Card of the Week #6

Today is one of my favorite posts’ days. Sometimes I get so busy that I don’t have time to do anything other than finish orders, and create new items for my website. So, I created this ‘Card of the week’ series so that I can take a break from my business and simply create for the fun of it—and to keep my sanity. For some reason making cards makes me feel incredibly calm; and, I guess that’s why I love papercrafting as much as I do.

I made this card using the NEW Lawn Fawn stamp set ‘SweetChristmas’. It’s so cute! And it’s easy to use. There are so many possibilities with this set that sometimes I just stare at it and imagine all the things I can make with them. Now here’s how I made the card: 

Thanks for stopping by to check out another ‘Card of the Week’. Happy crafting! 

New Papercrafting Tools

I love shopping for new craft tools and researching different techniques that will make me a better papercrafter; and while video surfing on Youtube I learned of a new technique called embossing. I’ve heard of it before but I didn’t actually know what embossing was; and now I’m super excited to try it. So here is a list of new items I’ve recently added to my craft collection:

A Martha Stewart Heating Tool

Recollections Embossing Power in Snow

Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Fired Brick

Versa Mark Watermark Stamp Pad

Inkadinka Clings Rubber Stamp Set

And, Zots! I wanted to try these clear adhesive 3D glue dots because I hate seeing the white spots from using adhesive foam on cards—so I wanted to give these clear glue dots a try. 

Using these tools was very easy; and, if you’re a beginner here is how you use them. The Versa Mark pad is like slow drying glue. You take your stamp and tap it on the versa mark glue a few times, than stamp your image onto your paper. Next, you sprinkle some of your embossing powder of the stamped image, tap off the access, and heat it up with the heating tool—and these are the results: 

Next I wanted to try out my stamps and 3D glue dots; and so far I think I like the 3D dots. They still have the same 3D effect as the foam adhesive—but I can’t see a big white foam piece when I examine the card at different angles. 

If you’re a beginner papercrafter I hope this mini-review helped. I plan on getting to know embossing a little bit better so I’m going to play around with it until I make something really cute to share. So stay tuned for new projects from me, using the embossing techniques. 

Thanks for stopping by! :-P

DIY—Handmade boxes!

Hello everyone! I’m so excited to be back with this really easy—yet super fun, tutorial. I’ve always been interested in making my own card boxes; and one day I felt like searching the sea of videos on Youtube to find a quick, easy, and fun handmade box tutorial. When searching, I came across this really cute duo, from the UK, that has a blog and Youtube channel dedicated to handmade crafts; and, I immediately feel in love with them. They’re so cute, funny, and delightfully entertaining. You can find them here and here.

What I did was take the box making instructions they’ve provided and made a box according the dimensions that I needed. I wanted to make a box for my handmade ‘Thank you’ cards, but I also wanted room to include handmade envelope seals and a black and white bakers twine for a little added cuteness.

For this tutorial I’m going to simply show photographs of how I made these boxes, but you can check out their video for detailed instructions on how to cut and assemble these boxes. I don’t want to take full credit for these—I’m hoping to get them the exposure they deserve for this wonderful idea. You can click here for the video.

Enjoy!

Now wasn’t that just the cutest?! I love that I know how to make these now—these would work great a gifts, favor boxes, and so much more. I hope you give this a try! Happy Crafting!

Product Gift Wrapping Part Two

Hello! I hope everyone is having a great day! In my previous post I said I was going to share a video I recorded of me wrapping some stationary and here it is. I hope you enjoy it, and stay tuned for another. I’ll be showing how I wrap my tags and cupcake toppers with poly-bags, card stock, and stamps.

Tissue Paper Pom-Pom Tip for Hosts’ and Party Planners’

Hello! Today I wanted to share this cool tip for party planners and decorators. Last year I was the host of a baby shower, and one of the many tasks’ of a being a host is to ensure that there’s a lot of eye candy for the mother to be and guests; and one of the cute decorations I made was the popular tissue paper pom-poms. Now, this was the first big party I was in charge of arranging so I knew little to nothing about what it would take to pull it off. However, I managed to do a great job planning this bumble bee themed party regardless of my poor party planning qualifications’. After the party I did notice a few things that prevented me from a smooth decor set up, and I said to myself, “What could I have done differently?” Then a few months later, while preparing for another party, I came up with a little invention that turned out to be such a time saver!

One thing I never came across while viewing many tissue paper pom-pom tutorials was how much of a hassle it would be to hang the pom-poms after you’ve made one. I’m sure some may think common sense should have played a role in my pom-pom making and I should have thought ahead about it--but I didn’t. It didn’t even cross my mind until I was ready to hang them and it took me so long to string each pom-pom up. However, now I have an easy way to prepare my pom-poms way in advance and have them ready to for a quick hang-up.

What you’ll need: A thick marker, floral wire, and wire cutters.

Next, go ahead and cut a piece of wire at the desired length (I usually do about 15 inches).

Then wrap the wire around the marker like so:

Then give it a few twists’.

Remove the marker: and what you’re left with is a perfect circle big enough to fit any size string or ribbon.

Next, wrap the two open wire pieces around the pom-pom like so:

Remove the access.

And there you have it! A pom-pom that’s finished and ready to be stored away for the big event. What I usually do is make about 20-30 of these extremely in advance, and decide later whether I’m using fishing string or thick ribbon to hang them. It may not seem like the perfect invention but I’m telling you—it saves me so much time.