April Sneak Peeks

I am so in love with the April kits that Shannon has put together.  They are bursting with a perfect mix of fun new papers from several manufacturers.  

Here are a few of my sneaks:

Handmade Embellishments

I am thrilled to have been asked to craft handmade embellishments for Scrapbook Heaven's kits.  One of my favorite parts of scrapbooking is coming up with and creating my own embellishments for my pages.  It's funny, now that I think of it, I very rarely purchase ready-made accents.  Dies, punches, rhinestones and pearls--now that's a different story.

Here's a look at the embellishments I created for the April kits:

I had a blast putting these together.  I think the mini pinwheels are my favorite!

Some more pics, just because I took them!

Punched word tags:

I knew someday I would find a use for that punch alphabet set.
OK, honestly, I nearly donated it two years ago.  Glad I didn't--sometimes hoarding is good.

 Crepe Paper Flowers {tute here}

Embellished Mini Tags:

Cutie Pinwheels:

Crepe Paper Flower tutorial

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  The weather here was absolutely stunning.  Lots of outdoor time, windows open, sounds of children playing, swing sets, shorts (and even bathing suits for some crazy little ones!).  Days like these remind you how long the New England winters can be, and how happy some fresh air and sunshine can make you.

I've been busy working up the handmade embellishments to go into Scrapbook Heaven's April kits and I wanted to share a tutorial with you on how to make one of them.  It's been a while since I've done a tute, so bear with me!

This is the cutie we'll be making:

darling, right?

Gather up your supplies:

you will need: crepe paper, wet glue or glue gun, book page or patterned paper, brad, a little flower die, scallop punch (a regular circle would work too)

somewhere between 18 and 20" will work great

this part is important for the next step to work right.  If you forget to backstitch, just tie the two tail threads into a knot a few times.

here's where the magic happens: grab one of the tail threads (either the top stitch or bobbin thread)  on the end that you DID NOT backstitch and pull gently while working the crepe paper towards the backstitched end.

continue pulling and sliding until you have that little ruffly puff ball up there

flatten your little puff ball into a circle and glue to a card stock circle for stability 

mouse over that pic above (just learned how to do this from this easy tute)  It's like a tute inside a tute!

glue your squished circle to the center

if you use crepe paper, you'll need to die cut your little centers; crepe paper and punches are not a good match (trust me).  you could also use punched paper shapes

glue your centers--I like to stagger the petals

Stick a pretty brad through the center and...

smile cuz' you just made a cute little embellie to adorn your next scrapbook page or card!

Thanks for following along.  And if you give this a try, I'd love to see yours!

Crochet Shamrock

My kids love St Patrick's Day.  Maybe it's the 1/8th bit of Irish they have in them.  Maybe it's the magic of a wee little man dressed in green with secretive pots of gold.

A few years ago, with the assignment of a school project, they began the tradition of creating and setting leprechaun traps.  Every year since, they build their traps with trails of lucky charms or notes promising gold.  This year their traps include paths of pennies ("because they're almost gold") and patches of silly putty "to catch his footprints."

They haven't caught a leprechaun yet, and I love that they haven't given up on the magic.

I whipped up a few crochet shamrocks tonight to give them as a consolation prize for not getting the leprechaun.  And I'm betting the leprechaun will leave a little treat behind for them.

Here's the shamrock pattern:

ch 3

sl st in 3rd ch from hook to form a ring

work petals in the ring: 

ch3, trc, hdc, trc, ch3, sl st to attach

repeat 2 or 3 more times (depending on how lucky you're feeling)

stem:

ch 7, dc in 2nd ch from hook, sl st in each remaining 5 chains, sl st to base of last petal, fo

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Thank You card

Our middle son, Camden, made his first communion recently.

So I made him a few thank you notes to send.

A simple little banner design using Jenni Bowlin's award punch (gosh I love that punch for so many reasons).

The paper is We R Memory Keepers' Tres Elegant line

Thanks for looking!