A Craft Fair or Christmas Present Idea

I usually spend my crafting time making cards or scrapbooking, but this is the season for giving! For me, it's the season for making! I love using scrapbook supplies for gifts when I can get a good idea. This project post is the result of the post I saw today at the challenge at C.R.A.F.T.

Here's an easy gift I made one for a relative that likes seasonal decorations and candles.

I added a fragrant candle inside a mason jar, layers of burlap and antique and lacy ribbons, stacked Petaloo flowers and some Christmasy pine cones with berries attached to doubled thick jute.  It was easy and fun to make! I don't think she'll look at my blog post before Christmas so I hope it will still be a surprise!

I'm sharing this project with the following challenges:

C.R.A.F.T. Challenge #444 - Christmas Present
Crafty Creations #355 - anything goes
The Merry Christmas Challenge #45 - anything goes + Christmas

June Stamp of the Month Blog Hop - The Long Way Home





Welcome to our blog hop illustrating the June Stamp of the Month, The Long Way Home. If you've come here from Tammy Lubick's blog, you're on the right track. If you get lost, you can find the entire list of bloggers on Melinda's blog hop list.








When we take our grandkids on road trips, I give them each a notebook and pens for writing notes, drawing, playing games, etc.  Here's my latest altered composition book for one of them. This month's stamp of the month was perfect for a road trip theme.



The small images inspired me to stamp them on a banner. All of the papers are from the Urban paper pack. I used Archival Black ink and Enchantment pigment inks (Peacock, Saffron, Sapphire) and Saddle from the Basic pigment inks because I was using Matte Mod Podge that seemed a little watery to adhere and coat all of the pieces for durability. I stamped the word "NOTES" using the small alphabet, Etched. The banner, black arrow, and "adventure" were cut using Cricut Artbooking. I stamped the vehicles on back and kept it simple:

Now you're ready to move on to Michele Rowley's creative artwork! Enjoy the journey!

Shabby Chic G45 Journal

I love to make altered composition books as gifts, gratitude or prayer journals. Here's one  I made with the vintage Graphic45 papers from the "Couture" collection. This paper would seem too busy for some projects, but I think it's perfect for a journal. I used to add flowers and such. Now I try to make them as flat as I can so that it's not difficult for the recipient to write on the left page.

I like to put pockets inside the covers. I kept the insides fairly simple. Here's a quote I stamped inside the front:

"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them FEEL."

Inside the back cover I made a double pocket by adhering a black envelope just around the sides and bottom so things can be filed behind the envelope as well as inside. So that the envelope flap won't accidentally get "stuck," I adhered a piece of red cardstock inside the envelope to cover the adhesive. Here's the back quote that I stamped:

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. Ralph Waldo Emerson"





The back is covered with the black patterned paper that's on the left of the front cover. (Sorry I didn't take a photo!)

I'm sharing this book with the following challenges:

All Crafts Challenge April/May - anything but a card
Card and Scrap #76 - shabby chic
Crafting at the Weekend #1 - anything goes
Divas by Design - anything goes
Feeling Crafty #28 - one for the girls/ladies
Pile It On #20 - shabby chic
Simply Create Too #61 - anything but a card
SunflowerField May challenge - Vintage, shabby chic, rustic
That Craft Place - alter a can or alter it





New Scripture Display Album - Beautiful Psalms and Proverbs

When I got my new Cricut Explore I decided to learn how to use it by making something that can be a blessing to someone else. I made a couple of  Scripture Display Albums for my most recent craft fair. They didn't stay on my table very long so I was glad I'd taken photos so I can make more. I used the Psalms and Proverbs stamps that I had from Our Daily Bread Designs for the decorated pages and some of my Word Art Wednesday digis for the simple back sides of the pages. Here's the cover:

This post has a lot of pictures.  The twelve pages are 6" x 6" inside page protectors. Most of the background papers are from Prima and the others are My Mind's Eye papers. I used CTMH cardstock to cut out the Cricut pieces using the Lacy Labels cartridge found in Cricut Design Space. Using the same cartridge throughout gives it some continuity. To make two entire albums it took half a day for two days. If you're not new to Cricut Design Space or Craftroom like I was, you could make something like this faster than I did. The Cricut definitely helped the creating to go faster than my previous albums.

I chose the following Psalms and Proverbs because many years ago, when I was 25, I attended a  Christian teacher's conference where they encouraged us to read five chapters of Psalms and one chapter of Proverbs each day since there are 150 Psalms and 31 Proverbs. Psalms draw us closer to God and Proverbs teach us how to live with our fellow man.

The back side of the pages have the digital Scriptures printed on light blue marbleized paper. Since the decorated verses have layers and embellishments they take up a lot of "room" in the album, so the backing pages are simply one layer. Here are a couple of samples:

I enjoy making these display albums with verses to encourage that can be displayed on a table or shelf. I hope this gives you some ideas for things to make to encourage someone or even yourself.  May God bless you as you take in His beautiful words!

I'm sharing these pages with the following challenges:


Addicted to Stamps #91 - Anything Goes
All Crafts Challenge April/May - Anything But a Card
Crafting By Designs April challenge - Anything Goes
Crafty Bloggers Network - Die Cuts or embossing
Crafty Ribbons #85 - Anything Goes with ribbon
DRS Designs #118 - I Get Around - use circles (many of the pages use circles in the Cricut cuts)
Inklings and Yarns #51 - Anything goes
Pause Dream Enjoy Linky Party #8 - anything goes
Word Art Wednesday #128 - anything goes with uplifting message





Birthday and Anniversary Calendar

I'm the most unorganized person I know! Sometimes I make a card for someone, for some occasion and I can't remember where I put it. I made these perpetual calendars for people who like to give cards to celebrate birthdays or anniversaries and have the cards in the same pocket as the listed birthday. I adhered each calendar to CTMH patterned paper and to a white envelope large enough to hold cards and envelopes. I had this idea a couple of years ago and posted photos of some I sold at another craft fair in 2012.

I used this Doodle Pantry digi set called "Calendar Minis."

This stamp set is perfect for any project that needs an image for every month!

Here's the cover and first six pages.If the papers are current, I'll give you their name and link. The cover has Skylark paper and a title I typed, then cut out with Spellbinder's dies. A stacked flower and three butterflies with bronze glitter gel were the finishing touches:

Each month's name is stamped with a very old CTMH stamp set.

 

February has paper from the beautiful CTMH Ivy Lane paper packet.

April's bunny images perfectly matched the CTMH Balloon Ride paper.

 

I hope that the first six envelopes give you an idea of this project. I definitely need to make one for myself so my cards will be more organized! Thank you for visiting. 

I'm sharing this project with the following challenges:

613 Avenue Create - anything goes / birds option (cover)

All Crafts Challenge Feb./March - anything but a card

Aurora Wings Challenge March - anything goes

Brown Sugar #86 - anything goes

Challenges 4 Everybody - anything goes

Digi Galore - anything goes with a digi

My Craft Creations - anything goes

 Robyn's Fetish #204 - anything but a card

Scribble and Scrap #14 - anything goes

 

Scripture Display Album for 2013 - Part 2

Yesterday I posted photos of most of my Scripture Display Album. I had also posted five of the pages earlier in the year. Here is a link for four of them that I started last spring.

http://heartfulstamper.blogspot.com/2013/06/clearly-digi-stamps-june-release-framed.html

I love this first verse. When my children were young, we used to sing a song with the last part of the verse. It was a great encouragement that we are God's children and His Spirit living within us is our strength: "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world. 1 John 4:4."

I chose this next verse because of the challenge to monitor what we do to be sure that everything we do brings glory to God: "Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

The page that I designed simply for November is part of a beautiful chapter that has many brief admonitions on the way we should live. The verse before it says we should pray continually. This verse means that we should be thankful in any circumstance we are in, not always easy to do: "In everything give thanks for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:18"

To see more, look at yesterday's post. Many of these pages, like the three pictured here, use Prima papers. The back side of each page has a solid background ready for a 4" x 6" photo or another verse. By using embellishments on each page, it does make the display album a little "fat."

 

Thank you for visiting. I hope that you will get some ideas of your own from this gift project. May God bless you with His love and His Word.

 

I'm sharing this project with the following challenges:

Emergency Crafters - anything goes but Christmas

Miriam's Crafting Blog 7th month - Homemade gifts

Word Art Wednesday #110 - anything goes with Scripture/uplifting sentiment

 

Scripture Display Album for 2013

I love God's Word and I know that it  helps us build Christ-like character in our lives, it encourages us when we are troubled, it helps us make wise decisions throughout our day, and much more. There are many ways that we can display God's Word in our homes. This is one of the crafts I've been making for gifts and for craft fairs that shows Scripture that is meant to be encouraging and uplifting.

Earlier in the year I posted five of the pages that I put in my Scripture Display Album that I'm making this year. Here's the cover and three more pages. The cover uses the same verse that I used last year, but it has different word art. The word art on most of these pages are from Word Art Wednesday and Papercraft Memories free word art that I saved the last couple of years. There are 12 pages inside. One can be displayed each month of the year - or whenever the encouragement of that verse is needed.

The cover says, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Psalm 119:105"

The next one uses CTMH stamps and Laughing Lola papers, cuttlebug embossing folder, and a verse from Our Daily Bread Designs. It says "May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance. 2 Thessalonians 3:5"

The next verse has always meant a lot to me because I consider myself to have many kinds of weaknesses and always need God's strength to take control.  "My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9"

The following verse is important to me because I know that God hears our prayers and sees what we're going through. "For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. 1 Peter 3:12"

I decided to make some of them with seasonal papers or themes, like the red, white and blue above for July and the December page below.

I will share the rest of the pages in a later post so that there aren't too many photos to upload in one post.

Thank you for visiting. I hope perhaps that this gives you crafters some ideas for your own projects. May God bless you through the reading of His Word.

I'm sharing this project with the following challenges:
All Crafts Challenge - anything but a card
Anything But a Card #30 - anything (the December page has Christmas theme)
Created with Love Challenge #70 - anything goes
Dream Valley Challenge #71 - anything but a card
Polka Doodles #49 - gift for Christmas
Ribbon Carousel Challenge #88 - anything goes with spooled item (2 have ribbon)
Try It On Tuesday - A handmade gift or tag (mine is a gift)
Word Art Wednesday #110 - anything goes with encouraging/uplifting verse or Scripture

Beautiful Scripture Gift

When I was in my thirties, life was extremely busy. I was a mother caring for two young children and a minister's wife, which meant being in church every time it was open and visiting with people in my home or theirs. There were meals to prepare for company or pot luck dinners. I was teaching in Christian school and Sunday School or Awanas.

One time when we visited a Christain book store, I found a small red box called a Promise Box. It was filled with small cards containing beautiful promises found in God's Word.  I found it very comforting to focus on one of the verses each day. I would set it in a prominent place to be seen frequently.

So I decided to make some small mini album gifts that are full of beautiful Scriptures that encourage and uplift the reader. Here are photos of a few of the pages:

I used simple pink, light blue, and Slate grey for the colors. The entire design was simple. I folded 6" x 4" to make 3" x 4" pockets. Instead of gluing those, I wrapped each pocket with 2 3/4" x 8 1/2" piece of patterned paper. I stamped a verse from Our Daily Bread Designs or from Verve. I also stamped a simple image to complete the beautiful verse.

Here are just a few of the pages:

The inside cards have a verse stamped with Slate gray ink and Whisper gray ink for the stamped image from Close To My Heart. They were cut smaller than the pockets to allow room for the binder rings. Some of these verses were from Word Art Wednesday and were printed digitally using my printer.

I still find comfort and encouragement from the many verses I've memorized. I was sick earlier this week and had to drive to a doctor's office more than an hour away in heavy rain. I kept focusing on Philippians 4:8:

"Finally brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

God's Word can strengthen us in difficulty so this is my hope for the recipients of these small gifts. May His Word bless you, as well, during difficulty and busy times.

I'm sharing this project with the following challenges:
All Crafts Challenge October/November
Crafting By Designs - Anything Goes
Creative Craft Challenges2 - Anything Goes
Inky Linky #33 - Anything Goes
Inkspirational Challenge #41 - Anything Goes
Lady Anne's Challenge #12 - Anything Goes with Stamping
Shopping Our Stash - Using my oldest ribbon -  CTMH Heavenly blue organdy for my 11-year old grandson's baby album years ago.
Through the Craft Room Door - Anything Goes
Word Art Wednesday #102 - Anything Goes with Scripture or encouraging/uplifting verse
 

Clearly iStamp January Blog Hop

This month our blog hop at Clearly iStamp centers around the theme Something New. I just happened to get some new glitter paper and a set of treat tubes and boxes that I'm decorating with a stamp set that's new to me, and maybe to you.

In fact, if you leave a comment on my blog, you may be the lucky person to be chosen to receive my stamp set free later this week. There will be one winner from every DT member's blog.  Winners will be chosen by 5pm eastern time on Wednesday, January 23rd.

I will contact my winner on Thursday, January 24th, by email, with an attachment of the zip file of this digi set. So please be sure to leave your email address in your comment.

I chose to use the colored digi set called Heart Hugs to make another valentine for one of my granddaughters. This set has gray and pink, brown and pink, and brown and red color combinations.

 

 

I chose the little gray bear to go with my new Black and Gray glitter paper pack. I used all three colors that were in the paper plus two pink sheets that were in a Martha Stewart pack I got last year for Valentine's Day.In order to maintain the sparkle and shine, I printed my images and sentiments on a 4" x 6" piece of glossy photo paper.

 

 

 

I used the Deconstructed Sketch 85, rotated on its side, for the design of my card. 

 

 

The treat tube is another new product I hadn't tried until yesterday. I enlarged the "Be Mine" heart to 1.5" which was a perfect fit for the small die cut box. I pop dotted the heart on the front and made a tag using the original size of the sentiment and some scraps of the glitter paper. With eight grandkids I have only 7 more to make, so I kept it simple and filled it with m and m's.

 

I always appreciate your comments, so be sure to leave one to have a chance to win this fun set of images. Here is the line-up of the rest of the blog hop with the stamp set they're offering. In case you didn't start at the beginning,  you can find at the Clearly iStamp blog.

 

Clearly iStamp
Lisa - Have a Heart
Sarah T. - Tweet Houses
Cassie - Little Chickie
Deonna - Charlie Horse
Jen - Mr. Spike
Kathy - Cheeps
Vickie - Heart Hugs (that's me, you're here!)
Linda - Tiny Dinos

I'm sharing these projects with the following Challenges:
The Deconstructed Sketch #85
Paper Creators Crafts #3 - Love is all around
Alphabet Challenge Blog - Y for Yummy (my treat holder)
Crafty Catz  #166- Anything but a card (my treat holder)
Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday Challenge- give a gift
Craft Us Crazy #35 - Valentines/Love (and/or use the color red)
Crafting for All Seasons - Something New ( my glitter paper and treat holders/boxes)

Valentine's Card and Treat Tube Recipe:
Digital Image - Clear Dollar Stamps "Heart Hugs" Colored
Paper - Close To My Heart Black and Gray Glitter Papers, Martha Stewart Enchanted Woodlands mat pad (pink papers), Epson Glossy photo paper
Accents - Michaels silver ribbon, CTMH Red/Pink Sparkles and Who's Your Valentine treat tubes and die cut boxes and black hemp
Tools - printer, Martha Stewart heart border punch