Category: Tutorial

This has been my favorite project of the “14 days of Valentines” Ive been putting it off because I thought it would be a lot of work. Turns out I was half right. They are time consuming. But so worth it! I mean could they be any cuter!

Its a simple assembly line craft. And you can make it even simpler. Grab some felt (it can be any color, I wanted mine to be a realistic color, but I have seen them in pink and red for a valentine theme too.) A marker, some paper, a cute Chinese take out box and your option between hot glue gun or a needle and thread with sew one snaps. To make your circles you can use any item around your house. I choose a wide mug. I would go a wee bigger with mine next time, but its all about experimenting.

After you cut out all your circles, fold them in half. Here you will choose to either glue your two points together, or do what I did and sew on snaps. I wanted to be able to open mine up and when I was looking at these most of them were glued shut. But I figured no sense in that. Although it would have been easier. I just eyeballed mine after folding it in half. One on each side and then brought them together and they make a fortune cookie!

Write down your special secret message on a little piece of paper. Whether it be a little love note or a special 4 word question. Fortune cookies always make people smile, so make some everlasting one. And even better no calories!

So if you’ve been following me lately, Ive been tempting you with the promise of 14 fun days of crafts, projects, recipes and cute Valentines! Well welcome to the kick off!

Today we are starting it nice and easy. This idea came from Martha the queen of crafts, but I put my own little twist on it. Its so easy anyone can do this! Seriously!

Start by drawing your own heart on your choice of paper, I liked mine to be longer because it fits better. Next trace your first heart on to a second paper of your choice but make it slightly bigger. Remember it doesn’t have to be perfect. Now you glue ONLY the top part together. Making sure the bottom doesn’t stick. Next you can embellish any way you want. I wanted to keep mine simple, so I only used a ribbon with a couple staples. And voila! Your own handmade hearts bookmark!

And because its the first day why not do another tutorial!

Our second one today is a candy holder. Again its going to be super easy to do. And looks very cute it you make a bunch of them in different sizes for different candy and hang them. I was impressed by how fast and easy it went together. Start with one piece of pattern paper I used a 12×12, I also suggest using two sided pattern paper, mine was a tad bland on the inside.

1. Take your paper and fold it in half diagonally and again on the opposite side.

2. Now fold it in half horizontally and again on the opposite side. And to make the next step easier, now fold one of your diagonal folds back the other way.

3. Now bring those last diagonal folds together to make a small square as shown in photo 3

4. Cut a heart into your square with the open side up. (or else there will be nothing to hold your candy!) Now take the two inside sheets and cross them together, glue all the sides flat.

Now all thats left is to add a ribbon in the middle to hang it, and of course fill it with Candy! I cant wait to make more in fun and bright Valentines colors!

And because its February 1st I have to give my little sister a shout out. Happy Birthday Kimmy! Lots of happy wishes for your 22nd year, and of course I wish I could be there to celebrate with you!

“The 60 min activity advent calendar”

I know as an advent craft this is so very late in the month to bring up. But Hey I saw a piece of paper in Michaels yesterday and knew just what to do with it. You will need two pieces of paper. I used a white sheet and “advent” from the Merry & Bright collection from WeR Memory Keepers. But Ive seen many different Christmas papers in similar styles you could also use!

Take some liquid glue and secure all your sides and in between each window as when you open them they will tend to lift up on the sides. Then write activities you would like to do with your family coordinating with your days. Just like you would eat a new chocolate each morning, you will now have a fun little activity to make some family memories each day! It can be as simple as a phone call to Grandma, a movie or revolve a whole day around ice skating or baking. Plus its less calories than eating 25 chocolates!

How simple and cute is that, 2 pieces of paper, glue, a pen, and sixty minutes later a beautiful keepsake. And if you really love it and want to reuse the same one the next year, cut out the squares with an exacto knife and start with a fresh sheet! You can even use pictures instead of writing in some windows. So keep it in mind for next year, or go get it started now and have a pleasant surprise waiting for next December 1st.

And luckily mine had a giant Christmas door to peak behind for December 25th. Which is good when you have a crazy day of doing 4 houses each Christmas! But that’s another story to share later next week!

So after I saw Rachelle’s amazing tutorial about the Christmas ball wreath I thought I had better whip some out too! What a fun little craft this is! I made a trip to my favorite place in the world. Target! Hit up the dollar isle, and spent 25 bucks. Came home and an hour later we had two beautiful wreaths in our house!

I saw the bright colors right away and thought, even though these wont go at all in my house I need to make one. I love fun colors like that for Christmas, but I’m too traditional to not go all red and gold. So I made both. The bright one is outside and the red one (with the extra pattern ones I plucked off the bottom of my tree) goes in the kitchen on the pantry door. Neither have ribbons yet because I am making my weekly trip to Michael’s tomorrow, so I’ll add that later.

I couldn’t believe how easy they were to make. This bright one only took 20 minutes! I just kept shuffling them on not really making a pattern. I had thought the back stayed flat but you can choose which side looks better because both are full and can be displayed. My only issue I had was with my awesome memory. I went to grab my glue gun and realized I left it in Calgary on my last trip. But I only lost 2 balls total from popping off from the pressure when you tighten it. So even if you dont have a glue gun you can still make this awesome wreath!

This one is my favorite. I even got a wreath hook to match it. Again thank you target for being the best. I love the pattern ones mixed in. I think it gives it a bit more flair. Plus now it matches the rest of the house! Here’s another shot to show you how much it sits off the wall because of how full it is.

So if you have 25$ and 20 minutes. Throw a couple of these together. Keep one and give the other as a gift! Who wouldn’t love these! Has anyone else out there made one yet or planning on it? I would love to see some more! Seriously go make one!

Hello All!

Alissa has asked me to be a guest blogger for today, and I have gladly/excitedly accepted! My name is Rachelle, and I have been married for nearly 3 years, a mother for 2 years, and a crafter since the day I received my first pair of scissors. Although my crafts have come a long way since the 80’s, my heart has always been a creative one.

I’ve been friends with Alissa for a handful of years now, and I’m happy to say that we both share that same creative heart. She is quite the inspiration to me as well actually! My hope today is that I might inspire some of you as well. So get out your glue, your ribbon, and let’s pull those creative heart-strings!

One evening, while searching for some way to satisfy my creative thirst, I came across this tutorial on how to make an ornament wreath. It is extremely simple, but looks absolutely extravagant when all is said and done. The tutorial doesn’t state what kind of ornaments to buy, but if you want to put your wreath outside eventually, I highly suggest using plastic shatter-proof balls… otherwise the glass ones are too brittle in the cold. However, if you plan on keeping your wreath indoors, then go for the glass ones (they always seem to come in a better variety of colours and sizes). Part of the fun in this craft is picking out the different colours, shapes, and types of ornaments. Some are glossy, matte, frosted, sparkly… you name it! I did one recently in black, silver, and lime, and it looked very chic. So have fun with this one… I still do!

Here we go!

Take a regular metal hanger and bend it into a circle like so. Next break out your glue gun and about 80 Christmas balls. (ps its a fun after the holiday craft to make because all Christmas decorations go on sale after the big day!) Remove the cap from the ornament and dab it with some hot glue and reattach. This will help secure it after its all put together.

Next untwist your hanger from the top, but leave the hook shape alone. You now begin to slide the ornaments onto the hanger varying the color and sizes as desired. You can use smaller ones to fill the gaps but the preference is all yours!

And voila your done! A beautiful handmade Christmas wreath! Now all that’s left is to hang it. You can re twist the top together and add a little wire to the hook and hang it from there. As well as taking it a step further and adding a charming big satin bow to hide it all! Simple, fun and gorgeous!

I invite and challenge you all to make this your own and post some links to your beautiful design. Because it can be done so many ways I love to see what others create! Good luck and have fun!

The first tutorial of lissables! How exciting. I made this box last year and its still one of my favorites. Its easy and looks beautiful and can be made over and over again and be unique each and every time!

You will need 4 pieces of paper, the first three making your layered box flaps.

The first a 12×12 piece that you will score 4 inches in from all 4 sides, and cut out the corners giving you 4×4 squares.

The second being 11×11 and scoring 3 3/4 inches in from all 4 sides and cut out the corners.

The third being 10×10 and scoring 3 1/2 inches in from all 4 sides and cutting out the corners.

Decorate them in which ever fashion you want! I prefer the vintage beat up look. Im addicted to inking all and every edge possible. Remember to keep it simple as you will want to add photos too and dont want it to get too busy.

After its to your standards glue the layers together from the middle square.

Your last paper is your lid. It is an 8×8 piece. Scoring the edges at 1 7/8 inches but this time only cut one side of the of the square on the edge. Giving you a flap which you can glue and create the inside of your lid. Embellish to match the rest of your box.

Put it all together and you can have an exploding box effect when the lid is lifted. I love watching people who do not scrap or craft opening it, because it really is a fun idea.

I like using it to wrap little presents. I still in my mind think aw what if someone used it to propose and a ring was tied with a ribbon in the middle square surrounded by pictures of them. How sweet. (Guys if your reading this I would so make that for someone just to have pictures of it!) So really like I said the possibilities are endless with it. Enjoy and have fun!