An Altered Frame For My Sister - Webster's Pages

I was transferring pictures from my phone to my computer and came across this picture of my sister and myself that was taken at her son's wedding back in September. I think it might be one of the only pictures we have together by ourselves and I decided to print it off and make a frame to give to her tomorrow while we are at our Aunt Betty's for Easter. Since she doesn't have the internet this will still be a surprise for her! I thought it would be nice if we both had one of these frames so I made one for myself as well...something I rarely do! I made a matching gift bag and card with the scraps left from the frames.

Supplies Used:

8x10 wood frame

Webster's Pages, not sure of what collection

Paper Studio Poppies & Paperie flowers

Generic paper flowers

Nuvo Crystal Drops

Translucent Vellum

EK Success Small Daisy Punch

Chipboard

Mounting Foam

Glue Gun

Art Glitter Glue

Hobby Lobby was having an awesome 75% off clearance sale about two months ago and I picked up a couple of packages of the Paper Studio Poppies and Paperie flowers. Of course I have a few flowers in my stash but for the 75 cents that was marked on the package I figured I could make room for a few more and I'm so glad I did because they worked great on the frames. I did use hot glue to attach the flowers as I have found that any other type of glue or tape just doesn't cut it in the long run. I punched out some vellum flowers using the EK Success small daisy punch and added dots of Nuvo Crystal Drops for the centers. I can't find a link for the small daisy punch but it is one of my go to punches for when I need a "filler" on a project, I actually have 3 sizes of the daisy punch and love each one of them!

All the paper is from the Webster's collection and I can't rememember the name and forgot to look before I used the bottom strip as a border on the frames. I know it was from 2012 and was from one of their warehouse sales where you ordered a box for like $40 and got a TON of awesome stuff in the box. 

I didn't have to do a whole lot of fussy cutting on this project but I did do some as there were some good images to use that made the project just come to life *okie wonders if anyone notices she is just typing kinda random shit about the project to make it sound interesting, and then okie wonders if anyone really reads the shit she types anyway*.

I fussy cut the large border at the bottom of the picture area and used chipboard on the back and then some mounting foam because ya know I'm all about dimension when it comes to such projects! I printed the saying "I'm as lucky as I can be because the world's best sister belongs to me" on the vellum and I used my laser printer as it does an excellent job on the vellum. I don't think this is a true vellum, but more of a "kinda like vellum and better for what okie wants to use it for" kinda paper.

After getting the frames completed I made the matching gift bag and card with the scraps left over from the papers I used for the frames. I think my sister will be surprised and pleased!

Reindeer Ornaments - Vinyl and Paper

Last year I made some Snowman ornaments that had hats and they were such a big hit that this year I thought I'd try my hand at some reindeer ornaments!

I started working on this file before my carpal tunnel surgery (that will be another post) and I have just been able to finish it up in the last few days because of limited use of my left hand. I am really loving these cute reindeer and I think they will be a great addition to a Christmas tree.

Supplies Used:

3" plastic ornament

Brown Glitter
Polyacrylic

Vinyl - various colors

Cardstock - various colors
Hot Glue Gun

I used Make the Cut to design the elements and then exported the file as an SVG so I could upload it into Cricut Design Space for cutting.

One thing that irritates me about Design Space is that when I import an SVG I always have to make sure the file size is correct because it always imports larger than what the design is suppose to be. My work around that is to always include a base layer, 12x12 in this instance, so I can easily resize to the correct proportions.

On some other sets I made I used the Martha Stewart Branch punch and placed them where the holly is in the picture. I also used some red ribbon instead of cutting a paper ribbon. I think I might add some "snow" to the antlers and ears for the next set I make. 

My carpal tunnel surgery on my right hand is going to be the first week in January and when I have that one done I will have to take off work because I will be a lot more limited to what I can do so I am hoping the sales on this file will help me get some bills paid in advance so I won't be stressing out about having the next surgery done.

If you would like to purchase this file you may do so and once purchased it is yours to do with what you wish, as long as you are not re-selling or sharing the file.

 

IMPORTANT PURCHASE AND DOWNLOAD INFORMATION, PLEASE FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS (I have had people turn me into Paypal because they said they didn't receive the file but they did NOT follow the directions below).

Purchase and Download instructions: Once you hit the "BUY NOW" it will take you to Paypal where you can pay for the item. Once purchase is complete Paypal will redirect you to "Return to Merchant" where you will given the link to download the files from Google Drive. You will need to know where files are saved on your computer in order to open the files. I do not have that information as I don't know how your computer is set up.

1 zip file is included in this purchase.

• 1 PDF files - Instructions for supplies needed, cuts that are in the file and assembling the reindeer ornaments.
• 1 SVG files - Includes all pieces needed to complete a male and female reindeer ornament.

Price: 5.00 

If you missed out on the Snowman Ornament with Gingerbread Bonus last year I am offering a special of the Snowman Ornament with Gingerbread Bonus AND the Reindeer Ornament.

1 zip file included in this purchase.

• 3 PDF files - Instructions for assembling the SVG files
• 3 SVG files - 1 file of Snowman faces, along with the Gingerbread faces bonus. 1 file for Snowman Hats. 1 file for Reindeer faces and elements.

Price: 8.00 

Snowman Ornaments with Hats and Gingerbread Bonus!

Last year after Christmas when I was in Houston I hit up a few Hobby Lobby's and bought a few packages of the 3.25" clear ornaments, there is 4 in a package, that everyone had been using to decorate so I could do some of the glitter ornaments that is all the rage. I really hadn't decided exactly what to do and I have done a few that are personalized. I had gotten some brown fine glitter a few weeks ago thinking I could do some Gingerbread ornaments and I also wanted to try my hand at some snowmen ornaments.  

I  made a file for a Gingerbread face about a week ago and loved it and after that I decided to make some for snowmen but that wasn't good enough and I thought "They need hats!". After two days of designing and tweaking *okie thinks she really needs to get a degree in engineering or something to make this whole process go faster* I was able to get the files done.

I have already posted some pictures in a group on Facebook and got an overwhelming response about how much people loved the ornaments. For once I was pleased with my results, so many times I don't like what I make but ya know they say we are our own worst critics.

Since the hangers are covered by the hats I included a hole in the top of the hats so ribbon can be tied to the hanger and then threaded through the top of the hat. After I got the faces on I thought they looked a little plain so I decided to try some alcohol ink to put a blush on the cheeks and it worked! Just don't be heavy handed with the alcohol ink and if you have some alcohol blending solution it makes it easier to correct any mistakes, or an alcohol blender pen will help with any touch ups a well. I used one of those little triangle make up sponges and just a dot or two of ink and then pounced on paper before pouncing on the cheek area.

 

Decorating the hats was a lot of fun because there are so many options. The file does include a cut for a paper ban but I used ribbon instead. I also included some holly leaves in the file but for mine I used the Martha Stewart holly leaf punch and tree branch punch. The red "berries" are some hot fix embellishments, I believe from Imaginisce. On the lady hat I also added some hot fix rhinestones. The little silver embellishments are ribbon slides. I added some Sobo glue at the bottom edge of the hat so they would stay in place on the ornaments. Guys I can't tell you enough about how awesome this glue is for things that are hard to adhere!

 

Now about the Gingerbread bonus! 

The brown glitter is some that I found at Hobby Lobby, not in the scrapbook department though. I am going to replace their mouths with some white vinyl so they show up better because with the brown glitter they are just too hard to see since they are so thin. 

The girl Gingerbread man *okie thinks that just doesn't even sound right* I added some eye lashes so she would look more womanly, or girly, whichever you prefer. The ribbon is attached with Sobo glue but I think some redline tape would work just as well. 

Putting on the squiggle outline can be a little tricky because of the spherical design of ornaments and I did have to trim a few areas because there are wrinkles after applying. While I feel like I am an adequate designer, I am not a genius in this area and wasn't able to make the file to avoid this. But hey, it's a free bonus!!

If you would like to purchase this file you may do so and once purchased it is yours to do with what you wish, as long as you are not re-selling or sharing the file.

Price: 5.00 

Once you hit the "BUY NOW" it will take you to Paypal where you can pay for the item. Once purchase is complete Paypal will redirect you to "Return to Merchant" where you will given the link to download the files from Google Drive. 

4 files are included in this purchase.

• 2 PDF files - 1 with basic instructions for the SVG files and the other that is a picture tutorial of how to assemble the hats.
• 2 SVG files - 1 file of Snowman faces, along with the Gingerbread faces bonus. The other file is for the hats.

My Daughter's Shadow Box - Graphic 45 Steampunk Spells

When you are using the same papers and embellishments it is hard to make things look differently but I was able to find a few things to help my daughter's shadow box look different than the one I did for myself.

Here is the full view of my daughter's shadowbox and when I finished and sent her the picture she said she loved it! Which she sure dang better as much time and effort as I put in the dang thang! BBWWAAHHHAHHAAA

This was what my daughter said was her favorite part of the shadowbox and I really think I love this lady as well. I used some Perfect Pearls on her feathers. I cut out one of the little flowers and layered it up to add on the hat and it covers a rose that was in that area. I didn't want to cut up a full sheet of paper so I could make the rose dimensional. The crow was on the handlebar and since I couldn't make the bird fit and it looked silly for him to be cut in half I layered him up and then made him go on the edge of the shadow box. 

She did actually look a little plain until the gears, moth, cat banner and little gold embellishment at her waist was added. Oh yes and Glossy Accents on her glasses of course!

The clock square was easy enough to do but there is a lot of fussy cutting on those images. As you can see I also used a lot of pop dots in the project. 

I think Dr. Dreadful shows up better in this picture than he did in the one I posted yesterday and Carmen said he was her favorite and she thought it was because of his glasses. 

This little Miss Ima Fraid is the lady that was in the memory slide on my shadow box but for my daughter's box I decided to layer her up and make her pop. Once again some Perfect Pearls on the feathers add some glitz and I even did her hair with them. 

See the little bats in the hot air balloon rectangle? Some of them are printed on the paper and others are fussy cut. Yes I said they were fussy cut and YES I needed my reading glasses and was trying to figure out how to tape a magnifying glass to them so it would be easier to see the little things. The banners were "waved" so they would fit in the rectangle, just like I did a sign on my shadow box. 

I loved this image and I knew I had to make a sign out of it somehow but I did have to take up two rectangles to make it work. The little bottles at the bottom have lime green flock and black diamond embossing powder in them to make them potion bottles. I filled in with "charms", okay actually buttons but we will call them charms so they tie in with the sign since it says potions and charms. The little banner is from some cardstock embellies that go with the collection. I used some chain to make the sign look like it was hanging and it would have not been possible without the use of some Sobo glue. I tell ya'll that stuff is like a miracle!

I did the skeleton on this one like I did for mine but I did do a different one with using the "Love Potion" image. My daughter said she loved this rectangle because of the little bottle with the "potion" in it. I just poured a little glimmer mist in the bottle. I added some Sobo glue to the cork and then pushed it in the bottle so I could make sure the cork wouldn't come out and the potion spill out on everything. 

There isn't really much to say about the last two squares since they are like the others but just different images. That and I'm tired of typing now and can't think of anything else to say!

Shadow Box - Graphic 45 Steampunk Spells

One of the Graphic45 collections that Carmen was able to pick up was Steampunk Spells. When she got it I'm not sure either one of us realized it was Halloween which was silliness on both our parts since it did say "Spells". And the crazy part is that neither of us do a lot of Halloween!

Carmen had given me two shadow boxes when I was last in Houston and my daughter had been asking about making something for Halloween so I told her we could do the shadow boxes and while she seemed excited about the whole prospect she didn't show up on the day we were suppose to make them because she had one too many shots the night before. The girl just can't handle her liquor! *okie crack up laughing*.

Since I had already planned on making mine I moved ahead without her and started mine. It took me almost a full week to finish the dang thing! I think because of all the fussy cutting and trying to figure out what would work in the little rectangles. 

Here is the picture of the whole shadow box and you might need to click on the picture and make it bigger to see it better.

I think you can tell a little better in this picture how much fussy cutting was really involved. I used Glossy Accents on Dr. Dreadful's glasses to make them look like glass. I loved the Potions and Charms image and to get it to fit correctly I had to "wave" it a little. The little fence behind the crow was some border that my friend Amy sent me years ago.

See that tiny little flower on Madam Macabre's hat? Well it's about the size of my pinky nail. I thought I was going to go blind cutting that little thing out! I went through my "antique" button jar for embellishments on the project and added those here and there. The spider web in the cat rectangle was another border that my friend Amy sent me and I have been hanging on to for just the right project...and it only took like 5 years to find the right project!

It's hard to see the little beads in the memory frame but I wanted them to resemble something like pills since I couldn't figure out how to add little bone looking embellies in such a small space. The key and owl were some charms I had in stash. I picked up the little bottles the LSS and I added embossing powders in them. 

I think a lot of people stopped using Ranger Inkssentials Memory Frames a few years ago since I don't see them around much anymore but I still love using them on projects and that is what image of the lady is in. All the flowers around her were fussy cut and layered. The little butterfly in the square to the left is layered as well. 

I'm not sure what airballoons have to do with Halloween other than they are orange but I really liked them and wanted to incorporate them into the shadow box and since there is a full sheet of them in the collection I knew they had to match. The clock on the skeleton's hat was cut out again and then pop dotted and Glossy Accents added and all that work was worth the end result.

The banner was from a package of banner's that goes with the collection and these worked out great for the space. The metal gears are some embellies I bought off a Facebook group probably last year and I did have Graphic45 paper in mind when I purchased them and they were perfect as embellishment on the shadow box.

I did end up making the shadow box for my daughter as well and I will post it tomorrow. I did try to make it look different but they do look quite a bit a like. 

My Cowboy - Altered Frame

I go through phases of doing different projects and a few years ago I was on a kick of altering frames and gave those out as prizes at one of my Christmas parties and I had planned on doing some for a craft fair that Linda and I did *okie remembers what a bomb that was* but I never finished any of them. The other day while perusing through my craft closet I came across two frames that had almost been completed and thought I should go ahead and finish them although I have no use for them.

When ya live in Oklahoma there is never a shortage of cowboys and I am sure that is why I went with the cowboy theme. I think the title came from Miss Kate's Cuttables and I have no idea where the rope, wagon wheel and hay bale came from, like I said this was a few years ago. 

One time when Linda and I were in Tuesday Morning they had a bunch of frames in the clearance and I snatched up quite a few, especially since they were only about 2 bucks a piece. This frame holds a 4x6 picture and think the others do as well but are different sizes. 

One of the things that always make things look so nice is that little extra step of embellishing. I sanded the paper, Coredinations to be exact, and did some inking on some of the pieces. The denim, bandana and burlap paper all came from Hobby Lobby's open stock of paper. You can't see them in this picture but in the first picture you can see some stars I added. They are hotfix stars so they will stay on there pretty good.

Now I just have to find a purpose for the two frames. I think my next ones are going to be a bit more generic so they can be more easily used. 

Baby Frame

I have seen a lot of the "baby frame" ideas and while I have plenty of canvas and a few frames around when I got ready to make one I wanted it to be a little more than just the name, date of birth and other birth information so I got a little inventive. 

Remember the shadow box frame I showed a few days ago and I said I had a few more of them? Well I broke another one out for this project. If the store would have had 20 of these I would have bought them all but I think I actually only ended up with like 5 or 6. I think I ended up spending about 80 cents or so on each one as they were like 90 percent off. Anyway, back to the frame.

My niece had her baby Saturday morning and by morning I mean like EARLY! My daughter and I had went up on Friday and stayed until about 10:30 that night and since my niece wasn't progressing I decided we would go ahead and go home. If I had thought to take a contact case, some solution and my glasses we would have waited it out but I really thought it was going to go faster than that, but there is no rushing things when it comes to birthing them babies!

Well dang, okay now about the frame *okie so hates the squirrels that tend to run her life*. Like I said I love the idea of the frames but I wanted it a bit more personal so I got information from my other niece, Amber, and her mother, Teresa *okie would say her cousin but then would have to explain about why her nieces mother is her cousin and thinks that needs a post of it's own* about what Marissa was going to have for the decorations of Lane's room. After they sent me a few pictures I had a good idea about what to do in the frame and what colors to use. Amber was good enough to send me pictures of Lane and didn't even complain when I told her "okay now I need one of him by himself". 

I knew I needed a deer, some chevron and an arrow and I wanted to add a picture of Lane to the frame to make it more personal than just the information so I got into MTC and played around with a few things and once I got my pieces that I wanted I started finding different fonts for the information. Since the deer head was going to be large I knew I could put it in the background and allow lettering to cover it but I needed open space for the other items. Once I got the all the elements in place I moved and resized the information to make it fit where I wanted *okie so loves Make The Cut* and it was rather easy to do. 

Once again I used some burlap for the background *okie wonders if everyone has pieces of burlap laying around like she does* because on this particular frame it just went nicely with the elements. In order to get the pieces to stick to the burlap I use some Sobo glue and guys if you haven't tried this stuff let me tell ya it is beyond A-MAZE-ING! I cut the vinyl in mirror image format so I could put it on the back of the glass, this makes for easier dusting and protects the vinyl a bit more as well. I did make registration marks to make placing the vinyl easier and then just pulled them up after I got the vinyl in place. 

My niece was very pleased with the frame and even posted it on Facebook to show it off. I'll post the other gift I made her tomorrow. 

CTMH Flower Market - Altered Box

My friend Melanie of Courtney Lane Designs got a hold of me a few weeks ago and asked if I would like to review the new Cricut Flower Market cartridge and while I haven't used cartridges in several years I told her yes. Of course she knew she would get me by saying it had a lot of flowers and she knows I am a sucker for flowers, especially when they can be made into 3D projects and there are quite a few on this cartridge that are 3D cuts!

The collection includes the cartridge, 3 sets of stamps and a set of CTMH cardstock. If you would like to order this cartridge you can go to Cricut Flower Market Collection.

Once I got the package I was a little nervous about using a cartridge because it meant I would have to use Cricut Design Space exclusively, no designing in Make The Cut and then converting, just totally Design Space, which is something I NEVER do. It did take me a bit to get the feel of the program to do the design and I know with some more practice I might get the whole thing down but for now I am plucking my way through it. As I flipped through the handbook I found a rose and knew I wanted to try it. 

I had gotten some little boxes to alter at Zipp last month and decided to use one of those for a project that would hold greeting cards that I can give as a gift. I used Paper Studio Mirabelle paper for the project. The paper is about the weight of designer cardstock so it worked well with cutting the roses as well as covering the box. 

Here is a side view of the box so you can see the dimension of the flowers a little better and also how I added a flower to the side top of the box to make it the flowers look a little more cascading. 

A view of the top shows the different sizes I cut the flowers. The pink flowers had a lot of layers and I did cut them all but it ended up over shadowing the dimension of the roses and to prevent this I did minimal layering and then some with no layers. Candi dots were used for the flower centers.

I tied some burlap ribbon and some sheer ribbon to the handle and it worked well to finish off the look and design of the box.

On this close up you can see more detail of the roses. I have done flowers for years but I will say it makes it a lot easier with flower making tools and I use the McGill tools, which I have discussed in the past. I added some Glossy Accents for a dew drop look. 

I didn't do anything to the inside of the box since it won't be seen most of the time but I wanted to show you how the cards look in the box. I did have to slant them slightly to get them to fit but the box does shut and clasp with the cards in there. 

Don't forget that if you would like this collection for yourself just go to Cricut Flower Market Collection. 

Established Sign Vinyl Project - File Available

Some of y'all probably remember the 3 Funerals and A Wedding post back in October when my daughter gave me 4 days notice that she was getting married and my friend Carmen just happened to be visiting from Houston and with some quick thinking and fast decorating we were able to pull off a wedding and reception right here at my house. If you don't know the story you can check it out in the link above.

Now that your memory has been refreshed I'll share the "established" floating picture that I made for my daughter and son-in law. I have to say I really like the whole "floating frame" thing since you don't have to worry too much about making a backing to match what decor people might have because it just shows the wall behind it so ya know it's gonna match!

I am always on the look out for frames when I go to Goodwill for projects such as this and I can usually find them for a buck or two, at least I could before the new manager came into play and started pricing things so high. Anyway I did get this one at Goodwill and I think I got it for $1.99, not a bad price! I think the size on it is about 20" x 14.5". Since I don't have a hobby store close I had to get creative with the mat on the frame and I wasn't sure what to do until I remembered I had some Cricut Foil Vinyl!

I used some cardboard and measured out the pieces and then miter cut them using a quilting ruler as my guide and then just covered the cardboard with the foil vinyl. I really liked the look of the "metal mat" and it gives the picture, sign or whatever you want to call it a nice classy look. I do still need to get a large sheet of acetate or have another piece of glass cut to put over the top before they can have it to hang on their wall. 

If you would like to cut this design and add your own initial, name and edit the year, you can download the file below:

French Country Sunflower Wall Hangings

Last year when I went to Houston I found a lot of great things for my kitchen at Hobby Lobby that were 60-80% off that kinda went with a French Country theme and I had posted all the decor I had put up in the It's Been Awhile...Let's Catch Up post.

Some of the things I bought were these little wall hangings, not sure what they are called, and I loved the blue on them but I didn't like the background and knew I wanted to change it with some Graphic 45 French Country paper. If you read my post a few days ago you know the reason it has taken me so long to alter these *okie stops and says a little prayer that she doesn't go to hell or get banned from Graphic 45 products for her sin*. I am sure the background on these would be wonderful for someone but just not me...it's not my style.

Once I finished the French Country Shadow box project and was printing paper well I knew that I wanted Sunflowers on these some how. I had to fussy cut a lot of sunflowers in order to get what I wanted but it really wasn't so bad since it was something I could do while watching TV in the craftroom. I was able to use my McGill Paper Blossom Roller/Piercer Tool Kit and Mcgill Paper Blossom Ball Tool Kit to help shape the flowers once I got them all cut out *okie wonders why McGill doesn't just sell both sets together in one convenient set but since okie isn't a marketing person she just shrugs and keeps writing her post*. In order to get the look I wanted I had to leave all the petals on the first layer, cut off what looked like the top petals on the middle layer and then cut off all but what where the top petals for the top layer. It might make more sense if you click on the picture and see it larger.

This was another flower on some of the paper and I liked how it was a side view of a sunflower and would add a little more interest on the wall hanging. I cut layers as explained for the flower above. I also cut some flowers and left them with only a single layer to fill in between the layered sunflowers. 

For the background of the wall hangings I chose to use the red gingham paper as it looked the best with the sunflowers. It was patterned enough to set off the flowers but not so patterned that the sunflowers got lost on them. I also used the same wire ribbon as I did in the bottom of the shadow box. I had to stretch it out a little to make it a little wider so it fit in the area I was doing. 

Now it probably wouldn't haven't taken me so long to finish the wall hangings but since I had 3 to do there was a lot of fussy cuttin' goin' on up in here! One of the wall hangings is next to the shadow and they complement each other well. 

The other two hangings are on my large arrangement wall and look so much better with the sunflowers in them rather than the mosaic patterned paper that was there originally. If you look at the bottom left hand area of the shelf you can see the match box project that I did in that class I talked about a few posts ago. I am still deciding if I want to leave the picture in the big white frame or do something different with some French Country paper and who knows how long it will take me to change it since I seem to be a slow worker these days.