Halloween Decor

This is the time of year when I start getting out my fall and Halloween decorations. I don't have a lot of Halloween things and most things I see in the stores don't appeal to me. So, a few years ago I started to make things. Every year I make one new item for fall/Halloween and one for Christmas. It's been fun to do, and while not all of the creations make "the cut," I still enjoy the process.

This year, I decided to dip into my MOSD stash to make a wall decoration. I used the clear cover from a Big Boy album as my wall hanging. The Big Boy album is 6x12 and comes with 2 acrylic covers and 6 chipboard pages. I rounded the corners of the acrylic with a Round-it-All, and then inked the edges with jet black Staz-On. (click on the photo to see a larger view)

I covered the acrylic with My Mind's Eye dot paper. I distressed the edges a bit. Then I covered a Basic Grey chipboard bracket with Making Memories paper, and attached the bracket to the top of the acrylic with brads. The Crop-a-Dile punched the holes very well. I can use the bracket to hang the panel onto the wall.

I cut a strip of My Mind's Eye bat paper and punched one edge with a Martha Stewart punch, then I distressed the other edges.

I printed a calendar on the computer and matted it with some cardstock. I used some ink to grunge it up a bit. The black cat is a MOSD Halloween Stick-Ons. I also used a clear button on the 31st to highlight the date. You can also see that I used a grunge board hinge (on the left side of the ribbon). I first inked it with jet black Staz-On and then added some black diamond Stickles. It's attached with the mini brads I got in my MOSD DT kit. I used the smallest Fiskars anywhere hole punch to make the holes. It cut through the acrylic very easily, and makes tiny holes for the mini brads.

The art at the bottom of the panel is a vintage postcard that I printed from the Internet. I've had it in my stash awhile so am not sure where I got it. It's very similar to the ones Daisy D's had a while back.

I also used some black pom-pom trim at the bottom of the panel. This was a pretty simple project and made great use of an "orphan" Big Boy cover.

Hope you have the time to make some home decor projects. I'd love to see! See you next month!

- Gloria

Scrapbook Your Faith

I have spent the past three months as part of the Creative Challenge Team at Faith Sisters. For my last project I decided to use MOSD products. I thought maybe you would like to see what I made!

I used a 6x6 clear cover and a scallop circle, both from the Build-a-Book Perfectly Shaped program. (I love that you can do so much more than just make mini books with the MOSD shaped pages!)

I covered my shape with strips of paper, then trimmed around the shape with a craft knife. Once I had my shape decorated, I used my ATG to adhere it to the acrylic cover. To make a wall hanging, I used the Crop-a-Dile to punch holes into the acrylic and then set large eyelets into the corners.

My kids get the "bicker bug" sometimes, so this is a wonderful scripture to hang in our school room. It's a reminder for them (and for me) to use our helpful words and not "ugly" words.

I'd love to see how you used MOSD products to scrapbook about YOUR faith. Link your project here by leaving a comment and I'll come and see!

- Gloria

Simple Spring Decor

I decided to make another simple project from some MOSD goodies. I used a clear 6x6 cover from Build-a-Book 2 and the MOSD cover Stick-Ons to make this hanging. I jazzed it up with some rhinestones. I used some cardstock letters to spell out "Spring" across the bottom. Then, I used my Crop-a-Dile to punch holes in the top of the panel, then I attached some white eyelets and some ribbon. Simple, but cute!

This project was so hard to photograph, being clear and all. I tried hanging it on the fence, but I kept getting in the reflection! Then I tried putting against the (empty) pot, but got a lot of shadows.

Here it is hanging on our lemon tree! Which is starting to bud!

Thanks for looking.

- Gloria

Vintage, Part 2

For those of you who did not get to see Vintage, Part 1, go and visit Friday's blog post. For those of you who are wondering what I am doing posting on a Saturday, never fear! I am not taking over the blog by force...I'm just filling in. We'll be back to our regular post schedule after CHA! And for those of you who have been waiting to see what I did with the other half of the Big Boy cover....here it is!



This vintage stamp is called "Picking Flowers with Mom" and is made by The Stamping Ground. The Happy Valentine's Day stamp is Close to My Heart. I cut the scalloped circle with a Nestabilities die, and then ran it through the Big Shot using the Cuttlebug Divine Swirl Embossing Folder. Then I rubbed some cranberry alcohol ink and some old paper distress ink over it, crumpled it up, and attached it to the project.

Hope you enjoyed my trek into Vintage! See you on Friday for my CHA Sneak Peek!

- Gloria

MOSD Goes Vintage

I have to confess that my scrappy roots are vintage. I started out in the paper craft arts (18 years ago) as a stamper - mostly a collage, vintage arts, found items sort of gal. I know! Shocking, right?! I still have a love for that sort of art, but I don't care for the vintage style for my scrapbooks. (Go figure!) So, that means, I don't get to play with all my vintage stuff very often. So, I thought that my project today would be a fun way to show how MOSD can "go vintage" and to also show you that side of my style.

I was looking at all my MOSD products and noticed I had one Big Boy clear cover. Well, what can you do with ONE cover? (And what happened to the other one?!) So, I cut the Big Boy in half and rounded the corners with the Zutter Round-it-All, and made this clear Valentine "card."

You can see that I inked the edges of the clear cover with brown Staz-On ink. I love how this turned out!

I stamped the vintage lady with a stamp called "Opening Night" from The Stampsmith. (Isn't she great?! She looks like an old photograph!) I used Tim Holtz distress ink (vintage photo) to stamp the lady, and then tore the edges and smudged on more distress ink (old paper). The other stamps - "be mine forever" and the postage stamp - are from Close to My Heart (Vintage Valentine).

Here are some close ups.

I made this paper flower following a technique I saw on Leah Fung's blog. Mine are not as nice as the one's on Leah's blog, but...oh well. I like mine anyway! I spayed the paper with some Gloria Mist (my version of Glimmer Mist).

The key is chipboard, which I sprayed with Gloria Mist also, and then sealed it with Modge Podge. After it was dry I ran the chipboard through my Big Shot, using the Divine Swirl embossing folder. The heart is chipboard that I painted with Tim Holtz distress crackle paint. That was also sealed with Modge Podge.

The word "Love" is chipboard that I inked with Lipstick Red Colorbox Chalk ink, then glazed with a thin layer of Modge Podge. I then ran the letters through the Big Shot with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder.

Now, I know you are asking yourself, "what about the other half of your ONE Big Boy cover, Gloria?" Well, I get to blog again TOMORROW, so you can see what I did with that half tomorrow!

- Gloria

Clearly Festive

There's something about the holidays that make me want to create. I love working with the color pallettes and adding touches of glitter where I can. My project today is a quick and easy one that can add a bit of festive flair to your home.




Here's what you'll need:
3 pages from a Clearly Designed Acrylic Easel Album
MOSD Snowflake Stick Ons in pink and blue
Large chipboard letters (I used Making Memories)
Zip Dry adhesive
Mica flakes
Ribbon / ric rac of your choice

1. Begin by randomly placing the snowflake Stick Ons to the backs of the 3 acrylic pages.
2. Glue the large chipboard letters to the front side of the acrylic.
3. Outline 3 edges of the pages with adhesive. Add mica flakes over adhesive. Shake off the excess.
4. Tie bow on center hole of each page with coordinating ribbon.
5. Thread banner using remaining ribbon and hang where desired. I like how the frosty effect works with my tree.

Wishing you and your family the happiest of holidays!

Let's Decorate!

This week at our house is our traditional "decorating week." We put the lights up on the outside of the house, decorate the tree and the inside of the house, and generally make things look festive. I really enjoy handmade items - a holdover from when I was a kid and we had very little money, so we made lots of stuff - everything from stringing cranberries and popcorn to making paper chains to salt dough ornaments!

I don't get quite so frugal with my decor as we did when I was a child, but I do enjoy making things for the house. When I saw these Cosmo Cricket chipboard snowmen and papers, I decided to make a little wall hanging for my powder room. This is a 6x6 size, but you could go larger or smaller.



Supplies Needed:


MOSD Clear Acrylic panel - I used the front cover of the Cover to Cover Tabbed Album, but turned it sideways so the holes are at the top of the panel

White paint or craft ink - to edge the panel and to stamp the images

Christmas stamp - I used one made by Inkadinkado

Chipboard embellishments - I used the Cosmo Cricket snowman

Decorative paper (to cover up the naked snowman!) - Cosmo Cricket - even the saying is cut from a Cosmo Cricket Strip Tease sheet

Black mini brads - for the Snowman's eyes

Christmas ribbon - I used some printed twill

Here is another view with a red background.

You can also see that I "roughed" Frosty up a bit with sandpaper and edged him with some brown ink, to make him look old. It goes with the style of papers I chose. Thanks for looking!

- Gloria

A little bit of snow to share

Winter is on it's way here for sure! Super cold, wind blowing and snow showers. It's a little early here in the South here for it to start--but I love it. Get's me in the holiday spirit!

Speaking of snowflakes and holiday spirit--these ornaments were super easy to make.

You'll need the following to make the ornaments

Clear Glass ornaments (buy at the local craft store's)
Paint
Clear glaze glitter paint or white school glue thinned down with water
Glitter, fine and coarse glitter.
paper cups
Snowflake stick on's


How To:
To do the Silver and Blue ornament
Take the ornament ball and the glitter glaze or the thinned out white glue and pour about 1-2 tsps inside. Swirl around making sure to coat the entire ornament completely. Then turn the ornament upside down in a paper cup for the excess to drain out. Don't leave it for long or it will dry completely. Once drained, take the coarse gliter and pour 1-2 tsp's inside the ornament and shake it around to coat the ornament. Add more glitter if you have blank areas. Let dry for a couple of hours. Put the ornament cap back on.
Now it's time to pick out the snowflakes from the snowflake stick on sheet. I found out that the snowflakes with skinny spindles actually applied better to the curved surface. Rub them on completely. TA DA! You have a gorgeous snowflake ornament!

To do the Pink multi paint ornament

Take pink paint and pour a small amount about 1 tsp in the ornament swirl around. Let drain over a paper cup. Come back in about 10-15 minutes and pour your second color of paint in the ornament ball. Swirl around again. Let drain into the paper cup.Take your fine cut glitter and swirl around in the ornament, some will show heavily and some will not. Wait another 10 minutes and then pour in your third color of paint. Let drain over a paper cup for a couple of hours. I used pink, light pink and white paint on the example. Don't get impatient when adding in the second and third colors of paint, if added too quickly the colors can become muddy. Put the ornament cap back on. Then you're ready to apply the snowflake stick on's.
You could add further embellishments with ribbon, a little bling, some christmas floral mini picks(those are super cheap this time of year)
These would make great gifts for the kids to help make for grandparents, teachers and friends. Just be sure to watch the younger ones, these ornaments are glass and will break. Or another great gift idea would be to make a complete set of ornaments for a terrific present. The ornament sets are usually sold in a set of 6 and can be purchased using one of those great 40% or 50% coupons.

Happy Holidays and Happy Scrapping!
Veronica

Calling all DIY'ers

First let me say thanks to Kim Guymon over at Scrapbiz for giving me the idea for this post! Give credit where credit is due right!!!!

Did you know that even the Associated Press is writing about DIY'ers and handmade gifts this year? You can read their article here. The gist of the article is two fold. First with the meltdown of the economy many crafters see handmade as a quality alternative to spending big bucks on store bought items. The second 'fold' is simply that many crafters have a rebellious spirit when it comes to in your face consumerism. They have pledged to go handmade this year as to NOT line the pockets of the big box store corporations.

So with all this in mind and all the fantastic ideas our MOD Squad has been posting on the blog....what are you plans for this holiday season? Using peoples surnames (that would be their last name - lol) in art is a hot trend item right now. What about using an expressions wordbook to make a wall hanging like Shannon did here.


Here are some other ideas that leap to mind: (many of these have been posted on the blog - so I challenge you to go dig through the old posts to find them!!!)

1 - Sets of handmade cards
2 - Recipe book or tin
3 - Christmas ornaments
4 - Candle holders
5 - Wind glass charms
6 - Wreaths
7 - Perpetual Calendars/birthday/important date reminders
8 - Journals
9 - 10 reasons why we love....grandma, grandpa, dad, mom, uncle, friend, dog, cat
10 - And of course - scrapbooks!

If you have made other items or have ideas using MOSD products please post a comment and or a link - you just might get some blog love!

Now go start checking those names off the holiday list!