Valentines

And also, #2 of 12 of my "make things" resolution.  Using an iota of my craft stuff, I made a few valentines for my girl and her cousins:

Besides stamping the front, I used my Zink hAppy to print pix to wish them kisses and funny faces inside.  Then I adhered a vintage valentine for some cute sentiment:

Here's a close-up of one to our nephew:

I included a little fruit wrap (though the girl got a Dunkin Donuts gift card) to give them something sweet but didn't bother going overboard since I'm sure they are going to get inundated with sweets by friends and schoolmates. And it doesn't hurt that it kept postage down to one stamp too.  Just a little sweet something from their Auntie!

I love my Zink hAppy printer

During the lost years of trips up to NJ to help take care of my mom, a great friend gave me a great gift in 2013--a Zink hAppy printer:

Printing photobooth strips from Pocketbooth app

As a scrapbooker, I was often yearning for instant gratification of the photos I took with my iPhone, which made it so easy to take photos of everything: food, friends, moments. Like I said in this post, I love my Instax cameras but there is an unpredictability that is both its charm and weakness--there is definitely magic about the moment you captured but every once in a while, you know the pic that you want in your hands and can't necessarily keep capture with an Instax the way you can with a smartphone.  I was craving a portable photo printer that was compatible with an iPhone and my wish was granted with the production of the Zink hAppy printer.  Some apps, like Pocketbooth, are instantly compatible and I can print my photostrips directly from the app.  For other apps, I can save pix to my camera roll and just use AirPrint to print out pix.

Compared to printing at home, my Zink hAppy prints a little lighter than it looks on my iPhone while my printer at home prints them a bit darker compare to my iPhone:

On top are Zink hAppy prints, on bottom are printer prints

But overall, I'm happy with the prints.  Here's one of the pix from my phone for comparison:

Another detail is that the largest roll a Zink hAppy prints is 2 inches.  So maximum width is 2 inches.  Zink offers a free app, Zink Big, where one can print out a big picture by printing it out in 2 inch tiles.  But for my needs, 2 inch width pictures are not a limitation at all.  On top of that, I LOVE that the Zink rolls are adhesive so when I scrap or craft with the pictures, no glue or tape needed.  I get the 2 inch rolls (for printing out pix, including Instagram pix) and 1 inch rolls (for photobooth pix).  My only quibble is that the rechargeable battery pack that makes it completely portable (like "drop it in your bag and print wherever you want" portable) is available as an accessory and I feel like it should be included with the printer.

I know that there is an Instax Instant Film printer that recently came out, which frankly I totally dig (I love Instax!).  Both are portable and print directly from an iPhone but the film required for the Instax Instant Film printer is usually about $1 per print.  Zink rolls are about $30 for a 19 foot roll--so depending if printing a 2x2 Instagram pic or a regular portrait pic (2x2.75) comes out to 25-40 cents per print.  And bonus, they are adhesive!

I've been really enjoying re-discovering my Zink hAppy--printing out pix and maybe even some crafting will be happening!

Reno 911! for Halloween party

This year we went to a Halloween party at our gym and I made our costumes for Reno 911! Lt. Dangle and Deputy Kimball.  I got both our khaki pants and shirts from the Goodwill for a grand total of $13, I printed our Sheriff Department patches on to iron-on transfer sheets, and we picked up our Sheriff badges at the Dollar Store where it was 6 in a package.  The big expenditures was the $7 "human hair" mustache for Paul and $6 aviators.  But not bad for less than $30 for the both of us right?

This little guy had the best costume--as the most adorable Chippendale's dancer EVER. You can bet he had dollar bills in his waistband by the end of the night!

And mad props to my favorite adult costume: Kenny Powers!

The other highlight of the party was the awesome food--I had at LEAST one of each of these cupcakes.  So tasty and so crafty!

I'm kind of at a loss for another costume idea for actual Halloween. Any ideas?

Wish I Could Be at the Book of Notes Workshop

Anyone else love the Book of Notes that Danni of Oh Hello Friend puts together?  I wish I had a picture of my own but hit the link and you'll see some awesome Book of Notes she makes.  They combine my favorite elements: paper, crafting, and sentiment.  Could you imagine giving one of these?  Or just as good--receiving one? 

They kind of remind of these bestselling books sold in the 90s (totally spacing on the titles!) that were purportedly love letters back and forth and came in this colorful book with little envelopes attached inside to artful pages.  Though I never read them, I was definitely attracted to the tactile participation.  These Book of Notes remind me of them but obviously I would prefer ones made personally.  I guess the challenging part would be coming up with the various sentiments to fill up the pages.

She is doing a Book of Notes Workshop this Sunday at her Fullerton, CA shop and holy cow, how I wish I was there for it!  Any Cali friends going?   Would love to see the finished project!

Getting Crafty with Linda

While at Linda's, I made and dressed up these Rice Krispies Treats:

And I made this lovely clutch:

Machine appliqué tee

Still getting crafty with t-shirts and appliqué techniques--this one I got to upcycle some cute material from clothes I wasn't wearing:

The full post and lessons learned are here.

The Girls get Crafty with T-shirts

The girl made a sweet birthday present for her friend--a hand-crafted t-shirt, a la Amy Tangerine:

It was easy, quick, and lovely.  I posted the details here.

And I also re-sized a t-shirt that started out too large:

Interested?  I posted details of that adventure and lessons learned here.

Come Walk in my Shoes and See the Way I'm Living if You Really Want to

On another visit to Target, I was drawn to this plaid Duck Tape:

There were other colors and styles like animal prints ( and even themes like Hello Kitty) which kind of got me thinking about the craftier side of duct tape.  I remember a while back seeing posts about kids who went to their proms in duct taped outfits and currently, Duck Tape even has contests for it.  So when I got these boots from Goodwill, I realized I had a project.  They were the perfect candidate as some of the original pleather was scratched off in places:

And they ended up like this.

Interested?

I googled around and came across great posts about such a project here, here, and this great tutorial by Crafting in the Rain here.  Anyhoo, I ran into one major issue: matching the plaid exactly was not possible due to the way the pattern is printed on the tape.  So I focused on syncing the broad purple lines as much as possible:

As I was using a pair of somewhat dull scissors of my mom's that got stickier as I cut more tape, I found it advantageous to work as much length as possible to prevent tearing the tape (due to cutting with dull scissors) and pattern consistency: 

Be sure to press the tape into all the wrinkles of the boot by pressing outward with a hand inside the boot and pressing the tape into the wrinkles with the other hand on the outside of the boot.  When I was able to lay the pieces evenly next to each other, it didn't look too bad:

The hard part was hitting the curves, where the tape can't just be laid side by side in rows:

So I would fill the blank spaces with shorter pieces of duct tape trying to sync the purple lines as best I could.  I also made a boundary near the bottom edge with little pieces of duct tape so that when I cut the bottom edges of the long strips roughly with the scissors, the boundary would keep the bottom edge looking clean:

Unfortunately it was really challenging to match even just the purple lines around the bottom curve, so the bottom part of the boot definitely has a more collagy look.

Well they may not be perfect, but they lend a fun accent to simple jeans, don't you think?

This project took less about two hours so I give a thumbs up on the fun plaid Duck Tape for this upcycled boot project.  Anybody else have ideas of what I else should duct tape?

Ink joy

I was wandering Target on errands and these new Ink Joy pens by Paper Mate caught my eye. They were about $3.50 for each package:

First, the name--Ink Joy--grabbed me alone. As a crafter and scrapper, those two words together just made me want to scribble with them. Second, the ink is smooov. When I tested it out at Target, it was a like a Segway in my hand, the pen just glided across the paper. That said, when I got mine home and started just writing with it, it's almost too smooth and fast. My handwriting can get hard to read if I write too fast. So generally, my handwriting actually benefits from a stickier ink because it forces me to write more deliberately. But I certainly loved the feel of the smooth ink. Guess I should work on my penmanship. Finally, I loved the availability of colors. To find all these colors in ball point (rather than markers) was such fun find for me and the colors are satisfyingly saturated.

The numbers, like the 700RTs and the 300RTs above, stand for the style.  The higher the number, the higher (or fancier, e.g. cushioned grip) the style. RT stands for retractable, which I always prefer to pen and cap (because I inevitably lose the cap).  So far, they've become my new precious pen along with my Seven Year Mustache pen.

They even inspired me to do a little smashing on a plain blank page:

I used all the colors to make my own pattern paper:

Added this cute instax of Velina and Augie together:

A little washi tape and tiny letter stickers to frame them:

And some other tiny embellishments, some journaling, and accenting of some of the hearts with my black 700RT:

A really basic page, but I heart it.

Smashing

Well I was able to get a little creative on the plane on our last trip to NY with the smash book I had made with the girl. I printed out a few phone pix in wallet size and packed some other memorabilia (like restaurant business cards, labels, etc.) I brought minimal supplies--a couple pens to write with, some decorative tape and glue stick for adhesive, a pair of blunt-tip child scissors (trying my luck since it was carry-on) to trim anything if necessary, and a small pad of decorative stickers and tiny alphas.

It really brought me back to scrapbooking--which I can't even remember the last time I put a page together. It's a much more simplified version but in that regard, it put a lot less pressure on designing a nice page and it lent itself to more journaling about the pic or moment. And it went faster too--I did a half dozen pages in a two hours of plane ride versus getting only one (if I was lucky) 12x12 layout done.

I'm heading back up NY/NJ tomorrow to help my mom with some doctor appointments and other things. I've printed out some pix from the last trip and aim to smash them in my downtime. Also hope to motivate myself to do some running. I'm thinking I'll be pretty occupied between the three--

Purl soho

Due in part to Linda's fabulous catch, I made a trip to Purl Soho.

Unfortunately, I did not score a stack of polkies like her, but I do dig the florine Lotta Jansdotter fabrics and viewmaster reel fabric I got. Of course, I don't have a specific project for them, but they were too lovely to pass up, right?

My Secret Santa efforts

My Secret Santa efforts were a bit thwarted as I was traveling in and couldn't really pack anything to do my usual decorative adventures like in 2009 or 2008.  My recipient had put down sun and beach as interests so I tried to create a sunny theme by absconding with these decorative balls from my friends and attempting to spray paint them yellow and orange.  My plan was to hang them from her ceiling like little sunshiny orbs.  Unfortunately, it appears I should have primed them first: 

Fail.  My first day as Secret Santa, I simply gave a lotto scratcher (which I heard won her a dollar--hooray!).  Then my friend L, suggested making a beach scene with supplies already there.  BRILLIANT.  That night, magic happened--I felt I got my Secret Santa mojo back.  What do you think of this little office beach?

Including a wave on her door--yes!

On the following days, I gave her a mixtape CD, an iTunes card, and for the gift under the tree, a jump rope she asked for and this cute hypotrochoid set (anybody remember Spirograph?):

I also had the opportunity to help another Secret Santa whose recipient, S., loves Marc Anthony and candy.  I found this close-enough look-alike at the dollar store, gave him a microphone made from a rolled-up post-it, and put him on a stage of candy that said "Marc Anthony Sings S. Sweet Something".

Man, I LOVE Secret Santa!

Bend the rules sewing

I recently took this book out of the library for some more sewing inspiration, Bend the Rules Sewing by Amy Karol:

Velina had a friend over and I thought the "No Cash Wallet" would be a good project for the girls and they were game. They both have a little sewing experience but it was easier for me to cut the fabric pieces for them since I did it from measurements rather than the pattern. But overall, they did a good job, though one can see it's not so easy to sew straight:

They enjoyed picking out the fabrics for the outside and inside:

Overall, a good job, right?

Do you Smash?

The latest craze in scrapbooking are Smash Books. Truth be told, the concept isn't new but I have to give a mad tip of the cap to their marketing. Here is their killer video that just gets you hooked:



Even the girl got hooked! So then I figured I definitely have enough paper and other supplies, including a Bind-It-All , so why not make our own Smash Book? I found a great tutorial for a near replica of a Smash Book on Francine Clouden's blog, but we decided to try her lovely simple spiral-bound journal first.

Ta-da!

Here are some of the papers Velina chose--LOVE these polka dots:

I was crazy about this bird paper--glad it's being used!

Velina also chose this lovely flower paper--man, what was I saving it for?

And here is some of her "smashing"--spontaneous penny art:

And some pix of her friends that she cut and wrote around:

Smashing, right?

On your way, you pretties

For the girl's dance, I opted to make these chocolate dipped pretzel rods. So much quicker and easier than baking cookies--plus they're a nice combo of salty and sweet, rather just sweet. At my age, I can't handle so much pure sweetness. I'm banking on some kids feeling the same way. Otherwise, I wonder if these are the equivalent of apples and pencils being given out to Trick-or-Treaters?

And they're off

I finished making the zippered pouches for my Crafting for Alzheimer's fundraiser:

Including adding the tags:

And wrapping them up for shipping:

They're going out today (except those I'm still waiting on mailing addresses)! Thanks again!