Some Handcrafted Spiral Notebook dangles

Just  checking in to see if  you've missed me for about 3 weeks.

 Did you?  

Go ahead tell the truth.

Yeah, yeah, football preseason started and then there's "let's get the kids ready to get out of our hair" er " get ready for back to school. "

Me too but ....

But there's a little  more than that as to  why I haven't been on the net much lately.

Why?

Well,  I've been busy also, very busy beside the football thing or and getting ready to get rid of the kids. 

I got the urge to dive into my scrapbook embellishment box.  

You know the huge plastic container,  that I keep placing the  tons of cute 3-D stickers that I buy.   Okay, the box was reaching a critical mass overload, because the lid wouldn't close anymore.    I had to do something or I was gonna be stuck with all those stickers.  

Then there was the aisles and aisles of school supplies appearing everywhere I go.  As in  the sections of school supply aisles at Target, Walmart, Meijer, Walgreens and (add in any store, even mini marts, that you shop at).

So I decided to make spiral notebook dangles, when the sticker critical mass collided with the school supply buying aisles.  

Actually, I got lost in the school supply aisles.  

And while praying for help finding a way out, I made a bargain with St Jude.  I promised him, that if I ever found my way out, that I would make an effort to actually make stuff with stickers and school supplies instead of just hoarding er keeping them..

My prayers were answered as friendly sales person said "Mame, we are about to close in 10 minutes, can I help you push your 2 carts of items to the checkout?"  LOL and Hallelujah!!!!

I made a few dangles last year and they were a hit with the youngins!   I was even asked to make more animal ones and then there was the usual question, where are the StarWars ones????    So, I was forced (may the Force be with you!!!)  to make Star Wars dangles as part of the danglepalooza event.

For those not familiar with spiral notebook dangles, 
I will explain them.  
Dangles are things that hang from the spirals on notebook, kinda just like the words- "Spiral Notebook Dangles."

This year I added a twist after I made the dangles. I also have tons of scrapbook paper (different blog post and not going there in this one) and  I covered the notebook with matching scrapbook paper.  

IMHO the dangles and notebooks turned  out great because I live with a high style fashionista, -my teenage daughter!

My daughter (also my style and marketing expert LOL) said,

 "Mom, why don't you cover the notebook with scrapbook paper? 

And I MUST help you match the dangle to the scrapbook paper, because as you know, you do not have a great sense of style.  Just look at your orange and pink stripped shirt with the ugly brown spotted pants- mom, I can't stand to look at you and if you attempt to do the matching on your own, well, someone might get hurt - they'll get sick from the disaster...Do it for the children, and safety and let me help you."

Isn't she so sweet to remind me that I am color and style challenged???

So I am now ready to show off some of my dangles that my daughter improved and approved. 

See if you approve of the below.  These are just a few of the many I crafted. Click the pix for a bigger view.

 

These are just a few of dangles.  Got about 30 more, each are a unique design.   

Unicorn Oil, Fairy Essence and Dragon Dust - My Crafty Creations

It's July and it's hot !

And the temperature was rising even inside my air conditioned house because I've worked up a sweat by creating some items for my "2013 Year of Enchantment" theme.

 I crafted : Unicorn Oil, Dragon Dust,and Fairy Essence. 
 Plus I've also crafted a card that explains the magic of these items.

So get your Enchantment On and see the below.

UNICORN OIL

FAIRY ESSENCE

DRAGON DUST

July Crafting - My Kissy Critters

Well, after March Notebook Composition Madness, da plan was to craft some Kissy Critters.

And the dead line was to complete them by the  end of May.

 But a little 4 letter word - LIFE stopped the plan dead in the water.  I kinda had to yell "Mayday, May day!" because I couldn't even finish them in May, and had to put aside the crafting to help myself out with other stuff- LIFE- until June.  I hate when happens!  LOL

"OK, what are kisses?" I hear you asking yourself (yes, I have cyber ears that seem to be able to pick of these kinds of thoughts-LOL)

Kisses are critters made of plastic canvas.  When you squeeze their "cheeks" they open and you find a chocolate kiss inside.

I love making these critters because I can justify doing the squeezing  as an addition to my exercize program when I need chocolate.  Well it does work to ME!  (Don't know if it will work for you, especially if you are doing a workout as a prep for Navy SEAL Indoct!)

Below is a critter based on my dog Rosie.  She is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.  If you are familiar with these lovebugs of dogs, they are a perfect models for Kissy Critters because they love to  give you  kisses.  In fact, my Rosie, will start giving kisses on command.  Stopping , however, is another matter.

To show  how  a Kissy Critter works I have posted the below pix.

 1- Rosie "give kises"!

 
 2.


3.

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4- Rosie fetch!!!

 

5. Repeat!!!!!

Below are pix of some of the  Kissy Critters, that I made in June.

The crafty things you find at Garage Sales

Last week was  my subdivision garage sale.  My subdivision  adjoins another one, and that one is holding one in conjunction with ours.

I am not allowed to have a garage sale every year.  It's a long story, but on the bright side I did my favorite 4 letter word - SHOP!

I do a lot of crafting as a hobby and there is NO craft type that I am NOT afraid of trying.  And at most of the new stuff I try to learn, I do a pretty good job at making cute items.OK, there was that knitting fiasco a few years back, but who is telling?

So me, being me,  the world's most practical crafter, if I am gonna try to learn a new craft,
 Say like  making beads. ( Say it.  Say it.  Say it -LOL)  I say I CAN make clay, paper or fiber beads.

Then I say to myself, "Okay, start slow and inexpensive, think used and repurposed etc."

So garage sale shopping has become a marketplace to crafting items.

What treasures can you get at a garage sale that can be used for crafts?

Below are some found treasures at garage sales. No, I did not buy all of them last week.

-Kitchen aide toaster oven $3- use for baking beads (one should not use the oven you cook in for baking clay beads- not healthy and the beads taste awful) The oven needed to be cleaned up and missing a control knob.  Cleaned it an found a knob.  I baked the first batch of clay beads in my garage, with no problem.

-Mini Cuisinart for $5- It had a bagful of attachments.  I had a regular size Cuisinart for years. As the years went on, I only used it once a year.  It was because leaning the sucker was not fun.  And then the death occurred.  The expensive full size Cuisinart died of old age about 5 years ago.  I didn't want to replace it.  I had placed another kitchen appliance in it's place to gather dust-LOL.  However about 2 years ago, my DD and I were into making all types of bath and beauty items.  You know, bath salts, body bars, and soaps.  I saw this mini Cuisinart and knew that I would use it to chop nuts, and mix stuff.  It worked perfectly!!!

-Yarn for $1 for 8 or 6 oz acrylic fiber.  I found white, orchid black, - Caron softie and Red Heart- colors that I use.

-Hard cover books for .50 each - these had beautiful designs on the covers, really gorgeous.  And they were published in the 1970's, so they don't make them like that any more.  These beautiful book covers will be re-crafted into journals covers and some are the right size to use inside e-reader covers or make the books into e-read covers.  The added value I can read the stories as well as use the covers- LOL!

-Art canvases for $3 ea - these were new and wrapped.  My DD loves to paint, so I loved to give this to her.  I got 3 and one set was a double.  Most were 8 x 10 in.  

-Jewelery - Anywhere from .25 to $2.  If the beads or charms are interesting, I grab it and recraft them. I found some great clip button earrings for .25 and one bracelet with skull charms for $2.

-Display items-
   Baskets for $1- giant, and I mean big size !
   Linen Table cloth for $1  to cover my craft table- neutral and nice
   Shadow box house for $1 - It originally was for a hanging on a wall.  I will make it so that it stands securely and use it for displaying my kiss em critter or something like that.  I also saw a kids toy that has a really cool wooden compartment box.  I thought instantly - line with fabric and you have a wonderful jewelery display box, but I am not really making much jewelery any more, so I passed on it.
 3 tiered rack for .75 - Think of a black metal mini 3 tiered  stand with a cute heart on it- portable and cute to add height.

And that is just some of the stuff I found. 

So what did you buy for crafting at your last yard or garage sale shopping trip?