Blog Giveaway! Ends Sat. June 6th/2009

I love paper crafts. In fact I have a confession....I'm a "junkie"! One thing I love is how simple it can be to make some of your own at home and dress up a simple package to give as a gift. Imagine packaging up and giving your child's teacher a thank you gift with this little apple tag hanging from it? In fact I'd string it on pretty ribbon and put a big black "A+" on it. This lovely embellishment comes 12 to a set. They are made of vintage children's books and high quality cardstock. For $2 a set, that is a steal! Carole from Reduxredux has graciously offered a set, up for grabs for this blog giveaway! What do you have to do to win? Just visit her shop here and come back to my blog and list one item you like here in the comments section. The lucky winner will be randomly picked on Sat. June 6th/2009. While you are there please check out her 3D Animal Treat Bag Toppers....too cute!

*UPDATE* I was trying to install Random.org's number generator on here without any success since I am far from being tech savvy! Anyhow prior to doing so I tested it out and it picked a winner from the comments list.

Congratulations Deedles! Please contact us within 48 hours to claim your prize, otherwise another winner will have to be picked. Once again congratulations and we look foreward to hearing from you to get your shipping address.

Large Chipboard Magnets....Coming Soon!

So I'm always dreaming up new ways to craft and stock my Etsy shop. I would say its an obsession right now. I have so many ideas but not nearly enough time in the day or days itself to make everything I think of. But one of my ideas I did tackle was making these cute chipboard magnets! I absolutely loved the way they turned out and wanted to share them with you! The first one I made was the "Oh So Sweet" cupcake. Oh man, did I stare at it for hours when I finished my yummy little project. Than I decided to move on to my "Home Sweet Home" magnet followed by my last but my favorite chipboard magnet..."Toxic Love" magnet. That one was the most fun for me to create. I just hand sketched a design I wanted to do, painted my chipboard, cut out scrapbook paper for the heart and cross bones, doodled on the entire image and than covered it with thick glaze not to mention attached a magnet to the back. Each chipboard magnet is fairly big, it measures approx 2.5 inches or larger. I'm going to start listing these in my Etsy shop found here starting on Monday or Tuesday. As usual custom designs are available if you have something in mind so just contact me. I would love to hear some ideas from all of you out there on what I should design. Please post your ideas in the comments section. One of these days I might even host another give away with one of these (or a chipboard magnet made using one of the ideas from the comments section) as the prize. As usual, have a happy crafty day!

Free Chick Chic Bookmark Printable

"Tweet, tweet".....do i hear little baby chic's tweeting? Sure do! I don't go scouring the internet for free printables but for some reason I always find them. So when I stumbled across this one found here I just knew I had to blog about it and share my find with the world of crafters! If you click on the link you will find a picture tutorial on how to print out the page and how to properly cut it these fabulous bookmarks. Another thing I like is you have the option of printing and cutting ALL the chic's in every color at once or you can print and cut the color(s) you chose one at a time. Say you only want the orange ones....no problem! No need to waste in a time when many of us are trying to go green! A cute idea I thought of is that you can print out a set, put them in a small square jewelry box, wrap it in some nice paper and coordinating ribbon and give them out as small inexpensive gifts to your co-workers, child's teacher, soccer coach, neighbors etc. I would print them out on glossy heavy duty cardstock and perhaps even laminate them if I were to give them out. But than again they're so cute I might just hoard them for myself! If you have a unique creative idea on how to package and gift these, I would love to hear your comments.

DIY Daisy Pops Tutorial

What woman in your life would not like getting a bouquet of these? I found a tutorial to make these edible daisy bouquets here. These little breaths of sunshine are so easy to make which is always a bonus right?! They use Wilton candy melts which are readily available in most bake shop supply stores and Michaels craft stores. You can make them and than decorate them any which way you like. I like the picture at the bottom left showing the pops in a green canister with a bow! Or how about wrapping each pop individually with cellophane baggies like the one pictured at the bottom right and grouping off a dozen or so and wrapping one big bow on them. You can give it as an entire bouquet. Just add a little card to it and voila....you have an instant gift! My only problem with these is I don't know if I could help eating the whole bunch before they get to their destination!

Felt Passport Pocket

I am forever at a loss of finding things in my big overloaded purse. If I have to find my lipstick I have to take out everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING ie. feminine products) for the world to see before I can retrieve what it was I was looking for in the first place! So I absolutely LOVED this when I saw it! It is a felt passport pocket. It is bright and vibrant enough that I can see it in my avalanche of a bag and I won't have to take everything else out! What is also cool about this is you can customize the passport pocket to have your name on it (up to six letters)! The seller also has other pockets for other things in the shop. If you need one for a pocket mirror (and what girl doesn't?), they have that! Also another really cute one is the atm/debit card pockets. There are many different styles to chose from. I particularly love the one's with buttons on them. If you have been following my blog and peeking into my Etsy shop here you all know how much I love buttons! I couldn't help but imagine my wobbly chipboard epoxy buttons on these adorable little pockets. Anyhow if you plan on traveling soon and want to purchase one of these, why not head over to Jeynreyn's shop on Etsy found here and pick up one. They also make really cute gifts.

Topsy Turvy Cake Tutorial

One of the things I'm so in awe of are these topsy turvy cakes, also known as Mad Hatter cakes. Something about them reminds me of Willy Wonka, Dr. Suess, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory all rolled up into one. I guess its their whimsical fun design. I found this one on Flickr and could not help but blog about it. You can find a few more cakes of other types here if you want to look at this member's Flickr pool. If you would like to see more of just the topsy turvy style of cakes than click here. One thing I have always wondered about is how do they get the cake to remain stable? It honestly looks like something that can fall apart. Little did I realize it truly is an illusion and only gives the appearance that one of the tiers will/can slide off. Believe it or not, the trick is real simple. It just involves carving a circle into the cake below the tier you plan to add on. So the second and each additional tier sits flat yet gives the illusion of sliding off. Don't understand? No problem....just click here for an awesome step by step tutorial with pictures on how to make one of these types of cakes. If you have ever made one of these cakes or plan to from the tutorial please comment here with a link to a picture. I would love to see what you come up with. Happy baking!

Just Listed in my Shop....Tropical Flower Chipboard Button Embellishments

Its been awhile since I worked on my wobbly chipboard/epoxy button embellishments. So I finally got around to making a number of sets including these Tropical Flower style. I just love the colors....the vibrant red, bright sea blue, and lemony lime greens. As you can see, my button embellishments are layered with a thick shiny gloss that gives it a glass like look to them. I made sure to layer the glaze on thick as you can see better in the second picture. You can find these buttons here amongst other styles. I will be listing more sets in the following days. Now you may be asking how you can use them. I must mention that these are not made for clothing items that need to be washed since it is a paper crafting product. Clothing items not needing washing ie. hats, hair bands etc. are fine. These can be used in multiple ways. I put these on my scrapbook page layouts but people who make handmade cards can also put them on as embellishments. Awhile ago I made one of those coffee cup sleeves out of bright felt and used a Prima flower as an accent piece on it with one of these as the center to give it a little pop! They can also be used for packaging design. One of my customers said she plans on wrapping items in her Etsy shop in colorful tissue paper and than attaching one of these to the package for presentation.

You can also use them for:

other paper crafts
altered art
hair band/clip accents
hand made journal accents
anything that you can sew it onto
etc.

I should mention that these have a slightly tacky adhesive backing so you can stick them onto things but if you prefer them without the sticky backing, just let me know. As always my items can be customized. I can make a set in any color and you can suggest what type of doodling you would like to have on it. You can convo me through my Etsy shop here or you can contact me via this blog. Have a happy crafty day!

*UPDATE* these lovely chipboard buttons have sold out in my shop. Should you wish to custom order a set like this please convo me through my shop (link provided above).

DIY Key Holder Tutorial

My keys are forever being misplaced! When I come home since we don't have small hallway table at the door I usually put them down anywhere I see a spot. The problem is when I go looking for them....it seems they ususally sprout a pair of legs and simply walk off! I swear that happens! So I have to find a way to stop this problem. So when I was browsing one of my favorite blogs...."How About Orange", my prayers were answered! Jessica posted this practical yet cute step by step tutorial on how to make a key holder here. Whats awesome is this can also double as a coat hanger. Make two in coordinating colors or prints and hang by the door....one for the coats and one for the keys. You can also make a few for your child's room. There are so many ways you can use these! I can't wait to go make my own now!

Free Printable Grocery List

Ever go to the grocery store and kick yourself in the chops for forgetting something that was important? Of course you have! So when I found this simple yet cute solution on this site I couldn't help but share! Abby from "A Feathered Nest" has been kind enough to post this up on her blog. What I like about this printable (other than the fact that it is free!) is that it has a "Menu" list. You can figure out ahead of time what you want to serve your family for dinner everyday and shop accordingly. Just print these off and stick to your fridge with a magnet. If you're in the market for a set of whimsical magnets than you'll want to take a look at these cute "Wobbly Chipboard/Epoxy Button Magnets" sold in sets of four here. There are many different styles to chose from in the shop. You can even get a set custom made if you don't see what you like.

DIY Spring Bouquet of Flowers

I love any craft that uses up my scrapbooking supplies and has another use for it other than scrapbooking. Every scrapbooker usually has the staples like some type of flowers (felt or Prima brands!), buttons, and ribbons. And if you are not an avid scrapbooker like me with these things lying around, no big deal, they are cheap and inexpensive to purchase at any craft store (do I hear you saying Michaels out loud to yourself right now?!). Find the instructions here to make this lovely spring bouquet of flowers. Love this tutorial? Please let me know by commenting!