Shoebox turnes into caddy (photo heavy tutorial)

I am a complete sucker for caddies, baskets, containers, boxes and anything that holds items. Thanks goodness I am a scrapper so I need a lot of those to store all my supplies. I have the cutest white metal containers that have pink numbers on there. They store my bling, my stamps and my glue stock. I love the two galvanized wired baskets with handles that store my wooden embellishments and my made cards.

A few weeks back I came acroos a tutorial on Pinterest that showed how to make a caddy from a single shoebox. Right up my alley as you can imagine. 

So I Pinned it.  I thought I Pinned it and went looking for it after we bought our little lady some winter boots. The perfect box for a caddy. But my Pin was nowhere to be found. So I had to rely on my photographic memory................ uhm, well, just on what I remebered seeing while Pinning it. Or actually; not Pinning it. Well, you get the point. 

I made photos of the work in progress so you can see what I did and try it yourself when you have a shoebox ready. I apologize for the quality of the photos but I took them in a kind of dark hallway and did not turn on any light.............

First you take the box (do NOT put the lid away, you will need it later!) and measure the long side of the box. In my case it was 30cm (about 12"). I marked the middle both on the top and bottom of the box and  used that mark as the middle of my 10cm..... 

You lost it already right? 

You wil have to cut a triangle out of both long sides. Trust me, the photo will clear this all up. I measured the long side and came to 30cm. I divided that in 3 so that the finished product would look like a caddy. That is the 10cm I was talking about before.  So you divide the box length in three and that is the amount you will need to cut out. So on my box: I measured 5cm from the middle to both sides and cut it to the mark on the bottom of the box (the mark that shows the middle)

Your box will now look like this:  

Now you need to fold the box in half, You can score from the bottom of the triangle to the bottom of the triangle across the box. What I did was this. I put my ruler in the box en then folded the box with the ruler in there. No fuzz, just fold.......

Did I already tell you that the easuring you did before is the only measuring you will do in this project? Cool, right? 

After folding it your box should look like this: You must admit, it already looks like a caddy, right?

From now on things will only get easier. 

Now you need the lid to make the sides. Simply put the lid over the side (i did not take a photo of this but let me try to explain: The lid will have to stand up straight and cover the side of the caddy. It will look way to long...... 

Mark the side of the caddy on the box and do this for both sides. Cut the lid of the box. After cuttong your lid will look like this: 

Now attach your lid pieces to the caddy and tape it together. I used duck tape but I guess you can use packaging tape or any wide tape. As long as it sticks.

This is what your caddy will look like when it is unfolded. (that little foot you see is our little lady.....)

Next, fold the box over into a caddy shape and tape the bottom together so the caddy will remain a caddy no matter what.  

I simply put duck tape over the bottom sides so it also functions as a protector of the caddy.

And voila, you are done!!!!! This is the actual caddy aftyer 15 minutes of work. 

Now you can cover it with fabric, paper or even paint. You can make a handle in the top middle but I did not do that. 

I covered mine with double sided wrapping paper and now I need to find something to put in...... I had no special technique for covering it, I just made sure all sides could be covered by the paper and wrapped it like a gift. 

And yes, the paper does look wrinkly but that is just the Tacky Glue not being dry yet. I have had so many Tacky Glue expereience that I now know things will all look well in the end. They do.

I hope this all made sense. Please ask if you have any questions! Thanks for stopping by and have a great and creative week! 

Silhouette Stamp Cutting

One thing I have been wanting to do is using my Silhouette Stamp Kit that has been lying in my studio for almost a year. It seems like it it just as easy as cutting paper but somehow it really scared the cr** out of me. 

There's a stamp set I really want but really like only one of the two stamps that is in the set. And you have got to believe me when I say the set is awfully expensive. This morning a gright and intelligent idea came to me: Why not cut it myself with the Silhouette Stamping kit? The design is not very intricate, fairly simple even, so it would be a great try. 

So opening the box (it comes with great extra's like 3 very sturdy acrylic blocks with grits, ink and a instruction CD with extra shapes) and finally got going.

Following the instructions booklet it al seems very easy. Adjusting the settings is always easy in my Silhouette (did I already tell you how much I love my Silhouette?) 

The hardest thing is always lining up your mat. did you know there's a special mark on your Silhouette where your mat needs to be before you start cutting? 

On my Silhouette SD it is the little extra mark between the bigger grey marks. If you line your mat up with that mark you are all set! 

When I finally started cutting I got a bit nervous, would it be this easy? Well, I had a reason for not trusting the whole thing: It did not work. No idea what happened but the cutting did not go well. 

The first thing that scared me was the movement op the cutting material while the Silhouette was cutting. It moves while your Silhouette is cutting. So I Googled and got happy again: That was perfectly normal. One less thing to worry about.   

When the cutting was done (it takes longer than a paper cut) I was so dissapointed with the result. It did get cut but not completely and the original design was nowhere to be seen. 

Again, not sure what happened and looking on the internet did not helkp me there. So I guess I will have to try again. Another day............

This whole ordeal reminds me of the fact that I promised to write a tutorial on how to use your own handwriting as a cutting file. I will do that soon, very soon! 

Rainbow Colored Cake

IF YOU CAME HERE FOR THE BLOG HOP: YOU CAN FIND THAT POST HERE

My little boy is getting BIG! Last Thursday he turned 11. I can still remember the day he was born as if it was yesterday. He has been a total joy ever since the day he was born and I can not believe how sweet and nice this little man is.
In our little family we have this cute birthday tradition: You eat your birthday cake in bed!!!!! So this year I made DS Joram an angel cake covered with white chocolate (he loves white chocolate). There's one con about this cool tradition we have: You never have a complete birthday cake when your party starts!
He had his party on Friday and I decided to make al ast minute cake at 2pm. Well, let me tell you: You can better think of it a bit earlier than 2pm. I was stressing. Always aiming at high goals I wanted to make something special with little than less supplies. The party started at 6 so there was no time for complicated icing or decorations.
All of a sudden I had this great idea: I was going to make a rainbow cake! This is how I did that. It might not be original but hey, it was made by me!

I just took a recipe of a plain cake and doubled it. Just use your favorite recipe and start making it the way you always do. The only thing extra that you will need is food coloring in various colors.
When your batter is all done divide it into little portions. The more the better I found out. If you have more, the pattern in the cake will be better to see in a slice. Put the portions into glass bowls since you will be working with food coloring and you don't want to eat your apple out of a purple colored plastic container.
Mix every batch of batter with food coloring. I experienced that blue and purple kind of look strange. Though the blue I had was dark blue, turquoise would probably work better.
I used a round cake pan and scooped golf ball sized 'splashes' of batter in the cake pan, just playing around with the colors. And after that just bake it the way you bake your cake.
I covered the cake with icing so the surprise effect was going to be bigger when I cut the cake.

DS Joram had no idea what the cake would look like inside and neither did his party guests. You can imagine how ecstatic they were when I cut and served it.

Mixing patterned papers from different manufacturers

TGIF! I am so ready for the weekend! But first of all I would like to 'teach' you something'..............

I always love mixing patterned papers and I am not afraid to mix 'non' matching colors and patterns. But I do know that many of you have a very hard time with this.
So I will try and tell how you can start doing it without the feeling of being the worse designer in the world, LOL.
Let me start with this: It is all about your personal style and taste! Well, that did not really help, did it?
Okay, even though it is about personal style there is also a little thin line between a good combination and a total patterned paper disaster.

Many of the rules that apply in home decor also apply in scrapping. In home decor they say that you can easily combine 4 or 5 different patterns together, but many more will be too much.

If you have never mixed patterned papers from different lines or different manufacturers before you might want to start like this. Start with combining similar colors.

• Go through your patterned papers and grab similar colors. 
• Do not look at the patterns or hues of the PP
• Do not overkill! Don't take 20 different PP if you normally only use two or three on a LO

And now: Just start scrapping!

Another way to combine papers is to go with patterns. Colors are not the main focus. What you are trying to do is find a couple of patterned papers, all with different patterns. 

Find some stripes, some dots, checkered, plaids and maybe some argyles or flowers. Even though your colors are not the main focus, it is necessary that one color comes back in every sheet of PP you picked. So, for example, your dotted paper can be having several different colors but one of those colors matches with your flowered PP. 

Now put the patterned patterned you picked out on your work space and start looking at the patterns, you can make three different categories: small patterns, medium pattern and big patterns. Pick one sheet out of every category and there is your combo! 

There are a couple of patterned that combine very easy with others. Those are: ledgers, stripes, dots and text. They can be used as you main patterned paper or even as your background sheet. 

You can get great mixing inspiration looking at the lines form manufacturers. They also mix their patters and they do that because they know some people do have a hard time with mixing. Well, they also want you to buy their whole line..........

NEVER never forget that the main focus on your layout should be your photo's, not your patterned paper. 

Hopefully this will give you a bit of trust to start mixing. And even when you do not feel safe to start mixing on such a big thing as a 12x12 LO, start small and make a card. Just do not be afraid of doing something wrong, there's no wrong in scrapbooking, every piece made is a piece of art! 

Last but not least I am going to show you a LO I did today with 6 PP (including my background sheet) from five different manufacturers. I combined reds and added a tiny black, all on a ledger background paper (there's the easy to combine pattern.........) 

PP: Basic Grey, 7Gypsies, My Minds Eye, Bo Bunny, Collage Press

Chipboard: Bo Bunny
Stickers: American Crafts, Making Memories, Adornit, Bo Bunny
Twine: Divine Twine
Safety pin: Queen & Co
Misc; sewing machine, hearty pins, puffy heart sticker, heart pins.

The heart pins were originally pink but I covered them with Tacky Glue and dipped them in fine glitter. All patterned papers were from my stash and the 7Gypsies one (the text book PP) is about 10 years old, still love it.......

Somehow the middle pennant of the banner looks sort of yellowish, but trust me, it is NOT, I think the scan made it look that way. But right now I do not feel like taking a regular photo of my LO, I just don't have the energy for it.

For those of you who need a scrapping boost: At Let's Scrap we still have the LOAD (layout a day) challenge going on, and we are busy preparing on of the largest blog hops ever, starting February 1st: Let's Scrap Leap around the World blog hop.

Thanks for popping by and have a great weekend!

Paper Wreath tutorial

If you arrived here from The Scrap Shoppe: Welcome to my tutorial for this years Home Made Christmas.

This would be a great home decor item for Christmas but leaving the Christmas wish behind, it would make a great all year round wreath. What about putting 'welcome' on there and hanging it on your front door? (Just make sure it won't get wet.....................)

I made this and I was amazed about how easy this was and how good the final result. I am going to try and explain to you how to make this. This is what you need:

• Styrofoam wreath (mine was about 8" diameter)
• Old book (I used a paperback book)
• Pins (regular or short ones, does not really matter)
• Ink for the edges
• Ribbon

You don't really need the following items but you can if you want to spice it up:

• A decoration piece for in the wreath (I used a wooden star about the size of the inner opening of the wreath, this can be your guideline for buying))
• Glitter spray (there's probably tons of people that would say you can't, but I used glitter hairspray, I use it all the time on projects and never damaged anything and it is a frugal option)

You start with tearing pages out of your book. Don't try and do it to neatly, but do make sure you still have whole pages. I started with 50 pages and I could not really tell you how much I used in the end but you can always take more out or throw the leftovers in the waste paper (or your fire place, ha!)

Then ink the sides of your pages. Again: Don't try and do it to neat. This is a great project to let go of your perfectionism, I had a hard time with it and at the same time lots of fun.....

When you have some pages inked you can started attaching them to the wreath. I used those tiny needles that you use for decorating, but you can use whatever you have lying around. Well, as long as they don't come out the other side of your wreath I guess...................)

The hardest thing for me to explain is how to fold the pages. I tried to take pics of it, but it is always hard to takes pics of the entire process.

You start by folding your pages over lenghtwise BUT: don't really fold/crease it! You just sort of put it together without really folding it (this does not really sound too good does it? I just hope the pics are more clear than I am). When you are done folding attach it to the wreath as showed in the pic. This will be your first layer. There are three layers in total. Use as much pins as neccesary to keep the papers in place. Mine has two, sometimes three.

This might be handy to mention: Most of my pics were taken from the back of the wreath. For me it was the handiest to work on the back too, but I guess that is all up to you!

You keep putting pages on until your first layer is completely filled. Thep aged overlap a little about a 1/3" or so. Again, don't be to precise, it can be half an inch on the one and 1/4 on the other one. 

When your first layer is done we keep on moving to the second layer: This layer will be placed about two inches lower than the first one. I swear I took pictured from starting the firstl ayer too but I can't find them anywhere so you will have to do it with the pic of when the second layer is on. You can see in the pic that the second layer is much lower than the first. Again: don;t measure anything, just do it by sight. Trustm e, it will work out great. By the way: This pic below was taken from the top

When your second layer is done the back of your wreath will look like this:

And this will be the front: Again you can see that my pages are not lined up at all. How are we doing with letting perfectionism go?

If you are still with me here you are doing great, we are almost done. We are now starting the third layer. This layer will will placed overtop of the firstl ayer but than facing the other way (so outside the wreath) This will make your wreath look fuller and cover up any of the styrofoam that was still visible after the first two layers. The pic will show you where about to place the third layer and what it will look like when you're done (again: from the back)

At this point your wreath is done and you can start decorating. You don't have to if you like it like this and you can use whatever you like to decorate it. If you decide to leave it like this you will only have to attach to ribbon to hang it. I used three different kinds of ribbon and fibers and placed them just around the wreath on top and bottom.

This is what I did with the star: I inked the edges with the same color ink I used for the pages and cut a shape with my Silhouette and adhered it to the star. You can use stickers, chipboard or whatever you like on it. Just look at it like a little canvas.

I attached the star with the twine that came with it but you can use whatever twine or ribbon that you like. This is what my wreath looks like.





I would love to se what you came up with because I there can be so many different looks to this. So please let me know, or leave a so I can check it out. And I promise that I will post the ones that I know about. And if you have any questions let me know, I would be more than willing to help you out.

You can place this tutorial at your blogs but I would be very pleased if you would link back to this post and my blog!

If you like what you see here please become a follower.

Thanks for playing along.

Have a great weekend!

Baby label softie with tutorial / Baby label knuffel met instructies

DD Jinte loves loves to chew on labels and tags. I had a little washcloth lying around and I was ready to put back in her dresser. At the same time I had some ribbon lying on top because it had to go to my studio. And all of a sudden the lightbulb went on and my idea was born: I am going to make a tag/label softie for her. The idea is fairly simple and I know that tons of items like this are available. I will try and explain how I did it. Even a very novice sewer can do this.

I cut the wascloth in four equal pieces (squares). My pieces were about 5 inch. So if your washcloth is any smaller or bigger you might want to adjust your cutting. The main thing is: You need to have two squares of the same size. You can even use different washcloths so the softie will have two different sides. I sewed some ribbon on one piece and even some flowers I had lying around. Technically you can put anything you want on there. It would be cool to put the child's name on there.

On the other square I pinned all different pieces of folded ribbon on there. Pin them as close to the edge as possible. Make sure your fold in on the inner side of your fabric, so the both ends of your ribbon are at the edge of your piece of fabric.  Your only concern might be: Pick out ribbon that does not fray on the sides or can be pulled apart easily (Organza or sheer will fray easily). Pin it on your fabric like I did in my first drawing. This might seem weird, but it all turns out well, LOL

Put the two sides on top of each other, good side on good side) and sew three sides closed. Turn the softie inside out (so the good parts will show) and pull all the ribbons straight. You can iron the softie under a piece of cloth to make everything straight. Sew the last side together with your machine or by hand. Et voila: You're done!

This would be a great baby shower gift. If you decide to make one: Please let me know and send a pic: I will post it here. I'd love to see what you made.

Have a good week!



Dochterlief Jinte vindt het heerlijk om op labels te kauwen en te sabbelen. Ik had een spuugdoekje klaarliggen om bij haar in de kast te leggen en daarop lag wat lint wat ik gekocht had klaar om naar mijn scrapkamer te gaan. En plotseling ging het lichtje branden: Ik ging zelf een label knuffel voor haar maken. Het is een supersimpel idee en ik weet dat er al duizenden van dit soort ontwerpen op de markt zijn.
Ik zal proberen om uit te lggen hoe ik het gedaan heb. Zelfs een hele erge beginner kan dit!

Ik heb het spuugdoekje in vier gelijke stukken geknipt (vierkanten) Ik had toen vierkanten vaiets meer dan 10x10 centimeter. als je spuugdoekje kleiner of groter is kun je de maten aanpassen. Je kunt zelfs twee verschillende doekjes gebruiken zodat beide kanten van het knuffeltje anders zijn.
Vervolgens heb ik op een vierkantje een paar lintjes genaaid en nog wat applicaties die ik had liggen. Je kan er van alles en nog wat op doen. Ik kan me voorstellen dat de naam van de baby ook erg leuk is. Vervolgens heb ik het andere lapje gepakt en hier dubbel gevouwen lintjes op gespeld. Zorg er voor dat je zo dicht mogelijk bij de rand speldt. Verder zit de vouw van het lintje aan de binnenkant van de stof (naar het midden dus) Dus de beide uiteinden van het gevouwen lintje zitten aan de rand van je lapje stof. Het enige waar je op moet letten is dat je lint neemt wat niet snel rafels of uit elkaar gaat (Organza en zijdelint doet dit heel snel) Doe dan de goede zijden op elkaar en naar deze aan drie kanten dicht. Het ziet er heel raar uit, maar vertrouw me: Het komt goed.

Draai nu het geheel binnenstebuiten zodat de goede kanten weer aan de buitenkant zitten. Trek alle lintjes recht, je kan zelf het lapje even onder een doek strijken. Naai nu de laatste zijde met de machine of met de hand aan elkaar. Et voila: Je bent klaar! Dit is natuurlijk een heel leuk kraamcadeautje. Mocht je besluiten om er eentje te maken: Laat het me dan weten en stuur een foto, dan plaats ik hem hier! Ik vind het leuk om te zien wat jullie maken.

Een hele fijne week!