SUPPLIES

• DIGITAL PAPERS/ELEMENTS – [Jenna's] Day at the Zoo Kit,  She Sells Seashells, Partysaurus Designer Kit
• TRANSPARENCY SHEETS – I USED COMPUTER GRAFIX BRAND TRANSPARENT PLASTIC SHEETS
• PRINTER/INK
• ADHESIVE, RED TAPE, TEA LITE, DECORATIVE PUNCH, CARD STOCK

In Photoshop, open up a new page and assemble your scene the way you choose. My finished piece ended up about 8 1/4 inches square. I am making a child’s night light in a zoo theme so I chose to use the [Jenna's] Day at the Zoo Kit for this one.

Make sure that you leave a margin along the top and bottom edge of your scene,  I left about 1.5 inches at the bottom and 1 inch at the top. Print this on your acetate sheet using the transparency setting on your  printer. Let this dry completely before handling or it will smear.

Once dry, add the red tape along the short side.

Remove the red covering from the tape and roll the sheet into a tube.  You will want to roll it so that  the printed side is on inside of the tube.  This will protect the image from being inadvertently rubbed off by tiny hands.

NOTE -You will make two of these, one for each end of the tube. Cut a strip of card stock 8 3/4 inches long and 1 3/4 inch wide.  Score at 1/4 inch parallel to the long edge.  Use a decorative punch or scissors along the other edge.

Cut into and up to the score line at about 3/8 inch intervals along the entire length of the piece.

Using a compass or punch make a circle 2 3/4 inches in  diameter and run a bead of glue along the wrong side.

Take the strip and run along the length of it with your fingers, gently giving it a rounded shape.  Adhere the strip to the circle.

Trim off a bit of the edge of the clipped bottom portion so that it will fit along the final part of the circle.

Cut or punch another circle about 1/8 inch smaller than the first.

Adhere the smaller circle inside to cover up the inner edges.

Place a strip of decorative paper along the bottom to conceal the raw edge of card stock.  Place a tea lite inside.

I didn’t attach the bottom cup to the acetate so that it could be removed to turn it on and off. I did however place a little piece of red tape on the inner part of the top portion to stabilize it.

It makes a fun, functional decoration for a child’s room.

Having a beach party or luau? These make great, inexpensive  table centerpieces.  I added some additional interest by cutting out some surfboards from the  She Sells Seashells kit and tucking them into the edge of the trim.

I think this one is my favorite made for my son’s birthday from the Partysaurus Designer Kit. The smaller, finished size of the piece is 5 1/4 inch by 4 inch so you can fit 4 on a 81/2X11 inch sheet.

I made a little X with a craft knife and threaded a light from the string through the top placing them on every other light.

I think it’s time to party!

Happy crafting!

Supplies I used:

• A Guy’s Life Designer Kit by Elise’s Pieces
• Wooden Blocks – these measured 2 inches by 2 inches (purchased online through Casey’s Wood Products)
• Mod Podge
• Paint Brush
• Paper Trimmer
• Gloss Sealer by Plaid Decorator Glazes

I first created the 2 inch by 2 inch squares in my photo editing software and then printed them off on card stock.  Then I was ready to go to work!

I cut each square out and then adhered them to the wooden blocks with Mod Podge.  I let them dry for about 15 minutes.

Then, I went outside with the Plaid Decorator Glazes’ Thick Gloss Sealer and sprayed them with a very thin coat.  I applied this so the Mod Podge wouldn’t smear the ink on the cardstock.  I let them dry for about 1 hour.

The next step was to add a coat of Mod Podge and let dry.

Ta-da!  The finished product – of which, Archer can have displayed in his bedroom:

The beauty of this project is that you can embellish and personalize it however you’d like!  I could see making a set of blocks with the ABC’s on it for a child’s birthday or even making a set with a holiday message on it to set on your mantle.  The possibilities are endless!

I hope you enjoyed seeing how I made these personalized blocks.  If you have any questions, feel free to ask!

First, the supplies I used were:

• Premium Matte Photo Paper
• Ready for Spring by Elise and Jude
• Kelleigh Ratzlaff’s Jewelry Box Template
• glue gun
• mod podge/brush
• buttons/ribbon
• craft wire

First I gathered all of my supplies. I opened up photoshop and used Kelleigh’s template for my base. I knew that I wanted to use the pretty little flowers in this particular kit so I just added a bunch of them on the parts surrounding the template.

I then proceeded to cut all of the little flowers out as well as my template. I used a technique that I got from Mari’s Hybrid Hair clips for the flowers! All you have to do is scrunch the flowers up a bit and mod podge them so they will look like they are actual flowers.  You can find the whole tutorial here.

After about 20 minutes or so, the flowers should be dry. While they were drying I assembled my box. (You can add some weight inside the box by using some glass stones or even pebbles if you want. Just about anything will work since you won’t be seeing it. Just make sure you use your glue gun to secure it to the bottom!)

Now take some craft wire. Wrap it around a pencil, or wooden dowel in a spiral shape. Make sure it’s long enough so that you can fold up the edges to hold the picture, and also make a base to stick inside the box.

Now get your glue gun and glue it to the inside of the top flap of your box!

Once it’s dry, go ahead and start adding your flowers!! I added buttons and some ribbon as well as a cute little tag to jazz it up a bit!

Now that you are finished you can place your photo in the holder!! Wasn’t that easy?!

I really hope you enjoyed this as much as I did making it! Thanks for looking and happy (hybrid) scrapping!

But how do you have s’mores at an indoor camp-out without a fire? Easy! Serve indoor s’mores! Simply mix Golden Graham cereal, mini marshmellows and chocolate chips in a bowl. and there you have it – indoor s’mores!

And what better way to serve indoor s’mores to your little camper than to package it in a mini backpack!

I created my backpack using Mel Wilson (The Hybrid Kid) and Mari Koegelenberg’s collab Back to School – Backpack Album template and Elise Hansen’s new release Happy Camper

Here are the other supplies I used to create my backpack:
-scissors
-Tombow adhesive runner
-Crop-o-dile
-6 eyelets
-scor-pal tool
-approx 24 inches of coordinating ribbon
-tiny piece of velcro (optional)
-Scotch brand Scrapbooker’s glue with 2 way applicator
-Stampendous! Crystal snow
-Stacey’s 3 inch box template from Splitcoaststampers
-a sheet of translucent Vellum

First, I used Mel’s backpack template and a paper (recolored) from Elise’s Happy Camper kit to create my backpack. I always recolor the score lines on my project by picking a color from my background paper and then making it a few shades lighter so that the score lines don’t stand out so much on my finished project – a HUGE thanks to Kelleigh Ratlaff for that tip!!!!

Next I printed my backpack using my printer’s best print option. I highly recommend borderless printing for this template since the template sits very close to the canvas edge. For borderless printing, read Kelleigh’s tutorial here.

After cutting around the backpack, I scored all my lines using my scor-pal. Next I decided where I wanted to punch the holes for the straps on the back and where I wanted the holes on top of my backpack. I used my crop-o-dile to punch the holes and set the eyelets for a finished look.

For the back straps: I cut two 9 inch lengths of ribbon. Thread one end through one of the top holes and tie a knot on the inside of your backpack. Thread the other end through the bottom hole on the same side of the backpack and adjust the length of your strap to your liking. tie a knot on the inside of your backpack. Repeat for the other side of your backpack.

For the grab handle on top of the backpack – repeat the above steps with a shorter piece of ribbon.

TIP: cut your ribbon pieces a little longer than you will need so that you have ribbon to work with when tying your knot!

Here’s what the backpack looks like from the back:

From here I needed to create a smaller container type box to put my s’mores in. I printed Stacey’s 3 inch box template onto plain white computer paper. After cutting it out, I positioned it on my vellum paper and traced around it. Next I cut out my vellum box template and scored all my fold lines.

I then assembled the box using my Tombow adhesive runner to hold the box together. I secured my box to the inside of my backpack by using my adhesive runner on the inside bottom and inside on the back panel of my backpack.

I used a small amount of my scrapbooker’s glue to glue a tiny piece of velcro on the underside of the flap to my backpack and where it meets the front of my backpack. I also applied some glue to the edges of my tree, to the flame of my fire and to the moon before sprinkling Stampendous! Crystal snow on it for some added sparkle!

Fill your little box with some yummy indoor s’more mix and it’s ready to go!

I hope you enjoyed my little tutorial and project (and also the yummy indoors s’mores mix recipe!). I’d love to see what you come up with using Mel and Mari’s backpack album template – and I know they would too!

If you have any questions about my tutorial, please feel free to email me at wildblueeyez at comcast dot net.

The first thing I did was to measure the size of the dividers and create a new Photoshop document that was just slightly bigger all the way around. You could also scan in one of the dividers to use as a template, but we just recently replaced our printer and I hadn’t yet experimented with the scan function so I went with the easy way.  I then decided how many dividers I would need to start, and settled on three for each boy… one for verses that we are currently working on, one for verses that have already been memorized, and one for verses that we are not yet working on. Add in one cover paper and that gave me a total of seven dividers to create. (Another advantage to using the rolodex system is that when our third son is old enough for the club, I can just create three more dividers for him and keep using the same system.) Now came the fun part, designing each divider. I decided to use the Flight of Fancy mini kit by Elise’s Pieces Designs because my boys all love airplanes and there are so many fun patterned papers in it.

After I finished scrapping my seven pieces, I created two new 8 1/2 x 11 inch documents and arranged the flattened files so that I could print them off. I chose fairly stiff cardstock to print on since these will be handled quite a bit. There was some empty space on the second document which I filled up with other digital papers and elements to use at a later time. I try to get as much printing out of the paper as I can.

Once my papers were printed, I cut out the pieces and gathered up a few basic supplies that I thought I might need…

I didn’t end up using the glue stick because the dividers were sturdy enough without a second layer of cardstock behind them. I used one of the dividers as a pattern to trace on each of my printouts, being careful to reverse the direction each time so that the tabs would be alternating. Here is where scanning in the divider and using it as a template would have saved a little time… I could have skipped the tracing and just started cutting out each one.

After I finished the tracing, all that was left was to grab my pair of little scissors and cut each one out. Cutting around the bottom where they fit onto the two tracks was a little tricky since I didn’t want to bend the paper too much, but I got them all done and now the only challenge left is to keep on top of writing out the verse cards and helping them memorize them each week!

This project would also be a great way to keep an organized list of things like birthdays and anniversaries, since you can just add new ones in date order easily, or maybe as a way to keep track of new recipes that you want to try along with the name of the cookbook and page number where it can be found. I love it when a bargain find turns out to be actually useful!

First, I made my printable documents.  I used the Apricot Spice Designer Kit from Elise’s Pieces and Basic Text Paths from Mrs. Wresh Designs.  The text paths were done at approximately 3.5” wide.  To be honest, I guessed and it just worked!    I made each paper a quarter sheet (4.25” x 5.5”)

I used my largest Nestibility circle to cut it out.  I personally have the new QuicKutz Epic, but the Nestibility dies work in the Cuttlebug as well.  Should you not have one of these die cutting machines, the Coluzzle or any other circle cutter should work fine.

Next, you will need to fold your “cookie” in half.  Now, for picture taking purposes, I only have one hand on the circle, but you will need to hold your fingers at the other end in order to get the edges to fold/overlap properly.  I personally make mine overlap.  I prefer it.

You just need to push your finger into the center in order to form the crease and get your cookie to fold.

At this point, you can insert your fortunes or leave them to the end, I personally wait until the end.  I have had no problems sliding the fortunes in and “through” the crease.  You will now need to apply adhesive into the fold of the cookie to make sure it stays folded.  I used red line tape on this, which is a very strong adhesive.    Remove the adhesive backing and refold and you’re done!  Cookies are complete – and there was not baking or calories involved!!

So after making these little cookies, I figured, what better than a take out box??   I purchased this large on at the local craft store.    And it will fit many!  I think there are about  12 in there, possibly more.

But this little take out box was made using Kelleigh Ratzlaff’s Take Out Box template.    This is the rounded topped one (it also comes with a scalloped topped one) and will fit about two cookies.

I hope you try this little project!  It really is easy and I think the recipient will have a lot of fun with it!!  What does  your fortune say??

For this project I didn’t stop to plan everything out and just grabbed things as I went along (I even cleaned up my work space a bit first so I could find everything!) so even though only the box itself is pictured, I ended up using the following supplies:

What I Used:

• Photo storage box (from Michael’s)
• Little Sugar Mini Kit by Elise’s Pieces at  The DigiChick
• 65 lb. white paper
• Making Memories acrylic paint
• Paper Mod Podge
• Colorbox Chalk ink
• Offray white ribbons
• Prima flowers (green)
• Making Memories flower (white)
• Clear button
• Glue Dots
• Memory Stor tape runner

The first thing I did was measure out the dimensions of the box so that I would know how big to create my Photoshop documents. The lid was 11.25 inches long so even if I did have a borderless printer, I knew that I would be able to print a document big enough to cover the whole thing. Instead of piecing something together out of multiple print-outs, I decided that I would simply leave a white border around the edge of the box.

So I pulled out some of the acrylic paint and got to work painting around the edges.  The box soaked up the paint a bit, and it took about three coats to completely cover the bright pink of the lid. I think next time I’d give the lid a quick once-over with ModPodge to seal if first.

In between coats, I began creating my Photoshop documents and deciding which papers and elements I wanted to use. After getting it all set, I began to print. Apparently I didn’t measure quite as accurately as I thought that I had however, and some of the sizes had to be adjusted and reprinted. Whenever that happens though, I just set aside those first pages so that I can go back later and cut out the printed pieces to make cards or other projects out of. Since measuring is not really my strong point, I have quite the stack of rejects waiting to be recycled!

After I printed the papers for the lid, I discovered that the green in them was a perfect match for the bottom of the box. I was originally planning to cover the whole thing, but this happy accident saved me quite a bit of work. I started by covering the sides in the strips that I had printed, matching up the pattern as I went along.

I started at a short end and wrapped the paper the whole length and then folded onto each of the long sides. I figured that the edges would stay neater if the ends didn’t meet there. I used Mod Podge for my adhesive and just smoothed it onto the box as I went. After I got all the sides covered I let it dry for a few minutes, then turned it upside down, cut the corners and started folding it over, again using Mod Podge to glue it. My reverse tweezers came in handy here to help hold the paper down while it was drying. As you can see, even after I remeasured, I still didn’t print off big enough strips of paper to cover all of the pink that was originally there.

To make it look neater inside, after my fold had dried, I grabbed the original printout that I had set aside and used those strips to finish the covering job. Then I added a spot on the inside of the lid for jotting down important phone numbers, like the pediatrician, as well as a spot for a baby photo and a little embellishment from the kit. I used my tape runner to glue down the journaling spot so that a photo could be slipped underneath the top of it, like a photo pocket.

After the sides had dried, I inked the edges with a creamy brown color, and set to work on the top. I inked around the edges of the cover and then, using the Mod Podge again, glued it down. I didn’t think that the polka dot letters stood out enough against the polka dot background paper, so I added a second piece of solid, neutral paper to the top with the title on that instead.

Then I started digging around for some matching embellishments and found some flowers, a bit of white ribbon, and a clear button. I stacked up my flowers, threaded my button and stuck them all together with glue dots. Then I slipped a piece of paper behind the label and added some folded ribbons to the front. Voila! All finished…

But wait… I’m giving this project away! Plus, I’ll even throw in a couple of diapers and two coordinated onesies, so all you’ll have to do for the perfect baby gift is add your own creative items to the box! Just leave a comment to this post for your chance to win it. If you want to double your chances of winning then make your own blog, Twitter or Facebook post telling everyone about the Baby Shower we’re having here at The Hybrid Chick and post a link!

Supplies:

• wooden craft shapes
• Mod Podge (I like Matte)
• Spray acrylic clear sealer
• acrylic paint
• digital kit in theme with your shapes – I used the FABULOUS Flight of Fancy by Elise Hansen
• foam brushes
• buttons
• twine
• permanent ink pad ( I used StazOn)
• Permanent ink pen
• pencil
• glossy accents
• clothespins

Let’s get started!

Based on the measurements of the wood pieces, I cut and pasted the images from the digital kit that I needed into a Word document.  I resized the designer papers so I had just what I needed and no waste.  I also pulled in the airplane image and two banners.  The “special delivery” letters and the “Name:” and “Born:” were text boxes that I could move and layer over the banners.  The Special Delivery, while destined to be a message in the cloud shaped sky, was left to print on the white cardstock so I could hand trim those letters to be small rectangles.  Once I had everything I needed, I hit print and I was on my way.

I wasn’t sure if my inkjet printer ink would be able to withstand a layer of mod podge without smearing so I sprayed a portion of my printed sheet with a fine mist of clear acrylic spray.  The Scrapbook Spray was something I had on hand, but a plain old clear finish spray paint would do the trick as well I think.

It’s very slight, but if you enlarge the above photo, you will see that the “Born:” type that was not first sprayed with an acrylic sealer smeared when I foam brushed on the Mod Podge.  I set about clear sealing the rest of the page and reprinted the “Born:” banner.

Once everything was clear sealed, I brushed on Mod Podge in smooth, same direction strokes.  Be as consistent as possible since your stroke lines will be present when the Mod Podge dries.

While your page of Mod Podged items is drying, paint your wooden shapes.  I used acrylic craft paint I had on hand.  I painted two coats on the back of the shapes as this layer will show in the finished product.  I also painted the edges and towards the middle of the front of the shapes.

Be sure to get the edges painted and clean off any pools of paint in the crevices.

Once the images and the Mod Podged page are TOTALLY dry, trace the shapes on the portions of the printed image sheet that will serve as the background paper to the wooden shapes.  The Mod Podged image sheet, once dry, takes on a feel of wallpaper and is very easy to write on and cut out.

Of course, since my images were already painted, I had to ERASE the pencil marks after tracing.  WHOOPS!  If possible, trace your images onto the dry mod podged image sheet before painting them!

So here they are, painted wood shapes and their matching cutout papers.

Next, apply a layer of Mod Podge to the front of the wooden shape and smooth the matching paper image over the top.

Let the images dry completely on the wooden shapes.

I sponged Timber Brown Staz on around the edges for a more rustic feel.

Next I applied the small images by brushing Mod Podge to the back of the cut out images and smoothing them on with a baby wipe to help clean up the edges where extra Mod Podgehad escaped.  A damp paper towel would work well too.  A final layer of Mod Podge was applied to the whole shape to further seal the project.

Add fine details with a slick writer or other permanent marker…in this case, black lines to connect the “Special Delivery” sign.

Next I chose some coordinating buttons and a length of twine to string my items together.

I wove the hemp twine in and out of the buttons down to the bottom of the airplane.  Any open button holes were filled with a short piece of twine and tied for decoration.

Slide the buttons to make room for the cloud and the airplane and then use invisible tape to temporarily hold the images in place.  I held the string of items against a wall to see that everything was balanced the way I was hoping.

Carefully fold back areas of tape to clothespin the twine to the shapes in preparation for the liquid glue.

With the twine arranged and held in place, use glossy accents to run a bead of glue down the length of twine on the backs of the cloud and the airplane.

Here’s how it looks right after applying the glue.  Then leave it alone while it dries.  Mine took about an hour but more dry time would be better

That’s it!  Here it is hanging on baby’s wall!  The parents can personalize it with a sharpie marker or you can deliver it personalized by adding another layer of mod podge and little letters like in the cloud above.    This keepsake easily moves from gift bag or box, to wall, to baby’s scrapbook or ???  So many fun possibilities with this one!  A note: wood contains lignin which produces an acidic environment as it ages.  Even though this piece is well sealed with mod podge and paint, take care in allowing wood to touch irreplaceable photos in scrapbooks.  With the ease of digital photography, I feel very free in using almost anything in my scrapbooks but I felt it fair to issue the warning just in case

I hope this tutorial finds it’s way to your creative space.  I can’t wait to see what else can be done with these wooden shapes as this is, no doubt, only a few of the many, many wonderful ideas out there.  Please feel free to ask any questions that I have not answered here in the comments or on my blog.  I will be happy to answer them. 

How about a giveaway?  This project will be part of the door prize gifts that will be given away to lucky random posters throughout the week.  Please enter you comment here to be eligible.  Also, you can get an extra chance to win if you blog, twitter, or mention our baby shower on Facebook and link us up just like we did for NSD - please spread the word about what’s happening here at The Hybrid Chick

Thanks so much for visiting today and I hope you’ll be back for MORE amazing gift and project ideas this week and next, all about sweet babies!  Can you smell the pink lotion and baby powder yet?

Supplies:

• Free template Here 
• 5″x8″ notepad, cut in half (your local office supply store can cut the notepad for you for a minimal charge)
• Pentel R.S.V.P. Pen
• digital paper & elements
• adhesive (I recommend a Zig Pen & Mini Glue Dots)
• magnetic tape
• ribbon and embellishments
• scissors (CutterBee)

Glue Notebook Cover

Use the template and your favorite digital paper (I used paper from my kit {Always} Eden) to create the notebook cover and the pen insert.

Cut out the notebook cover and apply adhesive to the paper and the notebook border.

Be sure not to get glue on the notebook paper!

Add Embellishments

Use ribbon and embellishments to decorate the notebook cover. I used a thin ribbon and little flower from Michael’s and a button from Stampin’ Up. Mini Glue Dots are my favorite adhesive for applying these kinds of embellishments!

This is a great time to get creative! 

Step 3

Apply magnetic tape to the back of the notepad.  You may need to add two or three strips, depending on how heavy your embellishments are.

Pen Insert

Unscrew the bottom of your R.S.V.P. Pen. Apply adhesive to the glue tab portion of the template and use a pencil to shape the paper into a cylinder.

Pen Insert

Place the cylinder into the barrel of the pen. You may need to use a pencil to push the cylinder as far into the barrel as possible.

Screw the bottom back onto the pen and voila! You’ve got a simple and fun little project ready to give as a gift or use yourself!

Notepad and Pen Set