Friends! Hello there, I hope you have been doing well. I've been fairly busy in aspects of my life and haven't had too much time to craft these past few weeks, so please excuse this mini, tiny, extremely short blog about what crafting I have been doing in my spare time. The main crafting that I have been doing recently is some weaving with yarn. My overall love of yarn was sparked by my fellow crafter Cara and I would very much suggest checking her out on Etsy if you are interested in any wall hangings: www.etsy.com/shop/SeptemberSunStudio?ref=shop_sugg.

I bought myself a fairly cheap loom on Amazon and have been buying yarn from both the Dollar Tree and JOANN's. Here are some examples of some weavings that I have done recently.

I have also been taking the time to try out all of the cool things that my fancy new Cricut can do. I know I've mentioned it before, but in case you haven't heard, I have a Cricut and it's awesome! I think everyone know about Cricut's ability to cut out stickers and paper, but I made some little art pieces not long ago where I wanted to try out two more of its abilities such a cutting out stencils and writing in fancy fonts.

In my pack of materials that I got when I received the Cricut was some adhesive material that I used to cut out a stencil of a moon and stars. I ended up using both the stencil itself and the relief left over to create two little mini canvases.

I used a sponge and some acrylic paint to paint around the stencils and made two little skyscapes. I also decided to try out the Cricut's ability to write which is something that I find so impressive for some reason! You can use different colored pens and have the Cricut write in a variety of fonts. As someone who loves the look of fancy script, but cannot do it herself, this is a game changer! This is something I'm very excited to keep trying out.

And ... that's what I have today friends. It is small, but I just wanted to remind you that you can find the time to do a few creative things even if life is crazy. Not having the time to do your hobby for a few weeks doesn't mean that you've "lost" it. Be kind to yourselves!

 - Rebecca

Hello Friends!  It’s Suzanne, Rebecca’s Momma, and I’m happy to be back with you on the PPP with the next installment of Card Making Basics.  In December, we talked about the most basic of supplies – paper, adhesive, a paper cutter and a paper scorer: www.thepatternedpaperplate.com/blog/cardmaking-101.  In February’s part two, I showed you what you can do with just some pretty paper and sentiments printed out with your printer: www.thepatternedpaperplate.com/blog/cardmaking-102.  Today we are going to take it up a notch and add stamps and ink to our growing list of supplies.   With these, we’ll be able to really personalize our cards and make unique works of art.

Let’s start with stamps.  The OG variety are rubber stamps, usually made of red rubber though some companies use purple or green rubber.  These stamps give a clear, true image and last a long, long time.  They are usually mounted to a wooden block with the image of the stamp on the top of the block.  You can buy these individually or in sets from companies like Stampin’ Up!, Simon Says Stamp and Hero Arts -- even the “cheapo” bins at the big box craft stores.  Here are some examples – a beautiful Scala stamp from a company called Hampton Arts that I used on Rebecca’s high school graduation ceremony and party invitation.  The other is a set from Stampin Up!.  This set is typical of many companies where several stamps are grouped together with images and sentiments that coordinate together.  Your project has a nice cohesive look when using these -- I used three of the stamps in this set to make a thank you card.

The upside of a wood mounted stamp is that it is always ready to go.  You can grab it, tap it on your ink pad, take it to paper and you are good to go.  On the downside, wood mounted stamps take a lot of room to store because of the blocks.  It’s also difficult to see where you are stamping, so the chances of stamping something crooked are high.  If you are cutting out your image, like I did with the Scala stamp, that’s not as much of an issue. 

Next on the list are cling mount stamps.  They are the same red rubber as wood mounted stamps but are not permanently mounted on a block.  Instead, the rubber is backed by a cling foam which allows them to stick temporarily to an acrylic block.  They stamp just as well as wood mounted stamps and have the advantage of storing in a much smaller space.  Because the rubber is trimmed close to the image and the block is clear, you can also see where you are about to stamp much more easily and have a better shot at getting your image straight.  Here’s a photo of a set from Stampin’ Up! that I used to make a card that could be used for birthdays or get well wishes. You can also get cling mounted stamps from companies like Tim Holtz and Fun Stampers Journey. 

Finally, there are “clear” stamps.  These come in two varieties – photopolymer and acrylic.  Both have several benefits.  They are thin, making storage easy.  They are clear so you can see exactly where you are stamping, which makes placement practically perfect every time.  You will need acrylic blocks with these stamps as well since they are not permanently affixed to a wood block.  Clear stamps will stain, which is OK and doesn’t affect their ability to stamp a clean image.  What is the difference between the two?  Photopolymer stamps are made from a higher-quality material and are more durable to repeated use and repeated cleaning over time. Acrylic stamps are typically less expensive, but not as durable as photopolymer.  Neither is quite as durable as the OG rubber but depending on the quality of the stamp you buy; photopolymer stamps will last a good long time.  Here are a couple of examples – again, my company of choice, Stampin’ Up! and some from the good old Dollar Store.  The SU! sets are photopolymer and while the packaging doesn’t list it, I’m sure for $1, the others are acrylic.

You’ll notice that many of my stamp sets are from Stampin’ Up! (SU!).  Full disclosure here – I was, for some time, a hobby demonstrator.  That means that I was my own best customer and did not actively pursue sales with anyone but myself.  I am not currently, nor do Rebecca or I receive any compensation from any items you may chose to buy.  In the time I was a hobby demo with SU!, I was able to amass quite a collection of stamp sets in that time.  Many of them have great images but my favorites are those with a wide variety of sentiments.  In fact, when choosing your first stamp sets, I suggest a set just like that.  Choose something that includes a ‘happy birthday’, ‘thank you’, ‘hello’, ‘get well soon’ and other greetings.  Sets like the ones shown have a great variety and are very versatile.  These are the ones that you will use repeatedly in conjunction with your pretty papers.  You can also choose sets that focus on one sentiment, with different variations in a variety of fonts.  See these examples from a company called Papertrey Ink – in one, the Happy can be paired with all the other words to make up a number of greetings.  Same goes for the Thank You in the other set – Thank You Friend, Thank You For Everything, Thank You Very Much and Just A Note to Thank You are all options.  With different papers, these sentiments will carry you a long way.

Now let’s talk about some ink to use with those stamps.

Dye Inks are the most common inks used for card making.  You can find them in every color of the rainbow and in both full size and mini cubes.  The pads come in a variety of surfaces – linen, felt and sponge.  The two most common kinds of dye inks are water based and distress inks. 

Water based inks have transparent colors.  These are easy to clean off your stamps and dry instantly when stamped onto paper.  They work best on white and light color paper and most colors won’t show up on dark colors.  Because they are water based, they will “bleed” if you try to color over them. They are also not lightfast, so could fade after a period of time if exposed to light.  While these inks are great for stamping on card stock, they won’t work well on other surfaces.

Most companies that make stamps also make inks -- SU!, of course, Catherine Pooler, AlteNew, Gina K, Papertrey all have a line of ink pads that coordinate with their lines of paper.  Sticking with one company assures that your ink and paper match perfectly, which gives a nice look to your card.  Here you can see that I used an SU! color called Cajun Craze throughout this card – the cardstock for the base layer and in the decorative paper and for the ink.  It gives the card a cohesive look.

On Rebecca’s invitation above, I used an ink color called Crumb Cake from SU!, which is a perfect match to the craft card stock used for the base of the card.  You’ll see that I used two shades of green ink on the cards with the sentiment sets above.  In each instance, the green ink is a perfect match to the green paper or the green in the floral print.

Distress Inks are water-based dye inks but are unique and different.  They dry a lot slower and react with water, so they blend well with each other and with water to produce effects that you can’t get with regular dye inks.  Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks are THE ones in this category.  I have not dipped my toe into this particular ink pool, but I have a dear friend (Hi Deb!) who does beautiful work with Distress Oxide inks.

Pigment inks are a lot thicker than dye inks and are opaquer. That makes them great for stamping on dark card stock.  Because they are thicker, they take longer to dry and are generally fade-resistant.  ColorBox and Hero Arts make two of the best pigment ink pads.  One pigment ink pad I will call out especially is AlteNew’s Obsidian Exceptionally Crisp pad.  It takes some time to dry, but it gives a sharp, true image that holds up well to coloring or other wet techniques.  I used that pad here and the black ink stayed nice and sharp under the Stickles glitter glue.

There are also several specialty inks that work for various techniques that we’ll talk about on future card making entries on the PPP.

• Solvent Inks – Solvent inks are the best kind to be used on any hard, non-porous surface (other than items that will be washed regularly - they don’t hold up well to regular washing) like glass, plastic and metal.  This kind of ink is permanent.  StazOn has a full line of solvent inks that work great.
• Chalk Inks – These types of inks are like pigment inks but have a more matte, “chalky” finish.  With that finish, they look great on darker card stock.  VersaMagic is the premier name for chalk inks.
• Specialty Inks - Watermark and resist inks are just two kinds of specialty inks are designed to be used for creating watermarks and heat embossed images.  VersaMark is the name to look for here.

Finally, a quick word about cleaning your stamps once they have been inked up.  For most water-based dye inks, water is enough to clean the stamps.  A soft rag dampened with warm water used to wipe them clean is perfect.  You can also buy a shammy from many companies (here’s mine, well used!). 

Cling mount and clear stamp sometimes lose their “stick” and won’t adhere to the clear acrylic blocks anymore from being handled.  A quick wash with the tiniest bit of a gentle soap and a thorough rinse will return that stickiness and they’ll be as good as new.  Remember, staining on the stamps themselves is OK and does not transfer to your ink pads or effect the quality of the image you’ll get when using the stamp.

Get your stamp on, friends!  It’s a great hobby!

Hello friends! So this week we are back with the rest of the jam jar gifts project. Where I last left you, I had glued the little present boxes onto 8 jars and some shells on the other 8. I then created some homemade chalk paint (I've talked about this process a lot before!) to paint around the shells and presents. I used a sand-colored paint for the shell jars and some bright colors on the present jars which matched the paper on the present boxes. I also added some thicker white paint to mimic snow on the Christmas jars which definitely made them look a bit more cohesive.

The most exciting part of the blog is the introduction of a new crafty tool that I used to make tags for these jars. THE CRICUT! If you don't know what a Cricut is, its a magical machine that can cut intricate shapes out of a variety of materials such as vinyl, paper and fabric. It can also write for you and do some fancy calligraphy. It is glorious and I have to thank my lovely husband for the gift. Look at it! She's beautiful!

So using my fancy-shmancy machine, I cut out tags for each jar in a variety of paper. I then glued on some sentiments to the tags that I had printed out and added some stickers and gems here and there. I didn't take a dedicated picture of the birthday tags, but they are generally the same as the ones you'll see below!

Then using either yarn or twine, I attached the appropriate tags to each jar. Below is an example of a finished jar of each style.

Once we get closer to craft fair season, I'll fill each jar with some kind of candy. Of all the jars, I think that my favorite are the Christmas ones. The little trees are so cute! To be honest, my least favorites are the yellow and pink birthday jars. Yellow is probably my least favorite color and I am always on the fence about projects when they feature yellow heavily. I just try to remind myself that just because the color combo isn't my preference doesn't mean that it won't speak to someone! What do you guys think of the finished jam jars? Leave suggestions in the comments below on what candies to add to each jar!

 - Rebecca

Hello friends! So today is part one of a new project that I've been working on, some jam jar gifts! I bought a ridiculous amount of small glass jars from Hobby Lobby last year to use as wedding favors. I ended up buying too many and have been trying to find out the best thing to do with them. Similar to the idea of my box gifts that I just made several blogs about, I thought it would be nice to cutify the jars, fill them with something, and have a quick little gift to sell at craft fairs. My thought at the moment is to fill the jars with candy, but I won't do that until closer to craft fair season. I am doing three styles of jars and eight of each style for a total of twenty-four. The first style that I worked on was Christmas theme. I started on these a while ago and wasn't aware that I'd be doing a full-blown blog on them, so I don't have any pictures of the process! My bad. Below is a picture of how they look so far. Take a peek and then I'll explain what I've done!

Using hot glue and Superglue, I attached some adorable little tree, snowmen and deer figures that were purchased at deep clearance at a store that I can't recall! Maybe Michaels?? If you're wondering why the combo of Superglue and hot glue, sometimes hot glue can peel off when used on a nonporous surface such as metal. If you put a dab of Superglue down before the hot glue, this ensures that the hot glue will not peel away when dried. after the little figurines were attached, I used red homemade chalk paint to paint the covers of the jars. I know I've explained this at-home chalk paint hack before in a blog but the summary is: take paint and add baking soda. Voila, you have chalk paint. My mother suggested I add some kind snow effect to make the figures look a bot more like they are sitting on a snowy mountain as opposed to a red desert. I'll be doing that in the Part 2! I'm going to try and make a very thick at-home white chalk paint and see if it mimics snow. There is a brand of paint (Deco-Art) that sells a thick, bumpy textured white paint which is meant to mimic snow (see below) and I'm thinking I can get a similar look on my own. These jars will also be getting a tag which we will work on in Part 2.

As I mentioned earlier, I had started on these Christmas jars quite a while ago without really knowing that I'd continue the theme to additional jars. Once I decided that I wanted to make a few more styles, my mother and I went on a little shopping day that took us to Dollar Tree, Hobby Lobby and Michaels. I was looking for more little figurines similar to the Christmas ones, but any that I found were very expensive or just not the style that I was looking for. My mother and I then put our heads together to think about what we might have at home or be able to make. We came up with shells and birthday boxes.

As I am terrible at math and measurements, my lovely mother was kind enough to make a template for me which allowed me to make some little boxes out of cardstock.

Once these boxes were made, I wrapped them in paper and added some ribbon and a tiny tag to make them look like real birthday gifts.

Using the hot glue and Superglue method, I attached these boxes to the tops of the jars. I have also collected a ridiculous amount of shells over the course of my life and picked out 8 nice ones to attach to the other 8 jars. This time I just used hot glue as there were only a few points of contact between the shells and jar. Before you ask, I will be painting the lids of the jars with the shells and boxes. Although it may have made more sense to paint them before gluing everything on, I was worried that that glue would not adhere well to the paint and would just pull away the paint, so I now get the fun task of painting painstakingly around the objects that are already glued :)

Next week we will be diving deeper into how I finish up the covers of these jars and add some tags, as well as what candies I'm planning to add in each.

Would you buy a little jam jar gift for a coworker or friend? Let me know if the comments below!
 
 - Rebecca

Hello everyone! So I didn't think I would be doing yet another blog about these box gifts, but I finally got the supplies I needed to finish them up and since you all have been along for the journey, I figured I would show you the finish line!

When I last left you, I had a few things ready for the final 8 boxes. I had some mini candles made for 4 boxes, but I had not yet decided the theme of those boxes. I decided to give those a spa night theme and purchased some bath soak and soap to finish those off. I put the soak in a small recycled jar that I fancied up with some stickers.

I boxed the candle, soak and soap up, made a little label, tied some yarn around the box and these spa night boxes were done!

So for the tea boxes, I had some coasters that I had made and some honey sticks, but that was all. Obviously I knew that there would be some tea bags in there, but wanted a little art piece to go into these as well. I found these tiny frames at the Dollar Tree which were the perfect size.

I then picked out some paper which matched the speckled effect I went for on the coasters. Using some black letter stickers, I made some cute tea related phrases on the paper to put into the frames.

The frames seemed a little plain and after I spoke with my creative consultant (my husband) we thought that some pom-pom yarn I had would be a good touch. Using hot glue, I attached the yarn to the front and wrapped it around to the back. I positioned the yarn so that the little pom-poms were on opposite sides of the frame.

I then used some of the same yarn to wrap up the honey stick and tea bags for each box. I printed out some labels as well and mounted them on the same paper I used for the frames. I used some purple yarn to wrap up the boxes once everything was inside.

And they were FINALLY done! I have loved making these box gifts, but I'm happy to be done with them for now!

If you're wondering why one of each is unwrapped, that is so I can open it up at craft fairs and show people exactly what is inside. I'm really proud of all of the box gifts I've made and am really excited to see what people think of them at craft fairs. What do you think of the final 8 boxes? Let me know in the comments below!

 - Rebecca

Quick interruption from Rebecca before the blog: my apologies that this week's pictures are a little blurry! They came from my mom's phone, to my phone, to my computer and something went a bit wonky in the process. Also, Happy Valentine's Day! Whether you are celebrating with a special someone or with friends or by yourself, stay safe and feel the love! Now that that's out of the way, enjoy!

Hello Friends – It’s Suzanne, Rebecca’s Momma, back with the second in a series of card making posts.  You might remember in Part 1 back in December (www.thepatternedpaperplate.com/blog/cardmaking-101) we talked about some basic concepts and essential supplies -- paper, adhesive, a paper trimmer and a paper scorer.  Before talking about more specific stamping items, I wanted to share what you can do with some additional pretty paper and stickers to make cards that you would be proud to send to friends and family.

First, are cut-apart sheets.  These sheets, typically 12 by 12 inches, are made up of several images that can be cut apart.  Each piece can then act on its own as the focal image of a card.  The one I am using today was bought as a stand-alone sheet, but these also often come as part of a paper collection, like the “Hot Buy” pads that are available at Michael’s.

For this set of cards, I started with six sheets of sturdy 8.5 by 11-inch paper.  For each sheet, I scored it at 4.25 inches, folded it in half, and then cut it in half across the fold at 5.5 inches, making twelve A2 sized card bases.  That’s a card base that measures 4.25 by 5.5 inches.  (Pro-tip:  Scoring and folding your 8.5 by 11-inch paper first saves time.)  Then I selected two 12 by 12-inch pieces that complimented the colors in the cut-apart sheet and got to cutting.

For the cut-apart, I made sure the line between each image was lined up perfectly on the groove in the paper cutter where the blade would travel.  Cutting this sheet resulted in twelve 3 by 4-inch images.  To give them a little frame, I cut some dark brown (for the lighter images) or tan (for the brown images) sized at 3.25 by 4.25 inches and glued the image to framing piece.  Then, I cut the coordinating 12 by 12 pieces into 4 by 5.25 inch pieces.  Each 12 by 12 sheet yields six of these pieces, with six additional small strips to use on the opposite color for contract (see the chart below).

I layered everything up on the bases and, boom, twelve really cute cards.  I did use some vintage lace from my stash (I believe it was a gift from my lovely sister-in-law, Dottie) as well as some enamel dots and glitter glue, because I have a hard time leaving well enough alone, but really, the cards would be nice without the extra stuff.

For the next set, it’s stickers stepping to the forefront.  If you still think stickers are just for kiddos, think again – there are so many available now, from cute all the way to elegant.  These pretty ones came from The Dollar Tree.

I again started with sturdy 8.5 by 11-inch paper, scored it at 4.25 inches, folded it in half, and then cut it in half across the fold at 5.5 inches to make my A2 sized card bases.  I chose kraft to pick up on the color of the leaves in the stickers. This time I flipped the bases to be top fold instead of side fold.  I again cut a 4 by 5.25-inch coordinating layer (lavender) then decided on a black layer (3.25 X 4.5 inches on two of them and 3.5 X 4.75 inches on the one with the banner sticker) so the outline of the stickers would blend into the background.  I stuck down the stickers, integrating the small ones in so they looked like they were part of the larger ones and the cards were done.  These were so easy, it felt like cheating!

Finally, we are going to use pretty paper and a little secret trick for the card sentiments. 

For these bases, I mixed things up by scoring my paper at 5.5 inches and after folding it in half, cut it at the 4.25 mark.  That gave me a tall, slim card with the fold at the top.  Then I took a sheet of 8.5 by 11-inch double sided paper and cut it into four 4 by 5.25-inch pieces.  I stacked two pieces, one of each side of the paper facing up, and sliced them in half, positioning the stack a little differently for each pair.  I matched one of each side of the paper to make a full by 5.25-inch card front and mounted that on the base.  I shaved a thin .25-inch slice of coordinating paper to cover the seam and give the card front a unified look.  This technique lets the paper do the work. 

The cards do need sentiments, though.  Perhaps you have prodigious calligraphy skills and can hand letter a sentiment, but I can’t.  What’s the alternative?  PRINT!  If you have a device (which you do, if you are reading this blog!) and a printer, you can print a page of sentiments to use on your cards.  I opened a Microsoft word document, selected a few different fonts and printed several sentiments to use on my cards.  Mine are printed in black because we don’t have a color printer, but if you do, the possibilities are endless.  Cut those babies up, mount them on a little coordinating cardstock to give them some prominence and you have an easy way to finish up a card.  I did use some little precut flowers to add embellishment to these cards (see my earlier comment about being unable to leave well enough alone) but again, this isn’t strictly necessary.

Next time it is my turn on the bloggo, we’ll delve into ink and stamps, but I hope today’s work shows you how much you can do with just some pretty paper.

As a parting gift, here is a chart that you may find help helpful for cutting layers for your cards.  These are the proportional measurements for an A2 card, from that first layer, down to a little piece in the center.

Especially right now, when so many of us are staying safely at home, a homemade card sent to family and friends could really brighten someone’s day.  Happy crafting!

Hello friends! So the past few weeks I've been doing some crafty things, but have been very bad about taking pictures. So please excuse this shorter blog with more words and less pictures! A few blogs ago I explained how I tie-dyed some socks and made "sock boxes" that were ready to sell gifts. Well I had more of the paper boxes I used to package up the socks and started to think about other things I could package up in boxes as ready to go gifts. I've found that having things already packaged is a big selling point for people and they like to be able to buy a gift they hand to someone as is.

The first idea I had was inspired by my friend Cara so please go check out her Etsy shop: www.etsy.com/shop/SeptemberSunStudio?ref=shop_sugg

She recently made some wool wall hangings and I purchased one which now hangs on my wall next to my desk. She has more on her shop and they are gorgeous!! I was so in love with this wall hanging that I decided to try a mini version that is far less impressive than Cara's. I cut down some small wooden dowels to make sure they would fit in the boxes and then cut some strands of yarn to wrap around. I trimmed the bottom of the yarn on each hanging and added some string on the top for hanging. I also tied a knot around each yarn loop and added a tiny bit of Super Glue to the back to keep it from unraveling. I used a small comb to comb out some of the yarn and give it a fluffier look. Again, these are the simplest wall hangings known to womankind, but Cara inspired me to give it a try on a tiny scale!

I was in love with the idea of the mini art theme so I then broke open some tiny 3 inch by 3 inch canvases that I had bought and made some matching acrylic pour paintings. I've done a few blogs on acrylic pour painting so check those out if you would like to learn more about the process! You can search acrylic pour painting in the search bar at the top of the page to find those.

I'm going to package up the matching hangings and paintings together in a box and sell them as a mini desk art package. I think they are a cute bundle that you would buy someone to spice up their work space or craft desk! I also want to make a few boxes each with tea supplies and then a few that are a relaxation/spa bundle. For the tea boxes, I have some honey sticks to add and will also add a few tea bags to each box. I am working on coasters so that I can put a coaster in each box and also made some little tea time tags out of air dry clay that I stamped into. With the coasters, I am going to add some felt to the bottom and splatter some paint for a galaxy feel. I know galaxy and tea doesn't really go together, but I'll find a way to make it all work! I still feel like these boxes will need something else, but am trying to decide what that "something else" is.

And finally, I also want to make a relaxation/spa bundle box. I started out by using some jars to make mini candles using leftover wax I had from current candles I own which have burned to the end of the wick. So far these boxes only have little candles and matches. I'm trying to decide if I want these boxes to be more about relaxing smells and add some incense and a DIY incense stick holder or if I want to go towards the spa vibe and maybe add some DIY sugar scrub and things like that. If you guys have any suggestions, please leave them in the comments below!

Sorry that this blog is a little more informal, but I hope it gives some ideas of small gifts that you could make to give to someone or try to sell. Go be creative people! And please, please, please check out Cara's Etsy shop because she has amazing wall hangings, paintings and stickers!!

 - Rebecca

Hello friends! Today I am here to show you how you can upgrade a cheap IKEA clock and give it some new life. I was first introduced to this IKEA clock and the idea of DIYing it by a Youtuber I watch, Tina Le. Give her video a watch below:

After watching Tina's video, I was all extremely excited about this Tromma IKEA clock which is $2. TWO DOLLARS! As someone who had made clocks in the past, that is a very good price, even if you are just buying these clocks for the mechanical parts themselves. So naturally I went and bought 10 clocks . . .

With these clocks, it is very easy to gently pop the plastic cover off, remove the hands and HAVE FUN!

I'm going to share the process of one clock DIY I did and then give a quick overview of the others. For this first clock, I decided to use some baking soda paint on the plastic for better coverage. For those of you that don't know, baking soda paint is a hack to make chalk paint at home. Chalk paint is a thicker, matte paint that typically sticks to plastic and glass better then acrylic paint and provides better coverage. Chalk paint can get expensive so a hack is to mix acrylic paint with baking soda. I have seen so many different iterations of this hack with a wide array of ratios. I say add as much baking soda as you want. If your paint isn't thick enough, add more and if you've added too much, thin it out with some water. I went for a deep green color that would complement the dark green yarn I was going to use on the clock as well.

I applied about two coats of the paint, the second of which I thinned out with a bit of water to be smoother and thinner. I went for an abstract blob of sorts and did not bring the paint all the way to the edges of the clock.

The paint clogged the clock number holes a bit so I used a thin metal tool to clean them out. I then used the dark green yarn to weave throughout the holes. I used a gold Sharpie to outline my green blob and spray painted the clock handles gold as well.

As you may imagine, weaving left the back of the clock a bit unfinished. After a creative consultation with my mother, we decided that the back needed to be more finished. I cut a piece of felt the size of the clock back and attached it with hot glue.

I popped the cover back on and that clock was done! Please ignore the subtle reflection of my craft room/office in the clocks :). It is hard to get a well-lit photo of reflective plastic! My lovely husband took these clock pictures for me because he is wonderful!

As I mentioned above, I bought 10 clocks, we have 8 finished in all, including the green one above. I had one which I spray painted and the paint didn't adhere right and was altogether not good! I have another that is still in process and needs some paint touch-ups so I'm not including it here. So enjoy 7 more clocks!

This clock above has a background of a few shades of turquoise acrylic paint, some tan yarn weaved through the holes, clock handles painted with tan acrylic paint and some paper shell accents. I made sure that the clock hands could still move over the paper accents and would not get stuck on them.

This clock has a circle of paper attached to the center, some paper behind the clock holes and hands painted turquoise.

This clock features an adhesive vinyl cutout created with my mother's new Cricut that she got for Christmas, hands painted blue and blue paper behind the holes.

This clock has another baking soda paint blob outlined in grey Sharpie, variegated yarn in the number holes and the hands were left their original grey as there is grey in the yarn.

This clock was spray painted gold, with variegated yarn in the number holes and clock hands painted brown.

This clock features another vinyl cutout, some variegated yarn and some felt accents. I again made sure that the clock hands would not catch on them and left the hands grey.

Another vinyl cutout, some twine through the number holes and clock hands painted a deep tan color. Each clock that had something weaved through the holes was also finished with felt on the back.

There you have it! I have always loved making clocks and these cheap IKEA clocks provided a great base to start with. How do you feel about this IKEA hack? Let me know in the thoughts below!

 - Rebecca

Happy New Year everyone! 2021 just began, but I am already getting started on crafts for the summer/fall craft fair season. Today's blog is about tie-dye, as well as how to package something for selling.
I received a tie-dye kit for Christmas from my husband; this kit is merchandise of one of my favorite Youtubers. I picked up a 6-pack each of crew and low-cut socks from Target. The socks were both at least 65% cotton as dye will usually not be absorbed well by other materials.

I washed the socks once before dying them and left them damp from the washer. You can typically tie-dye with either wet or dry fabric. I'm not an expert, but my understanding is that using wet fabric typically means that the dye absorbs better, but the colors may end up being a bit softer after washing. I prepared my craft room floor and got to tying. I did the classic tie-dye spiral for the larger socks and just one small "dot" tie for the low socks. You'll notice that there are 6 pairs of each type of socks, but I only end up with 5 finished products. I kept one pair of each for myself. I'm wearing one pair as I type this!

The color combos I went with were yellow/pink, yellow/green/blue, blue/pink, pink/green/blue and two rainbow sets.

I wrapped up the socks in cling wrap and let them sit and then washed and dried them twice to remove extra dye. Now it was time for packaging. I had the idea of making boxes with the matching pairs of high and low socks. I found these boxes on amazon and thought they were a great price and size.

Then on to the labels. I printed out some labels explaining the contents of the boxes as well as what colors the socks were. I then took some watercolor and added some color which matched the contents of each socks box.

I also took a Polaroid picture of each set of socks so that people could easily see what they looked like without opening the boxes.

I put each set of socks in the boxes, nestled in a piece of tissue paper. I then used some tulle to tie up the boxes and tucked the labels and pictures under the tulle.

I did up the other 4 boxes in the same way and there you have it! I now have 5 sock boxes ready to go for the craft fair season! I think that packaging is often just as important as the product itself. I think many people would see a pair of socks and think they were cute, but not buy "just" a pair of socks. A nice box, bow and catchy title can often make the difference between making a sale or not. So take care to ensure that your packaging is as cute as the product itself!

 - Rebecca

Hello!  It’s Suzanne, Rebecca’s Momma, back on the blog today with my first Sunday edition.  Today’s post is a special request from Rebecca, who was chatting with a friend of hers (hello Julia!) about card making and adhesive.  From that convo, Rebecca thought a “Cardmaking 101” post, with some basic tips and tricks, would be a good thing.  Please note that while I might mention brand names, these are personal preferences curated from close to 30 years of paper crafting and that neither Rebecca nor I gain any profit from any you might choose to purchase.

Let’s start with sizes.  Most card makers make cards that are A2 sized – a 4 ¼ X 5 ½ inch finished size.  This is also called “invitation size”.  You get this size by slicing a regular 8.5 X 11 inch sheet of card stock in half either horizontally (to get an 8 ½ X 5 ½ inch piece) or vertically (to get a 4 ¼ X 11 inch piece) and folding the resulting piece in half.  Envelopes for this size card are widely available on Amazon as well as in craft and big box stores.

Another popular card size is 5 X 7, which requires a base size of 10 X 7 inches, folded in half.

Speaking of folding, it’s always a great idea to score your paper before folding it.  Scoring the paper makes an indentation where the fold will go, loosening the fibers of the paper so it will fold more neatly and doesn’t crack.  While you might think that you should fold the indentation to the inside of the card, you should actually fold that to the outside, as it’s the part of the paper that has been stretched and will lie flatter.  Many paper cutters come with a scoring blade (more on that later) or you can score your paper using a scoring board.  You can also just use a ruler with a stylus, a bone folder or a dull butter knife.

 What are you going to cut and score?  Paper, of course!  Or, more specifically, cardstock.  A good sturdy card stock is what you need for a card base.  If you are just starting out, white is the way to go.  My personal favorite is Neenah Paper 4456 110lb Classic Crest Cardstock.  This is a great, heavyweight stock that makes an impressive card that stands well on its own.  It stands up well to any embellishment that you add to it and you can stamp and color on it with no bleed through.  Other good options are the “heavyweight” Paper Studio paper at Hobby Lobby and Stampin’ Up’s Basic White. 

As you expand your stash, black, cream and kraft also make great neutral card bases. 

65lb paper is much lighter and a good option for adding layers to your card without adding additional weight.  This is the weight of paper that usually comes in multicolor paper packs or paper pads.  This is also a great weight for patterned paper to add interest to your cards.

You’re going to need something to cut this paper.  A good paper cutter is a life saver in paper crafting.  While you can use scissors, a paper cutter will ensure that you have clean, straight cuts and the built in measuring tools will make measuring your pieces so much easier.  There are three basic kinds of paper cutters.  A rotary trimmer has a round blade that slides along a rail.  These provide a very clean and accurate cut. They are large and take a good amount of space to store.  A guillotine cutter has an arm with a blade that is manually pulled down through a stack of paper.  You can generally cut more paper at a time with a guillotine trimmer and the blade is self-sharpening, but your paper may shift, providing a less accurate cut.  A bypass trimmer has a small blade that runs in a groove along a track.  This type of trimmer also often comes with an additional non-cutting scoring blade that you can use to in the same track.  The cutting blades tend to dull quickly and have to be changed often.  These cutters are small and easy to store.

Most paper trimmers will come in a regular and mini size.

If you are going to buy just one, I recommend the Fiskars Precision Rotary 12 inch Trimmer.  It’s a big boy, but it provides the best accuracy of any trimmer I’ve ever had and the blade will last a very very long time.

If space is an issue, I’ve been very satisfied with the Cricut Portable Trimmer.  You will have to change the blade frequently, but it’s a good little cutter.

Adhesive holds it all together.  You have two basic choices – wet or double sided adhesive.  Both have their place, but not all are created equal.  For wet glue, your Elmer’s school glue is just not going to cut it anymore.  You need something with less wet, more tack and shorter drying time.  You also need a light hand – less is definitely more.  For liquid, Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue is the gold standard. 
It’s inexpensive and a little goes a long way.  Because it’s wet, you also have a few seconds of wiggle to straighten things out if they are not quite right.

For double sided adhesive, there are a couple of options.  A tape runner is the most common.  This type puts a line of double sided adhesive down on your paper so you can press it into place on your project.  Small disposable ones like the Tombow Mono are a good option for a now and then paper crafter.

I like this bad boy – the Scotch ATG 714.  It’s the same concept – just a larger, refillable roll, so there’s less waste and the roll lasts longer. The downside of double sided tape is that there is no wiggle room. Once that paper is down, it’s down, so you have to commit to placement.

To be honest, these are really the only ones you need for most card making.  Unless you get into lots of different kinds of embellishment where specialty glues are needed, these two types will get the job done.

From there, it’s all embellishment. In part two, I’ll talk more about stamps & stamp pads and paper punches & die cutting.

Rebecca here! Let me know if you guys enjoy these more basic tutorials on some standard crafty methods!

Whatever you celebrate this holiday season, I hope you have a safe and relaxing holiday filled with love. Don't forget to check out the shop tab too for all sorts of amazing gifts! See you in 2021!

 - Rebecca & Suzanne