Christmas Gift Tag - Use Your Tiny Scraps

Hello everyone!   Since October, when I began making Christmas cards, I have been saving the little strips cut from patterned paper. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them, but I figured I would keep them around and maybe I would think of something.
Today I'm sharing how I used them. It feels good not to waste more than I have to and I think the tag turned out really cute.

   This is how my gift tag would look if hanging from a present.

  To make the background:

To make the Poinsettia:  I drew three leaves in different sizes on a piece of cardstock. I started with my largest leaf to get the size flower I wanted. Then I used them as templates to make 5 leaves of each size by tracing around them.   Just a quick rough sketch to show you. I made sure to make stems so I could adjust how far or close the leaves are from the center of my flower then I just cut the extra length off. 

  Once I was done cutting my leaves I colored them with Tim Holtz Distress inks, first in Victorian Velvet and then in Barn Door. I used two colors so I could get some depth. I also creased my leaves (folded them in half) before applying the second ink so the crease would get less color on it and therefore stand out a little more.

I hot glued the leaves to a small paper circle and then for the flowering center I placed a dab of hot glue and poured clear beads on it.    To embellish my tag I made two die cuts with my Spellbinders Medallion 5 die and placed red gems in the center of each.

It's difficult to see in the photos, but the strips of paper in the background stand out nicely.

To give my tag a finished edge I edged it in Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Barn Door) and then hot glued a pretty Christmas cord onto it.   The last steps were to add the bows on the bottom corners and the doilies to the back of my tag.

  For a final touch I added a white ribbon with glittery edges to the top and slipped it through a red bead.
The lace at the top was just used to hold it in the correct position for the photo.

 
Happy Crafting!

Simple Step by Step Instructions for How to Place a Video in the Sidebar of Your Blog

Hello bloggers and future bloggers!   Today I would like to show you how to place a YouTube video into the sidebar of your blog. You may have a video that you would like to showcase for techniques, ideas, or to show a little about yourself. I will also show you that you can make your video appear any size that you want.
 This is how my video appears in my sidebar.

 

First let me run through the steps, then I'll show you the step-by-step process with photos.  

First things first.
You need to know the width of your sidebar. 

If you already know, just skip this step.

• From your blog click on design in the upper right hand side of your blog which takes you to your dashboard.
• Click on "Customize"
• Click on "Adjust Widths"
• Write down the Width of you Sidebar
• Now you can get out of that by clicking on "Back to Blogger"

Directions for placing your video into your sidebar

• Go to the YouTube video that you want to showcase
• Click on Share
• Click on Embed
• A code box will appear. Copy that code by right clicking on it then clicking copy
• Now go back to your blog design dashboard and click "Layout"
• Click on "Add a Gadget"
• Scroll down and click on "HTML/Java Script"
• Right click and paste you code in the box
• Change the width and height in your code to fit your sidebar (step-by-step below)
• Save and your done!

Directions to find the width of your sidebar

On your blog, Click on "Design"

Click on "Customize"

  Click on "Adjust Widths"

Write down the Width of you Sidebar. Mine happens to be 350px

 

Okay, you got your width! Now you can get out of that by clicking on "Back to Blogger"

Directions for placing your video into your sidebar

Go to the YouTube video you want to showcase

Then click on "Share"

The screen will now look like this. Click on "Embed"

Your code that you need to right click and copy will show up in a box

Now go back to your blog design dashboard and click "Layout"

Click on "Add a Gadget"

The Gadget box will appear. Scroll down and click on "HTML/Java Script"

Right click and paste you code in the box

 Now notice the width is too large for my sidebar that is only 350px

All you have to do is change these numbers and here is how to do it so it works best.

NOTE: When I change the width to fit into my sidebar I change the height too. Otherwise my video will be a strange shape.
So to keep your video the original shape, whatever you subtract from the width must also be subtracted from the height.

My blog sidebar has a width of 350. So I will take the width from the code I copied and pasted (420) and subtract the width of my sidebar (350) from it. 

420-350=70

I can make my video the exact same size as my sidebar, but it will hang over a little on the right side. So I want to make it a bit smaller.
I subtracted 20 more from the width of my video to make it 330px instead of 350px (420-330=90).

This means that when I make the width 330px I must subtract 90px from the height in the code as well. The code shows "315 height", so I must subtract 90 from it which gives me 225px. 

My new numbers to put in will now be width "330" by height "225". So just replace the numbers in your code with your new numbers and your video will fit properly and look good.

Then click "Save"

 After you've clicked "Save", it's always best to "Preview" what you've done before clicking on "Save Arrangement" just to make sure everything worked out okay.

You're done! You have your video in your sidebar. Congratulations!!!

Happy Blogging!

Altered Paint Can with Altered Paint Brush for Gift Giving

Hello Everyone! Hope you're all having a good day.   For a while now I've wanted to alter a paint brush. There are so many beautiful brushes on the web, but I kind of hit a wall as I like the things I make to have a purpose other than collecting dust. So I decided to add a paint can. I was constantly seeing them separate and thought it would be cute to do them together.

Once the idea hit me, I thought this would be an adorable gift for a beginner, paper crafter filled with little stamps, inks, paper punches and so forth.

As I decorated the can I decided to keep it somewhat plain with a lot of blank, white space (especially on the sides and back) for the new crafter to add her own touches. I left the lid untouched as well, although I may add a white circle with a personalized note should I decide to give it as a gift or sell it. 

A gift package to be filled with items that inspire creativity.  

 

 

 

 

  The Brush

 

I dragged the ink pads (VersaMagic in Spring Pansy, Aloe Vera, Sea Breeze and Pixie Dust) across the surface making sure the edges of each color blended into the next. I love this particular ink for the soft colors and chalky finish.

For the flowers, butterfly, and dragonfly I used clear stamps and Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black. 

 

Then all that was left was to embellish my brush. I chose gems, pearls, lace, ribbon and a paper butterfly punch to top it off. For the hanging pearl strands I just hot glued the top bead to the brush bristles. To make the butterfly firm and shiny I used a light turquoise embossing powder over the entire butterfly.

Once my paint brush was finished I had an afterthought and decided to dip the bristles in pink paint. This step should be done before you decorate your brush and left to dry. Fortunately it worked out okay for me.

The Paint Can I bought my empty paint can at my local hardware store for about $3.50.

Honestly I had difficulty getting started with this. Trying to measure the paper correctly that wraps around the can was a real pain. Well at least until I said, "Heck with it", grabbed a couple of pieces of eight and a half inch by eleven inch cardstock and made a front panel and a back panel.

I'm not a measuring kind of gal, but I did measure from the bottom ridge of the can to the top ridge so I could use my paper cutter to get a precise cut. If you will be putting a border on your can as I did you don't have to worry about this cut being perfect either since it will be covered.

Then I held my cut paper up to the can and made a mark where the handles were located. In the end, my holes for the handle were a little too big and not round, but it didn't matter since I was going to be covering that area up with lace flowers.
  Using small sections of coordinating paper may be easier than trying to cover the whole can at once like I did.   To make the lace flowers I did a running stitch in lace ribbon with jewelry wire. Then I hot glued them to the can.

The rest was easy as you can add anything you want to decorate it.

If you have any questions please feel free to ask :)
Happy Crafting!

How to Add a Gadget in Blogger

Hello everyone!
I've wanted to add this and was finally motivated by the Kraafters Kommunity today. Hope this helps whether you're new to Blogger or just never got around to it. You can click on each photo to enlarge them if necessary :)  

  You will be directed to your Blogger Dashboard

Decide where you would like your new Gadget to go (if you have three columns choose which side) and click on "Add a Gadget".

A small window will appear in the upper left, scroll down until you see "HTML/Java Script" and then click on the plus sign beside it.

Type a simple title so that you know what it is when looking at your Layout later. Right click the large box in the middle and paste the code you copied from the source in the box. Then hit "Save"

You can click on your Gadget and drag it to where you want it to be. I keep my most important gadgets near the top and everything else in sections below. It's a good idea to "Preview" your new Gadget just to make sure everything looks okay. A Preview will open up in a new tab. If everything looks good click "Save Arrangement" in the top right hand corner of your dashboard.

You're done! Congratulations!

Happy Blogging!

Fun with Fall Colors Side Step Greeting Card

Great news! My husband started back to work yesterday with a new company. We are fortunate that two companies recognized his value and offered him a job, which allowed him to choose what was best for him and our family. We're so happy and relieved. Thanks again for the supportive words you have given me over the past two months.   As I watch the leaves change outside my window I'm being inspired to use bright colors. I want to say that I have no Fall themed paper. I think it's important to stress that you don't need it. Sure it's nice to go out and find some, but if you don't have it there are a lot of ways around it, such as paint, ink, stamps, etc. Just using what you have to create something unique is honestly a fun thing to do.
At first I wasn't certain about using pearls with jute twine and burlap leaves, but the curves of the pearl embellishments make me think of the wind swirling leaves around, so I went for it.  

  The first thing I made was the stamped image/title for my card by wiping ink across a white sheet of cardstock and then stamping my image on top of the colors.

  To cut it out I used a Spellbinder's square that's wasn't much bigger than my stamped image.

 

Quick Tip: I've been using the same two pieces of blue painter's tape to hold my die in place for about 3 months. I place my two tiny pieces of tape when I'm done with them on the top of my die cutting machine for next time. This makes it very convenient and is great for a couple of reasons - 1) You're not being wasteful  2) Tape that has been used before is less likely to cause any damage to your paper, yet will still hold everything in place for a very long time.

 

To finish my stamped image I matted it with a Spellbinders die-cut in deep brown and embellished the corners with pearls.

 

Making the Card Base    Although there are many ways to make this type of card I used the tutorial by Gloria Shirr.

Side Step Card Made Easy - Inside and Out

To Make the Leaves
I used the the Tim Hotz Alterations "Tattered Leaves" die (556927) and colored them with Rubber Stampede ink in Scarlett, Orange and Yellow. I edged the leaves with Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Vintage Photo and used Stazon ink in Timber Brown for my stamped image. The base paper is just thin white cardstock. I also used burlap paper to make the leaves in the background and just colored them with ink.

  I added yellow pearls without flowers as a reflection of all the beautiful summer flowers that are now fading and the petals have fallen off. Funny, the things we think of and about as we go along. 

  

  Happy Crafting!