Homemade gift bags

I love giving presents! Lately I've been buying and wrapping in a rush, and I hate doing that. It's so impersonal, and I always feel bad that I didn't take the time to make the gift special. After all, we can always count on disappointment in life, but really how often do we get the chance to celebrate successes??? Now I'm a big fan of brown gift bags. I love making homemade cards out of them and wrap presents in them. I decide I was going to making cute novelty pictures out of leftover scrapbook paper, and thread. I love how my first two efforts turned out, so I'm preparing to make more... Now when I'm in a rush again. I can grab one of premade homemade gift bags, and feel great about presenting my personal gift. Here's a great blog I get inspired with ideas from its call Print & Patterns. Check it out.

Homemade party decoration

My friend Erin was graduating from beauty school. It's customary to decorate the salon station for the graduation day, but the problem was I couldn't find decorations to match her style. That's when I decided to create my own. She loves wine, cute dresses, and high heels. I made a Congratulation Erin banner which I created a space to put a photo of her on her big day. I couldn't find confetti that I liked, so I made large ones with wine, and high heel stamps. I couldn't find the perfect card, so I tried my best and make one myself. I was really happy with my efforts, and I really enjoyed, taking the time, to make her day special. I think I'll give this a try again in the future.

Target inspiration

As I was walking through Target I saw this really cute picture of a heart made with flowers. I thought that would look so cute in my little monkey's room, so I decided to recreate this look by cutting out scrapbook paper and decoupage it on a painted canvas. It turn out great. I can't wait to be inspired by Target again.

Scrapbook paper and pictures

This frame has been a big joke in our house for some time now. I bought it the 1st week we moved into our house, and it's been hanging on our wall empty for at least a year, and a half now. I finally ordered some pictures I love of my monkeys. I decide to fill some of the frames with scrapbook paper because some paper is just to pretty not to be displayed. I love being surrounded by pretty things. Now I need to fill the upstair frames. Oh well, maybe next year!

I miss Scrapbooking

It's been almost two years since I really sat down, and did some scrapping. I really miss it. I was looking through some scrapbook albums, and was happy to see such happy, little monkeys looking back at me. Oh I wish, their could be small again! I don't care if the craft room isn't completed yet. I really need to get back to scrapbooking before my memory fades anymore(Bad Mommy). Here are some scrapbook pages I would like to share.

Card Making

I was looking through some old photos, and I came across these pictures of Christmas cards I did when we living in the White Mountains. I haven't been scrapbooking, or making cards lately. I've been too busy painting, and decoration our house here in Flagstaff. When we lived in White Mountain Lake I did a lot of crafts since I needed a creative outlet. When your renting a house you can't really paint, or put holes in walls. This was my escape. I hope you give card making a try.

Decorative Letters

I've never been a fan of names in rooms, but my daughter wanted me to paint her name on her bedroom wall. I like to create my own stencils, but I saw these letters at Michael's and decided to use these instead. It's a little time consuming, but as usually I just put a Jane Austen movie in the DVD player, and starting crafting. It was a great afternoon. I found these great decorative scrapbook paper at the dollar store. They matched the colors of her room perfectly.Here's how I did it.

Supplies: Letters, craft paint, foam brushes, decorative scrapbook paper, x-acto knife, pencil,mod podge, acrylic sealer, and trash bag.

I used the trash bag to protect the surface I was working on. I traced letters on the wrong side of decorative paper. On the inside of the completed tracing, retraced the letter again. Use the original trace as your guide. You want to make a smaller image, so that you can see the painted edge on your finished letter. Cut out smaller image using an x-acto knife. I hope this isn't too confusing. Check out my close up to see what I mean. Paint your letters. Mod podge the cut out paper image to painted letters. I used 3 coats. Once dry, coat with a clear sealer. I embellished my letters with stickers, but get creative and use ribbon, buttons, puffy paint!!

Decorative Containers

Once again I needed some help keeping the kids things off the floor. This time it was Kaya's drawing supplies like crayons, markers, and colored pencils. Kaya likes to draw and cut a lot, so I recently put a table and chairs in her room. It was a good idea until I found all her drawing stuff all over the floor! I decided to make her these decorative containers to match the colors in her room. They were fun to make. I used empty oatmeal containers, butter containers, and large cereal boxes. I didn't want to use old cans since some of the edges are sharp, but you can if you like. Here's how.

Supplies: empty container, decorative scrapbook paper, ribbons, button, paper cutter, glue stick, and glue gun.

I cut decorative paper to size of container. Sometimes the paper won't cover entire container, so just add an extra piece to fill in. I hot glued paper on. I embellished with ribbon and a button. How easy is that! Only a few minutes to assemble. Now Kaya has a place to put all her drawing supplies, and I get to have a clean floor. I love the simple things.

Decorative thumb tacks

I finished making this cute cork board for my daughter Kaya's room, but I didn't like the way these plain thumb tacks looked. I found these great scrapbook embellishment at Michaels. It took me a few seconds to make these new and improved thumb tacks for her new cork board. Here's how...
Supplies: Thumb tacks, scrapbook embellishments, glue sticks, glue gun.

Hot glue thumb tack and embellishment together. That's it! I'm going to make a few for my kitchen as well. This was so easy, and it really makes your message boards POP.



Sage's room

Decorative Cork board

My kids are always bring home art work from school. Some are too cute to put away. I decided to make decorative cork boards for their rooms. Now they have a place to show off their amazing art work. I thought this would be a more difficult project to attempt, but I was surprised how quick and easy this was. Now I need to make a few more for the kitchen and boy's rooms. I like the idea that I can personalize these cork boards along with their room themes. Here's how.

Supplies: Cork board, fine sand paper, craft paint, foam brushes, decorative card stock, ribbon,scrapbook adhesive, clear acrylic sealer, and trash bag.

Lay out trash bag to protect surface. I sanded the wood frame. I painted wood frame with foam brush. Applied clear acrylic sealer over paint. Place scrapbook adhesive to back of decorative paper and then placed on cork board. I used ribbon where decorative paper edges met and fastened down with more adhesive. I used scrapbook adhesive because it would be easy for me to change the decorative paper out. So simple!!!

Decorative Counting Blocks

My daughter Kaya is learning to add. She likes to add objects, so I decided to make her some cute blocks for her to count with. They came out so cute! I've decided that I would make a set also for my son Remy.
Supplies:
wood blocks
craft paint
Q-tips
stickers
foam brush
mod podge
trash bagI used the trash bag to work on. I painted the blocks using a Q-tips. Added the stickers, and then foam brushed several coats of mod podge on. That's it! How easy is that!