Monday, January 30, 2012

Last set of Love Me Do cards

Since it’s been a few days I thought I’d share the last of the cards I made from the Love Me Do paper kit I’ve been showing you cards from.

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I used a bunch of rub-ons to accent a few of the cards.

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I think the photo corners were the last of the embellishments from the paper kit that I used.

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I loved the swirly design on one of the sheets so cut it out for an accent which I highlighted with decorative stick pins.

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I’ve had the pins for a while and finally used them all up on these cards.

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I kept a few of the card fairly simple letting the pattern paper shine.

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In a ‘use what you have’ moment I used some ribbon trim I got in a grab bag of goodies from one of my sisters for an accent on this card.  I can only imagine it was meant for a little girls dress so something similar but made it’s way to my card.

100_9266 I love that you can sometimes customize paper flowers with ink to match the papers you are using.

I can’t believe that I was able to make 30 full size cards and 21 mini cards from a $3 paper pack.  Since I have a pretty good stock of cardstock I was able to find various colors of solid papers to go with the colors in the pattern papers. 

Next time you find a good deal on a paper kit made for scrapbooking think outside the scrapbook and make cards.  I’m sure you have items in your stash that you can use with them like I did.

If you want to see the other cards I made from this kit be sure to check them out day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, day 5, day 6 or the mini cards here and here.

June

I usually link to these fabulous parties:

Friday, January 27, 2012

Chalkboard Heart Wreath

It was time to swap out my vintage holiday wreath for something different.  I knew with all the great wreaths I’ve seen with a picture frame as the base that I wanted to do something with one of the many frames I have.

Here is what I came up with.

Valentine Wreath by June @ I will craft

Do you love it as much as I do?

I knew I couldn’t spend a lot of money and wanted something heart shaped and just about did a happy dance when I saw a chalkboard heart in the dollar spot section at Target.  It was $2.50 and I knew it was perfect for a valentine wreath.

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The chalkboard came with a felt covered chalk stick attached and ready to use to make a personalized message.

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I used two sheets of the kraft valentine paper I picked up last weekend for less than 10 cents a piece to make a large rosette.  I had the frame on hand.  It was part of my gallery wall

100_9300 I thought “Be Kind” was a great reminder to see everyday.

My chalkboard wreath is now hanging on my door so please feel free to stop by and leave me a message. :)

 

June

I usually link to these fabulous parties:

Thursday, January 26, 2012

$3 Thursday – Love book bundle

To keep with the valentine theme I thought I’d share a book bundle I made and shared last year. 

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I think it looks great with the mini ornate frames I shared here.

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I tore off the cover from a couple old encyclopedias, taped them together and stamped on the cover and spine with various love themed stamps.

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I used a wide ribbon to help hold the books together.

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I decorated a corner with some crepe paper rolled roses.

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This was a fun project I made with things I had on hand, old encyclopedias, stamps, ink, ribbon and crepe paper.

 

Supplies:

Old books

Love themed stamps

Ink

Ribbon

Crepe paper or other material to make roses

Total cost:  $0* as all items were from my supplies.

 

* If you want crepe paper check out dollar stores for inexpensive rolls.  If you don’t have old books or don’t want to rip covers off your books you could cover books you have on hand in craft or butcher paper and stamp on that so your books are not damaged.  Then after the holiday you can take the covers off and keep for next year or throw them away.

 

June

I usually link to these fabulous parties:

Monday, January 23, 2012

A trip to the mall and a jackpot

This past weekend I dropped my daughter off at the mall so I had a few hours to myself to do a little browsing.  I really didn’t plan on spending much if any money as my budget  is rather tight right now.

I did however have $10 left from a gift card to Tuesday Morning so I decided to make that one of the stores I stopped at.  They had new paper in stock and I narrowed it down to 4 packs at $1.99 each.  Really how can you resist 25 sheets of 12 X 12 papers for 2 bucks?

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It really is more paper than I need as I have bookshelves of paper but what’s a little more?  Three of the papers have yellow in them and I found a pack of matching ribbon for only $1.99.

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Even if I use only a few sheets I think the packs are worth it as usually paper at my local craft stores is $.59 to $.99 for the plain cardstock or thin pattern paper and the detailed or glittered paper is $1.49 to $2.49 a sheet. Two of the packs I bought have glitter on them and one had embossed images. Score!

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The papers all have a solid background so they are perfect papers for my card making.  I can use the solid and pattern as coordinating layers.

I think the papers and ribbon was a great use of the rest of my holiday money.

The last store I decided to stop at was Michael’s and – JACKPOT – 90% off the remaining fall and Christmas items.  The last time I was there it was 70% off and I was happy with the frames that I used for the Mini Love Frames at $.45 each.

There were no frames left since I pretty bought them all before but I did find some other great items.   Most will be used as card accents but I did find some great coasters as well that I’ll recover in some recycled leather and add them to my Etsy store.

Please forgive the bad pictures but here is the loot…

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Can you believe I picked up 42 items for $8.44!!  Whoo Hoo.  That keeps in the spirit of not spending much and getting a lot of new things to play with.

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I loved these rhinestone accents – I even used one on a card already for a order of thank you cards that I mailed out today.  I only wish there were more of them, I dug through and picked out all of the thanks and left the fall and autumn words that were there since I wasn’t sure how I’d use them.

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I restrained myself and only bought two or each of the rub on packs.  I love the antique feel to them and think they will make great accents on cards.

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I always love rhinestone accents but only one of the packs was from the 90% off, the others were just over half off.  The snowflake buttons will make great accents after I snip off the button shank.

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I have a few packs of coasters but these Christmas print ones are a lot thicker than most so I think they will make great bases for my recycled leather coasters.

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These envelope seals are fun and I think a little rub and buff will transform them into metallic beauties.100_9280

I love finding silk flower accents.  They are easy to take apart and use the blooms on my cards and usually save me quite a of money and are a bit more unique than the ones in the scrapbook section.

I guess I have my daughter to thank for all the great deals I found this weekend.  For under $20 I got a ton of craft supplies.  Don’t overlook the holiday clearance section if you don’t need more holiday decorations, you never know what you will find and how easy it will be to transform into something beautiful.

I didn’t plan on going shopping and wouldn’t have unless she wanted to go to the mall for a bit to hang out with her friends, but I’m glad I did.

 

June

I usually link to these fabulous parties:

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Love Me Do cards – day 6

Once I used most of the die cut accents that came with the paper kit I decided to make a few rosettes and use them as accents.  

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I also used a new Cuttlebug Fanciful Labels embossing folder. 

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I usually use a brad or other accent for the center of the rosettes rather than the paper punch that comes with the die I use.

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A button and floss make a great center.

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When I don’t want as much bulk as the rosette usually has, I smash it a bit to reduce the bulk and make them easier to mail.

 

June

Friday, January 20, 2012

Love Me Do cards – day 5

Here are six more cards I created with the Love Me Do paper kit.

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I just love how versatile this kid is.  100_9244

Can you believe that I’ve already made 14 unique cards with one card kit and I still have more to share.

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I was even able to make a card with no red or bright colors on it.  This card just screams spring to me.

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I layered two of the die cuts and brought even more attention to it with ribbon attaching it to the card.

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Another layered die cut but with a floss accent attaching them together.

I hope you are not too tired of love themed cards as I still have a few more to show you.  I ended up using all but a few scraps of the paper kit.  I wanted to see how many cards I could make from it. 

 

June

 

I usually link to these fabulous parties:

Thursday, January 19, 2012

$3 Thursday – Love frames

I know at least one of my readers will be happy to see that I’m finally sharing a non-card craft.  She’s been asking me for about two months what I’ve been crafting besides cards.
I found some great ornate mini frames at an after Christmas clearance sale and knew I had to pick them up as they would be perfect for a valentine display.
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I really am surprised that there were any of these frames left but maybe most people were only looking at them as picture frames and didn’t have a use for such small frames.
Lucky for me I guess.
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This really isn’t much of a craft as the great damask background was already in the frames.  I picked out four frames, (Well those of you who really know me know that I picked up more than four of the frames, more crafts to follow I think.)  and love stickers from my supply.
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You may be lucky enough to find these or similar frames at Michael’s, where I bought mine at.  I think they have similar ones in the bridal section two for $3.

Edit:  I was at Michael's last week and they had these same style frames in their dollar bins for $1.50 each in bright, spring colors and also in some more muted colors that look antique glazed frames. 

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I originally planned on die cutting some letters out but then I remembered that I had these letters in my stash.  I even remember buying these stickers last year for only a dollar.  I bought them at Target which usually had a good selection of seasonal embellishments for only a dollar.
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Since my stickers were layered and I wanted them to stand out I just stuck them to the front of the frame.
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Seriously I did tell you this was hardly a craft at all.  I think the hardest part of the ‘crafting’ was getting the frames out of the plastic bags.
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If you attempt this hard craft project you might want to take the plastic, not glass, insert to cut down on the reflection but it does make moving the stickers around easier since you don’t have to worry about ripping the paper.
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I’m hoping to be able to take the stickers off and change the letters to make new words to display seasonally.
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I have more of all but the white frame so I can create longer words.  I’m thinking I might display either bliss, create or inspire for in my crafting area.
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In the end I’m in love with my Ornate Mini Love Frames as they are now but can’t wait to update them.
Supplies:
Mini frames                $.45 each
Love stickers            $1.00
Total cost:   $2.90

I found my frames on clearance but you should be able to find similar frames for around a dollar each.  Look beyond the frame color if you don’t like the color as these could easily be spray painted another color.  I thought about using identical frames but liked the different colors and shapes of these frames, they screamed valentine to me.
I’d love to hear from you if you make a similar craft inspired by this one.

June
I usually link to these fabulous parties:

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

More mini love cards

I had so much fun making the first batch of mini cards I showed yesterday that after making a few more standard size cards I went back and made more mini cards to use more of the mini card bases I have.

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Most of the cards I made have the lovebirds on them but a few are a bit more generic and would make great tags for gifts.  I expect to go to an anniversary party later this month and think one of these tags will be a great gift tag.

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I used a bit of glitter to accent a few of the hearts.

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I ended up making 19 mini cards.  I’m not sure if the package only had 19 cards or if it had 20 and I used one of them in the past.  Or more likely, I might have taken one out searching for inspiration, never found it so added the card to my scrap box.

I actually have two more sets of these mini cards in my stash and now am sure that I’ll find a use for them soon.

 

June