Welcome to my blog!!! This is Miss Roxydog. Roxydog will grace many of my pictures. She is incredibly spoiled and highly intelligent. I guess I'm biased...she is my furbaby.

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Thursday, September 30, 2010

Baby Brag Book

A good friend of mine just had a beautiful baby boy. This little brag book is simple to make and easy to personalize for anyone. Here's how:

Supplies:
~Chipboard (you can buy it or just use the cardboard backing you find in scrapbook paper packs or notepads.)
~Scrapbook paper 2-12x12 sheets and coordinating scraps for matting and embellishments
~7 3/4"x 26" piece of artist paper (I buy a large piece from a local art supply and ask them to cut multiple pieces to be used for other books.  Generally I will get 3-4 books out of one piece!)
~Gluestick (you will probably use at least one full stick)
~Papercutter
~Embellies: Here I've used coordinating scraps of ribbon, stamped images, stickers, punches, brads etc.
  1. Cut 2-4x8" pieces of cardboard and 1-1/2x8" for the spine
  2. Lay pieces on a 9 1/2"x 9" scrapbook piece of paper leaving 1/4" in between pieces.  You should have at least 1/4" margin all the way around.  It should look like this:
3.  Using a glue stick, cover entire area of the three pieces of cardboard and affix to paper.  You can use a bone folder or just your hands to make sure it is smooth.

4.  Cut corners on the diagonal as close to the corner of the cardboard as possible.  An exacto knife works best. 
5.  Now glue edges down.  Here's what it looks like now:
6.  If you would like to use ribbons to close the book, center and glue them now!  Glue a coordinating 8"x8"piece of scrapbook paper on the inside.  I usually set mine just inside the border so that a little bit of the cover paper shows.  Depending on how far apart the cardboard pieces are, you may have to adjust the measurement.  It looks like this:
7.  If you want to add the giftcard pocket, simply cut a scrap of paper slightly shorter than the height of the giftcard and fold the bottom and two sides about 1/4" in.  Use a gluestick to secure on the front panel.  Only glue the 3-1/4" folded parts so that you create a pocket!
8.  Now take your 7 3/4" x 26" piece of white artist paper and accordian fold it making each panel approximately 3 1/2" wide. 
9.  Glue the first panel of the accordian to the back (right side) of the book. 

10.  Now you are ready to embellish each panel with fun papers and embellies.  As you can see here, I used two panels to form one layout for a larger picture.

Let your imagination run wild and you will have an "out of this world" gift for a loved one!!!! 
p.s. I tore the front panel of the accordian for a different look.  This also works well when your accordian piece is a little short of a full panel!
Hope you enjoyed this project!  Let me know how your's turns out:)

Friday, September 24, 2010

Dressed Up Recipe Boxes

This is one of my mom's original recipe boxes. She loves them because they hold 5x7 cards. I decided to spruce them up with a little tlc.
First I laid out the box top and cut the paper 1 and 1/4 inches wider than the box. Next, I used mod podge to secure the paper to the box top. After securing, I used my exacto knife to cut the paper from the corner of the box to the corner of the paper.

I applied mod podge to the side of the box top and secured the paper on the inside of the box top.

I wrapped the remaining paper and secured with mod podge.

Repeat this process for the bottom portion of the box. After all sides were secure, I brushed two coats of mod podge over the paper to give the box a nice glaze. I happened to have a few extra pieces so I used them to coordinate the two boxes.

Voila! Brand new boxes for my mom's ever growing recipe collection.

This would work equally well on shoe boxes, old hat boxes, pretty much anything that needed a little sprucing up! Btw, be sure to allow the mod podge to dry a full twenty-four hours. I used cups to prop the boxes and lids up so they wouldn't stick to my table.

Supplies:
box to be covered
two sheets of gift wrap (I got mine at the Paper Source!)
mod podge matte (you can get this at Michael's or any craft supply)
brush (I used an old paint brush)
exacto knife

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Yellow stairs


This cute little yellow step used to lead to our spa. It had been chewed up by the previous owner's beagles and beaten up by the weather. I decided it deserved a little tlc so I headed to Home Depot. I actually despise Home Depot but the two departments I don't mind in it are the paint department and the plant section. After a little chat with the paint dude, I purchased yellow paint, primer and a brand new sander!
After sanding down the steps thoroughly, I wiped them down with a wet rag. I painted them with two coats of primer (the wood was really porous) and then let it dry for an hour. Then, I painted the whole thing with this perky yellow paint. Cute, right? Now I have a spot for all of my potted flowers. And when I get bored with the yellow, I can repaint it with a new, spunky color!

Mason jar remix



So my husband is on a real mission to become a green minimalist. He has somehow persuaded me into a composting bin in the backyard, cutting my closet in half and to walk, instead of driving, a good 4 miles to get to the bank and pickup some lunch. He hasn't talked me into being vegan yet, but he's working on it. I guess his efforts are rubbing off on me because I'm constantly finding things that can be repurposed.


The best part about this little project is that it's free and you can find all the supplies in your house.
Supplies:
~mason jar (I used an empty spaghetti sauce jar)
~12 x 12 inch paper scraps (If you are a scrapper, you probably have a ton of these. If not, try newspaper, giftwrap, even a page from a magazine will do.)
~scraps of yarn or ribbon
~stamp or just hand drawn art
~double sided tape
~glue
~scissor or paper trimmer
Directions:
1. Thoroughly clean out your jar. I find that larger jars are perfect for a small bouquet of flowers but I love the smaller jars for storing markers, buttons, whatever.
2. Cut a strip of patterned paper about one inch thick. Cut another about 2 inches thick.
3. Glue the thinner strip onto the thicker one.
4. Fasten the strips of paper around the belly of the jar. You can glue the ends or tape them if you want to change the band later.
5. Wrap your string or ribbon around the jar a couple of times and tie a bow.
6. Cut a tag out of extra paper. Stamp with sentiment. Punch a hole at top of tag. Add a decorative brad. Use double sided tape to affix to the paper band.
7. Add some fresh flowers and voila! You have the perfect hostess gift.