School swap stuff...

Two swaps in a row?  It has been ages since I did a swap, and forgot how fun they are ;)  This one was a school theme, and we could make anything.  A tag, a journal block, an embellishment, whatever.  I dug deep for this one!  I decided to make a journaling card, and a library tag seemed like the perfect fit.

I used these two $1 stamp sets, I believe they both came from Michael's awhile back.  I used the stars in yellow, the A+ in the scallop circle in red, and the 'good work' inside the circles in black.





And these inks..





I cut the pockets and tags using the Coluzzle system.  It came with the template to cut both pocket and tag, as well as the cling stamp for the tag.  I bought it years ago, probably 8 or 9, and it was still in the package!  Of course I HAD to have it back then ;)   It's nice when you can go shopping in your stash!

The pocket is plain black carstock, and I cut pieces to line it from the DCWV Grade School stack.  The tags are plain white cardstock, and so is the decorative strip on the front.  I used an EK Success punch for the edge, Binding Edge.







I am really pleased with how these came out!  I usually have a tough time coming up with an idea, but these came together fairly quicly.  Love it when that happens ;)

More flowers

I posted my pink flowers the other day, and here are my Boy and Neutral flowers for the swap I am hosting.

For the Neutral ones, I found some random text and put it in a pretty font in Works, and printed it on plain copy paper.  I adjusted the margins a bit so it would print as close to the edges as I could make it, and then justified the edes to make them even on the right and left sides.  I used a 2" scallop punch and needed 5 layers per flower.  After all the punching was done, I crumpled them all up with my hands and then stacked the scallops in groups of 5.  I wanted them to have leaves too, so I made them out of felt.  I just hand-cut some leaf shapes with a slightly long end.  I cut a bunch of rectangles, about 1" by 3", and cut the leaf shape on one end.  The other end was just left square, since it would be under the flower and out of sight.  I stacked the scallops on top of the leaves, and stapled them together, easy peasy :)  The final step was to ink them up a bit with some Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress Ink.





Then just add buttons and twine!  I had to make about 10 of these for this swap, but I had some extras.  These ones are for me, so I made them pink :)



The neutral ones I made with brown buttons.



For my Boy group I decided to make crocheted flowers.  I tried out a bunch of different patterns before I found the on I liked best. 



These two were pretty, but a bit large for what I needed, so in a drawer they will go for a future project!
Here is the pattern for the flower on the left, and the patter for the one on the right.



This one I can't remember where the patten came from, but it was huge and took awhile.  The other 3 were too tiny, and so they didn't quite make the cut either.



I found these and they were super quick to make and easy.  The pattern is here.  Somehow I made one with 6 petals, not sure how that happened ;)



I decided that they needed a bit sprucing up, even if they are in the 'boy' group.  So again I decided to use twine, but I paired it with rhinestones instead of buttons.  I got a bag of these at Michael's, I think they are 10mm in size.



I added a dab of hot glue and then the twine, then the rhinestone.  I did this all on a Ranger Craft Sheet, since they are heat resistant and non-stick...






But also because after the flowers cool and I removed then from the mat, the glue would be nice and flat on the back.

Pretty Pink Flowers

I started a swap on a scrappy board for the first time in ages!  I am so into flowers that it just sounded like a good idea to have that be the theme.  I signed up for 3 groups, Boy, Girl and Neautral.   These are the ones I made for the girl group. 

I made these out of a pink t-shirt material, so they are super soft cotton.  I cut them using Papertrey Ink's scallop border dies.  I ran all three sizes through my Cuttlebug at once, so they have varying sizes of scallops on the edges. 

Some of them didn't cut very cleanly, but I think that just adds a little fun to them ;)  After that, I gave them a little stretch, so they curled up a bit.



Then I got some matching thread and gathered the straight edge like this...






Once all the fabric is gathered, then I pulled the thread through, but not too tightly, and secured the end with a knot.


The reason you don't want to pull it too tight is because the next step is to bring the edges together to form the flower.  Secure the edges that meet with another knot.




Then I took the raw edges and stitched them together once or twice.  This way they won't come apart and the flower will not separate.




For the centers I chose to use white buttons and some twine (more on the twine at the end!).  I tied the twine in a bow on the back of each button after threading it through the front.




Hot glue has long been a staple in my crafting, but I haven't used it in a while!  Just a little dab in the middle for the buttons...


And all done ;) 

 

I made 12 of these babies in a bout an hour, not too shabby!




Now abou that fiber...

I found this seller on Etsy, Wind Rose Fiber Studio, and got a fabby deal on this twine, which is a favorite of mine.  Can't you tell?  :)  And since I got such a great deal, I don't have to worry about being stingy with it!  I got this huge ball of twine, all 225 YARDS of it, for $1.20 plus a few dollars for shipping.  See that spool on the left?  That was for the 20 yards of twine I ordered from Papertrey Ink for $5 plus shipping.  Now, I love me some PTI, but I just go through this twine so fast!  I thought 20 yards would last forever, and it just didn't.  If I had to snip off a 1/2" and toss it in the trash, it made me sad, so no more worries about running out for a while ;)

Cleaning out my stash!

If you see something you want, let me know and make me an offer!  :)

All captions that look like this are gone, thanks!

The rub-ons n the back are NIP, the ones in front are 90% compete



Monograms are NIP, the rest are 90% complete




Kreate-a-lope, complete with instructions



Letter stickers, most are 100%, a few are 90% complete



Ink pads



Fiskars rubber brayer backgrounds - snowflakes, dots and mesh



misc rub-ons, the runner is NIP



These are 80%-to 90% complete, some NIP



Grungeboard, 80% complete



EK punches



Rain cover for a Crop in Style NaNavigator tote



chipboard letters, some NIP, the rest are 80% complete



chipboard, 95% complete




Journaling tags and stickers - tag book is complete, tablet on the left rear is 75% complete, and the one on the right rear is complete.  Remarks stickers are 75% complete



Journaling books in the rear are 85% complete, rub-ons are NIP



Dog themed stuff, most NIP





Kitty stuff, NIP










stamps, NIP



8x8 pet albums, blank



One that has about 8 pages completed



blank 6x6 album



Phew, I am still taking pics....  More to come!

ETA more pics!

Coluzzle template, labels, with a coordinating stamp



another Coluzzle template, labels



set of Coluzzle templates, these are about the size of a deck of cards.  25 piece set, includes flowers, Christmas, leaves, hearts, stars, clouds, and frames.



red SEI 6x6 album, spiral bound 6x8 album



This one is kind of cool, a circle album inside a tin



several idea books and magazines



2 chipboard albums and papers



2 6x6 albums



leftover bits and pieces from a 6x6 Pooh album I made




Pooh papers



Pooh die cuts and stickers



Pooh rub-ons, epoxy stickers and clips



Pooh stickers



Disney cardstock stickers



Basic Grey stickers and embellies, plus some I Kandee



***ETA more on 2/15!**

3 Birds box with TONS of chipboard



the inside, 75% complete



There are 4 of these 3 Birds flip books, this one is complete



complete



complete



95% complete



2 Fiskars trimmers, the grey one is for 85x11 paper

 

Maya Road chipboard



Fiskars finger craft knife, felt, Tim Holtz embellies, and Heidi Grace blue pins