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?

Who's Laughing NOW, Cow?

Ahh, if only cheese had everlasting life! I love all things dairy, and every now and then, I grab some of my fave little low calorie cheese snacks from Laughing Cow. French Onion is my favorite.

And one of the coolest things about Laughing Cow cheese is their packaging. Their brilliant little triangular wedges that you can zip free with just one little motion, and, of course, that irresistible round cardboard box.

Well who can resist a round cardboard box? Not THIS crafter!

I painted my little box with a Ranger Shell Pink dabber, and then applied matte gel medium to the top. I attached a 4" circle of Stampin' Up! Candy Cane fabric to the gel medium, swiped a bit more of the medium on top, and then sprinkled that with Dazzling Diamonds glitter and set it aside to dry.

Then I colored my sweet little Starving Artistamps Juniper Elf (new holiday release!) with Copics, and attached teeny pearls to her outfit.

The greeting is attached with silver cord to two circles - one punched out of Candy Cane DSP with my 2.5" circle punch, and the second cut with Nestabilities™.


The box is filled with this year's yummy find that I've enjoyed crafting with :) - Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark squares - they are half peppermint bark, half dark chocolate.

That's darn near as good as cheese! :)

Hope you enjoyed todays reanimation!

All Washed Up

Got a toolbox in the garage that's filled with small pieces of hardware you'll never use? Or, do you have washers and hex keys and all sorts of stuff left over from those Ikea bookcases that you can't bear to toss?

Well make jewelry out of them!
I made these washer necklaces back in December for a special project and you'll just faint when you see how easy they were!

First, measure your washer and the hole in the center of it. Then find two circle punches about those two same sizes. Punch the smaller hole first, then center the larger punch around that hole and punch the larger circle.

Paint a thin layer of gel medium onto the washer and gently place your paper on the washer, smoothing it if necessary.

When that is dry - and gel medium dries quickly - seal the necklace with a clear dimensional glaze - I used Stampin' Up!'s Crystal Effects, or you could use Judikins Diamond glaze or something similar.

I used a japanese book page from a book I got at Half Price Books for one, and some designer paper from Stampin' Up! for the other.

You could make about a squillion of these for a dollar.

Since we have a handmade only rule for Christmas gifts in my family, I gave these to the girls for Christmas.

Give it a try! It's great recession jewelry!

Password Book Tutorial

I know - it was only the first project EVER on this blog, but finally I have a video tutorial for my Password Book!

And I'll be back later this week with an AMAZING transformation on an old dictionary, so don't stray too far...


Take care.

Happy Birthday and Thanks for all the Bills..

NOT. But speaking of junk mail, there are a few things you can do with it.

After you're done being mad about your bills, look at the inside of the security envelopes. They're all different. I got some super interesting ones this week. Not bills, envelopes.

I thought I'd use them for a birthday card for my friend Lisa.
Stamps: On Your Birthday, Musical Score Paper: Graphic 45 Communique, Whisper White, Kraft
Accessories: Big Shot, Embossing Folder, Butterfly die, Butterfly punch Ink: Basic Black
To purchase Stampin' up! supplies, click here.

She's the one who sent me the GORGEOUS Graphic 45 paper the butterflies are made of.

I punched circles from the envelopes to serve as the backdrop for the butterflies. The larger two were cut with the Stampin' Up! Bold Butterflies die for the Big Shot. The smaller one was punched with my Martha Stewart butterfly punch.

To read more about Lisa, click here. Happy birthday, chickie!!

Foofy Phonebook Flowers

Say THAT three times fast!!

Anyway, I'm enjoying both scrunchy and foofy flowers lately - even some fabric flowers, but more on that later.

I've been really mad about my junk mail lately. I don't understand why my trashcan gets smaller and more expensive, and why we are all supposed to drive glorified tic tacs and quit using hairspray, but companies can still fill my mailbox every day with pounds of unsolicited garbage that I have to throw away. And PHONEBOOKS. Who in the world uses a phone book? And why are they dumped on my porch when I certainly would say no if I were given the option?

But I'm not. So if the world gives you phonebooks,
Stamps: Vintage Vogue Ink: Summer Sun Paper: Kraft, Whisper White, Phone Book
Accessories: Sending Love epoxy brads, Vanilla satin ribbon, Sizzix takeout box die

give the world foofy flowers. Hmph.

I saw a tutorial for these here, so I won't recreate it. Hers is beautiful.

(PS - I do NOT have the shredding scissors - I just used regular scissors!)

Make some. Foof it up!