With three of my children going back to school this year I knew I needed to come up with a gift for them to give to their teachers on the first day of school that would be functional, personal, and *simple* for me to create! My stash of composition notebooks was the answer!!

Supplies:

• Composition Notebook
• Xyron (with permanent adhesive cartridge)
• Self-adhesive “bling”
• Buttons
• Ribbon (different than shown in supply photo)
• Corner Rounder (not shown)
• Mini Glue Dots (not shown)
• Krylon Spray Sealer (not shown)
• Lola Kit by Kelley Mickus Designs

I started by designing my cover, back, and spine in Photoshop. I created a new document 7 inches by 9 3/4 inches for both the cover and back. The spine I created 2 1/2 inches by 9 3/4 inches. I loved Kelley’s Lola kit for this project … the colors are so fun and sophisticated!! I printed my designs on Epson Premium Matte Photo Paper and cut them out. I rounded the corners on the cover and back paying attention to which two corners needed to be rounded. After that I gave them a light coat of Krylon Spray Sealer to keep the ink from smudging. I knew a notebook would be handled frequently so this was an easy step to help protect the notebook. You can also cover the entire thing with Mod Podge after you are finished to give even more protection (although I did not in this sample).

After cutting all of my pieces out I ran them through my 9″ Xyron to put adhesive on the entire surface. If you don’t have a Xyron you can easily use another type of adhesive – Mod Podge, redline tape, etc. Just make sure that you use a strong adhesive that gives good coverage. Once they were “sticky” I attached the cover and back directly onto the composition notebook. I also wanted to cover the spine so I printed a piece for that, but before attaching it to the notebook I wanted to add one more thing – a bookmark!

I started by attaching a few small pieces of redline tape to the back of the notebook by the spine. This is where I attached the ribbon before covering it with the paper for the spine. After adding the ribbon I took the paper for the spine and covered the ribbon before taking it and wrapping it around the front part of the
notebook. This gives a special detail to the book and
covers the seams from the front and back covers that were added.

Time to add a few details! A little “bling” in the center of the flower as well as on top of my black buttons adds just a little sparkle without adding too much bulk – remember, I wanted this to functional, too There you have it … a fun and easy gift that is functional and sure to be loved by the receiver. Pair this with a matching pen, a favorite treat or drink, a gift card, or add it to a basket of school supplies for the teacher. Now run back to Target or where ever you are doing your school supply shopping and stock up on composition notebooks – they’re great to have on hand when you need a quick gift!

My solution? A quick and easy gift that I can mass produce for very little expense!!

I have found that food is always a great place to start when coming up with a gift. While shopping my local Target I stumbled on Jiffy Pop while picking up some microwave popcorn. Remember Jiffy Pop? Yes, they still make it!

I thought it would be fun to buy for the kids and then my idea started forming … I could dress it up to make the perfect gift! At just over $1 each I could give them to all of my neighbors, too!

Supplies used:

• Fabulously Festive Kit by SarahJ
• Foam Dimensionals
• Self-Adhesive “bling”
• Scissors
• Terrifically Tacky Tape*
• Ribbon*
• Jiffy Pop*

* (items not shown in photo)

First, I designed my Jiffy Pop cover in Photoshop. I started by creating a 7 inch circle with my marquee tool and using it as a clipping mask to make sure my design would fit the space. After I finished my design, I printed a “flattened” copy with all of my elements as a part of the cover so I could just print, cut out the circle, and finish my gift … SO EASY!!!

Then I decided that I wanted to “jazz it up” just a bit by cutting out some of the embellishments rather than having them flat. To do this I created a new 8 1/2 x 11 inch document where I moved all of my pieces that I wanted to cut out away from the main circle and printed. You can see both print samples in the photo of my supplies. I cut out my pieces and got ready to assemble my cover. I attached my “frame” with my greeting to the front of the cover using Terrifically Tacky Tape, only adhering the sides and bottom. I left the top open so I could include a personalized note or a gift card to a local movie rental shop!! I added some “bling” to the tree, popped it up, and put two of my presents on foam dimensionals. The assembly from here is simple … just pull back the foil edge on the Jiffy Pop, tuck your cover inside, and reseal the edges!! Embellish with ribbon and you’re done!

The great thing about this project is that you can print out and assemble lots of these in a VERY short period of time by using the “flattened method” or you can spend a bit more time on the details and make it extra special. Either way you are sure to have a unique gift that your friends and neighbors will love and remember!!

Here are your random numbers:

10
4
30
48
13
20
42
24

Timestamp: 2009-05-18 08:04:51 UTC

Congrats to Ina, Cristina, Lynn, Cheryl aka Cherpea, Michelle Powell, Stephanie, jules p, and Heather!! You will be contacted via e-mail to get your mailing information so we can get these goodies right out to you. After you receive it and make your very own, make sure to post it in the hybrid gallery over at The Digichick … we’d love to see your creation!

Thanks to all of you who left your comments, Facebooked, Twittered, blogged, and shared The Hybrid Chick love around the web … I wish we had a bracelet for each of you! We MAY just have another fun new product from Lucky Feather to giveaway in the future *WINK*, so make sure you’ve got us bookmarked and check back often! Or better yet, add us to your Google Reader (or other Blog Feed Service) so you get updates every time a new project is posted – you won’t want to miss out on ANY of them!

I’m an accessory loving girl and the idea of a bracelet with darling charms that I could put my own photos in was a dream come true. Not only was the bracelet beautiful but it came with instructions and all of the supplies I would need to complete it. The best part? It was made to be EASY to put together!! Who doesn’t love a quick, easy, beautiful craft?

I started by looking at what was included in the package – the bracelet has 5 charms that are double-sided so you can capture 10 images. Also included is a sheet of Storyville art images from letters to greetings to pictures that you can use to complete your bracelet (I chose to use all of my own images). Finally, the clear bubble stickers that go over the images to magnify and protect them as well as the adhesive squares that attach your images to the bracelet are also included.

They’ve even made it easy to get your photos to be the right size for the charms! Choose your photos and head to www.luckyfeather.com to use their Easy Shrinker! From there you create a free account, enter the barcode from your product, and get ready to upload!

I created several images using Our Story from Kelley Mickus and Stamp the Date – Vol. 2 from Mira Designs – both available at The Digichick. I started by making my images 6×6 inches so I could use them for a mini album later … gotta love multi-tasking The only thing to be aware of when creating your own images is that you need to leave everything larger than you normally would on a scrapbook page. These will be shrunk down to about 1/2 inch so small typeface may not show up. I found I was most happy with the ones where I used large photos, larger, more simple type, and few embellishments. I also decided to use a few photos without “dressing them up.”

Once I had my images complete I headed online to upload my photos to the Easy Shrinker. Click to upload your photos, resize using the -/+ buttons, rotate, change color (b&w or sepia), preview, and save images. I found that I reduced my 6×6 pages to about 7% scale. The little “guideline” square that they give you is just a touch larger than the clear bubble stickers so I made my images just smaller than the guideline. Resizing your photos will depend on how you want them cropped. I think I reduced mine to about 50% scale. After you have resized all of your images and saved them it is time to print!

You can print on your home printer or request a free print sent to your home (U.S. residents only). Once you print you will have a sheet with all of your images shrunk to the perfect size for your bracelet … COOL (and so easy)!! The rest of it is the fun stuff Take your bubble stickers and place them right on top of each of your images. Not only do the bubble stickers protect your images but they also magnify them! I love this concept. I made a keychain once using a liquid medium to achieve the same protection and look that the bubble stickers gives and it was much messier (and got air bubbles in it) … so glad to see the bubble stickers used – easy and mess-free! *bubble stickers will protect from splashes and everyday wear but should not be submerged.

After you have covered your images with the bubble stickers it is time to trim. Putting the bubble stickers on first makes this incredibly easy because now all you have to do is trim around the bubble! Trim each image to size and set aside.

Next place a sticky square inside each charm. Peel the backing and place your images onto the adhesive. It’s that easy!! I love how simple Lucky Feather has made this jewelry making process!!! I can’t wait to give my girlfriend this bracelet for her birthday next week – it contains photos from the day her baby was born last year and more current photos. I know she will just love it and I love that I could make such a unique and personal gift in a snap

Want to make one for yourself or someone you love? Lucky Feather has generously donated 8 bracelets for us to give away to our loyal readers!!! All you have to do is leave us a comment and we will draw our random winners on Saturday, May 16th!

Want an extra chance to win? Mention it on your blog, Facebook or Twitter with a link to this post and you can be entered again. Just leave us another comment for each thing you do with a link to your post or Tweet.

Here’s what I used to get me started:

• Clear Top Tin (5.5″ W x 3.7″ L x .9″ H)
• Hershey’s Nuggets (12 total)
• Adhesive – I used Double Sided Tape
• Jumbo Circle Punch – Marvy Uchida
• Mega Scalloped Circle Punch – Marvy Uchida
• Miscellaneous Embellishments & Cardstock
• Just Breathe Digital Kit by Kelly Mickus @ The Digichick

I started by creating labels to wrap around my nuggets. I opened a new 8 1/2 x 11 inch document in Photoshop Elements and created a 1 x 3 inch clipping mask to create my label. I knew I was going to make 4 different labels so I copied my clipping mask 4 times. Then I had fun choosing my papers and embellishments from Kelly Mickus’ new kit called Just Breathe … it’s gorgeous! I found that in order to center any text or elements to fit on the top of the nugget (when wrapped) it was easiest to use the line tool to draw some guidelines. I drew one line at 1 1/4 inches and a second line at 2 inches. Here’s a screenshot:

After I had my labels designed I copied each of them 3 times for a total of 12 wrappers. Then it was time to design a band to wrap around the tin. I made it 1 3/4 inches wide and 10 1/2 inches long so that it would wrap all the way around and still fit on my 8 1/2 x 11 inch paper. A circle embellishment for the top was the last of my design work – a 2.1 inch circle to be punched out with my 2 inch circle punch! You can see from my supply photo that all of this was easily printed on one standard size sheet of paper (I used Epson Premium Presentation Paper Matte … one of my *faves*).

Now for the fun!! After cutting out all of my pieces I wrapped each nugget (securing with double-sided tape) and placed them in the tin.Then I dressed up my circle design that would be the highlight on the top of my tin … a scalloped circle punch, some ink on the edges, a felt flower, and a rhinestone brad made it extra special

To finish it off I wrapped my printed band around the closed tin and added my scalloped circle to the top with foam dimensionals. Quick, easy, and always appreciated!

What if you don’t have one of those darling tins? I’ve got an easy fix … cellophane bags!! I used the same idea to create a batch of nuggets using Sugarplum Paperie’s Strawberry Cafe [revised] kit available at The Digichick.

I decided to use my circle element to create a tag to attach to a cellophane bag. I stuffed the bag with my wrapped nuggets, some white shredded paper, and attached my tag with some fun coordinating ribbons. A simple alternative for those who may not be able to get their hands on the tins … or those who ran out and forgot to order extra.