{Sam} Monkeying around with...

An assortment of crafts!!  Starting with a sock monkey hat I'm making for my soon-to-be born nephew!  He's got a little sock monkey toy and I'm going to take photos of him when he is born and thought it would be super cute if he had a matching hat!  It's still a work in progress (I only started it last night), but the basics are there!  I'm going to attach some ear flaps, the ears, a red pom pom on top and the face!!  I'll make sure to post a finished picture when it is done!

The second project requires a tiny bit of back story...

I used to work at a craft store.

Said craft store occasionally threw away fixtures when they were no longer needed.

Said craft store couldn't give them away instead, but they could sell them to me for a dollar :D

Enter: paper racks.

They keep my scrapbook paper nice and neat and color coordinated.

Enter husband losing space in the hobby room.

Exit... husband giving up hobby room so it could become full time scrapbooking and photography room.

Enter a couple other things, and then Christmas time...

Ornament Holder = Jackpot!!

I know it doesn't look like much yet, but in the next few weeks it's about to become the most amazing sticker holder.  EVER.

Step 1: Disassemble and Sand.

Step 2: Stay tuned!

Side note: While at the craft store this week I stumbled upon these beauties!!  I swear they were singing my name!  I think the colors are magnificent: bold, but still seeming soft because of the lighter parts and the fuzziness!  I LOVE the texture of them.  I think they are about to become hats and cocoons for props!  :)

Unless anybody has any better suggestions for me??

Let me know what you think in the comments below!!

-Sam

Paper-Crafting Presents! {Sam}

So I promised in my last post that I would share something other than food!  So I’m going to!  In this post!  After, I talk about food first…..  ;)

After seeing Mom’s post yesterday, I just wanted to jump in and say that I also made some much-appreciated-heart-shaped-pork yesterday!  Saw this idea on Pinterest, and knew that heart shaped bacon was definitely the way to hubby’s heart on Valentine’s morning!

 And now… crafting!  And not just any kind, but paper-crafting, my favorite!  Last year I got involved in this handmade pay-it-forward kind of thing.  One of the people on my list was my sister-in-law’s Mom, who has become family to me too.  For her gift, I decided to make something with these awesome 7 Gypsies frames!  I focused on the girls in the family, and had a lot of fun mixing and matching papers and punches and embellishments!  And here it is!

You may remember this picture from a previous post as a sneak peek before I gave her the frame.  This little flower is very easy to make!  Pick a color paper.  Cut different sized circles.  Rough up the paper a little bit.  Glue together (I think a little unevenness looks best).  Add a button for the center, and any kind of leaves if you like.

Featured here: American Crafts Journaling Sticker Books

EK Tools Swiss Cheese Corner Punch

Michaels Recollections brand Glitter Dots 

Featured here: Making Memories Epoxy Metal Frames

I love making layered flowers out of paper.  This one has the light pink paper folded and then wrapped around and taped together with the darker pink textured paper on top.  It is taped in multiple places so the flower kept its shaped.  I added a rhinestone brad through the middle and stuck it down with some 3D Zots.  I love Zots, they are used in almost all of my paper-crafting adventures!

In other paper-crafting news, I whipped together this little idea yesterday for my hubby for Valentine’s Day.  I found the idea on Pinterest here and expanded on it, partly because I already had this collage frame laying around with nothing in it.  We hung it in our bathroom and now we can write each other little love notes with dry erase markers!  Cute and fun!

Detail of LOVE. I LOVE my Cricut because it cuts these fantastic letters and shapes for me!

And with that, I’m off 2create some food for dinner!

Sam