Love in a Wooden Cube

I made this for my Dad's birthday a few years back. I purchased the wooden cube in the wood section of a craft chain store. It measures approximately 3.25" cubed. The edges are painted with acrylic paint and then sanded for a distressed look. The bottom side is covered in cork from the home improvement store. Each of the other 5 sides is covered in a coordinating square of card stock. Originally, I had adhered this with spray adhesive, but have since had to reglue with my Scotch ATG. Super sticky red tape would also work nicely. Each side is embellished with photos, a bit of metal, and finished off with pieces of ribbon. These make great gifts for the people you love.

Way to Use it Wednesday: Rub-Ons

Rub-Ons are some of my favorite things to use in my craft projects. They are super easy to use (even my kids can do it), and they are extremely versatile. Rub-ons can be used on anything from paper, to glassware, to wood, to plastic--pretty much anything with a somewhat smooth surface. Rub-ons generally come on a sheet with multiple designs and are backed by a protective page. You'll want to carefully trim around the image you would like to use, including the backing sheet. I like to check the placement on my project with the backing sheet on. Be sure to then remove the backing (talking from experience here--it's not a happy moment when you rub and then find you transferred the image not to your project but to the backing sheet). Using a popsicle stick rub over the entire image. Gently peel back the transfer sheet being sure the image has transferred. So easy, so fast, so cute. Try it, you'll like it!

Here are some things made better with rub-ons:

A card: use light colored rub-ons on dark paper for pop



River rocks: rub letters, words, or images onto smooth stones



Dishes and Glassware: use rub ons to personalize a plate, or add a little something extra to a bowl or vase


Ornaments: fill plain glass balls with crimped paper strips, add a rub-on and some ribbon for a quick decoration for any holiday.

A happy afternoon

I picked up this fabulous find at, of all places, The Christmas Tree Shop. I love it! And after setting her up in my stUdio, I promptly decided that she needed a touch of spring. Voila, accordion-folded flowers out of the vase and onto the dress form.

I also picked up a 3 foot shelf (today was my lucky day at CTS) to store my newly organized rainbow ephemera. I have this crazy habit of saving all kinds of doo-dads: tags from clothing, pockets from old, torn blue jeans, bits of ribbon scraps (I just can't throw this stuff away), colored tickets from carnivals and raffles, pieces of junk mail, paint chips. This is great stuff for scrapbooking and other projects and what's best: it's free! I went through all of my ephemera and sorted it by color to be arranged in rainbow order (rainbows make me happy). It serves double-duty as decoration and stash.

And while I was at it, I couldn't stop myself from taking down my display rods (to be rehung out of sunlight's harm), moving a poster, and redoing the peg-board. All-in-all a happy afternoon of decorating, organizing, and creating a happier stUdio.

(I did not repaint my apothecary cabinet, though it is in dire need. Very fun to try out new colors in Photoshop!)

A few of my favorite things

When I get the new Stampin' Up! catalog I love to curl up in bed with a pack of post-it flags and mark my favorite things. Here are a few of the items that are flagged in my book for Spring-Summer 2009:

Pretty much the entire line of Retro Fresh coordinating products featuring these papers, stamps, rub-ons, and even stencils:

This cupcake Sizzlits set: I love cupcake art and I just saw this adorable project idea from the Scrap Girls newsletter that I could make using this cupcake:

This adorable Simply Scrappin' kit. Can't wait to make some cutie layouts for Scrapbook Club with this one:


And the first stamp set I will probably purchase: these trendy trees--LOVE these!!

I also really like this tree vinyl wall art piece. If I can figure out which wall to put it on, it's mine:

January Stamp Club

The details: Monday, January 19, 7:30 pm

The project: Accordion-Folded Medallions


The specs: stamp sets-Always, Little Pieces; ink-various Classic inks for flower centers; paper-various card stock for flower centers, Whisper White; Patterned Paper-My Mind's Eye; accessories- 1/16" & 1/2" circle punches, brads, mini-scallop circle from Birds & Blooms Sizzix, Boho Blossoms punch, wooden skewers


The how-to: Cut 1" x 12" patterned paper strips and score every 1/2". Accordion fold strip and adhere two end together to form a ring. Manipulate this ring carefully and flip paper to form a flower (this takes a bit of practice). Using hot glue, glue front center of flower (this will be covered with center embellishment). Turn the flower over and allow center to open slightly; apply more glue in here. Apply glue in one valley fold and lay skewer in here for stem. To create flower's center, stamp a small circle from Little Pieces or Always sets in a coordinating ink. Cut cardstock with mini-scallop or blossom punch. Lay stamped piece over punched piece and punch 1/16" circle for brad. Affix brad and hot glue this to the flower. Tie green ribbon to the skewer for a "leaf" effect.

Stamp Club meetings are open to all. Members: no fee; non-members: $2, or free with the placement of a $25 order.

My notes: These would be great ornaments (skip the stem) done in festive paper for any holiday. Glue them onto gift packaging, or onto a card front (just can't mail). I'm planning to stick a few stems into a pot filled with chocolates for a teacher Valentine treat. Have fun!

Cupcakes!

A cupcake card for my son's friend's birthday:

CASE'd from Split Coast.

Stampin' Up! Blowout Sale

Stampin' Up! is offering its first ever blowout sale on retired, retiring, and current items. Click here to view the items for sale. This sale ends on January 18th.

Two pages

It's New Year's, and for the moment my scrapbooking has kicked into high gear. Two pages done and it's only the 3rd of the month.

Baby Shower Invites

I am honored to be designing and creating my cousin's baby shower invites. Here are the two mock ups:




She and my aunt chose the second one. The tabbed card pulls out with all the info of the shower.