Beverly's Stamping Beehive

Hello everyone, I wanted to post a project I did for a swap on Swap-Bot awhile ago as its a little unusual and therefore might interest someone. As you know, often us crafters will decorate anything that isn't nailed down so when I signed up for this swap, I thought "paint brush?....well, why not!"  Then as I got into it, it was fun for its challenge as it is an odd shape. There are plenty of others who feel the urge to decorate paint brushes as I found out searching for inspiration, so you just never know, right? I bought a narrow brush mainly because I liked the colour of the bristles, they were a sort of burgandy shade. But a wider brush would give one more space to decorate. So I thought I would add a large bow on the handle to add some pizzaz and balance the over-all look. With that, I went to town and created my own metal tags, embossed snowflakes onto the freshly painted handle, made my own glitter felt to wrap around the metal part, and then topped things off...

Hello Crafty mates!   My project today is something for my ' Coffee Mates ' . Take a look at the card below....its part of a gift package for my pal Maria who  also happens to be a coffee mate of mine!  You might not guess from the photo, but this card is really a re-incarnated TIM HORTONS COFFEE CUP! And appropriately, a stir stick is starring as the greeting! Now I did not come up with this idea myself but saw it online when I  googled something, and I thought "how fun!" So naturally, I wanted to do one!  Here is how I did it..... UPCYCLED COFFEE CUP TUTORIAL Basically, grab a clean take-out coffee cup from your fav coffee cafe.   I am working with a Medium Tim Horton's cup.  I found it had enough height to add my focal decoration.  I have seen the cards using the ' Large ' coffee cups though - so choose one that you like. Prepare the Coffee Cup. a)"Open the cup" by cutting ...

Hi folks, Having fun this week playing with my fav summer theme of sea creatures!  And to justify it even more, I am playing along with YOUR NEXT STAMP's CHALLENGE #3 "Anything Goes"!   You can see their challenge details HERE ! Deadline is Weds. midnight. I already was toying with ideas involving 3D projects lately and wanted to do something within a frame, and so I put two'n'two together and here is my entry....my " Mermaids Playing in the Sun Shadow Box ". The frame was one I had for awhile, maybe two years?  And my stamps from Your Next Stamp are the adorable mermaid set, Happy Birthday Mermaid which I acquired about two years ago also! Coincidence - I think not! LOL! Later I plan to embellish this even more once I find my darn box of tiny shells!  Maybe some charms? Heck who knows! :) I am going to write up a more detailed post about creating this by the week-end, so return here if you care for that.  Tomorrow I am going to be trainin...

Ahhh, my storage issues continue.   I wish I could go into my craft room and it would magically  extend it's walls each and every time I need more storage, but alas, that is not going to happen. So I dream up my own solutions. I think I have a natural compulsion to cover up things - so the two things go hand in hand, my recycling jars, tins, boxes, etc. and more craft supplies finding their way into my craft room!  I also am not a fan of 'too' matchy-match components, which is why I decorate my craft room trying to balance purchasing items from collections, and found objects like the tin above.  Anyways, I made a rough effort by sanding the edges of the paper I glued to the tins, there are 2 of them, and adding plain twine as an accent - my 'bow'.  I also just cut out the scallop trim from a packaging -it was pretty packaging - so why not!  I recommend using STICKY TAPE for most of this project.  TIP - use an old nail file to sand the tin (just a...

Good Monday Morning - hope everyone is well and ready for a new week!!! To start my blogging off, I am showing the results of a FAT PAGE SWAP I organized with a couple of fantastic people!   Today I am showing 2 of the 4 projects involved. If anyone is wondering what a FAT PAGE is - commonly it is a 4x4 inch page decorated by creative means with a small area to the left for punching holes to allow several Fat Pages to be turned into a Mini Album. So here are the two pages exchanged between myself and crafter Vernette through Love is in the Details forum around Feb. although Vernette did a variation on the theme and created this wonderful squash booklet, but keeping to the 4 inch guideline.... Vernette's Fat Page  Front - very nice! Tied Closed - see those squash pages..... Open....open.... Voila!  Look at all those pages!  Great Idea! Beverly's Fat Page for Vernette Front                    ...

Hey! Ever think you may not have exactly what you want in your stash?  Well - maybe you do but you don't realize it! I will show you how to 'alter' a pre-finished Alphabet Letter - watch as it goes from plain fuzzy yellow to crazy, treasure glitter! OK - this morning while having coffee, I looked around to see what I want to work on in my craft studio.....when I spot this book, a project that is a work-in-progress. You may have seen my earlier post when I altered a children's book into this.....here is the cover: It's covered with new paper, but its bare - it needs embellishing! I figured a good place to start was to add an alphabet chipboard letter as my beginning point - and later I can progress from there.  But a quick look tells me that I do not have any letters slightly resembling my book! Time to do some altering!!! I go to my supply cupboard and bring out my chipboard alphabet box, some glitter and gems. See the yellow and blue chipboard alphabet let...

Hello-hello! LOOK - another project around the home....this time, I re-dressed a milk carton!  I love it now!  In its "former" life, it was packaging for a set of scented home products from William Sonoma. And I loved it for awhile, but when I was finished with it (it had Christmas all over it!!) ...I thought it was too good to toss.  So I tucked it away for a rainy day. Then in the first days of the weather turning warmer, I found it and decided it would be a nice addition to my kitchen or hallway. But in a new suit, so to speak. TRACE THE ORIGINAL - CUT OUT A PATTERN If you find something similar, in order to re-dress the surface, it's best to 'pick apart' the original. a) Make a template. And if you would like a template to make another, then this is the time to trace the whole thing - which I did - onto a large piece of poster card ($1 store!). Then I cut the template pattern out with scissors, and a hobby knife for interior slots. b) Cut your...

Hello fellow crafters!   Today I wanted to share a project I am currently working on. And its a recyclable one! Double points, lol :)  One day I found a thick, stubby children's book at a second-hand sale - and it occurred to me to alter it. It had a different shape to it along with a few pages that slide open to reveal hidden sections - perfect!  It's been in the 'making' for quite awhile. Basically I am doing work on it in stages. There was the 'preparation' stage which included giving the 'glossy' pages a slight sanding (regular household sandpaper) in order for me to adhere paper to it. This also meant sliding the hidden sections open & prepping those as well. While the majority of the book has been covered in paper, one half of a page was covered with white paper and that in turn was painted. Regular metallic craft paint - looks great. So this is what I am sharing with you today, Stage 2 - the book has been completely re-covered.  My pla...