How did you do that?? Part two.

Thanks for coming back to see my next tutorial! This one's a bit longer, so bear with me! I've been jealous of my crafty friends who have floral frogs. They add something special to pictures showcasing crafty creations. I saw a tutorial online on how to make your own, so I decided to give it a try. I can't for the life of me find the blog post that I found a while back showing how to make these, or I'd certainly give them credit for placing this idea in my head.

Supplies:

- wooden block of any size
- nails that extend approximately 1/2 inch past the block when hammered through
- hammer
- drill and drill bit a tad smaller than the nails you're using.
- template to drill holes, optional
- spray primer or paint

I found this wooden block in the unfinished wood section of my local craft store. I liked that it was rectangular in shape, so it could be used one way to showcase cards and it could be used the other way to showcase layouts.



I used to do a lot of cross-stiching in the past and just happened to have a pad of paper that has grids on it to help create cross-stitching patterns. I marked off where I wanted the nails to be, cut the paper to size and then taped it to the underside of the block.



I drilled holes where I marked an "x". This is the longest step in making a floral frog...unless you were super meticulous in the previous step. :)



Now in retrospect, I should have done the drilling through the top of the block as I didn't think to consider the fact that the wood would split where the drill bit comes through.

This picture shows the type of nail I used, as well as the drill bit that broke while drilling one of the first holes. Think the hubs will notice that it's missing? :/

Me being somewhat of a perfectionist, I couldn't leave the board looking like a splintered mess. I sanded down the splinters, used some spackle to fill in deep gouges, sanded that down to get to this point:



At this point, I nailed the nails in through the backside of the block.



Once all of the nails were in, this is what the floral frog looked like. This is the type of primer I used to spray mine with, but you can use any kind of spray paint/primer.



It took a few coats of primer to cover the floral frog completely.



And here's the final product!



I have to say, I'm pretty pleased with the way this turned out! I hope this adds something special to your crafty pictures!

How did you do that??

Well, I'm glad you asked! :) I was in a crafty mood today, so I decided to put together a couple tutorials to go with what I created. You'll see how I created a twine/embellishment holder out of an old spice rack today and I'll show you how to create a floral frog tomorrow!

Let's get things started, shall we? My husband and I received this spinning spice rack as a wedding gift and it's been sitting in our basement's "garage sale" pile for about 5 years...it's been inactive for even longer than that! (I should note, in case it's not uber-obvious, that this picture was taken after I'd cleaned out the jars and peeled off the labels on the lids.)



A bunch of crafty ladies that I am friends with decided to go in on a twine steal that we saw on a deal-of-the-day site. We each got 20 yards of the 11 colors of twine offered in the steal. This is how my twine was stored when I received it.



This method of storage worked for a while...until I actually used the twine for the first time. OH MY WORD did it become a tangled mess! I decided to go to my local craft store and pick up some wooden craft sticks. This became my new method of storage:



Last night a thought popped into my head. Why don't I put that dusty spice rack to good use? I could put each of the twine sticks in their own jar and have all of the colors at my disposal, right on my craft table. Genius!

I drilled a hole in 11 of the lids and cut a portion of the craft stick off so they would fit into the jars. I put the twine sticks into their own jars, pulled the twine through the lid, screwed it on and VOILA! I have a fun, new way to store my twine!!





Since I had 5 more jars left after filling the rest with twine, I decided to fill them with small button collections that I wanted to keep together.



Well, I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Remember, check back tomorrow to see how I made my own floral frog!

I Heart Authentique!

I have been a huge fan of Authentique since they launched this summer, but now I have even more reason to love them...I made their very first Design Team!



I am SO excited and being on such an amazing company's design team for my very first time means THE WORLD to me!! All of the ladies who are on the DT are INCREDIBLE crafters and I am very humbled to have even been chosen to work amongst them. This is going to be fun, for sure!!

Stay tuned for more!!

Belated Birthday and a Kindergartener!

I made a belated birthday card for a friend yesterday...her birthday was this past Saturday and I have yet to put the card in the mail. At least it's a belated birthday card, so it's the thought that counts...right?!

Anyway, here's the card:



I'm not really thrilled with the way I colored the snail, but it will have to do. I think it turned out cute and I love the simple touch the twine adds to the card. I hope my friend likes it!

It's no secret that aside from facebook, Pinterest is my newest addiction. I love going to my pins for inspiration when I'm getting ready to make a card. I found a cute card the other night and I thought it would be perfect for a simple card to congratulate our nephew/Godson on his first week of Kindergarten.

Here's the pin:

Source: studiocalico.typepad.com via Cristine on Pinterest

And here's my card:



This sketch is SO versatile! It's quick and easy and you can pack as much or as little punch as you want with it. I think he'll be pretty excited to get his very own letter in the mail. :)

That's it for now! I hope to be back with a layout soon! Until next time!

Midweek Mojo Time!

...a week late... Oh well!

Here is the sketch that the wonderfully talented Kristy Lee created for Topaz #2:



And here is the layout I created:



I'd been waiting for the perfect sketch to showcase two pictures from a wicked snow storm we had in February and this one fit the bill! I hand stitched a snowflake on the left side of the pictures and I used my Sew Easy to create a border around the page. Took for flippin' ever to sew, but it's always worth it in the end.

That's all for now! Until next time...

The Pinterest Card-Lifter Strikes Again!

Last time I posted, I shared a card I made using a card I pinned on Pinterest as inspiration. Well, I'm back with TWO more! The first two weeks of August are FILLED with family birthdays and anniversaries, so to say I've been making a lot of cards lately would be an understatement. Thank goodness I have a site like Pinterest to go to for inspiration!

Here is the first card I lifted...



And here is my version:



I think this turned out pretty cute. I made this for my father-in-law's birthday and he told me it was one of the best cards he's ever received...because it was hand made. Well, folks, any doubt I had about making cards is completely gone. Validation like that is all I needed to keep pushing me to make cards. :)

Here is the second card I lifted:



And here is my version:



I made this card for my mother-in-law. I love how I just happened to have buttons and twine that matched...I guess that's button hoarding at it's finest. :) My MIL loved this card, which again, was a nice validation. :)

That's all for now! I'll be back soon with more projects! Until then...

I'm a card-lifter!

Yep, I'm just going to go ahead and put it out there so no one can accuse me otherwise. I am a card-lifter. (For those of you who don't know what a card-lifter or a scraplifter is, it's someone who takes an inspiration card or layout and creates their own card or layout based as loosely or as strictly as the card or layout they're inspired by. I confused myself writing that, so I hope you get it!)

Today's card-lift insipration card comes straight to you via Pinterest! I have to tell you (since my husband certainly doesn't get it), Pinterest is an AMAZING outlet! Whether it's for creative inspiration, style lessons or just to pass time, Pinterest offers great ideas for anyone and everyone out there. Seriously.

Alright, enough of my rambling. Here's the card:



And here is my interpretation:



I love how the interpretation card uses scraps and various punches. It's simple, yet visually interesting. I tried to do the same thing for my mom's birthday card. I used a muted color palette and I love the way it turned out. I enjoyed trying something new, as far as using different edge punches on different sized scraps. I like the look and I'm sure I'll use it again.

That's all for now! Until next time...

Mid Week Mojo Time!

As you may have seen from my recent post, Scrapboooksteals.com has recently completed a YEAR of sketch challenges!! They have started over and have changed it up a bit. Now, instead of being 52 sketches, there will be 10 sketch increments, with a new jewel club for each increment. Last Tuesday's sketch started the Topaz club.

Here is the sketch for Topaz #1:



And here is the layout I created:



I have to say, it was different creating a layout about myself as I'm so used to scrapping my girls. In fact, this is only the second time I've scrapped myself. (The first being MWM #1.) I love the way it turned out and I am committing myself to use this sketch at least two more times to make a layout for each of my girls. :)

That's it for now...until next time!