10/29/2010

Friday Freebie - Halloween template

Last fall I created a traditonal scrapbook page about our playgroup's Halloween party - Halloween '09.  I've recreated the design in a digital format to share.  The 12x12 template features 11 layers for masking photos & papers complete with "inked" edges on the paper layers.  Also included are the black cardstock background paper (separate .png file) and 2 title layers - one reads "halLoweeN '10" and the other "halLoweeN '09". 

Click here to download the 12x12 Halloween Template

Enjoy!

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10/28/2010

Ghost Footprint

Our playgroup has two craft projects lined up for today.  One of which is making this adorable Ghost Footprint plaque (inspired by Becky's Ghostly Handprints post on The Crafting Chicks blog):


Dylan & I went ahead and completed his so we could help show the group what to do.  It's a lot of fun, very easy and inexpensive. 

Supplies
  • 5x7 wooden plaque (or similar sized canvas ... needs to be large enough to fit your child's footprint)
  • black & white acrylic paint 
  • paint brushes and a cotton swab
  • sandpaper
  • Mod Podge
  • orange ribbon
  • beading wire (or similar to help create the hanger)
  • staple gun


Start by painting the plaque black.  Let it dry completely.  If desired, sand the edges a bit to give a more distressed look.  Apply white paint to the bottom of your child's foot (note: I had Dylan strapped into his highchair and a wet paper towel ready so he didn't leave white footprints all over the house!) and press foot to the plaque.  Set the plaque aside to dry and wipe the foot clean.  Once the footprint has dried, use a cotton swab and black paint to add the dots for the eyes and mouth.  After these have dried, apply Mod Podge to seal.


While waiting for the Mod Podge to dry (follow instructions on the bottle), cut a piece of ribbon about 2 feet in length and tie a bow in the middle.  Attach it to the back of the plaque using a staple gun. 


My original plan was to use the ribbon as the hanger, but I didn't like how it looked.  Thus, the addition of the wire.  You can add the two simultaneously if you want.  I found it easy, once the ribbon was in place, to loop the wire through the knot in the center and then staple each end to the plaque.  I then pulled the wire up and twisted it onto itself to finish.


That's it! Now you can hang your completed project on the wall.  Enjoy!

10/27/2010

{Made by Me} Wednesday

It's time for another round of {Made by Me} Wednesday.  With less than 2 months until Christmas, this stunning card Bonnie from Stamping with Klass shared last week has me inspired to get started on my cards:


Join in this week's {Made by Me} Wednesday fun by adding a link to your creative project below (linky tool is open until Tuesday, November 2nd).  Share anything (cards, decor, scrapbooking, sewing, etc) even if it was made last year.  So long as it's new to the party and made by you, it qualifies.  Looking forward to seeing what you've made!



This linky list is now closed.

10/25/2010

L Birthday Card

Simple card I created for a friend's birthday earlier in the month:


Supplies: white card; Autumn Leaves & KI Memories patterned papers; Fiskars border punch; StazOn stamp ink; miscellaneous ribbon; Making Memories letter charm.  Inspired by September A Year in Cards at Two Peas.

10/22/2010

Ganyard Hill Farm

Our playgroup visited Ganyard Hill Farm in Durham earlier this month for a bit of fall fun.  The boys had a great time on the slides, playing in the corn crib and taking a hay ride.  At the end each got to pick their own pumpkin right out of the patch.


Supplies: Kate Teague's Just the Photos 5: "edges" template; Sara Schmutz's Delight digital papers 3; Holly Jones's Leafy Border; Giddyup Std and Times New Roman fonts.

10/20/2010

{Made by Me} Wednesday

Last week's {Made by Me} Wednesday projects have me in a creative holiday mood....

Beautiful, inexpensive holiday decor from Handmade by Annabelle (I love thrifty crafty decor):

A crinkly snowflake card from Stamping With Klass (I had no idea embossing vellum would make such a cool effect!):

Join in this week's {Made by Me} Wednesday fun by adding a link to your creative project below.  Share anything (cards, decor, scrapbooking, sewing, etc) as long as you made it.  Looking forward to seeing what you've made!



This linky list is now closed.

10/18/2010

Owl Halloween Cards

Eager to play with my new Fox & Friends stamp set, I took inspiration from Bonnie's Step it Up a Notch and the Two Peas Challenge: 15 & 30 Minutes Card to create these cards:


I cut a single sheet of cardstock in half and scored it to create the base for both cards.  Then I cut equal size pieces of the background paper, inked the edges, punched the circles and stamped the owls.  I glued each white circle to the scalloped circle.  Then I put together the first card - gluing the patterned paper to the card and attaching the owl embellishment with adhesive backed foam.  For the second card, I "stepped it up a notch" (to quote Bonnie) by adding the black & white patterned paper and the ribbon.  I also gave the owl a little bling (hard to see in the photo) by coloring over the stamped image with Stickles.

Supplies: Stampin' Up! cardstock (tangerine tango), Fox & Friends stamp set, and Basic Black ink; white cardstock; Stickles by Ranger Industries; QuicKutz circle die; EK Success scalloped punch; Fiskars and American Crafts patterned papers; adhesive backed foam; Ribbon from Target dollar spot.

10/15/2010

Disney Halloween 2008

Quick layout of a few photos I took of the Halloween decorations in the Magic Kingdom in 2008:



Supplies: Cherie Mask's Thrilling October kit; Jen Allyson's Halloween Freebie kit; EK Success patterned paper (scanned & recolored); 2paws Designs scalloped edge strip; Angelina font. Inspired by SpookCraftular Challenge #3 at Two Peas (scraplift Shannon Tidwell's Halloween Night Fight layout) and the October Swatch Challenge at Design House Digital.

10/13/2010

{Made by Me} Wednesday

I love the talent & variety shared on {Made by Me} Wednesday.  My fabrics have been shelved momentarily as I work on other things, but these projects make me want to go running for them and my sewing machine:

Amy Butler Chelsea Tote from Go Dansker:

Sweet Little Halloween Rag Basket from Handmade by Annabelle:

What have you been working on? Share a creative project old or new by adding your link below using Linky Tools (closes on Tuesday, Oct 19th at 11:59pm).  Please link directly to the post featuring your project.  Then visit other posters and show some comment love.  We all love visitors and comments, right?  And we're sure to all be inspired.

Don't forget to link to the party.  The bigger it gets, the more fun inspiration for us all.  You can add a simple text link or use this button: 

Copy and paste this HTML coding to your blog or website:


So what are you waiting for?  Join in!

Don't forget to check back next Wednesday for a new round of {Made by Me} Wednesday.  I'll be featuring a few of the links from this week.  I can't wait to see what you've made!



This linky list is now closed.

10/11/2010

DIY: Personalized Birthday Vase

One of my dear friends celebrated her 30th birthday yesterday.  On Saturday night, her husband threw a surprise party for her and a few of us girls worked ahead of time to add some special decorations to the table.  Since the gathering was at a restaurant, we needed to limit our decorations to the table.  The final idea consisted of 3 flower arrangements and 4 framed black & white photographs of the guest of honor.

The centerpiece was this flower arrangement:


It was inspired by this post I saw on The Chase Gang blog.  I loved the simple look of the decorative band with the year on it and the pop of the red flowers.  Here's how I recreated the look (click on any image to see it larger):

I started by designing the year tag.  My scalloped circle punch is 1.5 inches so it set the size for all the pieces.  Using Photoshop, I created a new page sized at 2 inches by 2 inches, 300dpi and placed guidelines at 1 inch horizontal & vertical to mark the center.  Using the elliptical shape tool, I placed a 1.375" red circle in the center.


Next I added a new layer and repeated the elliptical shape.  This time filling the circle black and sizing it down to 1.25". 

Now that I had both circles, I needed to add the dotted outline.  To do this, I created another new layer and this time added a 1.125" elliptical path.  Then selected the brush tool.  In the brushes palette, I chose to use a 9px brush with spacing at 200%.


Next, in the Paths palette, I click the button for "Stroke path with brush."  This automatically placed all those nice dots precisely around the tag. 


Then I added the number '30' in Edwardian Script font, centered it in the circle and printed the image out on photo paper.


Finally, I flipped my scalloped punch upside down and place the printed image in it right side up.  This way I could see that the two were aligned as I punched out the design.


For the decorative band, I couldn't find any patterned papers in my stash that were "just right."  Instead I grabbed a sheet of 12" solid black cardstock and cut a strip out that was 1.25" in height.  I set it out onto a piece of scrap paper, pulled out a swirl stamp and white stamp ink then randomly stamped the swirls all over the paper.


Once the stamp ink was dry, I wrapped the band around the vase for a "test" fit.  I lightly marked in pencil where the overlapping end hit the strip.  Removed the band.  Added adhesive to secure it into a circle and set it aside to let it firm up.  A short time later I attached the year tag using adhesive foam squares and slid the band back onto the vase.  Another friend added flowers and ta-da - a beautiful, personalized decoration & gift.

Supplies: glass vase; black cardstock; Autumn Leaves acrylic stamps - Rhonna Farrer's swirls v1; Stampin' Up! white craft ink; adhesive; photo paper; EK Success scalloped circle punch; Edwardian Script font.

10/08/2010

Swimming with Friends

Our playgroup enjoying a swim indoors last April: 


I used a template to arrange the elements and created the fish embellishment using a shape in Photoshop, embossing it and adding a border using the stroke command.

Supplies: Simple Starts No. 2 template by Jen Martakis; Carina Gardner's Paisley v1 kit; Kate Teague's Vacation Holiday kit; Sara Schmutz's School Is In Session Paper Pack 2; Laina Lamb's Catch a Wave border; Pooh & Angelina fonts.

10/06/2010

{Made by Me} Wednesday

Welcome to week 3 of {Made by Me} Wednesday!  Did you see the great projects that were shared last week?  Take a look:

Beautiful child's poncho & tutorial from Just Make It: Handmade by Annabelle:

A stunning card from Stamping with Klass:

Now share yours with us!  Join the party by adding your link below using Linky Tools (closes on Tuesday, Oct 12th at 11:59pm).  Please link directly to the post featuring your project.  Then visit other posters and show some comment love.  We all love visitors and comments, right?  And we're sure to all be inspired.

Don't forget to link to the party.  The bigger it gets, the more fun inspiration for us all.  You can add a simple text link or use this button: 

Copy and paste this HTML coding to your blog or website:


So what are you waiting for?  Join in!

Don't forget to check back next Wednesday for a new round of {Made by Me} Wednesday.  I'll be featuring a few of the links from this week.  I can't wait to see what you've made!



This linky list is now closed.

10/04/2010

Fire Safety Day

On Saturday, Trent & I took Dylan to Morrisville's Fire Safety Day.  We not only got an up close look at fire engines, Dylan climbed up in one with Trent and he assisted a fireman in shooting the hose at a "burning" building.  I used a template by Kate Teague to quickly place several photos of the fun:


Supplies: Kate Teague's Just the Photos 5: "edges" template; Miss Mint's Kindergarten Crafts kit; Rhonna Farrer's Celebration kit; Batik Regular & Times New Roman fonts.

10/01/2010

Rainy Day Fun

This week has brought plenty of rain which we needed (although not quite as much as we received) and mostly trapped Dylan and me indoors.  We ventured out a bit to splash in the puddles early in the week (note to self: we need to get him a good pair of rain boots).  But I digress, the real story here is the fun we had yesterday afternoon.  Who says you can't have a good, dirt filled adventure in the rain?

The pickle pot at our front door had a beautiful arrangement that I bought in the spring and managed to keep alive through the summer.  A very hot September, a forgetful waterer (yes, that would be me) plus a vacation led to this:

Not exactly a warm greeting on our porch.  Looking over the October issue of Better Homes & Gardens (how I love this magazine!), I saw
the perfect solution.  Admittedly, I regularly see ideas in their issues and have great intentions of following through and trying them, but instead life gets in the way.  This time, I decided to seize the rainy day and find a bit of adventure for Dylan and me.  The idea looked simple enough - I needed a pot (check), sedum (check - it was grown from a clipping from my mom's plant and desperately in need of a new pot), ivy and pansies.

Off Dylan and I went to purchase our supplies. I arranged it all at the end of our driveway with the pot in the grass.  This way we wouldn't be standing in the soggy yard, but also could just brush our extra dirt into the grass and not have to sweep up.

My little assistant had a blast playing with the trowel and dirt:

After we finished, I returned the pickle pot to it's location with the "welcome" rabbit next to our front door and added 2 pumpkins my step-father grew in his garden for Dylan.  We were both a wet, muddy mess but it was worth it for the fun we had.  Today the sun reappeared in time for a photo of our much more welcoming entrance: