I love a sale... and shopping....

 My recent order from KS Crafts (Aliexpress) arrived today ready for holiday crafting... I bought the Skull Bow die set in both the small size and the larger size:

These die sets have the bow base dies, a skull die and the cross bone pieces. Here is a photo to show the skull dies sizes:

These bow die sets will be cute additions to the BOO Day projects I have already started.... also stopped at Dollar Tree today and they had poster board in the brushed gold colour:

In the past I have bought their brushed foil poster boards in a package of misc colours and those are much smaller than their poster board sheets. I brought home a couple of the gold poster boards and cut them to a more manageable size for future holiday projects. I like that this is a brushed gold rather than the mirror gold foil card stock. And also being a poster board they have a good weight as well. 

TheScrappingCottage.com is having a Christmas die sale -- 65% off all their Christmas dies... I found these three dies that arrived in today's mail:

I liked this die set and plan on using silver foil card stock for the jug the floral pieces are in. This was too cute to leave behind:

And once I saw this die.... in my cart it went:

So a fun mail day getting these dies in the mail box today . . .  Great additions for my holiday projects ahead! Esp the Cottage Cutz dies and their sale prices.... 

Altered Clipboard from Dollar Tree

Bought a standard size clipboard from Dollar Tree in their school supply aisle and brought it home to alter. I did not want to see the brown colour the clipboard is so all the way around my clipboard - front and back -  I used black craft paint and painted the edges and about an inch in on both sides. This way the black paint "frames" the printed card stock I used. Here is a photo of my finished altered clipboard:

For my clipboard the card stock I used is from a double sided pad of printed card stock and I used a coordinating paper for the back side:

As you can see in the photos painting an inch on each side covers the brown of the clipboard and frames out the printed card stocks I used:

To cut the printed card stocks I measured the clipboard and cut my card stock about 1/4" less so I could see a small amount of the black on the clipboard.  Once the card stock was trimmed to size, I used a corner rounder punch for my corners, both front and back pieces.  I set these aside. Painted the clipboard with the black paint. Set that aside to dry. Wanted a large beaded dangle to hang from the top part of the clipboard so I picked out lots of beads and made the dangle. 

With the black paint dried on front and back of the clipboard I used ModPodge and spread that on the front of the clipboard. Then I put ModPodge on the backside of the front card stock print and laid that onto the wet ModPodge on the clipboard front. Once in place I covered the front of the card stock on the front of the clipboard to adhere it to the clipboard. Set this aside to dry. It does not take long for ModPodge to dry but I gave it extra time since I was using double sided card stock. Once the front was dry I did the same to the back of the clipboard and the card stock for the back and set that aside to dry. Once my clipboard was totally dry, front and back, I die cut a decorative corner die from my stash using black mirror card stock for the front four corners. I used liquid glue to put the corners on the front of the clipboard:

I want to buy a white paper pad to use on my clipboard for the craft room - the only paper pads I have are the legal sized yellow pads and they are both being used so I will have to check the office supply store this week. Here is a photo showing plain white notebook paper on the clipboard with the dangle I made:

Another reason I did not have my card stock go to all the edges of my clipboard is with use I did not want the card stock to lift off the edges when being used and moved around and such. Easy project to put together and would make a nice gift with the addition of a paper pad and a nice pen. 

In this craft room I make lots of lists.... projects I want to make, projects I am working on, patterns I have measurements for, steps for projects, etc., so this clipboard will get lots of use in this craft room. Certainly looks better than the $1.25 Jot clipboard look it began with..... Will be nice for holiday project lists and other lists.... With all the card stocks and holidays ahead altering a clipboard for a holiday would be a perfect gift to receive as well.

New Release from IO Stamps

New release from IO Stamps (Impression Obsession) and I bought two die sets that arrived today. Here they are:

Like the font on the Merry Christmas and that it has the shadow piece. The leaves die set is still all attached:

I usually will cut apart the die pieces before I store my new dies but for this die set I will keep it as one piece and then I can cut out all the leaves from green, gold, silver, white card stocks at one time and keep them for future holiday projects when I am adding flowers to projects I make. This set has holly leaves, and greenery shapes as well as the die for the berries for the holly leaves. Nice set and a perfect size for card making. Happy this delivery arrived today since I ordered it on Monday --- lots to work on for sure!

Post It Note Holder

Had seen other crafters feature their Post It Note Holders on YouTube so I went to Etsy.com and bought a Sticky Notes Bookbinder Guide Template sold by the "CraftyShopbySache" store. I have bought from this seller before and her items are nice quality and she ships quickly. Here is a photo of the three Post It Note Holders I have made:

I have not decorated the fronts of these Post It Note Holders yet but I wanted to feature how I keep these closed -- first here is the template I bought for my 3x3 note holders:

Just lay it on the backside of your card stock and trace around the shape with a pencil. Cut out using scissors and this is very easy. I used the back cardboard from a paper pack for the card board I cut for the front/back covers and spine piece. (Crafty Crafts by Deanna on YouTube shows the assembly of this holder from start to finish on her YouTube channel). 

This post shows 3 ways to close the holder - first I used ribbon on my fall holder and I put the ribbon on the inside of my holder under the lining piece:

With the ribbon on the inside the front and back pieces are flat:

This next holder the ribbon is on the outside of the holder:

Using wrinkled seam binding for the ribbon closure is a lot flatter and not as noticeable as the orange and white ribbon for the closure. 

This next holder is closed with a magnet and a stainless steel washer:

Always liked the ease and the look of using magnets to close items but did not like the thickness of two magnets stacked for closing. "DawnsInspiration" on YouTube has a video from many years back using another way to use magnets on her projects without the height. She uses a magnet and a stainless steel washer for her projects. I went to Ace Hardware with one of my small magnets and I bought washers that are a little larger than the magnet for my closure and as you can see it does not make the closure too high:

Never thought of using a washer but am happy she shared her idea. I will be using her idea for projects ahead! For all my Post It Note Holders I used card board from paper pads rather than chipboard and they are still sturdy. Now that these are done I can decorate the front of them but I wanted to show the ribbon closings so you can see how it makes the covers look. Very easy template to use for the holders I made. I bought the one that holds the 3x3 Post It Notes. A nice little gift to tuck in a treat bag or a gift bag and can easily go in a purse or sit on a desk. 

Another photo to show the washer stuck to the small magnet:

and a photo to show the washer I am using is a bit larger than my small magnets:

Shopping and stuffs . . .

Ran errands and needed to stop at a big box store for home improvement items.... since we were nearby I suggested we stop in at the Restore nearby... DH was looking at building/tool items and I was just walking through the store looking at everything and nothing in particular... Happy me I found this Post It note holder in the office supply area for $1.00 -- works perfectly on the top of the work table in the craft room:

I use Post It notes for writing measurements, project lists, and also for stencils so this will be handy to have all the sizes in one place - brought it home and washed it and put it right to use.... happy to find this at Restore for sure.... but then.... 

Kept walking through the store and who would have guessed???? Found a set of china for 8 place settings by Royal Doulton from 1978 in MINT condition in a pattern I love so I bought that for $24.50 for the set... brought that home as well and washed everything and it is now in the china cabinet in the dining room ready for upcoming holidays.... Never would have expected to find that at a Restore at a great price!

Then - another shopping spree - working on Fall projects and needed two of my favorite card stocks from PaperTreyInk so I went online to order those - when I got to their homepage they were advertising they were offering their grab bags again. I have never ordered any of their grab bags so I decided to look on YouTube to see if any other crafters had ordered any of these and would show what they were receiving as their orders. I saw two crafters featuring the die grab bags so I ordered one of the die grab bags to go with my card stock order. That arrived and for $29.99 for that this is what the die grab bag included:

 A cloth tote bag with their logo and 20 die sets:

In this die grab bag set is stand alone dies, die sets, box/3D dies, word dies, etc.. WELL worth the $29.99 this cost. Happy I took the chance and ordered the die grab bag!! So two good shopping sprees for this crafter....

Envelope Foilo

 Have seen videos on YouTube for different folios using printer paper, card stocks, paper bags, envelopes, etc.. Was inspired by the video by Treasure Books on her folios using different envelopes from her stash. I looked at the envelopes in my stash and decided to make a folio myself:

For my folio I used printed card stock from my stash and pink envelopes I had:

To begin with I decided how many envelopes I would want to use in the folio and then I used liquid glue to seal the flap on the envelopes closed. Set those aside to dry. Once dried I used the trimmer and cut off the top of the envelope so they would be open. Using tear and tape I put a piece on the back of each envelope at the top:

Peeled off the tape and stacked the envelopes. Set these aside. Got out the card stock I wanted to use and laid the envelopes on top of the card stock so I would know where to trim it to. My floral print for the front and back of my folio was too short to make the front flap to the folio so I used a sheet of coordinating card stock and cut that to the size I wanted for that. Once these two pieces were cut I used brown ink to sponge the edges. Used tear and tape to put the top flap piece on the folio back and this made the front flap that comes over the top of the envelopes:

I did not have a pretty button for the piece on the front flap to wrap my twine around to close the folio so I used a circle punch and punched out a printed circle and a solid circle and layered those and used a brad to put this on the front. Tied the twine/string around that in a knot and wrapped this around the folio and trimmed it to the length I wanted it to be. 

Used tear and tape to put the envelopes on the folio front/back piece once those were on the folio piece I folded this up to make the folio pocket shape. This is a photo to show the inside envelope pockets:

Above the pink envelopes on the inside flap I put a circle card stock piece behind the brad to keep that in place to hold the twine/string closure for the folio. If you watch any of the folio videos this suggestion is used a lot to keep your brad in place.  This folio will hold die cut pieces, trims, embellishments, etc.. I also had small envelopes in my stash so I made a smaller folio to hold embellishments:

This smaller folio will hold shaker bits, sequins, gems and other small embellishments. I bought the small clear bags at the craft store to fit in the smaller envelopes for this folio to hold these items in the envelopes:

On the inside of this smaller folio I cut a piece of matching kraft card stock like the envelopes to line the inside of the folio flap the brad is on. The kraft card stock makes the flap more sturdy since it will be holding the brad and twine/string for closing. This would be a nice size folio for swaps or to give to a crafty friend filled with small embellishments or small die cut pieces, etc.

Some of the crafters score their front/back piece for their folios but I just folded the folio over the shape of the envelopes and used my bone folder to lightly crease the folds.   The smaller folio can be tucked into a gift bag or be used for small items. Easy to make these....

BOO Tic Tac Treat Holder

Had seen a Tic Tac treat holder on YouTube from "The Paper Pixie" on her video "Tic Tac Gift Box Tutorial" so I wanted to make one for my BOO Day (Halloween) treats. I did not have any Tic Tac candies so I bought one and made my treat holders. She gives very clear instructions on her video but I do not have the trimmer or scoring board she uses that has both the 1/16 and 1/32 measurements. . . so I made a sample treat holder using light weight scrap card stocks - once I figured out the pattern I would use I made up a second sample just to be sure my measurements would work - here is a photo of the sample I made with the measurements written on it - the green section is for the bottom of the treat holder and the purple piece is for the top of the treat holder:

The bottom of the treat holder was easy having measurements to score by but the top - all I have written on that is the length and width of that piece and the one score measurement for scoring which is the top closing piece:

The easiest way for me to make my score lines was to make the bottom piece according to the score lines and I formed this piece using tear and tape. With that made I put the Tic Tac candy container inside keep this piece formed. I cut the top piece and scored it on the long side at 1 3/8. Then I laid this piece on the score board against the left side of the score board with the long side at the top. I put the box with candy inside up against the left side of the score board on the top card stock piece - using a pencil I made a tick mark at the top - to show this in the photo on my sample I made a solid pencil line so you could see this. With the first tick mark made I turned the candy box one turn, keeping it on the pencil mark I just made. Made another tick mark, turned it once again, made another pencil line, turned again and made another tick mark. Here is a photo to show this sample:

Put this top piece on the score board and I scored each pencil tick line. Now I could crease all the scored lines and trim the scored lines to make the box lid - used tear and tape to form the lid. This lid easily slips over the bottom box piece for closing the box. Here is a photo to show my sample piece for the box to show how to trim your box and lid to form):

For my box pieces I used solid card stocks and for the tops I used 6x6 card stocks. I also used those to make my rosettes. For the rosettes I cut two pieces for each one as my rosette die is longer than the 6x6 card stock. Once the two pieces were cut I put the two pieces together using thin tear and tape. Laid the die piece over this long strip and cut the strip to the length of the die piece. Took my rosette strip to the trimmer and cut this strip to 3/4 wide on the straight side so I would still have the scallop edge for all my rosettes. Using my rosette tool I formed all my rosettes.  My rosette "tool" is something I made so when I form my rosettes using hot glue so I do not burn my fingers - here is how I make my rosettes:

To make my tool first I trimmed off a 1 1/4 strip off the brown craft mat on the trimmer that I use for hot gluing things. I used a 1 1/8 circle die and cut out a circle from that strip for my 'tool'. These wooden handles have a velcro circle on the bottom to add the velcro circle sponge for sponging the edges of items you are working on. Once I took the bottom circle velcro piece off the wooden handle piece I made sure the staple used to hold the velcro piece on the handle was flat to the bottom of the handle tool. With that flush to the handle holder I used E6000 and glued the craft mat circle on the bottom of this piece. Once that was dry I could use it to form my rosettes. 

To make my rosettes I die cut those and shape them and use tear and tape to form the circle. I stand this up on the craft mat and use hot glue for a circle in the center of the rosette. Once I press the rosette into the glue I use the handle tool to press this down to form the rosette shape and not to get the hot glue on my hands:

With the rosettes all formed I die cut out small doily dies to put the rosette pieces on. I also wanted to add glitter tulle to the front of my rosettes so I used the circle pattern pieces I made long ago out of #110 weight white card stock. I cut off pieces of the tulle and folded them and then laid the white circle pattern for the side I wanted to use on top of the folded tulle and used scissors to cut them out. Here is a photo of the circles and the round shapes of tulle I used:

Here is are photos of the BOO Tic Tac Treat Holders I have made:

And a better photo closer up:

For all the treat holders I put a rosette on the front and for those I have the base is a small doily, then the rosette, then the tulle circle. I used hot glue for these layers. For the middle of the rosettes I made a pumpkin using a M Stewart solid pumpkin punch and I used a small Marvy punch for the face on the pumpkin. Backed each pumpkin face piece with a solid black pumpkin. Once the pumpkins were formed I sponged the edges of those and used a marker for the stem and put them on the front of the rosette using hot glue. 

As shown in the Tic Tac video I put foam tape on the bottom back of the rosette so the top piece can easily slide onto the box:

My treat holder with lid:

with lid off:

The lid piece easily fits over the box bottom and it fits nicely so it does not fall off. For my boxes I decorated them with washi tape at the bottom or the top of the treat holder and I added black bugs or tiny black bats to the pumpkins. Esy and fun holders to make for the Tic Tac candies. Fun start for my BOO Day treat holders for this year. Thanks to the Paper Pixie for her project and pattern and easy instructions to follow on her video.