What the World Needs- Printable quote

“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” -Howard Thurman

The version above is shareable on FB from either Don't Eat the Paste Quotes or Shala's Beadwork and Printables.


Click on the image below for a larger version of this quote to print. I hope you like it as much as I do!

You know how to make one happy little crafting geek really happy? Linking to her from FB or Twitter, especially when you're one of her favorite products. Like Astrobrights paper. When I print the black and white quotes, I use Astrobrights paper. They look so neat that way. My favorite colors for winter are Cosmic Orange, Plasma Pink and Terra Green. In summer it goes to the blues and purples. Why? Because this time of year, the sky is blue during the day, the sun is bright, and reflecting off all that snow. The only time you really see colors is sunrise, sunset and during shows of the Northern Lights. The rest of the time it's blue, grey and white everywhere. So the warm colors remind me of spring and summer. During the summer, when it seems like everything is alive with color, then I like the blues, purples and pinks. So I was happy about being mentioned by Astrobrights!

Christmas Gift Box- Curved Square

I hope you enjoy the new design! This box is kind of unusual and does take a bit of patience if you've never folded curves before. I always recommend scoring folds first, but for curved fold, you have to score. If you don't have a bone folder, other good options are a blunt yarn needle, the back of a butter knife, or my personal favorite, the smooth back of a steel crochet hook. 

The other thing that's unusual about this box is that it can be closed in a variety of ways, you don't need to use glue, but you will need to use something. For my example, I used a bit of elastic cord, and put the "top" sides towards the inside of the box, and the bottom flap on the outside. You could also use a decorative sticker, a piece of tape, glue the sides, yarn or ribbon to close.

Click on the image for the larger version and print on card stock.

In other news, I was recently writing a review on Amazon for a French press coffee maker, and had to delete a lot of it because I started getting really off track about the differences in coffee brewing methods. I thought about writing the whole thing here, but I'm really not sure you all want to "hear" me talking about coffee!! 

2012 Angel Box

If you've been reading this blog a few years, or for the people who started with me with my first webpage of printables, you know that yearly I do an angel box of some sort. This year's angel uses the same body template as some of the Halloween boxes, but turned into a curly haired angel. I'll probably post the same box with other colors of hair and skin soon. This angel is inspired by my daughter and she gave me lots of tips while I was working on her. She also was the one who decided the gown length. When I said "She'll be standing in snow, won't her feet get cold?" TG replied "She's an ANGEL mom."

Click on the printable box for a larger version, print on card stock, cut out, score, fold, glue.

I'm going to be posting a few money cards like this one over the next few weeks, and I'd love some suggestions for what kinds of designs you'd like to see on the cards.

Sharpie Recycled Ornaments- I love Sharpie

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Sharpie® for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Sharpie® fan girl alert! But that's most crafters isn't it? We love Sharpie® in so many ways, all the tips and types.

My personal favorite Sharpie® pens are the brush tip pens. I use them on fabric and paper to color in designs like this fabric print. I love their 12 packs! It's a great way to get a nice palette for projects and drawings. 

After that, for the holiday season, I'm wild for Sharpie® Metallic permanent markers and paint markers. They can be used on lots of different surfaces, and show well on dark or light backgrounds. There are some great new colors for the metallic markers.

I used them on these ornaments, which are very simple to make if you have a die cutting machine that can use embossing folders, and only slightly more difficult if you're embossing by hand. I used the paint markers for these, but the regular permanent markers will work as well.

You will need:

• Empty aluminum soda cans
• embossing supplies for hand embossing or a machine that will emboss
• Sharpie Metallic Markers- fine or extra fine point
• 2 inch circle punch
• 1/4 inch hole punch
• wire
• beads

Start by opening up the can to get a sheet of aluminum. I actually do this fairly regularly with my cans and keep the sheets in a shoebox so they are on hand. Scraps from the project can be put into a recycling bin with other aluminum cans.

Emboss or deboss the sheet. If you're using a die cutting machine, it's really easy, just put it in the folder and run it through your machine.

If you're hand embossing, or doing this with children, I recommend folding masking tape over the edges to make it safer for children to handle. Then decide if you want to emboss or deboss the design. The rose copper one is debossed, so the design is recessed in the surface. The 2 gold designs are embossed, so the designs are raised from the surface. Flatten the can a bit gently with a mallet or hammer. If you want to deboss, you'll put it with the metal side up. Emboss will be design side up. Put it on a newspaper or mousepad and use a blunt tipped tool to create your design. I like using pens without ink and the backs of crochet hooks. Go over the design until the debossing or embossing is at the depth you want it. Turn it over and make the lines clearer by outlining it from the other side with your embossing tools. 

After the designs are made, use the 2 inch circle punch to fussy cut your favorite parts of the design, and then put a hole in the top using the hole punch. Then the fun part! Color it in using the Sharpie® markers! Create a hanger with wire and beads. 

This effect also works well on aluminum foil, which can be used in other projects. To attach aluminum foil to things, I like using a spray on adhesive. 

Find lots of other great Sharpie® craft ideas on their Holiday Happenings Pin board.