The Homemade Gift Card Sleeve

Unfortunately I was too deep in thought to remember to take pictures as I went along.......So all I have to show is the final product.

I have to admit that as much as I love gift card holders/sleeves, some of them are kind of lame and it becomes redundant when you get several of the same gift card...so I like to spice it up and make mine different and more personal.

If you're interested in making your own gift card sleeves, this is what you need:
-Stamps & Ink
-Scrapbook paper/cardstock/old cards
-Pencil crayons
-Thin felt-tip pen(s)
-Glue/glue dots
-Scissors
-Accents (i.e. cricut cutouts, gems, glitter, stickers, ribbon, etc.)
-An old gift card holder
-Pencil
-Hot chocolate & Baileys or a glass of Wine (optional)

The first thing I always do, is I get one of my old gift card holders and take it apart.  Now, when I say I take it apart, I just make sure I un-attach where the gift card is glued.  I flatten it out, place it on the paper or cardstock I want to use and trace it.  Then I cut it out and make the folds where it will be glued.  The rest is up to you!  Add greetings, sayings or quotes, stamp or glitter it up, and have fun!  Once you've jazzed up your sleeves, glue at the folds and throw in your gift cards!

These were the ones I created this year:

My dad even complimented me on the one he got!  He NEVER does that!  So I  must have done an okay job!

Happy Crafting!

A.A.

One of the little Christmas gifts I made this year!

So I'm a total tool and deleted all the pics off my camera.... (urgh!).
I'm having a really good start to the day......and it's not even Monday......Awesome.....

Anyways...onto the post....

I made a couple of these cute little bulbs for Christmas.  I made one for my best friend's brother, another for my Dad, and I have one more kickin' around here for a future gift perhaps....

This is a super cute, super easy, inexpensive gift to put together for the men in your life that either have a moustache or enjoy participating in Movember.  And I guarantee they will enjoy it!

This is what you need: A ceramic or glass Christmas bulb (grab 'em when they're 50% off ;)) and a black Sharpie.  You could also always throw a ribbon or bow at the top as well if you wish.

This is what you do: Take your sharpie and draw a moustache where you wish on your bulb.  Then, write "Stashing through the snow" somewhere on your bulb.  Easy, right?  You're done!  See!  I told you it was easy!  Quick, easy, and inexpensive!  It's the perfect gift!  I placed my moustache and my words in different places on all of the bulbs I made just to see what I liked best.  You can get creative with the lettering and placement to jazz them all up and make them all slightly different.  And, if the gift is for an older male, you can always do the writing and drawing with a silver Sharpie.  Not that I'm suggesting or implying anything..... ;)

Here's one of my final products!

And here is the one I gave to my dad on the tree.  He LOVED it!

A.A.

More Crayon Art....

So I was in an artistic mind-set yesterday and decided to do another crayon art.  This time the subject was little owls.  I think owls are so cute!  This one isn't for work..but I'm hoping to create a couple more pieces over the break.....

By now you probably know how this works.....

1. Sketch out the project.
2. Glue the crayons on the canvas.
3. Melt the crayons with a hair dryer.
4. Paint the rest of the picture.
5. Varnish (optional).

I meant to take an image of the original sketch with the crayons placed on it...but I just kept going without thinking.....

So here is what the project look like near the beginning.....

And a little farther on....

And here is the final product!

Enjoy!


A.A.

Easy Peasy Christmas Gift

So I'm posting this one up here before Christmas because my Grandma is almost 90 years old, she doesn't own a cell phone, nor does she own a computer.  So I know I'm safe and she won't see her gift before Christmas.

I've always seen those DIY Christmas bulbs...but I had never made any myself...so...while they were 50% off....I figured what the heck!  I'd use them between this year and next for sure!

So I bought the small, clear, glass, heart-shaped bulbs, and the large round ones as well.  Why not, right?

All you need is: Acrylic paint, clear Christmas bulbs, and a Sharpie.

First, take off the top of the bulb.  Start by slowly squeezing a few drops of the paint into the bulb. Move the bulb if you like so that the paint spreads.  It's up to you.  I know there are a lot of different techniques you can use for this particular craft.  I like experimenting though and finding out for myself....Once you're satisfied, begin squeezing other colours of paint into the bulb and rotate the bulb around so that the paint spreads.  Once you're happy with how it looks, it needs to sit (without the bulb cap on) for several days.  Mine took almost a week to dry out.  I also had to tip it upside down to dump extra paint out (I went a little paint "happy" - oops!).

This is what it looks like near the beginning....

Once the bulbs were dry, I just added a couple of little words with my Sharpie.  I had planned on putting some glittery snowflakes I used to have....but I've misplaced them....Oops.....

This is the final product!

Easy, right?!

A.A.

Cute Little Winter Treat!

I hate this...I have a couple of little projects/gifts that I've made in the past month or so....but I can't post them yet.....I can't post pictures.....yet.....with my luck, if I did post pictures..... the receivers of the gifts would check my blog out and see what they were getting!

So I've got a little post to tie you over...

I made these a few weeks ago for Christmas party #1 and they were a hit! (and tasted good too!).

They take some time to decorate, and you need to be patient and have a steady hand.....but they're totally worth it!

Here's what you'll need:
-Sugar cookie mix/ingredients
-Large marshmallows
-Icing (I used: black, orange, green, brown)
-Vanilla icing
-Cooking spray

Here's how to make 'em!:

1. Bake some sugar cookies (I used the Betty Crocker Sugar cookie mix - I wasn't making them from scratch when I knew it would take a while to decorate them....).
2.  After the cookies are baked and cooled, fill a bowl with vanilla icing and put it in the microwave to melt the icing so that it becomes a liquid.  I used a small bowl and only put a bit of icing in at a time - it only took about 30 seconds to melt a small bowl.
3. Take a spoon or small ladle and slowly pour a small amount of icing onto each cookie.  If you melt the icing it gives the "melted" look to the snowman (which is exactly what you're going for here).
4. Spray a small amount of cooking spray onto your large plate.  Place marshmallows spaced apart on your plate.  Place in the microwave for about 40 - 60 seconds.  Pull out.
5. Place a marshmallow on each cookie.  When you're pulling them off the plate they will bend and warp (don't worry!  They're supposed to!).
6. Let cookies sit for a while (30 minutes or so) that way your icing and marshmallows will settle.
7. Use your icing to decorate your melted snowmen! Draw on your eyes, carrot nose, scarves, twig arms, buttons, etc! (You could also use chocolate chips for the buttons).

Enjoy!!!!

DIY Gift Light

So I decided to make part of my best friend's birthday gift.

All you need for this little project is:
-A wine bottle
-Frosted glass spray
-Glass paint
-Ribbon
-Gems
-Christmas lights
-Glue gun and glue sticks

The first thing you need to (obviously) do is clean out and dry the wine bottle.  Next, take your bottle and glass spray out into a well ventilated area that isn't too cold (which isn't too easy to do right now with the current weather situation...).  Make sure you have some newspaper under your bottle and start to spray the bottle with the frosted glass spray.  You may need more than one coat depending on the bottle.  I did about 3 coats.  I let my bottle dry overnight.

The next day I painted the letter "M" on the bottle with glass paint ("M" for "Melanie" - my best friend's name).  Then I let it dry overnight again.

The following day I measured out some ribbon and took out my glue gun and attached the ribbon to the wine bottle.  I also added some gemstones to jazz it up a bit more.

The final step is super easy!!!!  Push some Christmas lights into the bottle and here ya go!

A.A

Halloween Fun!!!

So I got ridiculously ambitious this year....
I made my costume.....that's right.....you read correctly.  I MADE my costume........
I was in Dollarama and saw peacock feathers, and that's when I instantly knew what I had to be!

Luckily I had some royal and sapphire shaded blue clothing....so I didn't have to buy anything like that. Although, I have to admit, I was sorta torn between bright green clothing as well......But...now you know why I did the bright blue clothing......(one less thing to buy!).

For my costume I clearly needed to make a fan tail of feathers, and I also decided to make a tutu to go with it (why not?!).

Here are the materials you need to make my costume:
-A hand fan (mine was made of a light wood)
-LOTS of feathers (Dollarama is the way to go)
-Hot glue gun & glue sticks
-Fabric
-Thick cardboard
-Elastic
-Scissors
-Tulle (I used blue, a green, black, and a blueish-green)
-Needle
-Thread

The tutu was the easiest thing to make....but it definitely took about 6 hours to make.  You need patience (which I clearly lack.....) to make this......

First, you need to measure the elastic against your waist and cut any excess off (make sure you leave extra though because you do need to carefully sew the ends together).  Next, cut your tulle into long strips.  You will want to measure one strip first.  It really depends if you want a short tutu or a long tutu.  If you have your main portion of tulle measured to the correct length, there is a shortcut to cutting it.  If you youtube it, you should be able to find a cutting tulle tutorial.  It involves rolling it and then cutting it.  That way cutting all of your tulle will only take about 5 minutes.  I decided on a mid-length tutu (I'm wearing it Wednesday for the kids at work).  Next, start taking 1-2 strips at a time (depends if you want it a bit thicker), and knot the end of the tulle strip around the elastic.  Continue doing this with your strips of tulle until the waist is full.  Like so:

*In progress

*Done!

*This was with green leggings...which I woulda done if they weren't so see through......Oops!

Now the fan was my biggest challenge.  I went to Dollarama and bought a wack of feathers. Luckily I had a friend who had a spare hand fan for the main base of my fan tail. Then, I also bought some green fabric, found some thick cardboard, and then wound up requiring some elastic to attach my fan tail to my arms.  

So, here we go:

First I took my fan and started to glue feathers all the way around it.  You may need to trim some feathers.  So your fan should look like this:

Next, I took two pieces of thick cardboard and traced a rough outline of the fan shape.  Then, I cut both pieces of cardboard out.  Then, I took the fabric and cut it.  After that, I glued the fabric to the cardboard.  Once that was set, I glued one piece of cardboard (and fabric) on the one side of the fan, and the other piece to the other side of the fan, so that the actual fan tail itself was sandwiched in the middle.  Once that was done I had to measure the elastic around my arms, and I glued the elastic to the fan.  Like so:

Now, here's the final result (which I'm sooooo happy with!!! I can't wait to wear it again!):

*The full costume

*Me again

*Close-up of my fan tail!

Have a Safe & Happy Halloween!

A.A.