape sticky side up and trim around the edge.

3.  Begin folding up the edges and run your nail along the edge to secure.

4.  Finally put the large end of your needle or piercer through the holes and wiggle a bit til you get the desired effect.

5.  Now I like the rough edges at times but sometimes I like a cleaner edge so on the green and teal buttons, I trimmed around the edge with an exacto knife!

Here is a layout that I created using teal buttons with a rough edge.  My daughter loved the One Direction store at the MOA!

Extend that washi tape and try these out!

Show and Tell Saturday - A few cute Washi Tape ideas

I love Washi tape!  I love the colors, the sheerness of it, the flexibility, and so much more!  So when I saw a few new ideas for Washi tape on Pinterest, I knew that I would have to share them with all of you. 

1.  First, a tutorial from Paperiliitin.  This tutorial shows how to make feathers from Washi tape and a bit of wire!  So cute!!!  I had to try it out!

And on this layout, I used a few:

2.  I love the idea of making my own twist ties for layouts and cards as they did here in this cute tutorial from Organize & Decorate Everything - a bit of wire and Washi Tape - That's it! 

3.  How about Washi stickers from Allison????  Just some label backing and washi tape!

4.  I even found a tutorial on how to print on Washi Tape from Hambly Screen Prints:

I hope that you are inspired to play with a bit of Tape this weekend!  Enjoy!

Viewmaster Slides Tutorial and Handmade Embellishment Linky Party

I have loved the trend of Viewmaster slides as of late but I haven't been able to find them in my LSS.  So then I started thinking . . . Cassy . . . why not make some of your own to coordinate with your layouts.  So I started playing with punches and such and here is what I came up with.  I made several of different sizes for the following layout for my NAS DT reveal.  The layout also made Cookin' Up Creation's layout of the week!  YAY!

And here is how I made the slides:

1.  First I gathered supplies.  I needed a circle (mine was a 3" circle), coordinating scraps, a 1" square punch - or you could hand cut them, a rectangle and oval hand punch, and a 1" circle punch.

2.  Next, I place a small mark on the top, bottom, left, and right to line things up.  I used my quilting mat that I work on for that but a ruler would work just fine,

3.  Then I glued a 1" square next to each mark.  You will need 12 squares in total for a 3" circle.

4.  I then glued 2 squares in between each of my marked squares and I trimmed an old paper flower and punched a coordinating 1" circle and glued them in the center.

5.  And finally, I erased the marks and punched 4 rectangles and just nipped the edges in between each square with the oval punch to create the round marks.

Here is another layout that I created recently with a handmade embellishment.  I found the flower tutorial on Pintrest and couldn't resist making a smaller version.  I also trimmed the outside edge to make a more delicate flower when I was finished.

So share with us your favorite handmade embellishment.  Link back to your blog if possible and we will have a collection of amazing inspiration.  Also, I will again send out a small RAK for the random drawing for anyone who enters.  Remember you can link up to five projects, cards, or layouts!  Last week's winner was Jan!

Christmas in July - Make your own bows!

I have an awesome little tutorial to share with you today that I also posted as one of the challenges on Cookin Up Creations Christmas in July Crop.  You can get a head start on your gift wrapping! This would work for any holiday and it only requires a 6 x 12 (or I also did a 6 x 8 bow with one less layer) piece of scrap paper, gift wrap, or I have even seen some people using magazines and some hot glue! I tried the tutorial with sticky dots but if you use a heavier scrap, they seem to pop apart.

Then I couldn't stop making more! I even played and made one with less layers and punched the edges of the pieces to make a lacier bow!

The first bow took me about 15 minutes to make. After that, I was whipping them out and couldn't stop! My daughter and niece were amazed. How cool to use your scraps and make something special to decorate a gift. Bows like these cost over a dollar each at the store unless you buy the bags around Christmas time. I find that they often don't match the package and smush easily. These are very strong and solid and look amazing! Your family will be totally impressed. I plan to make a lot more of these for wrapping all types of gifts for any holiday!

The tutorial from Split Coast Stampers is very thorough - http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/dsp_bow. The only tricky part that I found is that when you are cutting, you cut the 6" strips, turn the paper and cut the 4" strip, then turn the paper back to cut the 5" strip. That way you only need one 6 x 12 piece. By using hot glue, I didn't need to use brads but either way would work!  Now go and build a stash for the future!

Buttons, Buttons, Who's Got the Buttons - Show and Tell Saturday

I couldn't resist sharing with you some amazing button projects that I have found on the web lately.  I absolutely love using buttons as embellishments on my scrapbooking layouts.  In fact, as usual, I have a tad bit of a hoarding problem when it comes to buttons.  Shhhhh . . . don't tell - otherwise my daddy will quit buying me more.  He finds tons of buttons at garage sales - gotta love him!  Check out these ideas for all of you who may have a teeny tiny hoarding problem too!

1.  Button Art - I love this button tree by Monica Furlow.  So inspiring!

2.  Look at this cute little Hot Air Balloon canvas from SugarBabe at SweetShoppeDesigns.com

3.  Don't have a button in the color you would like???  Dye a white one to make the right color!!!  This is a great tutorial!

4.  I love the rainbow look for this card using banners and buttons from WPlus9 Design Studio!

5.  And finally - you must check out the button art ideas at Tay's Rocha's blog - INSPIRING!!!!

So on your Fourth of July holiday - run your fingers through your button box and Play!  Man I miss teaching kindergarten!

Three Dimensional Embellishments

Hello all!  I wanted to share my most recent layout with you along with the 3-D embellishments that really  make the layout pop!  For Spring Break this year, we traveled to Islands of Adventure in Florida and visited Marvel Island.  I knew that I wanted this layout to jump out at you and have a comic book feel.  So I based the layout on the sketch from NAS and did some misting on the cardstock for my background.  As I started building the layout, I thought that it would be neat to pop some of the stars.  So I used my Cricut George cartridge and cut three stars.  Each star would be slightly smaller than the previous.  Then I began chalking.  The bottom layer had the most chalking with each following layer to be chalked a bit less giving the dimension I was looking for.  Then I layered them adding pop dots and VOILA.  They jumped right out at ya!  I thought that this would be great to try on banners, butterflies, etc. 

Here is the sketch!

Here is my layout!

 Here is a close up of those 3-D embellishments.

These really do add dimension to a layout!  Try them out!

Show and Tell Saturday - Frugal Scrapping!

Once upon a time my husband made a comment - "What do you think?  Maybe do you have like $400.00 in scrapbooking supplies in your room?"  And my response was - "Yes.  $400.00 is approximately what I have in supplies."  Little did he know it was closer to $4000 than it was $400.  Right?  Anyone who scraps knows that it can get REALLY pricey.  So with that, I thought that I would share a couple of my money saving tutorials with you.  These are tutorials that I have found online and have tried on my own.  They really do work!!!

1.  Repurpose your Cricut mat with a Zig glue pen! - Repurpose your mat

2.  Handmade Glue dots/pop dots. Here is my post.   I even like to do a little thin line for gluing ribbons!  You can get so many dots and ribbon strips from one bottle of this glue!  Handmade glue dots

3.  Make your own paint daubers - Repurpose Bingo daubers
4.  And lastly - my new fav - make your own alcohol inks! - Alcohol inks

Bookpage Ruffle Tutorial

I was inspired by Leah Fung's flower tutorial and decided to twist it up a bit.  I used old book pages to create this distressed and "fluffy" ruffle.  Here is the layout that I created using this idea.

So I started with the list of materials.  I used a scalloped circle sizzix die, old bookpages cut using that die, some smootch sprays and glimmer mists, and inks, a piece of sturdy thread, and of course (not pictured - a sewing machine.)

Then I spritzed the ruffles, crumpled them and uncrumpled them, then inked them and let them dry.

Then I layer the flowers in half (in groups of four) and fold them in half over the piece of string.  Then when I have them folded over the string, I feed them through the sewing machine.

Here is the final product.  Then I scrunched them up again to create the distressed look on the layout.

Hope this inspires you to try this technique.

Handmade Glue Dots - yes it works!

So since I have been using a lot of these lately, I finally decided to break down and try making my own.  I had heard that they worked and since they are a bit pricey, I thought that I would give it a try.

I had saved the paper stips from my Glue Dots pkgs that I had bought.  Then I cut them into strips to fit on an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of chipboard.  I stapled the ends down and broke out the Aleene's Tack it Over and Over glue.  I made dots of all sizes and thicknesses - some pop and big, some small for ribbon and such, and then some larger flat ones for flowers. I let them dry until they turned clear - around  hours.  Then I cut a piece of parchment paper to cover and VOILA!  They work like a charm!

I am told to keep them covered because if you leave them out for a long time, they will dry out but they are just like the real thing!

So in terms of savings, it cost $3.99 for a bottle of glue.  I got around 150 dots on this time around and probably can get at least 5 times that from a bottle of glue.  For around 150 to 300 (depending on size) it costs around $4.99 at my LSS.  That is a great savings!!!!