Bright Creme Egg Box

My family looks forward to the weeks approaching Easter because I wind up buying candy especially for these boxes. Then they get to eat them after the photo is taken!

This box is my Cadbury Creme set, it will hold 4 eggs. I do recommend gluing the bottom tab as well as the side tabs because of the weight of the eggs.

Click on the images for larger versions, print 2 pages of the egg boxes, and one of the base. Cut out, score folds, fold and glue!

You can buy the blank template to decorate yourself at my Etsy store.

Book Review- Everyday Papercraft

Vertical Inc. specializes in English translations of Japanese books. They have a strong focus on manga but also do cookbooks and craft books, and are starting to do more of them. This is a translation of a book that came out in 2010 by Keiko Komatsubara.

As a papercrafter who loves origami, kirigami, upcycling and Japanese crafts, I'm thrilled with all these wonderful English translations. They are done very well, with the original photos and illustrations.

This book focuses on practical projects, that are whimsical and charming. Boxes made from paper, notebook covers, portfolios and some wonderful gift bag projects. There are 25 projects total, and they are all simple, clean looking projects that would make wonderful gifts.

The paper measurements are mostly international sizes rather than American paper sizing. However, the types of projects translate well and are doable with US sized envelopes and papers.

The book starts with the gallery of projects with descriptions and page numbers given for instructions. After that you find a materials list with photos. The materials used are mostly easy to find at your local office supply store and craft store. A few specialty items like decorative twist ties might take a bit more searching.

I love a lot of the projects. There are some lovely boxes that would make wonderful gifts by themselves or used as a unique, functional wrapping for another gift. The books, journals and portfolios are all handy to have as well. My favorite projects are the paper pencil case shown in orange on the cover- it's easy to make, and easy to personalize, the house shaped gift bag also on the cover and the pocket tissue box which is one of the last projects.

If you enjoy the charm and clean look of Japanese crafts as much as I do, you'll enjoy this book.
Like Vertical Inc. on Facebook to get news on their new releases.

U.S.A. U.K.
Amazon.com affiliate links don't affect your cost, and help support this site.
I received a complimentary copy of this book to review, I received no other compensation, and my review is my honest opinion of the book. You can read more about my review policy here.

Decoupaged Mini Comp Books

My family goes through a lot of composition style notebooks. Both my kids prefer them for the games and stories they are working on, and to keep notes in. I use the mini ones to keep notes in and for shopping lists and reminders. They cost a lot less than blank books and have nice smooth lined paper. We also decorate them in different ways which makes less likely we will grab someone else's book.

They are also great blank canvases for personalizing.

The miniature composition books are 4.5 inches tall by 3.5 inches wide and have 80 pages, or 160 if you use the front and back of them. For my purse, I prefer a way to close them, and a bookmark to find the page I'm on quickly.

For this project you will need:

• Miniature composition notebook
• Mod Podge- I like Mod Podge Matte for these
• Pretty paper in 2 colors- heavy enough the black won't show through- I used scrapbook paper
• scissors- I used both plain and decorative edgers
• scoring tool- bone folder or even a knitting needle
• 1/8 inch hole punch
• 1 brad- also known as brass fasteners
• 1/4 inch wide elastic
• embroidery floss
• a small charm
• foam brush to apply Mod Podge
• Plate or scrap of paper to put Mod Podge on to use

Work with small puddles of Mod Podge. Only as much as you'll use for each step.

Start by tracing the notebook on the back of your main color of paper. Then draw a second line a half inch away from it on 3 sides- 1 long and 2 short. Cut it out, then use that piece as a pattern for the second piece. Use the Mod Podge to affix the paper to the outside of each cover. Diagram shows how it looks on the inside.

Trim the corners at a 45 degree angle, then lightly score the paper as close to the edge of the notebook as possible.

Fold in edges, and glue down with Mod Podge.

Let it dry for 20 minutes, then cover one side with Mod Podge. Let that dry for 20 minutes, then cover the other side with Mod Podge. Let it dry for 20 minutes.

Now you'll attach the elastic. Punch a hole in the back cover, centered vertically and about an inch from the outside edge of the notebook.

Cut 6 inches of elastic, seal the ends with just a dab of Mod Podge, other glues will work, but the Mod Podge is right there! Then make a small cut a half in from each end.

Make a loop with the elastic, and slide the brad into both slits, then through the hole in the cover. Open the "legs" to affix it in place. It will slide over the notebook to keep it closed like below. But for the next part you need to be able to open the book, so slide the elastic off the front cover again.

Cut 2 sheets of the contrast paper to fit the inside covers and glue them into place.

Now you'll need to make the book mark. Take a piece of floss about 16 inches long, and thread the charm on it, match up the ends, then tie a small overhand knot above the charm in the middle of the strand.

Cut a piece of contrast paper that's 3 inches wide by 4.5 inches tall. This is a good place for decorative scissors for the long edges.

Put the bookmark in so the charm hangs out just a bit from the bottom, fold the top part of the floss over the spine, and glue it down.

Now glue the contrast paper over the spine.

Let it dry for 20 minutes, then go over the cover with more Mod Podge, let that dry for 20 minutes, and put on another coat of Mod Podge. Work around the brad and elastic on the back cover.

Let it dry completely, slip the elastic over the cover, and it's ready to go!

These make wonderful little gifts too. Other than drying time, they are very quick and simple to make. You can further personalize them using photos, stickers, and paper cutouts on the covers.

Plaid sent me the Mod Podge Starter Pack at no cost to use for projects on Don't Eat the Paste. Be sure to like them on Facebook for lots of links and ideas.

The starter pack has 2 ounces bottles of Mod Podge Sparkle, Mod Podge Matte, Mod Podge Gloss,  Mod Podge Outdoors and Mod Podge Paper.

Easy French Memo Board

Notice that one of the postcards looks like it's nearly falling out. My fault. I slipped them in before hanging this and didn't adjust it before taking the photo.

This postcard French memo type display is super easy to make. You'll need:
12 inch diameter Styrofoam™ disk
Mod Podge® (I used Gloss Lutre)
Foam brush
12x12 scrapbook papers or gift wrap- mine is from my stash- 3 sheets of scrapbook paper
straight pins
thumb tacks (20- I used plain brass tacks)
ribbon (6.5 feet total)
needle
thread
buttons
scissors for paper and ribbon
Pen or pencil

Start by getting your disk decorated. Outline the disk on the back of 2 sheets of the paper. Then cut out the circles just inside your lines. Cut 4 one inch strips from the other sheet and set the remainder aside for other projects.
Coat one side of the disk with ModPodge and let dry until tacky. This will help create a better surface for applying the paper. Then paint the disk with Mod Podge and put the paper on it, smooth it carefully with a dry sponge as you apply it. Let it dry a few minutes, then cover the paper with a smooth coat of Mod Podge, going slightly over the edges to the side of the disk.
Let that dry, and repeat on the other side.
Then paint the edges of the disk with Mod Podge, let it dry until tacky, then put on more and working in sections, wrap the strips around the edge. Cover the edges with Mod Podge. Let dry.

You may discover you like the look of one side better than the other, that one side just turned out a bit smoother or more evenly cut. That's your front.

After it's all dry, it's time to start putting on the ribbons. Cut 4 pieces of ribbon 18 inches long. Wrap them around the disk pinning lightly. Then slide a pin through all 4 layers where they intersect in the middle.

Unpin the outer edges and carefully lift the spoked ribbon shape off the disk. With your needle and thread and buttons, sew through all 4 layers to join them with the button (or stacked buttons. I love stacked buttons!). Sew securely.

Put the ribbons on the disk. Because of the nature of the foam,I found using 2 tacks for each ribbon end was the most secure. I tacked them on the back, then again on the edges.

The last 6 inch piece of the ribbon was folded in half, and tacked to the back of the disk to make a hanger.

So easy!! And those postcards are out of the box they've been stored in and on display.

Bat Cane- art and instructions

This is my spare cane. I picked up an inexpensive walnut cane from the grocery store to have as a back up, and couldn't resist decoupaging it. 

First I measured the circumference of the cane, which was right about 3 inches. Then I created the design. 5 inches long sounded about right to me. Click on the image to download the full sized 300 ppi version.

I printed that on a decorative paper. My choice was a coffee leaf paper that TerraCycle used to make and that I've been hoarding for special projects. A mottled, marbled, or other light colored design looks good for this. After printing, spray the design with a sealer.

Pull out the glossy Mod Podge. Cut out the design and check to make sure it wraps with the ends just meeting or just barely overlapping. Cover the back of the image with Mod Podge and glue it in place on the cane.

Then I cut strips from some of the remaining decorative paper, and glued them on to decorate, and to finish the edges. 

Cover the whole thing with a light coat of Mod Podge, going beyond the edges a bit to seal the edges. Let dry for a bit, repeat, repeat.

Let the Mod Podge cure for 24 hours, then I added an extra coat of sealer to make it very durable. I used a polyurethane spray because the color of the paper means some yellowing won't mess up the design. I sprayed it, let it dry for 10 minutes, sprayed it again,, let it dry for 10 minutes, sprayed it again. Using a high gloss polyurethane, it's very shiny! Let the polyurethane cure for 24 hours.

End result is a Halloween cane for about 10 dollars. If you don't have polyurethane or Mod Podge, it may cost a little bit more initially, but you'll be able to use them on canes for other holidays or canes to match dressy outfits. 

Other recent projects include this tassel necklace. You can find instructions on Beadwork at BellaOnline.

And these copper projects. The ankhs I made last week. The beaded messy necklace I made last night. They are made in copper and darkened with liver of sulfur. I wiped off the excess with a 3m synthetic steel wool pad. First time I used one, if you click on the image you might be able to see a couple bits of fluff I missed, but compared to regular steel wool on wire projects like this, there was very little shred. The size is a nice one for jewelry projects as well. Tiny little rectangle shaped pads!

Book Review- Decorating With Papercraft

Decorating with Papercraft : 25 Fresh and Eco-Friendly Project for the Home by Clare Young is a new and fun collection of paper projects.
The introduction includes a bit on the history of paper and the tools and techniques you'll need to complete the projects in the book.
Then you get to the projects. The projects use all sorts of paper, from tissue paper to card stock, re-purposed paper like from pages of books, newspaper or maps. They are diverse. Really showing this wonderful medium to it's best advantage. The projects are well explained with complete supply lists and templates.
Techniques include paper mache, folding, cutting, piercing, piecing, decoupage, sewing, folding curves and others.
Some of the projects are things you'd expect, pinatas, stab bound books, and photo cubes.
But then there is a lot of whimsy that would be wonderful for decorating. A cute airplane covered with old maps that would look great in a child's bedroom. A mobile of pretty little birds in patterned papers. Delightful decoupaged dimensional letters that would look good on a shelf. Many kinds of flowers made out of different materials, and a wonderful tissue paper wind sock that would blow and move very easily even indoors because it's so light.
There are also designs that are very stylish. Simply but impeccably made, they would look gorgeous in any home.
Lampshades, mobiles, candle shades, bowls, books, and sculpture, this book has a lot of great ideas.
I liked every project in this book, and found it inspirational for gift giving ideas, projects to do myself, and projects that I could do with my teens. My favorite projects are the Asian Flying Fish wind sock, the Airplane Mobile and the Simple Bowl.
You can get the book directly from the publisher here, or you can get it from Amazon.com (The link is an affiliate link and helps pay some of the costs of maintaining this site.).

Book Review- Collage Playground

Collage Playground: A Fresh Approach to creating Mixed-Media Art by Kimberly Santiago is full of wonderful layering and mixed media techniques for creating collages. Several steps beyond anything you may have done in school, these techniques would also apply to rubber stamping and scrapbooking very well.
She uses old textiles, scanned images and lots of color to create these works of art. The beginning has instructions for the techniques used, followed by projects. Because of the nature of the pieces, and because it is an art book, the projects are starting points rather than hard and fast step by step projects. They give you ideas for ways to piece, layer, and create your own collages.
My favorite project in the book is the Anatomy of a Flower, using simple techniques in an elegant way, it's the most inspirational for me. My favorite technique in the techniques section is weaving. The use of old textiles in the books just thrills me as well. There is a vase full of flowers made with vintage handkerchiefs that comes in as my second favorite. It's bright, colorful, cheerful and the technique would work just as well with scraps of vintage floral fabrics from old treasured dresses. Or for that matter, it would work if you abandoned the flowers/vase theme altogether and designed something of your own based around your scraps.
It's a lovely book, lots of colors and ideas. It reminded me of how much fun collages were to make as a teen, and showed me a lot of ideas for playing with them as a grown up.

My son, who has never done any collaging, really liked this book and has been collecting pop culture ephemera to make his own collages. So that's a bonus. I love seeing my teens inspired to create.

You can buy the book directly from the publisher at MyCraftivity.com or by clicking the Amazon.com link above.The Amazon link is an affiliate link and helps pay some of the costs of maintaining this site.

Printable mini Mad Hatter top hat with template

This was a lot more challenging than I initially thought it would be. I wound up having to remake the template because I messed it up the first time not taking into account the thickness of the cardstock.

Score the folds carefully. Cut out all the pieces. The first part you put together is the tube shaped top of the hat. Then glue the top circle into place with the tabs glued on the inside of the tube. Put one of the brim pieces face up over the hat down to the tabs on the bottom of the tube then flip it over and glue down the tabs. Glue the second brim piece over that sandwiching the tabs between the two layers of the brim. Glue the hat band and slip it over the hat, then put the card in the hat band. The plain ones could be decorated with names on the hat bands to make place cards for a tea party, or you could attach elastic cord like the Printable Mini Princess Crowns to wear the hats. If you make several of these, kudos. One was frustrating enough for me! Click on the images for the full sized 100 ppi versions. The finished size is about 3 inches tall and about 5 inches in diameter at the base.

Last picture is one my son thought I should take. The dragon is a little toy my husband won for me at the carnival.

Look for Queen of Hearts mini crowns and tea boxes to match in the next couple of days!

Book Review- Delight in the Details

Lisa M. Pace wrote this lovely book Delight in the Details for card makers, scrapbookers and paper crafters.
Her style is towards the very ornate and elegant. The projects and ideas in this book are just gorgeous and impressive while being very simple to make, do and adapt.
It's a lovely book printed in full color throughout, and it's very inspiring.
The first chapter is about making a nice place to create in. Her studio is gorgeous and her ideas for organizing supplies is inspiring and lovely. From crystal dishes and spoons filled with glitter to old cupcake tins with natural weathering to keep beads in, there are some wonderful ideas for making your work space beautiful and functional.
The first few projects deal with sparkle and shine, detailing several ways to add sparkle to projects. Detailing how add glitter edging, completely covering things in glitter, adding subtle touches to patterned paper, using mica, wire and other embellishments. My favorite projects in that chapter are the shiny alphas which put me in mind of holiday decorator accents and the wire spray of flowers made with beads and wire.
The next chapter is paint and ink, with instructions for using chalks, waxes, and alcohol based permanent inks. This chapter is full of ideas that I'd never thought of. I've used waxes to refinish vintage frames for hanging in my house but never thought of them for smaller frames for paper crafts. The crackle paint distressed letters are lovely. My favorite in this chapter though hands down is the texture paste design which creates an embossed image that's accented with glitter and crystals.
Pattern and Texture come next, also full of wonderful ideas. My favorite in that chapter are the crepe paper rosettes and the miniature banner which I really plan on using very soon. The ruffle edging project would be amazing in a bridal card or a baby shower project.
The last chapter, Vintage Finds is full of ideas for little trinkets, old buttons and things of that nature. The button bouquet would be a lovely dimensional accent to a scrapbook cover or a box using buttons from favorite clothes. The vintage paper leaves are a nice idea for old books.
The whole book is amazing, cover to cover, with ample examples of what can be done with the basic techniques. The Amazon link is an affiliate link and helps pay some of the costs of maintaining this site. U.S.A. U.K.

Fortune Cookie Earrings with printable fortunes

On Valentine's Day my husband brought me to a little Chinese restaurant we used to go to a lot when we were first dating. When we opened our fortune cookies, I had to laugh because his fit him so perfectly. I put both fortunes in my purse planning to make earrings with them.

 

I have a little card laminator. It's not much,but I use it for small crafts and for those occasional laminating jobs my dad asks me to do for him. In the past, when I'd done laminated paper for necklaces and such, I trimmed it with enough extra laminate on top to punch through just the layer of laminate. This time I used 2 hole punches. My 1/8 punch on the fortunes and fortune cookies, then after laminating, my 1/16th punch in that hole so it was still sealed around the hole. Sort of like this. The laminate is the teal outline, the paper is the black outline.

It worked out very well. Then I used simple wrapped loops and chain to put the earrings together with some pretty pearls and sterling bead caps.
You could use your own fortunes and pictures of fortune cookies from the internet. I drew the fortune cookies I used my earrings. I think it makes a nice sentimental keepsake. Packing tape would probably work instead of laminate but it won't be as stiff. Cut out the fortune cookie and punch all the pieces before arranging them in a laminating sleeve and laminating them, then trim the laminate around the images leaving a bit of a margin to keep it all nicely sealed.
I used the same technique to make this double sided pendant for my daughter using trading cards from the Star Wars Science Meets Imagination exhibit as our local museum.

 

My handy dandy 2 inch circle punch and then trimmed the sides so it fit my laminating sleeves a bit better.  

I had to run it through the laminator twice to get a real good seal because the two layers of card were a bit thick, but she's very happy with how it turned out.

You can download my fortune cookie art and two silly fortunes here 

Mini Notebooks

After cutting out all the animal cards yesterday, I kept looking at them thinking "They would make cute mini notebooks" and after a bit I grabbed a sheet of blank paper and did a quick notebook with one.

First, you'll need the card. This is just the example. The pdf has 300 ppi cards on it.

It was so easy. I pulled out my 2 inch circle punch and folded a sheet of paper in half length wise, unfolded it, and folded in the edges to the middle, then refolded the middle in the other direction.


Then measuring by eye, I cut 8 sets of pages going through all 4 layers of paper and leaving a folded edge intact.

If you don't have a circle punch, just trace the outline of a folded card 4 times butting the folded edge of the card against the folded edge of the paper and cut out the pages.
Then I nested the pages together, making  a stack with them unfolded and lined up the fold with the fold in the open card. Tie a piece of embroidery floss around the fold in the middle. Close it up!

You can put it under a book overnight so it's very flat if you'd like.
I'm absolutely making more of these.

Printable Mini Princess Crowns

 

I hope you think these are as cute as Dea does. I'm working on a little felt crown for her to clip in her hair and decided it would make a cute printable party hat. Print on cardstock, cut out, glue tab then use a hole punch to punch the holes and string elastic through and knot to wear headband style.

Dea suggests a jaunty angle for a very cartoon-y look. 

I included a blank version to personalize or to print out for little or big princesses to color themselves.Click on the images for the full sized versions. I think they would look really pretty encrusted with glitter if you don't mind getting glitter in your hair!

Paper Snails

I love my vintage craft books. These adorable snails came from a Sunset Kid's Crafts book from 1973. Aren't they cute?

I made some out of scrap paper. The edges from the bat labels I printed the other day on the pretty coffee paper, and one out of a bag from the bead show I was at last Saturday.

Curling paper is easy, it's similar to curling ribbons but going too fast can tear the paper. I'll usually use a table edge or my fingernail instead of scissors and hold it down and pull like you do for curling ribbon. I used a glue stick for these.

 

Cut the strip of paper for the snail. I made my strips between 6 and 8 inches long and about a half inch wide, curl the paper, then curve in the head and glue it, and glue the bottom of the "shell" spiral on top of the part of the head you glued down. Cut out a small antenna shape and fold the base of it up at a 90 degree angle and curl the antenna using your thumbnail and index finger. Glue in place on the head.

Great way to use security envelopes and other scrap paper. I think they are entirely too cute.

I posted an article on doing the loops on eye pins you can find here.