Ole-Talk

Handmade Birthday Greetings

Here's some color to brighten up your Friday!

 

This puts me in a card making mood.  Is it to early to start on my Christmas cards?

 

Up-cycled shopping bag!  I try to make a point of not buying gift wrap and instead decorate shop bags and use kraft and tissue paper and fabric to wrap gifts.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Christmas Crafting | More Decorations

Last weekend I was once again immersed in the wonderful world of Christmas decorations.  I really love how these came out.

Christmas Tree Snow Globes

Yarn Wrapped Trees


I am excited to see all my decorations on the tree and around my house.  Thanks for stopping by!

Bookmaking

I just completed a six week book making class at RISD.  One of the perks of the job is being able to take these awesome Continuing Education classes for free or reduced tuition...another reason why I love my job!  So anyway back to my book making class.  It was truly a wonderful experience made doubly so by the fact that I did it with my wonderful boss Suzanne.  We got to bond even more while being creative.

I have dabbled on my own with book making but it was great to see how the professionals do it. I picked up quite a few tips on how to make my books really look finished.  I learned about the importance of grain, not only in the paper but also in book board, how to make cloth paper, suminagashi, and paste papers to name a few things.  I walked away with three completed books, a list of supplies, and a burning need to make more.

Here are my books.

This one is made using a sew-to-tape or smythe sewn binding with an uncovered spine and the cover boards are covered with paste paper (I actually did not make this paper but I plan to make some pretty soon).

This one is basically the same as the first only fully encased and covered with book cloth that I made.

And finally a Japanese stab binding book.  This was so simple to do and the possibilities with this binding are endless.

With this new knowledge the possibilities for gifts is endless.  It also means that I have no excuse to buy another journal...humm is that good or bad...you decide!

Spiral Bound Journal

Last year my sister shared a how to for making a spiral bound book using the Bind-it-All and I finally got around to trying it.  My Bind-it-All has been sitting on my shelf unused for way to long and it felt great to pull it out and put it use.

This was a thank you gift for my friend Michael who along with his friend Ann have a weekly podcast and blog post over at Books on the Nightstand (check it out it is really great), hence the cover of the journal. 

This was super quick to put together and I think my Bind-it-All will be getting some much needed use in the coming months!

My Very First Vision Boad

I was so inspired by Francine's post about her vision board that I had to make one of my own.  It is now hanging in my scraproom and is just the inspiration that I need to stick with my disconnect and reconnect plan for this year.

It felt so great to look though magazines and cut out images, words, and phrases that appealed to me.

I also have some small spaces left that I want to add some more phrases that I could not find in the magazines that I looked through but other than those it is pretty much all set.

I used Gel Medium to adhere the pieces to the canvas and then brushed a light layer of Paper Mod Podge onto to seal and protect it.

Have you ever made a vision board?

Ranger Inklings are Back

I took a short hiatus from doing Inklings for the Yahoo Ranger group but I am now back.  Here is what I came up with for October.  I had Halloween on the brain.

 

You can find the complete how to instructions by downloading this PDF Download Halloween Decorations

Thanks for looking!

Crafting with Hemp

The crafting bug hit me today but not for scrapbooking or card making.  I was inspired to try out a few of the craft and do-it-yourself ideas that I have been pinning on my Pinterest boards.

This bracelet is from a tutorial that can be found here and you can also buy the kits to make them from her blog.  I did get one of the bracelet kits (makes two bracelets and I got light blue and brown) but realized that with my small wrists and arms that they would easily slip off.  So off I went to Michael's to see if I could find a smaller sized bracelet and I also picked up some bamboo cord as I liked the colors it came in more than the hemp.  Here is the smaller bracelet started in green and I will also make a navy blue one.  I decided not to add the jewels to these. 

And since I was at Michael's I got some really thick hemp cord (180lb weight) to make this mat which was inspired by these coasters  from my Pinterest board.

I used the square of cork that I have been using as a top on a basket that I turned into a table that sits next to my lounging and TV watching chair in my scrap room.  I love how finished it looks now.  Think I may tackle the round cork pot rests that we have in the kitchen next.

I have a few more projects that I will be working on over the next week or two and of course I will share the results as I complete them.

Sneak Peeks

A couple more projects that I made for this weekend.

Check back early next week to see how they all came together including what I did for my Sunday Silhouettes.

Sunday Silhouettes

For this week's Silhouette I am playing with vinyl again using it both as an embellishment to decorate and as a stencil.

Here I used the vinyl to decorate this tin.  Notice the green vinyl...I found this awesome multi pack on Amazon.com and I love it.  Now I can get a lot of colors in small amounts...sorry Silhouette store (not really).

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I then used the vinyl as a stencil on these mason jars.  I saw found this idea on Pinterest (see it's not just an online time waster) and just knew it would be perfect to add some lighting to my backyard.

Here is a before and after shot.  I used the vinyl stars as a stencil and then applied glass frosting spray to the jars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a bit windy outside so these were done quickly but I think for the rest of the jars I will and another layer or two of the frosting spray.

Both projects are also a sneak peek to a blog post that will be coming up sometime early next week where I will share photos of how I used these projects so stay tuned.

Creating with Leftovers

I had some shapes left over from the layout that I did yesterday and instead of adding them to my growing pile of odds and ends that "I will use someday" I made this card and bookmark.

The book mark was super easy to put together.  I cut a piece of textured cardstock to the size I wanted then used a border punch to add a nice edge, adhere the die cuts and quote and instant bookmark.

I think I will have to try to do this going forward.  Hopefully that will reduce my odds and ends pile.