Handmade Holidays Blog Hop

Welcome to the 4th Annual Handmade Holidays Blog Hop! A few years ago we were looking online for handmade gift ideas and thought it would be great if there was a resource dedicated JUST to handmade gift ideas. Enter the Handmade Holidays hop! We've gathered over 100 of our creative blogger friends in the craft industry as well as some of our fellow product manufacturers to bring you a plethora of inspiring gift ideas you can make now to give to your friends, family, and colleagues. Pin and bookmark these ideas for this holiday season and to use throughout the year! Each day of the hop features approximately 30 gift projects and you can "hop" from one blog to another to check them all out.

I have created an altered box with my two girls in mind.  They are collectors of little "treasures" so I thought I would create a girly box for them to store their finds.   

This box is all things girly!  Let me show you how I created it. 

I started with a wooden box by  Walnut Hollow-"Classic Box."   

I gave the box a layer of gesso to prime the surface of the wood; this step wasn't necessary, but as usual, I'm kind of winging it at this point!

I decided to cover the box in a pretty floral patterned paper (that I already had in my stash) by cutting and decoupaging  the paper onto the box.  

I toned down the pattern and color of the paper by giving it a white wash of gesso (watered down gesso using a paintbrush).  

Once the box dried, I covered the top with a "stenciled" design using a ripped piece of drywall tape and light modeling paste for an added bit of texture. 

To bling it up a bit, while the modeling paste was still wet, I sprinkled on some Donna Salazar Fairy Dust in "Sugar Shimmer."  

Time to embellish!  I started off with a branch from a holly wreath that I had gotten for around a dollar  a couple of years ago.  I've used the branches off the wreath for several projects. I sprayed the branches and berries with spray gesso to cover up the reds and brown.  I heat embossed the berries using ColorBox Crafter's Ink in "Snow" and heat embossed with ColorBox Donna Salazar Mix'd Media Inx in "Jasmine."  I also added ColorBox Stephanie Barnard "Sprinkles" Chunky Glitter to some of the berries for even more bling! 

With the help of foam adhesive from 3L Scrapbook Adhesives, I arranged then adhered several flowers onto the branch.  

Once the glue was set, I applied color to the flowers using water and Izink Inks in "Topaz, Orchid and Safran" using a paintbrush. 

I let the flowers dry then applied another layer of gesso spray to wash out the colors a bit; I repeated this process until I was happy with the colors.  I added resin embellisments, mica flakes and more embossing over the flowers.   

With the addition of a clear button and metal charm, this box is complete! I chose not to paint or finish the inside of the box because the country girl in me LOVES the smell of the natural wood! 

This type of project can be fashioned for ANY type of gift! Thank you so much for stopping by!

Are you ready for lots more creative handmade gift ideas and projects?? Follow along on our blog hop! Simply click on each of the links below to be taken to that post with additional information and photos on how to create a handmade gift project. Have fun and pin away! Clearsnap Ellison Educational Equipment Walnut Hollow Graphic 45 Neat and Tangled Therm O Web Westcott Elizabeth Craft Designs Pink and Main The Buckle Boutique Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L Rowland Technologies ICE Resin Hydrangea Hippo Clearsnap - Suzanne Austin Stencil1 - Ed Roth Graphic 45 -Nadya Lifa  Cookies for Breakfast- Beth Pingry Cupcakes and Crinoline - Mary Beth Sharkey  Elizabeth Craft Designs - Frances Byrne Lazy Mom’s - Joanna Grzeszczak Homemade Ginger - Megan Kapple Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L - Asia King Ellison Educational Equipment - Anna-Karin Evaldsson One Artsy Mama- Amy Latta Therm O Web - Alice G0lden Lovely Etc - Carrie Spalding ICE Resin - Clare Horner Pink and Main - Yolie Burke The Buckle Boutique - Stephanie Nericcio Modern Surrealist - Marisa Pawelko A Little Craft In Your Day - Tanner Bell Artsy Findings - Cheryl Waters Stampin Mindy - Mindy Baxter a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow our Handmade Holidays Gift Ideas Pinterest board for even more inspiration!

Follow Jennifer Priest of RainMaker Media Works + Hydrangea Hippo's board Handmade Holidays on Pinterest.

A huge thank you to our sponsors for this hop - please visit their blogs below and follow them. And be sure to come back tomorrow for another 30+ amazing Handmade Gift Ideas!

 

Clearsnap || Ellison Educational Equipment || Walnut Hollow || Graphic45 || Westcott || ICE Resin || Therm O Web || Rowland Industries || Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L || Pink and Main || Elizabeth Craft Designs || The Buckle Boutique || Neat and Tangled

Additional Sponsorship provided to bloggers by:

Sakura || Fairfield Processing

Clearsnap and StencilGirl Blog Hop

Welcome to our week of hopping and creating with our friends at StencilGirl Products! Hop along with us this week and see projects from fabric to scrapbooking and more, all using ink and stencils. And there’s a giveaway too, so you can try these ideas at home with brand new goodies!

Hey all! Today I will be sharing a layout created with a groovy StencilGirl Stencil and Clearsnap Inks!  I absolutely LOVE stencils, and LOVE the diversity of StencilGirl Stencils even more!

I began with this funky stencil from StencilGirl-a perfect addition of pattern for a scrapbook page.

 I started with a piece of watercolor paper as my base page.  Mixing a few drops of Izink Ink in "Topaz" with water, I created my very own customized spray ink to coordinate with the picture and papers I had in mind!

Simply placing the stencil evenly over the paper and giving random, light spritzes gives this page the right amount of a design punch! Even the most novice stencil user could achieve this look with little effort!

Before the final design, I actually used the StencilGirl Stencil on a piece of cork using ColorBox Crafter's Ink in "Snow" and ColorBox Mix'd Media Inx in "Jasmine" and heat embossed the design.  It turned out very well...with a very clean finish on a very non smooth surface!  It was too busy for what I had in mind, but I will definitely use this for a future project!

Thanks for stopping by to check out my project!  Remember to leave comments along with the hop and on the Clearsnap Blog for a chance to win some goodies!


StencilGirl Talk
Carolyn Dube
Maria McGuire
Clearsnap
Suzanne Austin

Clearsnap and Walnut Hollow Blog Hop!

Hello and welcome to the Clearsnap-Walnut Hollow Blog Hop!  We have a fabulous collaboration to share with you today that boasts loads of inspiration.  Be sure to leave a comment on each blog (There's a Rafflecopter widget on the Clearsnap blog) for a chance to win some goodies! Here's the hop list:

Clearsnap Blog blog.clearsnap.com

Chris Wallace http://walnuthollowcrafts.wordpress.com/?p=2097

Steph Ackerman http://stephaniescraps.blogspot.com/2014/09/clearsnap-and-walnut-hollow-blog-hop.html

Suzanne Austinhttp://whatsinalousyananut.blogspot.com/2014/09/clearsnap-and-walnut-hollow-blog-hop.html

Tami Sanders http://tamisanders.com/2014/09/19/walnut-hollow/

Sara Shirman http://walnuthollowcrafts.wordpress.com/?p=2099

Jennifer Priest http://hydrangeahippo.com/?p=8641

Vivian Keh https://contadinak.wordpress.com/

Meihsia Liu meihsia.blogspot.com/

Denise Hahn http://inmyblueroom.blogspot.com/

I have created a mixed-media piece that was created on an 8x10 Wood Panel from Walnut Hollow.  I dabble with mixed media, but I've never created a piece on wood.  So, although I was initially intimidated, I ended up having a lot of messy fun with this piece.

I started by priming the wood panel with clear gesso (I had no clue which direction I was going with this, so in case I wanted the wood grain to show through, I chose the clear).  To speed up the drying time, I gave the panel a quick blast of heat using my heating tool.  

I ended up covering the panel with old newspaper that I decoupaged onto the surface; as you can tell, I wasn't too careful about "ironing" out the wrinkles in the newspaper because of the added texture it lends.  Once the decoupage was completely dry, I begin adding stamping using ColorBox Archival Dye Ink in "Wicked Black." I covered the background using a mixture of Izink Ink in "Topaz" (diluted) and ColorBox Spritzer in "Mermaid" (also diluted and applied with a paint brush). 

I dried then sealed the background.  The butterflies and title were cut out of patterned paper using an electronic die-cutting machine. I adhered the pieces down using Fabritac glue.  I added more text stamping and using a paintbrush and ColorBox Spritzer in "Mudslide," I edged the butterflies to create depth.  I gave it one last coat of decoupage medium and this piece was completed!  I hope you've enjoyed lil project today!

Head on over to the talented Tami Sanders blog to check out the goodness she has cooked up for today!  Remember to leave comments for a chance to win some goodies...Thanks again for stopping by!

Something Tattered and Clearsnap Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Clearsnap and Something Tattered cross-promotion! From June 20 to the 22nd, we will showcase projects created by our Design Teams. We are so glad you took the time to visit as our Designers have some beautiful and inspiring projects to share with you today. We challenged them to create Wedding themed projects without using patterned paper. The designs you see were created exclusively with Clearsnap inks and Something Tattered stamps!
Come take a look!

Hey everyone!  Thanks for stopping along today to share in this fabulous collaboration between Something Tattered and Clearsnap!  Today I will be sharing with you a wedding favor/bird seed bag that was so amazingly easy and quick to create; a definite plus when having to create several for wedding guests, and a perfect way to get together with the wedding party to have a little creative and stress relieving fun!

First, let me confess and say that my sewing capabilities are slim to none-in other words if I can do this ANYONE can!  Beginning with a piece of muslin fabric, I stamped these beautiful Something Tattered stamps from the "Nest Amour" stamp set directly onto the fabric (they stamped seamlessly!) using ColorBox Pigment Ink in "Lava Black."  I did a quick heat set with my heat gun (iron or mini iron would work as well) so the ink wouldn't "move" as I continued on to the next step.  

Next, I flipped the stamped piece of fabric over-aligning it with the second piece- and sewed three of the edges together-flipping it back inside out once completed. 

The butterflies are from the "March Mars" stamp set-again stamped using ColorBox Pigment Ink in "Lava Black;" I heat set these as well.  Once the ink was set, using several colors of our Aladine Izink Inks (slightly diluted with water) and a paintbrush, I painted the butterflies.  These inks are permanent with a shimmery finish which adds such a pretty finishing touch! 

To finish off the bag, I simply filled it with bird seed and secured the closure with a single staple.  I added a piece of lace ribbon around the top edge which hides the staple and gives that extra finishing touch.  This wedding favor took all of 15 minutes to complete!! Easy peasy!

Thanks so much for taking the time to check out this project along with the other fabulous projects along this hop!! To see what the Something Tattered DT created with our Clearsnap products, be sure to stop by tomorrow where we will showcase more lovely projects!


ALSO:  be sure to leave a comment and enter to win this fabulous wedding themed prize pack from Clearsnap! HERE