Scrappin' Sanity........

Counting down the days.....

 
  

I LOVED making this advent calendar.  I got the chipboard base at Hobby Lobby, and my hubby as a dear and spray painted it white for me.  I am a terrible spray painter...I get way too impatient and end up with runs and drips and a sticky mess.  It really should have been sprayed on the inside, and on all the sides of the boxes but I didn't want to push my luck, so we just went with the outside edges and the 'face'.   

 

I used vintage sheet music and Making Memories paper. Then I pulled out all the left-over bits and pieces of Christmas stuff I had, as well as all sorts of different types of numbers - metal, wooden, chipboard, acrylic, and felt. 

 
 

Here is a shot with a few of the drawers open.  I am going to the specialty candy shop tonight to buy candy to fill it up.  I think I will also put in a few special things like Burts Bees chapstick, a  drink card for the coffee shop, stuff like that.
 

I have my house decorating done, and look forward to now being able to kick back as it were and enjoy the fun stuff like baking, crafting, wrapping gifts (my very favorite thing) and hanging out with the family.  Thanks for coming by today!

 

Picnic basket....

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

I had so much fun making this and just had to post it, even though I almost didn't.  You know how sometimes people post something they made and say they saw it on a blog somewhere but can't remember where?   That really bugs me.  Credit needs to be given where it is due.  So any guesses what I'm about to say here?  Yeah, I copied some photos from a blog and printed them and took them downstairs to my craft room, where they laid around for a while.  Usually when I do that,I also print out the web address of the site, so I can refer back to it if, and when, I ever make the project.  This project was from a blog that is not on my regular list, and had instructions in cm instead of inches.  And I don't have a clue how I even stumbled upon it.  So if anyone has seen something similar out there, PLEASE let me know and I will give proper credit.

I used the phots to figure out how to make this picnic basket, as I really liked the structure of it.  (Converting cm to inches was WAY too much trouble...I just went with my own measurements!)  I made a basic box bottom, added the center support, then the lid.   If anyone wants the measurements I used, please e-mail me and I will be glad to provide them.  Here are a few shots of the box in progress:

 I used Grapic 45 (Domestic Goddess) paper that I purchased last week when I was in Bozeman. and a lot of different flowers.    The brads holding on the handle and tags are those that look like phillips head screws.  Love that!   

Once again, my deepest apologies to the originator of this fun basket..but thanks, I had a blast making it!  Thanks for coming by, my blog friends!

From this to that....

In a few easy steps....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 1)  Slide chipboard backing piece out of the acrylic front piece.

2) Remove flowers.

3) Cover backing piece in pattern paper of your choice.  (Mine is Stampin Up.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4) Die cut (or punch) a scallop circle and layering plain circle from cardstock, then your photos.

5) Put each stacked circle photo in place on the background.  I laid mine out where I thought they should go, then laid the acrylic piece on top and gently reached under, adjusted the placement, and glued them into place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6)  Select some embellishments.  (I used some new items from Making Memories...the little metal flowes and metal tag.  The word tag is also from Making Memories (old). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7)  Add some sort of hanger.  (I just used some twine, taped to the back.)

8)  Hang up and enjoy your recycled little memory piece.

 

 

 

 

 

Taking photos of acrylic is best left to the masters, I've decided.  But you get the drift, I'm sure.

Thanks for coming by.  Stay cool...it's  supposed to be back up to 100 degrees here in our part of the world.

Does this ever happen to you?

I could not wait to get my hands on the Maya Road dress form chipboard shapes, and then once I had them covered in paper, they sat on my counter.  I added the lace and ribbons...and then they sat a while longer.  I decided on the word, selected the chipboard letters, and covered them in Tim Holtz glossy stuff to make them dimensional and shiny.  While the glossy stuff was wet I sprinkled in some tiny silver holeless beads.  I don't know what possessed me to do that, as I really don't like how they look.  Perhaps this is the point at which the project started its rapid downhill trajectory.  I had various sewing do-dads and thing-a-ma-bobs for the project, but could not figure out where to put them, or what else the project needed.  So it sat a while longer.  Finally I was tired of moving it out of the way and of looking at it, so I added the do-dads rather randomly, wrapped paper around the mini spools, put eyelets in the top of the forms, strung it all together on some vintage seam binding and hung it up on the soffit on the sewing side of my craft room.  And was TOTALLY underwhelmed.  So I scrounged around and found a bunch more vintage wooden spools, unstrung the thing, added the additional spools, and hung it back up.  And was still totally underwhelmed and unpleased.   Have a look:

So, does this ever happen to you?  You have a project you want to make. You find the perfect paper, and carefully gather your special embellishments to use.  You make it and stand back and say "Huh.  It looked better when it was an idea in my head."

Suggestions are welcome on this very underwhelming little project.  Would it look better hung with the forms closer together?  Would they look better hung on a strip of fabric rather than the ribbon?  What the heck does this need?   

I will be back tomorrow with a more successful and eye pleasing (at least to me) project!  Hope your Friday is a great one!

More doily medallions.....

"What most persons consider as virtue, after the age of 40 is simply a loss of energy."   Voltaire

Remember the doily medallion tutorial being done by Christine Middlecamp?  Well, here is where I am at on that little project:

Here are some close-ups:

I really like that you came by today - thanks! 

  

an awesome project to work on...

"Laughter is an instant vacation."  Milton Berle

I can't begin to tell you how much I LOVE this project - the shabby, vintage look of it just thrills me.  I love that you can use what you have on hand to make it.  I love that it is a great way to use up odds and end,  bits and pieces.  I love that you could use a totally different color scheme or theme if you wished.  I love that they are little and easy to make, yet very detailed.  

Do you ever go to Scrapscene?  I go there daily, and find a lot of cool projects, beautiful blogs, and so much other information.  It is where I found a link to Christine Middlecamp, who is posting this gorgeous tutorial.

I have 2 other doilys done and it looks like #6 is up now, so I will have 3 more to show you tomorrow.  Thanks for coming by!