Whimsical Re-Usable Tags with Yds of Lace/Scrapbook Pages

Here are more of my re-usable tags. Before wrapping in yds of lace the tags were sprayed with Glimmer mist "coffee shop" and blue denim ink for color and shimmer.
For Sale on Etsy

This little bird is covered with German Glitter Glass. See this site for great ideas, Free Glitter Give-aways and Tutorials. I dyed the lace on this tag for an old vintage blue. I picture these adorning gift packages for winter holidays and birthdays!

This snowflake is a pin.

I guess I really love snowflakes. Below my girls are decorating the tree with our glittery white flakes. The snowflakes decorate our house all winter. A metal snowflake adorns the journaling. I used lace and small blue ribbons within the lay-out to match the trimmings on the dresses. This is Ann's Challenge Diva's BlogHop. See my last post for the details.

Christmas Morning is Cheryl's challenge

The paper frame above was painted to match their glittery pjs.

This next challenge is with Lori. I went to a different scrapbook of mine to work on the Fall season for the next great challenge.

The 5x7 picture is in an 8 1/2x11 page protector so it could be tucked under the initial cardstock as a flap. This shows it open for the opposite side.

Then the right side is also a flap, a Creative Memories page that has been cut down. Below shows how it opens to the left to reveal the opposite side pictures and journaling. The size of the flaps depended on the space needed for the pictures and still show the bottom pumpkin border.

The pumpkin is 3 small ovals layered together. See Lori for another example of how to use page protectors as flaps.

Creative Scrapbooking Divas BlogHop

Join us January 16th and 17th at our Creative Scrapbook Diva's Bloghop. There will be 7-8 challenges for us to create and play, created specially by the fabulous and creative Design Team members. And with challenges comes prizes!! And the sense of getting some memories preserved. See the link for a full description.

Vintage January Postcards

Postcard Friendship Friday

has a wonderful collection of vintage postcards. She has collected vintage cards, fairytale books, postcards, old photos and art pieces for a very long time. Visit her for the history of the celebration of the new year which is the oldest of all holidays.

This is my favorite Jan. postcard. It's postmarked Dec 30th 1912. The embossing makes it very unique.

I am unable to read the year on this card but it is within a year or two othe the other, 1910-1913. Below shows the backside to get a glimse of the special designs in the left upper corners. The Jan 1 card has the flower design and reads "The Pink of Perfection The Fairman Co. Cinti & NY Series No, 1314. This is the first one in my collection where I noticed a series number but I still have several that I haven't looked at carefully yet.

Homemade Coasters

These are 4x4 smooth tiles, metallic gold paper and found vintage pictures. I tore and inked the edges and attached each layer with ModPodge. While it was still wet, I sprinkled fine glitter. I have been experiencing with the layers of protection. Several layers of the ModPodge will protect but I don't like the visual lines that are left when dried.

So I started finishing the layers with "Triple Thick" or FolkArt Thick glaze" by Plaid, several layers. For perfection and the best protection, I would use good ol' Epoxy, I use EnviroTex Pour On for all my Epoxy projects. Don't forget to add bubble or felt dots to the backside!

Teacup Tuesday

Lenox Teacup

I finally attempted this pretty little project inspired by Lauries Charming Designs. I have been watching her make her lovely pincushions on teacups and spoons. She makes her own birds from wool. I'm going to have to purchase some of those.

So I used my Lenox tea set, my little cardinal winter bird and added some vintage buttons to the pincushion I found at my flea market. I thought it was a nice spot to also display my white buttons cluster I made a while ago.

Behind the teaset sits a vintage, silver mini dustpan and brush set. It's so old and worn but the details are beautiful.

Please visit these wonderful ladies at Martha's Favorites and Artful Affirmations for more teaparty fun, beautiful treasures and a special giveaway!! The french vintage postcard came from Artful Affirmations. Thank you Terri!!

Journals

Here is a peak of last minute Christmas gifts going out to our wonderful teachers. My girls (almost 9&7yrs old) made homemade book covers for these journals. They colored brown paper bags with oil pastels. We crinkled them into a ball, wet them, sprayed the wet paper with walnut ink and glitter mist. When they dried, I ironed them but they stayed pretty wrinkled. It made it a little tricky when adhering to the book covers but once attached I sprayed them with Triple Thick finish before they decorated the tops. The spray is really strong, I did it in the basement with a window open.
They did a great job with creating the look they wanted for each teacher.

Postcard Friendship Friday/Vintage Christmas Postcards

These embossed Maine postcards are dated 1911. They are part of a collection I rescued from my husband's grandparents farmhouse. I really enjoy their wonderful color and texture.

Please vistit Postcard Friendship Friday for many vintage postcards and charming Christmas stories which started many of our traditions.

The postcard in my banner is from 1912 and is made of a very thick non-pliable material. See my Postcard Projects for ways to display vintage postcards in your home.

My new friend Judy at Cranberry Morning has a fun blog with handcrafted soaps and great links. I wanted to share with you this acrostic that came to her one evening as she pondered Christmas and the love of God.

Christ left the glories of Heaven to take on
Human form, to die, to
Rescue us from sin and death. He is not an
Infant any longer. He will be either your
Savior or your Judge.
Turn to Him and find
Mercy. He
Always welcomes the penitent and gives
Salvation and life abundant to those who trust in Him.

She also included this verse as one of the verses that shows how quickly and lovingly He forgives us as He cherishes relationship with each of us.

'Therefore, there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.' - Romans 8:1-2

Christmas Blessings to you and your families and my you find true JOY through all life's trials!

Teacup Tuesday

Queen Anne Bone China #5

Displaying an Ireland Scarf Buckle and a vintage pincushion.

I like how the thistle leaves look like holly leaves! This piece doesn't seem to have

a name like my last teacup post, Autumn Rose.

I want to share with you Martha's Favorites and Terri at Artful Afirmations
as they are the hostesses of this fun Teaparty.

These images are from loose pages of an 1844 Collier's Cyclopedia. I purchased this tin
the 3 magnets, the bottle and the tags from our Library's fundraiser.

The tags are made from old library information cards. So clever! All the papercrafts made from old discarded books were amazing.

You may also enjoy my 1912 postcard in my November post below! It was almost a lost treasure but I am enjoying all my vintage postcards and teacups from Gram and Gramps old farmhouse.

Re-Usable Tags/Cloth Bags & Altered Scrapbook Cover

I'm so excited to share that I am Diva of The Month for the Creative Scrapbooking Divas!!!
This means I provide The Challenge for December. There are many challenges going on throughout the site and wonderful ideas for inspiration so it is helps motivate me to get more pages done.

There will be a random winner at the end of the challenge that will be provided with a RAK (random act of kindness)...a special suprise in the mail within the week of picking a winner. Here is a hint...it will include handmade embellishments. You all seem to enjoy the glass-like tags!!

For Sale On Etsy

I am sharing my pictures of my re-usable tags and cloth giftbags. The tags have several yards of fiber and/or lace for the reciever to use in their crafts or gift boxes.
Wouldn't they look lovely adorning a gift bag or package. Stay tuned, I have others with sparkly snowflakes and one with a pink glass glitter bird. The idea of having ribbon and trim wrapped around tags for gifts were inspired by one of my favorite bloggers, Kids Napping? I'm Scrapping!'


Below are my re-usable cloth gift bags. I altered my paper design which is used for adding extra pictures to scrapbook pages, to a cloth design. I had fun adding trim and a big flower.

For Sale On Etsy

This is the cover of 10x10 I altered for our Family Traditions to include all the holidays of the year. There are 5 layers of paper, the word "family" was raised already so I inked it as well as the strip of words at the bottom. There are 2 strips of lace. The heart is two layers of clay which are stamped with words, inked, then I pulled wire through the holes (made before baking). The star and wings are also clay. The wings are colored with perfect pearls. I made the bottlecap by placing a picture on top and heat embossing with UTEE. My favorite element is the cabinet pull that came out of my mom's old kitchen. I wish I had kept the whole bag she had!

Inside Cover, Santa needs to protect the first page from the hardware. He is covering a piece of foam covering the hardware.

My favorite tradition is making peanut butter balls. I have been doing it for years with my mom and cousin for Christmas. Now my girls help and we are hoping to include our friends this year. This book is to hold all the year's family traditions but these pictures show the front of the book and the inside cover along with the p.b.ball recipe handwritten by my mom. It's really old. She thought it was funny when I told her I wanted the original recipe and she had to re-write it for herself. I finally took it out of the bag and made the first page of this book.

It will also hold pockets throughout the book for our Christmas Advent devotions, Bible readings, the Epiphany, holiday journaling, favorite holiday crafts (pictures of all those graham cracker gingerbread houses) gift making ideas, Holy week activities for Easter and one special picture each Christmas.


I had to show you pictures of our peanut butter balls in the making. This will be the next lay-out in the book as it's the first year we had both girls helping Nana.

Christmas Jars

This 1912 postcard has a 1 cent stamp and is made with a very thick board. It is one of several I collected from the same farmhouse as my teacups and depression glass. These were all used by my husband's family in Maine. I am so glad I found these, they were in the pile to go to the dump!!



As I was creating this first jar with my dad's old sheet music, rusted snowflake, cardinal and the music note, the more it reminded me of my dad. So this now it adorns my craft room shelf. Instead of craft supplies, I may fill it with his old stamps that never made it into an organized stamp collector book.



For two of the jars, I cut out the word "Joy" from an old board book. I painted it then after spreading a bit of Ranger Glossy Accents just to the top of the word, I dipped it into clear twinklets for the droplets of ice effect.

I will have a few different styles on my Etsy (see my sidebar) by the end of the day.

Enjoy your shopping for the crafters in your life!!