Wedding Card Box

More craftiness for my sister's wedding! Yay!

I had offered to make her a box for her wedding cards.  We'd originally been inspired by some vintage suit cases and that type of thing, but we weren't interested in spending a lot of money.

At my dad's condo, I found this empty tea box.

That looked perfect!

I ripped the foam-backed velvet out of the top, and there was a velvety tray in the bottom that had to come out too.

I took the hardware off and took the box apart, gave it a light sand, and then painted it with cream acrylic that I had on hand (spray paint would have been much easier, but being enviro-crafty -and cheap- I used what I already had)

The inside of the bottom was just some (Tim Holtz?) kraft scrapbooking paper. 

I then painted some Tim Holtz grunge board triangles for the bunting, and also cut out the word CARDS.  For the letters, I painted them pinky-coral, and then added a layer of Diamond Glaze (similar to mod podge dimensional magic) and let them dry. 



 Putting the whole thing together you get a cute little bunting!

On the inside of the lid, I mod podged sheet music that I have had floating around since I bought it at a garage sale.    *the first attempt was upside down*

On top I used a photograph from their engagement shoot, by her fantastical photographer Randal, of Randal Kurt Photography and added some scrapbook flowers to go around it!

Leslie really liked it and actually said, it's so nice that I think I might just leave the cards in there after the wedding! Awwwww! 


             

More Tile Coasters!

Remember these I made a while back?

Well I was at it again....

This time for my friend Megan!

Instead of printing off graphics I used some fun scrapbook paper and rub ons by Top Line Creations.

For full tutorial click here

Fun right? :)

I'm just finishing up a set for my sister, once I can get myself together I'll be posting those too!

Thanks for checking them out! Have you tried this yet?  It's so easy and so much fun - especially if you have a ReStore nearby!

Recycled Tile Coasters

As part of her Stashbusting Crusade, Robin from the T-Shirt Diaries invited me to write a guest post! Spring is a great time for stashbusting/purging/cleaning!  Just in case you missed it, here are the coasters I made!

Today I'm busting some ceramic tiles from my stash.  I bought them at ReStore for $0.20 a piece with the intention of making coasters as gifts at Christmas time.  Then I wanted to get them done for my friend's birthday in February. Now it's April....

I started with these tiles.  I love going to ReStore because they have so much neat stuff at good prices.  It's nice to know that all these construction materials are being saved from the garbage!

Next I found some images I liked over at the Graphics Fairy.  I've talked about Karen's site many times before - if you haven't checked it out, why not?!

I picked 4 images I liked and resized them in a word document and placed them how I liked.  I did a test run on plain paper to make sure they were the right size and in the right position.

Once I was happy with how they printed I did a good copy onto some old book pages - also from my stash.  I had received these dictionary pages from another crafty mind years ago when she was trying to de-stash!  

After I was done printing my images I trimmed them down to size for my coasters.

Next step was mod podge! I bought the outdoor stuff just to make sure that it held up against the moisture from glasses.  

I used my trusted mod podge gift card to make sure there weren't any air bubbles under the paper.

Once that dried, I applied one coat of 'podge to cover the paper too.  I usually use a regular paint brush to apply mod podge because I don't like the little foam brushes.  I'm apparently too violent and break the little plastic thing on the inside all the time.  I realize that using bristle brushes leaves brush strokes, but I've come to peace with it.

After they were dry I was ready to call it done.  The outdoor mod podge however left them feeling tacky, and when you set a glass on them, it stuck.  I found a clear sealer spray and gave them two coats of this, which fixed the problem!

Here's where I have a confession to make.  I had to *gasp* SHOP to finish this project.  I know, it goes against the rules of stashbusting, but I ONLY bought what I needed, and I figured that the buying to busting ratio was more than reasonable, so I figured I could forgive myself.

I picked up a bunch of these little guys:

I know I could have busted even more stash by cutting up some felt or something similar to put on the bottom, but I really wanted them to have that professional, polished look.

I applied one to each corner like so

Voila!

Reach into your stash and grab a ribbon to tie around them and they're ready to give to your bestie as a belated Chris-birth-gift!  Total cost = $3.01 (not including printer ink/mod podge/sealer)  This gift recipient reads my blog.  Thank goodness she loves a great deal as much as I do! :P

One set down, a box of tiles to go!

Time to head back over to the Graphics Fairy!

  

Cubicle Decorating: Desk Survival Kit

Part One: Desk Survival Kit

I was inspired by The New Professional's Cubical Survival Kit

...AND The Box of Teacher Goodies by eighteen25

I came up with this!

I started off with an organizing box from the fishing tackle box section (this is where I found the best variety of containers at the best price - the ones in the crafting sections are so much more expensive for the same thing!!)

I decorated the top with scrapbooking paper and mod podged it on. I added a cute rub on too!

And then I filled it with all types of goodies that I might need at my desk at some point or another (my office is out in an industrial area, so if I were to need something, it wouldn't be a quick trip to run out and get it)

So what's all in my box of goodies?

Well, firstly, quick wardrobe fixes:

TIDE TO GO PEN (not pictured -  it's already in my desk drawer, but will be added to the kit)

STICKY LINT ROLLER

Personal Care:

TRAVEL SIZE HAIRSPRAY

TRAVEL SIZE DEO

BURT BEES LIP BALM (I'm a super lip balm addict, I go crazy if I forget it!!!)

BLOTTING PAPERS - not pictured (I'm an oily skin person, so by mid-day I have a BP-like slick on my forehead-GROSS)

MIRROR COMPACT (not pictured)

COMB (not pictured)

Dental/Breath Helpers:

MINTS

GUM

DENTAL FLOSS

TOOTHBRUSH

TOOTHPASTE

Feminine Products

PADS

TAMPONS

Nail Care:

CLEAR NAIL POLISH

EMERY BOARDS

NAIL BRUSH (My nails are usually really short, and tend to get really dirty underneath, and it seems that a nail brush is the only way to deal with it!)

NAIL CLIPPERS (I actually found a little set with the 3 emery boards, nail brush and 2 sets of nail clippers for $2!!)

HANDSANITIZER (not pictured.  I'm not a huge fan of this stuff because I believe in good old fashion hand washing, but I think it has it's place every now and then)

CRAZY MULTI-TOOL (I have no idea where I got this from, but I decided it would be best off in my desk kit.  It has a cork screw, bottle opener, nail file, knife, saws that really aren't sharp at all, a screw driver, scissors... and all that other stuff that no one really knows what it is or what to use it for)

Disposables:

WET WIPES

BANDAIDS

Q-TIPS

COTTON BALLS (don't ask me what I intend to use these for, but it seemed like something I might want as I was gathering other things from the bathroom!)

TYLENOL

I'm considering adding some decongestants into here too

COUGH DROPS (not pictured)

SEWING KIT

SAFETY PINS (not pictured)

Being a ponytail girl I can't live without

HAIR TIES 

BOBBY PINS

CANDY

So there you have it.  Everything I think I might need (and way way more I'm sure!)

Do you have a stash at your desk? Did I miss anything that you think I should have? Let me know what you think!