I'm feeling a lot of pride and excitement over today. And, while I haven't been sharing my Project 365 photos, I do want to share today's photo. I couldn't get the money shot of them in front of the tv when he was being sworn in, but I did get this one. I am in a reflective mood more than a sharing mood, so it's just a picture today.
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January 20, 2009
January 18, 2009
A cute Valentine's crafty project
I did a tutorial for the A Million Memories blog on how to make these adorable little snow globes with pictures inside. I found an article in a Martha Stewart Holiday Project idea book on making snow globes for Christmas. They were so stinkin' cute. I love pictures on all my projects, so I had to try the snow globes and put pictures inside. They are so easy to make and are so much fun. They would be a great gift from a child to a parent/grandparent/teacher/aunt, etc for Valentine's Day. My five-year old has been having a blast making these!
Supplies Needed:
Larger size baby food jars
Enamel paint
Foam brushes
Glitter (fine or light weight)
Glycerine (found in the cake decorating section or the drug store)
Ribbon and other Valentine's Day looking embellishments
Glue Dots
Self-Sealing Laminating sheets or Xyron machine
I found this fun article in a Martha Stewart Holiday Projects Idea book on making snow globes out of food jars. You can use any jar, baby food jars, olive jars, etc. I thought it would make an adorable gift for Valentine's day and being the scrapbooker that I am, I wanted to include photos inside the jars, instead of just plastic or ceramic pieces. This project is super easy to do. It's really fun and your recipient will LOVE them. This is a great craft to do with children, as well.
How to:
1. Remove the label from the jar.
2. Remove any food from the jar and wash. Soak the jar for a while in hot water to remove the label adhesive on the outside of the jar.
3. Paint the lid the color of your choice. Use an enamel paint to prevent chipping. Set it aside to dry. Mine took two coats.
4. Print a vertical photo that is between .25" - .5" less than the width of your lid. My photo was 1.5" x 2.25" for my baby food jar.
5. Make a duplicate photo that is exactly the same size (or use a different image, if you like) and adhere them back to back making one image.
6. Run the photo through the Xyron to laminate. If you don't have a Xyron you can use self-sealing laminating sheets found in any office supply section or store. If you use these sheets, you will want to cut two of the same size pieces that are around 1.5" larger than your photo all the way around. Remove the backing from one piece and place your photo in the center. Make sure to rub out any bubbles. Remove the backing from the second piece and place the adhesive side onto the adhesive side of your photo piece. Rub out any bubbles and run your nails along the edges of your photo to get a good seal. Cut the excess laminate from around your picture. Leave about a .25" of adhesive around the photo and be sure there is no air between the layers.
7. Fill the empty jar to the top with water.
8. Add in a pinch or two of glitter.
9. Add a tiny drop of glycerine to keep the glitter from falling too fast to the bottom. Too much glycerine will cause the glitter to stick to the bottom of the jar.
10. Turn your photo upside down and place it into the water.
11. Carefully tighten the lid onto the jar.
12. Turn it over and give it a shake. Isn't the float-y effect of the loose image (this is why you want an image on both sides, so it can turn around in the jar) with all the fun glitter snow super cool?
13. Place the jar on it's painted lid and decorate the outside at will. You can put things on the very top or anywhere you like. Just keep in mind you still need to see the image in the jar when you are done.
If you want to include other things inside the jar, use only plastic or ceramic pieces. Metal pieces will rust in the water. You will want to sand the inside of your lid and use an epoxy adhesive to glue down any plastic or ceramic objects. Some fun ideas are plastic hearts, plastic flowers, and white plastic trees. This can be a great homemade gift idea for a Teacher, Aunt, Grandmother, Father, etc., for the holiday. Enjoy!
January 09, 2009
January 06, 2009
Banner Video Tutorial
I made my first video tutorial in December. I wanted to share the video. If you would prefer to see the video in full length (about 35 minutes) you can go to the A Million Memories blog for it. I posted this same post on the A Million Memories blog with the full length version vs. the you tube versions. I don't like the invasive advertising in the full length version. I think the quality may be a bit better in the youtube videos. Youtube limits your videos to 10 minutes, which is why there are four parts. Here's the post from AMM:
This is my first time doing a video and I've learned a ton. I talk too much. It's impossible to load high quality lengthy videos on free sites. I say "I'm an imperfect scrapper" enough times for the video to be worthy as a drinking game. Ha! The coolest thing, however, that I've learned? Making video tutorials is super fun to do. I'm hooked. I've learned many lessons on how to improve the videos and I'm looking forward doing more. In the meantime, I hope you'll go easy on me with this first pass.
This December, I made thirteen banners. One was for me and the rest were for friends in Secret Santa/Twelve Days gift exchanges. I love doing them and I wanted to share a video tutorial on how to make one. If you want step-by-step written directions, you can pay a tiny $4.99 and get a really detailed pdf file. The file includes the step-by-steps on a different banner, but the basics are exactly the same. It comes with a banner template and a bonus step-by-step on turning a chipboard book page into an accordion album using paper. While the pdf was designed with Christmas in mind, the techniques taught can be used for any project and any theme. That's a small investment for a large file containing tons of techniques that can be used on nearly everything you create.
Loving Banner
This is what I'll be doing in the video. The video is really long. It's around 35 minutes long. Remember I mentioned I talk too much? :) My suggestion is that you pause it and do each step along with me. Again, I apologize for the quality. I'm on a research mission to figure out how to do perfect, crystal clear videos for the web. I know it can be done.
Supplies needed:
Grosgrain ribbon - offwhite (at least 1" wide)
Pink Paislee Tinsel Town Ribbon Card
Pink Paislee Sugar Plum Glitter Pixee Stix
Queen & Co. Self adhesive crystals
Maya Road large chipboard alphabet
Tools needed:
Edging tool
Scissors
Wavy or Scallop Scissors
Mechanical Pencil
Hole punch
Paper Piercer
Mod Podge
Foam Brush
Foam Pop Dots
Paper Trimmer
One last comment before you click the play button. When you click on play, you will get an annoying advertisement window. Just close it. The site I chose to use claims they are better than Youtube. Naturally, the fact that they will let me upload videos longer than 1o minutes, had me believing in them. However, as soon as I played my video for the first time and found that invasive advertising, I quickly changed my mind. And, so, I loaded my video (in four parts) on Youtube. If you want to avoid the ad window, you can scoot over there, instead. However, to view the video below, all you need to do is close the ad window when it opens and you'll see the video, no problem. When you are playing the video the controls are invisible. To bring them back into view, to pause, etc., all you need to do is move your mouse over the video window and they will display for you.
I failed to mention on the video the size of the 2 or 3 strips. They are 0.5" x 12".
Enjoy.
January 01, 2009
Happy New Year
Wow. 2009. It's here. There is a ton of fear for this year over the economy. It does seem that it needs to get worse before it can get better. I'm choosing to believe this is going to be an amazing year for us. I never do resolutions. I think it's silly to set myself up for guilt over not accomplishing them. This year, I decided it was silly to decide I would not accomplish goals to feel guilty over, therefore not make them. So, I made some. I have to break things down to actually do them and I need help to do some of them. My first two are biggies. So, I've broken my resolutions into months. I don't do lists well. My process is going to be to art journal each journey, each month.
January
I'm not healthy. I'm overweight. I don't work out. I'm always tired. I'm sick of feeling this way. It's a choice, yes? So, I'm changing that starting Saturday. I got this amazing book called "The Source" by Woodson Merrell. It rocks. Hands down, it rocks. It's not a diet book. It's an overall mind/spirit/body book. I'm pumped about it. There is a 21 day plan included in the book and so, this journey is my journey for January.
And, being that I need to make everything into a project, I'm doing an art journal to document my 21 days. I really, really need this. I'm excited about my art journal. It gives me an extra reason to succeed. After all who wants to have half done journals sitting around or worse yet, one that says, "yeah, I suck. I totally quit on day 2.". That is exactly what I do when I decide to do things. So, the art journal for me is a way to hold myself accountable.
February
I've fallen off the budget train. I discovered this gem of a book from a group of great gals on the kit site, Willow Traders. I joined a group there to do this book in a private forum and it was exactly what I needed two years ago. I did great for a about a year, then I stopped following the budget and went back to my old, unknowing ways. It's time to get back on track and be in control, again. I think it's doubly important considering the state of our economy. Doing what I can do now to create security for my family is going to be a blessing in the year to come. The book is "The Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey. It's practical. It's real. It's doable. The book is broken down into simple steps. Do step one and move on. He is a really down to earth man who's been through financial ruin and back. Nothing in this book is hard to do. It's just a matter of really wanting to do it.
I will be doing a 21 day journal for this, as well. It takes 21 days to make a habit and hence, I will break down each goal, each month into a 21 day journey. I plan to art journal each of my goals. These are the two I'm staring with. I have March and April slated, already. I like having books to aid me in the process, so I am planning to use them for each goal.
I haven't decided if I'm going to share my journal pages, here, yet. I will share my notes. I guess if my pages aren't too personal, I'll share them. And, hey, if you want to join me with your goal of choice, let me know. I'd love to visit your blog and follow you in your journey, too.
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