First youtube video!!

Well, I finally got a video uploaded on youtube!! It's NOT good quality, and I have a lot of learning to do still!! I recorded with my phone, and obviously recorded it with the camera the wrong way... when I got it on my computer, I couldn't figure out how to flip it without losing the sound. Oh well... live and learn!! Here is the link if you are interested... and thanks for watching!

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheKraftLab

Winter ATC and card

Here is my ATC for the month of November. The theme was Winter, and the challenge was to make it sparkly without using stickles. I used the cuttlebug folder Musical Flourish for the background, distress inked the edges, and then glimmermisted it using Dazzling Diamonds. The glimmermist really didn't give it a whole lot of sparkle, so I decided to make the reindeer cut glittery. I used silver glitter paint all over the deer for the sparkly effect. I then added some bling and used mini pop dots on the reindeer.

I went ahead and used the ATC I made for me on a card that I will be sending in a swap. I used the same cuttlebug folder on the background. I then added some ribbon along two corners that I got at HL. I placed the ATC on the card using pop up glue dots.

Thanks for looking!

Altered Wedding Canvas

A very good friend of mine got married this last weekend, and I wanted to make something handmade for her. I thought a canvas would be good. She likes to draw and paint, so I figured it would make a good gift. I started with a 11x14 canvas, so that an 8x10 picture would be able to fit on it easily. I tried to match the color of the bridesmaid dresses and some of the flowers used, so I ended up mixing two colors together a little bit to get the sangria/wine color. Her dress was champagne colored, so I used those two colors for most of the project. I started by painting the canvas a creme color. The paint was actually called Country Twill. I then mixed the two wine colors together. One was too dark and the other was too light/reddish. I sponge painted this color on so that a little bit of the creme color would still show. Once that was dry, I painted  some silver glitter paint all over to make it sparkle. I then added some ribbon from Hobby Lobby on both the top and bottom. I believe I used Fabritac to adhere it down. I made a photo mat that measured 8 1/2 x 10 1/2, and wanted to create a pocket for it. I couldn't find any acetate, so I just used a page protector that I cut down. I fabritacked the edges of the page protector and kept the top unattached to make a pocket. I then used some TH ornate plates and some of his word tickets (thats likely not the proper name but thats what I call them) and used Fabritac to adhere them. I added some recollections roses all around the canvas to frame it out. I had a lot of fun making this, and I hope that they will enjoy it. Thanks so much for looking!

Cards

So I confess that I have a hard time making cards... but I forced myself to make a few for a swap. It was a fall/thanksgiving/christmas swap, so I made 2 fall and 2 christmas. I used scraps I had left over from other projects for the fall cards. Once again I used the Autumn Gatherings stack from DCWV. I also used some baker's twine on one of the cards and ribbon on the other from Hobby Lobby. I had some left over leaves that I made for the tags I just posted, so I used a few of those. I also had a cricut cut that wasn't big enough for another project, so I used it on a card (the word Autumn).

For the christmas cards, I used Cloud 9 paper. The gingerbread man was cut from Stretch your Imagination. I then used stickles on him to perk him up a little. The red ribbon was just in my stash.
The ornament card - I used SU stamps for the first time. I bought an ornament punch and a stamp set that included an ornament design. I embossed the design on one of the ornaments with gold powder, and then used another ornament to stamp the sentiment. Then I outlined the ornaments with stickles, and used pop dots for the ornaments to add a little dimension. Thanks for looking!

Fall wall hanging

Here is another craft I made for a swap. It started out as a plain wooden hanging plaque that I got at the Dollar Tree a long time ago. I painted it orange, cut out some DCWV fall paper, and mod podged it on the plaque. I cut the word Autumn from the Stretch Your Imagination cartridge. I used a paper punch for all the leaves around the outside. I punched out leaves from different scraps I had left over from the Autumn Gathering stack from DCWV. I painted stickles on all of the leaves and the word Autumn. I found that this ended up making the leaves a little more durable once the stickles dried, since they were just paper, plus made them sparkle, which is always nice! I used mod podge to stick everything on and then sprinkled some gold glitter over the whole thing while it was still damp. Thanks for looking!

Fall Tags

Here are a few tags I have made for fall swaps, using the new TH seasonal inks. I used the TH tattered leaves die and cut out the leaves from the new fall stack from DCWV.(Harvest Gatherings or Autumn Gatherings or something like that!) I inked the leaves as well and made them crinkly by spritzing them and crunching them. I also, for the first time on a project, HEAT EMBOSSED! I embossed the pumpkin on the bottom of the tag with gold embossing powder from SU. To finish it off I just added a simple bow from orange ribbon. Thanks for looking!

Fall/Halloween vintage box

Ok, so my partner received her box today! I also received mine and LOVE it!!

The box I made for her was from Hobby Lobby. Once I saw the paper mache house box, I knew what I wanted to do - make a haunted house!! So, I painted the box with a metallic black paint. I cut out yellow squares to put behind the windows. Then I cut a few ghosts from the Happy Hauntings cart, and the number 31 (like an address) from the same cart. I believe I attached them to the house using tacky glue. (It's been a little while!) I found some black birds at Michaels, so I hot glued one to the roof. I then added some different Jolee's boutique stickers around the box. I found these awesome orange flowers at HL, so I used them on both sides of the door and made a "welcome" mat out of cardstock and a halloween sticker. I then hot glued some paper shreds around the box to look sort of like old dried up "spooky grass". I also put paper in the inside of the box but forgot to take a pic of that. That way if you looked through the door it wouldn't be just plain.

I also sent her a few items... first up is an altered canvas, we both like the movie Halloween, so I wanted to make her a Halloween based item. All the pictures were printed off my computer and mod podged on a painted, glittered canvas. Then I added a few little black blings and the trim using fabritac.

I also sent her the halloween charm and charm box that lets out a spooky laugh that I just recently posted. We were to include a tag as well, so I remade another one of my halloween dress form tags that I made and posted for the blog hop. Also included a mini, I will post that seperately, and a few bought items. Thanks for looking!

Halloween Charm and charm box

Here is another item I have recently finished. I made this Halloween charm for a special friend I'm sending things to in a swap. The big charm at the bottom was from HL. I used a Tim Holtz swivel clasp  for the base. The beads are from Walmart and Hobby Lobby. The box was bought at Michaels, and was just a plain wooden box. I painted it metallic black inside and out. I added a skull bling that I also found at Michaels. The fun of this box is when you open it - the box will give off a spooky cackling laugh! Thought it was perfect for my partner!

Thanks for looking!

On the Beach ATC

Here is my latest ATC I made for the monthly ATC challenge swap. I cut the turtle from Life is a Beach. For the lighter green color, I used some glitter paper that I found in my stash. I cut some white paper for the background, used Tumbled Glass distress ink to make a "water" color. Then I outlined it with stickles in Baby Blue. Once that was all dry, I attached that to a black background to give an illusion of an aquarium (kinda). Then I used my cropodile to punch a hole, set an eyelet, and then added a beachy bead that I found at HL.

Thanks for looking!

Altered plate charger

Here is another item I made for the same swap as the explosion box. This idea was scraplifted from another swap I was in. Someone had made a holiday plate charger into a decor item with a photo mat included for Christmas. So, I decided to make a Halloween one. The plate charger came from Hobby Lobby. I cut the spiderweb paper using a circle cutter to fit just about perfectly in the inside portion of the charger. All the cuts I used are from Happy Hauntings. I modge podged everything on the plate, and made sure to have a spot for a picture as well.

First explosion box!

Ok ladies, I made my first explosion box for a Halloween swap on the mb. For the top of the box, I cut the witch scene from Celebrate with Flourish. I wanted the witch to stand out a little more, so she got covered with glitter. The bottom of the box looked kind of plain, so I used an edge stamp and went around the bottom of the box and made a pumpkin border. I added some fun ribbon to the lid as well.

I only took a picture of the first layer of the inside, but I think it's my favorite layer anyway!! I made some pockets and added tags, and there is plenty of room for pictures to be placed in this box as well. Thanks for looking!

"Dressed to the Nines" Dress Form Blog Hop

Welcome! This post is part of a blog jump. You should have arrived here from planlady19. If not, you can start at the beginning of the jump here! There were quite a big group of ladies that signed up for Jana's dress form swap on the CMB. We decided to make a blog hop out of some of our creations. There were multiple categories, and since it's my favorite holiday, I had to sign up for a few Halloween groups! The tag I'm going to share with you is one of the tags for that category.

First, I cut the dress form out of chipboard with the TH sewing room die using my cuttlebug. I painted it green since I made it into a witch. For the dress, I used purple satin. I cut out a really basic shape around my dress form, including a "neck line" that was pretty much a square. Then I used the same flame technique used for making satin lollipop flowers, so that the edges of the satin wouldn't fray all over the place. I used fabritac to glue the satin on the dress form, and then used some thin black ribbon for a Belt.
For the tag, I used a manilla craft tag and covered it with paper from K&Company. I used Black Soot distress ink around the edges, then used my crop-a-dile to punch a hole and add an eyelet. I found these little brooms at Hobby Lobby in the doll furniture section (I think) and thought they would be perfect! Before gluing on the broom, I stamped on some Halloween inchie stamps that I ordered online. I used Archival Ink for that, and then attached the broom using fabritac again, since it's got a good hold.  For the back, we were supposed to make a pocket and then include a card or tag with our info on it. I sometimes have trouble shoving things into pockets, so I decided to make mine using foam mounting tape. That way, if someone wanted to, they could easily put something thicker in there, like a gift card.

Well, what's a blog hop without some blog candy??  I will be giving away a package of Tim Holtz embellishments (in the above picture). In order to win, become a follower of my blog (if you aren't already) and leave me a comment on this post. I will pick a winner with random.org on Monday! Please make sure you leave me a way to get a hold of you if you win!! Let me know your username on the CMB or an email address.

Thank you so much for stopping by! Your next stop will be Just Jean's.

1. Simply My Crafts
2. Lil Red’s Craftin’hood
3. Planlady19
4. The Kraft Lab <------ You are here!
5. Just Jean’s
6. Cindy32 – Guest blogging at Simply My Crafts
7. Paper Scraps N More
8. Addicted2Paper
9. Scrappin Diva
10. Scrapping Under the Influence  

Matchbox Swap

I am currently hosting (for the first time!!) a matchbox swap on the CMB. My partner has already received her box so I thought I would post pics here! I found some blue and brown vintage looking paper at Hobby Lobby, its the Ella Blue line from gcd studios. I first painted the matchbox with a few layers of gesso, then with shimmery turqouise paint. Then I cut the pieces of paper and inked them with distress ink - faded jeans around the edges and antique linen in the middle to give it a little more color. I used some trim on the two longer sides, and I added some Recollections roses, bling, and beads as feet for the box and a pull for the drawer.

Inside the box, we were supposed to have 3 stickpins, 2 flowers, and 1 charm. For the stickpins I thought I would try to make a little matchbook to hold them. I used the same paper as I used on the box, just inked it differently. I ended up sending 6 flowers. Two I made using the same paper line and punches. I orginially was going to use these on the box but decided against it. Then I made two blue satin lollipop flowers. They were all kind of small, so that's why I decided to make two more. I made the brown one using kraft paper, vintage photo distress ink, and a scallop punch. I found a tutorial for a Paper rose on Youtube, and that's what I used to make the larger blue flower.

And lastly, the charm. I really like the way it turned out! I used a TH swivel clasp and TH tag on the bottom. The beads are from Hobby Lobby as well as the rose charms. The key charm was part of a set I recevied in a swap. Thanks for looking!!

ATC - World Travel

Here is another ATC I made for a monthly ATC swap. The theme for this month was World Travel, and we also needed to use a metal embellishment. I used distress ink in Antique Linen for the background of the card. I then used a stamp from a Recollections travel stamp set, in brown ink. I printed off a vintage looking map from the computer and distressed the edges with Vintage Photo. I added some ribbon and an antique looking brad. I thought it needed a little something else so I found some spiral metal clips I had in my stash to sort of balance out the "metal" on the card. Thanks for looking!

Twilight Canvas

Ok, according to the tracking number, my canvas that I sent Vicki was delivered earlier today! I really hope you like it! Now, I can post a picture of the entire canvas!!! This started out as literally a blank canvas (haha..). I used acrylic paint in red, black, and white. I tried to just swirl it around with a piece of plastic, but it was blending all together and turning almost a brownish/black color. So, I just sponged some more red over the entire canvas. I like how the painted canvas turned out and almost didn't want to add anything to it! Then, I added some glitter paint over the whole canvas to make it glittery because it looked just slightly dull. Next I added some craft mesh. I modge podged it to the canvas (got very messy!) and then hot glued the corners on the back to secure it. I added some ribbon, then the quote and picture. Around the quote and picture (which I mounted on cardstock since they were printed off) I put a "stickle frame". Once all that was dry, I sprayed 3 coats of acrylic sealer.  This also gave it a sort of glossy finish. Then I just added some flowers and a few Tim Holtz embellishments.  I think it turned out pretty good, and I can't wait to get mine from her in a day or two!

ATC's - Play On Words

I joined a swap group on the CMB in which we make a set of ATC's every month, with a different theme. Some months also have a specific challenge. For the month of July, the theme was Play on Words, and the challenge was to use some type of junk mail. I didn't exactly use junk mail, but used an old phone book for numbers of bars. I choe the saying "Dry Martini", so I made exactly that - a dry martini, consisting of sand.

June Bug Blog Jump

It's time for another Blog hop! You should have arrived here from ScrappinDiva's Musings. If you arrived in the middle, you can start at the beginning here. For this blog hop, we were supposed to make something within the theme of Summer. Lucky for me, I'm in a few swaps so I already had a project. I am in a Red, White, Blue, and Bbq swap for the 4th of July. I thought I would share a few items I made for this swap.  One of the things we could make was 2 dangles or charms. I made one in a patriotic theme and another one in more of a summery theme with beachy colors and charms. I'm still fairly new to making tags, so the tags they are attached to aren't anything real special - but that's ok because you are able to focus on just the dangles! These were made with beads and charms from Hobby Lobby.

Thanks so much for stopping by and taking a look at my summer project! Feel free to look around at my other posts as well. The next stop for the blog hop is DivineScrapper!

JulieClawser - http://mylittlecorner-julie518.blogspot.com/
Heart2Hand - http://heart2handshighlights.blogspot.com/
Planlady19 - http://planlady19.blogspot.com/
CindyAdamson - http://mylazycrafternoon.blogspot.com/
DGirlLV - http://dgirllv.blogspot.com/
Caitlynsmommy - http://crystalscraftycreations.blogspot.com/
Doodles - http://doodlesscraps-diana.blogspot.com/
GrandmaJ - http://www.mylittlecraftincorner.blogspot.com/
Skrappindiva - http://skrappindiva.blogspot.com/
AmyMLT - http://coveofcreativity.blogspot.com/
LEIALOHA - http://www.divinescrapper.blogspot.com/
J_Bear - http://jbearshome.blogspot.com/
Heaven4333 - http://heavencreations-kathy.blogspot.com/
Scrappin_RN - http://cuttin-up.blogspot.com/
JanaZ - http://simplymycrafts.com/

Sneak Peek

It's been a while since I posted! I just finished up an item for a swap - something I haven't done before. It is a Twilight themed altered 8x8 canvas. I enjoyed this so much and I think it turned out really well! Since it's not mailed yet, I am only posting a sneak peek.. I hope my partner will enjoy it as much as I do!

Stylish Blogger Award

Wow! Thanks to Julie at ...My Little Corner!!! She just awarded me with a Stylish blogger award.. I don't know what to think about it - never thought I'd get one of these!! hehe! 

To receive this award the rules to be followed are:

Step 1 - Make a post linking back to the person who gave you the award.
Step 2 - Share 8 random things about you.
Step 3 – Award 8 recently discovered bloggers with this award.
Step 4 – Contact these bloggers and tell them they have won the award.




Here goes.. 8 Random things about me:
1. I'm left handed and very proud of it!!
2. I am a very picky eater, but probably couldn't live without bbq sauce.
3. I love to listen to all kinds of music (especially when crafting) and I even like rap! 
4. I am 26 with an upcoming birthday.
5. I got a cricut for scrapbooking and have yet to finish a scrapbook.
6. I run blood tests (and other body fluids) all night while working.
7. I majored in Biology in college.
8. I am the third of 4 kids, all born a year apart... so at one point we were all in high school the same year! 


Ok... now who should I pass the award to??? 


Bette at believedreamcreate
Lisa at Cuttle Fairies Express 
Diana at Doodle's Scraps
Kathy at Heaven's Creations
Terri at planlady19 
Heather at Two Hands Creating
DeeAnn at Welcome!

Bugs of Class – Jumpin’ June Bug Swap

Well, if you’re reading this post and looking for the “Bugs of Class” game, you’re at the right spot.  Quick review of the instructions – Here are ten pictures of common insects. Match the number of the picture with the correct classification below all the pictures.  Send your answers to me in a PM on the board. As a bonus, read the question at the end. 

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

A. Member of the Family Coccinellidae

B. Member of the Order Lepidoptera

C. Apis mellifera

D. Gryllus assimilis

E. Member of the Order Odonata, suborder Anisoptera

F. Periplaneta americana

G. Belongs to the single largest Order of Insects

H. Musca domestica

I. Gerris remigis

J. Member of the Class Chilopoda

BONUS!! Out  of these 10 insects, 5 of them go through Complete Metamorphosis – meaning the “babies” look nothing like the adults. Name these 5. (Just need the numbers under the pictures!)