KAM Snaps on Dish Towels

I don't know about you, but sometimes little things drive me crazy. One of those things used to be my dish towels falling off the dishwasher or oven door handle every time their doors were opened. There are towels sold with special hanger tops to prevent this and plenty of patterns online to make your own. But I already had a bunch of towels and I didn't really want to sew something to their middles. It seems like that would make them less convenient for drying dishes and other tasks that don't involve hanging from an appliance handle.

Then I had a brilliant idea. KAM Snaps! If you've never used them, they are plastic snaps. You need the special tool to install them, but they are super easy to work with. I put one snap on one side of each of my towels (okay, on the sides of several towels. I just did the ones that I generally hang up).

I just hung the towel over the oven door handle to determine how far apart to put the two halves. Now I can still fold my towel into neat thirds (or even in half or in quarters) to hang it up, and then I can snap the front to the back and it doesn't fall off!

Since the snaps are plastic, I don't have to worry about them scratching anything when I use the towel, and I was able to find a variety set of snaps that included grey, cream, and black snaps, which perfectly match the towels I put them on.

If you are looking to get started with KAM snaps, here is their website: https://kamsnaps.com . I actually got my original set (with the snap tool and a variety of white and bright colored snaps) a few years ago from Amazon, but I know they are available from other places too.

I hope someone out there can make use of this handy idea. Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Virtual Card Night

I get together with a small group of family and friends one a month to make cards. The group includes both my mom and my mother-in-law. There are five of us total and we take turns hosting each month.When its your turn to host, you are responsible for coming up with the cards everyone will make and supplying the materials. We all bring our own basics (scissors, adhesive, paper trimmer, etc.) but the rest is up to the host.

It was my turn to host in March- just as things were really starting to take off with Covid-19. We decided that it was probably safer to skip our usual March night and wait until April. Well, clearly things didn't get any better in April. SO... I decided we should try having a Zoom card night. I put together kits that included card stock, die cut pieces, and even two sets of stamps. Each card used the Lace Bouquet stamp set and many included greetings from the Think Big Favorites #16 set (bought for a bargain from Papertrey Ink's Blow Out Sale- amazing deals!).

Here is what I included in each kit:

I even included some snacks/dessert (FYI- those are Oreo Thins Bites, the White Fudge Dipped flavor, and they are soooooo good!)

Then I had a lovely (snowy!) afternoon driving around to everyone's houses and dropping off their envelope of goodies (Don't worry- I stayed at least 6ft away!). I told everyone to wait until our meeting to open them so they could find out what was inside together.

You can also see that I included pictures of the cards I made with the same supplies (of course adding in inks and white card stock). Here are bigger pictures of the cards:

 

  

 

   

  

 

 I'll be honest, most of these are not my original design. I found them online and copied many of them fairly closely. The purple Birthday Wishes card was all mine, however.

We had a great time and spent over three hours together on Zoom crafting and chatting and it was almost like we were together at one table. It worked out so well, we are trying it again this month. My mother-in-law will be hosting this time, and I'm looking forward to seeing what she has designed for us! 

If you have any questions on the supplies or techniques used on any of these cards, please leave a question in the comments below!
 

Bicycle Basket Liner/Bag

Well, it's been a really long time since I've posted something, but that's okay, right?

So, now that we are all home social distancing and trying to wait for a cure or vaccine or something, I've got a little more crafting time on my hands. The first project I tackled with some of my free time is a liner/tote bag for the basket on my bicycle. I don't ride well with a back pack on, and when we take our bikes on family vacations, I need a place to put my stuff when we go for a ride, so I bought a bike basket. I decided it needed a liner to keep my stuff from banging around in there, and to spiff it up a bit!

Here's what I ended up with:

This is the view you'd see when on the bike. The yellow cord is actually bungee cording with a cord stop (I just tied the loose ends in a bow). It runs through a casing at the edge of the pink fabric to keep the bag in place on the basket.

The green layer also has a casing at the edge that the pink/green ribbon runs through so it can be gathered to close the bag.

This picture was taken mid construction while testing the ribbon- notice that the fabric is pinned to the basket. You can see part of the body of the bag in the background.

I also added ribbon loops with D rings so I could attach removable straps. Each strap just folds around a ring and snaps to itself. I will admit I had to have my hubby help with the snaps- I just couldn't wack them hard enough with the hammer. Now, if I stop somewhere on a ride, I can take the whole bag with me, like a purse, and leave the basket on the bike.

There is also a hidden pocket inside that is the perfect size for my phone.

I'm really happy with how well this turned out- especially considering I created the pattern from scratch. I just laid the basket on some large white paper and traced each side and the bottom as best I could. I also am pretty impressed that I had all of the fabrics and hardware already, and I picked out and cut the pink and green fabric long before I realized I had the perfectly matching ribbon! Talk about meant to be!!!

Here's one more shot, more from the side.

I've used it on several bike rides with the family so far, and I'm looking forward to someday being able to take it (and my bike) somewhere farther away for a ride! Someday...

I've also been making cards and sewing some masks (like everyone else on the planet with a sewing machine, it seems!), but my next big project is a Christmas tree skirt. It is for a small tree that only gets decorated with Hallmark Crayola ornaments. Here's a sneak peek:

It's got a bit of a funky twist thing happening toward the center, and I think that's the reason for the large gap... that number of pieces should have made a complete circle. But I'll just add a couple more and it will be fine. I'll try to post more pictures when it's done.

I hope anyone who might read this is staying healthy, and of course, staying home!

Balloon Birthday Cards

Both of my kids had birthday parties to go to recently. This means that there were cards to be made!

First, my youngest was invited to the party for a girl in his class. I don't get to make very many girl birthday cards, so this one was lots of fun. We had learned from her mom that she likes to draw with glitter pens, so I decided that she needed some sparkle on her card!

A few months ago I picked up several ombre ink pads at Michaels. They were their Recollections brand. I also bought the Ombre Sentiments: Birthday stamp set from Papertrey Ink and really the two are a perfect match. I used my MISTI to perfectly line up the sentiment three times on a narrow strip of card stock that was mounted on the left side with foam dots. 

The right side, as you can see, was filled with glittery balloons! I dug out several shades of pink and purple cardstock that seemed to go with the ink colors and covered a small piece of each color with double sided tape (2.5" wide, from Stamp On It). Then I punched out 2 different sized balloons from each color. I removed the other side of the paper on the tape and covered each balloon with micro fine glitter from Sweet Stamps. Even after burnishing the glitter, it still made gave the balloons a very white-ish look, so I went over the glitter with a Spectrum Nior alcohol marker in a color that matches the card stock and they were instantly spectacular!

Some of the balloons were glues flat to the card and the other were popped up using two different thickness of foam dots. I loved the way the final product turned out. It was a little bit hard to give it away!

The following day, my oldest attended the birthday party of one of his best friends and fellow Star Wars geeks. My son requested the card be something Star Wars, but had no further suggestions or ideas. After a quick Google image search for "Star Wars cards", I was inspired to make this:

I finished it just barely in time for him to sign it and get it in an envelope before we dashed out the door to the party, so this is my only picture. BB8 was assembled with a variety of circle dies and punches and some hand cut scraps of grey. The balloon on this one is a die (from this Jillian Vance set) and was cut from yellow vellum and white card stock. I was just going to use the vellum, but the black background overpowered it, so I backed it with a white die cut. A little bit of orange and white twine finished things off nicely.

It was reported back to me that the birthday boy liked the card, so I am counting this one as a great success as well!

I hope you liked my cards today. Thanks for visiting, and don't be afraid to leave a comment and say "Hi".

Mother's Day 2016

This is the card I made for my mom for Mother's Day this year. I was inspired by the Vintage Watercolor tutorial on Splitcoaststampers.com. I am completely loving the color scheme here.

The birdhouse was stamped in Vintage Photo Distress ink and the lines softened with a water brush. I used an English Red Marvy marker, scribbled on an acrylic block and picked up with the water brush, to add the red on the roof. I also added some touches of Sepia Marvy, using the fine point end directly on the paper, for some color variation. The tutorial on Splitcoast uses an Elegant Writer pen for these darker bits, but I don't have one of those. I really like the effect the sepia gave.

For the flowers, I inked the small flowers that come in the birdhouse set with the English Red marker, and then tapped it on the Vintage Photo pad to tone it down a bit. There might have been a bit of sepia in there too. The leaves were done with a combo of the Vintage Photo and Sepia. The little twiggy bits are just plain Sepia.

It's amazing to me how dark the Sepia twigs looks against the Vintage Photo birdhouse. I've always considered the Sepia to be a medium brown when I've used it in my other watercolor cards. This combo makes it look so dark!


I finished off the image with a bit of Clear Wink of Stella on just the flowers. I would never have thought to add the wink of Stella until I saw Bonnie Krebbs (the owner and designer, and all around awesome person!) do it at the Adventures in Stamping show in Akron, OH a few weeks ago. It is the perfect finishing touch!

The rest of the card was put together by die cutting a double stitched circle (from Our Daily Bread Designs- but there are lots of companies who make them!) from some kraft cardstock. I then used a couple of Cover-a-Card background stamps from Impression Obsession (Grunge on the kraft and Ticking and the red/burgundy) to add some "texture" to the card. I also used the three inks from the main image to dye a bit of cream seam binding for the bow and corner wrap. I was hoping for something a bit more variegated, but it still works.


Overall, I am very pleased with how this card turned out. I am sure there will be more cards with this vintage color scheme in my future. Thanks for stopping by to see my cards and feel free to leave a comment so I know you were here!

Creative Critters

The current challenge at the Art Impressions blog is "Creative Critters" in honor of their new mini spinner sets. I happened to pick up one of the new sets at the Adventures in Stamping show a few weeks ago, but I happened to choose the one that doesn't include a critter! No worries though- I discovered that the party hat in the Mini Cake Spinner set fit perfectly on Little Whoot!

 

The cake, hat, and Little Hoot were all stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored with my Spectrum Noir alcohol markers. I tried to get some shading/blending but I'm still learning with those. It took a bit of creative masking and the help of my MISTI to squeeze an extra "o" into the greeting (It originally said "who's" with one o), but with that cute owl it HAD to be done!

 

The rest of the layers were various bits of card stock and pattered paper, die cut with an array of circles, scalloped circles, stitched circles, and rectangles.

I even included another Little Hoot on the inside of the card along with a fun message (from a Stampin Up! set that is probably long retired)

The best part of this card is the spinning action. You wind up the little cake and then close the card and tuck it in the envelope. When the recipient opens it, the cake spins. Check out the little video below to see the cake in action (it's my first attempt at uploading video, so I hope it works!)

My husband tried to convince me that I should let him have the completed card because he needs to give someone a birthday card soon. Of course, that "someone" is ME! (I told him no! He's still got a month to find his own card.)

Thank you for checking out my card! Please leave me a comment if you stopped by- I'd love to know who's peeking at my creations!

Disney Crafting

My family and I are heading off to Disney World soon and I have done a bit of crafting with adhesive vinyl and my Silhouette Portrait to get ready! Most recently, I embellished our new Magic Bands to better represent the characters we each used instead of our real names on the inside of our bands (If you look closely at the first picture, you can see the names printed on the box in front of each band- in case you can't figure out the characters from the designs!)

Here are the designs on the other side of each band. I especially love how the BB-8 turned out, with the orange from the band showing through the openings in the design. And I have to give credit to my husband for the idea to use the tower on my band. It was genius!

The other items I embellished are books to hold our collections of Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom game cards. These were actually Christmas gifts for my husband and the boys, so I made them a few months ago. The adhesive vinyl worked beautifully! It is super easy to use and looks very professional. 

The gold one is my husband's, the middle one belongs to Kylo Ren (err, my youngest) and the last one is for my oldest and fellow lover of all things green. We can't wait to to get to Disney and put all these things to good use!