Paper Crafts

Free Printable Christmas Countdown and Wood Clipboard Tutorial

0 · Nov 26, 2013 · 3 Comments

Hi all! It’s Jenn from My Fabuless Life. I’m SO excited that the Christmas season is HERE, and even more excited to share a little printable Christmas Countdown project with all of you. If you follow me on my blog, you already know that I’m a sucker for all things counting down to the big Holiday, so this is one of several advent calendars that I have around my house.

All you’ll need for this project is:

* a block of wood (mine is 8×10, purchased from a local woodcraft store, but you can easily use whatever scraps you have lying around, or even a picture frame).

*a metal clip or clothespin

*the printables I’ve provided for you at the end of the post

I sanded and rounded out the edges of my wood block, and then stained it with my favorite stain (Early American from Minwax). Once the stain was dry, I sanded the edges again to give them a more aged look,

then I hot glued the clip on in the center of the wood.

To give the cards a little something extra, I colored the edges with a red marker.

This would be a really fun project with a picture frame too. Just put some pretty paper inside the frame, and glue the clip to the glass on the frame.

{DOWNLOAD FILES HERE}

Enjoy! And happy Holiday decorating! You can get details on my full Christmas display (including details on the coordinating "Merry & Bright" print) over at My Fabuless Life.

Or you might enjoy a few of these other Christmas projects:

Gold & White Nativity / Holiday Table Decorating Tips / $20 Handmade Tree

DIY Thanksgiving Garland

0 · Oct 28, 2013 · 10 Comments

DIY Thanksgiving Garland //

Hi Whipperberry readers! Haley here, from Life Is Sweet. I can't resist festive garlands, and this year I made a few! I'm enjoying them on our mantle, but any of these would be great on bookshelves, windows, railings, or just up on the wall. Two embraced the feeling of autumn and one embraced the wonderful holiday coming up next month, Thanksgiving! Jenn said it perfectly in her post of her fabulous Thanksgiving Centerpiece–it's a beautiful time of year dedicated to expressing gratitude for blessings, surrounding yourself with loved ones, and making and enjoying great food!

The first two garlands I'm sharing how to make are pretty simple. The leaf garland just calls for needle+thread along with leaves bought from the craft store (I've tried displaying real fallen leaves but they shriveled and lost their color within a couple days). The second one calls for needle+string and pompoms. I happened to find my pom balls at a thrift store (cheers to pre-loved nick-nacks!) but you can order felt poms in an array of colors from Hello Maypole. Then string away!

The "Give Thanks" garland takes a little more work, but is still very doable and you can create whatever message you'd like!

SUPPLIES:

Black cardstock

Scissors

White color pencil

Pencil

Rope/String

Paper hole-punch

Pencil sharpener (not pictured)

Ruler (or Colorbök Scrapbook paper pack has a ruler on the back)

You'll first want to decide the shape and size you want your garland pieces to be–pentagons, triangles, rectangles, circles, etc. Mine are pentagon-shaped that measured out to be 7.5 inches tall and 5.5 inches wide.

For a pentagon shape you cut off two corners–the two short sides of mine measured 2.75 inches and 2.5 inches. Then use that pentagon to trace the rest of the pieces you need–I got two out of each 12×12 inch sheet.

I used a pencil to lightly sketch out the letters (after typing out "GIVE THANKS" in a Word document and chose the two fonts I liked: Snell Roundhand Black and Baskerville Old Face). But stencils would be another great way to get the letters on the garland. You'll then use the white colored pencil to fill in the letters. I loved how it gave it a fun chalk look, without the mess and I was able to be more precise. Now is when the pencil sharpener will come in handy.

You'll use a hole punch to put holes in the top corners of your garland pieces. I used a three-hole punch, and the spacing worked great for me to punch two at a time. Then string them up!

I hung/displayed all three garlands using good ol' scotch tape and, because my mantel is white, colored the tape with a white Painters marker (purchased at Walmart) so it's a bit camouflaged. 😉

Thanks again Heather for having me!

xo, Haley

Thanksgiving Centerpiece

0 · Oct 22, 2013 · 17 Comments

Thanksgiving Centerpiece // Hi all! It's Jenn from My Fabuless Life. Can you believe that Thanksgiving is already around the corner?! The older I get, the more I LOVE Thanksgiving. I love that it gives us a whole month to focus on our blessings, gather with family, and of course, an excuse to throw diet cares out the window and and EAT!!

I loved all of the "Thankful Trees" I saw floating around the blog world last year, so this year, I wanted to create my own. We'll call it the "deconstructed," sparkly version.

I started by cutting out my letters on my Cricut on some mat paper (like for matting pictures). You can pick it up in packages of 20 at Hobby Lobby, and it's super cheap. It's quickly becoming one of my new favorite crafting tools because there are about a million and uses for it.

After I cut out my letters, I just coated them with a layer of Mod Podge, and then glitter. For the sticks, I used some fun paper straws from Target, and for the base, just a stick from the yard.

I drilled holes in the stick and placed the straws in.

Since I wanted the text to be kind of fun and crazy, I hot-glued the letters on at different heights before I trimmed the straws.

Then I trimmed them up and set them on my table.

I wrote down things we were thankful for on some kraft paper (you can see my four year old's on the left–my favorite) and glued them to a few more of the straws. This is my favorite part of this project, because it's a great way to teach my little one about blessings and being grateful, and the responses are priceless–as you can see. You could easily save these in a scrapbook and look back over them each year too, making for some great memories.

Halloween Decorations with American Crafts & Target

2 · Sep 26, 2013 · 16 Comments

This Halloween Decorations post brought to you by American Crafts // ' Tis the season to start dressing up our homes with all kinds of creepy, crawly decor. I have to admit in the past I have not been much of a Halloween decor person. I've never really gotten into the macabre & grotesque side of Halloween. However, In recent years the Halloween trends have become way more fun in my eyes and I've fallen in love with decorating for this playful holiday. Companies like American Crafts have also made it so dang EASY to dress-up our home decor and spook things out for our parties!

A few weeks ago the crew at American Crafts sent over some goodies that they have created for Target for this year's Halloween season and they are soooo stylish and fun to work with!

The products range from full kits like the paper wreath, witches hats & banner all the way down to stylish washi tape and everything in between. You can buy little individual elements to create with, or buy a full kit that comes with everything you need. I put together this stunning paper wreath that was a SNAP to make.

The kits come with everything you need, you don't even have to bust out the glue or tape. The instructions are easy to follow and the project comes together really quick. For this one I did find that a stapler did come in a little handy at times, but for the most part everything worked like a charm. I used the wreath to dress-up my entryway and I love how everything turned out.

I added stickers to some glass containers that I had laying around. It's simply amazing how even just that, transforms the whole scene into something a little spooky.

Next, I made the banner from the Happy Halloween banner kit. The EASIEST BANNER EVER!! Seriously… Everything is self-adhesive so it's just stick-it and go.

The cool thing is you can make whatever element just how it is pictured in the kit, or you can (if you feel comfortable) bring out your creative side and use the elements to invent your own masterpiece. I used the elements from the witches hat kit to dress-up some straws for the display.

I love how they turned out!

You can find all of these fun products, plus several more at your local Target store. Go grab'em before they are gone. As cute as they are, they are sure to sell out FAST!!

Disclaimer // This is an American Crafts sponsored post. I received free product and payment for this post. However, all thoughts, ideas and opinions are my very own. I want you to know that I will NEVER post on a product that I don't love or would use in my normal everyday life.

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