$100 CropCredit Contest!

This week's contest comes with a twist. Yes, there is a crafty element to the contest AND and a chance to try something new. 

So here are the rules:
- Contest ends on Friday, October 5th, 2012 at 08:00:00am Mountain. Please submit your entry before then.
- More than 1 entry may be submitted, each submission will increase your changes to win in the drawing.
- $100 CropCredit will be given in a random drawing (or $50 cash).
- No restrictions on where you purchased items used.

And here's the challenge:
Create a project; card, layout, altered item, etc. using a patterned paper with text as the pattern and a metal embellishment. If you need some inspiration make sure you check out Christina’s design team project below on The Crop.

Here's the twist:
1. Create in account on Instructagram.com
2. Take step by step pictures of your project and upload them on Instructagram.com
3. Share your project on Facebook, pin it on Pinterest and/or embed it on your blog
4. Email answers to the following questions to cs@instructagram.com

• What do you like most about Instructagram.com? Will you use the site?
• What do you not like about Instuctagram.com? Why won't you use the site?
• If you could add any feature to Instructagram.com, what would it be?
• Did you encounter any technical problems with the site? Things you could not get to work?
• Are there things about the site that were difficult to understand or navigate?

There will be a $100 drawing after all the entries are up on Friday. If you decided to upload other step by step projects, you may be surprised by $25 CropCredit in your account!

To access the site, click the SIGN IN button and use the following access key: amz2Vv3d. You will be asked to create an account using Facebook or an email address. Either works. Once you've created an account, you can use your email address or the email address to your Facebook account to access the Instructagram.com.

Thank YOU and GOOD LUCK!

Sample:

OWH Blog Hop

You've made it - the last stop on the OWH Blog Hop!  Thanks for joining us!!

Leave your comment here, but remember to check back and see how you can win the Grand Prize. :)

Details to follow SOON!!

Upcycled Planter - by Christina

Most people wouldn't think about shopping in the garden store for scrapbooking supplies, BUT if you start looking at everyday objects a little differently, like maybe tilt your head to the right and stick your tongue out...  

You can find a ton of cool and interesting projects and organizational tools, just about everywhere.

When I picked up this little beauty I knew I could use it somewhere and the best part!  It was only a buck!

So after giving it a quick wash and laying it in the sun to dry I headed back in to my scrappy room and began looking about to find the perfect paper to complete my project.

Once I choose my products and gathered my supplies Portobello Road,glue,ink and scissors,I began by cutting the paper to fit the front of the squares.

Sand the edges until they are distressed to your liking.
Then ink all the edges with  ink.

I covered the front of the box with another piece of paper and added my new favorite thing , thanks to the DT Blog Hop...a banner.  You can see just how much this box cost originally and I got it for a buck!!

I wrapped the whole box in jute twine,you could choose anything you like here
and added some rolled flowers to one side and I fussy cut another banner for the other side.

This little beauty sits on my desk now holding all my pencils,brushes and markers.

I just love it!
I think I may do the other side with Christmas paper.

Paper Lanterns - by By Belle (Michele)

This will be our third project and at the end of the month we will be halfway through our term.  I am having more fun than I can even describe and this month’s project was no exception.  Our September theme, as you may know, is 3D.  Now, I was a little unsure of how to approach this one and it took some thought.  I eventually decided on Paper Lanterns.  What a fun decoration for any occasion!

You will need a cutting mat, craft knife, metal ruler, score board and pencil.  You will also need a good adhesive; I used the Xyron photo tape I got here at Crop Chocolate.  Now to pick the paper...I had my nieces in mind for this project so I went with Echo Park's Springtime collection, this was a Crop Chocolate item also.  I love this collection and have a couple packs ready and raring to get used!  You will need (2) 12"x12" pieces, one for the inner tube and one for the outer layer.

Start with your inner tube, cut your paper to 11" wide x 7" long.  Draw a line 2" in (to be used as your guide) on the 7" side so when you roll your tube it will overlap (it ends up being 9" around).  I used (2) strips of adhesive, rolled the tube and adhered it.

 Now the outer layer...cut to 9" wide x 12" long, score 2" in on both ends of the 12" length.  On the back side of your paper mark every 1/2" along both score lines.  Using your marks to line up the ruler cut from score line to score line every 1/2".

 To attach the two pieces start by adhering (2) strips of adhesive along the wrong side of the top of the outside layer piece where you did not cut your 1/2" strips (the 9” sides).  Roll the inner tube over the outer layer so it attaches around the tube.  Do the same to the bottom except you will have to raise it up so the strips bulge out.  This is where having an extra hand would definitely come in handy but all you experts should have no problem!

 I used some pink wire I found at the dollar store for my hanger...punch holes on either side and put in eyelets with holes big enough for the wire to fit through.  shape your hanger and attach.

No the best part...embellishing!!  I made paper flowers with scraps and spellbinder blossom dies.  I used a piece of Echo Park Victorian Gardens (from CC) and a Sizzix die for the leaves.

 Around the bottom I punched a trim with a MS punch I have and layered it with Fancy Pants Velvet ribbon I scored here at CC.  The pink color of the ribbon was exactly right so I inked it up with the Distress Ink-Worn Lipstick.

I also inked the top and bottom of the lantern and the flowers and leaves with Distress Ink-Shabby Shutters and Worn Lipstick, a couple more CC items.

And Voila!

As I am typing this post I had an idea that these would look fantastic with those little battery powered votives inside with holes punch in the inner tube to make it a luminary.  Maybe I'll try it...  If you do please let me see your creation!!

Until next time...get inky often!!

The New Gift Box - by Scrap Happy (Julie)

Being crafters, people expect handmade cards and gifts from us.  But sometimes, I don’t feel like superwoman.  And sometimes I’m short on time, even if the mojo is flowing.  That’s when I rely on my super diecutting machines to help me out.  I have some adorable 3D purses to show you that are my go-to designs when I need a quick gift box or bag.  I have filled these little purses with chocolates (of course!), gift cards, even a pair of running socks for a friend running her first ½ marathon.

The secret to the success of these boxes is picking out the right 2-sided 12x12 patterned paper.  Both sides of the paper will show on some portion of the bag, so you want them to coordinate together nicely.  This is also a great way to use up scraps of ribbon from your stash. 

Here’s what I used on these 3 purses (all products are Crop Chocolate):

Echo Park Springtime 12x12

Authentique Fresh 12x12

Authentique Gathering 12x12

Basic Grey Craft Brads

Echo Park This & That Decorative brads

And, lots of ribbon from the following collections:

Making Memories Love struck Trims

My Mind’s Eye Laundry Line Sundress Heirloom Trim and Natural “Boy” trim

MME Lost & Found Madison Ave “Happily Ever After” and Market Street “Adore” trims

MME Lush pink trim

MME Stella and Rose “Hattie Boy” Trims

Strong adhesive to hold the bags together – Oh My Crafts Craft tape (sold by crop chocolate), Sookwong tape, or Scotch Quick Dry Adhesive all work well.

There are a variety of Cricut cartridges with 3D bags, purses and boxes on them, and the Silhouette store has pages of them if you search 3D box.  I have a file saved on my Gypsy that I use often.  It’s from the original Tags, Bags, Boxes, and More cartridge. 

I also have several 3D items I’ve purchased from the Silhouette online store.  The one I used here was called simply 3D box purse.  

Then, you simply place your 12x12 paper on your mat.  The Gypsy file I’ve created cuts the bag, plus 6 hearts of various sizes and 6 flowers of various sizes that I layer.  The Silhouette file cuts the purse, a decorative handle, and a scalloped border.  Remove the cut pieces from your mat, and use a bone folder to crease them in the appropriate places. 

Use a strong adhesive to glue or tape the bag/purse together.  If you are using a liquid adhesive, give it time to dry.  Layer the hearts and flowers and adhere together.

I used decorative brads to hold the 3 layers of flowers together. Attach the flowers and hearts to your purse.

Then, all you have to do is fill the purse with whatever gift you want, tie pieces of various ribbons on the handle, add a little Stickles to your flowers and hearts if desired, and in only minutes, you have your gift bag.

When the recipient gets the gift, they will think you have worked for hours on the project, making you feel like superwoman after all.  You can bask in the praise, knowing how easy it really was. 

  If anyone is new to Cricut &/or Silhouette and want help with cartridges/files with 3D images, just PM me.

Now, get busy making your own cute gift bags!

Upcycle: Treat Box - by BritK (Brittany)

Hi all! Brittany here with a cute 3 dimensional project. I'm the proud momma of a brand new kindergartener. He is not very excited to start school, and after preschool last year, he has requested that I pack him lunch for school everyday, so when Amber told us our challenge for this month was to make something 3 dimensional, my brain started spinning. I decided to make a cute treat box that I can tuck into Monkey's lunch box the first week of school to hopefully boost his spirits the first week.

 

 

CC Product used:

Fancy Pants 6 x 6 Off to School Paper Pad

 

Other scrap products used:

3D foam squares

 

From my recycling bin:

One Cereal Box

One Piece of plastic packaging

 

Step One: Cut down your large panels from a cereal box(or other lightweight cardboard) to 5" x 9"(I'm gonnna call it Panel 1 from now on)  and 4 6/8" x 6 6/8"(Panel 2 from now on)

 

 

Step Two: You are going to score Panel 1 1", 4", 5" & 8", fold on all score lines and adhere the two 1" sections on either end together. This will form a rectangular sleeve.

 

Now you score Panel 2, starting on each 4 6/8" side and score at 7/8" and 3 7/8", now on each 6 6/8" side score at 7/8" and 5 7/8". Fold on all score lines and you should have four little squares on each corner. Cut along one score line on each square to where the score lines intersect. Add adhesive to each little square and fold up so they form a box tray. This piece will form a tray that will slid into the sleeve we made with Panel 1.

 

 

 Step Three: Now we're gonna cut all the papers for covering our treat box. Now on the Panel 2 measurements, the first 3 all go on the insides of the tray, and the fourth goes on outside of the tray on the two short sides. 

Panel 1: Cut 2 at 1" x 5"

Cut 2 at 3" x 5"

Panel 2: Cut 2 at 7/8" x 2 7/8"

Cut 2 at 7/8" x 4 7/8"

Cut 1 at 2 7/8" x 4 7/8"

Cut 2 at 1" x 3"

 

Step Four: Adhere all papers to the box.

 

 

Step Five: Cut a piece of clear plastic packaging or acrylic sheet to 2 1/2" x 3", adhere a strip of cute paper about 3/4" wide across it. Attach it to the top of the sleeve at a slight angle with a clear liquid adhesive along 3 sides leaving the top open. I added a cute little journaling spot centered on the acrylic pocket.

 

I plan to use the pocket to tuck little notes into just to tell him that I'm thinking about him or to have a good day at school, then I'll put a special treat inside of the sleeve. I hope he gets a kick out of it.

 

Have a great month! I hope you liked it, and don't forget to stop back to see more great 3 dimensional projects throughout the month!

Scene in a Jar - by Xanthippe (Brenna)

Scene in a Jar

I was so excited for this month’s project!  My dear daughter potty trained far too early and far too quickly, consequently I only have one good ‘diaper butt’ swimsuit pic of her.  For some inexplicable reason, I find it super cute and I’ve wanted to do something special with it.  When I heard the challenge for September was 3D, I knew I had to make this pic the star of its own 3D scene.

Only three items required:  a jar, sand, and a paper line with lots of elements.  (Echo Park papers are fantastic for this.)  I used EP Splash from CC.

Cut the elements you plan to use out of the cardstock.

Then play with them and lay them out experimentally until you find a pleasing arrangement.

Measure the inside of your jar and add a third to half an inch of sand at the bottom.

Cut your elements down to the inner length of the jar.  (In my case it was four inches.)

And finally arrange your layers in the jar by sticking them in the sand.  You may find space to add more elements, like the red fish I fussy cut and propped up on waves, or  take away something, like the banner which was too busy.

Even though I didn’t use the banner, let me tell you how I adhered it to the ‘ceiling’ of the jar, in case you have elements you’d like to hang.  First I ran a strip of snaketape onto my craft mat, then I rolled it with my finger and made a skinny glob (technical term). 

It’s so strong, the slender glob held the banner up, and yet was easily repositionable too.  I might go back in and hang a sun using the same method.  Still debating it  J

This project came together quickly and easily, but the best part was watching my husband and daughter’s reaction.  They LOVED it, and suddenly inspiration struck!  I could make another scene with her Alice in Wonderland costume, and she could be standing next to the mushroom and the caterpillar.  Or I could use the yummy new Chillingsworth Manor paper to create a spooky scene as a Halloween decoration, and after Halloween I could even add a pic of someone in skeletal costume, holding that very scene-in-a-jar...creepy! 

Paper Bowl - by Miwa

Paper bowl project (by Miwa)

I used to be a straight-laced layout/card-making girl until this year – now, I find myself making home décor projects, which forces me to think outside my comfortable little box. For this particular 3-D challenge, I wanted to create something that I could display AND use. Naturally, I went surfing on Pinterest and eventually stumbled upon a picture of a magazine bowl. I really liked the concept of “building a bowl” so I decided to give it a whirl. Perhaps one of the most rewarding side benefits of this project was being able to use up a lot of my paper scraps! 

You’ll need strips of paper, 1” wide and anywhere from 3” to 12” long. It’s totally up to you! The longer the strip, the larger the paper coil will be. You could use paper strips of the same size, but I think using variable sizes helps to add interest to the bowl. I selected papers from the MME Lime Twist collection because of the bright and distinctive colors. Other supplies you’ll need are: tacky glue, Mod Podge, a foam brush, a bone folder, and rubber bands (optional).

Once you have a nice pile of paper strips, you’ll have to fold the paper. Thick scrapbook paper is a lot harder to fold than thin magazine paper, so you’ll have to prepare the fold lines with a bone folder or scorer. I also found it useful to use the scoring edge of my 12”-Fiskars paper cutter. You don’t have to be exactly when folding, so don’t worry about being too precise!

Score the paper strip lengthwise, right down the middle (0.5”). Make another score to the right and left of the center fold (approximately ¼”). After scoring, fold both sides of the paper to the midline and then fold the paer in half lengthwise. Holding the paper firmly, coil the paper into a tight roll, adding tacky glue as needed. I found it helped to secure the coil with a rubber band for a few minutes while the adhesive dried. This is a good time to watch TV or listen to music, while you create a pile of paper coils. Set this mound aside until you have created the bottom section of the bowl.

The best way to create a flat surface to the bowl bottom is to make one big paper coil. For this, you’ll need to use 12” paper strips. Once again, you’ll have to score and fold the paper strips.

Begin by coiling the first paper strip, as you did for an individual paper coil. However, at the end of the coil, add some tacky glue to the inside of the fold and slide the next paper strip inside – and continue rolling the strip. Continue the process until you have made a paper coil of the desired size; glue the ends shut.

Finally, it’s time to start building the bowl! Think about the angle that you want the bowl to have and begin adding the coils layer by layer to slowly build the sides. A little bit of tacky glue will help secure the coils to each other. You can also try using Mod Podge as your adhesive, but you have to be really patient (tacky glue dries faster). Make sure that the sides of the bowl are relatively even before you run out of paper coils!

Once you’ve finished building the bowl, you will need to apply a few layers of Mod Podge all over the bowl (it helps to work over wax paper!). This helps the coils to bond to each other and gives your bowl a nice finished look.

For those of you with Etsy shops, there’s yet another benefit to making these bowls – you can sell your creations! Personally, I think the bowls made from scrapbook paper are much prettier than those from magazines…

Happy paper rolling! J

Pencil Shaker Box - by Mom2Two (Jenni)

 3D.....that is our next challenge.....3D.  I'm not one for thick pages or books that won't close so this was going to be quite the challenge!  I've always wanted to make a shaker box, it's 3-dimensional, it's got moving parts....that's the trick!  Since it's back-to-school time, I thought what better way to highlight this exciting time of year than a pencil shaped shaker!

First step was to find an image I liked.  I had nothing in my stash, so off to clip-art I go.  I found a pencil shape that I liked and printed two, both on cardstock.  Fussy cut around both, one for the bottom....one for the top).  

Then came the tricky party, having to cut the opening in the top one for the "window".  If you don't have much experience with an exacto knife, like me, use caution to NOT cut off any digits!  Sorry about the background on that first picture, I needed something to use as a mat to cut the window out.  After careful measuring (you can see I apparently wasn't TOO careful with the measuring, because the cut is a little off), I cut the opening and was left with the top piece.  

The picture for the window came from the cover of a report-type folder.  And the foam came from my kids craft stash!  I cut enough strips for two layers of foam to get the height of the box to be enough for the beads to move freely.  I then used Tombo Mono Aqua Liquid Glue to glue it all together and left if to dry overnight to be sure the glue was good to go. 

Next I filled it!  I purchased some seed beads from the craft store in a mixture of yellows.  Just poured them in, no measurement or exact number, just until it looked right.  Glued the top on (again with the liquid glue) and set something semi-heavy on top to dry overnight. 

I do love how it turned out and I think it adds just that special little something to the page showing Bo's first days of kindergarten!  

The complete 2-page looks good together too! 

CC products:  FP Designs Off To School Mega Kit, Bean Stalks Black/Red Ribbon by Jillibean Soup (alphabet on 2nd page)

non CC products:  bazzill cardstock, beads, clip art, tombo liquid glue.