Catching Fall

Where has this month gone? I last posted in the first week of November, with the intention of blogging a lot more this month...but somehow that didn't happen. There was a lot going on for me; mainly, I started working again & it's a retail job so around the holidays the store is very busy & I've been working overtime. One of the other reasons I haven't been blogging as much, you'll find out soon! But for now, the last day of November, I wanted to share a recent project. I had to use old pictures because I haven't gotten my Thanksgiving pictures printed yet & wanted to give you an idea of what it would look like finished but didn't want to wait til December to post it!

The printers tray is by 7 Gypsies, papers, banner & word stickers by Lily Bee Design & the other stickers are K&Company. Here's some in progress shots & close ups:

First I cut my papers (& cardboard) to size & adhered to the tray.

Then added what is probably my favorite part of the whole thing: a leaf doily (from Dollar Tree). I positioned  it over the tray where I wanted it to go & drew a light line with a pencil so I knew where to cut & adhered the pieces one section at a time.

 The 'i am thankful' envelope was made from a piece of kraft cardstock; I simply traced a coin envelope & added a notch to the top. In this picture you can also see a better view of one of the banners. I stuck the Lily Bee stickers to cardstock to make them more sturdy & cut them out. Then I punched holes in the two top corners of each & joined them together with these K&Company brads in the shape of acorns & leaves. Aren't they adorable?

 This is what's inside the envelope. I thought these stickers were perfect to write what we're thankful for. Jose has yet to fill his out, but he told me he's thankful for his family & pets too. :)

 The paper with the 'piles of smiles' sticker on it, in the top left of the tray, is actually an accordion fold booklet that will hold some more mini pictures from this month. The pictures, envelope & booklet are adhered using pop dots so they pop out a little.

 I'm still pretty shocked November is over already, though the light snow we had on Thanksgiving definitely got me excited for winter & Christmas. Next project: December Daily. :)

Halloween Shrine

Just a quick post today to show you a quick & easy Halloween project. I bought the wooden box at AC Moore & painted it black. To decorate the outside I used some Martha Stewart tape, stars punched from Making Memories paper..

Target $1 paper & I think the RIP sticker is from K & Company.

The only photo I have of the front is blurry for some reason- sorry! (I sent this to a swap partner.)

For the inside I used a tombstone from Michael's (same as the ones I used for the haunted house; this one was left over & needed a home!), some moss, a skeleton hand from some skeleton garland from Dollar Tree & the moon and bat are attached with foam squares.

Quick & easy right?

Vintage Valentine Surprise

I haven't posted anything since my first post because I've been working on several swaps, challenges & learning how to use Photoshop Elements 8. I downloaded the trial version & I'm loving it so I'll be ordering it soon! After I learn the basics, I want to make my own background for my blog & begin to learn to design some digital scrapbooking stuff- so be on the lookout for some freebies while I learn! :)

Anyway, today I want to share my entry to the Craftster.org Valentine's Altered Matchbox Challenge. The requirements were that the matchbox had to be 2x3, mostly papercraft & the inside had to include a surprise. I decided to go with a vintage theme since I've been obsessed with that lately. I didn't have a matchbox that size so I used a template which I modified to make the correct size. I tried to make everything I could out of paper. Here's how it turned out:

 

  

Here's what you see when you slide open the matchbox...

What could possibly be behind that curtain? There's a little clue, but if you haven't figured it out yet...

The surprise is that the outside is nice & the inside is naughty! ;) Definitely not something you would expect from such a mellow looking (outside) package..

Her tassels are made from thread & I got the tiny play money at my favorite website to buy tiny things. :)

Here's a closeup of the inside:

This was my first altered matchbox, so I'm quite happy with how it turned out.