Chalkboard Style Tags

I hope everyone has recovered from their July 4th festivities! 

For the second year in a row, our town could not do their fireworks show on the 4th because we are under a fire ban. Boo! Things are extremely dry around here, making for super high fire danger. At least the weather was lovely, and we had a good time spending the whole afternoon/evening with friends at a "Freedom Festival" that has been our tradition for over 10 years! 
I don't know about you, but I'm ready to start a new July week!

I have a fun little project to share today. A friend gave me an unopened package of these heavy cardboard coasters and I decided to create some fun chalkboard style tags with them.

They are a little over 4" across, and I liked the idea of an over-sized, writable tag that could also be strung together to create a banner for many occasions.

I punched a hole in each cardboard circle. This was a little difficult with my little hand punch, so I switched to a heavier punch and that made a big difference. I painted both sides with ordinary black acrylic craft paint.

 Did you know you can use ordinary black paint to create a chalkboard surface for many craft projects? I've done this on lots of small chalkboard projects, and it works great! Of course it's not a washable surface like "real" chalkboard paint, but it's fine for an application like this one.

I "seasoned" each circle by rubbing the side of a piece of chalk over each side and erasing with an ordinary felt chalkboard eraser. This gave a soft, almost zinc looking, appearance to each tag. 
I added a strip of heavy canvas scrap to each one. 

I used some letter stencils to test out how the chalk writing would look on the surface. 

I also tried some number stencils with chalk. Pretty cute, huh?
 

I really like this look!
 

The chalk erases easily from the surface making these ideal to re-use for many different occasions!

I have two sets of 10 listed over at The Penny and the Pearl today.

I'll be back soon to share some other projects I'm working on. Have a wonderful Monday, friends!

Jeanette

Come join the fun with me over at:

Inspiration Monday at twelveOeight 
Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch
Creative Bloggers Party at Homemaker on a Dime  
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at Coastal Charm 
Make it Pretty Monday at The Dedicated House 
The Scoop
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Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Thru Life 
Share Your Cup Thursday at Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson 
Tutorials Tips and Tidbits at StoneGable 
Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Creek Cottage
Fabulously Creative Friday at Jennifer Rizzo  

Another Paper Heart Wreath?

So, I don't want to run the paper heart wreath into the ground, but I had some questions about how to make the paper shreds on my original Recycled Paper Heart Wreath. 

The point of the project was that I made a wreath out of some discarded paper and cardboard items that were just lying around here.

When I was asked about how the paper was made, I was really thinking, "who in their right mind would make all those little crinkly pieces of paper??" 

Can you now see me raising my hand, sheepishly? 

It turns out it's pretty darn easy to make some crinkly pieces of paper, provided you have a good sharp pair of scissors.

Let me show you how I did it with some vintage sheet music. 

 
 I started with 5 sheets of paper and folded them all together just because it's quicker than folding each individual piece. You will separate the sheets before cutting.

  

I began folding the paper accordion style, like when making tissue paper flowers.

The smaller your folds, the more crinkly the final pieces.

When you're done folding it will look something like this. Sort of fan-like. Now you will separate the sheets.

Take an individual sheet of paper and refold it along the accordion fold. Holding it together, use your sharp scissors and begin snipping the end off in thin strips.

This is what you end up with from five sheets of paper. The wheels are already turning....This could be cute gift bag filler...or?..hmm. 

Okay, stick to the project at hand!

The folds are not exactly like the original one with the packing paper, but still kinda fun, right? Any old paper could work. I was even thinking of trying one made out of newsprint. I think I used about 10-12 sheets altogether to make this wreath.

That's my grandparents, WAY back when. They were so cute :)

One little tip: If you decide to make one of these paper wreaths, and think you might want to hang it in front of a mirror, cover the back of the wreath with paper also! That way you won't see the not-so-pretty cardboard backing in the mirror.

I was having fun taking a few shots of the wreath hung from one of my old windows : )

The snow is looking pretty thin on the mountain back there today!

Alrighty then, now you know. If you're feeling ambitious, and you've just gotta have some of that crinkly paper, it's really not hard at all. 
Hope you're having a good week, and see ya soon!

Jeanette 

Sharing over at:
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The Never Ending Kleenex

 Sometimes I have an idea about something to share, and then I think "Hmm....kinda goofy. Maybe I won't share that."

Well this is one of those goofy little things, but I'm going to go ahead and share it. I've had some nice messages this week from people who say they appreciate zero money creative ideas and this is one of those : )

 
Awhile back my daughter gave me a pack of lovely tissues. You know, the little packs of kleenex that you  can tuck in your purse.

They were just so pretty, it was hard for me accept that I couldn't make some other use of them!



I decided I'd open one up and scan it into my computer so I would at least have the pretty design saved. Yes, you can see the fold lines on the printed copies, but that doesn't bother me. 

On a birthday occasion, I needed to wrap a small gift and didn't have any appropriate gift wrap. I printed the scanned tissue and used it to wrap the little box, and it was so cute!

  

Then I decided to paint and decoupage some small wooden bowls I've had for ages.

 

I simply cut out a couple of the flowers and used Mod Podge to add them to the bowls.

This week I was looking for something to make some pretty paper hearts out of for the Love Note Station I'm going to set up for me and the kids. Again my lovely rose patterned tissue I scanned came to mind, so I printed a few sheets and cut out some heart shapes.

 

We are going to spend some time each day, the week leading up to Valentine's Day, writing something we love or appreciate about each family member on the hearts-even if we can only come up with one word for that day! :) 



I'll show you soon what we'll do with them after that.

And that's it! Scanning a kleenex? Yeah, it's a little goofy but it's given me lots of inspiration for little projects that don't cost any money, and I guess that was the point.

Happy creating, everyone!

Jeanette 

Sharing over at:

Have a Daily Cup of Mrs. Olson-Share Your Cup Thursday 

Candles, Garland and Nut Babies, Oh My!

Do you find yourself with ink and glue under your fingernails? Are you forgetting to eat? Not sure when you last showered? Can't remember what day it is? 

FINDING GLITTER IN YOUR TOOTHBRUSH???

If you answered "yes" to these questions, YOU TOO may be suffering from Brainiotis Craftiosis.......otherwise known as

CRAFTS ON THE BRAIN!!!

I've pretty much lost my mind working on stuff for the last couple of days. Cutting, gluing, glittering, punching, stamping....etc. Hmm...I wonder what the kids are doing? (kidding)

Anyway, I've come up for air to share a couple of things with you and show you a tutorial for a little craft that's become somewhat of a Christmastime tradition around here- Nut Babies!   

***

I've been embellishing these dollar store candles for the past few years, and they are always fun to work on.

I've seen lots of these on Pinterest and on crafty blogs, so I know I'm not the only one having fun! I used some of my vintage sheet music for one.

I have an interesting source for the others I made. A few years back a friend of mine gave me this and it's actually a towel! A lovely linen hand towel that I couldn't bring myself to use because it's just too pretty. So I put it in a frame and I just love the way it looks.
When she reads this she might roll her eyes and shake her head : )
 
 
I like the image so much, in fact, that I scanned it into my computer and printed it in B & W to use for projects just like this one. I had a copy of this french script paper, and tore out the image of the girl to decoupage over it.

  




For this one I just used the copy of the full image from the towel.

 I don't think you can really see it, but I embellished the leaves with vintage glass glitter.

This is actually a craft remake. Several Christmases ago my friend and I made a garland by gluing these beautiful Cavallini Christmas postcards to a wide ribbon. This year I "unglued" it :)

I punched holes at the top of each card and threaded a different ribbon through and hung it on an old sled on my bedroom wall. Don't you just LOVE simple and easy projects?

Now, on to my little tutorial!

I really can't remember how the first one came to be, but these little cuties have been appearing at our house at Christmastime for probably ten years now.

We've made ornaments out of them, but usually just tuck them in to the branches of the Christmas tree. They also make cute dollhouse babies!

 

Here's what you will need to create your Woodland Nut Baby:


Hollowed out Walnut shells for the nut baby's cradle.
Try to split the Walnut as evenly as possible. The ones I used for this were a little "choppy"-I think they were leftovers from last year!

Small wooden beads for the heads.

Acorn caps. These came from actual acorns, but I seem to remember you can get these at craft stores as well.

Cotton balls. I split one in half for two nut babies.

Fabric scraps for creating the little "blanket" top. I used craft felt for these.

Hot glue gun  

 One year we painted some of the Walnut shells silver. Natural or painted? You decide!

I have some fabric leaves just waiting for a little project, so I'm going to try something a little different. I'm tucking one into one of the shells for the nut baby to rest on. Kind of adds to the "woodland" feel, don't you think?

  

Now hot glue an acorn cap onto the wooden bead. Doesn't it make the cutest little baby head?? Sometimes we'll draw a little face on these, but I'm leaving these plain.

  Now hot glue the head to the inside edge of the nut shell.

Now take a piece of cotton ball and fill up the shell. Sorry about the fuzzy photos!

  

Fill the shell with enough cotton to create a puffy look under the little fabric scrap blanket that comes next. 

Cut a little piece of fabric the approximate shape of the nut shell.

Lay it over the cotton and begin tucking it in around the edges and under the head. When you like the way it looks, you can add a little touch of hot glue to keep it in place, but it really isn't necessary.

And that's all there is to it! After all these years, I still think they're just adorable.

Now you have your very own sweet little woodland nut baby : )

 Nighty-night babies....

Sharing over at:

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It's Overflowing-Tis the Season 2012 Christmas Crafts!