Mini Banners as Home Decor

I love banners, but a full-size banner is not always practical. Mini-Banners can add a festive touch without the need for space that full-sized banner requires.

They can add fun to the refrigerator with clip on magnets.

Or to the table with this homemade set of banner holders, made with two large toy wooden wheels (2.5"), some marbles and some dowels cut into 7" lengths.  Tall enough to be decorative, short enough to be be seen over, and open enough for children to see through. I painted on sealer, then white acrylic paint, then more sealer. I'm going to try spray paint for the next batch.

I added all the marbled and then the glass drops so the banner holders would be resistant to tipping. Gorilla glue worked well to attach the marbles and glass drops.

The tops are made with eyehooks screwed into the dowel and then the open side of the eye hook gently twisted to the side to make an open hook.

Chalk it up to Magnetism!

I'm just tickled pink with this one, it's so versatile. It's a chalk and magnet board. It can be used as a countdown board, a menu board, a caption board. The photo corners are attached to magnets so the sign or photo is lifted away from the board about 1/4 of an inch. The American Crafts Chalk Paper is included in the October 2011 Club Ruby Designers' kit.

Board

Step 1. Cut a 12" x 12" square out of foamboard and paint it black. I didn't cut it with my Cricut by the way, it's just where I photographed it.

Step 2. Glue on galvanized tin step flashing. I used several sheets. I didn't go all the way to the edges because I wanted to make sure the paper was attached to the foam board around the edge.

The leftovers are very useful, so don't throw them out. None of my local hardware stores sold this, so I had to order it online. If you are shopping locally, it's helpful to carry a magnet with you to test for magenetism. Just don't carry it next to your credit cards, or other things that are affected :D.

Step 3. Glue on the Chalk Paper.

Step 4. Attach a hanger. I made one out of two pieces of grungeboard with holes for the string and attached them to the back of the foamboard with Beacon's 3 in 1 Advanced Craft Glue.

Magnetic Photo Corners

Step 1.  Cut cardstock into 2 1.5" x 1.5" squares.

Step 2. Fold in half as shown.

Step. 3. Fold in half in the other direction.

Step 4. Open and apply glue in 1 quarter of the square and fold in half. If you glue more than a quarter, there won't be a pocket to stick the sign in.

Step 5. Apply glue to 1 quarter of the square. Attach magnet to back.

Supplies:
American Crafts Chalk Paper
ProMag Magnets
Galvanized Tin Step Flashing (used for roofing, but don't get the aluminium that is also used).
Foam Board Black Acrylic Paint



WOYWW 124

Happy Wednesday! On my desk today there is a card in the making totally from scraps. The card base is left over two-sided paper I printed on my Cricut Imagine, but I forget the name of the cartridge. There is a notebook paper print that is wonderful for the inside of cards. And now I can turn single sided paper into two sided paper.

The little bag of paper diamonds comes from the paper ribbon on the card which was left over from the Gift Box project I posted a few days ago. The green circle is the cutout from the cupcake holder from the same project. And after looking at it off and on for a few days I decided it would be a great Christmas ornament if the rounded top was cut off. The kaleidoscope is in the background waiting for the discovery of the proper paper. Little Eeyores for an upcoming post (fingers crossed on this one lol).

And finally from another upcoming post these little triangles. They are cut at a ridiculously small size on Paper Layerz, which if you like to cut small scale on electronic die-cutters, you have to try this paper. It can cut so thin and small that sometimes the hardest part is figuring out how to glue them on.

Finally, I had shared a sneak peak of one of my Club Ruby Designers' Projects a few weeks ago. The full image of the project can be found on this post if you are interested in seeing the whole thing.

If you are wondering what's all this WOYWW, then head over to Julia's the Stamping Ground and have a gander at other creative spaces around the world. Better yet, take a picture of your own space and join in the fun :D.

Faux Watercolor - Make It Monday #36

This week's (might be last weeks by the time you are reading this) Make it Monday is Faux Watercolor. Faux watercolor BTW is awesome :D. Stamp images with water-based dye inks and then brush them with an aqua brush. For this card I used Papertrey Ink's Wonderfully Whimsical stamp set and Dusty Concord Distress Ink. Everything was gone over with an aqua brush except for the "happy".

Gift Box and Gift (updated with more pictures)

All the paper used in this project is from the For the Record Collection by Echo Park, except for the cupcake/ornament holder which is cut from a piece of scrap cardstock.

 

The ornament is decorated with leftover cuts from the box. I shortened the sides of the cupcake holder so the ornament sat lower in the box.

Cricut Cuts:

• Gift Box Sweet Tooth Boxes cartridge (lower section made from  Lace Stripes, and the lid from Table Cloth).
• "Ribbon" around the lid made from Martha Stewart Elegant Cake cartridge borders welded together (Newsprint).
• Button Stars from Gypsy Wanderings (twine from Papertrey Ink)
• Flower Handle, made from George &amp Basic Shapes, three flowers cut and glued together to make a handle.

Rise and Shine!

The patterned cardstock is printed with the Cricut Imagine using one of the patterns from Kate's Kitchen. The Toast and Toaster are printed off in layers and assembled. The Rise and Shine is a layer from another layer. One of the things I really love about the Imagine is that after one side is dried, I can make two-sided paper by turning it over and, in this case, I used the matching yellow without the pattern for the inside.

Cuttlebug Card

Cuttlebug Folders: Plaid (Inked on the debossed side) and snowflakes (on the snowflakes)
Cricut Cuts: Snowflakes: Snowflakes from Gypsy Wanderings and Reindeer from Very Merry Tags.
Scrap and Stickles.

WOYWW 123!

I added some flat glass things to the white knobbly things because they needed more weight :D.

They are my tabletop banner holders, which is why the weight is needed. I'm still fiddling about with them and the banner was just made with a scrap to show what I was talking about. But the eye hooks are twisted open so they look like a pig tail so banners can be easily swapped out according to the need. They are made to be free standing to accommodate various lengths as well, and not so tall as to prevent conversation across the table.

Also on my desk are a couple of Club Scrap Projects, the little house and a kaleidoscope in the making (the cardboard tube). My Distress Inks and Brown Cricut Marker from my favorite card yet posted yesterday and some green paper painted with glow in the dark the circles from the hole punch used to embellish clear acrylic domes into glow in the dark eyes.

The little house comes as blank paper already to punch out, and I was having so much fun stamping with a ticket stamp I forgot to put the vellum over the windows. So I made a little tree out of a paper circle, a chenille stem and Stickles so there would be something to look at in the little house. That's a Sharpie lid to the immediate left btw.

If you are wondering what's all this WOYWW, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a gander. Better yet, take a picture and join in the fun :D.

Monochromatic Color Card

And the inside says, "For helping me when I was stumped".

A brown Cricut Marker was used first (on the lowest pressure setting and the fastest speed). The "Thanks" sentiment was only written on and then filled in with Twinkling H2O's Indian Copper. Everything else was cut from the same cream/ivory cardstock and painted with Distress Inks. The card base is 5 x 5 made with Papertrey Ink Dark Chocolate.

And I couldn't have done it without my Gypsy and my Cricut Expression 2. The Thanks sentiment is on the first layer (hit return to design, NOT unload mat when layer 1 is done). The Doily and the Tree Stump are on the second layer because after they were drawn with the Cricut Marker, they were cut. If the Thanks was on the same layer, it would have been cut out also.

Cricut Images:
Thanks - Font Feature on Cindy Loo cartridge, 0.57".
Tree Stump - Create-A-Critter cartridge, 3.63".
Leaf Doily - Doily Feature on Sophie cartridge, 4.96"

Coloring.
Thanks, Indian Copper Twinkling H2O's painted in the lines drawn with Cricut marker.

Tree Stump. top layer, pressed on Antique Linen Distress Ink pad, face layer, painted with Vintage Photo "paint" made by smudging the ink pad on a non-stick work surface and spritzing with water, applied with an aqua brush, then put in puddle of "paint" made with Rusty Hinge Distress Ink. Base, put in a puddle of "paint" made with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

Leaf Doily. Painted with "paint" made from Wild Honey Distress Ink applied with an aqua brush. While the doily was still wet, I sort of gently scrunched the leaves, which held the scrunch when they were dried.

WOYWW 122 - Toil and Trouble

I'm gathering all my mini-misters so I can see which ones need water added. The white things are a project in process :D (more to come later). The remote on the right keeps escaping, and it's odd I don't see it until it's in a photograph lol. The gray stubby things are Cricut Markers which need to be put away, only then I started working on another project with them. (I used them on my Bug Bytes project posted earlier today). I was tickled pink to have it done before yesterday even. The paper in the middle is another mat not used for project finding new life as a paint pallette lol.  Oh, and the light yellow thing to the right is a future present for DD (mum's the word eh?).

So if you are wondering about all this WOYWW, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and have a gander. Better yet, snap a picture of your workdesk and join in the fun :D.

Using the Gypsy for really long titles

Hello everyone! Today is my day to be the Guest Designer at TheBugBytes! Today I'm sharing a project made almost entirely from my October 2011 Club Ruby Designers kit. The only supplies that aren't in the kit are my Twinkles H2O Orange Peel paint (the picture doesn't do justice to the amount of shine there is in it) and Black Tuxedo Memento Dual marker.

This was a realllllly long title, and I didn't want to keep track of all those letters if I didn't need to. And much to my delight, with my Gypsy and the Cricut Expression 2, I didn't need to. If you don't have a Cricut Expression 2, you can do this direct from the cartridge with your Original Expression, it will just take a bit more experimentation to get the lettering where you want it. (I have heard that some Original Expressions are less shaky with markers and Gypsys than others, so yours might work well.)

My Gypsy is my favorite design tool.  The MOMMM title and it's shadow are laid out on separate layers since they will be cut with different papers. Just before each one is cut it's moved to a paper-saving location. The written title is printed on a sheet of thin white paper first so I can hold it up to the light with the patterned paper behind it and make sure it's where I want it. Have a piece of scrap paper on hand to put under the marker when it's swapped for the blade.

This is the title all written out.

This is it painted in with the Twinkling H2Os Orange Peel.

The MOMMM title shadow and the photo mat are both cut from the Enchanted paper and edged with the Twinkling H2Os paint. The MOMMM cut in orange cardstock is edged with the brush side of the Memento marker. The other end of the marker was used for the journalling. The photo mat is only attached on the side and bottom so it doubles as a pocket for more journalling.

The Journalling is written with the marker end of the Memento Dual marker.

Supplies

October 2011 Club Ruby Designers kit:

• Fancy Pants Trick or Treat
• Fancy Pants Trick or Treat Enchanted (MOMMM shadow and photo mat).
• Cut Mates orange - MOMMM lettering

Additional:

• Twinkles H2O Orange Peel
• Black Tuxedo Memento Dual Marker
• Blue Cricut Marker
• Inexpensive White 12 x 12 sheets (for testing)

Tools:

• Cricut Expression 2
• Gypsy
• Robotz cartridge

Cricut Cuts:

• MOMMM!!! Robotz font  and Font Shadow - 1.41"
• Painted title Sesame Street Elmo's Party - 0.75" (with marker).