little chocolate box

This is a cute (and easy to make) little box I first saw on Pinterest.  The original posting is found on the "A Spoonful of Sugar" blog.  A link to a downloadable template can be found on their blog.

dp needle project holders

While I like knitting small projects on double point (dp) needles they have a tendency to fall off the needles when being stored.  Tonight I decided to make something to protect the needles and keep them in place.  To make these "dp needles project holders" I cut a slit lengthwise along two 7" long cardboard tube sections and then covered them with bookcloth.

pocket concertina book

For my project today I made a conertina (accordion) style folded book with pockets.  

I sized it to hold ATC  (Artist Trading Cards).   Now I suppose I should make some trading cards to go in it, and maybe some to trade as well.   That would be a good project for tomorrow.

petal box

A small petal box made using a template from the Magenta Style Paper Magic book.  If I were to make this for a gift I would add the flower decoration like they did in the book.  It is a cute box but it definitely has an unfinished look to it .

paper jester tutorial

Supplies needed: jester template, cardstock, scissors (or craft knife), strong thread, a plastic ring (about 1/2" diameter), 5 brad type fasteners, and a permanent marker

To make:  download and print out the jester template pieces

jester template

trace jester pieces onto cardstock and cut out

draw details on with a permanent marker

punch holes at joins and thread brad through each hole

run a thread between both arm holes (do not run thread through the holes in the body) and tie on each end,

repeat for leg holes

cut a long piece of thread and loop through a plastic ring, tie one end of thread to center of thread joining the arms and one end to the thread joining the legs

the finished jester

pull on thread to raise the arms & legs

Heart w/ wings ornament

 Inspired by the heart house ornament on the website "michele made me" I made a heart w/ wings ornament.  I bought the heart w/wings sizzix die awhile ago and thought it would be perfect for this project.  It almost was.  The die looks like it is symmetrical but it is off by a smidgen.  It took a little trimming but I think it worked out okay.  For the paper I used cardstock and glued it together with Scotch tacky glue.

greeting card beads

Using the idea for book beads from smallestforest.net I made some beads from old greeting cards.

my used greeting cards

shapes for the beads cut using a mini sizzix die-cutter

shapes folded, ready to be glued

the finished bead

a bead made with a slightly different shape die-cut

ladybug wreath

 Saw some cute and super easy to make paper ladybugs on Pinterest (original source here).  For mine I used 4" square sheets of cardstock & sharpies to draw in the details.  They of course needed a place to hang out.  I decided a wreath would work well.   It is a 14" floral foam wreath base wrapped with ribbon yarn.  Not sure if I care for the color of the yarn, it was given to me a few years ago and this is the best use for it I've been able to come up with.  The yarn and ladybugs are secured in place with sewing pins which will make it easy enough to change if I decide I can't stand the yarn.

gift tags

watercolor wash

These are little gift tags I cut using my sizzix die-cutting machine and the sizzix crescent combo die.  I then gave each tag a light watercolor wash and stamped them with ink.

stamped with light colored inks

stamped with black inks

 ink borders drawn with a pen

kirigami flowers

Today I made a few kirigami flowers using the diagrams in the little book 'Kirigami 3' by Joyce Hwang.  Felt like I was a kid again, cutting out snowflakes.
 I couldn't find my book when I made my cut paper collages in March, not sure if I like what I came up with better or these.

icosahedrons

Made some paper icosahedrons, defined by Wikipedia as "a regular polyhedron with 20 identical equilateral triangular faces, 30 edges and 12 vertices" or in simpler terms it is a really cool geometric shape.  I used the template & instructions from the book 'decorating with papercraft' by Clare Youngs.  This particular model is constructed from 1 sheet paper that is folded and glued.

 

modular paper flowers

Supplies:  double sided paper (I used scrapbook paper), plain cardstock,  hole punch (a 3" punch makes a flower just under 6" across) and paper glue
To Make:  Punch out 8 circles from the double-sided paper and two from the cardstock.  One of the cardstock circles will be a folding template and the other one the base that the flower is glued onto.

Fold  the template circle in half and unfold.

Fold it in half again in the opposite direction and unfold.

Fold up the edges of the circle between the fold lines, turn over or trim folded edges.   Template is complete.

Place folding template onto double-sided paper and fold up edges of circle against the edges of the folding template. Repeat for all 8 circles.

Flip a circle over and fold back each side to the previously folded edge, creasing from the point of the fold to the center of the circle.  Unfold.  Repeat with remaining circles.

Fold edge of circle back to crease line.

Repeat on opposite side.  One section of the flower is complete.  Repeat with remaining circles.

Fold the base circle in half, unfold and fold in half again in the opposite direction - dividing the circle into fourths.

Begin gluing down the flower.  Add glue to the lower third of a flower section and lay it down on the base circle against a fold line.  Add the next section lining it up with the section already glued and the next fold line.  Fold the inner petals up out of the way for now.

Repeat for remaining sections.

After all sections are glued lay the inner petals down, let dry.