Dashing Dotty Necklace

This tutorial is a short and simple way to explain how to take your digital images and make them a gift for that someone special.  I used Framed Dotty from Prairie Fairy Designs to complete my main project.

The front of the necklace is a piece from Tim Holtz fragments.  Determine the image you are going to use and find a fragment that would be appropriate.  Use the size of your plastic cover piece to determine the size your image should be printed out.

I have printed out my image, colored it with copics (sorry for the shine on her hair, lighting) and traced out the fragment over the piece.

An image of the fragment I chose.

The image has been cut out on the pencil line, sponged with a coordinating color and a hole punched in the top where indicated by the pencil mark.  I used a 1/8" hole punch.

Using Crystal Effects place it on the back of the fragment piece, put only a little around the hole piece you don't want it to block the hole.

Flip it over onto your colored image and smoosh it together until all parts of the image have adhesive squished onto it.  Be careful to make sure you hole says open at the top of the pendant.  Set aside and let dry, an hour is plenty of time.  You will notice the image is too big for the pendant in the below picture.

Once dry trim off the excess paper.  To reduce this amount you can cut on the inner side of your pencil markings.

Thread it with a cording or chain of your liking.

I did a second one with the Herald Angel image from Prairie Fairy Designs.

Brooch Tutorial

You may have seen a few brooches made with paper, usually something Christmas time like a poinsettia or snowman, well I thought I would put a different spin on it and make a fall brooch.  I used the Sunflower image from Prairie Fairy Designs.

Print and color the image three times.

Cut out the full flower less the stem.

 Cut out the second flower leaving the back petals off.

Cut out the third flower leaving only the front petals and the greenery.

Paper isn't strong enough to survive being a brooch on its own so you will need to put a thin layer of Crystal Effects over each cut out flower to give it strength.  I did this over a scrap piece of transparency to protect my table top in case I got messy.  Set aside and let dry.

I used my Silicone window adhesive to do the paper tole effect.  You can see how the small dollops of glue show up on the flower in the picture below.

You can buy jewellry pieces at a variety of places from craft stores to dollar stores, just look in your local area to see where you can get the best deals.

Using Crystal Effects to get a strong solid bond, apply a strip of adhesive to the back of the flowers and adhere the brooch back.  Let dry.

The finished product.

Think outside the box to make your jewellry and show me what you come up with I would love to see it!

Monster Maze

I bought the mazes from Stampin' Up, there are 3 in a package and they make great party favors for kids and even the young at heart! I used Monster Google from Prairie Fairy Designs to keep it playful, I love how his nose almost is dead center in the maze.

Challenges I am entering:

Crafty Creations - free for all

Decorate to Celebrate - birthday party (for a little one)

Celebrate the Occasion - happy birthday

Crafty Bloggers Network - anything goes

Make It Monday - anything goes

A-maze-ing Tutorial

I bought the mazes from Stampin' Up, there are 3 in a package and they make great party favors for kids and even the young at heart!  I used Monster Google from Prairie Fairy Designs to keep it playful, I love how his nose almost is dead center in the maze.

This is the front of the maze in the kit.

 Back of the maze in the kit.

I traced the outline of the outer shell of the maze with pencil around my Monster.

Carefully remove the back of the maze without losing the balls, they are so tiny you don't want to have to search for them.

I used the back card to trace around my monster as you can see it inside my originally traced line.  Cut on the inner line.

Sponge the outer edge. I matched it up with my Monster's eyes.

Carefully place it in the back of the maze.  This is super easy and super fast, give it a try!

Spa in a Box

Well it is my turn to do the tutorial at Prairie Fairy this week and I chose the image Bath'n'Bubbles Gilly to create my spa in a box.  For details on how to make this adorable gift, please check the posting below this.

Challenges I am entering:

Sisterhood of Crafters - circles (at least 2)

Try It On Tuesdays - anything goes

Bunny Zoe's Crafts - girls, girls, girls

Craft Your Passion - anything goes

Craft Bloggers Network - 3D paperfolding



Nail Care Gift Box Tutorial

Well this time I created a nail care gift box that I think any lady would love to receive.  I used the Bath'n'Bubbles Gilly digi stamp from Prairie Fairy Designs as it so appropriately depicts getting pampered.  I was inspired to create this by Laurie a fellow online creator.  However, I had to change the dimensions to fit a 100ml or 3.38 oz. of nailpolish remover.  Plus I added an extra flap in the box to add sturdiness to the box.

Rear view

 Cut two pieces of cardstock 9" long and 6 3/4" wide.  Then score pieces at 2" from each of the short sides, that means you will have two long lines.  Turn the paper and score at 2 1/2" on one end.  Then proceed to cut the sides out until you get a capital letter T.  Go back to scoring, on the long 2 3/4" strip near the narrow end, score in at 1 3/4", at 5.5" and again at 7" from the outer edge.  Turn the paper and score in 1/2" on each of the ends of the short side.  At the top of the T you will see where you have scored a section of 1/2 x 1/2", trim these out as shown in the picture below.  Also on that same section trim in 1/2" on both sides of the center strip where scored.  This creates a flap.  Take a  1 1/4" circle punch and punch out a circle centered in the middle of the 1 3/4 x 2 3/4 section of only one of the T's.  Do not discard the circle that has been punched out.

Bend each of the scored lines in a mountain fold except the top one, bend it in the valley fold.  Add strong adhesive to the four edges shown (they are the flaps for creating the box).  I used 1/2" Sookwang adhesive.

In the photo below you can clearly see where I had you trim in 1/2" on each side to create the flaps.  Remove the adhesive from this flap and attach it to the adjacent piece.  Repeat on the other side.  This will create the bottom of the box.

Then one side at a time remove the adhesive and attach to the adjacent piece.  Do the same with the other side, this creates the back of the box.

You now should have a piece that looks like so.

Repeat these steps to create your second box.

Lay the flap with the circle punched out over the other flap and trace the circle with a pencil so that it lines up exactly.  Lay your punch over the drawn circle and punch it out.

Cut out the following pieces of patterned paper:

2 - 1 3/4 x 2 1/2" (front of boxes)

2 - 2 1/2 x 3 1/2" (inside of boxes)

1 - 1 1/2 x 2 1/2" (top flap)

4 - 1 1/4" x 1 3/4" (sides of boxes)

Attach the pieces to your boxes centering them on all of the appropriate parts (except for the top flap).

With dotto adhesive (or any other temporary adhesive) adhere the two short edges onto the back of the top flap, centering it.  This ensures you have your circle marked exactly where you want it with your paper centered.

Draw with a pencil the circle on the paper.  Remove the paper from the back of the flap and rub off the temporary adhesive.

Line up the 1 3/8" circle punch over the drawn circle and punch it out.

Attach it to the one flap.  You should now have two boxes as shown below.

Add a strong adhesive on the top side of the top flap that does not have the patterned paper on it. 

Line it up and adhere the two boxes together, keeping the one with the patterned paper on top.

Top view

Time to decorate.  Now to make a rosette, take a 1 x 12" strip of patterned paper and score it ever 1/4".  Fold it in an accordian style with mountain and valley folds.

Use a strong adhesive to glue the two outer folds together.  I used Crystal Effects.  If you use Crystal Effects hold it in place for a minute or so as it is a liquid adhesive.

On one of the circles you punched out from the top flap add some Crystal Effects.  Manipulate the cardstock to flatten into a circle and pinch it together in the center.  Adhere it to the circle, hold for a minute or so.

You can see that I didn't get it exactly centered but it holds it together and you don't see that part later.

Using circle and scalloped circle nestabilities I created the front for my rosette.  I stamped and sponged the circle and used matching patterned paper for the scallop circle.

Attach to the rosette.

Here is the front decoration for my nail care kit.  I used the circle and scallop circle nestabilities again.

Lay the boxes over your nailpolish remover. Attach 1/2" ribbon around the boxes with a strong adhesive, again I used 1/2" Sookwang adhesive.

Adhere your decorations to the front and back of the boxes, I off center mine a little, I think it adds a nice touch and it gives a better view of what is inside.

I cut strips of matching patterned paper and wrapped a few chocolates to sit inside.

Here's the goodies I am sticking inside the boxes.

The finished product.

Remember to create your boxes based on the size of your nailpolish remover bottle, you want it to sit about 1/2" off the table surface.  Another thing to check is the size of your cap to make sure you hole is big enough but not too big.  If you need it bigger you will need to increase the size of the top flap to accommodate the change.  Try it and share it with a good friend!