Monday, December 16, 2013

Tricky Gift Diy



 I recently became involved with Secret Sisters at my church and I have been wracking my brain to come up with a neat way to trick my sister into thinkin my stuff is store bought instead of handmade since I do most of the handmade stuff in our group. Enter the back of a cardboard sleeve from my daughter's long johns


  

I cut it to size, added a saying and things that looked professional such as the small "1 pc" in the corner and the 'X' sticker (which is my subtle omage to my camp name), added Tim Holtz Distress Stain in antique linen, and used a hole punch to poke out the space for where it would hang in the store. I also covered the whole thing in packing tape to give it that laminated look, and I had saved the little plastic covered twist ties from some jewelry making supplies. I used a needle to poke holes for the twist ties and then used the ties to hold on the keychain. 

   


Voila! I know I am being sneaky, but that is half the fun. 


   

And check it out paired with the little notebooks I made the other day! 


I'm pretty excited to give this to my secret sister! She's a 90 year old woman in our church and just an absolute sweetheart. I can't wait to find more 'throwback' and 'vintage' style things for her. This is definitely stretching my creative muscles! 

Oh, and I found a way to get around the fact that if I were to make anything they would automatically know it was from me! I am making a ton of cards for all the secret sisters to share. That way, everyone gets homemade cards and no one can guess who they're from! Mwhahahahaha! 

If you are involved in secret sisters at your church, check out Pinterest! There are tons of great ideas there too! Have fun!

Saturday, December 14, 2013

DIY notebook

A quick tutorial on my little books I make for the staff. 



Get a pack of 3 mini-composition notebooks at Family Dollar or any of the dollar stores. 



Get great papers to cover them. 


Cut them to size and glue with mod podge. It's ok to have some overhanging the edge as you can cleanly trim with scissors. 

Use 1" wide Gorilla brand duct tape and tape to the binding. Again you can trim the edges. 

Add a sticker to the front for a name or title plate, or leave it blank.



 I love the way these old fashioned style ones turned out. They're for a dear older lady in my church and I hope she'll really enjoy them. I hope you enjoy making these too. 

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