Sweet Sentiment

It's that time again to get together with a couple of my dearest sweet friends and I always love putting together something small for them to show them how much I love their friendship. Originally I was going to decorate some paper mache cupcake boxes that I had, but found they were much to small to put a little something in, so I came across a couple paper mache cones that I had and the lids of the cupcake boxes fit perfectly and looked just like ice cream cones and gave me much more room to put a little surprise in each.

The following are the steps I took to create my "Sweet Sentiments :

I first painted both lids to match the color tulle I would be using. I decided to make one pink for strawberry ice cream and the other brown for chocolate (of course)....

I did not have brown tulle ruffle so I had to stain the tulle. I used Lindy's Stamp Gang Dark Truffle Brown and Sandra Dee Sepia. Be sure to use gloves or tongs, this step gets really messy.

Next step I used a product I sell in my Etsy shop, it is Chocolate Mesh fabric...somewhat like burlap. I used a 9"x9" square piece and applied it to the cone using Fabri-Tac.

Using my glue gun I started from the bottom of the lid and glued the ruffled tulle around the lid all the way till I reached the top. This took 6 ft. And to complete my ice cream cone, I glued a red glittered pom pom on the top for a cherry.

This was just the perfect little project to make to wrap a couple little surprises in for my two buddies.

I took a couple of my tea stained tags from my stash (tutorial post for tea staining) and stamped an image from Oxford Impressions "Fairy Sweet" collection, distressed the edges and stained them and added some tiny white flowers to the corners... and there you have it... my sweet sentiment to my sweet friends.

 

 

The following products can be purchased in my Etsy shop :

 

Creamy White Paper Roses

#8 Manila Tags

Chocolate Mesh Material

Double Ruffled Tulle Trn

Tag Your It

I love making tag art.. it's quick, allows you to make that mini masterpiece. I have used them for gift tags, placed in my art journals, and have them all over my inspiration wall. They are a wonderful tool to use if you are involved in many of the challenge blogs on the internet, or if you want to try out a new technique it allows just the perfect amount of space to work and then you can write on the back of the tag what steps were taken to acquire your look. My style of art is vintage, worn, distressed so the tea stained tag works perfect for me. I try to keep a big apothecary jar full of these tags all ready for use. Here are my steps that I take to prepare my tags .

Large pan full of water and add about 30 tea bags... ( I know that sounds like a lot, I buy the store brand so it's not too expensive) You can also use instant coffee for this technique. Boil until you get a deep rich tone to your water.


 

Using tongs, separate the tags in the water so the tea is distributed properly. The circular reinforcements will drop off, but there is no need for these



Lay your tags out to dry

 

The next step is optional because you might want  completely flat surface to work on. I love the texture of wrinkles so I make the majority of my tags with the next step. But I do keep some on hand that are completely flat for those projects that call for that look. 

While still damp, roll your tag in a ball and squeeze tightly, unfold and lay back out to continue drying.

 

 

I love the old look the wrinkles give to the tags and applying whitewash or Distressed Inks is so easy to accomplish an old look.

 

Once again, the next step is optional but I love the technique of leaving a cup stain on some of my tags. Your tea or coffee mixture needs to be very dark in order to get a nice tea stain.

 

And the final step that I apply to some of my tags is rolling the edges with a skewer, pencil... etc. to give it that funky old look. Make sure your tags are still damp because when they dry the rolls will be set.

Then you have a whole lot of little canvases ready for your art. I know there are many tutorials on the internet for these techniques but you can never have too much inspiration. The plain manila tags can be purchased at my Etsy shop @ https://www.etsy.com/listing/94773701/manila-tag-number-8?ref=shop_home_active_6&ga_search_query=tag

Happy Crafting..... xoxox Toni

 

 

 

 

XOXO To My Special Friends

 

It's almost Valentines Day and I have been prepping some little gifts for special friends of mine. I have always wanted to make my own bath salts and this is the perfect little something to treat my girlies with. I purchased these heart shaped glass containers for $1.99 at local hobby store. IOn one of the jars I glued  tulle, ribbons & lace. The other jar I copied a cute idea I saw at Michaels. It was simply made by cutting pieces of fabric in strips and tying them on a cord. I had a ton of Christmas red ribbons and felt so this worked perfect for the other jar. I personalized each jar with wooden letters that I painted white then embellished with little gems.

 

Then the fun part... I never new this was soooooo easy. (Thank you Martha Stewart) The recipe is as follows:

• Coarse Sea Salt
• Epson Salts
• Baking Soda
• Essential Oils
• Food Coloring

       1.In a large bowl, mix to combine: 6 parts coarse sea salt; 3 parts epsom salts, to soothe tired  

          muscles and reduce inflammation; and 1 part baking soda, to soften waters and alleviate skin

          irritation.

 

      2. Add a few drops of essential oils, and combine.

 

      3. Add a few drops of food coloring, until you achieve the desired shade. If you intend to  

          present the bath salts as gifts be sure to store them in a stoppered container. 

 

I made a batch of lavender and a batch of vanilla jasmine. I can't wait to give them to the girls so they can treat themselves to a nice soothing bath. Happy Sweetheart Day everyone... xoxo Toni

Christmas Treats

Hi everyone... the Christmas season is definitely upon us and I work retail and my body is really feeling the residual from all the busyness. The employees at the store have been so exhausted and I thought I would make them a batch of what I call "Snowman Poop".... lol... it's something I usually make this tine of year because it's quick and yummy and sometimes you just need a little snack to keep you going. 

 

Here is the recipe for this fun treat:

 

Popped corn (salted a bit)

Melted white chocolate chips

Drizzle the melted chocolate over the popcorn and mix to coat. Lay out on wax paper to set and then break apart into pieces.

 

I filled treat bags with this yummy treat and included a little poem... now I'm not a poet so cut me some slack...

 

Merry Christmas to you all

And here is the scoop

You've all been naughty

So all you get is Snowman poop

 

 

Very simple to make and fun to give and eat. Hope you enjoyed this post and now I'm off to bed. Have a Merry Christmas !



Christmas Greetings

Merry Christmas everyone... today I am sharing with you a Christmas Waterfall card I made for gift cards. I love making waterfall cards, they are so much fun. I did not include a tutorial on this but if you are interested Dawn 5377 YOUTUBE is amazing at all different interactive cards. 

The paper collection I used for this is DCWV "Christmas Made". Wonderfully pretty paper. I added gold Stickles to my Christmas tree on front page as well as used red ribbon for bow and waterfall pull. I added Marvy Uchida Liquid Applique "White" for cuff on Santa's hand. I cut circular tabs on each waterfall page to hold the gift cards.

 

So you better get going on those cards... you only have 17 more days til Christmas... xoxo Toni

That's a Wrap

I ♥ ♥ ♥ Christmas... but I have to admit, one of my least favorite things to do is wrap gifts... not sure why, I just don't really enjoy it. But came upon this wonderful youtube tutorial from one of my favorite crafters Arlene...mybutterflykisses12 she created a Christmas card with box. I thought this would be so much fun to wrap a couple of gifts for special people in my life. I actually did not need the box tutorial because my gift came in a box already but I altered the dimensions of the card tutorial to fit my box. This was so much fun. The paper line I used is by DCWV "Cup of Cheer". I added I am Roses poinsettia flowers to the lid as well as some small pine cones from my yard. All papers were sprayed with Lindy's Stamp Gang "Glory of the Seas Gold"

What a fun way to give a gift... stop by Arlene's YOUTUBE channel.. she is amazing  and always has wonderful tutorials. Have fun getting all those gifts ready for the special people in your life. xoxo Toni

Frosty & Friends

 

Merry Christmas everyone, here is another project I was working on for my craft boutique I'm involved with.

 

I found these adorable glass light bulb decanters at Hobby Lobby and was actually going to use them for some Steampunk art...... but I saw this really cute post on PINTEREST using real light bulbs and make snowmen out of them and decided these decanters would work perfectly ....

 

I halfway filled the inside with snowballs and iridescent snow flakes. Then I started embellishing the tops. Removed the wires and cut and frayed some Christmas ribbon to tie for a scarf around the base of the top. Added greenery, berries, pinecones (from my yard... ♥ having pine trees close by) . I added some little rusty starts to the top. Then I made the little top hats using stiff black felt, tied jute with a bell around the hat added a bit of Snow Tex to the top of the hat and then it was glued on top of the bulb. Also gathered some twigs from out in the yard, cut to size for the arms and last but not least for the face I used Scribbles 3-D fabric paint. So easy and so much fun to make.... hope you were inspired  .... xoxo Toni

It's a Steampunk Christmas !

 

Hi everyone... well my craft room is in full "steam" ahead as Christmas is right around the corner and I have so many different ideas for new creations. My newest being my steampunk Christmas ornament. What fun this was. I love the whole steampunk style, it's crazy, obnoxious, whimsical, grungy, old, everything I like.

I recently came upon these fabulous test tubes that I couldn't resist... lol...and they SCREAMED Steampunk ! So I decided to bust out my images I purchased quite awhile back from Altered Artifacts Etsy shop. Filling the inside with vintage silver and gold tinsel and adding cogs to the inside and outside of the vial. I then used a netal label holder from 7Gypsys and added the word "JOY". Attaching 2 old rusty bells with jump rings to the outside of the label holder. The top I decide to cover with burlap and tied jute string around and embellished with keys and more cogs.

This ornament is on sale at my Etsy shop, but if you are in the industrial mood to make one yourself, I do carry very similar test tubes in my shop also. They are smaller in diameter and made from plastic but will make a great funky steampunk project. You can find that listing HERE at my Etsy shop.

 

Tis' The Season

Do I hear Ho Ho Ho... yep Christmas is right around the corner and there is glitter all over my house. This project was so much fun. I took a papermache cone that I bought at the local craft store and made a Christmas Victorian Tussy Mussy.  Covered it with musical paper inside and out.

The inside came together as follows:
For the filler I took white cardstock and crimped it then cut thin strips and crumpled it all up in a ball, and gave it a good spray of Heidi Swapp's Gold Lame spray. Stamped "Tis The Season" in gold embossing glitter and placed it in this tiny gold frame I had which fit perfectly in the cone. Took a tiny bottle brush tree that I had bleached, then covered it with diamond dust and adorned it with tiny bells. Added bulbs, pink holly leaves (all these items were adhered with my glue gun.

For the outside I sprayed the entire cone with Heidi Swapp Gold Lame spray and then , I used my vintage pink tinsel which can be purchased here at my Etsy shop and glued 2 rows around the top of the cone as well as made a handle for hanging. Glued iridescent pink pearls to the top of the tinsel. Finished it off with a rosette die cut from Sizzix Alterations Mini Rosette and added more holly leaves and a gemstone for the middle. I am really pleased how this turned out. I love the shabby chic look of this. Get your glitter out and make something sparkle for Christmas... have fun !

xoxo Toni

A Magical Celebration

Babies are popping up all around me and here is another mini album I made for a co-worker's new baby -2- b... Hailey Miranda. Here nursery theme is (of course) Disney girls so I decided to create a castle with the the ladies. I purchased the chipboard castle at my local Scrapbook store and the Disney cutouts came in a package that I also purchased at the same store. The papers I used from my stash.  The first page is Mini hosting the album and the photo area is a waterfall book that allows 5 photos and or journaling.

Next is Snow white and the bling I used is Prima "Say it in Crystals" which you can purchase at my Etsy store and Tim Holtz's Chit Chat stickers . Added stickles to Snow White for a bit more bling.

The next page is Ariel. Kept it simple. Added dew drops for water effect and some sea shells and pearls from my collection.

Cinderella was the next page and I decided to do tags for allowing pictures and journaling. Added acrylic butterflies that can be purchased at my Etsy store.

Up next is Mulan... Paper is from Recollections Neopolitan collection. Made a flip page for displaying pictures. Mulan had black feathers and cherry blossom flowers added to her for interest.

For Belle I decided to use Sizzix "Crown" die cut to hold tags. Added crown brads for embellishments and Belle's dress was blinged up with some Stickles.  

Rapunzel was the next page and stickled the stars on the paper, and added crocheted flowers in which I added rhinestones for the centers.

Frog Princess was next and I decorated the castle walls with green stickers squares that can be purchased at my Etsy shop.  Used gold glitter paper for the matting the photo area and Stickles were added to her dress.

Sleeping Beauty was embellished with "I Am Roses" micro mini pink rosebuds and tiny white roses. The frames came with the Disney diecut packages. I used 3-D popup dots on all the die cuts including the frames.

Last but not least is Pocahontas and Jasmine, kept very simple. Made a pop out book which allowed for 8 pictures or journaling. Used jute to tie the book closed attached mini wooden letter tags for Hailey's initials... ( I think it's funny that her initials are H & M ... and that is where mommy works... humm do you mommy did that on purpose???)

And then to finish off the book, I tied random ribbon and tulle and added a beautiful crown charm that I purchased at Michaels . I made little flags, attached to toothpicks and glued them to the top of the castle.

I hope you enjoyed this inspiration. Book was really simple, only took me about 3 days to make.... Toodles  xoxo