"YOU ARE SO COOL" MINI FAN CARD!

Hello, everyone!  After weeks of absence, I'm probably surprising you being here today with my monthly DT project for Sheila's blog.  Well, if you know me at all, you'd know I'd meet an obligation I commit to  -- I wouldn't let you or anyone else depending on me down unless it was totally and absolutely unavoidable.
I'd like to thank all of you who have checked up on me; I appreciate you all so very much -- and thanks for sticking this out with me.  Things nor my position has not changed but I'm well and doing the best I can.  And, although it has been awhile since I've posted and/or commented to you, please trust this is a difficult time for me and very little time is being afforded me.  I don't want to take up a lot of time now explaining because this tutorial is a bit picture heavy but I did want you all to know I love you, miss you and as I've always done, as soon as I can, I'll be around to catch up commenting on your wonderful projects.  I do apologize in advance for any inadvertent mistakes on this tutorial because I'm pretty much rushing through this so if I should miss anything and you have any questions afterward, please do not hesitate to contact/email me at audreyfrel@sbcglobal.net (haven't had much time to check blog comments lately).  I promise I'll get back to you as soon as I possibly can; although it may not be immediately, I'm on a time-permitting schedule right now... LOL!
Oh my!!!  I guess I should have been creating an Easter project but I only realized yesterday that this Sunday is Easter Sunday...  I really have lost time!!!  LOL!   Although not Easter related, my project today is a fun-- it's a cute little fan card.  I've seen similar to these on the internet and thought how adorable they were, so I was inspired to try to do a version of these fan cards... it was also a project I could work on while away from home.  I hope you like mine.  I wanted to do a little envie for it but didn't have time, so I'll have to do that later but here are pictures of my fan card opened, closed, and a close-up of the message which is on the ribbon and reads "You Are So Cool!":

To begin constructing my card, I hand-drew a base and base topper to form the fan, then cut them out:

I glued the topper to the base, then traced it twice on a sheet of 8.50" x 11"cardstock; by folding the paper in half, this will enable me to cut all four fan parts for one complete fan:

I also drew a face topper for the fan by cutting another base topper slightly smaller (about 1/8" smaller) than the original and traced it onto a sheet of cardstock four (4) times.  With the paper folded in half once cut this will give me enough fan faces for 2 fans (8 faces).  

Once I cut out all the traced fan parts, I used Luster Rub-Ons to age/antique the fans:

Next I placed the fans together making certain they were even and punched a hole about 1/4 inch from the bottom of the base edge; (although I didn't picture this, I also ran each fan through the Cuttlebug in an embossing folder to give them texture):

 

Now for the fan faces!  I added dots of Liquid Pearls around the edges of each fan face.  Once the paint was dry, I cut out rub-ons and applied them to the center of each face, then glued the a fan face on each fan topper:

Now it was time to put all the parts of my little fan together!  It's not pictured because at the last minute I decided to outline the outer edge of each fan with Stickles to give them depth.  Once the Stickles was dry, I stacked the 4 fans evenly together and added a brad in the hole to keep them together.  Next I spread the fans out as wide as I wanted them to go then carefully turned my fan over to the opposite side.  To keep the fan from spreading open any further than I wanted it to open, I marked each fan with an "X" where I would glue a lenth of ribbon to secure each fan part in place:

 

Next I glued the length of ribbon to each "X" marked, making certain to apply the ribbon to the glued marked areas only!!!  (NOTE:  I did not glue ribon across the entire back of the fan as this would have prevented my fan from closing!!!)  It should look like this:

Now when I close my fan the ribbon will fold behind each fan part and will not be visable from the top of the fan.  Here are pictures of what the side and top angles should look like:

To complete my fan I typed and printed  my message onto the ribbon, attached it to the fan, along with some beads and a paper flower, by gluing them slightly above the brad.  To make certain my fan opened and closed, I avoided getting any glue in and/or around the brad.

This is a long tutorial but making this fan card is fast and easy -- really!!!  I hope you decide to make one.  You can make it in any size or shape you desire, add any message you'd like to the ribbon or even the fan face, and embellish!  If I'd had more time I really would have put more into mine!

If you're interested in my hand-drawn template, email me at the address I've given above and I'll be glad to forward them to you.  When I have a bit more time, I will try to remember to post these templates to my blog along with a proportionately sized envie.

Well, I've got to run again... sorry!  But I'll be back as soon as I can; I really miss you all and hope to be back sooner than later!

I'll be seeing you, hugs, and thanks so much for stopping by!

P.S.  When I come back, I have some pictures I took at my aunt's 90th birthday celebration to share as so many of you were so kind as to ask me to congratulate her.  I'd hoped to already have shared them with you but I just couldn't get away to sneak them in sooner.

"BETTY BOOP" DECOUPAGED GIFT SOAP

Hello, everyone!  I'm here with a quick and easy project that is being presented as my DT project over at Pam's today.  To visit Pam's blog, just click her name which is a direct link.
Well, did you know you can decoupage a bar of soap without any special papers, adhesives, or other materials?  If you didn't know that, just take a look at my soap gift:

Here are pictures of the box closed and also a close up of the top of the box:

Isn't it just sweet and cute?!!!

Here's what you'll need to get started on yours:

1 - bar soap (standard size)
1 - 4.50 x 10.50" sheet of cardstock (for soap box)
Image of your choice for bar of soap and for the box (I found mine on the internet)
Embellishments for your box
Plain white tissue paper (the kind used for gifts): large enough to print image onto for the bar soap
Decoupage Glue (if you do not have this, use small amount of white glue thinned with water)
Small "soft" paint brush
Shrink Wrap or Saran Wrap
Heat gun

Okay, let's go!   First, determine how large you want the image to be on your bar of soap and size it accordingly (I played with the size, printing it on scrap paper until I was satisfied).  Once the image is to your liking, tape the piece of tissue onto a sheet of cardstock; print out the image and allow ink to dry completely; once dry, cut it out as close to the image as possible:

Using the paint brush, apply a very thin layer of glue to the back of the image being careful so as not to tear the tissue; carefully apply the image to the bar of soap using your index finger to smooth out any air bubbles; allow to dry about 20 minutes.  Once the tissue is dry on the soap bar, apply another  very thin coat of glue to the top of the image and use the flat palm of your hand to press out any air bubbles -- you do not want to rub because the wet glue will cause the ink to smear!!!

Allow coated side to dry completely and your bar of soap will look like this:

Time for do the box!  With the 4.50" side of paper across the top of the scoreboard, score at 1" and 3.50:

Turn paper so the 10.50" side is across the top of the scoreboard and score at 1", 4.75", 5.75", and 9.50":

On each side of the box, cut the  4.75" and 5.75" scorelines up to the 1" and 3.50 scorelines only -- this will create your center tabs which separate the top from the bottom of the box.  Next, cut out and remove a triangular section from each corner of the four (4) corner tabs: your box should look like this:

Bone fold all scorelines, fold and glue all tabs to the inside to form your box to look like this:

Print another image onto a sheet of cardstock and size it to fit the top of your box, and your box is ready to embellish any way you'd like.  I used stickles for the bath bubbles and 3D crystal lacquer to highlight Betty Boop and the hardware on the tub, and I completed the box with lace, beads, ribbon, and more stickles!

Before you put your soap in the box, wrap the bar with shrink or saran paper and give it a quick hit with your heat gun on all sides, top and bottom, to shrink and tighten the wrap to the soap; this will give it a nice, clean professional look!  Now you might even want to make add a small card or tag to go along with for a complete gift set!

You can alter your soap gift for a man, woman, or child and/or for any occasion -- it just depends on the image and embellishments you use.  I hope you like this and I hope you'll enjoy doing it!  I sure would love to see what you do with this, should you decide to give it a go!!!

If you have any questions, please just leave me a comment.  I'm always more than happy to help!

Thank you so much for stopping by, I appreciate you taking the time!

I'll be back as soon as I can, so...

I'll be seeing you!

LIFE INTERRUPTED... AGAIN!

Hello, everyone!  I'm doing fine!

Unfortunately, my time here on my blog and in the neighborhood is being greatly interrupted while I assist in caring for my aunt; it's really time-consuming trying to run 2 households but I'm holding up okay!  Finding good home-care isn't easy either. From the first I didn't care at all for the 2 caregivers already sent out, and there's no way I'd leave my aunt with them.  It's not like me to be so judgmental but after meeting them not only didn't I care for them, I wouldn't trust them any further than I could see them!!!  So now it's back to following up with more caregivers and more agencies.   Not that anyone will probably last long with my aunt anyway as she's so demanding and particular they'd more than likely run away -- fast -- after a few days...lol!!!

I have been working on a small project to have ready to post for my DT project over at Pam's on Friday but I doubt I'll have much time the rest of this week to do anything more for you.  My aunt's birthday is tomorrow and I'm still trying to contact a few family folks  I haven't been able to reach yet to come over Saturday to help celebrate her turning 90!!!

Well, I had to drop by and let you know I was thinking of you, and missing you.  As of right now, until things straighten out, this is probably how erratic my life is going to be for a minute; I'll be in and out when I can but although God knows I'm doing my best, it's difficult trying to find a little extra time.

However, I do hope you'll try to join me here or over at Pam's on Friday.  I'll have a simple and fast project but a cute one which would be a great gift idea.  I think you'll like it!

Love you all, hugs and...

I'll be seeing you as soon as I can!

GOT ANOTHER ONE COMING!!! A BABY GIRL!!!

Happy day, all!!!  It's a beautiful day, and I hope all my beautiful family-friends are well!!!

As you can tell from my title, my family is expecting another baby!!!  This time a girl!  So I went ahead and did another carriage in preparation.  I thought you might like to see this one too:

Isn't it just fit for a little princess?!!!

Now, just before the baby's birth date, all I have to do is fill it up!!!  This one is smaller than the previous one I did for my nephew but I have another gift item planned to accompany/complement this one, so one won't receive any more/less than the other (lol... my family notices things like that).

Oh, by the way, with respect to the carriage I did for my neice, she did have an almost 8 lb. baby boy on February 9.  He is still in the hospital right now because he has complications swallowing and breathing at the same time; until he can do that they are feeding him intravenously.  Otherwise, he's doing well -- and he's a fatty, so at least they're getting enough food in him!!!  LOL!!!  And, he gets fussy when you ignore him!!!  He loves when you talk to him.  Of course by him still being in the ward all these weeks, the nurses are all getting attached to him.  Hope to post some pics as soon as he gets home!

Well, it's the weekend again, so I'll probably be back and forth with the auntie.  Although there'll be a small celebration with cake and icecream, I really would like to do something very special for her because her birthday is March 15 and she'll be 90 years old!!!  Isn't that something?!!!  Unfortunately my brain has gone dead in coming up with some very special  idea for a 90 year old, so if  you have any suggestions, please....

I think I've gotten around to visiting most of you over the last several days but I know there are still some of you I have yet to get to; I haven't forgotten and I'm doing my best to get to you.

In the meantime, as always, hugs....

I'll be seeing you!

"RING MY BELL" HOME DECOR GIFT SET

Well, hello, to all my wonderful blogland family!!!  It's a beautiful day here in Chicago -- 68 degrees and sunny!  I hope it's pleasant wherever you are too!

Before I present my project for today, I'd like to welcome a new family member!  Thank you for joining me.  I know I have the greatest family here, so I know you should feel very at home here!

Another thing I'd like to do is to acknowledge and thank three (3) more dear friends for passing on to me the "Green Blend Award":

1.  Kristie
2.  Deborah
3.  Bobby and Jill

Thank you so very much and I love you all right back!  I'll be adding your names to this award, pictured on my sidebar, as appreciation!  Again, thank you so much!

Now I'd like to share with you all my project.  I really enjoyed doing this home decor bell item and gift card, and I am very pleased with how it turned out:

You can click on it for a better view, or maybe the picture below will give you a closer look:

So..., can you guess what I used to make it?!!!  LOL!  Well, think of Christmas...  Don't you ever see all those clear plastic bell containers in the craft stores for candy during the holidays?!!!  Yes, the ones like this:

I had several of these laying around without bottoms that I ran across and grabbed some paper from my Anna Griffin stash, along with some decoupage glue, and got busy!!!  After I the decoupage glue was dry, I added the ribbon bows, beads, flowers, and just a bit of bling!!!  I think this would look lovely on my mantle but I know I'm going to give it as a gift!!!  BUT..., before I have to give it up, you can ring my bell... lol!!!  Just let me know what you think!

Well, I was up for quite some time this morning dropping in on many of you, but I couldn't get to you all, so I'm still working on making the rounds!!!  If I haven't already, I should see you soon!

Hugs, and lots of love!!!

JUST TO INFORM YOU...

Hello, there!!!  Hope I'm finding everyone well!

Believe it or not, I couldn't wait to get here to let you know I'm okay!  No, I haven't really disappeared again, I'm fine.  However, now that I'm up, running, and feeling fit, I've had to return to seeing about my aunt (being well means I can't find any more excuses for other family members to do it, lol!).  I spent most of the weekend with her and, unfortunately, she doesn't have internet access.  Right now, without her having any other home-care assistance (which I'm looking into), I'm doing the best I can to tend to her needs and take care of my home.  I'm not at all complaining because she's happy and I'm happy because I still have this sweet woman in my life.

I did try to take a few supplies with me to try to get in some crafting but that didn't work out too well -- wasn't comfortable crafting there, couldn't really concentrate well, and still ended up not having all I needed anyway; so, needless to say, I didn't accomplish much... LOL!!!  Anyway, her house is clean, clothes washed and ironed, meals prepared/ready for the next several days, and with the help of some watchful neighbors -- despite a slight interruption with my having a doctor's appointment tomorrow afternoon -- I have a few days to play!

Now, not wanting to waste a precious moment, I'm off to enjoy working on as many projects as I can get in, and then drop in on some of you later!  Hope to have a project to post very soon!  I can't wait to get started!!!

Love you all, big hugs, and...

I'll be seeing you!  

VICTORIAN TEA BOX/CARD GIFT SET

Hello, everyone!!!  This is Audrey and, wow, it feels amazing to be back at Sheila's with a DT project!!!  I really missed being over there during my brief absence as a monthly DT member and I missed the friends who visit me there.  As always, thank you Sheila for having me.

I have an easy project today of a victorian tea box and card gift set:

Here are close-ups of the front and top of the box:

Okay, sit back and relax because although really easy, this is a bit picture heavy!  To begin I assembled the materials needed for the embellishments and put them together.  If you make this box, you'll probably use your own imagination to adorn yours so I won't take you step-by-step of what I did but give you the general idea and description of what I did for my embellies.  You can refer to the pictures above in relation to the embellishments described below.  It may help to click to enlarge the pictures.  Here we go:

For the spoon on my box, I painted a plain plastic spoon with several coats of Gesso (let dry between coats), added a sticker, and a bow. (At the last minute, before adding the sticker and bow, I added a coat of Distress Crackle Paint -- loved the effect!  However, if you use crackle paint, you'll have to spray it with an acrylic spray to keep the crackle from falling away from the spoon):

For the frame adornment, I painted a tin lid with Gesso (if you visit me, you'll remember a recent project I did and told you to save those biscuit/juice lids).  While the paint on the lid was drying, I found an image on the internet, inserted it into WordPerfect to add the words "TEA TIME", then printed it out, then cut it out to fit and glue inside the lid.  To hide the raw inside edges of the lid, I added beads around the graphic; I finished by adding roses along the edge of the tin to complement the sticker on the spoon:      

The teapot on the top of the box, I hand-traced and cut it out; added another sticker, painted a light coat of glue over the image and sprinkled it with a fine transparent glitter:

For the panel on the front of the box, I cut and glued 3 squares together starting with the largest at the bottom:  4.75" x 4.75",  4.50" x 4.50", and 4.25" x 4.25"; the lace was glued around the box lid.

Once my embellies were completed, I put them aside and started the box.  To make the box bottom I used a 9" x 12" sheet of cardstock, and a 3-1/8" x 6" sheet of cardstock for the lid. Placing the 9" x 12" cardstock on the scoreboard, with the 12" side across the top of the board,  I scored at 5" and 7":

Turning the paper around so that the 9" side would be at the top across the scoreboard, I scored at 2" and 7":

To assemble the box bottom I cut, up to the center lines only, the 5" and 7" score lines to create the tabs.  It'll look like this (I like to trim to taper my tabs but it's optional):

Before gluing the box together, I bone-folded along every fold line then turned the tabs into the inside of the box, added glue to the backs of the tabs and glued them in place to the back of the box by lifting the back of the box up into position.  Like this:

To finish the box bottom, I simply glued the bottom outer tabs to side tabs on the other side of the bottom panel by lifting the entire panel up to meet the the top side of the box.  (I think you all have put together enough boxes... lol).

Okay, for the box lid, I scored 1/2" on all four sides.  I cut a slit down the middle of each corner square at the scorelines to create the tabs; like this:

On all four corners I cut out a triangular piece of each tab along the cuts.  It looked like this:

I, again, bone-folded along all the fold lines and glued the corner triangular tabs to the inside corresponding corners to complete the box.  Here it is -- the lid and bottom:

All I had left to do was add my embellishments and make the card!!!  Ohhh, of course, I did highlight with with some Stickles... lol!!!

This was a fun and fast box project to do, and I hope you like it!  If you have any questions/comments concerning this project, please feel free to post your information.

That's it for now, and thank you so much for stopping by.

I'll be seeing you!