Welcome 2012: Enter at Your Own Risk

Happy New Year!  Hope you had a wonderful and creative holiday season. 

Have you packed up all the holiday decorations yet?  We did.  It's always so nice to bring them out from the garage every year.  Then it's a chore great putting them away. 

Our home always looks so clean afterwards with just one exception:  my craft cave.  [I call it a cave because it is slightly larger than our master bathroom.]  It is currently a dangerous "Enter at Your Own Risk" space with craft supplies everywhere except where they should be: spread out on the floor, piled high upon the chair, and strewn across my desk.  Everything needs to be organized.  Ugh!  All I want to do is create new altered art projects.  However, I cannot even walk into the room without tripping on a cutting board and hundreds of ribbon spools.

So in the spirit of recycling, and in avoidance of the inevitable purging and organizing that awaits, I offer you my first post from last year as the first post of this year!   However, I've left out the rhetoric.  I'm not going to even pretend that I achieved all my goals.  That's what January is all about. It's the start of a new year. Everyone gets a clean slate to tackle the old and bring in the new resolutions, goals, aspirations and ideas.

So good luck to me, and good luck to you!  Ready, Set, Go! 

Calendar & Photo Canvas

Material List:

• 9" x 12" and 6 x 8" canvas panels
• coordinating scrapbook paper cut 8-1/2" x 11-1/2" and 5-1/2" x 7-1/2"
• acrylic paint & foam brushes
• Acrylic adhesive sealer
• Binder clips
• Buttons
• Spiral paper clip
• Hemp cord
• calendar, cut to fit smaller canvas (I found these for 50 cents at Michael's)
• metal label holder & brads
• 4" x 6" acrylic flat photo frame
• photo (which is interchangeable)
• double-sided foam tape
• assorted ribbon, ric-rac
• silk flower (cut from stem and backing)
• number stickers
• hot glue gun

If you like the bright color combination used for this calendar canvas, click here to see the matching mail & note holder I made last year.  Also, I have a written tutorial available.  If you would like a copy, just leave me a comment with your email address :) 

And here's another calendar canvas created with a different color scheme:

Editor's Note:  I plan to clean up the craft cave this weekend, and create something new, and post it next month sometime week.  Also, for those of you keeping count, I admit to only posting four Chanukah projects in my Eight Projects of Chanukah series.  [sigh]

Doreen

Attending these wonderful parties:  Oopsey Daisy, The Answer is Chocolate, 504 Main,

Serenity Now Weekend Blog, Tatertots & Jello, House of Hepworths, I {heart} Naptime,

Positively Splendid, Flamingo Toes, Making the World Cuter Craft-o-Maniac, Project Queen, Today's Creative Blog, Rook No.17, Someday Crafts Whatever Goes Wednesday, Oopsey Daisy, Ginger Snaps Crafts, Passionately Artistic, The Girl Creative Lil Luna, Dumpster Diva, Happy Hour Projects, A Glimpse Inside, Saved by Suzy, Katherine's Corner, Homemaker in Heels, It's Overflowing with Creativity

Cappuccino Cash Stash

Ahhh! The first sip of my afternoon latte tastes so good. It's just what I need to get me through the afternoon, a kick-start to the second half of my day.

Do you have a daily liquid indulgence? Maybe a mocha or Americano? Or a delicious, exotic green tea? Whether it's a non-fat, iced grande, extra foamy cappuccino, straight-up cup o' Joe, or your favorite tea, do you feel guilty splurging on this daily treat, when you think you shouldn't spend the money? Well, what if it's "play money"?

Which brings me to the question, "What do you do with your leftover change?" You know what I mean: those annoying pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters that bulk up your wallet or are tossed into the bottom of your purse, never to be seen again. Except for an occasional parking meter, what good is the heavy metal anyway? The creative solution: Your very own Coffee Cash Stash -- a place for your extra change, while turning it into your "play money.”

Gathering a smorgasbord of my favorite coffee-themed embellishments and paper, I re-purposed an empty can into a beautiful Coffee Cash Stash! First, I mod-podged the can with designer papers and ribbon. Then, I created a label using my Slice and an old coffee sleeve. I stamped the coffee sleeve with the sentiment, "Coffee Run!", edged it, and mod-podged the label into place on the front of the can. I then adhered brads, layered flowers and added stamped images of coffee beans. After making a slit on the lid of the can, I mod-podged the lid with matching paper. I then glued red hemp around the lid, slid the coffee-sleeve tag (which I made using a punch) on it and tied it into a ribbon. I finished the tag with buttons and a flower and finally tied two coffee bean buttons at the bottom of the ribbon ties.

The only thing missing now is the heavy metal. Now, where did I put my purse? Meet you at the coffee shop!