Old Postcard in a Frame

As I was going through a few boxes in my attic (and let me tell you there are sooooooo many to go through!) I came across this old postcard that I bought at an antique store several years ago.

 I remember there were boxes of old postcards there and I thought they were so intimate. Each had been written to someone along the road of life, and I remember thinking that it seemed so intimate to be able to read someone else's mail. Like I shouldn't be getting this little glimpse into the life and friendships of another. This particular card was among the first few I glanced at, and I so identified with the saying that I bought it. Isn't it the truth? I have found as I have gotten older that my quantity of friends may be increasing, but my true friends remain the same. The cherished ones. The reliable ones. And no matter how many friends you have on Facebook, or Twitter, or on your block, those  true friends are always the same few. The saying strikes me even more than it did 15 years ago when I purchased this card. 

My intention was to frame it for my home.

I wonder how old Mrs. Teague was when she received this postcard? 

Well...you can see how long it took me to put my original intentions for this card into action, but the day is finally here. :)

I gathered an unused frame (one of my favorites ever!), some pretty patterned scrapbook paper, adhesive, and cardstock.

This picture alone foreshadows how simple this was, but I love that this little quote (and a tiny piece of Mrs. Teague) are now sitting on a side table upstairs.

I matted the cardstock base with the scrapbook paper, then added the postcard on top. I used basic Tombow Snail adhesive.

Slip it into the frame and you have a little bit of old mixed with a little bit of new...my favorite combination.

Take a glance through the old postcards the next time you're antiquing. You never know what you might find that will touch your heart!

Thanks for stopping by,

{Paper Organization on the Cheap}

I saw this WONDERFUL idea on Pinterest a few weeks ago and knew that it had to somehow work for me!

(USPS boxes turned paper storage)

It was just listed on a forum at the link above, so that's the best credit I can give.

Isn't this an uber-terrific idea??!

My first thought was scrap and art paper storage for my kiddo in our office area, but it just doesn't fit into my built-ins very well. However, my preschool classroom is low on counter space, and I find myself stacking materials and getting cluttered.

I made my own, and turned it into a "Monday-Wednesday-Friday" file cabinet for my classroom.

Now I can sort prepped materials, and the best part is......FREE!!! :)

I used spray paint and scrapbook paper that I had on hand.

I started by cutting one end off of each box, then using duck tape to secure them together. I figured that paint would stick better to duck tape than packing tape. Next I sprayed them with white primer.

I then actually sprayed it with red, but it just didn't cover as well as I would have liked. I decided to go with a basic black instead, since I knew I would be embellishing it a little with scrapbook papers.

I did 2 coats of black, and if you really look, you can still see some of the original markings on the box, but it's minor. I cut scrapbook paper and printed the days on cardstock, and adhered it to one side with sticky strip. I die cut the stars as an extra.

This will really help to keep my prepped materials organized and looking better, and I didn't have to spend any moolah.

What else can you come up using these freebie boxes?

Have a good one,

 

{Paper Bag Scrapbook}

Whew!! I've been MIA lately and I'm not quite sure where the time has gone. I haven't been able to spend as much time in my craft room lately as I would like, but I did manage to get a little 'fix' with these little paper sack scrapbooks. These are so simple, you need VERY few supplies, and they make cute little keepsakes! I've seen lots of them, but never made one myself until one of my days off this week. There may be better ways to make one than mine, but I like the way it turned out.

I wanted  a cutie little place to keep a few of the group pictures from my preschool class this year. I didn't want to buy a photo album, because I really don't have enough pics to fill one. I saw my giant pile of brown paper lunch sacks and thought it was about time to try one of these!

I cut my bags off just above the bottom flap, then put a little glue stick on the open end to keep it together. From there I just added the pictures I wanted, and embellished with scrap pieces of patterned paper. I added a little bit of text here and there, but not a lot. I made it REALLY quick, but I can see doing one in more detail. Cute potential all over the place!

I punched the holes with my Crop-a-Dile, added book rings, and decorated with scrap ribbon. Voila! I think this would be a fun project for kids to make their own little scrapbooks on the cheap. I'm going to suggest them to my daughter's Daisy Troop Leader and I think the girls will love making them. They can make great little keepsakes with cheap scraps and stickers.

Thanks for dropping by!

{Sweet Valentine Treats: Little Nugget 'Purses'}

I made these sweet little treat 'purses' for the staff at my preschool. I love how they turned out!

Although they really are more for chocolate nuggets, I just wanted to use Kisses.

I followed the tutorial (mostly) over at Chic 'n Scratch. She has a great site with TONS of free video tutorials. Whenever I'm drawing a blank in the creativity department I head over there for a little inspiration (and great directions, ha!). 

I embossed these with my Cuttlebug, stamped the heart on the front, and punched the circles. The ribbon is from one of those sets on the $1 Spot at Target. I think I might actually have had that ribbon for 3 years. It was time for it to GO finally! It worked great because those rolls are too small to do much with anyway.

I ended up adding 3 Hershey Kisses, although only 2 are shown in this pic. I used just a little Tombow Snail to hold them in place, but not make them permanent or hard to pull off. I don't want to have to "work" to get my chocolate! :)

These whip up really quickly and are fun to make. I love to mass produce!

I'll be placing these on a red platter in the workroom at my school, so each teacher can grab a 'purse' and go!

I have some super cute felt foods to share with you next time. Until then, have a great week!

{Lovely Bookmarks}

A shout-out to all the papercrafters out there! Although I just love {creating}, paper crafting is by far my favorite crafty passion. Scrapbooking, cardmaking, and miscellaneous 3D type projects/gifts really make my heart flutter. :)

The last several days I've been in a papercrafting frenzy, making projects right and left. In the preschool where I teach, we do a cool birthday idea for the teachers and staff. Instead of buying a traditional gift for each member of the staff, each month there is a birthday bag for each person who has a birthday that month. Everyone is supposed to add to the bag with an item that is only a $1-$2. At the end of the month we have a birthday lunch, and the birthday girls get a bag full of little goodies.

I love the idea, because it doesn't break the bank and often I feel like the little things are the most meaningful.

Instead of flying by the seat of my pants so-to-speak and waiting until the last day to add to the birthday bags, I've been stockpiling gifts for the remainder of the school year. I'll try to do a post for each project, so keep checking back for simple, papercrafting goodness!

Today I wanted to share these sweet bookmarks.

These measure 2" x 7", and the base is made from good ol' cereal boxes out of our recycling bin. :)

I adhered quality cardstock over the cardboard, then sanded the edges. I die cut and embossed the butterflies with a Sizzix Die, added a brad in the center, and some lovely ribbon at the top. On a couple of them I also distressed the edges with chocolate ink.

I adhered the butterflies with sticky strip for extra security. I packaged each one in a cello bag, and tied it with raffia. I will add one more tip and say that for bookmarks, I think you definitely need quality cardstock/papers. I use Stampin' Up cardstock for mine because it really is the best in my opinion. It's very heavy, which you need for bookmarks. Lower quality cardstock is fine for other projects, but bookmarks look better and last longer with heavy cardstock. Just a tip! :) It's frustrating to make something lovely and then realize that your paper is just too thin to stand the test of time. (I've been there and done that!)

 Perfect to add to the birthday bags!

These are really simple to make, and the original I made myself a few years ago still looks beautiful in each book I devour. :)

Any homemade gift says "thinking of you", don't you agree? 

Look for more easy paper goodness to follow. I've been busy!

Thanks for stopping by and let me know if you have questions.

I'm linking up over at:
Friday Flair @ Whipperberry

 

{'All About Me' Booklets for Dolls}

Santa added a second American Girl doll to our home this year and the fun hasn't stopped. Dare I say that Mom likes all this doll stuff as much as the kiddo does? I hate to admit it, but I get a little pulled in to the tiny realism! My kiddo was wishing out loud for little booklets for each doll to write down their favorite things. Alas, she was writing on PLAIN scrap paper that had no flair at all. What???! So I went to my own scraps (the scraps with flair) and came up with these.

I made these exactly like my Scrappy Quote Chipboard Book , I just changed the size. Again, I used cereal boxes as my chipboard, and adhered scrapbook paper to both sides of that to make the front and back covers.

I created the pages in Word, and printed them on white cardstock.

One likes horses and one is from Hawaii. :)

 I punched the holes with my Crop-a-Dile and bound the books with hemp cord.

These are 5x7 for the overall measurements and my kiddo {loves} them! She wants me to make one for her, but since she's a living, breathing-not-plastic-and-stuffing person, I think she should have the store bought version. :)

If you'd like to make some of these for the 18" dolls in your life, you can download the pages I made here:

Kanani's All About Me Pages

General Doll All About Me Pages

I also added one blank page at the end just for drawing or miscellaneous.

Have fun playing!

I'm linking up to these parties:

 

{DIY Lunchbox Notes}

School started on Wednesday (back to the old grind for all of us!) and as I was thinking about lunches for the week, I realized that my little basket of lunchbox notes was finally about empty. Time to restock! I have several versions of lunchbox notes saved on my computer...really cute, very easy to print and cut out, very convenient. Then I remembered that I'm low on printer ink. Ugh...don't want to a)go out and get more at this point or b)spend more $$ on it unless I have to. I have to print lots and lots, but lunchbox notes is NOT one of them! :)

So I stepped into my craft room and said to myself...."Woman, you have LOADS of unused paper lying around...masses of stamps and stickers...WHY do you need printer ink?"

Now of course I can write a quick note on scrap paper, and without a doubt, the love is still there. Some of my favorite love notes from my sweet husband have been on a napkin. You've got those, right? BUT...since I'm a crafty lady and my daughter likes cute stuff...I had to go a little further, while still keeping in mind that the reality is that these will get PB&J on them and will go in the trash. (Meaning, I'm not making little masterpieces either!)

You know all that 12x12 white paper that they stick in scrapbook sleeves?

Do you keep yours? I always just stick it in this organizer. My kiddo uses it for art projects at times, and I use it for stamping scraps as well. It's perfectly good white paper and I have tons of it.

So I grabbed a few sheets of it, a couple of journaling stamps, ink, and a stamp set I have from Stampin' Up with cute sayings and little critters.

I started stamping, trying to space them on the page to allow for cutting out and leaving a small blank side for my handwritten note.

Then I cut them out and added them to my little note basket that is hidden in the kitchen cabinet. She knows I write them, she just doesn't know where I keep them. :)

It's a little silly, but it's gratifying to create with scrap paper, whatever craft medium you can scrounge up, and save money at the same time. Will I still need to buy printer ink? Yep! But I'll only be using it to print what I really NEED to print. And...handmade lunchbox notes is just a {little} extra love, isn't it?

Have a good week!

I'm linking up over at these fun parties:

Sundae Scoop @ I Heart Naptime

{A Little Inspiration}

The New Year is upon us! Where did the time go? I'm not one for making resolutions, but I do like to have inspiration around. I'm a lover of quotes, and I tend to collect them. Anybody else do the same thing? I actually started saving them on my computer a few years ago, and whenever I find a new one that inspires me I just add it on. I like to go back to it occasionally, and when I do I always find at least one that is a good reminder or food-for-thought for that particular day.

So...as the New Year approaches...I thought maybe I could collect these wonderful bits of wisdom into one little custom book just for me. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out, and it was so simple to put together. You can make this mostly with things you probably already have lying around.

Here's what you need:

scrapbook paper

paper cutter

adhesive/glue stick

cardstock

hemp cord, jute, twine, ribbon-your choice for the binding

cereal boxes from your recycling bin

scrap ribbon or buttons for embellishments (as you see fit!)

I started by using my trusty 'quotes' file from my computer. I tweaked my fonts a little bit, then oriented them a little differently into a Word document. I printed them on cardstock, cut them out, and distressed the edges with brown ink.

Next, I cut my cereal boxes down to pages that are 5x7. I then went through my scrapbook paper and cut several pages to 5x7 as well. Since this isn't a keepsake project with photos, I simply used glue stick to adhere the 5x7 scrapbook paper to the 5x7 cereal box pages. I used a small sanding block to smooth out all 4 edges of each page. This distresses the edges a little bit and also makes it look very even and neat. (You can use a nail file for this as well.) Here are the finished pages:

 The next step is optional, but since I have an addiction to distressing, I also inked all the edges of each page to give it an antiqued look.

Once you have your pages the way you want them, just start adding your quote blocks any way you like. I also glued these down with glue stick instead of adhesive. 

When I rearranged my quotes in Word, I tried to make them various sizes to add interest to my pages.

Next, I used my crop-a-dile to punch 2 holes along the left side of each page for binding with the jute twine later.

 I used scrap pieces of ribbon and buttons for a few extra embellishments. It's a good idea to punch holes before adding embellishments. Don't ask me how I know this. ;)

I used jute twine to bind my book. I love jute because it looks rustic and is sturdy. Get your pages in order, lace the holes, and knot. The pages turn really easily and I can lay it flat.

I printed out a title on cardstock as well, and then adhered it to the front. It now has a happy place directly in front of me at my craft table. :)

I can see making a smaller version of this for a purse or school bag, can't you? Like a little pocket full of thoughts to ponder.

I'd love to hear what you think!

Have a great week!

I'm linking up over at:

Sundae Scoop @ I Heart Naptime

What I Whipped Up Wednesday @ Sugar & Dots