Category Tutorials

simple how-to’s

Mar 15 2018

“Memories” Wall Hanging

Who uses Pinterest? I do, and ALOT. I’ve got TONS of boards pinned. From scrapbooking and crafts, to food and home decor. I have so much pinned that I tend to forget to TRY something. Whether its a new craft or idea for a scrapbook page, to a new recipe.

So I had this wall hanging decor item pinned to one of my craft boards for several months and I thought to myself “I can make this!”. I even printed it out and saved it to try. Months went by and last week I finally said “Let’s DO this!”. I wanted a new way to display some sweet photos of Jeffrey.

To give credit where credit is due, the wall hanging decor was created by DT Debbie Sherman from Clear Scraps. You can check out the original blog post here.

I went to Hobby Lobby last Thursday and picked up my materials: wooden wall hanging, twine (looks like jute), acrylic paint and mini clothespins.

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I was going to sand, stain and then put 2-3 coats of paint on it, but changed my mind as I thought the rustic look would go well with the Jeffrey photos I had chosen. Especially the ones of him outside. I decided to sand down only the really rough spots, skip the staining and only went with one coat of acrylic paint. Once dried, I really loved how it looked!

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I didn’t have an actual stencil that spelled out the word “Memories”, so I used my Cricut to cut one out. I had to use 2 coats of white acrylic paint to achieve the look I wanted.

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Once that dried, I stapled the twine to the back of the wood.

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I even painted the mini clothespins in white. I had to let those dry before attaching my photos.

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I really love how this came out! And the beauty of the clothespins..I CAN change out the photos. Easily. Quickly and as frequently as I want.

TFL! 🙂

Jan 1 2017

January Use It or Lose It Challenge

Good morning and Happy New Year! Hope you all have had a wonderful time spending it with loved ones. We will be having our Christmas get-together with my family today because my BFF was on call during Christmas. Really didn’t want to have two separate parties.

Last month, despite it being a very busy Holiday-month, I did pretty darn good using my stash. Here is what was used up last month:

  • Cloud 9 Design Rain Dots
  • Basic Grey Christmas brads
  • Basic Grey Fact or Fiction banners
  • Heidi Swapp paper pack
  • Making Memories metal words
  • Bella Blvd “Just add color”
  • CTMH collection pack

What I didn’t get a chance to use but will try it ONE more time this month are:

  • Pebbles gold glittered chipboard words
  • Reminisce “Its a dogs life” stickers

There was a couple of items from November that I got to use up as well:

  • Bling – different shades of purple
  • pre-made white bow

What I didn’t use and will be put in the bin is the LYB pocket with strips.

Okay..so new month AND new year. I have decided to pull my Cricut Carts out and challenge myself to use them. Now…I won’t “lose them”, but I do want to try my best at using each cart at least 3 times.

I counted and I have 12 physical cricut cartridges! Perfect! One for each month!

My physical Cricut carts are as follows:

  1. All Sports
  2. Freshly Picked
  3. Paper Doll Dress Up
  4. Storybook
  5. Opposites Attract
  6. Printing 101
  7. Picturesque
  8. Phrases
  9. Pink Journey
  10. My Quiet Book
  11. Creative Holiday Cards
  12. Bridal & Baby Soirees

I also have digital cartridges available via the Cricut Craft Room (CCR). Those are as follows:

  1. Cricut Alphabet **
  2. CCR Basics **
  3. Cricut Font/Basic Shapes **
  4. Formal Occasion
  5. H2O
  6. Life’s a Party
  7. Mustaches/Glasses
  8. Paper Pups

The digital carts marked with ** are the ones that automatically come available with CCR. I didn’t buy them. Also, Cricut will offer a free cartridge digitally for a week or so. Those are listed as they differ all the time.

So for this month, I’m pulling the “All Sports” cartridge and will use the Cricut Alphabet also.

Wish me luck and as always, I’ll try to stop by periodically throughout the month to showcase how I used those carts.

Jun 26 2015

Happy Girl

I kind of needed a break from the new homeowner’s layouts I’ve been working on, so I immediately grabbed photos that I had printed from my phone earlier in the year. And today, those pictures are about Miss Penny Lane!

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This layout is based on Bo Bunny’s June Sketch Challenge. I used Bo Bunny “Hello Sunshine” collection (pattern papers, chipboard pieces, alphas, and bling). Cardstock is DCWV, “Be You” sticker is from MAMBI. Here is the sketch:

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I pretty much stuck to the sketch pretty well, minus the title area. I skipped the layered banner strips and opted for a larger title and the chipboard pieces. Isn’t that bee adorable?

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This layout is also for MMC #1 6/22 at ACOT. We were to use washi tape and create our own stickers! Fun little tutorial, which you can find right here (Thanks Laura for the challenge!). Here is a close-up of one of those washi punch-outs:

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And before picture:

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I used a 2″ scalloped punch from The Paper Studio and the blue mesh washi tape is from Love My Tapes!

TFL! 🙂

Aug 25 2013

Tutorial: Wooden Christmas Ornament

Its crazy that its only 4 months before Christmas. Where has the time flown?! Over at A Cherry On Top, the Guest Designer has a Christmas Challenge that could basically be anything you want. Layout, cards, altered object, etc. I’m all caught up with Christmas layouts, and I’m not that great at creating Christmas Cards, so I figured I’d do an altered object. I have a box of wood samples that my hubby brought home because at his old job, they were throwing them away because they were being “discontinued”. They are 2.75″ by 3.25″, not large enough for coasters, but I thought they’d be perfect for ornaments! If you’d like to do some on your own, you can get wood samples at your local hardware store or flooring store.

This is what I started off with:

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I also grabbed my supplies – paper, die cuts, Mod Podge, and some stamps/ink:

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You could use whatever you want. I have lots of Christmas scrap paper and I am using SEI’s “Holiday Cheer” paper and die cut mitten. First you need to either trace the wood sample onto your paper, or you can just measure it. Whatever is easiest for you. You want to cover the wood sample with Mod Podge

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Then cover the wood with paper. Make sure things even up. Let it dry for about 10 minutes. You might get some paper hanging off the sides of the wood. That is okay. You can sand them off. I use a sand paper block I got at the hardware store:

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Now its time to decorate it! You can use stamps, rub-ons, stickers, die cuts, whatever you like. For this one, I used the die cut mitten and “Merry & Bright” stamp:

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You can continue decorating it by using bling, washi tape, ribbon, etc. I used American Craft’s Zazz! glitter glue in Crimson to bring out the zig zag on the die cut mitten. I let it dry before turning it over to put the ribbon on the back (using my glue gun):

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These are so easy to make – and will make quick gifts too. And it’ll make a great use for all those Christmas scraps you have laying around!