LOVE IS IN THE AIR PROJECT AND TUTORIAL

I have a confession to make.  I love Christmas and making Christmas projects, but every year I fail to get them all completed.  I always think I am going to have so much more time than I actually do!  And, I fool myself into believing I can get ____ number of projects done, clean my house from top to bottom, plan activities with my family and friends, bake, wrap gifts, bake some more, put up decorations, bake a little more - whew!  Makes me tired just typing about it.  

This year I decided to get creative and re-purpose a few of those unfinished Christmas projects into, well, non-Christmas ones.  This is my first one.

I had an unused branch cut from one of the bushes in my yard that I spray painted white some time during the first week of December.  It has been sitting in my garage ever since (don't judge).  Christmas may be past but Valentine's Day is right around the corner, and I thought this white branch would be perfect to hang handmade Valentine's ornaments from.  

Of course, I needed Valentine's ornaments and, being the ambitious girl that I am, I created a few simple Silhouette cutting files so I could make 3-D hot air balloons and hearts.  The link to these free cutting files is available at the end of this post.

Three dimensional objects, like these balloons and hearts, are actually very easy to make.  And they look so cute!  I dug into my scrapbook supplies and used the last pieces of paper from one of my all-time favorite lines (seriously must have bought these papers 4 or 5 times when they came out) - PINK PAISLEE'S Daily Junque Collection (from back during their House of Three collaboration).  I also used a little bit of Pink Paislee's Parisian Anthology (also from their House of Three days).  And, just to keep things interesting, I used bits and pieces from the Hey Kid and Color Wash Collections.  They all blended together like they were made for each other!  This is how my project turned out.  Pretty cute, don't you think?

I am going to use this as a centerpiece on my table for the next 6 weeks.

(a little Color Wash mixed with Daily Junque)

(more Color Wash and Daily Junque)

(Parisian Anthology and Hey Kid)

(more Parisian Anthology and Hey Kid)

(Note: my clouds are not 3-D.  They were simply made with my cloud punch.  I glued two pieces together with a piece of twine in the middle.)

Want to see how I made these?  You do?!  Okay - here you go - a little video tutorial made by yours truly:

And here is the LINK to the Silhouette Cutting Files that I created for this project.  These files are free, so all you have to do is download them.

Let me know if you have any questions and, of course, comments are ALWAYS appreciated! 

Happy crafting!

A Lori Whitlock Wheel Card and Favor Box

I love celebrating birthdays with family and friends!  And, to me, nothing says "I am thinking of you" more perfectly than a handmade card or gift - especially ones made using LORI WHITLOCK'S files.

I don't know about you, but when I was little I used to love cards and pop-up books with little wheels on them that you could turn.  So, when I saw that Lori was designing wheel cards, I knew I wanted to make one; and what better time than a friend's birthday?!  Paired with this sweet little favor box, I had the perfect way to tell my friend I was thinking of her on her special day.

I want to start by showing you this favor box because it's one of the newest items in Lori's SHOP. 

At 2x2 inches, this SCALLOPED BOX is the perfect way to dress up party favors or a wonderfully cute way to wrap a pair of earrings, which I have done!  It took literally less than a minute to assemble, and it's so cute!  I used Echo Park's Hello Summer papers (designed by Lori, of course).  I dressed up my scalloped edge with a little bling and added a butterfly in place of a bow (that I cut out twice and layered) from Lori's RELAX SUMMER IS HERE files.

My card was also super easy to make!

To make this card, I used a combination of papers from Echo Park's Hello Summer and Dots and Stripes collections.  Those super cute flip flops that I LOVE and have been using a lot on my cards and mini-albums lately are from Lori's DON'T BOTHER ME files.  I just added a little bling to the flip flop straps - much like the staps of my flip flops in real life! Aren't they cute?

And that fun wheel on my card?  This is what it says:

That's it for me today.  What about you?  Have you been crafting more or less now that summer's here?  Is there any project you are really excited about working on?