Kiwi Lane Blog Hop!

Happy Friday, everyone!  Today I am excited to be participating in the November Kiwi Lane Blog Hop!  I have always enjoyed these hops as a follower because I love seeing all the amazing things that can be made using Kiwi Lane's designer templates.  Now I get to show you what I made with mine! 

Make sure to leave a comment at the end of this post because one random winner chosen from one of the participating blogs (including the Kiwi Lane blog), will be given a $25 gift certificate to the Kiwi Lane Shop!!  The winner will be announced on the Kiwi Lane blog on Thursday, November 7th.  Here is the blog lineup in case you get lost or this is the first you're hearing of the hop:

Kiwi Lane

** Cristine Redmond ** You Are Here!

Joy Nielsen

Van Nguyen

Minousha Bari

Lissa Mitchell

Arin Flynn

Kerri Smith

Christine Meyer

Christina Steel

Now that all of the technical stuff is out of the way, let's get this project reveal started!  I was given the Nature template set to work with: 

Being that fall is in full swing in my neighborhood, I was immediately drawn to the two leaf templates in this set.  I thought it would be fun to put together a wreath for my front door. 

Here are the supplies I used:
- wreath (mine was a straw wreath)
- burlap (can be ribbon or fabric cut into strips)
- Kiwi Lane Nature set
- Patterned Paper
- additional embellishments as needed
- glue gun
- a bone folder if it has a rounded edge and a straight edge, or a spoon & knife
- mouse pad or other soft surface

Here is the wreath that I created:

First I wrapped the wreath using burlap ribbon with a frayed edge to give the wreath a bit of visual interest.  Then I used the templates to cut out leaves from various papers from Authentique's Gathering collection.  I wanted to make these leaves look like more than just paper, so I flipped my leaves over to the side I wasn't going to be showing and used the rounded side of my bone folder in a circular motion to make the edges of the leaves curl up.  Then I flipped the leaves over and used the straight edge of my bone folder to create lines to look like the veins in the leaves.  Sounds complicated, but it was super quick and easy and gave the leaves so much more dimension (it's hard to see from the pictures).   

I used some lighter colored burlap fabric to make the rosettes, using my glue gun to keep them together and then to adhere them to the wreath.  What is the saying?  "I craft, therefore I have no fingerprints."  Yeah, that was me last weekend.  :)

I added a couple extra leaves and another rosette to the top of the wreath to balance out the heaviness of the other side.

I am SO HAPPY with the way this wreath turned out! As a self-proclaimed "novice," I've always wanted to make a pretty wreath but have always thought it would be too hard.  This came together so quickly and easily and I am so proud to have it hanging on my front door now.

Thank you so much for hopping by!  Don't forget to leave a comment to be entered in the drawing for a $25 gift certificate to the Kiwi Lane Gift Shop!!  Now hop on over to Joy Nielson's blog to see the amazing project she created!

Until next time,

Gathering Thoughts

Hello again! Sorry for my lack of posts lately. Seems I've been doing more napping than crafting as of late. Must be entering my winter hibernation mode. :) I have been working on the following project for a few weeks now and finally finished it up this morning.



Before the school year started, I volunteered to be my daughter's teacher's Secret Pal. By signing up, I was agreeing to do something special each month for her teacher to let her know how much she's appreciated. I admit, I've slacked off a bit as I forgot to give her something last month, but this month I hope to make up for it. I made her this magnet board using Authentique's Gathering line, which seemed fitting for this occasion. I thought it would be a nice place for my daughter's teacher to put her thoughts, grocery list, etc.

If you saw my post for Authentique on October 24th, then you'll know that I have been making magnet boards and magnets for gifts recently. It's a fun and easy way to put together a cute gift for a friend, family member, neighbor, etc.

Here is a closer look at a couple cute flowers I made. I've never attempted these with paper before as I've only made them with felt, but I think I like the way they turn out with paper better! I just cut out five circles of the same size and one circle a bit smaller. I got the circles wet, then crumpled them up. I kind of shaped them the way I wanted them to dry, then let them dry over night. I used a hot glue gun to glue them to the smaller circle and voila! Cute flowers to add dimension to any project!

This is a close-up of the magnets I made. SUPER easy to do. I purchased a bottle cap kit, used some clear craft glue that I already had, then cut three one-inch circles. I did a tutorial for Authentique on December 4th, which explains the process with pictures.

I hope you enjoyed this little slice of Gathering heaven. :) If I am not back before then, I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. This year I have much to be thankful for. I'm thankful to be on the Authentique Design Team. I'm thankful for the amazing scrappy ladies I've become friends with this year. I'm thankful for a husband who might not understand my scrap habits, but never complains when he sees new stuff come into the house. :) I'm thankful for my two beautiful red heads, who challenge me and make me laugh daily. And last but not least, I'm thankful to have picked up a craft hobby that calms and centers me. If I didn't have my scrappy time, I'd be a much different person. :)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

I'm feeling Sketchy...

I saw today's Sketchy Thursday sketch and I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it. First off, here's the sketch:

And here is the layout I created:

I used Authentique's Gathering collection because I thought the colors went perfectly with my daughter's hair and eyes. Plus, it's just a gorgeous collection. I used Glimmer Mist to add the splatters. I love that The Twinery's Caribbean twine goes so well with this collection. I'm completely in love with that stuff.

Just a little close-up of the title.

I used some of the Icons and Tabloids to embellish the top corner of the page. The little butterflies are so cute. :)

I made my first paper flower from this tutorial, which was done by a fellow Scrapbooksteals fan.

I love the simplicity of this layout and the colors. The Gathering line just speaks to me with the brown and teal colors. LOVING it!!

Hope you enjoyed this layout. Until next time...