A Place for Divalicious Inspiration!

Monday, October 31, 2011

Coffee Cup Mug Gift Card Holder

Today I want to share with you all a Coffee Cup Mug that is a gift card holder. 

Here it is! (and pretty simple too!)



(I had a used iTunes gift card on hand and placed in the card just to be able to show how it would sit inside.  Idealy I would put a Starbucks gift card in it though!)





 I embossed the band I put around the mug and added some twine around it too.





Here I added tissue paper and the gift card.  I did roll up some tissue and shoved it in
at the bottom so the card would stay popped out on top a little.


Here is the link where I got the template for the mug from.

Click Here.




I printed two pages of the template out. 
You can see by the above picture, I added two little flaps to the sides of the front of
the mug so that it would pop out more from the back of the mug.  I did this so that I could
add maybe a cinnomon stick or some chocolate inside with the gift card.

I hope you like my card and that it gives you some inspiration.
I had seen it on the internet as Santas suit with the band being his belt.  It was really cute.
I think this is great for any occassion.

Happy Crafting!!

~Michelle

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Octagon Christmas Gift Boxes

Today, I want to share with you some octagon boxes that I made last Christmas. (sorry that the pictures are not the best)

I was so excited when I made these!!  And seeing them again, makes me excited all over again!   About this same time last year, I had just discovered Sure-Cuts-A-Lot (SCAL) and once I started cutting using my Cricut and the SCAL together.......I was absolutely hooked!!  Hooked line and sinker!!  I absolutely love love love my Cricut Cartridges....and I sure have plenty of them...but I find myself more on my laptop using SCAL. (I think it's a visual thing.)

Enough of my ramblings.....here are the 3 boxes I made...... 












There are four (4) different cuts and you will need to multiples of each cut.  One (1) cut is the octagon for the lid and another cut for the bottom of the box.   The octagon for the lid is slightly bigger.  The good thing is the SVG files are already sized for you and do not need any adjustments.   There are four (4) cuts needed for the sides of the lid as well as the four (4) sides of the bottom of the box.  All it takes is some scoring, folding and some glue.  They are pretty easy to put together.  My one suggestion is to make sure you have really sturdy card stock!  I used these boxes to wrap up some scarves and gift cards.

I got the boxes from SVG Cuts and this particular box is in their Big Boutique Boxes Kit.  This is one of my favorite sites to get SVG files.  They also have free weekly SVG files as well.

I am just mad about SVG files!

I hope you liked my boxes!

Happy Crafting!!

~Michelle

Thursday, October 27, 2011

N~O~E~L banner/swag Tutorial (re-post)

This is a favorite project of mine, that I am sharing again for anyone who may have missed it back in July!!!

I love Christmas for a lot of reasons, but just to name a few: snow angels, caroling, cute and fuzzy reindeer, kids opening gifts.  Oh, and don't forget the ***jingle bells***.    For my project, I had a stack of paper that I purchased right after Christmas last year and hadn't got to use yet (ooohhh, early present for me, right there...LOL).  The stack is called Harvest Holiday, by Cloud9 and boy oh boy is it nice!  I really like the embossed metallic accents some of the design papers have and the prints are so festive.  My DT theme at the is Home Decor-Gifts, so I decided to make a decorative garland.

The step-by-step pictures/tutorial are below if you are interested in learning more about how I achieved these results.



Step-by-Step and Recipe
Diamonds cut using Classic Font @ 5" (emerald green cs) 

  Wreath and Tree cut using Gingerbread (layer) @ 4 3/4" from Pine Holly Print dp
NOEL cut using Jasmine (Shadow) @ 4 1/2" 

NOEL cut using Jasmine (Shadow blackout) @ 4 1/2"
Wreath and Tree cut using Gingerbread (shadow) @ 4 3/4" from Red Holly Print dp



Affixed all layers together using Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive

Pine Garland

Decorative Velvet Bows

Placed small hole punch at top of diamonds to affix bows
Fed wire foil through hole to affix bows to the diamonds and the diamonds to the pine garland

 Got out the ***JINGLE BELLS***

 Used a deep red yarn trim to hang the jingle bells from the diamonds

 Affixed with scotch tape

And the garland was ready for it's final photo shoot.

I hope this gets you in the mood to start creating your own Holiday Crafts!!!

Thanks for visiting the Mansion!
Jessica, CSDivas DT

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Harvest Pumpkins

I'm in my Fall Harvest mode now!!! Can't wait for Thanksgiving.

One of the decorations that I have are cloth pumpkins. I have been making them for about 13 yrs now and though I would show you a couple.

My Sam made the orange one on the end at church. His teacher is my sister, and I passed on my pumpkin knowledge, lol.
They are very easy to make. All you need is a scrap of fabric ( I look in the scrap bin at the fabric store), a roll of toilet paper, batting, paper bag, jute and fake leaves. Hot glue gun and pins.
Place the TP in the center of the fabric. Wrap the TP in batting to get the thickness you want. Gather the fabric and pleat up over the TP and tuck into top hole of TP. Do that all the way around. You can pin the fabric to the batting/TP at the top if you want.

Cut a strip from the bottom of the paper bag, about 4 inches wide and roll to make the stem. Start at the top of the "stem" using hot glue to hold the jute on the bag. Next wrap the jute around the paper bag until you reach the bottom. Tuck the stem inside the TP hole to help keep the fabric tight to the TP. Add the leaves by tucking the stems inside the TP hole. Easy as... pumpkin!!!

Enjoy!

also I am having a giveaway at my blog: My Memories Digital Scrapbooking Suite.  I just started getting into digial scrapbooking, making one book and I'm loving it!  Stop by to enter HERE

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Autumn Splendor (Episode 2)

***Sorry, if this post is a bit hard to follow.  I have just started feeling the effects of the miserable Ohio Head Cold that I get at least once a year and I feel a bit cloudy as I am writing this***

As I mentioned during my last post of Autumn Spledor, I love to dabble in many crafts other than paper crafting.  I thought this would be a good opportunity to share with you a few of the Autumn wreaths I created last year.  I think the only reason I haven't gotten my wreath goodies out, is because they are tucked away, in a corner, under my craft table.  Not easily accessible.  And, honestly, I have been loving working with paper and digis and all things card and scrappy related (he he he).

I have often thought I should gather the wreaths, lights, flowers, and lovely additional creative goodies to work on a wreath or two (or ten).  Maybe this post will motivate me to do just that.


Here are a few of the ones I took pictures of before handing out to family, friends, and neighbors.

This one was given to our wonderful neighbors
My daughter made this one (it's actually a tear-shaped basket, not a wreath)
I don't recall exactly where this one ended up, but I just adored the scarecrows on it!
 


Because I am feeling a bit under the weather, I apologize for not getting the RECIPE specs or the tutorial up and going along with this post.  However, if you are interested in learning a few tricks of completing a wreath yourself, I will gladly give you all the details.  Just pop over to my personal blog and leave me a message, and I will work on getting the info to you!

I am so happy that you joined us today...YOU ARE DIVALICIOUS!!!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Croppin on the Go Tips with Luisa!

Hi Divas!  It's Luisa again...  this week am sharing with you some of my storage solutions when "croppin on the go".

As much as I enjoy creating at my house, lately have been croppin basically at crops.  Few months ago I changed my All My Memories tote to this CTMH My Acrylix Organizer.  It measures about 8"x8" (sorry I did not measure it), but it holds tons of things.  With this Organizer plus my paper trimmer and some paper am ready to create.

 
Now, what's inside this toolbox?  All these tools and supplies:


















Here is a list of what I manage to put into it:
3 scissors
1 Bone folder
2 Tombow dispensers
1 roll of pop dots
1 roll of jumbo glue dots
1 Sanding kit
1 Bonding memories glue pen
1 Bonding memories jumbo pen
1 zig adhesive pen
4 Markers
1 Diamond Glaze
2 roll of thin glue dots 9extreme
1 Exacto knife
1 Corner rounder
1 Piercing kit
1 Piercing mat
1 pack of square pop dots
2 Distress mini inkpads
1 Stamp Cleaner 9spray)
1 Shade a Pearl
1 Mini Staple
1 1" Circle Punch

I realized I don't need a huge tool box.  This small box contains all the basic tools I need to cut, fold, distress, adhere and more.  As I mentioned early with this toolbox, my portable trimmer and paper am good to create!

Now... I also want to share how I store my distressing sponges.  I punch a label in the color of each inkpad shade that am using and then I store them by color in this drawer:

 

When am going to a crop, I put them in this ziplock, with the ones that I will use. 


 Remember I make page kits, so I know which colors I need! And guess what?  This ziplock bag fits inside the tool box and I can close it perfectly without trouble!

This is my "toolbox system" which works perfectly to take to crops or to my living room and create there!

Hope you find this post interesting and please share what is inside your toolbox with us!

Hugs and blessings,

Monday, October 17, 2011

Thanksgiving Wreath

Happy Monday All!

My project for today is a Thanksgiving Wreath.  I know we still have over a month to go but I already have this in my house.  (I am not a Halloween person myself.....but I love love love Fall and Thanksgiving!)



I used my Cricut to cut out the donut shaped circle on brown textured cardstock. 


The Scarecrow, crow, leaves, acorns and pumpkin are from 'We R Memory Keeprs' Embossible Designs - Fall Harvest page.  All the elements you just pop out of the page.  (I absolutely loved the cute scarecrow so I had to buy it and do a project with it!)


I then just layed everything out where I wanted it and adhered it with pop dots.


I cut the 'Happy Thanksgiving w/pumpkin' from an SVG file I had from SVG Cuts.


I used an Cuttlebug embossing folder (distressed stripes) to give this pumpkin some texture. 

This was a super easy project.  But I loved the results. 


And here is that cute scarecrow saying "Hope you like this project!"  :)

Happy Crafting!!

~Michelle

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Sunday DT Challenge #2



For the second of my two October "Change it up Paper Challenges", I used stamping and distress inks.
Inspired by a Tim Holtz technique and scrapbook page from 2005.


1. For this design, I used the 3 colors on one stamp. Once the stamp is covered with ink, mist the stamp directly with 3-4 sprays of water.
2. Press the stamp directly on paper and lift quickly. Repeat the stamping 2-3 more times spraying the stamp with water again if necessary. Each time you press the stamp the image will be lighter in color, faded.
3. Immediately dry the wet images with a heat tool. This dries the puddles of dye and water creating a watercolor look. I also like the look if the water get blown around a bit in the drying process.
4. Wipe off the stamp with a towel and repeat steps 1-3, several times creating your design over the entire sheet of paper for a background page.



For me, the paper still needed to be muddied up. Additional steps for this lay-out include:
1. Tear strips of dry paper you created above.
2. Using a cloth, lightly rub the same colors of ink over the designs.
3. Use the mister to spray the whole strip, your table will get wet and there may be some dripping of dye.
4. Use the heat tool to set your new watercolor look.
5.Ink the edges of the paper.


-The tag, which will be tucked down under the paper, strip was made with alcohol inks on a ribbed paper I had in my stash of "found" supplies.
-I added metal brads, ect and chains to match the chains on the tires.

 Here is the rak for my October challenges.  You can do one or both for more chances to win.


October Guest DT Diva Lisa


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Wednesday, October 12, 2011

October Challenge with Luisa!

Hi Divas!  Hope you are having a wonderful week and getting ready for the holidays.
Speaking of holidays, my project today is a little "halloweenee", but you can adapt it to any theme.

Today am sharing with you how to make an EXPLOSSION CARD!  I just learned to do it at our CTMH Unit meeting and Bren Yule taught us how to create this card.  Ready, Set, Go...

SUPPLIES NEEDED: 
- One 12x12 sheet of cardstock.  This will be your base.
- Bone Folder
-Other materials will vary depending on the theme and how you want to embellish it.
THE PROCESS:
Step 1) Follow this diagram to fold your 12x12 piece of cardstock.
First fold diagonally on both sides and then horizontally exactly at 6".
2) Now, fold from the horizontal line to the inside, like this:
You will get a triangle!

3) Mark the center along the long side of the triangle with a pencil and fold the sides to the center.

You will have something like this:

4) Now fold this corners to the inside, like this:
You will end up with a kind of a house shape, like this one:
Her is a side look of the card base:
You got your base card finished!

LET'S EMBELLISH!!!

Bren brought this little monster card due to Halloween and this is what we did:
For the base we trace the card base on green cardstock and then handcut it.

For the eyes we cut circles in 2" (black), 1" (white) and 1/2" (black and yellow)

For the tongue we cut a 2 x 4 piece of cardstock and round the edges on one side/

For the quote, we cut a a 2 1/2" x 3" piece of green cardstock and then the white one 1/4" smaller.

I decided to distress all the edges with a stamp pad (directly, no sponge).
I think this card offers lots of opportunities to create awesome "special cards". 

Now YOUR  MISSION (challenge), should you accept is:

Create an Explossion Card of any theme!!!  You have until October 31sth to link your entry!

I will update this post with the picture of the PRIZE soon!!!

Hugs and blessings,

Luisa

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