My Weekend Project #2 ~ Altered Recipe Box

My second project for the weekend was an altered recipe box. I absolutely love how this turned out! I bought a wooded recipe box from Goodwill for $1. It was kind of ugly with a resin thing on the front. I wish I would have taken a photo of the box before I started. But take my word for it it was ugly. I started out by taking off the resin thing and sanding it down a bit. Then I gave it a coat of Gesso. This helps the paint to stick well later.
Then I painted it pink, very pink! Now don't go screaming from the room yet!!

Then I painted it with a crackle medium. This is clear and when you paint over it with next coat of paint the paint will crack into a weathered looking finish. Reveling the color underneath.

Then I cut out my patterned paper and inked the edges. I used a tacky glue that I thinned with water to decoupage the paper on the box. I used a brayer to help to smooth down the paper and get out the air bubbles. After the paper dried I put a glue coating over the top of it.

After this was very dry I gave the whole box a coating of clear varnish that was tinted with acrylic paint. This gave the box an antiqued finish.

I made embellishments for the front of the box out of a laminate sample, a lid off of Pillsbury cinnamon rolls stickers, clear sealer and a few micro beads. Then I antiqued them with the same thing I used on the box.

I attached the embellishments to the front pop dots. This project was my first of this nature and I think it turned out super!! I LOVE it! Next weekend I plan to make the divider cards for the inside.

Let me know what you think of this project! I am going to keep it by my computer to keep recipes and scrapbooking tips I find while surfing the net.

My Weekend Project #1 ~ Photo Candle

The altered scrapbooking bug has hit me this weekend. I had seen in Donna Downey's book photo decor a great photo candle. I decided I would try and make one for my bedroom. I found a great heart shaped candle at Hobby Lobby & I knew I had the rest of the stuff in my stash to make this project. So I got started

I gathered up my supplies: candle, photo, flower shaped eyelets, black sharpie, square templates, plaque & ribbon.
I cut out my photo and rounded the corners with my corner rounder. I punched holes in the corners and added flower eyelets. I used the heat gun to warm up the wax a little and pressed the eyelets into the wax. I did the same for the plaque. Then I wrapped the ribbon around the candle and warmed up the wax and it soaked into the ribbon adhering it to the candle.
I love how this came out. I will burn the candle down just until there is enough of an indentation for a tea lite to fit in, then I will just burn the tea lite to save the candle.
Hope you like my project.

Another Scrappy Gift Idea

As I was making my way through the crowded mall this weekend I realized just how nice it is to make your own gifts. I found this great idea for a very cute sticky note desk stand. So take a look and maybe you will be able to avoid that super crowded mall too!!

Sticky Note Desk Stand

This would make a very cute teachers or babysitters gift.

Scrap Paper Ornament

As scrappers we have a lot of small scraps of pretty paper we absolutely hate to just throw away. I found a fun way to use up some of your scraps and create great ornaments for Christmas. These would make fun secret Santa gifts. Check out the link:

Scrapper's Ornaments

Scrapbooking Related Projects for Kids

Why not have some fun introducing your kids to scrapbooking and take advantage of making some great gifts to boot! Creating Keepsakes has 8 Kid Friendly projects. Projects include a neat Advent calender, tote bag, bracelet and more. Stop by and take a look.
Kid Friendly Projects
Here are some more sites with scrapbooking projects for kids:
Scrap Jazz
Here is a site with lots of crafts for kids
Family Fun
Have fun making Christmas gifts with your kids. It is a wonderful tradition they will always remember.

Journal Jars

I have been on the hunt for creative gift ideas for Christmas. As I was searching I ran across journal jars. It is a simple gift, all you need is a jar (or any type of pretty container would be nice too), slips of paper you have printed questions on (use some pretty colored scrapbooking paper) and a pretty journal to write in. I found a great site that had the questions free to print.
Organized Christmas
They have one for adults and one for kids. I printed out one for me. I think it will make a nice journal of my life. I think I will make one for my 9 year old son and then make a scrapbook of his answers.
I was also thinking of a jar of scrapbooking ideas for getting your ideas flowing. This would make a fun gift for you scrapbooking friends. Just print out slips with different page ideas, embellishment uses ect. Such as dangle a charm from a title.
Here are a few ideas I found:
Creating Keepsakes Journal Jar
Journal Jar Ideas

Awesome Gift Idea

It may seem I am overloading you on gift ideas that incorporate scrapbooking, but I am really in the mood to make gifts this year that show off my talents. These gifts will be enjoyed all year long. This idea is a way cool coffee travel tumbler. You know the kind that has the interchangeable picture inside. The article suggeseted Starbucks as a place to buy these. Hope you enjoy this article and if you make some email me the photos and I will post them to show them off.
Scrapped Coffee Tumbler

Birthday Album Ideas

This is the time of year that my kids birthdays roll around. My daughter just turned 4 last week and my son will be 9 in just a few weeks. So I have gone in search of birthday album ideas. I found 3 links that have some great ideas. I think I will make an album for each of them to just highlight their birthdays. It will be fun to look back and see how they have grown.
Here are the links:

Year by Year Birthday Album

Through the Years Mini Album

Birthday Mini Book

Another Scrappy Gift Idea

I am on a roll thinking of things to make this Christmas. I love to make thing for my friends and family. Not only do handmade gifts have an extra touch of caring they also can save you a few bucks too.
One of my ideas is altered lunch boxes. You can buy these pretty cheap at Hobby Lobby or JoAnns. You will also need scrapbook paper, embellishments, modge podge and hot glue gun. I will load some links at the end that have more detailed instructions on making these lunch boxes. They also have some fun ideas on how to use them. I like the ideas for recipes boxes and dates to remember. I think I will make mine for my son's teacher and my daughter's babysitter. Now I just have to get started. I will post some photos when i get them done.
Check out these links for some great ideas:
How to alter a lunch box

Job Box

Altered Lunch Boxes

Dates to Remember

Scrappin' Gift Ideas

I know I know Thanksgiving is not even here yet but time flies when you are having fun. So now is the time to start thinking about gifts for you friends and family. This year I am making a book by Picaboo for my Mom & Dad. Picaboo has a free download you use to design your book and then you can print the pages on your own computer or for a fee they will make either a soft cover or hard cover bound book. Right now I am working on a 20 page soft cover book for my folks of their grand kids. They have a ton of templates, backgrounds and corners. Page templates range from one photo up to a collage with over 10 photos. The program is very easy to learn and use. You can save your work as you go, so I am working on it in little chunks. I think I will print out some pages and use them on some of my scrapbook pages for my self. This is a nice gift that won't cost you a fortune. Go check out there site and see for yourself.
Picaboo