My Sheri Crafts Challenge #95: It's Picking Time!

Time for another My Sheri Crafts Challenge -- it's 'picking time', so we're asking you to include a pumpkin or apple on your project.  I took 'artistic license' and went with my 'pumpkin' in the form of a jack-o-lantern face on my burlap silverware (or plastic ware) holders -- Hee!!!

My first glimpse of the original idea for these with a gorgeous flower was here on Pinterest -- of course! Since I'd recently purchased a bunch of burlap in several colors (can you say 'new obsession'?), I just had to modify these to work for either a dinner table or an outdoor get-together with plastic ware, especially if you're doing something around Halloween for a child's or even adult's party. Thanks, sweet friend, for that clever idea -- add a little fun to a party and keep it simple when it comes to clean-up!

Then, inspiration struck as I was writing this post and it was back to the 'drawing board', as I had the idea for the apple -- great for back-to-school with any number of items tucked inside other than silverware -- pencils, pens, ruler, bookmark, large candy bar -- I'm sure many Moms, most children and certainly all teachers could think of dozens of ideas?!  Might be a cute/inexpensive idea for the upcoming fall/Christmas/winter holidays!!! NOW my head is spinning again and I don't even have any school-age children!!!

DIRECTIONS:
Cut burlap 14 1/2" long by 4" wide
Fold over 1 1/2" and zigzag stitch about 1/2" from raw edge (forgot
this on cream holder, but no big deal)
Fold bottom up 5 1/4" from last fold
Stamp with paint (I slipped bottom of holder under my craft mat at fold and stamped, then just wiped paint off mat where it bled through fabric -- easy/peasy!)
Once paint is dry, zigzag stitch up right side from bottom edge, in about 3/8 to 1/2", across top and down left side
Pull long threads from top/both sides for fringe 

NOTE: These are not washable, spot clean only, but burlap is sooo inexpensive and once you have the measurements, which I've included here, they are sooo quick/easy to whip up!

To create my orange/tan holder, I cut 1 piece from each color and layered tan atop orange and made per above directions. For my face, I merely cut pieces of craft foam for stamps and attached to acrylic block with 1/2" wide strips of Scor-Tape, squirted on a dollop of black craft paint, smoothed it out a bit with a sponge brush and stamped, beginning with the mouth, then nose & eyes for easy lining up -- simple/easy/non-perfectionistic!
Apple was stamped using . . . an apple, of course! Found a Pink Lady that had a tiny spoiled spot, so perfect for my needs!  Cut in half, spread my red paint with a sponge brush, stamped (had to do a little touch-up as my cut wasn't perfectly 'flat'), cut a Spellbinders's leaf from craft foam, and took the actual stem, held with a tweezers, dipped in brown paint, and added a bit of touch-up to the stem. If I can do it, you CAN TOO!
Hope you enjoy making these and hope you'll come up with an idea for a project for My Sheri Crafts to share with us too -- look forward to seeing your crafty pumpkin/apple idea -- hmmm, now another idea just hit me -- time to cut more burlap!!!  ;-)

Happy Easter Chick Gift Box: QuicKutz Style and BLOG CANDY

I've had this wooden "egg-shaped" box for a looong time, so decided it was the perfect shape for an Easter treat. The box is covered in handmade paper that reminded me of hand-dyed eggs.  I cut the chick (QuicKutz/Lifestyle Crafts die #Rev-0184-S) using craft felt and the egg from the same die in Bazzill Shimmer CS. The egg and box edges are distressed with Antique Linen Distress Ink. Chick/egg are grounded with Toffee FlowerSoft.
A Happy Easter greeting and small egg adorn the front side of my treat box, die cut with QuicKutz Nameplate die RS-0624, edged with Antique Linen Distress Ink and stamped by stamping off once. This is achieved by stamping the inked egg/sentiment first on scratch paper before stamping onto the die cut, which lightened my Memento Bahama Blue dye ink so it better matches the blue in my handmade paper. The die cut and my chick's eye are accented with ZVA Creative light blue pearls.


This chick die, plus MANY others, ZVA Creative Pearls, Tim Holtz Distress Inks and FlowerSoft products are all available at Creating Everlasting Memories EBay store.
You also don't want to miss our Creating Memories in Time blog for April, including Mary's sweet Easter project tutorial, more upcoming projects from all the DT Ladies, as well as BLOG CANDY that you can play along to win -- so click on the link above!!!

Woven Ribbon Easter Basket

I know it's been a long while since I posted, but here's what I've been up to: doing my best Becca Feeken impersonation -- LOL -- AS IF anyone could top her amazingly incredible creativity! I'm linking you to the directions for her breathtakingly gorgeous Valentine Basket, which I've made for a friend's 4-yr.-old. I sincerely thank Becca for her unending inspiration and willingness to share not only her gorgeous creations, but also detailed videos, drawings and photos of just how to re-create her gems. You'll be blown away when you visit her blog, if you've not yet had that pleasure! She truly tops my list of fav blogs I check daily.
Paper: PTI's Vintage Cream; Bazzill Bling
Stamps: Little Paper Shop's {All Occasion}
Ink: PTI's Raspberry Fizz
Tools: Spellbinders' Wizard & Scalloped Edge Frame, Nested Eggs, Easter Fun, Scalloped Cirlces Dies; MS Garden Trellis Punch
Embellishments: Michaels' Dashes, Dots & Checks Ribbon; green ribbon from stash; DCWV chipboard

Male Gift Tin Treat Holder

My friend from MN drinks General Foods International Coffees and brought me 30 empty cans to decorate, which I'm going to share with my Designing Diva's stamping group. I decided I'd better try one to see how difficult a job covering one would be. It wasn't actually too hard, but I did discover that the circumference of the tin is 12 1/4"so you will need to either splice a small piece to cover the gap or run the handle from bottom edge to bottom edge to cover the void. Either way, it's not much of a problem. I had thought these had metal lids, but they are plastic, so if you choose to use the lid as I did on this one, you'll need to cover it, as it has wording embossed on the lid. It was a bit tricky getting the tin into the Crop-a-dile II in order to punch holes for attaching my handle, but it does work. I simply added large brads to attach my handle, eyelets across the handle and Sizzix Initial for accents on this masculine tin, wanting to keep it simple! My mind is reeling as to how you could embellish these to the hilt for a girly-girl gift holder!!! ;~) Oh, I just realized this matches perfectly with the Masculine Valentine Card I made here.

Paper: Metallic/Velvet Dot Paper and blue cardstock from stash

Embellishments: Large brads & small eyelets from stash

Tools: Crop-a-Dile II; Spellbinders' Wizard

Halloween Treat Basket

My friend, Ilene, was visiting today & working on a Christmas Treat Basket, so I decided to do a Halloween basket. Last year I made 2 for Christmas gifts and they can found under my Treat Holders label on the right. Again, the directions for making this treat holder can be found here on Splitcoaststampers awesome site! I liked both sides of this cardstock, so decided to keep it very simple and not add any patterned paper squares. I used a metal ring (actually a very large hoop earring I got for this very purpose at the $1 store last year) and added some chipboard buttons from last year and tied various Halloween ribbons around the ring! Pretty simple & it's ready for trick or treaters. Now I'll have to go hide the candy again or my DH will eat it all long before the 31st!!! Bet parents are glad it's a Friday night this year!

Paper: Making Memories Brocade Orange Spellbound Cardstock

Embellishments: Making Memories Chipboard Buttons (2007); Martha Stewart Ribbons (2007); black eyelets; silver hoop earring

Tools: Crop-a-dile II; Scor-It

Smitten With Love Valentine Box

My little trinket box Valentine decoration is made from papers in the K & Company's Smitten line. I was "smitten" with this idea (tee-hee) after seeing a box made using ribbon spools. A heavy cardboard spool from inside a roll of metallic tape my husband had given me from his toolbox is the "box". Next, I played with my heart size to get it big enough to fit front to back & side to side to cover the spool for a lid & bottom. I painted my spool pink & covered the outside with various Smitten papers. Since the only chipboard I had was coasters from a local restaurant, I had to cut half a heart shape from each & glue them together in the center. Covering them with Smitten paper top & bottom made them sturdy. I then glued the bottom to my spool and while it dried, cut a second decorative little heart from my paper, attached the metal "Love" charm with a jeweled brad and glittered the lid edge with pink glitter to finish it off.
Paper: K & Company's "Smitten"
Glitter: Denami Design
Embellishments: Making Memories Jeweled Brad; Metal Word from stash

UHU Glue Stick Review

I received a complimentary UHU Glue Stick courtesy of Maria Filosa (http://www.mariafilosa.com/) in exchange for reviewing the product. I told her in my request that I was not a fan of glue sticks, as they did not perform well for me. Therefore, I am thrilled to say that UHU has won me over and I'm now a believer! I used the purple-colored glue stick (which turns clear when dry) on several projects. Those include the Christmas treat box (posted originally Dec. 17th) as well as the interior sides of a second chipboard coaster box, similar to the one posted Nov. 25th. The inside covering on this box, a heavy (80 lb. Classic Columns) cover stock, is securely glued, even after I punched 5 holes on each side for lacing the sides together. The UHU Glue Stick was easy to use in both these projects wherein I needed to completely cover the surfaces I was attaching. My only issue initially was not applying enough glue, but once I corrected that faux pas, it adhered well. I will purchase this product in the future and keep it on hand as a vital part of my papercrafting arsenal! With an approximate retail price of $2.10 for a .74 ounce stick, I think it's a great value!

Another Christmas Treat Box/Basket

Because the holiday is fast approaching, I made this basket a bit simpler by just folding my paper squares in half inside & out, rather than cutting them in half diagonally. I only used a second paper on the inside & it looks fine! I added mixed nuts in the shell, candy canes & various chocolates, wrapped it with cellophane, added a red bow, cute snowman tag & it's ready for delivery!

Paper: Provo Craft Holiday Slab V
Stamp & Punch: Stampin'Up's Terrific Tags Punch Box

Ink: Ranger's Distress Ink - Peeled Paint; Tsukineko's VersaColor - Cardinal

Glitter: PSX's Sparkles - Diamond

Christmas Treat Box/Basket

The tutorial for this box, another wonderful creation by Beate, is available @: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/treat_box/. I've shown it both empty and with mixed nuts and candy in it, but it needed some candy canes for added pizazz! It's more time-consuming than the ones we made for Halloween & takes a lot of gluing, but it's such a great size for many fillers. One

solution would be to use a double-sided card stock to make it quicker and it would require less paper cutting, piecing and gluing. You could line it with cellophane, then add cookies, candy, caramel corn, or potpourri; or simply add bath products for the ladies or golf balls/tees for the guys -- I think it has infinite possibilities! The ribbon can be tied tightly or loosely to suit your needs on this project, depending on what treats you wish to add inside.

Paper: Provo Craft Holiday Slab V; solid 12" cardstock

Embellishments: Eyelets: 8; Ribbon: 24" inches

Chipboard Coaster Gift Box

Now that I finally purchased a Crop-a-dile (by We R Memory Keepers), I can easily punch holes in chipboard, so I used coasters I've collected from various restaurants (I'm thrifty?!) and followed the Splitcoaststampers tutorial for making a treat box. Since the main decorator color in my house is "merlot", I chose this paper from DCWV's Glitter Christmas Stack (Joann's) because I could use it year-round. I left it plain (rather than embellishing with Christmas details) for that very reason. It's an easy project, though took a bit longer than I'd anticipated because you have to glue your paper to all 5 coasters (including the bottom one) and punch 5 holes evenly in 2 sides of each of the 4 side coasters. However, the Crop-a-dile punches through the chipboard like "butter" and is wonderful because you set the depth of your punch for uniformity, which is crucial to a project like this -- it must be "precise"!!! My crafting friends know that's very important to me!

Halloween Baskets

After attending a CTMH
home gathering @ my friend Ilene's, we made these darling baskets from a 12" x 12" sheet of cardstock. A very quick and easy little gift or home decoration. I just need to add some candy!