Christmas Bingo Card

Here's a fun Christmas Bingo Card hanging that I created a few years ago.

The bingo card measures 5x7 and came in a kit I had purchased. I dug through my box of treasures to decorate the card, but you can find similar pieces at your local craft store or online. The photo is a favorite of mine. It's a photo of my mom Janet when she was a little girl and it appears that she has put Santa to sleep with her wish list for Christmas.

I punched a hole in each corner of the card and thread silver pipe cleaner through the holes to use as a hanger. And then I embellished the card with buttons, rhinestones, lace, glitter star and rhinestone button....


a pre-made flower, bottle brush Christmas tree, metal Joy word, a metal "tis the season!" label, garland, pom pom fringe, and crepe paper. I also matted the picture onto white card stock and cut a scallop edge with scissors and then outlined the photo with some silver glitter glue.

You can purchase a bingo cards online....

Source

Or also search the internet for Bingo Images or Clip Art. Here is one that I found in my search....

Source

This would make a fun topper for a special someone's Christmas present, or perhaps an ornament for the tree? I have mine hanging on our entertainment center in the family room.

Jenny

DIY Paper Christmas Trees

This is the first in a series of Christmas craft projects I plan to share with you in months of November and December. Christmas is my favorite holiday and as soon as November hits I am inspired to make all things Christmas.

I made these three trees several years ago. I was inspired by a Making Memories ad in Creating Keepsakes magazine. I can't remember which tree it was that Making Memories had featured, it might have been the fringe or loop one, but I knew I had to make my own.  And of course everything is better in threes!


Here's a close-up of the tree trees. The first is a loop version, the middle one a fringe tree, and the last is a collage of torn paper. All three are super easy and fun to make!

Supplies needed:

3 Styrofoam cones
1 wooden dowel cut into 3 pieces
3 pots for your base
3 Styrofoam half balls
 Moss from your floral dept.
3 different kinds of ribbon
Hot glue gun
Glue or adhesive
Scissors
Jingle bells & Pom poms
Decorative ribbon and trim for collage tree, as well as dowels
Assortment of Christmas scrapbook paper


To create the loop Christmas Tree strips:

Cut a 3" x 12" strip of scrapbook paper and fold it in half and secure with adhesive at the top. With scissors, cut strips from the looped bottom, to just about 1/2" from the top.

To create the fringe Christmas tree strips:

 Cut a 2" x 12" strip of scrapbook paper and fold it in half and then in half again. With scissors, cut thin strips to just about 1/2" from the top. Unfold and you now have one long strip of fringe.

To create collage Christmas tree pieces:
(sorry, no picture)

Tear random pieces and strips of scrapbook paper or scraps in various sizes and shapes.


The create the loop and fringe tree:

Starting from the bottom of your styrofoam cone, wrap the tree one strip at a time, securing with adhesive or glue. Trim the strips to length as you work your way up the tree.

To create the collage tree:

Wrap your stryofoam cone in some plain paper and secure with adhesive or glue. Now for the fun part, start gluing and overlapping the torn pieces of paper until you have covered every inch of the cone. Add some trim and ribbon to the bottom of the cone and secure with hot glue or pins.

To assemble your trees:

1. Now take your three pots and place a half styrofoam ball in each.

2. Cover the exposed styrofoam ball with moss using hot glue.

3. Take a dowel and stick it through the center of the sytrofoam ball.

4. Take your tree topper and stick it through the top of the dowel.

5. If either end of the dowel feel loose, secure with hot glue.

6. Wrap each dowel with ribbon and secure with hot glue or adhesive.

7. Add a bell or pom to the top of your trees.

8. Now stand back and admire your craftiness and display your trees for all to see!


Jenny

Embroidery Hoops DIY

Who knew embroidery hoops, with some fun fabric, could be turned into wall art? I don't care if everyone else with a nursery has them hanging on their walls. I just love them so!

Most of you could probably figure out how to makes these if  you wanted to, but I'll give you my DIY anyway....

Supplies:

1. An assortment of wooden Embroidery Hoops from your local fabric, craft or thrift store. I used to be big on cross-stitching and had quite a few hoops collecting dust in the closet.

2. An assortment of colorful fabric.

3. Scissors.

4. Hot Glue Gun.

First off, let me just tell you to please ignore the string tied around the hoop. I was planning to use the string to hang the hoop to the wall, but the string needed to be higher, and I found a much easier way to hang the hoops. I never claimed to be perfect ;-)

Step 1. Take your hoop apart and place your fabric over the "inside" hoop. Next place the "outside" hoop on top  of the fabric over the "inside" hoop. Tighten the "outside" hoop.

Step 2. Trim the fabric approx.  a half an inch from the edge of the hoop, leaving enough length to glue the fabric to the inside of your hoop.

Step 3. Place a small amount of hot glue to the inside of your hoop and fold the fabric over, gluing the fabric to the inside of the hoop.

Step 4. Finish gluing your fabric all the way around.

Step 5. Voila! You now have a pretty fabric covered embroidery hoop. Continue steps for the remainder of your hoops.

I decided to used some scraps of fabric to create a monogram "I" for Isabel. I sewed each piece on with some embroidery thread. And then hand embroidered "I is for Isabel" in blue embroidery thread, although it's kinda hard to see in the photo.

And the finished project once again.  I'm really pleased with how they turned out.

Stay tuned for my next post later this week, where I will give you a sneak peak of the nursery progess and how the hoops look hanging above the crib.

Jenny

Pumpkin Shadow "Box"

This is a project I did last year. You know those craft pumpkins you see at your local craft store? Well they make the cutest "shadow box" for Halloween! Unfortunately I created this project before I blogged, so I did not take step-by-step photos, but I will try my best to describe the steps in creating my pumpkin.

Supplies:

Craft Pumpkin

Knife

Marker or pencil

Round, flat styrofoam piece found in the floral section of your craft store

Moss

Crepe paper and needle and thread

Hot glue gun and glue sticks

12x12 Piece of scrapbook paper

Vintage photo or clip art

Decorative pieces for inside your shadow box

Using a pencil, I drew my opening on the front of my craft pumpkin and where I needed to cut with my knife. I then decided to also cut the back half of my pumpkin. You can leave the back of our pumpkin on if you like, I just chose to cut mine off. Using a knife that I didn't mind dulling, I cut along my pencil line and removed the cut-outs.

Here's the back of my pumpkin. I laid the pumpkin down and traced  the outline on a piece of 12x12 scrapbook paper and set the paper aside to glue onto my pumpkin once I had the inside all built.

If you look closely, you will see moss on the floor of my pumpkin. I cut my round styrofoam piece to fit inside my pumpkin and used hot glue to secure it, and then I covered the styrofoam with moss, which I also used hot glue to secure. For a fun look, you could spray paint your moss black or silver or whatever color, and add some glitter spray to the moss. I of course think of this after my pumpkin is all built.

Once you've laid your ground piece (the moss), now you can add all the fun pieces inside. I found a little glitter tree in the floral section of Michael's, and a little glitter witch cut-out that I placed onto a round piece of gold glitter paper for a moon. I glued the moon and witch onto the piece of scrapbook paper I had set aside. 

The black and white photo is a photo I found of my grandmother Dot and her brother Jim when they were little. They're sitting on top of an old stump, and I loved how Jim had his arms wrapped around his sister Dot. I printed the photo onto some glossy photo paper and then used some makers to add color to their clothing, hair and a little color to their cheeks. I then cut out the photo and left a little base, which I folded back. I also added a little witches hat and placed it on top of my grandma's head and then added some black glitter to her mary janes. I added a little "Trick or Treat" banner and glued it onto the front of the stump. If you don't have a vintage photo, you can search the internet for free vintage photos or clip art.

You can kind of see in the photo below the strip of card stock I added to the back of the photo to hold it up. Very much like how a photo frame would stand up.

Around the front opening of my pumpkin, I hot glued crepe paper which I gathered with a needle and thread. I laid a strip of orange, then black, and another strip of orange crepe paper and then weaved my needle and thread down the stacked strips of crepe paper and gathered it until I had the desired length for my opening. I then folded my gathered crepe paper in half and used a hot glue gun to glue it to the opening. I must warn you that you will more than likely end up with some hot glue gun burns on your fingers like I did!

And because you can never have too much glitter or bling, I hot glued some glitter leaves that I found in the floral section of Michael's onto the top of my pumpkin. 

Lastly, once I had my pumpkin built and embellished, I used more hot glue to glue the scrapbook paper I had set aside onto the back of my pumpkin.

And here sits my pumpkin on the buffet in our dining room. A one of a kind shadow box!

Jenny

Autumn Banner

Here's my little craft project from last weekend, an autumn banner.

And here's a close-up of the individual banner pieces...

I used a border punch along the top of each banner piece, and added a flower and glitter leaves on the end border pieces.

The letters were pre-cut chipboard letters that I received in a goody bag at a charity scrapbooking event (or crop). I brushed some glue on each letter and then poured glitter over them and let them dry. I cut the scallop circle using a die and then placed the circle on top of a medallion I created out of some gold tissue paper I had saved from a gift I received (repurpose and reuse!).

Here's a side view of the banner pieces. The medallions really pop off the banner pieces and add some dimension.

And here is the banner hanging above the slider in the kitchen. Bringing just the right touch of fall to the kitchen! (Please excuse the smudged glass, apparently my quick clean job was a little too quick!)

Jenny

Fall Collage

September is here, which means it is time to switch out the Summer Collage for Fall.

For those of you who missed my earlier posts about my seasonal collages, I have a collage that hangs in our entryway for every season: Home (the in-between seasons collage), Spring, Summer and now Fall. Halloween, Christmas and Valentines will be revealed in their respective month. The collages are a fun way to honor the seasons and use up my stash of craft supplies.



Top:  I cut out a little house out of Scrabble scrapbook paper, stamped the word Family onto cardstock and placed it over the house, and then secured a clear acrylic heart with a red brad over Family. The flower is layered and has velvet leaves. The word Fall is made from Basic Grey chipboard letters.

Middle: The tree was stamped using a Stampin' Up! stamp. The Autumn circle was a pre-made chipboard shape. The 28 are Tim Holtz metal numbers, and represent my husband's birthday - November 28.

Bottom: The Definition was pre-made, I just the stamped leaves and inked the edges. On the flower, I added a grommet with the word Home in the center and placed it on a square piece of card stock.



And here is the collage hanging in the frame.




I will post this weekend's creation once I have some better light to take photos.


Jenny

DIY: Mothers Day Album

On Friday I posted my latest Etsy Finds, and a blog reader who happens to all also be a funny and witty blogger, PBJdreamer, asked for ideas on how to create etsy find #3. The original was cute, but I knew I could dress it up and put my own twist on it. So while crafting the day away on Saturday, I got to work on an album for my mom for Mother's Day. (my mom's computer is out of commission, so it's safe to post this on my blog before Mother's Day)

Here is the almost finished album (I still need to come up with my 38 reasons inside)

Supplies:

Scrapbook Paper - I used a K&Co paper pack I had purchased a Michael's last year

Chipboard - leftover from paper packs, tablet of paper, you could even used a cereal box

Glue - I used Aleene's Decoupage glue in matte. You could also use Modge Podge or Elmer's glue

Paper Trimmer

Cardstock

Hole Punch

Bone Folder or Scoring Tool

Ribbon

Embellishments

Foam Brush

1. Select the paper you want to use for your cover, making sure you have enough paper for both the outside and inside of your cover. I selected paper that already had a collage look to it.

2. I cut 4 strips of paper for my cover 9" x 4 1/2".

3. I wanted my album to be able to open like a bound book. To achieve this, I scored each strip 5/8" in.

4. Next, I cut chipboard for the base of my cover. I cut 2 pieces of chipboard 8 3/8" x 4 1/2" and another 2 pieces of chipboard measuring 3/4" x 4 1/2".

5. Next I took my foam brush and got it good and coated in glue.

6. And lathered the glue onto a chipboard piece. The glue tends to dry fast, so it is important to only do one piece at time, then lay it down onto your paper cover, and smooth, smooth, and smooth some more, the chipboard onto the paper.

7. Notice how I left a space between the skinny chipboard pieces and the larger ones? This is where I scored the paper cover. By leaving a space between the chipboard pieces, it will allow your book to bend open.

8. Because I didn't want my cover to have harsh corners, I rounded the corners with my Crop-A-Dile Corner Rounder.

9. Here's the backside of my cover. I punched two holes on both covers.

10. I then got to work on cutting 19 pages(19x2 = 38 years young! - moi, not my mom) out of cream card stock. I cut my pages slightly smaller than the cover, 8 1/2" x 4". I lined up the pages with the covers and punched two holes on each page.

11. Because my writing tends to go downhill when writing on unlined paper, I found a stamp in my stash with lines, and got to work stamping each page front and back. If you don't feel up to the challenge of stamping this much, you can always use lined notebook paper. Or also a ruler and pencil to draw lines and then erase them after you have written on the page.

12. Here is how one of the finished pages looks, minus reason 1 of 38 why I think my mom is so awesome. That I will be working on this week! I might also add a favorite picture of my mom and me from my childhood on a few pages.

Here again is my album and some close-up shots. I held my book together with some velvet ribbon and tied it into a pretty bow.

If you're running short on time, or not feeling ambitious, another cute version of this idea would be to type or hand write your reasons onto strips of paper and put them inside a pretty keepsake jar for your mom to keep on a shelf or table and pull out a sentiment when she needs a little lovin'.

Questions? Confusion?? Ask away!

Jenny

DIY: Tiny Polaroid Magnets

I think I'm in love! When I was a little girl, I was fascinated with all things miniature. And I guess that I kinda still am. I spotted these DIY Tiny Polaroid Magnets over on Creature Comforts (via Ambrosia Girl). I think I just might need to make some of these pronto! Check out the full tutorial here.

Jenny

DIY: Subway Art

I am so, SO pleased with how my subway art sign turned out! Seriously, I can't stop looking at it. Reading it over and over again. And I was pleasantly surprised with how easy it was to create my sign!

Here is how I arrived at my "master piece"

Originally, I was going to use plywood or canvas as the base for my sign. But then I came across this PERFECT beach artwork at my local Beverly's Outlet store. It was originally priced at $49.99, marked down to $15, and then 50% off on top of that. So I paid a mere $7.50! And it was the EXACT size that I needed. 12" x 3'. Talk about hitting the jackpot!

I applied two coats of black paint to the front. The sides and back were already painted black. Again, SCORE!




This next step was KEY to the design of my sign.

I printed my inspiration piece onto a piece of copier paper and drew and numbered how many lines there were.
There were 19 lines total.
I then divided the length of my sign by the number of lines: 36 / 19 = 1.89.
This gave me a general idea of how tall each line was.
There were three different sized letters in my inspiration piece.
Small, Medium, and Large.
After playing around with my Cricut Expression (die-cut machine). I came up with the following sized letters:
Small = 1", Medium = 1 3/4", Large = 3".

I used Vinyl sheets from Cricut to cut my letters out of. It is important to remember to purchase both the Vinyl and the Transfer paper, as you will need the transfer paper to pick up and transfer the vinyl to your piece with.

I love how the Cricut Expression allows you to spell out a word and view the image prior to cutting.

So as not to waste too much vinyl, I cut out a block of 1" letters, then moved on to cutting out a block of 1 3/4" letters, and so on. I then cut out a strip of the transfer paper, placed it over the vinyl letters of one word, and lifted the word off the cutting pad.

I used two rulers to get the spacing just so. It was key that the first line be level.

For the words where the letters were spaced far apart, I cut each letter out of the transfer paper before laying it down along my guide. Once I had the letters spaced just so, I peeled the backing off letter by letter and laid them down onto my sign.

Using the popsicle stick that came with the vinyl, I rubbed each letter into place before peeling off the transfer sheet.

Voila! The first row is done.....now 18 more to go....

As I continued down my sign, I measured the space beneath the last row of letters to figure out where I needed my next row to start. This part took a "good eye" and a lot of double checking. As carpenters like to say "Measure twice, cut once". This same rule applies when creating your Subway Art.

I decided to hang my sign on the wall between the family room and kitchen where I could appreciate it.

And so that  I could be reminded that "Here lives the most magical of creatures and super heroes living the greatest love story of all time."  I LOVE THAT LINE.

Project Cost Breakdown:

Sign Base - $7.50

Vinyl - $9.99

Transfer Paper - $9.99

Black Paint - leftover from painting the front door

Total Cost of Project  = under $30. 

Priceless!

I hope that your weekend was great :)

Jenny
 

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