Watercoloring with Cut Out + Keep

This is one of my projects for Technique Tuesday at Cut Out + Keep.  I'm showing how easy it can be to watercolor a stamped image.  Love this cute little deer from Lawn Fawn!   If you want to see step-by-step including the grass, you can watch the video:



I'll show how to make this gusseted flap bag in my next post.  
Hope you had a fun Halloween!  Did you have many trick or treaters?  We didn't have very many this year.  It's amazing how many we used to have when Lauren was little.  One of us would take Lauren around and one of us would stay home to give out candy.  Oh, what sweet memories!  

Angora Watercolor

#3 Watercolor Brush

into the woods

InLinkz.com

Butterfly Envelopes

This is an oldie, but goodie - turning envelopes into treat bags.  I found these really cool Seventies envelopes at a flea market.  (It was more flea than market, but I did come away with some great stuff!)  Don't you love the orange and hot pink?

It couldn't be easier to turn your envelopes into a quick gift bag - perfect for a little treat or gift card - maybe both?

Seal the envelope (I use glue, instead of just licking it - want to make sure it stays sealed).

Then cut open one end - you can use pinking shears or decorative scissors.

Now what?  Just decorate!

This one already has some fun flowers.  I pinked across the top, clipped on a pretty butterfly and glued in a white doily on the inside.  Love it!

This one is a plain white envelope.  I wrapped wide washi tape around the bottom.  Holes are punched across the top and threaded with twine.  It got a pretty butterfly, too!

Need a quick gift bag?  Try an envelope!

Hope you're having a lovely week.  Happy you came by!

Life is Beautiful Dies

Petals %u2018n Posies Confetti Cuts

baby sequins

Peppermint Divine Twine

InLinkz.com

Baby + Stork

There's probably not anything sweeter than a baby.  I really enjoy making baby cards, but don't seem to do it that often.  This one was a request for a baby shower.

Not being sure what the baby is going to be, I opted for yellow.    I love this stamp!  It's really large and makes quite an impression.  It's from Woodware and I've got a couple left in my store.    I hand wrote Special Delivery and just dotted in the sky with a Copic marker.

I'm off tomorrow and need to do a couple of technique videos for Cut Out + Keep.  I'm looking forward to being a part of their Technique Tuesday program.

Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Paper Pumpkins + TV Experience!

Guess what?????  I was on TV yesterday morning!  YES, me!  Are you wondering why? 

 Promise - it wasn't a mug shot.  I got to do a craft segment on our local Rise and Shine morning program!

Out of the blue, I got an email from Sweeney PR Firm asking me if I would like to do a fall craft TV segment for JoAnn Fabric and Craft Stores.  At first, I thought "Yeah, right."  But I googled the firm and the person and they seemed legit.  Called and talked to a lovely lady who said they found me through my blog.  Fast forward a couple more days and I actually did it - LIVE!  I keep hoping they'll get the segment posted, when (and if) they do, I'll link to it for you to see.

It was a 5 minute segment, so the project had to be easy.  And, of course, I wanted it to be cute.  Answer:  Paper pumpkins, sweet and cute paper pumpkins.

These are so easy I've even done them with first graders.  You've probably made a paper chain and that's what these are, but instead of linked together, they are wrapped around each other.

Here's how:

For the large pumpkin, cut 4 strips 1 1/2" x 12.  For the medium pumpkin:  1" x 10 1/2.  For the small pumpkin:  1" x 9 1/2.

Place the ball on the strip diagonally.  Place it so that the open spaces align with the strip.

Add a stem and decoration.  These stems are made with wooden spools.  You could use corks, too.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Easy Halloween Lollipop Covers + Free Image

Stopping in today to show a really easy Halloween idea.  I'm getting ready for one of my show and sales on Sunday and I am super super busy!  I show Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas so ever spare moment is spent creating.

What's underneath those black cat images?  Orange Dum-Dums!   

Super easy to make:  

1. Download cat images below.
2.  Die cut circles.
3.  Glue circles together.  
4.  Glue to lollipop.  (I used a couple of glue dots and some Aleene's.)
5.  Tie on ribbon.

I was going to say as easy as 1 - 2 - 3.  But I guess it's as easy as 1 - 5.

Download black cats HERE.

If you downloaded the cute Black Cat Treat Box, these would work perfectly as part of the treats.

Update on Challenge:  You may have seen in the last post, that I couldn't tell who won.  I didn't know that "Pos #1" meant winner.   I just found that out today.   Pos #1 is Lisa Minkler!  Lisa did you get an email???

Happy October!

Candy Corn Jar

Hi, everybody!  How's your weekend been?  Mine has been lovely...having fun creating and enjoying the cooler weather.  We've had a little taste of fall.

Thank you to everyone who participated in Challenge #1!  It is now closed.
Okay, I have a confession:  I have no idea how to tell who won!   How embarrassing.   I thought I set it up for Inlinkz to random select a winner, but I can't tell if that it happened.  So...I just emailed them and hopefully, I'll know something soon.  But, it was awesome to have so many of you link up - I got to see the most wonderful fall projects.  I've still got a few of you to visit.  I will get there soon!

How about a quick, cute little project idea?

I love the colors of candy corn and even though I don't really want to eat a lot of them (one or two does it for me),they still make me smile!

Let me give you a few tips I figured out while putting this together:  

You want the top to be somewhat sturdy.  It's a little hard to see but I've got a black scallop circle out of 100 lb cardstock under the top tag.  The double layer of cardstock really helps it sit on top of the jar just right.  

Then you want to scrunch the cupcake wrapper tight around the top of the jar.  

The last tip is to twist your ribbon to make it thinner.  I had a hard time tying the ribbon around the cupcake wrapper,  But when I figured out to make the ribbon thinner, it tied around the cupcake wrapper much easier.  The other thing you can do is to put a little bit of glue on the opposite side of where the ribbon is going to be to hold the ribbon on.


The candy corn image I used to create my tag is a freebie.  You can find it HERE.

Well, hopefully I'll find out who won the gift certificate for Challenge #1 soon!  Thank you for your patience with me while I work through my Linky ignorance!  

Have a lovely week!

Free Silhouette Image + Halloween Party Winners!

Hi, there!  Are you about ready for another work week?  Hope you've had a lovely weekend!

Speaking of lovely...this silhouette certainly is:

Isn't her dog sweet?  I was lucky to find such a darling vintage card!  I've got her and the sentiment ready for you to download.  

You can download the silhouette and sentiment HERE.

You can tell that I cut the girl and her dog out of the card.  Love how the texture of the original card came through. 

The Halloween Party was great fun and WOW!  there were a lot of wonderful projects!  Hope you had fun!   Now to announce the winners!!

Lawn Fawn Pillowbox and Peek-A-Bat Dies:  Jennifer Scull

The Cutting Cafe Three Sets of Your Choice:  2amscrapper

The Funkie Junkie $25.00 gift certificate:  cm (carol)

My Mega Party Giveaway:  Lisa

Congratulations to all of you!  I always wish I could give a prize to everyone - thank you to all of you that left such sweet comments!!

If you are a winner, email me(you can click on the email on my sidebar) and I'll get back with you on the details of collecting your prize.

Want one more chance to win?  The challenge is open until October 3rd.  You can find all the details HERE.

Have a wonderful week!

Doily Circle Die

InLinkz.com