First Birthday Party Table Centerpiece

Difficulty Level: Medium

When my nephew turned one we kept the party low key.  For the food table centerpiece my mother made these adorable decorations.  The theme of the party was teddy bears.  We used a Styrofoam box and fabric to make the base.  Then, we cut die-cuts from the Cricut Machine (2 of each) and attached them to sticks.  This is the final result!!  It was super cute!! 

K.I.S.S.
Sarah

Stenciled Scrapbook Cover Page

Dublin, Ireland

When scrapbooking, I like to have a cover page for all of my projects.  For this book, I used a stencil and cursive writing to make the cover page.  Here is how I did it:

1.  Chose two pieces of 12 x 12 paper.
2.  On a piece of of scrap paper stencil your heading using pencil.  
3.  In the center of the heading write a sub heading using pencil.  When you feel it looks right, outline the heading in marker.  
4.  Use chalk to shade in the middle.  I used two different colors to add contrast. 
5.  Tear parts of one 12 x 12 paper to put on top of the other piece.   
6. Cut die cuts outs using scraps of the bottom 12 x 12 and tape to your project (see my post on saving paper for instructions).

K.I.S.S.
-Sarah

Saving Paper to Make Simple Pages

I am a fan of saving money and paper during my paper projects.  I never buy anything unless it is on sale.  I also use ever last scrap of my paper!

I apologize for not showing the entire page, but there are pictures of people on the page from my trip that I do not know how to contact for permission.  Instead, I made you mock-up of the page below.  Basically there is the simple floral heading on the top, the 8 x 10 picture in the center of the page, and then a journal at the bottom of the page.  

Materials Needed:

* One 12 x 12 piece of paper
* Three other scrap paper pieces
* One 8 x 10 picture (or another size if you would like!)
* A die cut machine
* Adhesive, markers, & hole puncher


For this particular page I chose 4 pieces of paper.  I chose one large  12 x 12 paper for the background paper, and three other pieces of scrap paper I had.  They did not have to be 12 x 12 because I was matting a 8 x 10 paper and I had the picture space under the picture to use for the flowers.  

First, I started matting my 8 x 10 picture (the purple and yellow parts in the picture).  Once the picture was matted I turned it over and cut out the remaining pieces of paper on the back of the paper.  I doesn't have to look pretty because you will be putting your picture over it. :)

After I matted all the layers using this strategy, I matted all three layers and glued to the page. 


Once my picture is matted on the page I started making the flowers using the scraps from the center of the mat.  I used the Sizzix machine to cut the flowers.  You could use any die cut machine you own or use a stencil and cut your own flowers.  I used a circle punch to make the center of the of the flowers.  I added some extra pizazz to them by dotting lines on the flowers using markers and matting the flowers.  I also used a hole puncher to add some uniqueness to the flowers too.  You can do whatever you would like.  That is joy in crafting!  There is no right or wrong way to do it. :) 

 

K.I.S.S.

-Sarah