Googly Eyes

This might not be the most intricate page I have done, but it's definitely the most fun I've had after finishing a page! It's all because of the googly eyes! I made them out of some baby food jar lids and packaging from some scrapbook embellishments. The button 'pupils' move around whenever the page is moved and I seriously can't stop shaking the page!!

Of course I want to share all the fun I'm having! So I'm including a small tutorial at the end of the post.

But, before we get to the instructions...here are some close-ups of the page...

I used some foam adhesive to give one of the flowers a little lift.

 Close up of the googlies. hee hee!

I also used the foam adhesive on the buttons to help them stand out a bit more.

Now to the fun part...

I started with two baby food jar lids,

two small plastic packages that some brads and embellishments came in,

Aleene's clear tacky glue,

two buttons,

paper

First, I cut out two pieces of paper to fit the inside of the lid and two pieces of the packaging for the outside of the lid. This is what will hold the button inside the lid so make sure it is a tad bit bigger than the diameter of the lid.

To assemble the eyes, just glue the paper to the inside of the lid,

set the button on the paper,

put a line of tacky glue around the lip of the lid (try not to let it drip into the lid because you might end up accidently gluing your lid to the jar).

Place the plastic circle onto the lid and let the glue dry.

To cover up the lid lip, I just went around the edge of the plastic circle with a black marker. Plus this helped give some definition to the eyes. If you want to cover up the sides of the lid, a small strip of ribbon works perfect!

Finish it up by adhering the eyes to the page with some regular sized glue dots and your googlies are ready for a good shakin'!

Weaving Ribbon

One of my all time favorite sites - ScrapbookSteals.com - is gearing up for another online crop on May 21st. Usually they post challenges for us to work on during the crop, but this time they posted some challenges early! I L-O-V-E these challenges because it gives me that extra little kick in the behind to get my scrap on!

I don't need many excuses to use ribbon, so I jumped right on the ribbon challenge! I wanted to do something a little different with it though, and I thought weaving some of my American Crafts ribbon would be perfect for this layout...

I started by tracing and cutting the circles, letters, and number. Then I layed out the ribbons going in one direction on the back side of the paper and secured them using mini glue dots. *Here's a little tip - don't adhere the ribbon until you are sure of the placement...those little dots have a lot of sticky power! Once the first set of ribbons is in place, you can start weaving. I just used my fingers to pull the ribbon up and under, but tweezers would've saved a bunch of time!

Once you have all your ribbon weaved and placed where you want, go ahead and secure the ends down with some more mini glue dots.

This is what your weave should look like when you turn your paper over...

Just trim away the excess ribbon and embellish however you want. Here are some close up pics...

As you can see, the ribbon weave works great with any kind of shape.

I ended up with a 2 page layout so I could show some journaling. I used basically the same technique with the ribbon weaving on the top and bottom of the page, just with some larger American Craft ribbon.

I would love to see some of your designs using the ribbon weave technique! Just post a link in the comment section to your pictures. :)

♡

Storage for Border Embellishments

I have a hard time finding ways to store my border embellishments for scrapbooking. I've either been storing them in the bags made for 12x12 papers or a spaghetti noodle holder...

The bags were great, because the embellishments were completely covered so they wouldn't get dirty or dusty, but if I wasn't careful, they would get bent up in the bags. The noodle holder was wonderful because they didn't get bent, but I had no way to cover them except for putting a plastic bag over them...not very attractive.

While grocery shopping a couple days ago, I noticed these super stack Pringles (that I happened to have a coupon for) and I thought that this container would be perfect for storing borders. Is it sad that I buy food items just to reuse their containers for something else???

The can still wasn't quite tall enough, so I did have to make some modifications...

I started by washing and drying the can and lid. I unrolled the cardboard at the top of the can,

Then I cut 2, 2 inch sections off a paper towel roll. You could also use a toilet paper roll, but the paper towel ones are usually thicker.

I made one cut in each of the paper towel roll sections to make it lay flat and then taped each section onto the top of the can...

I folded over the top of the cardboard and taped it down to give the lid a little better grip when it's on the can. I went a little tape crazy, but I wanted to make sure the top of the can was nice and sturdy...

This is what the can looks like after the paper towel roll sections are taped down...

I used some paper from American Crafts Blue Skies Collection to cover the can and I used Aleene's Tacky Glue to attach the paper to the can, but you could probably use a glue gun or any other sturdy glue. If you roll the paper before hand, it will have a nice curve to it that makes it easier to attach to the can.

You will probably have just a little bit of overhang on the top of the container. I folded this over and taped it to the inside of the can and then I glued a piece of scrap paper into the inside to cover up all the tape.

Cut a piece of ribbon 8-10 inches long and attach to the can using a stapler. To reinforce the ribbon, I used two staples criss-crossed over each other and then I added a couple stickers to hide the staples.

Pop on the lid when your done and this makes a great little storage container for your borders that's pretty enough to hang up and easy to grab for scrapbooking on-the-go.

Sleepy Time

Ever since I became pregnant and actually started really noticing all those cute baby items you could buy, I've seen those little door hangers for baby's room. They are pretty much do not disturb signs for your bundle of joy. One side lets you know when he is in peaceful slumber and the other lets you know when it's safe to come in. Of course they're cute, but I really never saw the point in having one...until I was going through my pics and found this one of Funny Bun sleeping...

Seriously! How cute is that?? And what better way to use this picture than to incorporate it into his own little sleepy time door hanger...


I did get a little sloppy with the outlining on the sleepy side (that's what happens when a 9 month old tries to help) so I might end up redoing it. Although...isn't the 'messiness' of our crafts what gives them character?

Oh Scrapy Day

Today was the first day of spring...and we were stuck inside! Thank you Nebraska weather!! I was determined to not let a perfectly good day go to waste with monotonous cleaning activities, so I gathered my scrapbooking supplies and set out to make some projects during Funny Bun's naps.
My first task was to make an Easter banner. I go completely all out decorating for Halloween and Christmas. I even have some Valentine's decorations. But, except for the occasional basket and jelly beans, Easter comes and goes completely deprived of the decor it deserves.

Thankfully, I had the perfect springtime papers for the banner. Using My Mind's Eye Laundry Line, I cut out some eggs and letters, glued them together, and strung them up to create a festive little banner to be displayed prominently on the wall.

Unfortunately, this project was so quick to put together, I still had time to clean before Funny Bun woke up from his morning nap. So, not only do I have a beautiful banner hanging in my kitchen, I also have clean countertops and floors!

Thankfully, the mailman showed up with a surprise so that dreaded afternoon cleaning would just have to wait. Hmm...well that sounds a bit dirty!! Ummm...how about a redo?

Thankfully, the growth chart kit I ordered from scrapbooksteals.com was delivered today. So the dreaded afternoon cleaning would just have to wait. Naturally, I didn't read the instructions that came with the kit. I just dug right in! As I was working on the 4th page, I thought that this would be so much cuter as a first year chart. I decided to make 12 pages instead of 9 (one for each month of the year) and I wanted the tape measure to represent each week of the year. Yeah, I know there's only 52 weeks in a year, but I had to go to 53" to make the darn thing fit right.

*Please ignore the ugly toes in the pictures. They are so not summer ready yet!!

As you can see, there's no pictures on the pages yet. Funny Buns decided he wanted to wake up before I could get those on, along with the metal rings to help hold everything together. I promise I will post pics of the completed project very soon.