We interrupt this program.....

Just a quick note to let you know that there will be some crafty goodness coming up in the next few days.  Life has been happening and getting in the way of blogging (in a good way!).  See you all soon....

DIY dimensional paper stickers

Sorry guys, I missed a day. Life in the form of a dinner party to prepare for and a fun lunch to attend happened instead! Ok, well here is the second in my DIY sticker series (not really a series but it sounds good saying it like that). I used the same shape as the previous one as you can see and here is how I did it.

Firstly I used the basic template to outline the shapes onto two different coloured papers for my nest and bird. I stuck with my little bluebird of happiness you will see.

Next, cut them out leaving a border around the pencil line (so you can't see the card template underneath when completed). Make one border slightly bigger than the other to enhance the 3D effect. If you want a neat back you can erase your pencil lines now.

You can see the beak here. I just eyeballed a couple of little orange paper triangles for these. Turn over your papers and glue down on to your card template (I just used a regular old glue stick).

Glue your second beak to the head (if you are doing a birdie too) and stick double sided mounting tape to your second set of pieces.

Stick them on top of the glued down ones and add a little eye (I used a black marker to dot one on).

Turn the whole thing over and add double sided mounting tape to the card template underneath.

Take off the backing paper and stick it to your card, scrapbooking page etc. Enjoy!

p.s. Princess E 'acquired' my little felt birdie sticker for her album and now her friends want me to make some for them also! Funny! I could go into sticker production I suppose....

DIY dimensional felt stickers

This idea came about with a request from Princess E to make some stickers for her collection. Sticker collecting is all the rage at her school and she loves the textured ones but the selection of stickers to buy here in Montevideo is very, very limited. Most of the kids are relying on relatives/friends who are travelling to other places to bring some back or for wonderful aunties who post whole bunches of them (thanks muchly to my wonderful sisters!). So, after doing a simple apple for Princess E, I thought it would be fun to make more that you could use in scrapbooking or card making or wherever you want really.

Firstly, get some reasonably stiff card and draw a general outline of the image you want to make up. As you can see, you don't have to worry about being too neat because it will be covered anyway. Cut your outline out.

Cut out the various shapes from felt. Make the shapes a little bit bigger than the card so you can't see the card afterwards. I cut a bunch of little felt 'twigs' to make my little nest.

Apply just normal craft glue all over your cutout and put your felt pieces into position. Don't be skimpy on the glue because felt absorbs quite a bit. It dries clear so don't be too concerned about seeing the glue initially. Because mine got a bit fiddly I used large tweezers to help place my little 'twigs'. I also made one stitch through the head using two strands of brown embroidery floss for his little eye. I didn't knot it in back or anything - just stitched it through and cut it off close on the back. I figured the glue would hold it there. You could also just dot it with a pen, make a french knot or glue on a bead. Whatever takes your fancy.

Once it is dry, turn it over and apply patches of double sided mounting tape.

Use it in your scrapbooking or embellish simple little cards (like above) or gift tags.

I will show you tomorrow how to do something similar but with paper only.

Quick organising tip

I think I saw this idea in a Martha magazine - can't remember now. But it is a great way of keeping kid's birthday cards accessible and organised. Just gather them up, punch holes in one corner and slip a curtain clip ring (or any ring) through. If the top card didn't have a 3D look to it and didn't show obviously which year it was for, I probably would have put a piece of card on the front with the age as well. Princess E has a special laminated box in her room for keeping correspondence and birthday cards in so this keeps them somewhat organised and she loves going back and looking through them periodically.

Owl bookmarks to match!

Princess E loved the bookplates so much I decided to do some bookmarks as well using our little owl characters. You can download them here:

Owl bookmarks

I did a double sided one which includes space on the back for you to write down words you don't recognise, make notes etc. I was inspired to include the little note part by these cool bookmarks from the lovely blog blogroomshop. For mine, just print them, cut them out, fold in half and glue. I also did one with a hole punch and some ribbon and another one with the decorative scalloped edge across the top and bottom just to change them up a bit. I need to have about 100 for Princess E as they are distributed from one end of the house to the other.

Owl bookplate free printable

I designed this for a good friend of mine so decided to share it with all my good friends online as well! You can download the PDF here:

Owl bookplates - yellow

I print them out on sheet labels so you can cut, peel and stick. You can just cut them out straight as they are or you can use decorative edged scissors like I have done here. Enjoy!

Funny ha ha

This is a little known (boring) fact about me but I have a half hearted collection of funny translations from commercial packaging. They tickle my funny bone, what can I say? For example, take this one that I bought the other day. It is one of those glove exfoliating mitt things for the shower. I just love what is written on the back. Replace traditional towel?? Um, ok. Easy to grasp? My most intimate friend everyday? What the?? Too much information my friends.... LOL.

(disclaimer - I am not ridiculing my chinese brothers & sisters - believe me, whilst I am trying to learn spanish myself I fully understand the hilarity that ensues....anyone for a hamburger with a bone?)

How to create your own desktop inspiration board

I have been creating my own desktop collage 'inspiration boards' for awhile now and thought I would share the process with you so you can make one too. This picture is just an example for this instruction. I collect images from all over - other blogs, magazine sites, favourite store sites, etc. I really love seeing a collage of inspiring images when I turn my computer on. It brightens up my workspace and just makes me happy really. I have a PC using Microsoft products. This is all I know so, sorry, can't give instructions for anything else.

Here is how I do it:

1. Open a new presentation in Powerpoint.

2. Insert images from your computer (if you have an inspiration folder of collected images like me!) or copy them from favourite websites etc.

3. Move them around and resize them until it looks good to you. I also change which images are overlapping the other by using the Draw, Order, Bring Forward function (in the drawing toolbar).

4. Once the layout is finished, highlight the total selection and copy (Ctrl+C). The images should cover the whole slide (evenly around the edges).

5. Open the Paint program (or an equivalent) and Paste (Ctrl+V). This changes the images into one picture file (a bitmap file).

6. Save to your computer in an easy to find folder.

7. To install on your desktop, click the right mouse button on the desktop and choose Properties.

8. A window should pop up with tabs across the top. Choose Desktop.

9. This should show a list of images for displaying on your desktop under Backgrounds. Choose the Browse button on the right and find your newly created bitmap file. Click Open and then OK.

It should be there for you to enjoy now! If you have any problems or don't understand something, let me know and I will try and troubleshoot as best I can.

THANK YOU

A big thank you to the following people for recently linking to some of my posts:

Firstly, thanks to the ever wonderful Rachel with the ever wonderful One Pretty Thing site. She collects so much great stuff from around the internet - it is one of my daily must reads! Thanks for linking to my desk organiser, my flower gift box band and my dotty garland paper recently!

Thanks to Casserole for linking to my flower gift box band over at Craft Gossip! Check them out - they have a lot of great stuff collected there too. Casserole has a great post about becoming her grandmother and she is a fabulous sewer as well.

Last but certainly not least, thanks to Julie from On the Dot Creations for linking to my desk organiser as well. Julie's site is a great collection of projects and small business tips so go check her out!

I am sometimes overwhelmed and amazed by the level of talent out there in blogland (or the blogosphere or whatever you want to call it) and it really warms my heart when people link back to me so, again, a huge thanks everyone!

Blog Topics To Do List Notebook

I came across this great free printable for a 'Blog topics to post' to do list from Erin Vale Design (via a Printable Roundup from the oh so wonderful One Pretty Thing) and it has been getting used a lot around here. Such a simple idea but so handy! Anyway, I decided to pretty mine up a bit rather than keep the original printed page folded in three that I keep doodling all over....here is how I did it.

Firstly I printed out a number of sheets (there are 3 lists per page - I printed out 5 pages) and trimmed them down to stack. I then cut out a piece of cardboard in the same shape for the back.

I stacked the paper on top of the cardboard, lined them up and stapled through it all at the top (ok, who else straight away noticed the staples are not straight... :-) ).

Then I cut a strip of decorative paper a shade wider than the stack and a bit longer. I have used my free printable dotty garland paper.

I lined up the front bottom sides and folded the leftover top bit back around to the back. I have done two creases so the paper will sit flat over the notebook.

Then glue it to the back....

turn over and put near your computer for jotting down those ideas as they come to you! (and make mental notes to yourself about doing something about that ugly mouse mat)

Boardgame box lid revisited

If you have been here for a little while you would have seen the boardgame box I made a while back. Well, I was never happy with the lid for this box so I redid it. This is made with thinner cardboard, covered in wrapping paper, and has a label on the side for easy shelf identification. I have to say I am still not in love with it (the Mod Podge I used made the paper wrinkle a bit) but it is definitely an improvement. Seeing as I have OCD tendencies there will probably be another one happening when I can gather enough motivation to do it....

Blistex pot reuse

I am into recycling these days obviously. I go through a lot of these little Blistex lip balm pots and have been trying to think of a way to use them because they are so cute and sturdy. So I cut out some leftover wrapping paper to cover the print, stuck them on with Mod Podge (my new best friend), added a little sticker from Princess E's sticker collection then sealed it with two coats of Mod Podge. Cute! I am planning on making these to use as teeny little gift boxes for things like earrings etc. at Christmas. I have another empty one so I am off to get my Mod Podge.....

Play tickets free printable

Here is another free printable. This one is for the kiddies. I have occasionally hand drawn little tickets for my kids and they get so much fun out of something so simple. Miss E used to use one as a 'bus ticket' to school (in our car) and now A likes to collect tickets to allow entry past him at the stair gate at the top of our stairs. I really have no idea why they love them quite so much but it inspired this download and I hope you find a kid who likes them too. Update: I have a great friend who did the PDF for me in the cool font (just in case you visited when the plain font was up - if not - ignore this part!).

You can download them here:

Play tickets - A4

Play tickets - Letter

Some tips for cutting them out. The shape can be a bit of a pain to cut out so just cut them into rectangular strips and use a hole punch to cut out the notches. May not be perfect but definitely the easiest way!

Also, I have a guillotine with a perforated blade that I use for the joins so they can pull them apart themselves. You could also use a sewing machine (without thread obviously) for the same effect. Or just cut them of course....

Free printable - Dotty Garland paper!

I love spots! This is my first attempt at a free printable so I hope this works ok. You can download it here:

Dotty Garland Brights - A4

Dotty Garland Brights - Letter

Six ways with felt flowers

I have been having a lot of fun making felt flowers recently and thought I would show you 6 different ways you can use them too. I have more ideas as well so may do another post in a little while with more suggestions.

1. Stick them to the end of a pencil for a cute little pencil cup garden.

2. Attach to a hairclip for a little (or not so little) girl.

3. Attach to an elastic band to put around a gift box like my previous post.

4. Glue to a gift tag.

5. Attach to a jumbo paper clip for keeping papers together or as a bookmark.

6. Glue to a paper covered clothespin (you could add a strong magnet to the back of the clothespin too).

Happy felt flower making!

Flower Gift Box Band Tutorial

This idea came from an elastic band that came around a pair of socks, believe it or not. I have the habit of keeping items with the thought that I will think of a use for them someday (instead of throwing it away). Anyway, I was mucking around with the elastic one day and trying to think of ideas when a little empty gift box just happened to be sitting there too so I was happy to find that it fit the box perfectly. Now I just wanted to cover up the printed details so I turned it inside out and attached a large felt flower to it. Best of all, this is a gift box with decoration that can be reused over and over (at least I hope the people who will potentially receive it will do just that).

I have created a tutorial for it so please click below for your copy:

Flower Gift Box Band

I have to also give credit to Martha for learning how to make these felt flowers. The original instructions were in the Kids magazine (Winter/Spring 2003) and were very clear. I have done my own instructions only because she doesn't have the same clear pictures on her website - just written ones. Anyway, thanks Martha, for the original tutorial! (I doubt very much Martha invented these flowers but that is where I learnt them from so just wanted to give due credit).