Can Do

I read a lot of graphic design and packaging design blogs because I'm obsessed with graphics, especially marketing and logo graphics.

I know some people remember where they were when Kennedy was shot or when the moon landing came on TV, but I remember things like where I was when I first saw my first Absolut Vodka ad, or more recently, when I saw that STUNNING new limited edition white Coke Can.

I love how bold and clean and pure the design is. I think I held my breath for a while when I saw the concept art for it. Stunning.

I normally only drink fizzy water and tea, but I had to get my hands on that can.

After a yummy and rare icy Coke, I carefully cut the can open, and ran it through my Big Shot with my new Framelits Label die from the upcoming Occasions Mini catalog.

It cut through the aluminum like a dream.

I cut a second, larger piece with the next biggest framelit from red glimmer paper.

And in a move completely unlike my non-traditional approach to holiday colors, I added some teeny, delicate, Lucky Limeade organdy ribbon.

The sentiment is from Grateful Greetings.

Don't those gorgeous, ghostly bears just make your eyes happy? I love that the design is built just with negative space.

Stunning, Coca-Cola, just stunning. I will miss this packaging when it's gone.

I'm off to see if there's something I can do with the similarly beautiful box.

Bottle Cap, Bottle Cap, oh Bottle, Bottle Cap!

You know, sung to the tune of Lollipop! :) I guess I'm feeling musical today.

I saw some ADORABLE bottlecap ornaments on Pinterest (of course now I can't find the link, so if you saw them, please let me know) that had a little bottle brush Christmas tree inside and they were so cute!

I wanted to see if I could make something similar without buying anything new - always a temptation, and I came up with a few I like.

What you need is a bottlecap, a pipe cleaner (I like the metallic and iridescent ones), a 1" circle punch (or you can print and hand cut circles) and small die cut shapes, stickers, or stamp images and ephemera, mini glue dots and liquid glue, and an optional large plastic silver or gold bead.

Start by "training" your pipe cleaner so that it is easier to hold and assemble. Trust me, it will get a life of its own and spring from your hand in an unexpected way if not properly humbled. You also need to train a circle from another piece of pipe cleaner to line the inside of the cap if you want. When you are done training, your newly obedient pipe cleaners should look like this.

Leave yourself four or five inches of pipe cleaner above this crook for a hanger. See the little bent part at the end of the crook? That's important - that will secure the pipe cleaner at the end.

Next, run a little glue around the inside of the edge of the bottlecap and put a 1" circle of paper inside - this can be anything. I chose the First Edition designer paper because I wanted a text background.

Next, run a line of glue around the inside edge of the paper - this will secure your little circle of pipe cleaner to the inside.

Apply glue to your little die cut or image and glue that to the center of your paper, adjusting position if needed.

The die cuts in mine are cut from the Merry Details Sizzlit.

Put three glue dots on your bottle cap - one on the very bottom and one on each side. With the bent end of the crook at the top center of the bottle cap, press the pipe cleaner to the glue dots to secure.

Hold the little bent end against the straight stem of the pipe cleaner hanger and slide the bead down until it touches the top of the bottle cap ornament.

Bend the end of the pipe cleaner into a hanging hook and you're all done!!

Today, I found some things that might make this even more fun. 1" circle epoxy stickers and some blank bottlecaps in various colors.

This could get addicting!!

Happy Reanimating! Thanks for stopping by!

Animal Crackers In My .... PURSE!

That's right - not in my soup - in my PURSE!

I got this idea from my brilliant sister-in-law, who found a cute designer box of animal crackers at a convenience store and thought they would make a cute purse.

I went out immediately and bought my childhood faves - the Barnum's Animals - you know, the ones with the little string handle.

And I made this teeny little purse. And I'll tell you right now - if you want to make this, you have to eat not one, but two boxes of animal crackers. :) Poor you.

Now the wax bag that the cookies are in is glued in several places to the inside of the box, so after you eat the cookies, remove the bag carefully from the inside of two boxes. The reason that you need two is that the flap that closes these boxes is not only undecorated, but it is also glued to the inside of the box, so it's pretty unattractive.

So you will want to take the lid from your second box, and trace it onto the front panel of your second box. You're trying to get the design from the front of the box onto your lid flap.

 Here is my original box, with the two parts of the other box and the eventual feet of my purse. These are Tim Holtz Hitch Fasteners.

 

After you cut out the second box front to match the lid, glue it to the lid flap of the first box.

Then I took a piece of  black wool felt, cut it into a "T" shape to match the inside dimensions of my box, and I glued it to the inside, being very careful to glue down all the top edges. I did a little trimming to make sure it was perfectly aligned with the top of the box.

Then, I didn't want to leave that cardboard not matching the inside of the box, so I painted it with Apple Barrel black acrylic paint. I love painting paper and cardboard mostly because it dries fast and I'm impatient.

Then I took my wide grosgrain black striped ribbon and ran it all the way around the box for a handle. I made the cut ends meet on the bottom so you don't see them, and I attached them to the box with Sticky Strip.

After that step, I made holes in the bottom for the purse feet. I started the hole with my piercing tool, but finished it with my eyelet setter, because it's nice to get a nice clean cut through the felt for your hardware, and the eyelet setter does a great job of that.

After I screwed in the little feet I ran around showing it to everyone for a while. :) This step is optional.

I added a strip of magnet sheet to both the box front and the lid flap to keep it securely closed while people admire my cute purse.

Here's a side view.

I would have loved this little purse when I was little and never seemed to go anywhere without a box of animal crackers.

Now go check out my sweet friend Micki, who did a little reanimating of her own this week!

Look around...

And I promise you'll see something very pretty in an unexpected place.

Starbucks.

Don't you LOVE that they have completely new and adorable gift card designs every few months? Sometimes I get distracted and forget to order because I'm pawing through the new ones.

This spring has been no exception. A friend gave me a gift card that I couldn't bear to part with after the balance was zero. It sat on my desk for a really long time until I had what I considered to be a pretty brilliant idea - to cut it up with my Big Shot.

Yeah baby.

I ran that sucker through my Big Shot after carefully aligning it on my Circles #2 Die to be absolutely, positively sure I had the cute-most part inside the circle and voila!Bam! Adorable!! And it happened to coordinate with some cardstock I had on my desk - BONUS.

How fun is that for a birthday card - especially when you can give the recipient the matching gift card and really blow their minds??

Giving new life to unexpected objects is fun, no?