Make a Box

 Recently I decided I wanted to try my hand at making a gift box...

Some of the shapes were easier than others.

First I made the orange/yellow/red one that is 

a popular shape for party favors.

 

Then I took a box that I already had.  

It was a valentine box.  

 

Then I unfolded it and traced it's shape 

onto some scrapbook paper.

 

I traced it onto this orange paper...

I

Then I folded the shape, trying to mimic the shape of the other box.

 

You can see how it worked - I created the box but I didn't make the lid.  

I still think it looks good.  And here they are again, all together:

I don't have a single use for these right now.  

I just wanted to have some fun &

see what I could do with scrapbook paper!

I hope you get the chance to be creative today!

...from Lori@Kitchenfunk

Child Dedication Sign in a Gold Frame

Our hospitality team at church was asked 

to provide a cake for child dedication day next week.  

The pastor suggested that instead of having "Congratulations" 

put on the cake, where it would be eaten and not seen, 

we should make a sign to put up near the cake.  

I decided to take on this fun project.  

Unfortunately my enthusiasm got the better of me at first.  

I initially started with a pink background!  

Not my best idea, since this is supposed to be for all the kids, 

not just girls.  

Then I tried a green background but the letters 

I bought were huge, and the green was 

too dark for the mood I wanted to convey.  

Finally I decided to use a pale yellow and it worked!  

Then I bought some packets of letters 

and I used a plate to try to arrange 

them in a pleasing and even shape.

Here is the plate as I attempted to attach the letters.  

The plate worked great!  

The letters were fine but I didn't have enough to make all of the words using the same type of font.  So I'm not happy with the word "PARENTS".  I'm living with it, hoping that I will be satisfied before Sunday.  If not, I'm going to have to break down and buy another packet of letters!!

What do you think of my finished result?

I hope you get the chance to be creative today!

from Lori @Kitchenfunk

Thank You Tokens

In less than one month my work is hosting our city's Arts Gala.

It will be held at the local science and arts center,
and the students at
the school of the arts
will be performing and showcasing their work (song, dance, film, theater, visual art, and writing). This is an outstanding event that only costs $12 to attend. However, prior to the event we host an arts auction for a minimum attendance cost of $100, and all the money from the auction and the sponsors goes to the school.

So today I had to stuff and label
TWENTY-FOUR HUNDRED ENVELOPES.


Yes, 2,400.


And because our copier wasn't cooperating,
I had to stick to and from labels on all of them!

Because of this, several of my co-workers rallied around me and helped me get this done, so that tomorrow EVERY SINGLE envelope will be in the mail!
Can you believe it? How wonderful is this?


In order to thank them, tonight I made little gift bags full of jelly beans. This JELLY BEAN theme would not have even entered my mind if I hadn't seen someone on a blog do a Thank You with jelly beans in a jar last night.

SADLY, I cannot remember which blog it was, and I didn't save it because I didn't think I would ever use it. While I am not doing the showcased craft, I AM using some of her theme ("thank you for bean..."). So if anyone reading this knows who it is, please post it here so I can give her credit!

But I love how these came out. I only wanted something small, and these candy bags were perfect. I filled them with jelly beans, held the top closed, and then stapled the scrapbook paper over the top. Then I printed out the words, cut them out,
and glued them over the staple.

So simple!

I hope you get the chance to be creative today!


...from Lori @ Kitchenfunk

Proof that my kitchen is FUN and FUNKY!

Two quick and easy crafts to share:

This first is a very quick trick I did with my $18.99 laminator that I bought last week.

I took a piece of scrapbook paper and cut it to the width of the high school lockers. My 16 yr old junior has a locker that she shares with a bunch of her friends. The school is pretty big so they all combine their needs at lockers throughout the school. I made this to be a dry-erase board that they could use to share little hellos throughout the day.

I simply took some alphabet stickers that I found (!) in my craft closet and wrote "smile!" on it, then I laminated it and stuck a piece of magnetic strip onto the back. Done!

Then I took two pieces of the same paper and placed one over the other and laminated them, then I used a straight edge to gently cut open the laminate at the top of the smaller piece of paper, creating a pocket.

Again, a two-minute operation, total. But SO cute.

I used two magnets on the back of the note holder.

Then, while I was talking with a guest at my kitchen table, Dee came to the table with all sorts of craft supplies. She seemed oblivious to the fact that I was at the table with a guest.

She proceeded to put down her sweatshirt and TAKE OFF HER PLAY SHOES...

And, wait for it,

PLACED THOSE STINKY PLAY-SHOES ONTO THE TABLE!

Okay, this was sort of gross. But the finished product was pretty cool. Dee used 6 lengths of embroidery thread and braided herself some new shoe-laces! Though she did put down her sweatshirt to obstensibly "protect' the table.

Here she is looking sweet while she does it... Notice she has tools over the table, along with a glass of milk!!

So this, above, is a quick snapshot of a very small period of the day this weekend. And evidence that my kitchen is full of funk AND fun!

I hope you get the chance to be creative today!

Mini Flag Banner

Mini Flag Banner

The other day I was reading the blog Mississippi Mud Pie

and she had the cutest little flag banners that she was making as gifts.

This is a GREAT idea.

Check out her tutorial on the flags HERE (this is the tutorial link).

I spent a few evenings just relaxing and making a my banner. Then I took it to work and put it up in my new cubicle. I love it! I might make enough to string it along the entire area. In the meantime, the following night, I cut hearts out of scrap paper.

After I cut out the hearts, I took a cue from several bloggers and printed out "LOVE" in large letters, then carefully cut them out and glued them onto the hearts. I was all ready for Valentine's day at work!

I also wanted to add a little more cheer to my house for the holiday, so I made:


I hope you get the chance to be creative today!

Machine quilted greeting cards!

Some details...

Since I spent the weekend making a quick attempt at relearning Photoshop (here) and my photographs of the rest of the crafts that I did complete have to be retaken, I thought I would take a break from fighting with (I mean sewing) that bed jacket I am trying to make for my mom.

Okay, I admit I took a break earlier and I made these:

I got the idea from the blog MADE, when the project(s) I was working on weren't coming together well.

You can check it out here by looking for her posts on Quilted Heart Notecards:



And I had to fight for computer time so I couldn't spend time working on Photoshop!

Below is a small lunch bag that I painted the other day and sewed random lines and shapes on it. I did this before I saw the post about the cards, so it was kismet!

Well, what I got on here to say was that since my crafting and photography haven't been going so well, you should check out these two links for tips on Photoshop:

One post, Lifehacker, is something I already subscribe to, so I was excited to see the article about Photoshop in my in-box.

This link:
will take you to a post on HTML by a blogger I follow.


I hope you get a chance to be creative today!