Echo Park "Merry Christmas" Cracker Treat Box

Hi Cheryl here. Today I am taking a break from making Christmas cards and thought I would work on some gifts for my Grands to give to their classmates and teachers. Today I am going back to one of my favorite Christmas collections. It is "Merry Christmas" from Echo Park. I just LOVE these papers. I bought the complete collection during the summer and then was lucky enough to receive a kit from Flamingo Scraps this fall for our winter projects. This is one paper collection that I will never tire of. Beautiful, bright patterns and my favorite green, red, and brown colors for Christmas.

For my project I decided to make a cracker treat box. These are so cute and hold a lot of candy for the young ones or for us big kids maybe a nice piece of jewelry!  I used my "We Are Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board" and it really did all of the work for me!

These are currently on sale at Flamingo Scraps for only $14.99!!!!!  I just had to cut the paper, tie the ends with ribbon, and then used two trees from the Fancy Pants Tiny Bottlebrush Traditional Trees as an embellishment . These are just adorable when completed and I think everyone will enjoy receiving theirs. I hope you enjoyed my project for today. I won't bore you with the measurements and details on how this was made, but if you are interested you may go to my blog for all of the details!

Thank you for stopping by the Flamingo Scraps Blog. Don't forget you can "like" their Facebook page here, and find everything I used today in their online store here.

Happy Scrappin............Cheryl

Mixed Media Gifting

Hey, Flock!  Genie here, and I'm starting to think about making Christmas gifts for my friends and family.  I probably should have started months ago, but I guess I'm just not that prepared.  ;)

If I can bear to part with it, this mixed media wood block will go to one of my aunts.  I come from a very crafty family, and we have quite a few talented sewists.  This idea has been bouncing around in my skull for a while, and the lovely colors in the Webster's Pages Spring Garden collection that came in my Flamingo Scraps Combination Warehouse Box were just what I needed to bring it to life.  A complete list of products used will follow.

 

 

I started with a 12x12 wood block and haphazardly placed a few pieces of an old pattern on it with Mod Podge (when I use a pattern up, or lose pieces, or whatever, they go into a drawer to be used in mixed media--I love the look!).  I tore a few pieces of the Webster's Pages and added those right on top, working them into the patterns for a lovely blend.

 

 

I mixed some teal Color Shine mist with some of the Mustard to make green, which I splattered on the Maya Road chipboard pieces with a paintbrush and then spritzed lightly on the surface of the patterns and papers.

 

 

It took some work to get the gorgeous, amazing, lovely, fabulous...(Oh, how I love those Webster's Trims!!) on the page, but with time and a LOT of Mod Podge, they stuck.  ;)  I wrapped some twine around my chipboard spools, stuck those down, added my text, and a Webster's fabric flower, and I was done.  I really love the simplicity and muted color palette of this one!  Thanks for looking, and I'll see you soon.  :)

 

Items used:

Warehouse Sale Box--Combination Box

From the box, I used some lovely Webster's Pages papers, trims and twine, from the Spring Market collection.

Maya Road Chipboard Sew Cute Mini

Heidi Swapp Color Shine Tropicana Teal

Heidi Swapp Color Shine Mustard

From my stash:  alphabets, wood block, pattern pieces, and art mediums.

Welcome Sophia Elizabeth!

Some dear friends of mine from church recently welcomed a new great-granddaughter, Sophia Elizabeth, born Feb. 14!  I was going off to Scrap and Spa, in Union Pier, Michigan, for my annual scrappy weekend and a mini album was the perfect project to take! 

I started with an 8x8 acrylic album I have had so long I don't remember the brand! I chose Crate Paper's Emma's Shoppe collection with lots of embellies from Flamingo Scraps and my stash.

I really love working with acrylics though it can be a challenge to work out both sides looking neat!!

This is my finished cover -- I fussy cut the princess, added Prima bling, buttons, and made a charm of their songbird tiles!

I just love the Studio Calico Wood Veneer Potty People on this page -- a Four Generation picture is so special!

I recently found an old manual typewriter at a thrift store -- $5 and a new ribbon and I was in business!
Here I made jewelry hang tags with time, weight, and length on them.
I made plenty of tags of all sizes to tuck behind photo mats and on pages!

The page on the left is Webster's Pages Sunday Picnic with Prima flowers and leaves.  It coordinated beautifully with Emma's Shoppe!

Prima Trinkets by Marion Smith, seambinding, garment pins, pearls, Maya Road Trinket Pins, Crate Paper Bingo Chips, and miscellaneous embellies and trims ornament these pages!

On the back cover, I used a Maya Road stamp.

One of my favorite things about making minis is lavishing ribbon and trims on the binding rings and tucking in charms!

My friends loved this little book and I had such fun making it!!  I got some other projects done while in Michigan -- can't wait to share them with you!  Thanks for Looking!

Upcycled Gift Card Holder

When I give a gift card, I like to place it in a homemade card or gift card holder.  It helps make an impersonal gift much more personal.  Here's one I made during the Fiskateers CHA-in-Spirit crop that I've been hosting this week:

From Flamingo Scraps: Fancy Pants patterned paper, Prima flower, Prima rhinestones

Other: ColorBox ink, Offray ribbon, Chevy's gift card, toilet paper roll

It was quick and easy to make.  Even better, it's been upcycled from a surprising item- an empty toilet paper roll!  This is not my original idea.  I'm not sure where I first heard of it, but if you google it you can find many variations.  Here's how I made mine:

Step 1: Use a bone folder to flatten an empty toilet paper roll.  Use a very strong adhesive to secure the bottom end of the tube closed.  I used the double-sided tape in the picture and it held for a few hours, then popped loose.  I tried a few other things and eventually used a glue gun. 

Step 2: Wrap the tube in patterned paper.  I recommend lots of adhesive for a strong hold.  Use a circle punch to create the indentations in the top. 

Step 3: Ink the edges and embellish as desired.

Step 4: Create a tag from matching patterned paper.  Add a ribbon and insert inside tube. 

Step 5: Use a Glue Dot to attach the gift card to the tag.  It's ready to give! 

Here's one more that I made.  This one is for a baby shower.

From Flamingo Scraps: Prima patterned paper and elephant accent

Other: Stampin' Up ink, Offray ribbon, Babies R Us gift card, toilet paper roll

I love how these turned out!  I can definitely see making more for future gift-giving occasions. 

Altered Frame

You could hear me scream for miles when Marion Smith, Educator and Designer for Prima Marketing, asked me to design something using her vintage trinkets line. I felt so honored, and wanted this to be perfect.
I decided to create this beautiful frame.

From Flamingo Scraps:  Prima Reflections Paper, Vintage Trinkets, Frame, and Flower; Tim Holtz Walnut Distress Ink; Cinnamon Stickles.
Other Supplies: Tim Holtz Broken China Distress Stains, glass beads.

I started with a simple wooden frame, and painted the base using the Tim Holtz Broken China stains, then edged the sides with walnut ink.  I chose my favorite Prima paper from the winter 2011 release – “Reflections” from the Reflections Collections to cover the frame.


With a second sheet of paper, I fussy cut the butterflies and flowers. This gives the paper a 3D effect, and really calls attention to this beautiful paper.



Then I framed the opposite edge with Marion’s vintage flower trinkets, Cherry Blossom Vines, and a few vintage Prima flowers. For an added "WOW factor, I cut a few petals from the large Vintage Trinket Flowers, strung some glass beads for the center and this beautiful butterfly was born.

Marion said "it's awesome", and that was all I needed to hear!

Guest DT Cindy deRosier: Heather's Housewarming Gift

While we are busy getting ready for CHA, our fabulous group of Guest Design Team members is going to inspire you some more this month!  Up first is Cindy with a fabulous project - enjoy! :)

We are not military, but one of the sad realities of living in a military community is that friends move away,  often with little notice. One of my close friends was recently transferred across the country to the Florida panhandle. They'd always rented in the past, but this time they bought their first home. I decided to make them a housewarming gift.

I knew I wanted to make some sort of wall hanging that could hang either indoors or outdoors. I found a ceramic heart from Provo Craft and painted it a creamy neutral. I cut their last name (Brown) from some BasicGrey cardstock (brown, of course!) and adhered the letters using Mod Podge. Then I gathered the following supplies:

I used the Key Lime Pie Glimmer Mist to dye the cord a nice leaf green color, then I glued the cord around the perimeter of the heart. I covered the whole thing with about 10 coats of Outdoor Mod Podge, waiting at least 15 minutes between coats. I'd never used the Outdoor variety before, but I'd heard that it dries tacky, even with the proper drying time. This was indeed the case, so I gave the heart a quick spray of Krylon to seal it. Perfect!

I really wanted to use a Prima flower on this project, but I wasn't sure how to weather-proof it in case Heather decided to hang this outdoors. Time to experiment! I got a test flower and brushed on a coat of the Mod Podge. Quite a bit of yellow came off on my brush. I tried dabbing (rather than brushing) and it worked much better. I was able to apply a thin coat that sealed the color in. I applied multiple coats to both front and back. The Mod Podge behaves differently on paper than on ceramic, as the flower wasn't tacky to the touch when I finished. It did have a very interesting texture- it almost felt like a rubbery plastic! I brushed the yellow ink pad over a pearl and added it to the center of the flower, then attached the whole thing to the heart. It looked pretty cute, but was definitely missing something. Then I remembered these beauties:

The color was wrong... would the Glimmer Mist solve the problem? Yes! They ended up exactly as I'd hoped. It's so satisfying when that happens! I used the same technique of dabbing on a primer coat of Mod Podge front and back, then added a bunch more finishing coats. For good measure, I sprayed the whole thing with two more coats of Krylon.

Here's the finished product:

Miss you, Heather!

To see more of Cindy's work, please visit her gallery!

Guest DT Janet Zeppa: Calendar Layout

I make my parents a calendar every year for Christmas and this is one of the pages. It's a layout of my sister and her DH.  It is a simple page without alot of dimension because my parents always tease that they will have to get a longer nail to hang up the calendar if I don't stop with the bulky embellishments! LOL!!



Patterned Paper and Stickers -- Sassafras Lass Indie Girl,
Prima pearls and flowers from FlamingoScraps. 
Other supplies -- Journal Tag GCD, Ranger Liquid Pearls



More of Janet's work can be seen here on her blog!