Shadow Box

One day I received a call from my neighbor, Lori.  "Hey, are you still doing crafts with shadow boxes?" she asked.  Yes, I was, so she told me that she had found several at Goodwill for a buck each.  She said they had a design in them but thought that it would be easy to pop the back out and replace it.  I asked her to go ahead and pick some up for me and I'd see what I could do with them.

I put them aside for a while but recently when I started my Christmas crafting I remembered the boxes.  I unpacked them and found that they had a seashell design on the back panel.  Not very Christmasy, so that was going to have to go!

(I wish I had taken a photo of the "before", but I didn't so just imagine a peachy, seashell thing in the back of the shadow box!!!)

I popped out the back panel and then traced that shape on some chipboard-type stuff I had laying around.  I don't buy chipboard.  I keep the insert in packages to use later.  I cut that shape out and then covered it with scrapbook paper.

Next I added some small jingle bells to the inside space of the shadow box.  I then closed it up.  I thought it could still use a little something extra so I cut some "frosted glass" vinyl and added the word "jingle" to the front of each box.

Now, you don't really notice "jingle" unless you're really looking for it, but I like it.  It casts a shadow on the back of the shadow box, which is kinda cool.

You can really see "jingle" in this one!

Difficult to see in this photo, but "jingle" is on the front glass.

This project was inexpensive, simple, and fairly quick to make.  Most of the time involved was figuring out what I was going to do and how!  Once I had that figured out the actual project itself went really quickly.

Hope you enjoyed todays quick project!

Lori

Jazzed Up Gift Bag

I find that I buy a lot of stuff and then don't use it.  I think some may call that hoarding, but not me!  I found a stash of Kraft and white gift bags.  Whenever I want to use one I just hate how "plain" they are, so they sit.

Time to jazz up a gift bag!!!

I cut a piece of decorative red paper to fit nicely on the bag.  I inked around the edges with black ink.  Then using the Cricut Teresa Collins December 25th cartridge, I cut the tree image out at 4".  I added gold Stickles to the star to jazz it up even more!

Then I used the Stitched Oval Die from My Creative Time to cut the sentiment oval out from the leftover paper that I cut the tree from.  I used a Peachy Keen sentiment stamp to stamp "Merry Christmas" on the oval.

Assemble it all together and you have a jazzed up gift bag!  Add some holiday note cards, a fun pen, or even some holiday treats and it's a gift waiting for a new home!

Quick, simple, and using stuff from my stash!  I love it!

Lori

Holiday Wreath - Pinterest Inspired!

I love trolling through Pinterest to find new ideas for crafts, recipes, holiday fun, etc.  When I saw this post I couldn't believe my eyes!  Finally...something to do with all of those extra ornaments, and something BEAUTIFUL at that!

Tip #1...hot glue the caps on the ornaments.  This is seriously a step you don't want to skip.  It doesn't take long and it will save you so much time later, when (if you don't glue them) the caps pop off and you start losing ornaments.

Tip #2...Really shape the hanger into a circle and make sure it's a flat circle.  Mine was not shaped the best and it's seriously not easy to reshape it once you have all those ornaments on there!

You can follow the instructions from the inspiration post so there's no sense in me typing that all out. You're a smart cookie and can follow those instructions just as easily as I did.  It is pretty cool how after you get more and more strung on the hanger the ornaments will start to bunch up and create that beautiful full look that you're wanting.  It happens on it's own and it's like magic!

Add a bow and you have a totally cool, completely beautiful wreath that you made all on your own!  You can use extra ornaments you have in your holiday decorations or hit a dollar store and buy some to use.  I had extras because I used to put up several trees.  I fished out all of the red and gold ones and went for it!

Don't forget my two tips...they'll help you have a beautiful end product!

Apparently our Elf of the Shelf - "Randolph" really liked the wreath also, because this is where we found him this morning!

He looks so happy in there!  I think he has a good view of the living room, dining room, AND kitchen from that spot, so he is able to get lots of material to take back to Santa!  Ha ha!!!

Take some time today to get your craft on!

Quick Christmas Tags!

I hate to admit this, but I ordered the Close To My Heart Cricut cartridge "Artiste" many months ago and have not taken the time to "play" until tonight.

You know that phrase "good things come to those who wait"???  Wowza!  It's a good thing I didn't open this cartridge earlier, 'cause the holiday decorating may not have gotten done with me hiding in the craft room!

I wanted to make some quick Christmas tags to use for a "You've Been Elfed" basket.  I saw this as a great opportunity to break out the Artiste and coordinating CTMH stamps.

CTMH makes using the stamps with the Cricut cut really easy...like "idiot proof" easy.  Seriously.  The size and page number for the cut are printed next to the stamp.  Doesn't get much easier than that!  I chose the tag and the correct size.  Then I pushed the "Auto Fill" button on my Expression to get as many of the tags as would fit on a piece of good old Staples cardstock.

 If you're really paying attention, you'll see that I forgot to hit "Set Paper Size" or whatever that button is, so I cut a few "half" tags...oopsie!

 Here's a little closer of me stamping right on the Cricut mat.


I did not remove the tags from the mat before I stamped them.  Keeping them on the mat keeps the cut nice and stable while you're stamping the coordinating image.

I stamped the "To" and "From" on the back to make a
functional and beautiful tag!

Stamp...Stamp...Stamp














DONE!  Wow!  How easy is that?  I cut baker's twine and there you have a tag!

~Close-Up of green tag~

Here's another one I did...same instructions.  Artiste, Cricut...auto fill the page and then stamp away.  I used CTMH stamp pads that I bought a while back and they are beautiful!  Great colors for Christmas projects (New England Ivy and Cranberry).

~Close-Up of red tag~

Now, if a quick and easy project isn't your style, you could always "dress" this project up a bit by inking the edges of the tags.  I thought they looked really nice when I was done and I didn't think they needed to be messed with, so I left them as is.

Hope you enjoyed this quick project.  I really enjoy Art Philosophy (another Cricut cartridge by CTMH) and how it works so well with their coordinating stamps, which is why I ordered Artiste.  I knew it would work well together and I wanted to get mine as soon as possible!  Now that I've used it I'm sure there will be more Art Philosophy projects in my future!

This project has been shared on the Link Up Party, Craft-O-Maniac Monday!  Check out the site for tons of inspiration!

I also linked up on Tuesday to "Link Up Tuesday" at Pink Cricut.  This is another good spot to look for holiday craft inspiration!

Go forth and craft....

Lori