Colette Palette Challenge Projects

You may remember that a month or so ago I mentioned joining the Colette Palette Challenge, I haven't been following along with it- but I did complete three projects for it in total:

Life has pretty much gotten away with me and it turns out that trying to interpret foreign patterns without any step by step photos is nearly impossible. I was almost defeated but I did finish these three dresses- not too bad!

Here are the patterns that I used for these dresses:

Mine: 



I did follow all of the instructions and cut the size that was indicated by the size chart but it turned out to be one size too large just about and 2-3" shorter that I would usually like - so I serged the bottom rather than a nice hem.

I am planning on making this pattern in the smaller size next time. Because of the zipper I couldn't alter the top at all to make it smaller - which was okay but I did do some trimming down on the skirt part of the skirt before attaching it to the bodice- so the fit is still not awesome. There are cute little hidden pockets though and I do think it is a cute dress. I might even pass it on to a friend once I get around to making another one (and when the girls are grown out of their matching dresses I suppose).


Girls dresses:

 So here's the thing with these dresses- they are about one size too big also! They are long and very full- someone called them smocks and that is all I see now. They sure look cute on the little girl pictured above. I do like this pattern and plan to make it again as some uniform dresses for Katie, I just have to figure out how to make them more flattering on her.


You can also read my original post and plans here:
http://b-handmade.blogspot.com/2012/04/colette-color-challenge.html


 Thanks for stopping by to take a look!

And the WINNER is!

And the winner of the mini-gifty is Julie Koets!

Winner was chosen by Random.org - I took out any duplicate entries :)


I will contact you today and get your prize over to you!

Thank you everyone for entering!

Scrapbook Steals MAY Blog Hop!

Welcome Scrapbook Steals fans!

I am so excited to be the first stop on the May Blog Hop! I have some fun ideas to share for simple home decor and I know the next stops on the blog hop are exciting too!

The first project that I made was a simple flower vase by painting a medium sized can (after washing it out of course), then embellishing a tag and attaching it to the vase with a clothespin.

The second project that I made was this set of luggage tags for a friend. If you were making these for yourself, you could use modge podge or laminate the tags after you completed them.

The third project that I made was a couple of double sided drink tags - who said glass "charms" had to be tacky? ;)

The last project is for my daughter as she starts kindergarten this year, two sweet little lunchbox notes!

I am doing a little giveaway of my own here! To one lucky winner I will mail a mini gift of twine samples and an assortment of tags like the ones shown here! All you have to do is become a follower of my blog (click "follow" at the very top left) AND leave me a comment! One entry per person please :) Contest will close in one week and winner will be notified!

Thank you Scrapbook Steals for providing this fun day AND these versatile scrapbooking supplies! You can get your own My Mind's Eye, Journal Card Kit today on Scrapbook Steals if you haven't already!


From here you  can head on over to Katrina Hunt at Paper Scissors Glue

Thank you for stopping by!

1. ScrapbookSteals (This will launch at 9AM as will each of yours).
2. Becci Manies http://b-handmade.blogspot.com/ <<<>>>
3. Katrina Hunt http://paperscissorsandglue.blogspot.com/
4. Brett Quinton http://brettaney.blogspot.com/
5. Chloe Salerno http://thescrap.blogspot.com/
6. Erin Colby http://gulumpky.blogspot.com/
7. Deborah Johnson http://scrappinthelittlethings.blogspot.com/
8. Michelle King http://scrapbookingwannabe.blogspot.ca/

Birthday Boy Cards

I loved the way that the first one turned out that I wanted to make a similar one for another friend's little boy. :) Here are the two cards side by side:

Cardstock: American Crafts, Scenic Route, October Afternoon, Twine: The Twinery, Stamp: October Afternoon, Tape: Smash tape, clear overlay: upcycled from some Easter Candy, button from stash.

And Katie's birthday invitations this year:

Mask: Studio Calico; Mask: Pink Paislee, Cardstock: American Crafts; Stickers: Echo Park; Twine: The Twinery; Washi: Target.



xoxoxo
Becci

Card Sharing

Happy Monday!

Just a quick blog post to share some recent cards! 

 

Birthday card using: Sassafrass, Coredinations Cardstock and Divine Twine. 

Birthday card using: Coredinations Cardstock, Pink Paislee, Sassafrass, Martha Stewart punch and Sew Stamper. 

  

 Retirement Card using: Crate Paper, Wilton Doily, Seam Binding Ribbon,  Sew Stamper.

  

Retirement Card using: Crate Paper, Wilton Doily, Seam Binding Ribbon,  Sew Stamper. 

  

Birthday card using: Pink Paislee paper and stamps, Paint Sample Chip and The Twinery twine.

 

Birthday card using October Afternoon, The Twinery twine, assorted ribbon, buttons and scraps from stash and Wilton doily.  

Thank you for stopping by!

Make your own washi tape!

 Here is a tutorial that I made for ScrapbookSteals.com, on making your own washi tape - this was posted last fall but I thought it would be fun to share again!

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I love the look of trendy decorative tapes and I can hardly resist a cute tape – though sometimes at $6+ a set, sometimes I have to pass it up! I came up with an easy and inexpensive way to make cute “fancy” tape at home!


Step 1: These are the materials that you will need for this tutorial:

• Masking Tape

• Stamps (acrylic or rubber)

• Ink for stamping

• Sheet of parchment paper

• Scissors (for trimming)

Step 2: First, tear off a sheet of parchment paper, this will be your workspace and storage method for your fancy tape. I have used other types of papers and surfaces, but this is the easiest to trim to a good size for storage and to peel the finished tape off of.
Step 3: Tear off strips of masking tape, my strips shown here are roughly 4″ long. Line them up so that they are close to each other but not touching.

Step 4: Get your stamps and inks ready and start stamping: I recommend starting with the lightest color that you will be using to avoid colors smearing and messing up your ink pads. Stamp all over the tape, either randomly or in a pattern.

Step 5: Between colors of stamping I like to have a damp paper towel handy to quickly  blot my stamps and continue working.

Step 6: You can layer lots of colors, as shown here, or just one color. I like to stamp right off the edge so that all areas are colored.

Step 7: Here is your finished product. It takes mine 24 hours to dry, though you can experiment with a hair dryer if you would like. Once it is dry, you can trim these sheets into smaller sizes so that they are all uniform and can stack and be stored neatly together.

Here are some more ideas for making your own fancy tape:

• Sentiments! I love to add this tape to handmade cards, to gift wrapping, to the back of envelopes when mailing!

• Coloring your own fancy tape. I use brush markers for this and after it’s dry you can also stamp on top of it! I like to coat the tape evenly, all on one direction. Then I go around the edges to make them a little more dark. For this technique, I like to tear off the tape into the size bit that I will be using for my project.

Here are my own washi tapes in use!

• Giving as a gift with a Smash book to a friend.

• In my own Smash book.

• On a card.

Thank you for learning about my technique for homemade fancy tape. I hope you have a splendid day! 

Giant Flowers Spring Banner

This banner has been up in my house for a couple of months and I am getting ready to make my summer banner, I thought that I would share it! These GIANT flowers were made with the Cricut Giant Flowers cartridge that I so graciously won from Michele Kovack, I was SO surprised to win! The other flower that I have made was the giant flower topper for my friend's baby shower (scroll down to see that one).

 

 

Each flower was time consuming but so worth it for the end product- the whole banner was made with Authentique's Delightful line of paper, it was my first Authentique project and I love the quality of papers, it was really perfect for this project!

Here is the finished banner, click the photo to see it better:

I really love how it turned out, thank you for coming over to check it out!

Tutorial: Spray Ink

 Thanks for stopping over from Pinterest!

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As we were dying Easter eggs this year I thought:

"I wonder what else I could color with this left over dye...."

So I decided to dye some lengths of seam binding tape (Schiff Snug Hug in Eggshell), and came up with these:

Here are a few examples of this seam binding tape in use on projects:

Last week I picked up the last two boxes of Paas egg dye that were left at the store (super basic, only five little tablets and an egg dipper) for just $0.10 each! I decided this morning that this dye might in fact make a good spray ink for paper projects. I used about 4 tbsp hot water and 2 tablets of Paas dye in each, swirled and let dissolve. Here is what I was left with:

 

Here is a spray sample of each color:

And a quick sample with a spray mask: 

Hopefully this was fun and inspirational for you! :) Have a great day!