Project Wednesday: Frame-able Cards

Yes! I'm still here! Like I mentioned last week... it's run-around-like-a-chicken-with-your-head-cut-off-season. Also known as the Christmas Season. Soooo.... much to get done. My goal this week is to get all my projects finished up before Friday so my wonderful hubby and mail them out to the four corners of the earth. I think for the past few years he has had to ship things out overnight. A pricey procrastinator... that's me! So, all regularly scheduled blog posts may or may not happen for the rest of the month. Just letting you know up front!

Today I have a really cute project for you! I'm excited to share it. It's also my opportunity to guest-post on the Card-A-Day Blog. Be sure to hop over there to see what this month's challenge is. You could win something fabulous! Plus, it's just an all around great place to get some inspiration.

Today's project is... Frame-able Cards

I love making handmade cards. One year I made dozens of different designs and mailed them to all my friends and family. Then I cried when I mailed them, knowing that 99% of them would be thrown out and the other 1% would probably end up with the dust bunnies under someone's sofa. As I was contemplating the card I had planned to make today, I decided I couldn't allow this to happen to this one! Why not make it a jumbo card that could be framed as a piece of holiday decor?

I started by creating this cute digital stamp of my daughter Samantha. {Sadly I realized as I was coloring it that I'd left off her trademark freckles but oh well, what's done is done.} I love this sweet pose and serene expression. It needed a little something Christmasy so I added the present on her lap. As I was drawing it, the song "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music kept running through my head. And... suddenly... a sentiment was born! This is an awesome grandparent card, in my opinion... who wouldn't love to hear that they are one of your favorite things!

After I colored it with my Copic Markers. {Don't look that close, I'm not that great at it.} I framed it out with some pretty Christmas scrapbook paper. The finished size is 8"x10" so it would fit nicely in a frame! I didn't make it into a traditional card, I'll just write a note on the back {or more likely have my girls write a note}. I love the idea of making something to display and keep rather than something I know will likely be tossed away.

Since I don't think I'll be getting another Freebie up this Friday, I thought I'd share this Digi Stamp with you! I hope you will get some use out of it. This design includes the stamp with and without the sentiment, plus a separate stamp of the little present so you can layer it. There are also cutting lines for the girl and the present so you can do a print and cut on your digital die-cut machine!

Boring but Important Legal Stuff: My terms of use are included in each zipped download. If you have any questions about how you may use this file, please read it. By clicking to download the file, you are agreeing to abide by the terms. If you'd like to share it, please don't. Rather, send your friends a link to this blog post. Once it's no longer available as a freebie, you might be tempted to share it with someone. Please don't! 'Nuf said!

This design will only be up for a limited time, so be sure to grab it while you are here! Click to download your favorite file type:

SORRY!  This download has expired.  Look for it soon in the Sam & Hailey Designs Store!

Time to get crafty, people!

Make Your Own Monday: Baker's Twine

Happy Halloween!!  I know I'm a day late in posting this.  But it will go along with today's Trendwatch post, so just stay tuned for the next post and you'll see!  EDITED TO ADD: Be sure to see Wednesday's post for a different method of this project!

I figured I'd take the chance to post a few Halloween pictures. If this is going to be late, I might as well make it worth it, right?

I have to say right up front that my Halloween photos aren't the best.  Yet again, I insisted to myself that my iPhone camera would  be just fine.  I think I need to just put some electrical tape over the camera port to stop myself.  What is wrong with me?

Saturday night we went to a party at Trevor and Molli's house.  It was so much fun.  The girls were beside themselves with excitement!  Here they are in the car on the way.  Right before they both fell asleep.  You heard it right, from overflowing excitement to comatose in about 30 seconds.  That's Bryson kids for ya!  It didn't help that they had a sleepover at their friend's house the night before and there wasn't much sleep happening.  We should call them stay-awake-overs instead.

As we discussed last week, Hailey wanted to be a Black Cat and Samantha, a Native American girl.  Here they are waiting for the bus on Halloween morning.

Yes I did make Samantha's costume.  It was surprisingly easy.  I don't know why I was dreading it!  I picked up some faux leather material at the Walmart fabric counter.  Then, honestly, I just drew the pattern right on the fabric and cut it out. I can't believe it worked!  Hahahah!  The face painting is what makes Hailey's costume.  I got a little kit and just followed the instructions.  She was thrilled and it was so easy!

The funniest part of the whole day was trying to get Sam to say she was a Native American and not an Indian.  She kept saying, "But Mom, I'm dressed like an Indian!"  We had tried so hard to make something somewhat authentic but she just couldn't get the more politically correct term. She wanted to be Kaya from the American Girl books.  I copied one of the costumes from the illustrations and the face painting we copied from the historical information at the back of the book.  It was fun and she was thrilled that I took the time to make the costume.  She only had to harass me every day for two weeks to get it done. That's actually pretty good for considering my normal track record on things!

Look, even Bandit got in the Halloween spirit!

Poor Bandit was very annoyed by the costume.  He didn't like to walk around in it so I had to carry the little guy around.  He hardly even had the courage to bark at any of the trick or treaters! There was some subdued barking at a kid or two in scream masks and at a couple of little ballerina girls but that was it.  Oh yes, and at the pizza delivery lady dressed as a cop.  At least I think that's what she was.  She had on a police shirt and badge but was wearing a tutu.  And she gave me pizza.  So I guess we're good with it!

Okay, on with today's little tutorial!

Today you are going to learn to Make Your Own... Baker's Twine

Baker's twine is a the new hot "ribbon equivalent" these days.  You can buy it in lots of colors now.  Unfortunately, it's pretty pricey.  So, I figured, why not make my own?  I've seen several tutorials around for making it.  Here's my version.  Do I think it looks just like the real stuff?  No, not really.  But it does look pretty on a project and if you aren't too picky, it will do.

The process is simple.  Put some tape on a ruler, wrap some string around said ruler, then color the string with permanent markers.  That's it!

Variations above are from left to right: Black Sharpie on White Cotton, Pink Copic on White Cotton, Mixed Copics on Ecru Cotton, Navy Copic on White Cotton

I tried a couple of different markers.  The Sharpie-type of permanent marker works good for getting fairly precise lines, but I found that the color often didn't make it all the way through the string so it looks kind of spotty when it's removed from the ruler {see the one all the way on the left in the picture}.  My Copic markers worked really well at getting the color all the way through but because of the bleed factor it didn't make very clean precise lines between the color and the white.  Overall I liked the Copic look better on the finished product.  Copics have the added advantage of being blendable so you can get just the right color.  You could try both and decide for yourself!

For the string, I used cotton crochet thread for the string and I think it worked just beautifully.  It's easy to tie and knot in general so it's a nice product to use in crafting.

Here's the tutorial, just click on it to open it larger and/or to save it.

And, here are a couple of recent projects I made using my homemade Baker's Twine.  What do you think?

Blue and white Baker's Twine on my Joy Fold Card.

Orange and White Baker's Twine on my Halloween Wreath.

What kinds of things will you make with this tutorial!  Leave me a comment below.  And if you do make something, leave a link below in the comments section.  I'd love to see it!

Time to get crafty, people!

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Project Wednesday: Button Pumpkins

Seems like all I can talk about lately is pumpkins!  Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins!  Have you heard enough?  No?  Oh, good, because I'm going to talk about them again.  Actually, maybe I've only been thinking about pumpkins a lot and not talking about them.  Anything is possible in this jumbled brain of mine.

What's so great about pumpkins anyway?  Well, they are very tasty, for one.  Pumpkin Pie is probably my hubby's all time favorite dessert.  Next birthday, I'm going to make him a Pumpkin Pie instead of cake.  He's not much of a cake-eater.  And pumpkin cookies?  Yum Yum!  The other day I made the most delicious Pumpkin & Apple Muffins.  Mmmmmm!  My house smelled amazing.  I even used homemade pumpkin puree I had frozen last year and instead of the oil I used homemade applesauce I canned a year or two ago. Pure heaven and I felt so frugal using all that homemade goodness!

Aside from pumpkin's tastiness, which no one can argue, what else is so great about them?  I think that it is their place in {at least American} society as a true icon of Autumn.  The fit in just about any autumn theme.  Perfect for Halloween as jack-o-lanterns, but also perfect in any Thanksgiving arrangement, too.  Maybe that's why I don't like carving them.  I don't want their useful lives to be over once the thrill of Halloween Night has passed.  They are the all-purpose, go-to, decorating essential for the Autumn season.  Don't you agree?

We are heading to the Pumpkin Patch this Saturday with our girls, two of our grown boys, a daughter-in-law, and our darling granddaughter.  I'm so excited!  We first went to Apple Annies in Willcox, AZ last year and became hooked.  Who wouldn't love to spend the afternoon with your family on a farm, picking pumpkins, riding in wagons, eating kettle corn and lost in a corn maze? It was awesome and I'm sure this year will be even better with some of our non-residential family along. Last year I snapped some adorable pictures of the girls.  I can't believe I didn't blog the event last year.  {Hanging head in shame}.  The girls were so cute in the corn maze.  The walked a lot of the way holding hands.  Now, THAT doesn't happen every day around here!

Okay, so the title of this post promised you a project!  I'm sure you are wondering where the heck the project is, already!  What's with the discourse on the virtues of pumpkins and the meandering down memory lane?  Sorry! You know how I am.


Today's project is:  Button Pumpkins

This is a fun and easy project you can do with kids.  My girls were a huge help in sorting and re-sorting the buttons many times over.  They had a ball and a project got made!

For this project, I used my Itty Bitty Pumpkin Patch file to cut a stencil.  You can use any kind of stencil you'd like, or hey, even free-hand it.  I'm not going to judge you.

We discussed the resurgence in the popularity of buttons a couple of weeks back on Trendwatch Tuesday.  I think you'll agree that this new trend has many applications.  We've been seeing Button Monograms for a while and this technique would be an easy way to make those, too. Maybe closer to Christmas I'll have to make some monogram ones up for a Christmas project article.

For my Button Pumpkin, I used a 6" square piece of masonite-type fiberboard as the base. I have a bunch of these pieces left over from a project I did last year.  Gotta use what you have, right? You could use cardboard, chipboard, a frame, a piece of wood, or just about anything you have laying around.  The size doesn't matter, just as long as you have enough paper to cover your board, you are good.  Notice I used the black and white paper for the background. If you didn't read yesterday's Trendwatch you might want to!  I think this project would be fine if you just wanted to do the outline of the pumpkin instead of leaving this eyes and mouth clear.  

Here are the instructions. Click the image to open it larger on your screen.

I hope you enjoy this little project!  It's easy and quick, just like I like them!

Time to get crafty, people!


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Eighteen25

Re-Post from 6.24.08 - Vintage Girls

Happy Tuesday, Everyone!

Today was one of my favorite days... Mommy Play Date Day! Two of my friends and their kids come over and we just work on whatever projects we've got going on. Sometimes we don't get much done but it's really fun to just hang out with some adults for a while! And the kids just love to play together! Today I've been working on some silhouettes of the girls.

I started with these two pictures I took of the girls:

I manipulated the photos in Photoshop a little bit to make the outline nice and clean and then I traced them in Illustrator. After cleaning up the tracing line a ton, I stylized their hair a bit and their shoulder profiles. I cut the out on my Klic-N-Kut and take a look:

 

I love how they turned out! Now I just have to find some frames to put them in and find a good place to hang them!

Here's a Parenting/Hailey story for you. Yesterday, Hailey came into the kitchen while I was making lunch and was very upset. She kept pointing to her throat and then inside her mouth. At first I didn't understand what she was trying to say, but then once I realized that there might be something wrong, I went into full Mommy mode. I got down on the floor with her and was trying to get her to tell me if she had swallowed something since she's always putting things in her mouth and chewing on them. I had visions of safety pins, magnets, coins, who knows what! She opened her mouth really wide and I peered inside to try to see what if anything is in there. Suddenly, she hiccuped really hard. OH! I nearly cried with relief and then laughed really hard. The hiccups! That was all I was panicking over? Phew! I'm glad it was nothing serious and now I have a funny story to tell her when she gets older. She was so upset about having the hiccups and after lunch when she realized they were gone she did a happy little dance. It was so cute!

Everyone have a happy day!

Ready for the tutorial?  Here it is!  This tutorial uses my Silhouettes Busts and Hair cutting design to stylize the hair and body.  You can stylize the hair and body yourself.  My design just speeds up the process a bit!  After all, you do your kids hair every day, right?  With this method, their real hair can be a wild as they want, and you can make it look pretty with no screaming, yelling, hiding in the bathtub, etc.

Just click on the image below to open it larger.

Time to get crafty, people!

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Re-Post from 11.7.07 - Twick or Tweet

This is a repost of my November 7th, 2007 blog post on my old blog.  I want to save some of my more important blog posts before the old blog goes away.  Hey, I think it's good enough to share twice!


This was only my third blog posting ever!  My how things have changed! We had just moved to AZ and neither of my girls were in school.  I had just started designing for Paperthreads and staying home with my kids. It was an amazing time in my life!  Hailey was not quite 2 years old and Samantha was 4.


Ok, I'm a little late for Halloween, I know! But things are a little hectic around here and I'm still trying to figure out how to use this blog! 

Last week was Halloween and let me tell you... it was the busiest one ever for us! I think the girls could have just slept in their costumes all week we had so many activities to wear them to. There was Ballet Class on Monday, Preschool on Tuesday, "Trunk or Treat" in the church parking lot on Tuesday night, Story Time at the Library on Wednesday, and then finally the main event on Wednesday night! Samantha was the only Cow Girl at ballet class amid a sea of princesses. I told her it was great that she was different because it made her special, but she still wants to be a princess next year. Hailey was a Goldfish, but with her homemade costume everyone thought she was something else from a Rooster to a Candy Corn. Oh well! They had so much fun all week long. Here's a few pictures of them in their costumes outside our house on Halloween night.

I'm still getting used to this Arizona weather... Halloween in shorts and a T-Shirt? Never would have been able to do that in New England. Amazingly, they didn't really overload on candy. We gave out a ton that night which helps. We still have some in a bowl and they haven't noticed it much. Unfortunately, that means more for me! 


Here's a funny story for you... When the girls came home from Trick-or-Treating (or as Hailey says "Twick-or-Tweet"), I went through their buckets to see what wasn't appropriate for them (and what was appropriate for me!), and lo and behold I found a folded up postcard in both girls buckets. It was an advertisement for a local photo studio. Who gives out ads for Halloween?!?! I was so annoyed! I think that's taking commercialism to it's limit right there. The sad thing is that it was a cute ad and had I received it in my mailbox I probably would have been interested. I was totally turned off though. Count this potential customer off their list! What's next?

Thanks for playing!
Jan

P.S. Can I just say that since I started writing this entry this morning, I've made breakfast, gotten the girls dressed, changed a poopy diaper, read two stories, rescued Hailey from the top bunk of the bunk bed, rescued Hailey from the kitchen table, rescued the chocolate chip cookies from Hailey, taken the girls and our neighbors to story time at the library and back, answered 20 emails, and lost this entire log and had to recreate it (Note to self: don't click on a link in the preview screen before you save). Oh, and drank a Diet Coke and ate two cookies and a cinnamon roll. Now I have to go make lunch but I really want a nap!


Hmmm... Funny how some things change and some things stay the same!

Time to get crafty, people!

Re-Post from 3.2.09 - Fancy Nancy Birthday Party

This is a repost of my March 2nd, 2009 blog post on my old blog.  I want to save some of my more important blog posts before the old blog goes away.  Hey, I think it's good enough to share twice!

Happy Monday! I'll bet you thought I'd fallen off the earth! No, just going crazy getting ready for Samantha's Birthday party. We only do a big party every other year so I wanted this one to be special. And it sure was! The Fancy Nancy theme was a hit. We jam packed two hours full of all the girl stuff we could. Sadly, Victor escaped being made fancy along with the girls. It was close at one point though. He almost gave in, but they were too busy making butterfly wands to follow through on the threat. Maybe next time! :-D

Here are some pictures of the party! This is the birthday cake... I mean cupcakes. Sam wanted cupcakes so I borrowed a cupcake stand from my friend Amy. I decorated the cupcakes in true Fancy Nancy style with lots of layers of accessories. On top I made little Kusudama style paper flowers. Normally they have five points but I was trying to conserve effort and only made them with four points. I'm going to make them into something now that the party is over. I thought I'd still be able to make them into a Kusudama ball but they need five points to be able to go together correctly! I ended up making a wheel instead of a ball. I'll try to remember to take a picture. But, anyway, I think the cupcakes looked gorgeous, if I do say so myself!

For treat bags we made Extra Tall Purse Bags for the goodie bags. I had to share with you Sam's brilliant idea. We were sitting there looking at the bags and all the things to go in them. Sam pipes up and says, "Mom if you cut a little hole in the front of the bag, you could clip one of the flower clips on there as a decoration!" I was so excited about the idea that we did just that! Victor looked at me and shook his head... "She's so your daughter!" LOL! I'm so proud! The look great, don't they?

How about some more Fancy Nancy Birthday Party pictures!

I had to take a picture of her birthdate on the Perpetual Calendar for posterity:

Here are Victor and the girls getting the house all fancy:

Our fancy table settings:

The girls waiting for their guests to arrive:

Ready to get fancy!

Hailey couldn't be left out of the fanciness, of course!

Here they are after getting extra fancy with their friends. They are making butterfly wands out of coffee filters. Silly me, I don't know anything about coffee and their filters and I bought the wrong ones. The turned out okay anyway.

Last picture for this post... the food! Gotta have fancy food! I forgot to take a picture before we started eating it though. I made bread in my Pampered Chef tube pans. It worked out pretty good. I've had them forever and have only used them a couple of times! We had egg salad (Sam's favorite) and peanut butter and honey sandwiches. You should have seen Victor's beautiful fruit plate arrangement before we started eating. And he says he's not creative! Ha!

Also, gotta have a fancy pinata.  This was a princessy one, of course.  They didn't have much luck with it until Victor smashed it to smithereens for them. Best moment of the party!

I hope you enjoyed our Fancy Nancy Party Pics!  If you have a little Princess maybe it inspired you!

Time to get crafty, people!

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