handmade cass

Something new for me!  I am dedicating more time to my crafts now and have started submitting some projects for publication and design teams.  I recently did a few new projects for The Twinery's design team application, and I would love to share them. Chevron patterned Christmas card and matching envelope set. I have been loving the Chevron patterns that are popping up everywhere and this idea came to me right before I went to sleep one night last week.  I used American Crafts double-sided tape to adhere the twine in strips.  Then cut into the proper shapes and adhered to the card.  The twine is from The Twinery and Thickers letters are from American Crafts. Quick tip: If you plan to make your own chevron pattern, it is really helpful to have a line guide so your pattern doesn't get too crooked.  My first attempt went off track really quickly (you can see it in the corner below), so I used some post-it strips as a guide to keep me in line. Rosemary Christmas tree

Now the cat's out of the bag.  My friends and family are getting homemade hot chocolate mixes this year!  Because of holiday travel schedules I had to get some of them done pretty early so I might as well post the pictures now. My idea started this year when I saw how many baby food jars started piling up in our recycling bin.  I wanted to repurpose some of them and I knew I could come up with some kind of mix.  I layered hot chocolate mix on the bottom, milk chocolate shavings in the middle (using a vegetable peeler makes this a piece of cake!), and marshmallows on top. After I got the jars all cleaned and dried, I covered the lids with a few layers using my circle and scalloped circle punches.  I printed out the labels on my favorite recycled paper from Neenah , and adhered with double sided tape.  And to finish them off I cut out circles of festive Christmas fabric and tied it off with green twine from The Twinery.

I was more than a little bit interested when I heard that Martha Stewart came out with an entire line of paints and accessories for Michael's.  And I started out slow, just getting one color so I could paint some plastic ornaments for Christmas. Then it turned into this... Here is the story.  We are traveling to see my in-laws for Christmas and there has been much planning about babies around the Christmas tree.  So I decided to decorate some plastic ornaments and send them over ahead of time so my mother-in-law can put those on the bottom of the tree. A couple years back I had seen a demo at the Plaid booth at CHA.  They were swirling paint around the inside of clear ornaments.  Perfect!  Should just be able to squeeze some paint into the ornament, swirl, dry, and done.  Not so much... I squeezed, swirled, and dried.  But as the paint was drying on the inside it was cracking. So I added a second coat.  That one took off some of the original paint and then pooled at the bottom

Handmade Christmas cards or photo cards... I have been going back and forth for weeks.  And now here it is a month before I want to get my cards out and I still haven't started anything handmade yet.  Here is the issue - I know that I am going to include a photo with the card anyway, and I have a credit at Shutterfly to print enough photo cards for everyone on our list (about 35).  So do I take the easy way out and do them all there?  Or do I divide the list and make some cards?  If so, then who would get the handmade ones - people I like or don't like?  Just kidding.  I like everyone on our list.  But seriously.  Don't know what to do. 11/19/2011 Update I ended up ordering 15 cards on Shutterfly and I'm hoping they get here soon so I can see if I like them.  If so then I'll just order the rest and be done with it.  But I should probably get started on a few cards just in case.  I already have the photo file ready to print at Costco with any of my own cards.

I saw a really easy costume idea in Martha Stewart magazine, that was for a birdcage veil with a spider on it.   And it was easy to make, but I wasted a ton of time trying to find the authentic birdcage netting - called Russian netting/veiling for anyone who is searching.  And then I ran out of time and had to get the closest thing I could find at our local fabric stores.  The supplies I used were: glitter black tulle fine black tulle (to make a little flower) paper mache spider purple glitter purple headband spray adhesive hot glue gun needle and black thread There wasn't a picture of this project on the Martha Stewart website, but you can see it in my magazine clipping below (click to enlarge). And my version: Birdcage veil with spider for Halloween I used a running stitch to gather the glitter tulle so that the back was a bit shorter and pointed upwards.  Then the longer half was draped over half my face and I glued it onto the headband. I used a running stitch