Make your own wall plates!

Bryan and I have been doing  quite a few changed around the house, including an entire kitchen facelift!  One of our more minor things is changing up our light and receptacle plates. Those silly plates get expensive! I want to do the same in my craft area but don't want to spend the money. So, why not decorate my own? I made these to plates using Stampin' Up! fabric (left, Spice Cake) and Designer Series Paper (right).  These are super easy to do.  I placed the blank plate over my fabric/paper and cut around the plate, making sure that when I fold the material over the plate, there is excess for folding behind it.  I then covered my plate in a thin layer of Modge Podge (MP) , and laid my material over the plate.  I then then brushed more MP on the back, adhering the overhanging edges to the back. You can be quite liberal with it, you want the material to stay. I then (from the back) cut the material with my scissors an "I"shape in each switch hole. Then I folded the excess inwards and put lots of MP to keep it down. You don't want to actually cut the hole out, as then you will see the blank plate.  Cover the front with MP as well now. Then poke the holes for the screws with a pen. Do this after putting a layer of MP on the front so that the MP helps stick the material in the hole. After it dries, put at least 1 more layer. If you don't want to see brush or sponge marks in the MP, put another layer or 2 of MP, then use fine sand paper and sand the MP smooth. Make sure you have at least 3 to 4 layers of MP though, or you could sand through to your fabric/paper!


Hope you enjoy!!
Craft on!!
Jean

Fabulous Changes!

Just wanted to update everyone with some information. I will be redoing my blog with a slightly different look. Same info, same posts, just a more eye appealing format. This past year has been great for me, Paper, Batter, & Stitch, and my Stampin' Up! business. I have had the help of some great people to design my banner, and other great promotional items. I also have left over items from the Apple Harvest Festival that I will be selling on Etsy. I will be doing these updates and posting my items on Etsy so stay tuned!!!

Thanks, and Craft on!!

Jean

Another Craft Show!

So I have been quite busy lately getting ideas and projects together for an upcoming craft show, the Apple Harvest Craft Show in Winchester, VA. I am excited and nervous!  So I thought I would just pop on here for a quick post to show you some things I have been working on. Not sure what I will definitely do or not, I am seriously running out of time though!!!  Feel free to leave me comments about what you think I should definitely sell!
Hope you enjoy!!
Craft on!
Jean

Can't wear this onsie!

For my September Stamp Camp, our theme was Fall and Babies! It seems like everyone I know is having a baby this fall! So I thought how nice it would be to do a baby card. I LOVE Onsies. I think they are just the epitome of babies. And I love our new Button Buddies stamp set! I used the Button Buddies set for the pacifier and used Subtle Buttons with Lucky Limeade and Wisteria Wonder ink. The bear and blocks came from the Little Additions stamp set, with Chocolate Chip, Island Indigo, Lucky Limeade, Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink, and Wisteria Wonder inks.  The first thing I did was searched the net for other peoples templates. Why reinvent the wheel right? Well I found a billion of them! So, I looked at what was easiest, and which ones I saw the most. So here are the easiest instructions I found!  1. Cut out your paper (I used the Nursery Nest DSP) to 4 1/4 by 11", then score at 5 1/2". Fold in half. 2. Measure down from the fold on both sides and make a mark at the 1 3/4" point. Then from those marks, measure in 3/4". Cut in to the 3/4", then down diagonally to the corner. This gives the shape of the onsie. I used my paper cutter to do the diagonal cut, then paper snips to cut the straight part in (armpit part). 3. Use your 1 3/4" circle punch to cut out the neck hole, then at the bottom corners for each leg hole.  Since I used DSP, these punch will cut through both sides at the same time. Using card stock liked hat is not so much fun, as it doesn't usually go through cleanly.  To make the ruffles in the arm and leg sections, I punched a 1 3/4" circle in Lucky Limeade and Wisteria Wonder paper, then used my large Scallop Circle punch and centered the hole in the middle of the scallop circle punch and punched. This gives you a ruffle that will perfectly fit the holes! I was able to use to circles for one card.  My middle section I cut a strip of paper about 2 inches wide and used the scallop trim border punch on both sides. I glued it to the card and trimmed off the extra. Stamp away and TaDa!!

Hope you enjoy! More to come later today..
Craft On!!

Back to School for Teachers Too!

 So I love back to school time! I love seeing my kids (my students) after the summer break. I love hearing their stories. Since I am a Special Ed. Teacher that works with intellectual disabilities, in a Life Skills based program, I keep my students year after year, until they age out (22), or graduate. Sometimes up to 7 years! So I truly do miss them over the summer!  But I also miss my coworkers, as we are all often too busy with our own families to do much visiting. So I made everyone some cute back to school presents. First, I made these cute backpacks with matching pens! I love the RSVP pens because you can slide slips of rolled Designer Series Paper (DSP) into them and it changes there whole look. I created my own template for the backpacks, then used the top note die for the lid,  and the mini envelope die for the front pocket. I used velcro to keep the top shut.  The pen even fits inside.  See my previous post on rosettes to learn how to make the rosette!  I used one sheet of 8 1/2 by 11" Pool Party card stock for each backpack. Its all about the measurements! I will post a tutorial if anyone is interested! I need to take some pictures though, as a few things can be tricky to explain without pics! But it really is easy. I just figured out how deep I wanted it and made folds to accommodate them! Then I put a back of mini sticky notes in the front!



The next thing I made everyone was 2 bookmarks. Here is a picture of all of them, and everyone got random picks. I simply used the AtoZ stamp on some Pool Party CS, then used the smaller scallop punch. Then I used a variety of back to school stamps, mostly from the new set, From Your Teacher, but also from a retired set, and stamped them on Whisper White, then using the 1 3/8 circle, I punched them out. I used Calypso Coral, Real Red, Peach Parfait, Daffodil Delight, and Always Artichoke for my inks. I used the thick glue dots to adhere the circle to the scalloped circle with the paperclip in between. This keeps them nice and snug together, while still leaving some pliability to the bookmark.

 I also made a Welcome Back sign using the Perfect Pennants die and the Big Shot. I used the large triangle as well as both the doily shapes. I used a variety of current and retired Stampin' Up! blue colors. Unfortunately I did not have any blue DSP, so I used some leftovers from another set of paper to make my rosettes. Then used Very Vanilla letters overtop!! I used our twine to string them together (after punching 1/8" holes in each corner).

I sure hope you enjoyed checking out my projects!

Craft On!!
Jean