From Simple to Cool...

Hi there!

Do you like taking notes? Do you have a journal? Do you have lists? Don't you just sometimes need something to write down a thought? I do.

And I do have some journals, large notebooks and so... but wanted to have just a little notebook available at all times and that I could have in my purse without adding too much weight (enough with what I already carry...).

So I took these little notebooks...

I bought them for less than a buck in Kmart... (I later saw them at Walmart even cheaper....), and decided to make them cool...

I covered one of them with an embossed paper simulating handwriting and used one of the blue flowers from my SWAP last June, remember? You can review that post and refresh your memory HERE. (I still have a lot of them ... if you want to swap, email me!!! LOL).

I also covered the back-cover to create unity... I did not cover inside, but sure you could do if you want to...

I embellished other notebook with pet's theme... We already write down several things about my dog, and observations around his health, so instead of the loose papers my husband has, I thought it was cool he has a little notebook as well.

This one has patterned paper, a big dog brad and ribbon...

Finally, since I'm traveling very soon... I "dressed" the other notebook to get ready to go with me. I always write down notes when I travel... sometimes are just historical data, curious things, wines tasted, or names I don't want to forget.... Now, I have the notebook that will go with me to my next adventure. (Psst psst.... Actually, I am traveling right now... I scheduled this post to publish automatically for when I was out of town... )

I loved the Tim Holtz' grungeboard airplane... I just added mist and a jewel for a cool accent.

As I mentioned, I did not embellish inside the covers of the mini notebooks, but I am sure you can do, and probably add pockets or maybe tags... Also, I used these spiral notebooks and decided to embellish up to the metal, so you see part of the original base, but if you have a way to take out the cover to embellished and then assemble again, it would be perfect... or use mini notebooks without spiral so you cover completely.

I think I might dress up some more mini notebooks in the future and make them from simple to cool... One for wine notes, another one for a gift, recipes, shopping lists, ideas for scrapbooking... whatever you might think of... make them cool.

Did this idea inspire you? Are you going to make something from simple to cool? You can do the same with attitude, behavior and words... you know that? Be cool... :)

More Cards...

Hello... It's Friday... woo hooo!!!! My favorite day...it is...

Today I want to share some other cards I've made lately...

This one was for a friend who resigned recently and went to work somewhere else... I wanted a colorful card (like his personality) but without complications or too much embellishment...

So I stamped this little heart and painted with color pencils to make it look like it was draw.

It hast the letters of his name and I finished it with some Glossy Accents (love this tool)... The sentiment is from Unity Stamp Co.

And this card was an additional card I made for a friend's wedding... Used "Pearl" collection from AC Specialty Paper and also other patterned paper from other brand. The wedding flowers sticker is from EK Success (Jolee's Boutique).

And this other card was also for a baby...

The lion is a stamp from Autumn Leaves. I painted the face with Copics, but the rest with color pencils... Sorry... I only have Copics color for the face...hahahaha... but it's a way to practice... I love the difference created anyway because even though in the photo is not really appreciated, the image looks nice because the face calls the attention. I also used Glossy Accents in the nose so it stands out from the lion's cute face.

And here's the whole card:

I hope you liked my cards... Keep visiting me... Keep in touch... :)

Baby Shower

Remember the carrousel I made for a baby shower? Well, here are some other things made...

I embellished little plastic treasure boxes that come ready to assemble... Just used some cardstock to cut rectangle and circle shapes... also printed baby's name and cut some animals to go with the theme...

The rectangle cardstock with the name was placed inside the box, and the circles were mixed and matched with different colors and the animals cut outs, placed with dimension (3D dots) in the outside.
Another co-worker made some cupcakes, so we combined the two party favors and placed them in this tower to look fa-bu-lous!!!

Here's another view...

I also made a card for the baby... I wanted it to be bright and colorful, and that can be used to display his name...

So, I cut circles and animals (again...), and combined with tickles (from American Crafts) to spell his name... My message was placed in 3D so when the card is opened it serves as the "stop" edge to display the card.

I made sure to embellish back of card so it didn't look unfinished...

Here's a front view...

And in an angle...

For the baby shower I also did this banner to display baby's name and we placed the animals in the wall ...

My card with the present:

We placed all presents in a table behind the chairs designated for the parents to be...

Here's how the room looked... This was an activity for a loved co-worker so we used a conference room.... Not bad for an office, right?

Hope you liked this I've just shared... Thank you for you comments...

Take care !

Carrousel

A carrousel! Yes, a carrousel.... Like life itself is a carrousel, don't you think?

I mean... if you are "in" the carrousel, you are "traveling" around seeing things... You see people waiving their hands and shouting your name... smiling, waiting for you to pass again... You go in circles and even though you go through same places, you notice different things and enjoy them differently... And if you are watching the carrousel from outside... you see the colors, you wish you'd be there, you notice different details in every ride and every time the animals, shapes or people go again and again... I think it seems like "life"...

But anyway... I made a carrousel... yes, a carrousel as a cake topper for a baby shower. And it was quite a project that I really enjoyed doing, but I made it up... well, as the scrapbookers love to do... make things up... create ... come up with something out of nothing .... don't you love it too? hehehehe

I started cutting circles...

Bent the circles several times...
Bend, open it up, turn 90 degrees and bend again... then 45 degrees, then 90 again... so you bend 4 times and end up with this:

A circle with 8 slices marked/scored... I did the same with several colors so I can cut some of them from each color to use for my canopy or carrousel top... you'll see.

I scored the very end of the triangle (the end with the curve, from corner to corner), so I can use it as the little flap where I glued a half circle.

It should look like this:

And I made some of them in different colors...

Then I chose another circle and bent the same way as before, but this time I just cut one of the lines scored, until the center of the circle.
Then I glued the two "triangle" I just separated with the cut... and came up with this:

I glued the already assembled pieces in each of the triangles...
Make sure you glued in a way the folded line is positioned down enough so it can be bent and the semi circle or half circle can hang from the roof...

Here's a view from the back/interior....
I also added strips to create a hole in which I was going to be holding the sticks later. I preferred it in addition to the glue dot I was going to use, but I am sure you can just glue them if you prefer...

Then, for the base, I used foam. Cut 2 different sized circles and a smaller one thicker on top. I cut the largest circle 5.5" because the cake will be 6".

I covered them up with cardstock and embellished with borders and shapes as desired...

In the top cardstock I made the holes needed for the canopy before I glued it to the foam.
I created separation between each foam with more foam in the center...

Then to position the canopy or roof, I placed colored dowel rods ("tarugos" in Spanish). I bought them in the crafts section in a local convenience store. I first positioned them in the "hole" I created with the strips (also aded a tiny glue dot to the end for more support).

Then I positioned them in the premade holes in the top foam... to see how they will look...

After being convinced they were going to be ok, I then cut a cylinder from paper towel to the right size, and covered with patterned paper/cardstock and placed in the center before putting back the canopy and gluing the "holes" a little bit. I pushed the rods as necessary to make the canopy look aligned (without being higher from one side vs other).
Then I glued some precut animals in the rods for the great final look...
I also used a toothpick and a piece of cardstock to write the name of the baby in a flag and placed in top of the canopy, also adding a little circle as base.

Here are some pictures with the details...

Top view...
Close ups...

And the... this is how it finally looked placed in the cake... Unfortunately, the baker (a coworker with such a great talent), had to get rid of the base, because the cake didn't come out with exactly 6"... so she only placed the one floor carrousel...

It looked nice though... don't you think? And the cake was beautiful. She embellished with circles and stripes and also used a little bit of the same cardstock I used in the cake topper, to make all look in unity.

I hope you liked my cake topper and get some inspiration with it...

Thanks for your comments... I'm so excited to read them all... :)