The Paperie Blog Hop: Embellished tags for giving or keeping

So, I promised a project for crafters, and a project for sewists. They're both equally cute and useful and each are great ways to bust some scraps and use up every last precious bit of Paperie.

Paperie is the first line of fabric from Art Gallery Fabrics designed by Amy Sinibaldi of NanaCompany and i'm sure it won't be her last. So let's make some gift tags.

If you follow me on Instagram, I gave you guys the heads up to buy some gift tag packs from Targets dollar spot but if you didn't get a chance to, any old chipboard tags will do.

Here's what you'll need to get started:
Chipboard tags
Ribbon or lace
Wood buttons or scrapbook embellishments
Fabric scraps at least larger than your tags
Mod Podge
Foam paintbrush
Scissors
Hot glue gun

Cover about three quarters of your tag with a thin layer of mod podge. Lay a scrap down on the tag and press down flat so no bubbles form, making sure to press firmly near the edges.

Now cut some ribbon or lace bits to length and hot glue them to your tags to hide the raw top edge of the fabric. Once you've finished all your tags, you can start to trim the excess from your edges using a ruler and an exacto knife, rotary tool or scissors.

Now you can start to hot glue on some wood buttons or stars or hearts for the finishing touch. That's it! Just add some twine or ribbon to tie them onto packages and gifts and don't forget to make a million because you'll be sad to see them go!

I hope you guys enjoy this little project and head over to Instagram (I'm tinkerellen) for a fun giveaway (all the supplies to make your own AND some already made tags!) from me and a chance to win a charm pack of Paperie from Amy!

Thanks guys, happy making!
Cheri

The Hexie Card Making Tutorial: a hexagon paper project

Lets be honest here, I've begun a little love affair with the hexagon. It's been culminating in my sewing adventures BUT it spilled over into my paper crafting when I purchased my Friskars hexagon paper punch. You can find yours in a local craft store which most likely has sales or coupons to keep the initial cost down. I will tell you this, it makes paper piecing pretty simple if you're a sewist (seamstress?).

Here's what you'll need:
Paper punch
Coordinating scrapbook papers
Blank cards
Colored or black fine point markers
Glue stick

Now the first step is to just start punching away. There, that was easy.

Next step is to lay out a plan for your hexes on each card. Once you've done that, use the glue stick to adhere each piece to the card, making sure to get the edges fairly well.

Now that you have your patterns, you can start to embellish your designs using your fine point markers. I like to sketch a word or greeting in pencil before tracing in marker, then going back and erasing the pencil lines after.

 

 

As you can see, you can be as simple or as creative as you want. There, you're done. Now that was't so difficult. These make great gifts for fellow sewing or hexagon enthusiasts, and great greetings to use with swap packages or just to say hello. And who doesn't love a little surprise snail mail?

Happy crafting!
- Cheri

Craftilicious: Wood sign tutorial

Are you ready for an easy sign project? It's cheap and quick and extremely easy, I promise.

What you need:
ruler
pencil
scrapbook rub-on alphabets
eraser
wood scrap

Take your wood scrap {I used a primed scrap from my massive useless wood pile in the basement} and lightly draw lines based on what you plan to write on your sign. This may take a little planning on your part.

I started with the far right of my words, basically writing backwards so I could get a right-justified quote. You can center or left-justify, depending on your own preference. Rub each letter on using the lines as your guides. Once you're done, lightly erase your lines, being careful not to remove your letters. If you wanted to protect them, you could just spray a finishing coat on top of the whole board and even a coat of mod podge. 

That's it. Seriously. I'm thinking these would be perfect for swapping out holiday or kids room decor. Or maybe something fun for the kitchen.

Here's one that took a lot more time and planning on my part, so I cut up letters to make it a bit easier: