Sugar & Spice for Girls, Snips & Snails for Boys

"What are little boys made of?

What are little boys made of? 

Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails, 

That's what little boys are made of. 

What are little girls made of?

What are little girls made of?  

Sugar and spice and all things nice, 

That's what little girls are made of."

Yes it's a nursery rhyme which some of us probably had sang it before when we were little... And this is what the entire theme is all about in Graphic 45 Precious Memories collection... While gifting can be the most easiest job of all, but thinking of what to gift can be one kind of a headache at times...

Using the rhyme as an inspiration source, I created these little ATC gift boxes for boys and girls for today's Graphic 45 blog post...

Sugar & Spice for girls, Snips & Snails for boys; that's what’s inside these glass vials... Housing them within these little drawers, they are ready to be gifted to any boy or girl... Cute enough to amaze them and small enough for their little hands...

My Final Submission for Graphic 45 DT Call 2015/16

Finally it's all done up!!! For this year final submission for Graphic 45 DT Call, I'm doing up a tutorial instead of showcasing 3 projects. As my DT work is getting more compared to last year, my hands are tied-up with various projects and didn't have time to brainstorm 3 projects. However, my recent obsession on crates has prompted me to build quite a number of projects, including one project sheet for Graphic 45. Remember to subscribe to the newsletter to get your free project sheet.

Using the Graphic 45 Home Sweet Home collection together with some natural products, I'm going to show you how to alter a small wooden box into a realistic-looking vegetable crate and will be providing some interesting way to embellish and ideas... A list of supplies for this project is listed below this blog entry.

Grab a coffee, sit back and enjoy!!!

Supplies:

• Wooden Box
• Martha Steward Craft Paint (chestnut brown)
• Daler Rowney Acrylic Paint (burnt umber)
• Grafix Medium Weight Natural Chipboard (12" x 12")
• Graphic 45 Home Sweet Home Collection
• Graphic 45 Staples (stamped metal brads)
• Vesafine Pigmented Ink Pad (Onyx Black)
• Shredded Wood
• Faux Fern & Flowers
• Jute Twine
• Burlap Sheet

Precious Memories Patina Baby Boy Shadow Box

Somewhere in last winter, a friend of mine who is currently living in the USA, Chicago had a baby boy. When Graphic 45 released the Precious Memories collection for Winter CHA, it came in just in time for me to do something for her newborn child.

Revisiting my Patina tutorial, I'm using blue as the main colour with a touch of pink. On the inside, I created this "Welcome the little One" as a sentiment inside the box and made a pair of mini booties inside as if they're hanging from the treetop. The booties are made of felt and I created the shoe patterns and made everything from scratch. Something that I get to put some of my footwear knowledge in practice. I even made a card to go together with this box... This project was sent over to Graphic 45 as part of the CHA project display this January. So if any of you guys have visited the booth, you probably have seen this around...

Hop over to today's Graphic 45 blog post to see the rest of my fellow teammies' amazing creations. A list of supplies that I used for this project can be found there as well.

Some Little Snowy Fairies Waltzing this Holiday

Alright scrapping peeps, for today on Graphic 45 blog post, I've this cute little ensemble of faires for you, really to waltz away for this Holiday!!!

Totally inspired from the Disney's movie Frozen, I made these snowy fairies out from clothespin pegs... Frozen is probably every child's favourite movie till date, so is my niece... She is a BIG fan of Frozen and she loves these fairies deeply. I've seen a lot of dolly peg projects and they are so adorable, part of it also came from my fellow Graphic 45 teammie, Nichola Battilana. Can't help it and wanted to make something cute!!!

The process in making them is somewhat challenging as I've to use papers for this assignment and it has to be handmade ornaments. I'd have to factor in whether this project can be translated into a tutorial... After giving some deep thoughts about it, I find creating rosettes skirts as one of the easier method... And it SOooo happen that Nutcracker Sweet has this lovely Snowflake Waltz paper that fits into the theme I want!!! As the scene of Elsa stomping her foot on the icy ground and a huge snowflake appeared as she sang "Let It Go" in Frozen came to my mind and that's where I get the inspiration in creating these snowflakes stands for these fairies. The stands are entirely made from those plastic saucers I've for my mixed media projects and classes.

SO here am I, presenting these little cuties to all of you!!! I hope you will enjoy this little performance by them. Follow HERE for the tutorial.

And Happy Holidays!!!

Handmade Holiday Blog Hop

Welcome to the final day of the 4th Annual Handmade Holidays Blog Hop! We hope you enjoyed the projects from the last 2 days! A few years ago we were looking online for handmade gift ideas and thought it would be great if there was a resource dedicated JUST to handmade gift ideas. Enter the Handmade Holidays hop! 

We've gathered over 100 of our creative blogger friends in the craft industry as well as some of our fellow product manufacturers to bring you a plethora of inspiring gift ideas you can make now to give to your friends, family, and colleagues. Pin and bookmark these ideas for this holiday season and to use throughout the year! Each day of the hop features approximately 30 gift projects and you can "hop" from one blog to another to check them all out.

Today for this Handmade Holiday Blog Hop, I'm sharing this specially handmade 'Twas The Night Before Christmas kaleidoscope, something fascinating for this Christmas. Decided to do some upcycling altered craft that's educational and fun. Ready to be gifted to a very young girl, a friend's daughter of mine.

In front of the packaging is this cute origami bow that hangs several socks which I fussy cut from the paper collection. Building a kaleidoscope is not that difficult and once you know the trick you can have lots of fun...

Follow HERE for the tutorial in how to make this kaleidoscope.

Sit back and enjoy!!!

Here is a list of supplies in how to make this:

• ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas Papers (Happy Holly-Day, Ho Ho Ho, Jolly Old Elf, Merry Mistletoe) 
• ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas 6” x 6” Patterns & Solids 
• ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas Tags & Pockets 
• ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas Chipboard 
• ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas Stickers
• Acrylic Mirror 
• Kitchen Roll 
• Acetate Sheet 
• Tracing Paper/Vellum 
• Gems/Snowflakes Brads

Are you ready for lots more creative handmade gift ideas and projects??

Follow along on our blog hop! Simply click on each of the links below to be taken to that post with additional information and photos on how to create a handmade gift project. Have fun and pin away!!!

Clearsnap
Westcott
Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L
Ellison Educational Equipment
ICE Resin
Neat and Tangled
Therm O Web
Walnut Hollow
Elizabeth Craft Designs
Rowland Technologies
Graphic 45
Hydrangea Hippo
Pink and Main
The Buckle Boutique
Tami Mayberry Art & Design - Tami Mayberry
Jamie Dougherty - Jamie Dougherty Designs
Elizabeth Craft Designs - Raquel Mason
Meagan - The Charming Farmer
Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L - Angela Ploegman
Carolyn Dube - A Colorful Journey
Pink and Main - Mistyana Wright 
The Buckle Boutique - Niki Wilson
It’s Sew Lorine - Lorine Mason   ‎
Therm O Web - Andy Knowlton 
L. Grace Lauer - Uniquely Grace
Clearsnap - Meihsia Liu
Oh Snap Lizzie - Lizzie Sanchez
Graphic 45 - Katie Zoey Ho (You are Here!)
Charity Wings
ICE Resin - Tatiana Allen
Polly Carlson - Pieces by Polly
Ellison Educational Equipment - Jan Hobbins
RoseRedd Paper Studio - Rochelle Washington

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Follow our Handmade Holidays Gift Ideas Pinterest board for even more inspiration!!!

Follow Jennifer Priest of RainMaker Media Works + Hydrangea Hippo's board Handmade Holidays on Pinterest.   

A huge thank you to our sponsors for this hop - please visit their blogs & websites below and follow them. And be sure to come back tomorrow for another 30+ amazing Handmade Gift Ideas!!!

Clearsnap || Ellison Educational Equipment || Walnut Hollow || Graphic45 || Westcott || ICE Resin || Therm O Web || Rowland Industries || Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L || Pink and Main || Elizabeth Craft Designs || The Buckle Boutique || Neat and Tangled

Additional Sponsorship provided to bloggers by:

Sakura || Fairfield Processing

Graphic 45 Halloween Tomb Party Gift Set

Today on Graphic 45 tutorial blog post, I'm sharing how to make these incredible fun Tomb Party gift set for this Halloween using An Eerie Tale and Steampunk Spells paper collection.

As I was browsing the Steampunk Spells papers, I came across these 4 intriguing Halloween characters-Miss Ima Fraid, Dr. Dreadful, Mr. Seymour Bones & Madame Macabre. I saw the potential to transform them into unique tomb-masters for a Halloween Party. The result is a gift set with matching invitation cards, where each guest is assigned a tombmaster based on their invitation. It's a fun and creative twist for your Halloween celebration.

Curious about where I got those crosses and skeleton hands? I handmade them using a glue gun and painted them according to my needs. I believe these are available for sale in your local craft store. But for a more personal touch, I decided to make them.

Download the tombstone template HERE and follow this tutorial on how to make these.

I hope this will give you some ideas for creating a theme for Halloween.

Happy crafting!!!

Graphic 45 Newsletter - Patina Mixed Media Tutorial

Mixed media is endless with so many possibilities. And it all started from imagination. In this week Graphic 45 email newsletter, I'll be showing you how to create this beautiful vintage patina look on this ivory 5" x 5" mixed media box. If you haven't subscribed to Graphic 45 newsletter, click HERE to subscribe. You wouldn't want to miss other wonderful projects and exculsive tutorials featured on newsletters.

I was deeply inspired with layered frames that I've pinned on my Pinterest. And since I've several resins frames in my stash, I thought it was the best time to fully make use of them and created this lovely sentiment.

Sit back and enjoy! Happy crafting!!!

Here is a list of supplies to create this sentiment box:

• Graphic 45 Time to Celebrate 8” x 8” Paper Pad 
• Graphic 45 Staples (5" x 5" Mixed Media Box in Ivory) 
• Prima & Melissa Frances Resin Frames 
• Petaloo Flowers 
• Prima Flourish Stencil 
• Script Stamp 
• Clear Gesso 
• Modeling Paste 
• Tinted Gold Acrylic Paint 
• StazOn Midi (Spiced Chai) 
• Lindy Stamp Gang Starbursts & Magicals (Tiffanylou Blue, Delphinium Turquoise, Ponderosa Pines Olive & Tibetan Poppy Teal)

Graphic 45 Come Away with Me Travel Magnetic Frames

Today at Graphic 45 blog, I have created a tutorial in how to make these travel magnetic frames using Come Away with Me paper collection. You can use them on your fridge, CPU or any place that has steel on it. Display them with your latest travel photos or create any vintage ephemera like what I've done here using several Graphic 45 stamps.

If you wonder what are those little packages around the frames, those are some of my hand-made miniatures for my next DT project. So do stay tune.

Here are a list of supplies in order to make these:

• Come Away with Me 8” x 8” Paper Pad 
• Come Away with Me 6” x 6” Patterns & Solids 
• Come Away with Me Journaling & Ephemera 
• Curtain Call Cling Stamp 2 
• Ladies Diary Cling Stamp 2 
• French Country Cling Stamp 3 
• Heavy Weight Chipboard 
• Magnetic Sticker Sheets

Enjoy and have fun crafting!!

Suitcase Treasures Tutorial & Mini Travel Map Books

Finally, I've done up a PDF tutorial in how to create these little suitcases which is one of the featured suitcases in my Graphic 45 DT stacked suitcases project. Now available in my Etsy for purchase and download. The stacked suitcases would probably take some more time to get it all done up.

I've also made a set of mini travel map handbound books for sale as well which you can also purchase as part of your suitcase treasures if you desire to. Unfortunately, I only made 5 sets of these books, and once they are sold out, I won't be making them again.

Links for purchase as follows (click to go to link):

Suitcase Treasures PDF tutorial
Mini Travel Map Handbound Books

Graphic 45 Come Away with Me Stacked Suitcases

What's sharing today at Graphic 45 blog is this major project I had worked on it for about a week - stacked suitcases. Greatly inspired by the various stacked suitcases pins as home decor all over Pinterest, I decided to create my very own mini version by building each of them from scratch. Used quite a lot of Come Away with Me papers I should say. And I absolutely love love love this travel collection.

Inside each suitcase is a library of miniature books, matchbox suitcases, and other treasures inspired by the movies Titanic and The Aviator.

I've created a tutorial on how to make these cute little matchbox suitcases and a walk-through YouTube video to showcase this project. Currently, I'm working on a couple of tutorial sheets for this project, and once I've finished compiling I'll list them for sale on my Esty store. Do keep a look out, will be out pretty soon. I hope you guys will like this project. Meanwhile, sit back and enjoy.

Back to School Fun Tutorial with Graphic 45

What's sharing on today's Graphic 45's blogpost is a short tutorial on how to create these cute mini notebooks using just a single sheet of printer paper in just 4 simple steps.

Here are the steps:

Step 1: Fold an A4 size printer paper into 16 parts and cut across the paper as shown, leaving the last part uncut.

Step 2: Gather and fold the paper alternatively into a mini accordion book. Distress the edges if preferred.

Step 3: Wrap Kraft cardstock around the book. This will be the cover. Glue/tape down the first and last parts of the paper onto the insides of the cover. 

Step 4: Embellish as follows. And you're done!!!

The final size of the mini notebooks measures 2.25" x 3". For those wondering about A4 size, it's an international ISO standard paper size commonly used in Singapore, UK, and some Commonwealth countries. It's larger than the US letter size paper, which measures 8.27" x 11.7" (21cm x 29.7cm). If you can't find A4 size printer paper, don't worry! You can use letter size or similar sizes, just keep in mind that your notebooks will be smaller. The steps, however, remain the same. I hope this clears things up for you.

Have fun!!! Cheers!!!