Fresh Recylcing for Christmas

Isn't is true that old saying? Everything old is new again. We have only to look at fashion trends to know it's so.

For Christmas, it is truer than one might think. Oh, I know from reading that 44% of children under the age of 10 have a iPad 2 at the top of their Christmas list, but did you also notice this past summer than when Toy Story 3 came out, the new reduxes of old toys flew off the shelves? Who can resist a slinky dog or a Mr. Potato Head? I have Mr. Potato Heads for different seasons.

Think about giving some of these 'old' things new life for gifts & stocking stuffers:

~I don't care how old you are, a new coloring book and a box of 64 crayons (with the sharpener in the back) instantly brings out the kid in all of us.

~Mood rings. Admit it, you see these in stores by the cash register and still check your 'mood'.

~Jacks. The real metal ones. Get down on the floor and see how you can still do 'sixies'.

~Sea Monkeys. Remember when you really believed you could train them to do tricks?

~Razzles. The candy that turns into a gum. The candy part tastes great. I can only last about a minute once it turns to gum, but getting there is the real fun. These have made a real resurgence in the past several years. I think you can get a big container of them at Sams Club, but they are also at Wegmans or places like Cracker Barrel.

~A Lifesavers Story Book. Admittedly, these are nowhere as cool as they used to be when I was a kid and you got 10 assorted packs of Lifesavers, but they still provide a cheap thrill to a stocking.

~Love's Baby Soft. Yes, it still exists. I even saw it at Urban Outfitters. It doesn't smell like funky socks either, so for a retro flashback gift for a girlfriend, this would be serious fun.

Support your local thrift stores. Found recently in thrift or secondhand shops are these nifty things that might make great gifts if I didn't hoard them for myself:

~Cashmere sweaters. That's right, the real deal. They may be missing a button, but I can do that if the sweater is less than $10.

~Vintage milk glass coffee mugs with retro advertising or logos on them. My faves: McDs and Christmas themed ones. Pair this with some great coffee, biscotti and/or chocolate (isn't any gift improved with chocolate?) for a very cool gift.

~Cute little handbags. For grown-up girls, tuck in a vintage hankie, pocket mirror and a great lipgloss or lipbalm (may I suggest Rosebud which is produced a couple of miles up the road from me? It's also Sephora's biggest seller:Rosebud Perfume Co. at Sephora) Even better, for a little girl, you can get candy jewelry, lipstick, etc at the dollar store. Tuck that in with a coin purse full of quarters for an AWESOME gift.

~Some of the best record albums ever made for less than $1. Baby, nowadays some of the covers qualify as bonafide art. If the record is good, you can still play it. If it's scratched, Google directions for making cool bowls with them or use the records as placemats for a fun party.

~Seriously great old books. Sometimes you'll stumble upon a first edition. Sometimes autographed copies. I'll admit, if the cover is pretty without the jacket, I buy it for decoration or to turn into an altered book. Sometimes an old book that is really tattered gets upcycled for gift wrapping, tags, shredded for filler, etc.

Don't forget to take time for yourself though. Doesn't matter how cool or amazing your plans are if you freak yourself right out of the Christmas spirit. You are hereby given permission for at least one guilty pleasure if not two guilty pleasures WITHOUT the guilt. Be it a Starbucks run, a new book (Christmas themed of course!) or a very chick-flick Christmas movie from Lifetime or the Hallmark Channel, go for it. ;-)

The Season of Lurve

Have I asked you to hold me back from buying any more Valentine's Day papers because I already have more than I'll ever need? If I have, apologies. If I haven't, for the love of Pete, somebody stop me!

And half the time I make cards, layouts, canvases for different occasions using supplies that have nothing do to with the intended holiday. So why do this stuff continue to work its way into my supply? I'm pretty sure it's because we're all a bunch of happy enablers. Our 12 step program involves tips for finding the latest & greatest, new sources and coffee places in close proximity to our supply meccas.

Faced with all of these supplies, lovely and amazing though they are, I sat down to try and actually use some of them.

I made these cards with a mix of Teresa Collins, K & Co, Basic Grey and Heidi Swapp (super old stash, yikes). And you know what? I still have a LOT of Valentine's stuff from Teresa Collins, K & Co and Basic Grey. I love it all though. I mean, how could you not love a big pile of soft blush, pink and red with frilly stuff all around?

The next card has mostly stash; some Teresa Collins, Basic Grey, K & Co, Making Memories. But what isn't old stash is something I found in the cupcake supplies at the store. I saw these honeycomb heart cupcake toppers and said to myself "Self, those would make killer cute embellishments on a Valentine's card!"

You know what? They really do! Just snap the wooden toothpick off and you are all set. If you're mailing the card, don't open the honeycomb. Let the sender do that (send a little set of user instructions of course). The honeycome hearts are getting used elsewhere too. Hope to show that off eventually.

Until then, it's less than 2 weeks til Valentine's Day! If your honey doesn't do something special for you, do something special for yourself. You deserve it! :)

My Funny Valentine

After having an amazing time for Making Merry in December, Rosemary, Kim and I decided to get together for a day to celebrate Valentine's Day. This time Kim was hostess at her lovely home and she fed us incredible food. Nom, nom, nom. I'm still dreaming about that white lasagna...

Kim had us create 2 beautiful cards. I love that she didn't use a traditional Valentine's Day palette with the lavender card. For the other card, she had us beading which was soooooo fun! I could've kept making little beaded petals all day long. Rosemary used her wicked cool Cricut creativity to cut out matchboxes with acetate windows and brought an awesome stack of vintage images for us to fashion adorable Valentine's decorations. I hung them up right after I got home to show them off! I had bought a stack of chandelier ornaments after Christmas at Target (love Target!)for 50% off. I had a stash of honeycomb wedding bells because I always go to the party supply store for something like napkins and can't help but peruse the wedding & baby aisles for art supplies. Take some Paris slide images, vintage sheet music and a bit of glitter to alter those chandelier ornaments and they become gilded bell ornaments for Valentine's Day.
One of my favorite things to do (it seems), is to create holiday projects with supplies that aren't holiday themed. A few years ago, I bought a stack of Foofala papers from a friend who was having a scrapbook yard sale. 100 sheets of fun. None of them holiday themed, but some of them with a romantic, dusty palette that was ready to be fashioned into a Valentine.
I always sketch card designs or layout designs in my notebook. If you ever see my scribble-scrabble, you will look from sketch to finished project and wonder to yourself, "I don't see the resemblance." It helps me thing and work through the design process. For this card, I sketched (ha!) it out and started to measure, fold, play with different patterned papers, etc. I pulled in the grade school trick of folding paper in half to create a heart and used that as a template to cut a heart from a page torn from a vintage German book. I printed and distressed a love poem to use as the card sentiment. Added some bling, distress inks and vintage crepe paper and hope it fulfills the romance quota. But even more than the projects, it is the decision to take the time away for the purpose of creating, sharing and oh, the laughter that is food for the soul. We really did laugh over some funny Valentines. And I can't wait to come up with an excuse (perfectly good reason) to do it again!

These goodies also go perfectly with the latest Opus Gluei challenge. If you haven't checked them out before, head on over. Low pressure, high-octane creative fun! Come as you are and be embraced by the Poobahs. :)

Upcycling En Masse

Elsie Flannigan and Rachel Denbow are about to kick off a year of repurposing, remaking and renewing old, worn or damaged items. In other words, they have tapped into a passion of mine: Upcycling. Join in the effort here...Project ReStyle - A Beautiful Mess

Go against the grain of New Years exclamations of Out with the Old and In with the New. Embrace a new resolution of In with the Old and Who needs the New!

Making Merry Revisited

During this time of year when, in general, women all over the world are busy doing, going and buying for others (and quite happily too), I invited Rosemary and Kim over to put the breaks on the Christmas crazy and spend an entire day Making Merry. What better way to recharge and refuel in the midst of the Christmas season than to indulge in a bit of top notch retail therapy and ultra creative play?

We went to one of my favorite places to get decorating inspiration, Chartreuse and Company and then we stopped in at a new store down the street from my home, Wild Rose and Co. that also does an amazing job of merchandising the goods.

Then it was back to the house where we said hi to the City Chicks and then got down to the business of creative play...

Rosemary had brought the motherload of Christmas stashes (I want to go shopping in her studio!) as we embellished wine boxes. We were so proud of our accomplishments that they all got an impromptu photo shoot (mine is on the far left).

I decided to give mine away to my mom (She never reads my blog, so I'm safe. Did I tell you about the time Mom went skinny dipping with my Dad when I was a little kid? hehehe) and put some very delicate, breakable Christmas ornaments in it. Voila, perfect vehicle for a fragile gift.

Then we stopped for snacks, nom, nom, nom. There shall be no art without serious carbo loading.

After that, we started on my very long, very messy project. Let's just say that cotton batting, cotton balls, glue and mica make incredibly gorgeous finished clouds and snow scenes, but the process is like you gave a kid a roll of duct tape and a bottle of paste then told them to go to town with it. The final result was a snow laden cloud with a vintage Christmas light to lead the way through the dark night with a vintage goodie laden tin in tow (or that's what I hope it looks like).

The inspiration were some vintage cotton batting ornaments, some 'travel' related ornaments my children have the involve zeppelins, or cotton batting sail boats and another project where someone used a vintage tin as a balloon basket. (I've come to the conclusion that a truly original idea, if it should ever suddenly hit me, will probably happen long after I've gone gray and senile) After all that creating, we were wiped out, so it was dinner time! Tim, otherwise knowns as Pizza Boy, took our orders and made us homemade pizzas which was followed by more carb loading because being covered in glue and mica burns serious, um, brain cells?


For our final creative endeavor, Kim taught Rosemary and I how to make flowers from ribbon. Both Rosemary and I kind of shivered with intimidation until Kim guided us through beautiful petals, leaves and more. Seriously we had no idea how cool it could be and all of the amazing projects that can be done with ribbon flowers!


Of course, I don't have a photo of mine because we didn't finish. Our spirit was willing, but our bodies were weak. I've had my pieces in a basket by the sofa so I can slowly put it all together, but I think Kim enabled us to explore yet another new creative outlet!


(And I think we ate some more as we packed away all of our projects. Who are we to waste perfectly good carbs?) As we hugged each other goodbye, cries were heard of Making Merry to all and to all a Good Night!

The Big Clean

Once every several months, the urge to superclean the studio hits me. The recent flooding episode added to that urge. Fortunately, the mess hasn't been that horrible to get under control since my past supercleaning challenges have kept supplies to a manageable amount.

I will be donating many supplies to two places. One is the school of my friend's daughter where they host a Jingle Bell Fair for the students every December. The other is Hope Alive Ministries for their children's ministry. This is a wonderful ministry that does more than provide a bed for women & children. It creates a home atmosphere, provides love & security as well as dealing with the issues that led to homelessness and working towards moving these families into independence.

I'm also sending out a few items to Jennifer for her Etsy website which raises money towards fighting cancer. These cards were made with an old SEI line that is so happy to work with. Normally, I'm not an orange or peachy color lover, but with the frigid temps we've been having, these were a sunny getaway to play with.Other supplies used were Heidi Swapp flowers, bling, Ranger Distress ink, American Crafts rubons and Bazzill cardstock.

I also played around making some tags from this massive bunch of tags I bought at an art supply yard sale (where I was selling and had no business buying anything). These will be going to Jennifer too. On these, I used Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, Tattered Angels masks, Basic Grey rubons, decorative packing tape, Making Memories tickets, bling and vintage lace. (the ones on the right are what are headed Jennifer's way) Lastly, being the holiday freak that I am, my eyes are already turned to Valentine's Day. :) Fortunately, thus far, it's only in the artsy, creative department and not the local grocery holiday candy department (where someone told me that Cadbury Mini Eggs are ALREADY in stores. is there no diet justice?!?). To keep my paws off the candy, I may be making a lot of these little collages. This one is already hanging from the Hoosier cabinet. This is truly a hodge podge of different supplies. I've already asked someone to bar the doors should I attempt to enter with any more Valentine's supplies (vintage ones excepted of course!). The silver key is actually a Christmas ornament. Being so focused on Christmas, I'm not sure how my brain disengaged from Silver Bells long enough to think "Key To My Heart" valentine, but it did and I kind of like it. It's a jumble.

All of these meet the challenge from Opus Gluei for the week of use what you got too, so check them out if you want to play along!

Happy New Year Creating!

Though the tiny studio is not quite put back together, I was able to squeeze in there for some much needed creative therapy yesterday.

Using this set from House of 3 (which by the way, all their Christmas stuff is 50% off til Friday!), Mini-Postcard 2010 Calendar Printable Kit, I made this:

I used the same concept to bind the calendar pages as I did in this post: Kickin' It Old School

The sparkly, dangly thingamajig is a vintage clip on earring. I can just picture it on a formally dressed middle aged 1950's housewife! The lace trim is from an old collar and that last bit I have of that. The rest is seriously old stash that is every bit as beautiful to work with as it was when I first came upon it. That label with 2010 on it? Very old Recollections. ~sigh~ I miss Recollections. The printed paper is old Autumn Leaves Foofala. ~another sigh~ I miss Foofala. At least I have this to remember them by. ;)

Have a Happy New Year! See you on the flipside!

Loopy for Christmas (and a giveaway)

This little project is straight from our childhood; a paper chain. Even now, children make colorful chains to count down the days to Christmas, my youngest child still among them.

The slight twist is that I used paper taken from an old French book "Les Malheurs De Sophie" (The Troubles of Sophie) that I purchased at the Porte de Clignancourt flea market in Paris. I looked the book up on Wiki and found that a film & ballet had been based upon it as well which is kind of cool. (forgive some of my photos, I think my camera is about to die since it also flipped out on me over Thanksgiving)

For my chain, I used 8 sheets from the book and cut them into 2 inch strips. The pages have a lovely, creamy aged quality and are still quite sturdy.

I used very basic tools, especially since losing my bone folder in a class, so I improvised with a rub-on tool. :)

After cutting my little pile of 2 inch strips, I scored a line down the length of each strip and folded them on the score line. ~This is a super easy project, but not the most mind engaging, so it's perfect to do while watching your favorite Christmas movie.~

Once all of the strips were folded in half lengthwise, I ran a line of glue down one side and pressed. While pressing the halves together, I also ran my fingers along the paper in a curling motion, so that when the glue dried, the strips would already be predisposed to forming a loop. (if that makes any sense, almost like curling ribbon)

Since I'm not the most patient of gals, I skipped the drying part and went straight into stapling my strips into loops connecting them as I went along. The Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher (or whatever it's called) is great for this. The little staples have a nice hold and fit the tone of the project.

When I had attached all of my loops together, I cut lengths of seam binding to tie to each end for hanging. The 8 pages translated into about 8 feet of paper chain. The glimpses of French text and aged paper would go very well decorating all through the year as well as Christmas time. If you'd like, you could also finish the edges of the strips with distress ink or vintage glass glitter, but be careful not to weigh the loops down or the draping effect might be lost.

Want to know about the giveway? Read on...

And now to give some elements of this project away! We all love happy mail, so I'm going to send someone 8 pages and 1 illustration from this vintage French book as well as seam binding in deep green, silvery white and red so you can choose which you would like should you decide to make a paper chain and use the rest for other projects. I also have a page or two of vintage sheet music and vintage Christmas cards & seals to tuck into this little package as well as some recently unearthed Heidi Swapp product that I likely bought more than once (hey, I get excited about cool stuff or some came in a kit).

To be entered into the giveaway, simply leave a comment on this post. For another entry, link this post in your blog (but only if you want to share the opportunity with a friend or two!) and include that in your post. My trusty assistant will draw a name from Santa's boot next Friday, December 11th. Bon Chance!

Whooooo goes there?

I've had these packages of reproduction Beistle Halloween decorations for a looooooong time. They so neatly stack within the already enormous pile of Halloween postcards, papers, cards, etc that store within a special Halloween bin. And for the past couple of years I keep thinking to myself "Self, those repro Beistle decs would be fun to alter a little bit. Give 'em some oomph, some pizzazz and more importantly, some glitter."

Unfortunately the dark, rainy weather is making for a subpar photograph, but the idea is still there I hope. I started with a basic light cardstock weight owl Halloween decoration. Applied glitters & Ranger stickles liberally to the eyes, moon, branch and various highlight points.

Wait to dry. Eat some of the Halloween candy I'm supposed to be saving for Saturday.

Dedice that's not enough glitter, so choose more highlight points.

Wait to dry. KitKats are toast.

I took a little black glittered star, wired it and threaded it through the owl's perch. Darn, no candy break here. So, I gathered a length of crepe paper and attached it to the back to form a collar for my owl. There's glue there, right?

So, wait to dry. I'd hate to be allergic to peanuts because Reeses are straight from heaven.

Last step is to make a little Trick or Treat banner by cutting it, glittering it and attaching to my owl. Yes, more drying glue!

Wait to dry. Um, must run to store for more Halloween candy, but at least the owl looks good! If I had more candy, I might tackle another sign, but as it is, my waistline, nor my pocketbook needs more repeat episodes. For this year at least. There's always next H-Owl-oween!

There are not enough worlds

to describe Paris. Beautiful, gorgeous, decadent, historic all pale when attempting to distill the essence that is Paris.

Did I love it? Yes, there wasn't enough time. At the same time, I am so glad to be back home with my children, my comfy bed and my friendly potty (and I'm not embarrassed to admit that one).

One small portion of our trip was touring the Opera Garnier. Designed to show the patrons to their best effect rather than the performers; it was a place to see and be seen. It is also where the legend of the Phantom of the Opera began.

Box 5 has been his box for well over a hundred years. You can knock on his door, but you cannot go in. Here is a view of his box from below: The stage of the Opera Garnier is built on a slant, so that your view of the dancer's feet would not be obstructed. Because of this, the training halls were also slanted and dancers from the Opera Garnier were almost unable to dance on a flat surface. A new opera house was built for opera, but the ballets remain here.

Walking through the opera house with its guilded ornamentation, murals, frescoes and statues, I brought that 'feeling' home (certainly not the richness) to create an Opera Garnier inspired Christmas Globe.... Like the Opera Garnier, the globe is a bit careworn, but has not lost its glamour. I applied alcohol inks and metallic mixatives to the back of the globe to give it a hazy, aged appearance and also applied some metallic rubons. The base is a 4 inch tin that could contain a small gift or hold a circular album. The silver present came from Wallyworld and the tiny ornament is vintage. The tin is covered in Basic Grey and vintage lace. The ballerina began life with a blue dress. That was quickly changed with a silver Krylon paint pen. The floor upon which the ballerina stands is cotton batting covered in mica and vintage glitter. Altogether, I hope that come Christmas, I can gaze at the tiny ballerina frozen in her timeless world and remember the Opera Garnier.

Kickin' It Old School

Chic, that is.

Did anyone else ever get excited about going school supply shopping? There was nothing like finding the cutest new pencil box to store your freshly sharpened pencils, colorful chunky erasers and your red marking pen. I still remember having a tub of paste glue that Bobbie G. ate when I was in Kindergarten. To be fair, it did smell good, but dude, eat your own paste! One year I was incredibly lucky to talk my mom into buying me a Trapper Keeper. The multitudes of hidden pockets, doo-dads and thingamajigs on a Trapper Keeper made me oh, so happy.

Going to auctions, DH and I always bid on the box lots of old office supplies too. Even the packaging for those old goodies was cool. Boxes that slide open to reveal red colored pencils, bottles of ink, old letter openers, fountain pens, graph paper notebooks; yum, yum, office fun!

I think this is why I will always be drawn to playing with paper, pencils, inks and glues. The memories of tactile work. I'll admit that I still get a little thrilled when the shelves at stores fill up with new school supplies. I'll even buy a few new folders and pencils to feed my habit.

Having lots of school, office and art supplies means I always have a lot of scraps. The following little project I learned years ago from a Club Scrap retreat. At the time my friends and I thought it was so cool, but I never used the knowledge again until I was face with bulging folders of paper scraps that I hated to throw out. Hence, my uptake on this notepad project:

I pulled together paper scraps, scrap cardboard, office clips, a foam brush, Club Scrap Bookbinding glue (you could probably use K&Co craft glue or another bookbinding glue), assorted stamps and Ranger Distress Ink (both stamps and ink optional)

1. First you need your paper scraps. For mine I cut scraps of script and ledger paper into 3x5 inch rectangles. I also cut scrap cardboard into a 3x5 rectangle to use as a backing for my notepad.

2. If you desire, you can stamp images on your papers. It's totally up to you. I used a few unmounted stamps from Studio Calico. This is also a great opportunity to use up odds & ends of old rub-ons.

3. Stack your cut paper rectangles and cardboard rectangle. I mixed several different patterns. Clip together at the top to hold. Apply the bookbinding glue to the top of your notepad with a foam brush, being careful not to oversaturate the paper, but also to get a nice even coating on top of your notebook stack.

Set aside to dry for a few hours. The bottle says 24 hours. I don't have that kind of patience. I keep going back to check, recheck and fiddle with it. Really, mine was dry in a few hours.

The completed notepad...

with lots of different patterns and designs...

I made a little tag from pink ledger paper, an old flower and some seam binding to tie it all up. Maybe it will be a little gift or the start of favors for a party or just sit pretty on my shelf for now. Quick, easy and fun upcycling. Now I'm wanting to try making pale floral notepads, funky graphic notepads and more.

I made this card as part of the "How Does Your Garden Grow" challenge for Opus Gluei and yes, I am late once again! One of these days I won't feel like I'm a day late and a dollar short. The notepad project came about after making this card using all scraps from my scrap folders. That scrap folder keeps generating lots of small projects it seems.