Can-O-Tags

While out shopping in November and checking out the new holiday decor I found this "Can-O-Tags" at Target. 50 Chipboard tags with with ribbon ties in a can for $5. Some are plain, others have greetings. Seven different sizes and colors. They were cute as is, but being the crafty girl I am, I knew I could some glitter, stamping, punches and more I could make them mine.

The "plain" tags.

The snowflake tag is below with a few embellishments. Two heat embossed stamped trees, a twisted music paper rose misted with pink spray mist and a vintage velvet leaf. A pre-made puffy sticker, a cute fussy cut snow couple and two pre-made chipboard  shapes.

To the silver circles I added some punched snowflakes with rhinestone centers,
a sticker & chipboard house.

The Merry Christmas was already printed on these tags. I added a little plastic gift charm to one, a Santa image cut from paper and others with decorated with glitter glue and rhinestones.

This tag came already printed with Happy Holidays. I added a puffy pre-made sticker to one, embossed and punched paper birds to two others. An embossed die cut ornament and another with a paper poinsettia made from punched leaves. 

And three glitter paper punched reindeer with red glitter glue noses. 

The green circles were embellished with a stamped and colored snowman image. I cut Santa hats from red glitter paper, felt ribbon and a pom-pom. I die cut a red "joy" and dotted the "I" with a rhinestone.

I added a red felt poinsettia to one silver tag. A die cut pair of mittens to another. A paper Santa image edged like a postage stamp to the third.
A four got little button snowmen with black glitter paper top hats.

The red scalloped tags got some stamped trees, a big glittery star and two vintage paper images.
And two have little velvet paper gingerbread men with candy canes.

And I couldn't let the little can go to waste. It now will be a cute little can filled with homemade 

hot cocoa mix ready to gift. I wrapped the can with some holiday paper from Stampin' Up and a steaming cup of cocoa cut with my Cricut. 

I stamped to and from on the back of all the tags. 

All of the embellishments were added from my stash, so all 50 fancy tags cost just $5 and my time. 

Now I just need to buy and wrap my gifts and I am set! 

Any ??'s about the stamps, punches and papers I used, let me know. 

Thanks for looking!

A

Some Bling and a Goodbye...

Sunday was a sad day as I saw my long time hair stylist for the last time. She will be moving to Tennessee next month and will no longer to be able to cut and style my hair and keep those greys away!

 She has been cutting my hair since before her daughter was born and her daughter graduated from college this June! Almost 22 years!She has been more than just a stylist, but also a friend.
Jennifer, I wish you and Bruce well in Tennessee! And I sure hope we can visit sometime too!

I made this card and took her flowers. I wanted to take her a gift, but not one she would have to pack!

I have been working so much lately that I have not had much time to scrap or craft. I cannot wait until Sept 9th!! I was able to squeeze in a scrappy afternoon with my friend Heather on Saturday after work. It was so nice to sit and scrap and visit with Heather at her house for an afternoon.

A while back I posted this red suitcase I found at the Petaluma Antique Faire. I wanted to turn it into a jewelry crafting case.

I have been working on it off and on the past few months or so and finally finished it about a month ago. But then I wanted to try it out and do some beading and jewelry making. A few evenings this last week I hauled the case out to my living room and made some jewelry to try out the case. So far it is working out great!

I took out the mirror and fashioned a tool holder to fit inside the lid. Below are the basic steps I took to make my tool holder to go where the mirror was before. I used foam core as my base and some vintage fabric

and elastic.

I wanted the holder to be secure inside the lid so I used two kinds of adhesive. Really tacky tape and a silicone adhesive liquid. And I was careful as I placed the holder in the case to not glue any of the cute red ruffle behind the tool holder. And really strong carpet thread to keep the fabric taught on the foamcore.

And the outside needed a little glam also, so glued some braid around the case and finished the ends with some sparkly vintage red & silver buttons. Again I used more really tacky tape and fabric fusion glue. If one glue is good, two must be better!

All done and filled with my basic supplies. Just add some bead cases with my project beads and I am good to go, to bead and craft anywhere.

And I did!

I made two pairs of earrings and a little pink nest for my friend who is having a baby! She has not gotten it yet, so I guess this spoils the surprise ;-)

I also made this vintage necklace, using a resin flower from my scrapping supplies and anything else that struck my fancy.

If you have any questions about the card, case or jewelry, just post a comment and I will get back to you!

As always, thanks for visiting!

Scrappin' on the River

I was lucky to spend Friday through Monday scrapping at a lovely retreat on the Russian River.
This was the view we saw from our scrap tables. Beautiful!!!! 
There were nine of us scrapping almost all weekend long.

We were lucky to be able to sit out on this deck to eat most of our meals until the rains started on Sunday. Despite the rain, it was still a beautiful spot to scrap and relax with a great group of girls.

We shared food, ideas and fun. I am ready to go back to this lovely, relaxing spot!

After sitting and scrapping most of the weekend I took a short walk on Sunday afternoon to the little town of Duncans Mills. I checked out a few of the shops. At one of the antique stores, Jim and Willies,  I found this vintage hat. All covered with lovely white velvet flowers, with that lovely vintage feel you can't duplicate with new. It was a deal at $10, I could get over 100 flowers for cards or scrapping!

 After I got back to the retreat, I started undoing all the stitching and removed enough flowers
to share some with my fellow crafters.

I completed almost 30 layouts at the retreat and 7 cards. This one I scrapped an old photo of my now 14 yr old son #3, when he was just 3. I love the silly, happy grin on his face. All pattern papers from Close to My Heart and the cute monkey was cut from the Create a Critter cartridge for the Cricut.

 

My birthday layout is done with both October Afternoon and Stampin' Up papers. I machine stitched around all the pattern papers and cut the flowers with my new Spellbinders flower die. And I used vintage pearl buttons for the flower centers. The banner stickers are from Jenni Bowlin Studios.

This two page layout from my trip to Boulder CO is mostly Crate Paper and Stampin' Up papers. Downtown Boulder has a great shopping/dining district called the Pearl Street Mall.  

 Three of the cards I made at the retreat. All have have ribbons and fabric from my stash.
I used Stampin' Up & Spellbinders dies. Papers from SU & Cosmo Cricket.

I really enjoyed my weekend but it was way to short! I could have scrapped and played with paper,
ribbons, stamps, and even my sewing machine for days more!
A big thanks to my friend Michelle H for setting up this fun retreat and all I want to know is...

"when can we go again?"

Spring is here.....

Spring is in the air after almost a month of rain here in wine country. The grass is green and the

daffodils, forsythia and flowering quince are all in bloom.

And now it is April and Easter is around the corner. I love to decorate for the holidays, Christmas, Halloween, Easter, 4th of July, Valentines Day. Each and everyone. 

I love my button collection and use it in all my crafts whenever I can. For Easter I made this

little button egg shadow box. And framed it in a bright spring green. 

To start I gathered up the buttons I wanted to use, vintage shell, pastel pink, green and blues. 

I cut a piece of glitter paper (glitter is a good thing!) the size of my frame. In this case 4x6 in. I cut a scrap paper into an egg shape as a template and placed it over the glitter paper. 

Ignore the mess behind the buttons, when I want to craft something new I can't be bothered

to clean up my desk. I want to get started crafting!

I sorted through the buttons to find similar sizes for each row. I started at the top. I used a clear glue, Glossy Accents by Ranger, to glue each button down within my mask.

After I reached the bottom I let the glue set up a bit and then removed the mask.

When completely dry I inserted my egg into the shadow box frame and was good to go.

A quick and simple decoration.

Eggs and Spring are signs of rebirth, renewal and fresh starts.

Reminding us to always look forward to something new!