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July 30, 2007, Vol. 5 No. 11 |
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Are You Ready for Ready-Made?
One of my favorite things to hit the craft world is the creation of ready-to-embellish craft elements. From clipboards and journals to frames and bags, there is a huge selection of pre-made products for sale. A few years ago, when tags first became popular, I would use a pre-made tag as my project base and create from there.
For example, one pre-made tag's theme was birthday, so I created a birthday gift basket to accompany the tag. As people have become busier, the craft industry continues to create ready-made project bases just waiting for your creative touch. I call it no-muss, no-fuss crafting and find it amazing just how many options are available. In this e-letter, you will find ideas for working with five of my favorite pre-made elements, as well as two free projects that are each designed around a basic coffee can.
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Amy's Five Favorite Ready-Made Craft Elements
- Albums/Journals
These are available in all shapes and sizes and are easy to find at your local craft store. DMD's spiral-bound Memory Books are among my favorite journals. The sturdy pages are perfect for journaling, scrapbooking or creating memory gifts.
I recently purchased an 8 x 8-inch Life's Journey Album from K&Company. The album's front and back covers are pre-decorated -- leaving me to add my creative touch to the inside pages -- which I've turned into the official Wiegman Family Travel Album. The pages are a nice heavy card stock, a perfect base for my photos and handwritten journal entries.
- Papier-Mache Boxes
Easy to find at your local craft store, papier-mache boxes make great gifts for everything from party favors to keepsake boxes. Papier-mache boxes are available in a variety of shapes and sizes, which allows for an endless supply of project ideas!
Make a gift of jewelry (handmade or not) even more special by wrapping it in an embellished box. Create an on-the-go photo album by decorating the cover and placing a handpicked selection of photos inside. Keep the box in your car for those moments when you run into an old friend who would like a family update.
- Cards
This might seem like a no-brainer, but pre-folded cards are a staple among my craft supplies. As far as I'm concerned, you can't go wrong when you use a kraft-colored card as your base. I like to keep the card base simple in order to really let my paper and embellishments shine. Making Memories offers a nice selection of cards that contain unique folds, windows and more.
- Tins/Cans
I recently purchased one of DCWV's (Die Cuts With a View) Tin Albums and am itching to turn it into something. My daughter's first birthday is coming up soon, so it will be fun to create a mini birthday album with it.
The neat thing about these tin albums is that the cover is durable, so they are sure to stand the test of time. Pine Cone Press is another company that offers a huge variety of tin products. You'll love their coaster tins, CD tins (burn your friend's favorite music onto a CD and present it in a personalized tin!), candy tins, sliding top tins and more.
- Frames
Whether wood or papier-mache, pre-made frames are fun and easy to work with as a project base. You can add your own special touch with decoupage, paint, embellishments and stamps, or you can wrap a frame with yarn, ribbon, wire or beads. Personalize a frame for your friend by incorporate the colors of her home's decor.
You can also make an inspirational frame by stamping on a single word such as laugh, smile or enjoy. Adding rub-ons, like Karen Foster Design's words' rub-ons, is another easy way to decorate a basic frame. Doodles are also very popular right now and add a powerful design punch when applied to a frame. If you don't want to create your own doodles, try using one of Chatter Box's Doodle Genies. The templates are easy to use and come with a disappearing-ink marker.
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Free Coffee Break Project
Breathe new life into an empty coffee can by transforming it into a coffee lover's dream gift. Add fun-to-touch texture by decorating the can with a variety of embellishments. Top this gift off by including biscotti, a bag of gourmet coffee or a coffee-shop gift card.
 Coffee Break
Design by Susan Huber
Materials
- Coffee can
- Assorted shades of brown card stock
- Various coffee-themed images and alphabet rubber stamps
- Ink pads: black solvent-based, dark brown, reddish brown, brown, golden yellow and yellow
- Black self-adhesive dotted mesh
- Bamboo tile beads
- Gold leafing pen
- Self-adhesive threaded brown and tan buttons
- Copper square letters and assorted sentiment stickers
- Black mini brads
- Brown waxed-linen thread
- 1/2-inch-wide metallic brown ribbon
- 3/8-inch-wide orange striped ribbon
- Die-cutting tool with 3/4-inch square die
- 1/16-inch hole punch
- Black adhesive foam squares
- Adhesive foam tape
- Paper adhesive
Wash coffee can and remove paper label; dry. Cut light brown card stock to fit around can. Stamp assorted coffee images onto card stock in different shades of brown inks; adhere stamped card stock to can.
Die-cut six 3/4-inch squares from brown card stock; use dark brown, reddish brown and golden yellow inks to stamp a letter on each square to spell "COFFEE." Punch a 1/16-inch hole on both sides of each square. Weave wax-coated linen thread through holes to connect letters; tie a knot at each end and trim excess thread.
Use adhesive foam tape to attach "COFFEE" banner to dotted mesh; trim a rectangle around banner and attach mesh diagonally onto coffee can.
Attach "B" metallic sticker onto a black adhesive foam square; attach below "COFFEE" banner. In same manner, continue attaching letter stickers to adhesive foam squares to spell "BREAK." Attach remaining letters alongside "B."
Use brown ink to stamp a coffee image onto light brown card stock; trim a rectangle around image and layer at an angle onto dark brown card stock. Punch 1/16-inch holes in corners of image; insert brads. Layer image onto dotted mesh and adhere to can where desired.
Wrap and adhere orange striped ribbon around bottom edge of can; wrap metallic brown ribbon around top rim of can. Tie a bow with metallic brown ribbon and trim ends diagonally. Attach sentiment stickers and self-adhesive buttons randomly to can.
Use black solvent-based ink to stamp two bamboo tile beads with coffee images; apply gold leafing to tile edges. Thread wax-coated linen thread through tiles and tie them onto ribbon at top of can.
Sources: Rubber stamps from Hero Arts and SugarLoaf Products Inc.; solvent-based ink pad from Tsukineko Inc.; waxed-linen thread from Scrapworks Inc.; mesh from Magic Mesh; buttons from EK Success; stickers from Creative Imaginations and Making Memories; square die and die-cutting tool from QuicKutz.
Copyright © 2005. PaperWorks magazine. All rights reserved. Back to top.
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Free Movie Night Project
This movie-inspired project makes a perfect birthday, thank you or just-because gift. A negative strip carries out the movie theme and a matching card completes this ode-to-the-big-screen set.
 Movie Night
Design by Susan Stringfellow
Materials
- Coffee can
- Tan card stock
- Red and white striped paper
- Bottle cap printed paper
- Popcorn image
- Small negative strip
- 5/8-inch-wide twill tape
- Mini safety pins
- Black mini round brads
- Cork letters
- Overall button and clip
- Decorative paper clip
- Letter rubber stamps
- Black solvent-based and brown ink pads
- Small family photos
- Fibers: red, gold and ivory
- Red all-purpose thread
- Sewing needle
- 1/16-and 3/16-inch hole punches
- Decoupage medium
- Adhesive foam tape
- Double-sided tape
Wash coffee can and remove paper label; dry can. Cut a piece of red and white striped paper to fit around coffee can. Note: If paper is not large enough to fit around entire perimeter of can, cut a small strip of paper to fit area that paper will not cover and adhere first. Adhere paper to can with decoupage medium; let dry. Rub outside surface of can with brown ink.
Cut an 18-inch length of ivory twill; wrap twill around top portion of can and, referring to photo, determine where overall button and clip need to be attached. Fold the twill backwards at point where button will be attached; use sewing needle and red thread to hand-sew button onto twill. Thread opposite end of twill through overall clip and position twill securely around top of can. Place clip around button to hold twill in place; secure twill around overall clip with mini safety pin. Use double-sided tape to secure twill.
Use black solvent-based ink to stamp the following words onto twill repeatedly: "popcorn," "candy" and "movies." Rub surface of twill with brown ink.
Trim two photos to fit inside negative strips; attach negative strips to coffee can.
For tag, cut a 3 x 5-inch rectangle from tan card stock. Adhere a 3 x 2-inch piece of bottle cap patterned paper to top portion of tag; rub edges of tag with black and brown inks.
Cut a 2 7/8 x 2 5/8-inch piece of red and white striped paper; rub edges of paper with brown ink and adhere to bottom portion of tag, leaving a small gap between it and patterned paper. Trim popcorn image to fit onto tag and rub edges with brown ink; use adhesive foam tape to attach popcorn image on top of striped paper on tag.
Adhere "movie night" cork letters along left edge of tag; attach decorative paper clip in upper left corner of tag. Punch three 1/16-inch holes in gap between papers; insert brads.
Cut a 2 1/8-inch piece of twill; rub twill lightly with brown ink and stamp "admit one" onto twill with black solvent-based ink. Attach mini safety pin to the left end of twill and adhere twill to top portion of tag with double-sided tape.
Punch three 3/16-inch holes at the top of the tag; loop several fibers through each hole.
Sources: Striped paper and negative strip from Creative Imaginations; printed paper from Rusty Pickle; popcorn image from Altered Pages; letter stamps from Leave Memories; cork letters from LazerLetterz; solvent-based ink pad from Tsukineko Inc.
Copyright © 2005. PaperWorks magazine. All rights reserved. Back to top.
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Send me your comments.
If you have a gift making idea or a comment on how you fit creativity into your busy life, please do not reply to this newsletter, but instead, fill out my easy feedback form. I'd love to hear about what projects you're working on, the latest products you are using, and what jump-starts your creativity. Even though I can't respond to each e-mail, I do read every one. You never know, I may feature your ideas in an upcoming issue of GiftMaking.
If you enjoyed this newsletter, please be sure to forward it to all of your craft-loving friends.
Until next time,
Amy Wiegman
Editor, GiftMaker magazine
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Copyright © 2007 DRG.
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