Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

Congratulations to the Winners of the Scrapbook Layout Contest! First, Second and Third place will receive CreateForLess shopping sprees!

*1st Place Winner of $150 goes to Karen T. from Bolivar, MO.

1st Place

1) I started this fun and romantic layout by placing my cardstock in my Trimmer and instead of using the guillotine I tore cardstock into one-inch strips then weaving them into a checkered board pattern. As I went along I adding pop dots under every other one of the checkerboard blocks to add texture. When I finished weaving the paper into a 12 x 12 sheet I then stitched the two open edges on each of the checks that did not have a pop dot.  2) I cut out the border of a scalloped edge piece of paper and a coordinating pattern paper, after which I layered them and placed them both on the checkerboard adding a border to the page. I stitched around the scalloped edge randomly adding beads to the stitching.
3) I matted my photo and place it on the layout. 4) I twisted floral wire around the bottom point of each paper leaf forming a vine. I curled the ends of the wire with a paintbrush for an added accent. 5) After cutting out fifteen of the smallest hearts with the Spellbinders scalloped heart dies I embossed them. I next did the same to four of the hearts in the next size up. 6) I curled twelve of the small hearts and the four larger hearts into petal shapes using the end of a paintbrush. I then attached four of the small heart shaped petals on a pop dot forming a flower. I did the same with the larger hearts and placed one of the small heart flowers on to the larger one forming a layered flower. I then stitched in the middle and added beads to each of the flowers. 7) The last three hearts I brushed with glue and sprinkled with glitter. I put a pompom on the bottom point to make a “flower bud” out of each. I cut out three sets of the Butterfly Reflections using the Spellbinders dies. Next I embossed the butterflies. I then layered the butterflies and added adhesive to the body of each. Next I ran a line of glue down the body of the butterfly and added beads to complete. 9) After everything dried I place the leaf vine around the photo and added the flowers, buds and butterflies. 10) I typed the journaling and cut it out using a Spellbinders Die and then matted it with a scalloped Spellbinder Die. 11) For the title I painted unfinished chipboard with white paint. When it dried I sanded each letter for a vintage feel. I attached them to the layout and finished it off by adding the word special in mini alphas to the chipboard number one.

* 2nd Place Winner of $100 goes to Vicki R. from Stroudsburg, PA.

2nd Place

This is one of my favorite photos of my grandson! He was sitting next to me on the porch swing and just gave me this “look”, that melted my heart! I used Cosmo Cricket.  The circles are cut with my Circle Scissor Plus. Love it! Then I used my pinking shears to edge them. I sewed around one of the circles and across the photo corner that I made with my sewing machine. I printed the journaling on a transparency for both the little circle in the upper right and the aroung the photo. Six eyelets and lacing attach the two large circles. Heidi Swapp rub-ons, Prima Flowers, Doodlebug buttons, Fiskars Cloud Nine Rain drops, Basic Grey Chipboard Note, and some chipboard alphas add the finishing touches. This is without a doubt, one of my most favorite Layouts!!

*3rd Place Winner of $50 goes to Rhonda T. from Morrow, GA.

3rd Place

I used Leaving Prints and My Minds Eye papers for the background. I wet them with a sprayer, then crumpled them up. Then I opened it up and tore some of the papers, and sanded some areas, then inked them with Distress Inks. The other papers for the mats, flourishes and the word life were by Cosmo Cricket, the Wanted collection. The vintage rick rack, lace and buttons were from my mama’s collection. The small flowers were Prima, and others were just regular silk flowers that I took off the stem. The brads were by Spare Parts and Ck. The photo corners and key hole on the small book were by Garden Ridge. The title was made with Paper Studio chipboard tags, and Ck Rub ons, and the word Life was by Cosmo Cricket, which I covered with the paper from the Wanted collection as well.

Honorable Mentions…

Submitted By: Betty A.

Submitted By: Mandy M.

Submitted By: Alyssa M.

Submitted By: Celeste B.

Submitted By: Joy H.

Welcome our General Crafts Contributor, Shelly from the blog “Pickwick & Plum”.  

Hats are nice, but crowns are better! Could there be a better way to herald spring than to proclaim yourself Queen for a Day? I think not. I’m going to show you how, with a little imagination and elbow grease, you can build yourself a ‘one-of-a-kind’ crown, worthy of any Palace!

For this project, the most challenging part will be to find a base on which to build. I find that the stainless & silver plate aisle at Goodwill is a good bet. For my example, I am using a re purposed casserole holder. You could also build a base using fabric, cardboard, wire – or any number of things but I like the built-in filigree of casserole holders.

Other materials might include:

10 – 12 gauge wire
Vintage buttons or millinery
Ribbons or rhinestones 
Glitter stems
Ball chain
Fabric (about 20″ square)
Old belt
Vintage Christmas trim
Pearl or beaded strand�

You will also need:

Hot glue gun
 Hole punch or drill
Metallic Paint 
Paint (reddish brown & black)
Needle nose pliers
 Scissors

I’m going to explain how I built this example, but there are many variations on what I’m going to show you. I wanted an antique looking crown, so the first thing I did was paint over the metal with a watered down mixture of (mostly) reddish brown and (a little bit of) black paint. If you find that your paint does not want to stick to the metal surface of your frame, you can either heat the metal, or sand it lightly.

Because I was going for something a little rustic, I punched holes a bit randomly around the top of the frame and used rusted bailing wire for my braces. These wire braces can be in a variety of shapes. I wanted the top of my crown to have a traditional shape, so I went with an ogee silhouette. I bound them together in the center and left them at odd lengths – entwined.

At this point you will need to choose a fabric that will make up the inner top part of the crown. Cut a square about 20″ wide and holding the crown upside down, set the fabric inside the frame – creating a bowl of sorts. Stuff newspaper into the bowl and adjust fabric as needed. Cut the excess off and hot glue the edges to the inside of the frame. Keep the newspaper inside the crown until you are completely done. It provides structure while you are building.

Next I ripped 3/4″ strips of a complimentary fabric and set them behind my wire bracing. I used gold glitter stems and a short length of pearl trim to create little ‘buttons’. I hot-glued these onto the fabric with the wire sandwiched in the middle. (Both the glitter stems and the pearl trim were antiqued using the same reddish brown & black paint.)

Once each wire has a strip of fabric and your ‘buttons’ are attached, you can begin to work on the outside of the crown frame. I used a combination of ripped silk, vintage christmas tinsel and antique millinery trim for the upper band and then along the bottom I used an old belt and a ball chain. I painted the belt with metallic gold paint and stuck a strip of vintage christmas ribbon behind it. You can just see it peeking up behind the ball chain.

To finish it off, I wrapped the top with an antiqued string of plastic pearls!�
Et Viola – vous etre une reine du jour!