Cork Crafts!

 

So I had this gigantic pile of corks leftover from my wedding...

 

At the wedding they were turned into these:

And then I had all sorts of cork dreams like these: 

But ultimately I decided on this project because I've always wanted a stamp set, but have also always been too cheap to spend the $$$ on getting one... Probably once you factor in the time of carving the whole alphabet it's worth it just to get the stamp set, but this is definitely more fun!

 

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Jewellery Board Update

A little update on a project from a couple weeks ago. I did eventually get around to adding the burlap/lace bit that I wanted to on my jewellery board. I like it much better :) I originally had found some ribbon scraps that I threw on this piece just to give it a little something extra, but I never did like how it ended up... messy (and not the "cool, purposefully placed messy" just "I found some scraps and threw this together messy")

Envelopes!

I LOVE making & receiving handmade cards and handwritten letters. I'm pretty lousy at the handwritten letters part, but I have a stash of cards just ready to have the perfect occasion come up to send them. When I sit down to make one card I often end up making a few more just because the creative mood as struck. 

If there is one thing to be said for store bought cards though is that they come beautiful bound with matching envelopes the perfect size to store its contents. Oh Hallmark...

I have a whole board on Pinterest devoted to fun card ideas, and have lately realized that there are some mighty cool envelopes out there as well just ready for the making. So I decided to try a couple different styles. Here you go, let me know what you think, if you would use one over the other and definitely pass on some other sweet envelope designs that you have come across.

Envelope #1

This envelope was EASY PEASY and looks beautiful and intricate upon complete. It's really so simply.

• Cut out 4 circles on the paper of your choice
• Fold in half
• Overlap them like closing a cardboard box
• Glue in place
• Done :)

I added some fancy fibers & ribbons to fancy this one up a bit, but you could definitely just fold it down and be done with it if you were in a rush. I also think this would be pretty sweet with multiple different papers, textures, and colours to add some pizazz. You can have some much fun with this design. 

Another BONUS to this one is that it's almost like a little gift box! You could stow a pair of earrings or other small gift inside the envelope to add that little something extra :)

I will definitely be using this design again in the future. You can easily make any size you want. Mine was big, but I think some small ones would be uber cute too.

Pin, Lose, Draw? Definitely a WINNER!

Envelope #2

This was was also so simple, who knew that the HEART was the secret to the perfect envelope shape! 

Envelope #2 took me back to elementary school where I first learned to draw a symmetrical heart. 

1. Fold the paper hot dog ways (as opposed to hamburger fold)

2. Draw half a heart

3. Cut out = automatic symmetry

After making your heart shape fold in the sides, fold up the bottom, glue in place, VOILA! You have pretty much the quickest, easy, envelope ever.

I dig this one a lot. But I did notice a downfall... I cut my heart on a 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper and my ending envelope size was not as big as I was expecting... You definitely couldn't fit a normal size card in there, but you could fit a lovely handwritten note for sure. AND if you knew ahead of time your envelope size you could make a card to match (not to future crafty self...)

Pin, Lose, Draw? I vote this one a WINNER due to least materials, quickest time, and ease of making. But it's not my favourite for a special occasion.

Well folks, there you have it. Two different envelope styles. I'm pretty stoked to stockpile my envelope stash to match my card stash now. May I (and you) never again get into the pickle of having a card without an envelope :)

Gluten Free Treats!

I was originally thinking that this would be more of a incentive to "get my craft on" so to speak, but one of the boards I pin to is called "Things that Look Nummy" and while I am typically distrusting of many online recipes... I had a wonderful friend (who also happens to have Celiac disease) babysitting for me. I wanted to thank her with a tasty GF treat so I thought I go to my pin board and see what I could find. Gluten Free seems to have been a bit of trend lately in the foodie and diet worlds (even for those who don't necessitate a GF diet) and there are plenty of tasty looking recipes out there that would tempt even the most bread, meat, and cheese kinda guy :)

I thought I should try my recipe out first on my husband and myself before preparing a "treat" for someone else (just in case it was a major flop) So I found this delicious looking "Cheesy Garlic Cauliflower Breadsticks" recipe and thought it would be a winner.... turns out not exactly as I thought it would be. It was tasty, however I was hoping it would be more crispy like breadsticks, and it turned out a little more omelette-y... we did eat it but I decided that it wasn't going to be what I would serve my stellar babysitter the next night. Pin, Lose or Draw? LOSE...

But now I was running out of time to do a trial run of my creation before hand so I took a gamble on this Gluten Free Dairy Free Pumpkin Cupcake recipe and it was DELICIOUS!! So good. I will definitely be making this one again. They pretty much taste like pumpkin doughnuts :) I switched up the icing from the recipe though and did a maple glaze (maple syrup mixed with icing sugar... yes sugar mixed with sugar) and like I said this is definitely going in the recipe box.  

They were the perfect craving kicker that this fall weather has been kicking up and would go wonderfully with a Pumpkin Spice Latte (if you love pumpkin as much as I do anyways). 

Happy Eating <3 p="">

Sarah.

Jewellery Wall Organizer

Okay... So I think I'm a day late here. However I'm going to say its because of the holiday weekend :) I think I pinned this sometime last summer, but never had the wall space to hang it up so I never bothered to make it. But in in our new place I have more blank walls and less character molding so I have room to finally do (and then display) some of these things. 

The motivation behind this project is the fact that I HATE CLUTTER... that being said I have plenty of it. Fail. However, this stellar project will get rid of all those cardboard jewellery boxes sitting on my dresser and display my adornments in a place that hopefully means that will get worn a little more often as I am reminded of some of the beautiful pieces that I have.

Again, I prefer not to spend lots of $$$ on these projects as I have all sorts of "junk" & scraps lying around the house waiting to be turned into something beautiful. So this project cost me $0.00 so far. I think I might go find better ribbon option for the top though 'cause I'm not happy with the outcome currently, but I'll have to search around a bit for what I'm looking for. Until then the ribbon concoction on the top is a temporary fix.

Here was the progress:

1. Found piece of plywood (from my husbands garage deconstruction - reconstruction to music studio project). Wrapped in scrap fleece interfacing from a diaper bag & tone on tone ivory damask fabric from some pillows I did about 5 years ago... Is that a reasonable length of time to hold onto scraps? How often do you purge your scrap supplies? The interfacing gave it a little cushion. I didn't want to add too much batting and make it look upholstered, but I did want a little softness.

2. Ironed the fabric (don't want those creases and didn't think they'd pull out when I stapled the fabric) I pretty much despise ironing and normally I skip it whenever possible, but I thought it might be worth it this time.

3. Stapled my fabric onto the ply. Start with the middle of top & sides, and then work towards the corners. Corners are tricky, but I think I have it down now and really like my technique.

I'll outline the corner technique here:

1.  Working from the middle of top and sides evenly stretch out your fabric. You shouldn't really need to pull any from the corner, just make them look tidy.

2. Using an origami fold like this squash fold, gently fold down your corners.

3. Staple each side and then the top to get a triangle. You can then add a couple more staples and/or trim the extra fabric.

4. You're done! (Sometimes it takes a couple tries to be happy and no weird wrinkles on the top, but if you just use the three staple technique it's less to un-pick and re-do each time and then when you're happy you can add the extra hold if desired.

To finish 'er off:

1. Next I had some old hardware kicking around from when I replaced the kitchen hardware in my house (again about 5 years ago) I cleaned it up and placed it around the board until I was happy.

2. I made some pen marks where I wanted my holes and then cut the fabric with a utility knife so the drill wouldn't rip and pull the fabric while I was drilling my holes.

3. Drilled the holes and screwed in the hardware.

4. Hang & Decorate :)

I just had some old ribbon kicking around that I added as a decor to the top, but I'm not happy with this modge-podge of ribbons. I think I'd like to add some burlap and lace for that rustic/pretty feel. I think it'll go well with the damask too. I'll keep you posted when I find what I'm looking for.

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