Getting Cup Cozy with Card Stories

My hubby loves his coffee as much as I love my tea!  So whenever we go out for hot drinks, we always save our cup cozies (I think my DH has decided that if he can't beat my recycling habit, he might as well join me).  I've had a few ideas lurking in my brain for a while about using these in different ways.  One of the most common craft projects is making them into mini books.  I decided to take it a step further and make them into Card Story Cozies (gift card booklets), which I used as stocking stuffers at Christmas time.  But what a fun gift this would be for any gift-giving day! 

I loved the front of the Starbucks cozies this Christmas past that said "Stories are Gifts~Share", so an easy project was made easier because I didn't cover up the cozy with deco paper.  For my older son, Nathan's, cozy I added one gift card slot for a larger gift prize, but with my DH and Cody's cozies I added four gift card slots for 4 separate fun gifts.  There's so much you could do with these, in addition to the gift cards, by adding a small note card, wallet pictures, money, & various odds & ends to each pocket -- lots of possibilities.  An especially fun addition are the "free" Starbucks itunes cards that they come out with each week or so. 

I made these in a hurry since I was so last minute (not as organized as I thought), but that just means they're easy to make.  And here's the LoveLee Recipe:

~ Separate front & back of cozy by cutting left/right side seams (both ends) from top to bottom. 

~ To determine book spine height, measure left side top to bottom--mine measured 2 1/4"

~ For the width of the book spine, determine the number of gift cards and/or tags you'll be using and add one inch for each, plus an additional 2" for front/back attachment.  I had four gift cards, plus a "book of cards" Tag, so my measurement for the book spine was 6".

~ Cut deco cardstock (CS) to the determined measurements, 2 1/4" x 6" (in my case).

~ With CS horizontal, score at 1/2", and every inch thereafter (1/2", 1 1/2", 2 1/2", 3 1/2", 4 1/2", 5 1/2").
~ Turn CS over to back side and score at the 1" mark, and every inch thereafter. 

~ Fold on the score lines to make an accordion folded strip, creasing well.

~ Use strong adhesive to glue down both ends of the 1/2" tab of CS to the inside front (right side) & inside back (left side) of the cup cozy--make sure valley fold is on the inside of book, next to edge of covers when adhered.  Close "book" cozy so that the accordion pleats are stacked on top of one another.  Set aside for now.

~ To make your gift card envelope slots:  cut CS 4 1/4 square.  Place gift card diagonally in center of CS and fold all four sides around gift card (snug, but not tight).  Remove gift card, open up CS and on the left side only--where the creases meet, cut out the tiny triangles (shown  below marked in pencil). 

~ Fold the envelope together--bottom up, right side folded in, & top folded down.  Glue in place with strong adhesive.  The left side flap can be either tucked in after the gift card is inserted, or completely cut off for easy access.  This is the back-side of the envelope.  (I chose to glue my envelope completely together, including left side, then I used a circle punch to punch a half circle on the left side to make it a peek-a-boo slot to pull the card out.)

~ Open front cover of cozy "book" so that you can see first valley fold line at the 1/2" mark.  Determine if you'll start your book with a tag or gift card envelope (I began my Card Story Cozy with a tag).  If you're starting with a tag, skip the first valley fold by folding over the 1st accordion fold.  Run a length of strong adhesive on the right side edge only of the back of the gift card envelope. Turn gift card envelope over and press adhesive down into the valley fold of the accordion folded CS.  Turn the page & repeat for each of your gift card envelopes.  (The last 1/2" of your accordion folds is already adhered to the back cover--don't attach any envelopes to this section, or that page won't turn).

~ If you didn't start your book with a gift card envelope, then now adhere your tag or other embellishment to the first valley fold.

~ Glue decorative CS to the inside covers of the book--I left the corrugated boarder of the cover showing on mine, so my inside CS dimensions were approx. 3 3/4" x 2".

~ Finally, I used 24" of ribbon to wrap around my book -- run a line of adhesive horizontally centered on the back of the book cozy and attach the center of the ribbon.  That way your recipient can untie the book without losing the ribbon.

 Note:  My book was a real "page turner", but the pages were also able to fan out completely if desired.  If you'd rather your book's pages not fan out, you can apply this technique:  on the outside spine of the book where the accordion CS fans out, apply adhesive in each valley section--your pages will turn in true book form!

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or problems with this technique please leave me a comment and I'll respond quick as I can.

Valentine's Day, Birthdays, Anniversaries, "Just Because"...these Card Story Cozies can make any day fun!

Happy Crafting!  Lisa

Crafty Storage & A Snack too

My son likes beef sticks in his school lunches.  I found these snack sticks by Old Wisconsin that have the pre-wrapped meats in them.  What's really cool about them, is that they are in sturdy clear packaging without writing on them.  So you just remove the cardboard sleeve, and peel off the tape, and you have a little crafty storage container!  I love these--and almost always I can find internet coupons for the snacks.  I'd say that's a Win/Win!  I have a small shelf they fit perfectly on.  I like to leave the lids off for easy access, but I keep them underneath each container so I can seal them up and take them with me if I need to.  I'll eventually use my label maker to organize them even better--once I decide what I want in each one.  But I love the different sizes (different snacks), and they stack up great on my shelf. 

Just thought I'd pass on another of my favorite repurposed items. 

Thanks for stopping by,  Lisa

Off The Beaten Path w/Stained Glass



Happy New Year!  Guess I'm a bit late with that one, but I've definitely been keeping busy.  As with a lot of crafters, after Christmas I set about organizing & re-organizing my crafty spaces with all my new creative toys--it was fun to do, but took a bit of time.  But I've also been taking a few classes myself in an area outside of papercrafting, doing something I had previously decided I wouldn't persue -- working with Stained Glass.

My Dad was a self-taught stained glass artist.  He started out reading books, and going to glass art shops for supplies, & asking questions.  But his work was amazing!  He developed techniques that I wish I had the expertise of today.  I remember watching him work--he had developed his skill so quickly and he was so patient & precise.  I'm not even that patient when I paper-craft.  lol.  When I graduated High School I was really into unicorns, so Dad made me a beautiful unicorn stained glass hanging--it is by far my favorite gift of all those that he subsequently made for me...but I cherish them all.  Just after he passed away, a couple years ago, I was browsing at a bookstore and found a lovely book called Pretty Little Things, by Sally Jean Alexander.  The ideas were wonderful for smaller glass projects--vintage and gorgeous!  I saw a small glass chair and immediately I thought of the empty chair where my Dad once sat.  I was thinking that would make a great ornament project for Christmas using my Dad's glass.  Needless to say, I bought the book and decided it just might be something I could get interested in trying.

Fast forward to Christmas holidays 2009 -- one year after Dad's passing, almost to the day, I began my first stained glass class.  It was actually emotionally taxing at first, especially since Mom had given me some of Dad's tools to work with including one of his first soldering irons, and I was afraid I was too far out of my realm of comfort.  But my instructor, Jill Wicke, was awesome, and really did a great job with the class.  I had to take a break after the beginner class because her teaching schedules and mine collided.  But I resumed this year with the intermediate class, and I'm now I've almost completed the advanced class (not sure I'm all that advanced--but there ya go, it's progression). 

I did venture off a bit from my classes to make that glass chair -- the one that got me thinking about branching out.  It was a lot harder than I thought it would be, but as a beginner I am pretty pleased with the results.  I made one for Mom, G'ma, & myself at Christmas time, but I still have five other brothers/sister that I still need to make one for. 

Anyway, this is definitely off the beaten path for me -- but thought you might like to take a glance into something a bit different to start off 2011 with me.  My current project, a three dimensional lamp, will be completed in a couple weeks and I'll post a photo when it's completed. 

Next post -- back to papercrafting...and a bit of recycling too, of course.  =)

My 1st Stained Glass project - I used my Dad's glass in the four corners, two red diamonds, and center of flower.  I love how the textured glass makes it look somewhat like rain, all aimed in towards the flowers--despite the snow.

Butterfly Fan Lamp - all made with Dad's glass.  I love the copper patina.



Thanks for stopping by!  Lisa

On Christmas Day at Half Past Three

On Christmas Day

At half past three

Have yourself a cuppa tea.

I'll think of you,

You'll think of me,

Sitting beside the

Christmas Tree!

author unknown

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas Eve

Well, I guess you could say I've been scarce for a couple of weeks--mostly running from here to there, finishing Christmas Cards, attending Christmas programs & parties, and the usual wrapping, boxing, and sending it all via the post office...after a lengthy wait in a line of "I don't have time to wait" anxious patrons.  I've even had to post-pone some of the projects I had planned for Christmas prezzies...just ran out of time.  I still haven't gotten the hang of juggling my blogging with crafting, and picture taking, and posting--yet.  But I've got some ideas for the post-Christmas season that I'm looking forward to soon sharing, that will help with the organization of it all, and I'm pretty excited about it. 

For this Christmas Eve day, I thought I'd play a little catch up and post a few photos of the fun busy-ness I've been up to.  Enjoy!




more card making



once opened -- becomes a card with a hanger



Liquid Applique technique (coming soon)




Cody & pups -- and my DH red bull in front of the Christmas Tree.
yes...there is a story there somewhere.




Hercules




Lucky




Poor Man's Turtles!  -- pretzel w/Rollo on top, bake 4 min. @ 350F, top with pecan halves while warm.  We made these for Cody's high school teachers this year -- they loved them!




I love "dressing" my table for the holidays!





The cardinals are so pretty this time of year against the winter white -- can you see it?




winter snows a' blowin'




The snowflakes on the ceiling look like a winter wonderland especially
when we're coming down the steps...I love our snowflakes!



Wishing you all a Cozy Christmas -- remembering Jesus is the reason we celebrate the season!

A Very Merry Christmas to You!!
Lisa

Snowman Buttons

When I went off to college, many years ago, my Mom used to send me seasonal pins to wear for the various holidays, I still have most of them.  When I got older and had kids, I carried on the tradition by buying them pins to wear during the holiday seasons.  One year I saw these snowman button pins in a Family Fun magazine--which incidentally is a GREAT magazine if you have young kids and like finding a variety of ways to spend quality time together.  I started making these snowmen with my kids, and my Sunday School students.  They would always make one for themselves, and the others would be gifts for a parent, teacher, and even for friends.  They're great boxed up, or even as a gift and a card in one.  They're easy to make and quick too (only need a bit of drying time for the glue) -- and repurposing old buttons is a bonus!

LoveLee Recipe:  2 white buttons (w/2 thread holes), 1 piece of stiff black felt for hat, 1 piece of stiff black or white felt for backing, 1 piece of red felt, ribbon, or torn material for scarf, and pin backing. 

1. Take the two white buttons--glue one button into position as the head, with the thread holes horizontal for the eyes, onto a scrap piece of black or white felt (black felt makes the eyes & body buttons look like coal, while the white makes them blend in like snow).
2. Glue the second button into position beneath the head, with the thread holes vertical for the body buttons.  Cut off excess felt around the buttons, leaving a bit on either side of the neck area for stability. 
3. Cut a portion of red felt, or other material, for snowman's scarf -- wrap around neck & glue in place--this will hide the extra felt showing around neck area. 
4. Cut black felt to resemble a hat and glue on head (top button) with a bit of a tilt.
5. Finally, glue pin backing onto back of felted buttons and let dry completely.

A couple other fun ideas, in case you don't want it as a pin -- add another layer of felt to back of snowman holding a pencil in between layers, and only glue top and sides of felt.  Remove pencil & let dry--makes a cute pencil topper.  Use it on a card as decoration only.  Attach a ribbon hanger inbetween a second layer of felt to make it into an ornament.  And, quickly dress up a plain gift tag.  Most of all...just have fun with it.

---"it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas."

Merry Christmas crafting--Lisa

Paper Folded Christmas Trees



The two trees on left were made w/the same double-sided cardstock, & they are shown using a different side for each card.  The tree on the right was made using a lighter weight paper--not quite as dimensional, and lays flat.  Ornament shown hanging above, top right.

 I love Close to My Heart (CTMH) stamps!  I'm not strictly a stamper girl, in fact, I just enjoy dabbling in a lot of different mediums--so you won't always see stamping in my projects.  But I'm a romantic at heart, and actually it was the name of the company that first caught my eye several years ago.  Since we're a military family I had never had the desire to stock up on a lot of wood blocked stamps--their bulkiness & weight is something I have to consider each time we relocate to another place. But when I found these CTMH acrylic stamps I loved that they were prepackaged in envelopes that solved the easy & lightweight storage issue.  In saying that, I am not a consultant so this isn't really a sales pitch but just a preface to this post really--

I started going to Hostess Club meetings for CTMH a few years ago with some friends and this paper folding technique is something I learned from the consultant, Johanna.  It's an easy process and you can recycle scraps of paper to make it!  You'll need four squares of decorative paper (I like mine two-sided) in varied sizes:  (squared) 3", 2 1/2", 2", and 1 1/2".  You can use any sizes as long as they vary by 1/2" each--these sizes fit perfectly on an standard A2 card (1/2 sheet of 8 1/2" x 11", folded in half--or 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" card). 

You'll fold each square as indicated in the picture above following the steps making sure to firmly press each fold line: 1. pick which side you want to show and fold in half diagonally, 2. open it up and fold it again on the opposite diagonal. 3. open it up, flip to other side, and fold in half -- straight edges together. 4. with opposite side facing up and in a tent-like position, press down on center with finger and you should be able to fold into a flattened triangle on the previous fold lines. 5. with it laying flat in front of you (straight edge on bottom), take the top section, right straight edge of the triangle and fold it, on front, the right edge to the center of the triangle--do this to the left side as well, folding it over so the left edge of the triangle is even with the right edge, in the CENTER of the triangle--press down firmly.  Do this with each of the four squares.  6. Nest the folded triangle together (large on bottom, to smallest on top). Put a glue dot, or dab of glue on the back top of the three largest triangles to secure. 

I used brown scraps for the tree trunk and mounted the tree to an oval cutout before mounting it to my card.  I also made it into an ornament by putting two completed trees together, sandwiching a metallic cord hanger between the two trees.  In retrospect, I think I would've liked the ornament even better with three sides as opposed to the two--but you can play around with it for different options.  I added some miniature tree lights and stickles to the ornament, and stickles & a bauble tree topper for the trees on the cards.  Just a note:  If you use scrapbook paper instead of cardstock, it will lay lighter & flatter for mailing out...if you use cardstock it will be more dimensional and will pop out of you card a bit more.  And I found the cardstock worked better for the ornament, and they even look great on banners as well.

If you have any problems with this technique, please let me know.  I'm hoping to start posting videos after the first of the new year--that should be interesting.  =)

Happy Crafting,

Lisa

Counting Down with Bottle Caps

 Several years ago my son and I put together this simple Countdown Calendar after watching Michael Strong (author of "Don't Throw That Away") on the Carol Duvall Show. For being made of recycled materials it's held up rather well. Anyway, I know it's already into December but I thought I'd still share it. =)

The base is a panel cut out of a cardboard box and covered with wrapping paper--we used gift wrap ribbon for the hanger (stapled on), wrapped the cardboard like a package, and taped it down.  The bottle caps were saved from water bottles & 2 liter bottles of pop/soda--we used double stick tape to stick them down in the shape of a tree (other shapes could be a star or a wreath).  I used two sizes of a circle punch to cut the "lids"-- 2 1/2" circles of white cardstock were cut for the base, and 2 1/4" circles were cut out of Christmas magazines for the decorative tops.  My son especially loved picking out the pictures we used.  We used glue sticks to stick the two circles together.  I filled each bottle cap with different items--the circumference fits a quarter perfectly--some items that fit well are:  spare change, fruit snacks, m&m's, Christmas pins, earrings, stickers, charms, jingle bells, candy, handwritten notes, thoughts for the day, even crafting suppies such as ribbons, brads, etc, all fit great.  To close off the tops until ready to open we ran a glue stick around the top edge of each bottle cap, then place each decorative punched circle on top and let dry/cure a few hours before you hang it up.  You could number each of the toppers, but Cody wanted to choose which one to open each day himself, so we decided not to (we used 25 individual caps). 

Each day the decorative circle is removed from the bottle cap, then pressed to the backing board.  The glue stick retains enough dry stickiness that it easily adheres to the wrapping paper (note: we used a slicker type paper, which made it easy for the toppers to come off the backing board later).  I want to say we probably made this in 2006, and last year was the first year we added more glue to the caps.  The toppers adhered to the plastic caps each year without needing additional glue--pretty cool. 

This project is a fun & easy project for kids to do, and it can be adapted for parties and such any time of the year--just choose a shape such as a smiley face, etc, and you can use it as a game for the kids to find the hidden item, or for countdown to Easter, or what about a countdown to their birthday?!  Oooo...I wish I had that when I was growing up.  LOL  Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this quick project.  Thanks for stopping by--and keep recycling!

Mastering the Busy Season

Thanksgiving was wonderful time, but that weekend I wasn't feeling too well and into the next week.  By that time, I was so behind on my "to-do" list that today is the first day I've really had a moment to spend some time online--but this has been a very full week indeed.  First I have to REJOICE in that my hubby has finally been able to finish his Master's Degree -- MBA with focuses in Human Resources & Strategic Management!  WOO HOO--way to go honey!!  I'm so proud of him -- he stuck it out while working a full time job filled mostly with overtime, including a deployment to Iraq, and amongst other adversites.  I keep telling him he's going to be bored, and won't know what to do with his extra time.  However, I'm sure I'll be able to help him out with some sort of a nifty, even crafty, "Honey-do" list.  In the meantime, I put him to work this morning helping me take a load of boxes to the post office to mail out--then shopping at the grocery, and even a bit of house-maintenance.  =) 

I spent the last few days finishing up the last bit of my Christmas shopping, Christmas wrapping, and as I mentioned previously, mailing out all our boxes to family & friends.  All I have left to do is finish the rest of my cards, address them, and mail them out!  And last, but not least--Tim Holtz is continuing his tradition of the 12 Tags of Christmas this year!  He's doing the full tutorials for each of his tags, and if you leave a comment on his blog your name could be drawn for some great prizes!  You really oughta check out his blog.  This is the first year I just might be able to sit down and try out his tags as well.  If I do, I'll be sure to post them.  In the meantime, check out his 12 Tags of Christmas/Day 1--they're totally awesome!  =)



Apple Pie, Pumpkin Rolls, & Pink Stuff --  Thanksgiving Yummies!!



Tied Up With Ribbon

Still working on Christmas Cards--here's another one I made that was super simple to make...and no stamping either.  It's a pedestal card aka easel card -- Splitcoast Stampers has an easy to follow tutorial on how to make these cards.  If you're not a member, it's free to join.  There are SO many resources you can find on their site--it's one of my favorite places to "hang out".  I used decorative Bo Bunny Christmas CS (layered over white, light blue, & ivory CS) -- I loved how the embossed/glittered design, tied up with satin ribbon, made it look like a beautiful package.  So I added the vellum "favorite things" saying, & a vellum tag (December 25) to finish the card.  This is actually one of my favorite cards--didn't take long to make, and didn't even get my hands dirty.  Ummm, okay--I actually like getting my hands dirty, but I still had fun making it.  =)

Well, I'm off here--gotta get prepping for tomorrow's Turkey dinner!  I'm thinking I'll start with a batch of cookies...Yummy!  =)