Tip of the Day: Stock Slowly and Meaningfully

A few years ago, I decided I wanted to get into crafting. I literally had nothing to work with, so I went CRAZY, buying all sorts of random things. To this day, I still have a stock pile of felt, feathers, and pompoms...ew. Thankfully, I'm a preschool teacher.

It takes time to find your "niche" so start small. I remember wanting to get into painting, and with the fear of wasting my time and money, I literally bought the crappiest, cheapest palette of watercolors and watercolor paper. I gave painting a try, and I realized it was something I enjoyed. So little by little, and over time, I began buying nicer paints and actual canvas.

Same with crafting materials (stamps, stickers, papers, beads, buttons, etc.) When I take a trip to Michaels, usually I have an item in mind. But they always have deals and steals and I'll snag a few random things. The other day, I bought a bunch of stamps (teacher necessity!) that were a dollar each (and usually ONE stamp is at least $5).

Can't wait to stamp my students!

So my tip in a nutshell is...stock slowly and meaningfully...or else you'll end up with a bunch of worthless pompoms.

And speaking of deals and steals, I went to Michaels tonight on a failed mission for contact paper. Instead, I bought a couple more stamps (I couldn't resist) and these adorable photo boxes! Six boxes for 10 bucks, total! I plan to replace my shoe boxes, and use these boxes to store random supplies.

They had plain white, brown, and black boxes...but color always wins in my book.

Well, that's it for tonight! Good night, lovelies!

<3Katie

Thinking Outside of the Box

In this post I'll be showing you how to make a keepsake box. This is one of my favorite projects because you get to use cute papers, buttons, beads, etc. and mix and match it however you want! So many choices, thankfully, I bought a lot of these little boxes.

I already have a bunch of cardstock/scrapbooking papers but today I bought a fresh batch of papers at Great Scraps in Millersville, MD. It's a great little store that my mother introduced to me. They have tons of paper and stickers, as well as, scrapbooking classes and gatherings, which takes place in a small studio within the store. I haven't used scrapbooking paper for actual scrapbooking, but I still joined their mailing list and look forward to whatever it is they will send me!

I bought these boxes at Michaels a long time ago. They were barely a dollar!

Scrapbooking paper from Great Scraps in Millersville, MD. I love the gold foil! 

I can't wait to use these papers! The bicycles are adorable, and I think I'll cut out the houses and use them on their own for a future project...that crumpled edge bothers me.

Shoe boxes are an awesome way to store buttons, beads, ribbon, etc. I have about six boxes full of little things. Eventually, when I have the money and the space, I'd love to get a legit organizing contraption.

So the first thing I did was paint the box (inside and out) a similar color of the paper I will be using to cover it. You could paint it any color, but I do suggest painting it because little bits of the box will show through the paper and hardware in the finished product.

 

I decided on gold hardware for my box cover. Mixing different colors and types of hardware makes the box interesting, so don't hold back! I have a ton of buttons and I love them, but they can be a bit challenging to glue on because they have backings that stick out. You just have to play with it a bit and allow them to overlap and rest on other buttons in order for them to stick on. There will be a lot of glue strands. You can use tweezers to pull them off. I really go at it with the tweezers when I'm completely finished.

Let the "hawt" gluing begin! Where to start gluing, you ask? I take the random approach.

You be the judge on when enough is enough, but I like to really load up the cover in order to create a full and rich look. I chose the gold and pink floral paper to cover the sides of my box. You can either measure the size of the sides and cut out the pieces or do it like I did...eyeballed it, glued it on, and then trimmed the excess off with scissors.

Don't you love the panda?!

So after gluing on the sides, you may notice how the edges look unfinished. Nothing I make is perfect but I'd hate to waste my time making something that doesn't look clean! I cut out small strips that will match the length of the open edges. I created a fold in the strips, glued it on, and then cut off the excess.

Icky edges...be gone! 

Here's the edges after covering them...much better. For the record, I didn't worry about the continuity of the pattern all the way around the box. I suppose you could take the time to make the patterns match up to each side, but I'd really only think about doing it if you are using a very clean and specific pattern (stripes, polka dots, etc.) My pattern is random enough looking that it doesn't make much of a difference. I'm also incredibly impatient, so that was just never going to happen!

After gluing everything in place, take the paint and touch up parts of the box that may need it. I also glued a button onto the front of the box to make it look complete and adorable. I cut off the backing to ensure it laid flat on the box. And now it is ready to enjoy! The following pictures show the final product. I also included pictures of another box that I made a few months ago.

 Hope you enjoyed my first project and blog! Whew...that took some time. I'll be brainstorming for my next craft to share with you. In the meantime, I need to surrender to daylight savings time and try not to go to bed too late...I want that hour back! Oh well...

Happy crafting!

<3 Katie

Hey There!

I'm Katie and I'm 23 years old. I enjoy blogs of all kinds and always wanted to have my own, but never had a good enough reason to make one! Well, I've found a reason and I'm excited to see how this goes...

One of my favorite things to do is arts and crafts. During the week, it's hard to find the time or inspiration, but now that I'm finished with college and working full-time during the week, my weekends have freed up and I'm ready to start crafting again! I'd like to use this blog as a creative outlet, a place to share my art and ideas, and a place for inspiration...from me to you, and you to me!

Anyways, best way to get started, is to get started! I'll being posting my latest project soon.

Happy crafting!! Go outside, it's gorgeous out today.

<3 Katie