1734 American Paper Filigree Crest

A friend of mine told me about a woman who had a quilled family crest from 1734!

She had it appraised at the Antiques Roadshow.   

You won't believe it!

You can see the video by clicking the link below:

 1734 American Paper Filigree Crest Appraisal

It's amazing!

Paper Accordian Business Card Holder

I got a nice email from an Etsy shopper about making some business card holders for her.  

Here's what I came up with, with the help of other crafters.  

Super cute and a lot of fun to make!

Thanks!  Monica

Owl Punch Art Bookmark Or Treat Topper Tutorial

I'm not sure what all the hype is with the owls lately but I was again wasting my time on Pinterest and came across these cute bookmarks.  I have my monthly stamp club swap coming up and our challenge this month was to create something other than a card.  So I thought I would make these and show you how easy they are too. 

But if you don't feel like making any you can purchase them in my Etsy store too!

We only had to make one thing per person in my stamp club and that totaled 7 of us. But since these can be used as treat toppers or bookmarks I made six for everyone. 

Let me break down the amount of things I had to punch out just because it's ALOT!  Oh and here's where the how-to comes in.  I used a Sizzix Top Note Die for the base and I needed 42 of them.  Thank goodness for my Big Shot on that part!  You can also just cut a piece of cardstock at 4 1/2 x 3 1/2.  

Then you need circles (2 of each) cut at 1/4 inch, 1 inch and 1 3/8 inches.  For me that amounted to 252 HAND PUNCHED CIRCLES!  Ok, got a little excited but if I didn't have carpal tunnel before, I have it now.  I also used a five petal flower punch and just used one petal for the beak.  See the picture below for everything you need then just assemble it together.  Easy peasy!  

Have fun!

Thanks!  Monica

Upcycled Book Lights

Hi everyone! I know I did a post about some lights I was making using old books and maps. I promised to post the pictures with the light in them. So here you go! 

You can find these lights I make for sale in my Etsy store. Thanks!  Monica

Upcycled Book Light

I spend way too much time on Etsy & Pinterest, I did however get this great idea from one of those places and was excited to try it for myself.  After gluing about 150 of the book page circles and knowing I had another 150 to go, well, let's just say all the excitement had left me.  I did manage to finish it but you know I'm missing one little thing.......the light!  I forgot to purchase it when I bought the lantern.  Since I am so exhausted excited from doing it, I thought I would share it without the light for now.  It measures about 12 inches around and has 300 3.5 inch circles glued on it. 

My First Time Sewing......

So I've never sewn anything in my life......ok I did sew on a button once.  I bought this fancy $20.00 battery operated sewing machine because I wanted to start sewing on my scrapbook pages and cards.  I took it out of the box and thought, hey I could make something, to heck with the scrapbook pages, I want to sew!  Ummmm 3 hours later and this is what I made.

I was going to make this a sewing FAIL post but I have to say it didn't come out too shabby.  It's not "shabby" in a shabby chic kind of way but I didn't do too shabby.  Let's see if it holds up to much movement or if it will all come apart at the seams!  I'm giving it to my niece because I'm hoping she won't notice my bad sewing lines, thread showing and me not knowing how to sew an invisible stitch!  

 

Thanks to Purl Bee for the tutorial!  I would have posted a picture of what theirs look like but I didn't want to spoil mine with their wonderful sewing skills! 

Thanks Bunches!  Monica

More Tear Bears

I made a few more tear bears holding some quilled flowers, I have them on eBay and you can see them by clicking here.  I had a few people ask how I make them.  I might do a tutorial soon but some flower tutorials are on the way first.  Keep an eye out!

Thanks!  Monica

Tear Bears

My new love of scrapbook or card embellishments are tear bears.  They are a lot of fun to make but a bit of work.  I've added quilled flowers to the flower cone they are holding.  I love how they come out, too cute!  You can see them on my eBay store too.  

Thanks!  Monica

Digital Quilling

I was at my local Target store today and ran across the Mother's Day advertisement in greeting cards and wanted to share. The big sign was awesome but forgot to go back around and take a photo. Thought I would share their digital quilling.

DIY Upcycle An Old Shutter

Again I was wasting time on Pintrest and found some great ideas for re purposing a shutter.  I thought they were really cute ideas but I didn't have a shutter laying around.  I was at my local thrift store when I came across.......you guessed it, a shutter!  I think there is a sneaky crafty fairy that knows what I want to make and finds things for me.  Ok ok, I purposely went to the thrift store to find a shutter, I'm just trying to justify my shopping habits.  But hey, it was only $1.00!  

It was easy and fun so here we go!

Here's what it looked like when I purchased it.  I removed the hardware (I'm saving that for another project) and then I threw a bunch of soap and water on it and scrubbed and scrubbed.  I think the dirt had been on there since the 70's.  Then I let it dry.  Quick note....wood expands when wet and cheap shutter wood doesn't un-expand (I know un-expand isn't a word and there's a word for un-expand but I just can't think of it so please make un-expand your word of the day!).  

After it was dry I couldn't open or close it easily anymore.  I think it was in shock at being so clean.  Ok maybe I just shouldn't have practically soaked it in soap and water.  In hindsight it's a good thing it doesn't open easily now.  I'll go into that later.

After it was clean I painted it.  I love getting packages in the mail but I really love reusing the boxes for future crafts.  Again I'm trying to justify my shopping habits.  I didn't have a color of paint that I liked so I made my own color.  I used acrylic paint in white, some green color and I threw in some gold and silver.  Quick note....throwing in metallics to regular acrylic doesn't make it sparkle.  Who knew?  I'm not a painter.  Anyway here's what it looked like when I was done painting.  I applied 2 coats of paint.  Oh another quick note...if you are mixing your own "custom" color (lol) and plan on doing more than one coat, make enough for all of the coats.  I loved the first coat of paint color but do you think the second came out the same, nope.

I let the paint dry overnight.  Remember how I mentioned that the shutter wouldn't open or close easily after I cleaned it?  Well after the paint dried it doesn't open or close at all.  I had this all planned out, really!  I'm kind of happy that it doesn't open or close because my reason for using it doesn't require it (nor do I want it to) open or close.  I'm just lucky that there was enough spaces between the stuck shutters.  I finished it off with some of my quilled flowers that I attached ribbon to as the stems.  I'm using it to hold my favorite cards but you can use it to hold new mail that comes in or photos would be cute in it too.  

Happy crafting!  Monica