Old to new!

After making my neat little "recycled" western (skirt) tote bag, I decided to try making one with some old denim. I was very inspired by Connie at Crafty Home Cottage to use some of my own bits and pieces of denim. She made the CUTEST aprons using her old bib overalls! Check them out at her link above.

But, instead of using my own scraps,  I decided to go to the thrift store and buy an old denim skirt! I just HAD to try using a short denim skirt to make another tote bag, like my old western skirt tote (left, and linked above)............my sister's birthday was coming up and I thought it would be perfect for her.

So off I went to the local thrift store!


First though, I must apologize for the poor photos. I made this bag right before a beach trip to celebrate my sister's 60th birthday (did I ever post those photos?), and was in a hurry to get it finished before I went (I ALWAYS wait until the last minute)...... so naturally, I forgot to take photos of it! That's just not like me........but being in a rush does do weird things to a person, right?  So....... the following photos were taken by my sister with her cell phone, and though OK, they don't really show the details. 

Front of bag (above) hanging from a chair. Quite blurry but you get the gist of it. All I did was sew up the bottom seam (after sewing on the trim fabric with my sewing machine).  I used some darling Parisian-type fabric for a trim around the bottom, front and back, and for a "patch" behind some vintage doilies and buttons I had for decoration.

I didn't do anything else to "alter" the skirt at all! I left in the zipper and snap and the belt loops. I did add two more belt loops, one on each side, using the strip of denim that I cut off the bottom before adding the fabric trim.

Better picture of front of the bag, although blurry. Darn! I used some pretty pink stripped fabric for the tie, that was woven through the belt loops. The strips started out at 3" wide by a length that would go around the waistline of the skirt, plus maybe 3 extra inches. I then turned in the edges of the strips to enclose the raw edges and finished off the ends. The ties were run through the belt loops, and it can be pulled open just like a drawstring bag.

I made a "patch" using the Parisian fabric with some old vintage buttons across the top (just for decoration).

All of the lace sewn along the pocket tops was hand sewn as I couldn't reach inside with my sewing machine. 

Closeup of the front (above).

The back shows the trim around the bottom much better. Just love that fabric! My sister loves Hello Kitty things and colors, so I figured she'd like this fabric with the pinks, turquoises and blacks. The lace was hand sewn and also the appliqued heart was sewn on by hand.

I hadn't planned to make this tote so fancy, but you know me, I just can't resist adding lace and doo-dads.

I didn't even take pictures when she was opening this gift! What was I thinking anyway???

Thank you Connie at Crafty Home Cottage for your inspiration!

  

Snazzy Napkin card...... neat technique tutorial!

I've wanted to use this napkin technique for ages, since I first saw it on YouTube. The results are amazingly gorgeous! Yup, this is a napkin.... come see how I did it.

This is "kind of" a tutorial, but very quick.. I didn't go into alot of detail.. and didn't take pictures as I was making it (darn... I should know by now that when I do a new technique, I should take pictures).

And YES... I used a napkin!

You can get a HUGE variety of napkins at Tuesday Morning, and online at different Etsy stores.

Here is the card in it's full glory and of course, the photo doesn't do it justice and doesn't show all of the glittery highlights.

Here's what I did:

1.  I used a 4x6 piece of watercolor paper.
2.  Made a 5x7 card base out of the green.
3.  Cut a 4-1/4" x 6-1/4" purple mat.
4.  Use a large napkin with the picture you like. Gently pull off the thin white paper that is on the back of the napkin. Sometimes there are two layers of the thin white paper so tear both off.

5.  Next, cut off the quarter section so you have one picture, and trim the picture to fit the 4x6 watercolor paper.
6.  Spread glossy Mod Podge on the piece of watercolor paper... and then spread some also on the back of the napkin.
7.  Lay the napkin onto the watercolor paper and smooth it out carefully to get out the wrinkles.. or you can leave them in for texture.  Trim off any edges that protrude off the edge of the watercolor paper.
8.  Put some more Mod Podge on top of the napkin, and sprinkle clear embossing powder on top, shake it off and then heat it with your heat tool to melt it and dry it.
9.  Once dry, put another light coat of Mod Podge over the picture and while wet, sprinkle some clear glitter on top.. then shake it off. I press it down as best as I can so that it will adhere well. Let it dry well or use your heat tool to dry it.

Here is a close up (above)... I think next time I'll try putting the glitter on as the first layer and not use the emboss powder... as alot of the glitter tends to come off when it's applied over the embossing... but the shimmery emboss powder does looks awesome.  

I wish I could have captured the full effect on camera.

Once the glitter was dry, I added a lavender ribbon on top and wrapped it around the back of the watercolor paper and glued it down on the back of the watercolor paper, before adhering it to the purple mat.

I used a little "sweet" tag that I had printed out on my printer on cream cardstock, a row of lace trim on the bottom, a black glitter butterfly and some tiny roses.



And voila! it's done! Was really quite fast and easy.. and alot of fun.  Next I'm going to use that darling chicken napkin to see what it looks like with just glitter and no emboss powder.



Try it, you'll love the results.

 

FUN AND FUNKY VINTAGE/GRUNGE TYPE CARD.

With summer finally in full swing here, I'm finding less and less time to sit myself down at my craft table! I did manage to make a neat vintage/steampunk/grunge card for my nephew and his fianace, for their engagement party. Thought I'd give it a little spotlight here because I really liked how it turned out!

I used a purple and gray color theme, as these are their wedding colors, and I did alot of inking of edges with some Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Vintage Photo (which I love love!).  See those 3 little buttons on the top? They were some pretty vintage buttons I found at a garage sale. I love the little purple gems that sparkle and shine when you turn the card this way and that.

I tucked in a little lace doily on the left side of the photo, after sponging it with the vintage photo ink.

Don't you just ADORE this image? I found it on Pinterest when I searched for "vintage photo couple on moon". The website it's from is Deviant Art. Her images are free for personal use.  I typed the various tags text using MS Word, using a fancy font, then printed them out on cream cardstock, and cut them out with fancy edged scissors. The photo was also cut along the edges with my fancy edged scissors and ink distressed.

  
Burlap always gives something a more grunge/vintage look, so I cut strips and frayed the edges, to add under their names, and the sentiments. I stamped some little black stars on each side of the "love you to the moon and back".
  

I found this saying by searching online for engagement quotes. I thought it was just perfect. And there's another one of those vintage buttons at the bottom. Love it!

I used a little more burlap on the inside for a little added interest... and used a few little burlap strings that I had pulled out from the edges.

I made my special envelope using the We Are Memory Keepers envelope punch board. That is one of my FAVE tools.   The paper is a glittery gold paper that I got from JoAnn's. The "belly band" is made with some gray satin polka dot ribbon. It can be slid off easily. I didn't want to mar the envelope and ruin it, but taping it shut. To the belly band ribbon, I added one of my handmade shabby paper flowers using the same purple and gray papers, and a pretty lavender organza ribbon bow.

The tag is also made with the gold glittery paper (though you can't see how it sparkles in this photo unfortunately). Another little lavender bow tops it off, with their names on a little piece of cream cardstock, and a little strip of the scrapbook paper with the purple flowers glued on. Lots of distressing here too.

This wasn't really a tutorial, but I hope you get a few ideas from my card. Happy crafting!

 

A challenge for you...... and tutorial!

All cards are 4"x 4".

Today I have a challenge for you! Can you make THREE darling, sweet little cards from one sheet of 12x12 paper? .........and use every single bit of scrap that is left to decorate your cards, and use nothing more?

If you would like to learn how, follow along with me on this tutorial.... I have quite a few photos..... so sit down with your cup or tea, or coffee, and enjoy.  This was NOT my own design. I followed along with Einat Kessler on her YouTube video here.... this was quite an inspiration for me. I LOVE fun little projects like this.  Here goes.....   I'll try to keep it quick and simple (although if you know me, that's hard to do!)

NOTE: I suggest using a piece of paper that has some light areas on one of the sides, that you can use for your sentiments.





Come on! Go get a pretty piece of 12x12 paper, your scissors, glue and trimmer, and follow along with me!







1.  Start with one of your favorite pieces of double-sided 12"x12" scrapbook paper. Cut off one side at 4 inches, so that you  have a 4" x 12" strip.

Cut the remaining piece into THREE 4" x 8" strips. These are  your 3 cards. The 4x12 strip is what you use for your flowers and embellishments. Set that aside.

2.  Score one of the strips in half, to make your first 4x4 card (above). Round the corners (optional). 

3.  As we work along, it's up to you if you want to ink all the edges of the cards and embellishments with a distress ink or a dye ink. For mine, I used Ranger Vintage Photo distress ink and swiped all the edges using a little sponge.  Depending on the colors in your paper, use whatever color you'd like. I wanted mine to look a little vintage.

4.  Now, from your first card, cut a hole somewhere on the front. I cut a scalloped hole on the lower right side of the card (see below) using my 2" scallop punch. Distress the circle if you want.

5.  From the scalloped circle, cut a spiral (see above) so you can make a spiral rose. If you don't know how to make the spiral rose, search on YouTube and you'll find tons of instructions! Basically, you cut your circle in a spiral, starting at an outside edge, all the way around to the center, leaving a little small circle which you can see in the above photo. 

Start curling the spiral, starting at the outer end, using a small tool at first, like a thin paintbrush end, or your emboss tool, and once you've started, you can just roll up the rest using your fingers. When it's all curled, let loose a little bit so it spreads out, and then glue the little circle that's left to the bottom, to hold the spiral in place.  Set the little rose aside. We'll finish this card later.

6.  Now we'll start on the second card.  Take your next 4x8 piece, and score it on the long side at 
2-1/2" and 5" (see below). We are going to make a cute little easel card! See below top right photo, how it sits up on the 2-1/2" flap?

7.  You'll need something for the top flap to sit against, or it will keep tipping over. So I cut about a 1" strip from my "leftover" 12x8 piece, and used my scalloped scissors to cut one of the edges. Then I curled the edge a little big and inked it, and glued it to the bottom flap of the card.

See below top right how the top flap now sits against the scalloped edge?

8.  Now punch another 2" scalloped circle from  your scrap piece (I made mine with my punch) and ink the edges, then glue it to the top of the easel card, letting it stick up some... I think I let mine stick up too much. I would put it down lower so it isn't so high on the card.

9.  You'll notice that the card wants to keep tipping over backwards! So to stop that from happening, put a bunch of little embellishments towards the bottom. I punched 3 little flowers out of my scrap piece, using a little flower punch I have, wadded them up, then stacked them and glue them together, to make a little flower.  

I glued that on the bottom left, along with some little buttons.

It still wanted to tip over!..... so I found a little chipboard "love" sign, and added another button on top of the chipboard button, and that did the trick. I also cut the little heart by hand (oh I need a little tiny heart punch!) and stuck it on top of the "love" sign, just for a little extra glitz.

10.  Now for the 3rd card. Oh this is so fun! I really enjoyed making these. This will be a "gatefold" card. Score your 4x8 piece at 2" on the long side, and then 6". Now the "gates" will fold towards the middle.

11.  Ink the edges if you want to, and then I cut a little decorative piece out of my leftover strip, to put on the right side. I used a Martha Stewart edge punch for this. It's about 1".

12.  Now we want to make a paper flower out of our scrap piece, to put in the middle of the gate fold, to hold the flaps down.  If you have about a 2" flower punch, punch 3 flowers out of your leftover scrap piece. I don't have that big of a punch, so I made a freehand pattern (lower left) and then traced around it for my 3 flowers and handcut them out. Really, it's not that hard!

Now scrunch up your 3 flowers (alot), and then open up carefully, and either stack and glue, or use a brad like I did. Kind of fuss with it to turn up the petals. Now glue the flower to the RIGHT side of the card flap only. It should hang out over the right flap, to keep the left flap from popping up.

See below how you only put glue on the RIGHT side of your flower, and then glue it to the right flap of the card, so it sticks out over the left flap.

You can see above right, my fold was a little wonky, so I just trimmed it off! We can usually fix things fairly easily!  


Oops...I know, I'm taking too long!..... have you finished your cup of tea? you'd better go get another, and a few cookies......... enjoy the journey!

Now set this card aside and we'll work on the other embellishments from our leftover scrap piece (which is getting smaller and smaller).

13.  See above left what is left of the 12x8 scrap piece? Not much. From that, I punched two more circles, using my 1-1/4" circle punch. You could probably use a 1-1/2" punch but not much bigger. Then I cut 4 long strips (having striped paper really works neat), and two short pink strips from the tiny piece that was left, so I could stamp my sentiments on them. 

See the lower right photo (above) - I found sayings that would fit on my strips, from some of my small stamp sets, and flagged the ends to use to decorate. I also cut two tiny leaves (by hand) to put on one of the cards.  I made two more spiral flowers from the 1-1/4" inch circles for my first card.

After cutting every bit that I could, I looked at my 3 cards and decided which ones needed a little something extra. We're almost done! Have patience.........................

14.  On my first card, I added the "thinking of you" sentiment and the two little tiny circle flowers. I also stamped a heart in the center of the punched out circle (on the inside of the card).  I added the two little leaves (blue side out) and 3 gems.

15.  On the easel card, all I did was stamp a sentiment on a flagged piece I had cut from one of the strips, and stamped a couple of little buttons on each side.

I had some darling little Hot Off the Press stamps that I got from Paper Wishes (that are only $1.29 each!). They have the perfect little sentiments for tiny cards.  I LOVE them!

16.  For the 3rd card (gatefold card), I needed a short strip on the bottom to hold the right flap down, so I decided to use a piece of the little pink strip that I had cut, flagged both sides, and glued on the "Cute as a Button" sentiment, and added two little gems. This held the right flap down, and kept the left flap from popping up.

I had the thin green strip left (nothing wasted right?), and the striped strip and short pink strip, so I flagged the ends and glued them to the top left, as that area needed something. I found the cute little cupid button in my stash, so added it too.

None of this was planned, and I didn't have a theme in mind. The colors and stamps I had did the "talking" for me!

And there you go. Did you have fun?????  Three sweet little 4x4 cards are done and ready to go for your own use, or to package up as a gift.

I hope you enjoyed making these. 

Please comment if you did, and send me an email to show them off! The ones I get pictures of, I'll post on my blog (with your permission of course!).(pinkpapercottage@yahoo.com).

I have 15 Tutorials.... do you want more?

Hi ladies, I was just looking at my blog and realized I have 15 tutorials! ................painstakingly done and very detailed............    ......... and I want to know, DO YOU WANT MORE?  (please keep reading dear friends.....)

Wow.... I had to go back and see just what they were and I must admit, there are some good ones.  Go to each link to see pictures.

Here's a list with links to each one, in case you are a newer follower:

March 26, 2013:
Fabric Yo Yo's Tutorial (so cute!)

May 13, 2013:
Mini Tag Merry Go Round Album Tutorial - Part I  (oh my - gorgeous!)

June 21, 2013:
Paper Rosettes Tutorial (you gotta' learn how to make these!)

July 20, 2013:
Mini Tag Merry Go Round Album Tutorial - Part II

August 9, 2013:
Easy Fun Postcards (mail them out!)

August 20, 2013:
Frugal Crafting Ideas - Part 1

August 27, 2013:
Frugal Crafting Ideas - Part 2

September 3, 2013:
Frugal Crafting Ideas - Part 3

October 27, 2013:
Holiday Planner Tutorial (awesome and could be used for any time of year)

November 13, 2013:
Playing with Pins (clothes pins that is)

February 20, 2014:
Fonts Galore (how to upload fonts to your computer and where to find)

March 6, 2014:
Layouts Galore and Tutorial for You (using Studio J digital scrapbook program at Close to My Heart)

March 17, 2014:
15 Minute Quick Cards #1

March 21, 2014:
Turn Old Catalog Pages into Envelopes and Flowers  (nifty!)

April 14, 2014:
Paper Radiant Star Tutorial (if nothing else, go check this one out!)

May 9, 2014:
15 Minute Quick Cards #2

November 9, 2014:
One Brown Bag Brag Wallet (really fun and easy)

There you  have it. You can see between May and November, I was busy doing other things, such as house hunting. We never did find anything "just right" for us. Maybe next summer we'll look again.

For now, keep this list handy. You just may want to make something new and different. I try to make my tutorials very detailed, and something different and unusual. You can always go to the "search this blog" box in the right-hand column of my blog, to search for my tutorials.

My questions now is... DO YOU WANT MORE TUTORIALS???? Please let me know!  If I don't hear from anyone via comments, I probably won't post anymore, although I do have some dandies ready to go.

 

One Brown Bag Brag Wallet.

Wow! Try to say that(one brown bag brag wallet) 5 times! I'm always browsing YouTube to find new and different projects to make that will inspire me. I'm finally just now (after moving) finding some time and motivation to craft again.  I found this really CUTE little wallet/photo holder that seemed simple and easy, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

Right now, I'm just going to show you the pictures of this cute little wallet that I made as my "practice" project, and briefly explain how it was put together. It measures about 5" x 6" and has room for 9 photos. And, get this...... the base is a brown paper bag! So this is NOT a tutorial, as I didn't take photos along the way as I made it.

A full YouTube video by Dawn's Inspirations can be found HERE on YouTube. Be sure and go watch it if you want to make one of these. She gives a very complete, step-by-step tutorial.

Here's what it looks like inside. You open up the top flap upwards. Room here for two photos, one on the top flap, one on the back of the bottom flap:

Now flip the bottom flap down. Room for another photo on the bottom flap, and you will see two tags in a pocket on the left (room for smaller photos, front and back, or writing.

This was made with the brown paper bag, which was folded in thirds. Two pieces of cream cardstock were cut out and tucked into the top and bottom of the bag, forming the top flap and the bottom flap. I then matted the cream colored flaps with decorative paper and rounded the edges.

Here are the tags pulled out.

The below photo shows the top of the brown paper bag. That makes two pockets to put the two tags into. Pretty ingenious.

I did a little stamping on the cream cardstock and inked most of the edges of the little wallet, to give it an antique look. Mind you, this is NOT my best work. I was doing this for practice and was in quite a hurry. I also used a paper bag that had a few flaws, that I didn't notice at first, so it's not real even in some spots.

Here's what the wallet looks like with the left flap opened out to the left. You can see the underside of one of the photo mats on the left, and the center of the wallet is a pocket (the cream colored part) with another photo mat inside of it! Pretty nifty!  I stamped a little box for writing something in.

Here I am pulling the photo mat out. You could put a small photo underneath it, and also to the left on the burgundy patterned paper.

The right side of the center of the wallet (above-cream colored) is the bottom of the paper bag glued down, which makes a little pocket to slide the photo mat into. You can see a little bit of the bag sticking out below the cream colored cardstock, which really should not show like that, but what the hey... this was just practice, right?  Here's the center area with the flap folded up again, where I left more room to write.

This was really fun to make! Not all paper bags are exactly the same size, so you almost have to measure as you go, to make the mats for the flaps and tags. My bag was from a package of cheap lunch sacks from the grocery store! You can buy really nice, heavier ones, from the craft stores. My lunch sack measured 5" x 9-1/2". Some sacks may be 6 inches high and a different length.

I'm going to write down measurements for the flaps and mats for this 5" x 9-1/2" sack.

Magnets are used on each flap so that it snaps shut. See below:

Dawn, on her YouTube video here, shows you how to insert the magnets. That was really helpful to me.

I'm going to take pictures as I make the next little wallet. If anyone wants my written measurement sheet, or wants me to post a tutorial on making this, let me know and I'll post one. My next one is going to be a Christmas themed wallet, to hold some of my little Christmas pictures.

And voila! here it is finished. It's just not my style to leave it plain.. so I'll probably decorate it up a little bit.  I do like the simplicity of it though.  I'm thinking how cute a set of three would be, put into a little mini magazine holder box that is decorated to match. What a sweet gift that would make for someone.

If you make one of these, I would really love to see it! Email me at pinkpapercottage@yahoo.com and send me a photo, and if you like, I'll post it/them on my blog.

I had fun making this, and it really DID get me inspired and motivated. And now I'm excited to start crafting again..... and more in the mood to start on my Christmas cards.

Enjoy!  I hope you'll try one of these. They are really fun.