Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Craft Lightning - Recycled Book to Easel Calendar



Welcome to the summer edition of Craft Lightning - 15 minute Crafts!

I am so happy to be participating in this fun series with some of my blog friends...

 Angie at: The Country Chic Cottage  and Carolina at: 30 Minute Crafts!


I'm always racking my brain to find crafts that are fun, easy and cute...
but that don't take a lot of time to complete. 

When visiting my good friend Melissa recently,
I noticed that she had this really cute easel calendar displayed in her den.


Upon closer inspection, I saw that it was hand-crafted and made from an old book cover.

This was just the inspiration I needed for a "lightning craft"!

Hubby and I have been cruisin' the Yard and Estate Sales lately and I have a TON of old books that are just piling up and calling my name to be used in some way, so the timing was perfect!


I used an old children's book for my project



I found this vintage looking 2014 calendar printable at the Crafty Secrets Blog.


I have a TON of buttons that I have gathered from our weekend adventures also and it was fun to dig through them to find this old vintage one that just seemed to fit perfectly with the book cover!


How to steps:
(Click on photo to enlarge)


Photo of supplies and tools used for this project:


Supplies/Tool List:

Old/Vintage Children's Book
Mini Printable Calendar (2004) - I downloaded mine from: Crafty Secrets
Cork Board Material, 1/4" Thick (as an alternative, you can use foam core board)
23-24" of Ribbon, Red, Solid/Sheer Combo w/Irridescent thread, Nylon/Poly, 3/8", Offray #RN17991, #CA07795
Button, Vintage (From Stock on Hand)
Push Pins, White, 2 ea.
Pearl Stickers (Heads), 2 ea., Aqua from: Jolee's Bling, Multicolored Package, Pastel Pearl Borders #50-00200  (Jolee's/EK Success)
Knife/Box Cutter
Scissors
Scribe/Awl
Hammer
Center Punch
Ruler
Scissors
Cutting Mat
Cardboard Template (for drilling holes) (self-made)
Dremel Tool, w/small drillbit
Yarn Needle, Plastic, (Boye) Simplicity Creative Group
Fiskars Paper Trimmer
Aleene's Tacky Glue
E6000 Glue
Toothpick
Paper Weight

If you have a quick craft of your own that you'd like to share...hop on over to The Craft Lightning Linky Party now!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and viewing my project!

Hope you'll come back soon!






This Project/Post is linked to the following sites/link parties:



Sand and Sisal

Thursday, July 25, 2013

New Simplicity Craft Pattern - #1602 Backpack and Giveaway!


*Please Note: In the interest of Disclosure and IAW FTC 16 CFR Part 255: I was given a complimentary copy of this pattern for review from Simplicity and the Pattern Designer.
The opinions expressed in this review and any further review or mention of this product are my own and have not been influenced by anyone or any compensation monetarily or otherwise.

Okay, now that THAT is out of the way...I am so totally excited to share with you all this awesome new craft pattern from Simplicity!

It's in Craft, Hobby and Sewing Stores now...as you can see, I spotted it at JoAnn's yesterday while shopping there!


This pattern is beyond adorable and I can't wait to try it out and make one of the back-packs for  my Granddaughter!


This pattern was designed by a sweet Blogger Friend of mine...Heather Valentine from "The Sewing Loft" and she is sponsoring a cool giveaway on her blog right now in celebration of the release of this new pattern.


You can enter this giveaway via the form below or by clicking the above photo and going to The Sewing Loft. 




Friday, July 12, 2013

Upcycled/Recycled Gift for Teacher Appreciation

I have been volunteering in my Granddaughter "B's" class this year and when it came time for teacher appreciation week I knew I wanted to do something for B's teacher.


I've really loved being in her class and watching how she interacts with the children and helps them learn and grow.

She is just plain amazing in my book!

I really thought it was awesome how she dressed like a Dalmatian on the 101 st day of school!

The kids REALLY loved that!


I asked "B" what kind of things did her teacher like and she told me "Coffee, Monkey's and US!" (meaning the whole kindergarten class.) That really made me smile!

I decided to go with the coffee theme for a gift since I already had something in mind that would fit perfectly with coffee.

A few months earlier I had made some Green Bean Casserole and was pleasantly surprised to find that French's had a new container for their French Fried Onions.


When I saw it, I immediately started thinking of all the cool things I could make with it later on.

I have a bit of a confession to make here...I am a recycle junkie!

(And I don't mean the environmental kind who loves to "turn in" all her recycles to the local county recycle program...) I keep all kinds of "crap" as DH would call it because I am CERTAIN something can be made from it later! LOL!

The problem is...most of the time...LATER never comes and I am over-run with all kinds of glass, plastic and cardboard containers.

(Yes...I would be a perfect candidate for that reality show "Hoarder's"...
My husband is constantly reminding me of this. He isn't amused!)

I had saved a couple of those cool containers and thought one of them would be PERFECT for this project.

I loved the way the lid snapped on securely and knew it would work good for coffee.

The smooth plastic surface would be easy to cover with fabric or scrapbooking paper.

I decided to go with fabric because I thought it would hold up better with repeated use.


I bought some little coffee packets at the dollar store to store inside the container, knowing that B's teacher would probably want to eventually replace it with her own brand/taste in coffee when it needed to be refilled.


I had some jewelry findings that I had purchased at an Estate Sale and found the perfect embellishment to add to the container along with some coordinating ribbon.


I added black felt to the top of the lid and to the bottom of the container using a pattern I made from tracing the lid and bottom.

You can do this yourself or I created a PDF version of my pattern that you can download here for free to save you some time.

I wanted to personalize the container a little more, so that it would somehow hold a memory for the teacher of my sweet Granddaughter, so I took her kindergarten school picture and cut it to fit in a round frame (old earring from the jewelry findings) and attached it to the outside lid of the box.


I also wanted to let Mrs. R know how special she was to me and B and what a good teacher she is, so I included a quote about teaching on the inside of the lid, so she would see it whenever she opened the container.

I found this cute graphic/quote at a great website called Bitsy Creations. They have some really cute designs and many of them are offered as free printables.

If you'd like to download this particular graphic/quote please go here for the link.


As a final touch I purchased a small coffee themed kitchen towel and a gift card to Starbucks for when Ms. R wanted coffee on the go!


Little B was pretty excited when I told her that I had made something special for her teacher and she couldn't wait to give it to her!


Supplies and Tools used for this project:


Supplies/Tools List:

Re-useable/Re-sealable Plastic Container
Fabric Strip - 14" x 14" (approx.)
Black Felt - 5"x3" (approx.) (2 pieces)
Pattern for Felt Pieces - 2 pcs. (Traced from top and bottom of container onto paper) Download Here.
Glue Dots - Glue Lines, 1"
Ribbon, Sheer Organdy, Black, 7/8" (Ribbon Trends)
Ribbon, Grosgrain, Black, 1/4" (Essentials)
Aleene's Tacky Glue
E6000 Glue
Jewelry Findings/Embellishments - (Not shown in photo above) I used an old round earring and a cabochon
Scissors
Jewelry Pliers
Popsicle Stick (for use spreading glue)
Straight Pins (to pin pattern to felt pieces)
Printed Quote/Poem for Inside of Lid - (The one shown above can be downloaded here)
Gift Card
Small food/candy items to fill container (in this case coffee packets)


Thanks for stopping by!

This post/project is linked-up to the following sites/link parties: