Bitten the Bug Challenge: Dog

The challenge over at Bitten By The Bug 2 this week was to use a dog die cut. The specific one they were requesting I didn't have. But the girls there are always so good about allowing substitutions. This pup is from the Animal Kingdom cartridge. Unfortunately, the pictures are quite old (from my oldest child's preschool days), but I had never gotten around to scrapping them. This challenge inspired me to do a play on words and I found this group of photos with my daughter in some of her earliest social settings. Since I was using slang, I decided my dog needed to be more "dawg", so I gave him a little crown (cut from Celebrations cartridge), sitting lop-sided, of course. His blinged-up collar, nails and tails were done with Stickles. It wasn't until I was just about done with the page that I realized the one friend is carrying a stuffed dog. A dawg carrying a dog!!! Lol!

Christmas Leftovers

Here's some leftovers everyone will like. I did so many projects around Christmas-time that I forgot to take pics of some of them, and then I lost the SD card on which I had taken the ones I did remember.

For both Thanksgiving and Christmas, I signed up for snacks for my kids' classrooms. I made the traditional Chex Mix minus the peanuts (allergies, ya' know). I made individual servings by putting the mix in snack size baggies. Using my Cricut, I added seasonal appropriate images for each snack baggie. Then I took a paper bad, but the top 8 inches or so off and folded the top down to get as much of plain brown as possible. Refolding the cut-off of the top, I was able to make a long handle which was stapled on the sides and then taped w/ packing tape to the bottom to reinforce the bag. Finally, I decorated the outside of the big paper bag w/ additional die cuts from the Cricut. I also added rafia to the Thanksgiving one giving it an extremely country rustic look. It was so stinkin' cute - and I forgot to snag a picture!

Then, I found these instructions for making these sock cupcakes on greenbean's crafterole blog. She even had the file for the wrapper which she created in Design Studio. So with a quick cut on my Cricut and a rolling of the socks, I had super cute teacher gifts. I even ordered some small bottles of Hemp Lotion which I ticked deep inside the roll. I found cellophane bags, which I think were created for treat bags for birthday parties. Ties 'em off with a ribbon and I was done. They were a hit. I watched my sales and got the socks for anywhere from $2- $3 a pair.

I guess "Better Late Than Never" is the right mentality on this posting!

Hollywood: Diva Heaven

I had so much fun making the pom rosettes from the necklace and hairband (see previous posts) that I was inspired to extrapolate the idea to scrapping. I am STILL trying to finish our vacation pictures from July!!! So when the pictures of our day in Hollywood slid across my scrapping table landing on top of my fabric circles leftover from the poms I suddenly knew what the person who invented Reece's felt like! A perfect blend of two beautiful ingredients!

The gorgeous borders on the sides are cardstock border stickers from Glitz It Now. Since these pages feature my tween daughter, I thought doing some hand drawn doodling would set a nice tone for the page. The fabric circles used to make the flowers are left over from my pom necklace and headband projects. Originally, the fabric was used to make flower girl dresses a year ago. I LOVE getting so much mileage from my leftovers! The black ribbon is actually seam binding that someone gave to me because they didn't know how to use it. Actually, I don't know how to use seam binding properly, either! But doesn't it look nice as a stem for a flower?

I've discovered my key for creativity. I always thought the creative process started with an abstract free-standing idea that one brings to life. Those thoughts never come my way (unless it's a rare moment when I am in the bathroom BY MYSELF, and then they typically aren't centered on scrapping or crafting). But what I have learned is that I can take one idea or method and contort it into something new, either by changing my medium, method or application. These really are all big words for "stealing"! Turns out, I can steal pretty good!

Repurposing the Past

My grandmothers passed away two years ago within five weeks of each other. My one grandmother had Alzheimer's and I had been caring for her for the previous six years. Needless to say, my attic has been full of her things, despite two previous auctions. The things left are things that I just can't part with or that I have no idea what to do with - a pair of water skis from the 1960's for example.

When cleaning out the attic this last fall, I came across a box of Grandma's costume jewelry. Luckily, I had been to visit a friend of mine a month before and had seen a necklace in which the artists used vintage beads and miscellaneous finds to create a new shabby chic styled necklace. I had a new vision for these old pieces of jewelry!!!

The ribbon and roses created from the ribbon are new as are all the big beads in the top strand. There are also three other new things on this necklace. Can you find them? I hope not! The middle strand of pearl beads were founds at the bottom of a box, the string on them broken many years ago. By re purposing her brooches, clip-on earrings, and broken bead strands, I have a new set of jewelry I adore. Not to mention the nostalgia of not just a time long gone, but also of my grandma.

Pom Rosette Necklace

Little Miss Momma (see previous post) had other ideas for using the rosette pom poms. Again, using leftover flower girl fabric, I made a necklace. Since I didn't have the right kind of chain in my crafting supply, this project cost about $3 for me to make. This was a simple no-sew project. For instructions, click here:

http://littlemissmomma.blogspot.com/2010/12/pom-pom-bib-necklace-tutorial-lmm.html

Little Miss Momma made hers more into a v-shape and I'm wishing now I'd had just a little bit more curve to my project. Since it didn't have as much curve, I cut some white cardboard and glued it to the back followed by flat left-over fabric circle. So the cardboard is sandwiched between the felt and another fabric layer. I probably could have just cut a piece of fabric in the same shape as the cardboard, but why not use the fabric circle scraps I had left over??? Anyways, the cardboard gives the necklace plenty of structure.

One other change, my middle two rosette poms are smaller. I tried just making a smaller felt circle base, but it didn't make the top of the rosette smaller, just less full (took this "mistake" and made it into a headband!). So, to get these two smaller rosettes, I had to both make my base felt circle and my fabric circles smaller. Each of the larger rosettes is different as I varied the netting and organza combinations. The center large rosette is fabric only. It's my favorite. I wouldn't use the organza again - or at least not in that color as it made it too princess-y.

This project I'm keeping for me - hands off daughters! Now, if only I could figure out what to wear it with! Ideas???

Pom Headband

I got this idea from a blog recommended to me by another friend. Check it out for a tutorial on how you can do this, too!

http://littlemissmomma.blogspot.com/2010/08/scrunch-fabric-flower-pom-pom.html

I used leftover fabric from the flower girl dresses I made last May. My middle daughter wants to wear it for the Valentine's Party on Monday. I might have to dig down and see if I can find some red fabric in my stash for the older one, although she's sick so we're just hoping she gets to make it to the party!

I varied this pom a little bit in that I added some netting - still in the same manner as the rest of the pom, but it added some edge and texture. I also used a no-slip rubber headband as opposed to an elastic one - just cause that's what was lying around in the house. This band cost me nothing - I just used fabric and felt scraps and a headband we already had! LOVE THAT!

Alternative to Trinkets and Bags

I stole this idea from my friend, Melissa, after she sent my son home w/ a similar water bottle after a sports-themed birthday party. Since I abhor the cheap trinkets you get at carnivals and the like, I very much appreciated the idea. I would much rather send a kid home with one usable gift than a bagful of junk!

Spencer had a MIZZOU-themed birthday party this year. I used the Cricut and my basketball cartridge in the Design Studio to weld together each child's name. I cut this out on a silvery-white vinyl I got for free from a scrap pile at my brother's printing company. I then added Missouri stickers with a glaze of modge podge. The modge podge didn't stick very well. I think it will rub off with a few uses and then the stickers will eventually wear off as well. I do believe the vinyl will stick, though.

I filled the water bottles with football trading cards for the boys and Webkins trading cards for the girls, little Kleenex packets, a package of dry Gatorade mix to add to their water, and candy and stretchy bandz from the pinata.

The appliques on the water bottles may not last for years to come, but I KNOW they'll last longer than a cheap plastic bag filled with plastic junk! And the kids thought they were pretty cool!