My Crafty Life - Making Heart Earrings.wmv

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Here's a quick video showing you how to make really cute heart earrings, just in time for Valentine's Day. They take less than 10 minutes to make. Last night I made 4 pairs in under an hour. Have a wonderful Valentine's Day, and thanks for stopping by!

10 Must-Have Christmas Embellishments

I know you're probably just as sick of this snow as I am, but have you scrapbooked your Christmas photos yet?  Check out my latest article at http://www.scrapjazz.com/topics/Themes/Holidays/Christmas/3102.php to see 10 embellishments that will jazz up your layouts and add just the right finishing touches.

(I know that I usually post my articles here on my blog, but there are so many links and pictures that it would have taken a very long time to write up this post.

Enjoy, and remember to be your crafty self!

Holiday Card Collage

OK.  It's time to take those holiday cards down.  Yes, if you're like me, you haven't quite gotten around to that yet.  But what are you going to do with all of them?  Make a card collage to add to your holiday decorations next year (and the years that follow too).  It's not hard at all.

Over the past few years, our family has grown significantly. My nieces and nephew have all married, and two of them now have children of their own. That means lots of pictures, especially around the holidays. The Christmas cards I enjoy receiving the most are the photo cards. They not only showcase my adorable great-niece and great-nephews, but they also lend themselves to many holiday crafts.  This year, I decided to create a collage with the photo cards that I have received for the past three Christmases. It will hang on our living room wall this holiday season.  Putting together a collage like this isn’t difficult. Just follow these simple steps:

Supplies:

12” x 12” sheet of green cardstock

8 ½” x 11” sheet of white cardstock

Creative Imaginations Christmas/Holidays paper [double-sided]

14” of coordinating ribbon

Jolee’s Boutique Christmas/Holidays dimensional stickers

scalloped-edge punch


Instructions:

Use the green cardstock as your base.

Cut one sheet of double-sided paper to 6” x 12” and 2” x 12”.

Use the scalloped-edge punch to create a border on one long edge of each cut piece.

Alternating sides of double-sided paper, attach the 6” x 12” piece to the left side of the green cardstock and the 2” x 12” inch piece to the right side, being sure to line up the edges.

Trim photos and attach to the white cardstock, overlapping and layering as you go.

Attach the white cardstock about 2 inches down from the top of the page.

Attach ribbon over the top seam and secure on the back.

Cut your title from a photo card, and add to the layout.

Finish with Jolee’s embellishments.

Frame and hang on the wall.

What a wonderful way to enjoy those cards year after year and see how the children grow! Now it’s your turn.   I'd love to see what you create. Post a comment, and I'll send you my email address so that you can email a photo of your photo collage to me by January 31. I'll enter your name into a random drawing for a little prize from me.  Have fun!

Snowman Card

Merry Christmas!  I thought I'd share a card that I made for my son this year, using a technique that I saw Jennifer McGuire use in one of her videos.  It's really easy to do.

You use 2 coordinating colors of Distress Ink (I used Peeled Paint and Broken China), and an acrylic block.  Start with the first color, and apply it to the whole block.  Then apply the darker color to just the edges.  Spray it with a little water, and press the block onto your paper.  (I used watercolor paper.)  Gently lift the block from the paper, and blend any concentrated pools of ink with a paper towel.  Just dab it gently.  Then, as a optional step, you can spritz it with some shimmery sprays.  Although I used some that I made myself, any of the commercial sprays should work.  To minimize curling, use a heat gun on the front and back of the paper.

For the images on the card, I used my Christmas Cheer Cricut cartridge and E.K. Success snowflake punches.  Any border punch you have would add a nice touch as well.

I hope to post one more time before Christmas; but if I don't, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

David's Speech At The Hilton

Holiday Quick Tip #3: Tiny Tags

Hi guys!  Hope your holiday season is going smoothly and you aren't too frantic.  I'm doing OK, and I'm a little ahead of schedule actually.  So I had a few minutes to record one more Holiday Quick Tip video.  I'm going to show you how to make the most adorable little tags from scraps of plain white cardstock.  Please leave a comment if you like the video.  Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!

Holiday Explosion Box

Create this quick, easy Holiday Explosion Box using your favorite holiday cardstock and Glue Dots ®.

Materials:

7 ½” x 7 ½” piece of heavy cardstock for box base

3 7/8” x 3 7/8” piece of coordinating heavy cardstock for lid

Glue Dots ® Craft Dots

Scoring board

Paper trimmer

Bone folder

Embellishments (optional)

Directions:

For the Base:

1. Score the 7 ½” x 7 ½” piece of cardstock  2 ½” in from all 4 sides.
2. Score a diagonal line from each outside corner to the matching corner of the interior square (see photo).

3. Cut off the corners on the diagonals.
4. Fold along score lines to form box.  Crease with bone folder.  Do not adhere the box together; the lid will hold it closed.

For the Lid:

1. Score the 3 7/8” x 3 7/8” piece of cardstock  5/8” in from all 4 sides.
2. Cut along one scored line per side, as shown in photo.

3. Fold along score lines to form lid.  Crease with bone folder.
4. Using Craft Glue Dots®, adhere tabs.  Be sure to apply the dots on the top side of each tab.

5. Embellish as desired.