Happy Mother's Day

My mother looks forward to my crafty gifts on Mother’s Day.  This year I altered a chalkboard for her kitchen.  Mama Minnie is old school and believes in cooking a Soul Food Sunday dinner at her home regardless of Mother’s Day or any special holiday.  I picked up this chalkboard from Michael’s and added décor to compliment her kitchen. My mother is a decorator so I had to make it pretty and add some lace at the top.

Here’s a close up of the bottom. The items are all from my stash.  Chef Phoebe digital image by Robert Jackson was added. She is whipping up the batter for some hot water cornbread!  Although my mother does not wear that attire, I thought she was too adorable and added the perfect sentiment from Basic Grey.

Here’s a close up of the top.  Finally used the Jolee silverware and tied it to some twine to hang.  Then I found the stickers to add another perfect sentiment for the top.  She can add her menu to the front or back.  

Well it’s time to wrap it in a box for delivery.  Did you make your mother something crafty?

GO RED!

Today is National WEAR RED DAY!  GO RED FOR WOMEN!

So I was inspired to create some tags.  I decided to add digital images by Robert Jackson that was just right for the event.  He had a few healthy living digis.  You can find them here.  He has already added images for Valentine's Day and Black History Month.  It's February right?!!

 This is the start of my effort to pile it on with embellishments.  Love making these tags.  It's a perfect way to use your scraps.  I'm adding some African American stamps.  Yes I recycle them after receiving mail for Black History Month projects!  Look at what I've started with (Sizzix die cut elephant, Forever Young cricut die cut, African American stamp, definition, word, and mini Martha Stewart elephant)

Check out these cute images?  I'm dealing with the first one now, but I did something about it this morning. Believe me when I say,  "Exercise does the body good!"  I'm patiently waiting for my next career and definitely want to be in shape.

It's February.  Do you have your Black History projects together?  Why not grab some die cuts and items from your stash and make tags?  They make the perfect gifts.

Happy Heart Day!
Princess

No Sew Leather Coasters

Happy Holidays! If you are anything like me, you are busy preparing for the holidays.  This year, I decided to be "make heavy" in my gift giving.  Meaning, I am making most of my gifts.  Of course this opens the door for shaky territory.  Because not all handmade gifts are created equal.  In order to create gifts that are handmade (but don't look homemade) I rely on quality materials.  Here is one gift idea that will be sure to please this holiday season (especially if paired with a bottle of wine.)

Genuine leather coasters, upcycled from an old leather trench coat.  I purchased the coat from the thrift shop for about $30.  These coasters are just one of the many projects that intend to make with the coat.  

*Tip: When buying leather coats at the thrift shop, try to find the largest size.   This will give you more material to work with.

I put together a quick video tutorial to share how I made them.  Thanks for looking!

Keeping it Simple and Crafty

I created this simple crafty gift set using my Silhouette Cameo and some files from my Silhouette Library.

One file is a nail polish holder and I adapted it to hold some paint.  Then the smaller file is a chapstick holder and I used it to hold some mini gel pens.  The last file is a water bottle holder which I used to hold some paint brushes.  The possibilities for these files are endless.  Happy crafting!