Immortal Painter's Tray

My daughter and I made this painter's tray for her room. The tray is from Hobby Lobby and the paper and embellishments is from the Immortal Love line from DCWV.

Day Thirty Eight. . .

Cute clips! I used Close to my Heart's Creative clips to make these. They're perfect for scrapbook pages and cards. Just decorate them with paper, ribbons, embellishments, etc. They would make a great gift for that scrapbooker friend or loved one.

Day Thirty Seven. . .

I'm slowly catching back up. Here's a great idea for a cute brag book. I used Close to my Heart's tag book, Sonata Paper pack, and miscellaneous stamp sets.

Day Thirty Six. . .

Here's another quick gift idea using 4 inch square coasters.

I made this again at one of Miranda's events. It's so cute and bright. It's three 4 inch coasters covered with Close to my Heart background and texture paper from the Whoops a Daisy paper pack, some stamped images, and miscellaneous embellishments. The coasters are held together with small pieces of ribbon. Wouldn't this make a great gift with some pictures on it?

Day Thirty Five. . .

Once again I've fallen behind in the creative posts. I was gone all weekend for a unit retreat for some Close to my Heart Colorado consultants. I had planned on posting, but after a day of creating and fun, I was just tired. My friend Miranda and I stayed at the hotel where the meeting was held. We did stay up later than we should've talking and laughing and acting like teenagers at a slumber party. Here's one of the items we created, an altered paint can. Miranda taught the creative project. The idea is to take an plain paint can (found in any hardware store) and add paper and embellishments to it to make it anything you want. Miranda's example was a "goal" can where she can put her goals for her Close to my Heart business for the next year. I made mine into a cane where my kids and I can add ideas of things to do inside when it's cold and snowy outside. These would make a great way to wrap a present too. Miranda suggested using them for a holder for a gift card.

Enjoy. . .

Day Thirty Four. . .

Since the New Year is almost upon us, here's a cute idea for a calendar to give to family and friends.





I have to give credit to my friend Miranda again. She had a workshop for these, or was it one of her catalog reveals? Check out her creative ideas on her blog: www.scrampinwithmiranda.com She's got 25 days of Christmas going on right now so check out some of her nice gift ideas.

See you tomorrow. . .

Countdown to Christmas Day Three. . .

Here's the next gift idea on a budget.

How's this for thrifty. I found this paper frame at the dollar store, it's nice and sturdy made of think cardboard. I just cut out another frame from my paper pack, wrapped it with the floss to give it a little more pizazz, and cut some of the patterns from the left over paper to give it a more 3D look. If you look close, you'll see I cut the center a little large, at first I thought I would have to use another sheet of paper (and waste this one), but when I laid it on the frame it actually gave the illusion of a matte, so I left it. Sometimes mistakes work out better than you think.

Day Thirty Two. . .

Why not make those special people who love to read a hand made bookmark? These are very quick and easy and they look great sticking out the top of a book.

The other side

I took giant paper clips found in the office suppy section at Wal-Mart and attached various sizes of Prima Flowers to them. I layered the flowers first (glued them together with a little bit of Liquid Glass from Close to my Heart) I put a small bling flower gem in the centers. I put a glue dot on the back of each flower, put the paper clip in the center of one flower and stuck the other one to the back. So simple, yet so pretty. Make a little garden of your own. Why not trying them on skewers in a flower pot? Watch for that one ater one.

Count Down to Christmas Day One. . .

Along with my 61 days of creative ideas, I'm going to share with you 24 gifts you can make on a budget. With the economy tight these days, every penny helps, so I'm going to give you home made gift ideas using things you have around the house and patterns from the internet. If you do need to purchase anything, paper, adhesive, ribbon, etc, watch for sales, and get things that co-ordinate to make the most of your purchases. The items I'm going to use for the projects were about $20.

Here's the before:



and the after:





I used a peanut butter jar and about 2 sheets of paper, and embroidery floss to create some tags and the jar to put them in. Who can't use gift tags? I saved all my scraps to use on another project. The whole project took me about half an hour.

Tune in tomorrow for another thrifty idea as we count down to Christmas.

Day Twenty Seven Get the Kids Involved. . .

I gave my daughter this cute little circle album from Close to my Heart and in a couple hours she created this really cute Friend book. Get your kids involved you never know what inspiration they'll come up with.

Day Twenty Six Catching Up. . .

Boy, where does the time go, I just got caught up and then I fell behind again. Here's a new creative idea for my 61 days.

This idea came from my friend Miranda. I created this at one of her workshops. it's a really quick and easy gift. It's made from a 4" coaster (you can find these at your favorite restraunt, just ask, they'll usually give you a few), a sticky note pad, a binder clip from the office supply store (covered with a small scrap of paper), some ribbon, a 4 X 4 piece of paper, and some stickers or stamped images.

Quick and easy. These are great for your office co workers.

Day Twenty Four almost there. . .

OK, so in keeping with the blog candy theme of embellishing simple craft store cards, I went a step further and decorated these Michael's 1$ bin nesting boxes. I just added some paper and ribbon and wha lah, a cute set of gift boxes ready for use.

Day Sixteen. . .

Today's idea is a travel journal I made for our trip this year to Idaho. I used 9 X 12 white envelopes form the office supply store. I folded them in half and decorated them with Close to my Heart's Rustic Trail paper pack and Stickease. I used the Alphabet Solos for the title. I left the flaps of the envelopes open to store keepsakes from the trip and bound it together with my Bind it All. I journaled the events of each day. I still need to add the pictures I took, but thought I'd post it anyway. These little books can be used to record your family's holiday journey and would make great Christmas gifts.

Enjoy. . .

Day Thirteen. . .

Here's the latest in my 61 Days of Inspiration line. . .

I made this cute little box for prizes/gifts for my gathering guests. I used all Close to my Heart supplies, including the box. I took the box that the Close to my Heart distressing kit comes in and decorated it with papers from the Whooops a Daisy paper pack. I added Dimensional Elements colored with co-ordinating markers and covered some with paper. I added organdy and grosgrain ribbons to the handle for an extra touch.

I hope this inspires you to alter your own box.

See you tomorrow. . .