My Scrapbooking Blog

I just love adding my own little touch to things.   This is just a plain coaster set but I added rubons to give them some extra flair.  It’s very simple to do to make change something from ordinary to extraordinary.  These were a grandparent gift for Christmas with pictures of the new babies.  I had to get a little creative to come up with an idea for the fourth coaster since there were only three babies.  I like how it turned out as a complete set.  Scrap supplies are DCWV vellum quote matted on cardstock, and misc. rubons from my stash.

I got these mini paint cans at the Target Dollar Spot and knew I would have a use for them.  The top one was used for a teacher’s gift.  The second can was part of a gift exchange for my daughter’s 5th grade girl gift.  We also made a journal which I will post in a couple days.  These are Christmas, but you can decorate them for any occasion.  All supplies are from my stash and I used the CTMH Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge for my diecuts.  I also added a tag with ribbon to the handle of the can.

The girls and I made these cute little gift bags for teacher gifts this year.  They were quick and easy to make the girls had fun helping.  I think the paper is DCWV.  All the embellishments are just misc. from my stash that I’m working to use up.  I used the Tags, Bags, Boxes, and More Cricut cartridge.  I cut the gift bag on p. 115 at 5 3/4 (the largest it would cut).  It wouldn’t cut 2 on one sheet but you can trick it by cutting one, then reinserting the mat so the paper is switched around and cut it again.  As long as you have 6″ of paper you are good.

The Elemental Workshop on the Go Kit includes:

Elemental Level 2 Paper Packet ($9.95)
My Acrylix^® Elemental Workshop ($13.95) (stamp set is exclusive to this workshop kit)
Just Blooms^® Flutter Paper Shapes ($5.95)
Antiqued Copper Designer Brads ($3.95)
Colonial White Cardstock (2 sheets) ($.98)
Workshop Guide ($1.00)

For the bonus project below, I didn’t want all the journaling so I used extra cardstock to make photo mats for each page.  You can see the brads that I used…I would recommend using the bare minimum for embellishments and keeping them flat.  These worked in the small amounts that I used but if I did it over again I would leave them off.  Also, I would complete all the pages before adhering them in the book.  And use Mod Podge or another strong adhesive.  I used my ATG gun and it is not holding the binding after the book has been used (open and closing).  I have to say it’s the first thing that my ATG adhesive hasn’t held.

Add these items to your order to create the workshop bonus project:
My Creations Board Book
Color-Ready Alphabets Cork

Go to yesterday’s post to see the layouts created with this Workshop Kit.

This kit is available thru January 31, 2012 and February 29, 2012 (while supplies last).

Close to My Heart has a great campaign starting!  You can go here for all the details.  A large group of consultants have gotten together to create this blog hop to show you some of the many things that you can do with the new Collage Cubes and Exclusive Rock Around the Block E-size stamp set.  The blog makes a circle so if you are starting here, continue until you make your way back and you will have completed the hop.  If you have already started, you should be coming from Diana’s Blog.

Supplies used are all Close to My Heart unless otherwise noted: My Creations Collage Cubes, Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge by CTMH, Provocraft Cricut George Cartridge, Hot Diggity stamp set, Little Boys stamp set, Birthday Boy stamp set, Chairs to You stamp set, Daydream stamp set, Wonderland stamp set, Baby Impressions stamp set, Christmas Greetings stamp set, Harvest Happiness stamp set, Aspiration stamp set, Pair-a- Phrase stamp set, Fun Times stamp set, In the Wild stamp set, Life’s a Jungle stamp set, Ink (Smokey Plum, Cranberry, Baby Pink, Heavenly Blue, Outdoor Denim, Petal, Smoothie, Olive, Grey Flannel, Holiday Red, Sky, Brown Bag, Indian Corn Blue, Cotton Candy, Goldrush, Grey Wool, Topiary, Chocolate, Sorbet, Autumn Terricotta, Pear, Pacifica, Sunny Yellow, and Lagoon), White Daisy cardstock, Tulip cardstock, multiple colors of cardstock from my stash of scraps, Splendor Paper Packet, and Mod Podge by Plaid.

When I saw these fun blocks, I knew I wanted to make a set for my one-year-old.  It was just a matter of coming up with different things to put on it.  You can see from the pictures what I chose.  Other options would be….picture of baby and family/friends/pets….since there are (9×6) 54 sides you could use 26 for the letters of the alphabet, 0-9 for numbers, 9 for shapes, and 9 of anything else of your choice.  I am looking forward to doing another one of these with photos!

I started off by first sponging the all the cubes and the tray with Pacifica ink (yes, a very messy job!).  When I used the Mod Podge on the inked surface the color came off onto my brush.  I tried putting a coat of Mod Podge over everything before moving on.  It helped, but not completely.  I would recommend not using ink to sponge your blocks.  If I had it to do over again I would have left them white or used acrylic paint.  So, lesson learned and passed on to you.  Doing it over again, I also would not stamp all the images.  I like to Mod Podge overtop of projects like this and some of the ink smeared because I used dye-based inks.  You can see this on the turtle and the mittens.  So….I’d recommend using pigment inks or I’d use stickers or diecuts.

Decorating these cubes made me want to pull out a bunch of others that I have sitting around that I haven’t gotten to working with yet.  Now that I’ve learned some things the next set should be easier.  I’m going to put more of these on my to-do list for the new year.

Thanks for stopping.  Now, move on to Michelle’s Blog!