Christmas Leftovers = 2012 DD Album!

Hi Everyone

I was guest posting over on the Making Memories Blog last week - and I decided to use up all my Christmas scraps to make a super quick December Daily Album for 2012 - it will make a wonderful gift for someone or of course you can use it yourself....

Get Ahead for Next Year!

Instead of packing away all the other Christmas leftovers, I decided to get the jump on next year and create a quick December Daily album. I also used a sheet of stickers from the Simple Stories "25 Days of Christmas" Collection for the numbers.

Using all the scraps of paper, stickers, journal pages and embellishments I was quickly able to put together this book. I used plain white cardstock as the base and punched holes in each page so I could use book rings for binding, therefore make it easy to add to next year.

I often find myself with tiny stickers left over on a sheet – and they are perfect for adding splashes of color to white-based pages. These stickers are so much fun and the  baubles add some great dimension to the cover.

I used the left over pages from the journaling book as inserts into the album. They will be great for writing all my Christmas lists next year! 

The wonderful combination of fresh red and green colors in this collection makes for a really clean look on the white background - perfect for the Summer Christmas time here in New Zealand.

I hope this has given you a few ideas on how you can use up those Christmas bits and pieces you have left over. 

Please post a comment with any questions

Lowri

I am linking up this post to these websites here.

Christmas Leftovers into Valentine Treats!

Hi Everyone

I was guest posting over on the Making Memories Blog this week - and I had a couple of ideas for turning your leftover Christmas bits and pieces into ideas for Valentines Day.

From Christmas Day to Valentine’s Day

We all have scraps of paper and embellishments left over from our Christmas projects, so I thought I would use some of the fabulous red and cream colored leftovers I had from the Twinkle Collection to create a couple of simple Valentines Favors.

I made these candy holders using some of the Words paper and then added some plain red organza ribbon along with the gorgeous spotted red and cream ribbon from the Trims and Brads embellishment pack. 

One of the flowers from the Twinkle Baubles embellishment pack completes the simple but elegant decoration. These would be great as a little gift for a teacher, filled with some lovely pink candy hearts.

These flowers are a great way to decorate gifts and packages too.  I used a rosette die to create the flower and one of the Twinkle Baubles in the centre. The over-size rhinestones in this pack are fabulous!

Check in again soon to see another great way to use those Christmas Leftovers!

Please post a comment with any questions.

Lowri

I am linking up this post to these websites here.

Wedding Frame (Pink Paislee) and WINNERS

Hi Everyone

Today I am sharing a Wedding Celebration frame as well as announcing the winners (YES - TWO!) of my recent contest.

Wedding Frame

My sister had two weddings 5 months apart - both super casual and lots of fun!

The 5 and 22 represent the dates of the two weddings.

These letters represent their names. All the elements are from Pink Paislee - and even though the Nantucket Collection was beach themed, it has worked really well with the non-traditional wedding pieces I have shown in the last few days. 

Here is a summary in case you missed them - each has a step-by-step tutorial too!

1. Wedding Placecards
2. Wedding Flowers
3. Homemade Confetti
4. Wedding Favors

Contest Winners

YEP - you read right!! I have decided to have TWO winners for my recent contest due to the absolutely overwhelming response I received! These lucky winners will receive a custom made "52 Reasons I Love You" Cards set as seen here.

The first winner was picked completely at random and was comment number 62.

This was Amy Flanagan. (I had 197 comments and this comment was the 62nd of those received)

The second winner I picked myself. This person frequently comments on my posts and is always so kind with her words - CurlyQMosaics - you are the second winner!!
Congratulations and please email me here.

Thanks to everyone who entered - and don't forget you can see a step-by step tutorial on how to create this project here.

Please post a comment with any questions.

Lowri

I am linking up this post to these websites here.

Wedding Tutorials Day 4 - Favors

Hi Everyone

Today I have an idea for Wedding Favors. SO simple and easily adaptable to any theme.

Please note that the contest previously detailed here has now closed.
Winners can be seen here.

Wedding Favors

Your guests could either open these or keep them as a little memento of your day. I like to fill them with after dinner mints!

These really are one of my favorite projects to make and I have a new and simplified tutorial to share today!

1.  Cut paper into 3” x 4” rectangles (7.5cm x 10cm)
   You can get 12 of these from one sheet of scrapbook paper
2. Place very strong double sided adhesive tape along the two long and one short sides.
   I used JEJE Extra Sticky Tape
3. Remove the backing from the tape
4. Form a cylinder, joining the 2 shorter sides together with the adhesive
   Press adhesive very firmly
5. Pinch one end of the cylinder together.
   Press adhesive firmly and fill with little treats
6.  Pinch other end of cylinder together at right angles to form this shape.
   Use a paper crimper or scoring tool to really seal edges

Note - the papers are from the Nantucket Collection from Pink Paislee.

I have then cut a Pennant shape using Spellbinders, created a hole with a paper punch and tied to the favor with plain twine.

You can see all my wedding related tutorials by following the links below:

1. Placecards Tutorial
2. Flowers Tutorial
3. Confetti Tutorial
4. Favors Tutorial

Lowri

I am linking up this post to these websites here. 

Wedding Tutorials Day 3 - Confetti

Hi Everyone

Today I will show you how to make the Confetti Bags I created for my sister's wedding - SO EASY!!

Confetti Bags

Your guests can either use these to shower you with love or keep them as a little memento of your day. Note - the punch I used was the Fiskars Butterfly Punch and the papers are from the Nantucket Collection from Pink Paislee

 

These are super simple to make with scraps of paper and dollar-store baking paper and organza bags!

1. Gather up any paper scraps you would like to use and using a decorative punch, create lots of colorful shapes
2. Using cheap baking paper and the same punch, create lots more shapes. Eight layers of paper at a time was perfect with this punch but you might need to experiment
3. Gather them together in a pleasing ratio!
4. I used cheap organza bags ($2 for 5 from the dollar store) as my confetti holders, but you could use cello bags or the favor containers here!

You can see all my wedding related tutorials by following the links below:

1. Placecards Tutorial
2. Flowers Tutoria
3. Confetti Tutorial
4. Favors Tutorial

Please post a comment with any questions.

Lowri

I am linking up this post to these websites here. 

Wedding Tutorials Day 2 - Flowers

Hi Everyone

Today I will show you how to make the Rolled Flowers decorating the Placecards shown yesterday, plus some other flowers for decoration

Rolled Flowers

These flowers look stunning and are very easy to make – see below.

1. Cut a spiral of paper. You can do this using a die cutting machine or you can simply draw a spiral shape directly onto the paper (See note below)
2. Working from the outside in, wrap the paper around a wooden skewer
3. Be sure to keep the inside edge neat.
4. Once you reach the centre, slide the flower off the skewer
5. Place a blob of hot glue or other strong adhesive on the base as shown. Press the Flower into glue and hold until firm (one reason for using hot glue is that this will take about 5 seconds!)
6. These flowers can be used on all your decorations or scattered on your table

Note: These flowers are made using the Nantucket Collection from Pink Paislee. I cut the spirals using a Cuttlebug machine and a die similar to this one here.

Decorative Flowers 

These flowers were created with the same Nantucket Collection and this time I used a Nantucket Chipboard Tile for the centre of the flowers

These flowers were cut using a Rosette Die and were scattered over the wedding table. Given the fabulous stunning seaview we enjoyed, it seemed appropriate to use this fabulous beach themed collection of products!

You can see all my wedding related tutorials by following the links below:

1. Placecards Tutorial
2. Flowers Tutoria
3. Confetti Tutorial
4. Favors Tutorial

Lowri

I am linking up this post to these websites here. 

Wedding Tutorials Day 1 - Placecards

Hi Everyone

I had a wonderful response to my recent post where I shared some of the pieces I created for my sister's wedding, and several people have asked how to make the items shown.  Be sure to also take a look at this post HERE which shows you how to make the paper flowers to decorate the placecards.

Placecards

If you are hosting a small, intimate or informal event, you can still offer some great little touches such as place cards and it is really easy to create these yourself with a few basic scrapbook supplies. Even at a very casual event, you might like to ensure your guests are seated as you would like – so placecards become necessity - they also make a lovely keepsake for guests to take home.

These are easy to make – see the tutorial below.

 

1. Cut labels or plain squares from patterned scrapbook paper (see note below).
2. Fold paper shapes in centre and crease well.
3. Using double sided tape or an adhesive runner, attach your smaller piece to your larger piece, taking care they are centered
4. Decorate as you wish. I have printed names onto clear labels and added some simple rolled paper flowers

Note: These cards are made using the Nantucket Collection from Pink Paislee. I hand cut the square and the shapes are made using a Cuttlebug machine and Spellbinders Labels One Dies. (If that all sounds a bit like gobbledygook to you - give your local craft or scrapbook store a call and I am sure they will help you out!) The labels used were Avery Clear Address Labels J5303.

Take a look at this post HERE which shows you how to make the paper flowers to decorate the placecards. 

You can see all my wedding related tutorials by following the links below:

1. Placecards Tutorial
2. Flowers Tutoria
3. Confetti Tutorial
4. Favors Tutorial

Lowri

I am linking up this post to these websites here. 

"52 Reasons I Love You" Cards Tutorial

Did you know this project now has its own website - with heaps of additional information.
Note: If you would like to link to, feature or re-publish this project - please see here.

Tutorial
Below you will find the tutorial showing how to make the cards. On the website you can also find a complete supply list and all the information on purchasing a template to create the labels.

1. Find some playing cards! These fabulous cards from Ellusionist shown here are great as they have a pre-aged Vintage look.
2. Scuff them up with some sandpaper to give them a used feel as well as a used look
3. Create a template with one of the spare cards (for example one of the Jokers)
4. Punch two holes in each cards using the template as a guide
   
   
   
   
5. Create your reasons labels to attach to the cards - detailed information below. Use another Joker card to create the front cover.
6. Using double sided tape and/or glue - attach the inserts to the cards. Using glue will take longer to dry and will stiffen the cards up adding more dimension.
7. Create all 52 of your reasons cards and let the glue dry
8. Thread onto book rings 

NOTE: I have created a FAQ page here with additional information on products used and where to buy them or you can check out the dedicated website here.

Creating the Reasons Labels
There are two templates available for purchase. This page HERE has all the information you need to make a decision regarding which is best for you.

Option One - JPEG Download
$4.99 - download high quality jpeg files to be used with a program of your choice 

Option Two - POWERPOINT Download
$6.99 - download a PowerPoint presentation with placeholder text. Print ready.

PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING
You can see exactly what is included in the templates on this page here. Please read what you will receive and what you will need to do after purchasing to re-create the reasons as shown.

If you do not want to purchase the template - no problem! You can create your own cards.
To help you out - here are the dimensions for the boxes I have used.
Outer red box - 6cm x 4cm
Inner cream box - 5.3cm x 3.3cm

If you want to use the same font it is called Trinigan FG and you can download it for FREE from fontspace.com.

 

FAQ Page
Check out the FAQ page if you have any questions.

Also see the 52reasonsiloveyou.com website here - or email me here.

Lowri :-)

I am linking up this post to these websites here.

5th Birthday Mini Album with a Cosmo Combo!

Hi Everyone

I have had these FABULOUS oldish Cosmo Cricket Collections sitting in my stash for ages now - but never the right project to justify cutting into them.  Last weekend I finally found it as I created a little birthday album for one of my son's best friends.

This mini album is a mix of the Joy Ride, Boyfriend and Lil Man Collections - and they blended seamlessly together.

I cut squares of paper and double sided adhesive chipboard with my Spellbinders and then just stuck the paper onto the chipboard to create some stiff pages.

I just went to town on the decoration using all the bits and pieces I had! I alternated decorated pages with blank squares so little pictures could just be printed and glued in to make a completed book by the recipient.

The wonderful variety of embellishments I had included chipboard, stickers and an old pack of rubons - which still worked perfectly. I then used my Zutter machine to bind it all together. The rings are a little small - but that doesn't matter!

I have been very fortunate this last year with opportunities that have come my way but I haven't taken as much time as I should for creating many project for the pure pleasure of it.

I loved making this - knowing the recipient would appreciate it. (I should point out that I made this for Jacob's Mum - he got Lego!!)

Please leave a comment with any questions.

Lowri :-)

I am linking up this post to these websites here.