8x8 Grad Album

Well, today's the day of my very first craft show! Wish me luck! I was very busy as I didn't know if I was going to do it till the last minute and I mean LAST minute! I've been busy at home, then came down with an eye infection on Wed night...what a week!! It's been a whirlwind, so I hope I do well. I decided to try my hand at a Graduation gift set. I had an 8x8 album, so I pre-made all the pages and all you have to do is add photo's and journal. I made a matching card to go with it. I thought this would be the prefect gift for that graduate on your list. Of course, if it doesn't sell, I'll keep it for Andrew's grad in June! Let me know what you think! I made it fairly simple so it could be used for either a boy or a girl. There are some more pages, but I left them plain, with a 7x7 white square in the middle for autographs, photo's, whatever they choose. I also added some inspirational sayings on those pages and the last pg is (4) 3x3 squares. There's 20 pg's in all.

Grapefruit Scented Bath Salts W/Matching Cards!

Good morning! Here's another crafty idea I came up with for the upcoming craft show tmw! I got the bath salt idea from my friend Kelli. She made them for teacher's gifts at Xmas time. I couldn't get my hands on Mandarin oil, so I decided to go with Grapefruit Essential Oils and red food coloring to ting it pink. Oh my GOODNESS does this stuff smell good!!! I made up 10 bottles and had enough left over for 3 personal ones as well. I then made (10) 3x3 cards that are blank inside, but have a little saying on the inside left panel...

"Pamper Yourself With Handmade Grapefruit Bath Salts. Just Add 2-3 tbsp’s To Your Bath & Enjoy!"

This way, they can be used for any kind of gift! Not bad huh?? I did the recipe 4x's and as I said, it made 10 small jars, plus I had enough to fill 3 small, snack sized tupperware containers about half way. There's actually alot in these jars to! I have it pretty packed so ppl will get alot for their money.

Here's the recipe! (I got everything I needed at the local Bulk Barn and the jars at Dollarama!)

For most bath salts recipes you can use your choice of epsom salts or sea salt, with baking soda, if desired, or a combination of all three. A nice mixture is:

• one cup of epsom salts
• 1/4 cup of sea salt
• two or three tablespoons of baking soda (I used 2)
• essential oil (about 10 drops is a nice scent)
• liquid food coloring (again adjust to your desired color)

Epsom salts and sea salt are soothing for tired muscles, while both will gently soften the water for a luxurious bath experience. Add your choice of essential oil, but start with two or three drops and see if you like the fragrance. The same goes for the liquid food coloring; sometimes I use quite a few drops of food color to get the strong hue that I like, but so far it hasn't stained the bath tub or anyone's skin. Remember that the color and fragrance will be much diluted in the bath water. For best results I mix all the ingredients in my food processer. Then put them in a jar of your choice! Put 1 or 2 tablespoons in a nice warm bath, and relax!

Just A Note ~ Magnetic Note Boards

First off...today is my neice's 1st birthday!! Hard to believe a yr has gone by already! Her name is Isabella, but we call her Bella and she's also adopted "Bella Bunny" because she is certainly as cute as a little bunny!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BELLA BUNNY!!!

Now on to today's post....

Good morning!! I'm slowly getting my mojo back, I have no choice with the craft show this weekend! So, this is something that my friend Kelli and I did for our monthly club a few months ago. I never did get a chance to finish mine, but I thought they would be nice to take to the show as well. These are magnetic note boards using pizza pans. You can use any shape you want! I used my cricut and plantin schoolbook to cut the circle (fit to pg) and then decorate! I just have to pick up the magnets and punch the holes/add ribbon for hanging and they're done! Let me know what you think!

"Play Along Monday's" Challenge #19 - Circle Scallop Santa Face (with instructions)

Good morning!!! Well, we had a busy wknd and I have yet to get started on my Christmas cards, so I went back in my blog for idea's and I found the santa claus face tags that I made last year! You can find the instructions here, (Thank you Tanya!) but I've also did my own little tutorial below. These are so cute when they're finished. So, for this week's challenge, I'd like to see you do your own! Can't wait to see how you incorporate your Santa tags!

Materials Needed:

• circle scallop punch
• standard hole punch
• red, white and blush colored paper
• adhesive
• trimmer or scissors

Instructions:

• using your circle scallop punch, punch out 1 blush, 2 red and 2 white
• using your standard hole punch, punch out 2 white and 1 red, this will be your eyes and nose

• leave your blush scallop circle whole, trim 3 scallops off 1 white and trim 5 scallops off both the other white and red

• attach white 5 scallop pc to the top of your blush circle and red 5 scallop piece to the bottom of the blush circle

• attach the white 9 scallop piece to the back of your santa, on the bottom, this becomes part of his beard

• now take your 9 scallop piece of red and tuck it under the back of your red piece on the top. this becomes santa's hat. i tucked it under and matched the first scallop on the 9 pc to the second one that's already attached (i hope this makes sense..lol..you can always click on the above link for more instructions if needed)

• now add your eyes and nose and using a black marker, add your little eyeballs and you're done!

Fun With Coasters!

I wanted to share some of the things I did when I first started with CTMH, 2 yrs ago. These projects are done using your typical 4x4" coaster that you would get at a restaurant. I covered them with CTMH paper and embellishments and voila! A really cute display piece! The first one is of my kids first yr of baseball (4 yrs ago!) and the second is a little memorial I made for my daughter when she lost her budgie. She absolutely loves it!

Notepad Set

This is the cutest idea! Each month, a group of us get together and we scrapbook. Each month, we put together a make & take project for the girl's to do. The last couple mth's, one of our friends has done the make & takes and this is the one we did last night. Thank you so much, Christine!

This is a little notepad that Christine put together. She provided us with the pieces and we added our own touches and put it all together with a matching card! I used liquid glass on the hearts (card) and glitter on the notepad.

Valentine's Gift Box

This is a little box that we did at a recent scrapbook get together. Christine, a friend in our group of girls, came up with a template to make this cute little box!! You can interchange it to make it for any occassion. I'm also going to try and do one in an Easter theme to see how it looks. I'll add a photo of the template later as well. The little window is done with acetate and you have the option to use staz-on ink to add a little something to it, or just leave it clear. Either way, it's really pretty!

Photo Memory Box and Matching Card Set

Hello there! I found this cute idea on a fellow CTMH constultant's website. Tina Sutton is an Independent Consultant and Senior Executive Director for Close To My Heart. You can view her website at http://www.missgingerdots.com/. You can view the instructions and template for this memory box here http://www.missgingerdots.com/pdffiles/Memory%20Box.pdf. I had a lot of fun doing this and decided to do a card to match. I haven't added my photo's, as I'm not sure what I want to do with it or who is going to receive it.

Materials Used for the Card:

• B&T paper cut to 4 x 5.5" (I used CTMH Paper Garden paper pack and Stickease)
• Premade card (4 x 5.5") or make your card using CS
• Brads
• Transparency paper
• Cuttlebug and embossing folder (I used Swiss Dots)
• Stamps for sentiments on front and inside

Instructions for Card:

• Cut your B&T AND transparency paper to 4 x 5.5"
• Run your transparency paper through your cuttlebug using your folder of choice
• Attach transparency to your B&T using your brads, now attach to the front of your card. This way you don't see the brads!
• Add your sentiment on the front and inside

Materials Used for the Memory Box:

• (2) 12x12 sheets of CS
• CTMH 'Flutter' acrylic stamp set
• CTMH 'petal', 'blush' and 'kiwi' ink pads
• (2) 12x12 sheets of co-ordinating B&T paper (I used CTMH 'Paper Garden' paper pack and stickease for this as well)
• Adhesive
• Trimmer
• Scor-Pal or scoring tool

Instructions for Memory Box: (please remember you can also refer to the link above which also contains diagrams)

• Take your first piece of CS and scor it at 4" both horizontally and vertically, so you'll have 9 (4") squares on your sheet
• Cut the 4 corners off (see photo below)
• Stamp both the inside and outside of the paper, this will become your box

• Cut your B&T paper into 3.5 x 3.5" squares and attach to the outside flaps (purple area in photo below)
• Cut your 2nd piece of CS to 11 1/4 x 11 1/4" and follow same directions as above, discarding 4 corner pieces
• Adhere the last 4 pieces of co-ordinating B&T paper to your flaps, as shown below
• Stamp or use a stickease to add a sentiment of choice in the center box (see both photo's below) This will be the bottom of your box, you will see it when the box opens
• Attach this pc of CS to the larger, ONLY GLUING THE CENTER SQUARE

Once you have all your steps completed, this is what you'll end up with!! Undo the ribbon and your box falls open and you will have attached your photo's of choice! What a great little gift or keep one for yourself!!

This would be a great gift for anyone on your list, including teachers and bus drivers. You don't have to add the photo's, you can give it as is and they can add their own photo's!!

Pillow Box Gift Card Holder

Good morning!! Well, that was alot of snow over the last couple days! They say we're in for some more from Tuesday into Wed evening. Santa won't have any trouble with his sleigh this year, that's for sure!

Last night I had to come up with a neat idea to hold a gift card. I had bought a 10 pk of pillowboxes back in the August sale and decided to come with something using one of those.Here's what I came up with and I'm quite happy with it!

Materials: (all CTMH unless otherwise noted)

• Aspen paper pack
• Pillow Box
• Clear Embossing powder
• embossing stamp pad
• Heat Gun
• 'Say It In Style' stamp set
• 'All Decked Out' stamp set (swirls on the tag)
• 'Holiday Red' ink pad
• 2x2" block and 4x4" block
• snowflake punch (michaels)
• glitter writer (michaels)
• adhesive
• quickutz tag die

Instructions:

• trace the pillowbox pattern onto the aspen paper, cut out and adhere to the pillow box
• cut a strip of about 3/4" (I eyeballed this part to the space in the tag), this goes through the tag, looks like ribbon
• cut out your tag using your cuttlebug or machine of choice
• stamp image on tag
• stamp the image you want to emboss on the tag using your emboss pad and then add your clear embossing powder, heat till it goes clear
• adhere tag to your pillow box
• add your glittered snowflakes and put your gift card inside and you're done!

Gift Box

I had to come up with something to hold a bag of white hot chocolate that I had bought as a gift. I couldn't find it in stores, so went to Bulk Barn and bought it that way and put it into a nice gift bag. Still wasn't happy with the whole presentation thing. So, I decided to try my hand at modge podging a box. I found an old box and voila!! I think it turned out ok!

Materials:

• CTMH 'Deck The Halls' (retired) paper pack and stickease
• modge podge (michaels)
• foam brush (dollarama)
• Ornament stamp (I think it's by Stampendous? This one is from a make and take I did in Bolton)

Instructions:

• Modge podge one side at a time: do the box, then the side of the paper you are putting on the box and continue doing all 4 sides.
• Once this is done, you can now go around to each side and MP again, over top of the paper.
• Add your top piece and follow the above instructions.
• Add your embellishments of choice!
• On the tag attached to the hot chocolate, I added the instructions on the backside.

Photo Coasters

My first attempt at coasters using photo's and modge podge and I think it looks pretty good! This is actually a Christmas gift order. I got the tiles from Lowe's, Modge Podge from Michaels and I used a sponge brush to apply. I applied a layer on the tile first, then on the back of the red paper and adhered that and once it was tacky, I applied MP over the top of the photo..also added a little brad and tag with puppy's name. MP'd over that as well.

"Warm Wishes" Coaster/Trivet Set - $15!!

One of a kind gift set, ready to go!! Can be made to order as well. This set sells for $15.00

Wine and Coaster Set

Another idea I did with the rub on transfers!

Christmas Gift Set - $25 - Comes Gift Wrapped With Tag!

Looking for that special, yet very unique gift? Look no further! This set comes gift wrapped with a tag, ready to go! All you have to do is sign the tag!

One set ready to go!! Can also be made to order!!

My First Sale, Paint Cans and Coaster Sets!!

Good morning! I am happy to announce that I made my first sale on Friday! SO excited!! I just wanted to remind everyone that items listed here can be made to order. If I have any on hand, I'll make note of that in my post. If there's something in particular that you are looking for, please don't hesitate to ask. I have lots of supplies and I can make something up so you can see if that's what you're looking for. I can also do invitations, cards and lots of different altered items as well. Prices will vary depending on the project and amount you will need.

Some things to know about Coaster Sets:

• you can order a set of any amount you need
• all coasters come with a felt backing, so as not to scratch surfaces
• all coasters are glazed, therefore protected
• I have alot of stamps, so please, let me know what you have in mind and I am sure I can help you out!

Some things to know about Paint Cans:

• looking for a certain theme? let me know as I am sure I can accomodate you!
• paint cans make great gifts for anyone on your list! See below for examples!
• want it personalized? just let me know! (see examples in past post that I did for my neice and nephew)

Paint Can Idea's:

• Teacher - Fill with teachers supplies like post it notes, pens/pencils, erasers, paper clips etc, and maybe a treat or 2!
• Baby Shower - Fill with baby necessities like shampoos, soaps, socks, soothers, bottles, wash cloths and maybe a little something for mommy!
• Child's Birthday - Fill with crayons, markers, candy, toys even video games would fit!
• Adult Birthday - Just about anything would go!
• Bath Surprise - Fill with soaps, bubble bath, bath salts, serenity CD and candles!
• Christmas - Fill with Christmas candies, cinnamon scented candles, anything you like!
• Miscellaneous - Use it as a popcorn tin!
• Movie Night In A Can - Fill with popcorn, Blockbuster gift cert, some treats and you're off to the movies in the comfort of home!

So many ideas and I can make them all! Each paint can is also unique! You can order your paint can empty to be filled by you or I can do it ALL for you! Depending on your time, you can choose what you would like to do! It's that simple!

Personalized Paint Cans

Good morning! I wanted to share what I made for my niece and nephew last night. My daughter's birthday is on Monday, so instead of loot bags, I'm giving these instead!

Kid's Club November Project

Karen's Kid's Club

Project of the Month for November!
Ages 7+

Date: Sunday, November 16th
Time: 1:00 - 4:00
Cost of Workshop: $15 includes all materials
Cost of Kit only: $10 precut, ready to assemble
Place: Karen's for address, pls email wilson_familyof4@hotmail.com
RSVP: November 8th

Come on out and have some fun! Decorate this paint can and fill it with your favourite things or give it as a gift! Makes a great teachers gift or gift for a friend!

***SOLD** Snowman Paint Can

Snowman Paint Can: $15.00

Remember, these make great gifts for teachers, bus drivers, cross guards etc! Fill with cookies, popcorn...whatever you like!!

***FOR SALE*** Coaster Set

Coaster/Trivet Set: $15.00

These sets make great gifts for teachers, bus drivers, cross walk helpers and lots more!

Currently 2 sets available, but all sets can be made to order.

***SOLD*** Cardinal Coaster Set

Trivet and Coaster set: $15.00

Set says "From Our Family To Yours, Merry Christmas"