DIY Candle Decor using Midnight Haunting

Calling all ghosts and goblins....I wanted to share with some spooky Halloween ideas. The gorgeous spider web gold vellum sheet was my inspiration for my DIY Candle Decor with the Pebbles Midnight Haunting collection.
  Personally, I think this would made a great welcome statement or mantle decor for any home.  I mean, who doesn't want to see spiders and witches and poison every day leading up to Halloween. LOL! This was a lot of fun to create.  It was also really simple and relatively quick to make.  The longest part was waiting for the Mod Podge to dry.  You'll see in some of my photos that I wasn't so patient but (in the end), it's dry and completely opaque.

Get started here: Grab different sizes of glass candle jars and/or votives.  I had some of these in my stash and then I hit up the local dollar store for more.  I'm sure you could find some at the thrift store.  Either way, this project can be done without breaking the bank. Also grab the spider web vellum and coordinating papers and embellishments.

Create your own DIY candle decor

Before I get into the steps for this, note that the adhesive is still drying but it does dry nice and evenly opaque. First step is to lay out your vellum and notice where the spider's web will be at the top.  You don't want them too high or too low because we are going to trim around the webs (it will leave them sticking up just a bit at the top). Once you like the placement, apply Mod Podge to the glass jar and apply your vellum.  Make sure to press it down real good and avoid any wrinkles. Reposition quickly as needed but you will have to move quickly to do it. You can wait for it to completely dry or (if you're like me), you can start trimming the webs at the top once you know it won't move around.

Time to decorate

Now it's time to embellish. I added a few spiders here and there on the web-covered candle holders while I decorated a couple others in coordinating patterned paper. Here's a few more decorating ideas. I kept everything in the scary theme - spiders, poison, etc. This DIY Candle decor was so fun to make.  I could totally see this as a fun craft to do with the kids. Luckily the Midnight Haunting collection has all sorts of designs, from cute to scary, so I'm sure there's something to fit everyone's taste.

Supplies: Midnight Haunting Double-Sided Cardstock 12″x12″ Gold Foil Vellum (733651) Midnight Haunting Double-Sided Cardstock 12″x12″ Eek (733641) Midnight Haunting Double-Sided Cardstock 12″x12″ Autumn Plaid (733644) Midnight Haunting Double-Sided Cardstock 12″x12″ Haunted Mansion (733645) Midnight Haunting Double-Sided Cardstock 12″x12″Creepy Crawly (733646) Midnight Haunting Ephemera (733654) Midnight Haunting Cardstock Stickers (733653)

Celebrate the Grands | Grandparents Scrapbooking Layout

Hello everyone.  I'm here with a scrapbooking layout to celebrate the Grands. By grands, I'm referring to grandparents!  I chose to create a layout about my grandmother.  While visiting her this past Mother's Day, I introduced my 93 year old grandma to snapchat. We shared so much laughter playing with all the filters.  I hadn't seen her laugh that hard in a while so I thought I'd create a grandparents scrapbooking layout about this great memory.

  My photo provided all the inspiration I needed for this scrapbooking layout. My goal was to re-create the floral headpiece on my page and the Gatherings patterned paper from the Heart of Home collection was perfect.

To begin: Gather a tone on tone patterned paper. I suggest going with something muted and in a color that your flowers will pop against. Since I wanted the flowers to pop on this grandparents scrapbooking layout, I grabbed my Gesso. You can use paint or any mixed media foundation of your choosing and paint it on in a diagonal, where you plan to place your flowers.  Don't just do a straight line across, let the paint cover other ares of your page so it blends together. Set aside to dry.

Choosing your flowers While the gesso is drying, let's talk flowers... I wanted to find flowers that resembled our headpiece. I got lucky and the perfect flowers not only came from the same collection but they were on the same patterned paper.  Sometimes we aren't as lucky. When choosing flowers, I like to choose at least 3 different styles of flowers in at least 3 different colors and probably no more than 5.

  Check to make sure the gesso is dry, and trust me, if you fussy cut all those flowers like I did, it'll be dry by the time you get to this stage.  Start arranging the flowers on the page.  I started with my larger flower clusters and just spread them out on the page.  Once you have a good idea where you want your larger clusters, start filling the empty spaces with medium flowers.  Also at this time, take a look at your other embellishments to see if you want to mix any other items in.  Some of these may be on the larger side so you'll want to have an idea where to place them sooner than later. If you look closely, you'll see hidden messages within the flowers.

  At this point, you should have a good portion of your flower spread complete.  When you are satisfied with the arrangement, start gluing them down with adhesive and adhering others with foam dots.  It's okay to have empty spaces.  Some of it will remain empty but you may want to add itty bitty flowers or embellishments here and there. Of course, you'll want to add your photo to the page somewhere tied to the pretty flowers.  Make sure to arrange additional flowers around the photo as well.

No grandparents scrapbooking layout, or any scrapbook page for that matter, is complete without a title and journaling, therefore; I designed the page so that the photo could be highlighted at the top right and the title at the bottom left would provide the symmetry to balance the page.

Supplies: Heart of Home Gatherings 12"x12" Patterned Paper (733750) Heart of Home Heart of Home 12"x12" Patterned Paper (733733) Heart of Home Ephemera (733769) Heart Of Home Washi Tape (733759) Heart of Home Thickers - Jen (733768) Heart of Home Dimensional Stickers (733765) Heart of Home Thickers - Family (733758)

Milestones Baby Gift | Mini Album

Hello, I wanted to show you a cute baby gift idea for documenting all those 12 month bundle of joy milestones. This is exactly what every new mommy needs, along with sleep. Am I right?



This is the gift that keeps giving!  Included in this is an album with a page for each month, a spot for a photo and journaling prompts. You can also include the Lullaby collection monthly stickers for the parents to apply to onesies. Simply pull out the sticker for that month, apply to the onesie, snap and print a photo of precious baby and voila!  You've documented the month and now your photo perfectly matches the mini album.  Easy breezy!

To begin:

Here's what you need to get started...

patterned paper for mini album pages

patterned paper with the months pre-printed

Download the "about me" template I created for journaling (print on plain paper)

monthly labels

Choosing prints:

To get started, I used patterned paper printed with journaling cards for the cover.  I cut it to 6" x 6".  Of course that meant that the bottom was cut through half of the design. My easy solution was to add a paper strip to the bottom to cover that up.  I stitched it with my sewing machine before adhering it to the cover so the stitching would show through the back.  This also made a great spot to add the baby's name.



Inside pages:

Next, I cut the inside pages.  I suggest you cut these slightly smaller than the cover so the edges of the pages don't stick out when you fold it in half.

Now you are ready to start decorating the pages. The monthly 2" x 3" patterned paper cards are perfect for this.  You can download the "about me" template I used HERE.



I used two pages for each month.  I included a spot for the month, about me and a place for a 4" x 4" photo. Here is the entire album:



You can see each of the pages above.  I also included a spot for when the baby is born on the inside cover as well as a gender reveal card and a pocket for additional notes.



And once this sweet little bundle of joy turns one, this is the perfect spot for a cake smashing photo!



So there you have it.  I can't wait to gift this to my friend, who's having her baby this month!  I hope she treasures it as much as I enjoyed making it for her.  Remember that you can include a set of onesies and monthly onesie stickers that match the album.  What do you think?

Supplies:

Lullaby Baby Boy Patterned Paper Quotes (733496)
Lullaby Baby Boy Patterned Paper Blossoms (733497)
Lullaby Baby Boy Patterned Paper Delivering Baby Boy(733498)
Lullaby Baby Boy Patterned Paper Just Ducky (733502)
Lullaby Baby Boy Patterned Paper Plaid (733503)
Lullaby Baby Boy Patterned Woodland Baby Boy (733504)
Lullaby Baby Boy Ephemera Cardstock Die Cuts (733515)
Lullaby Baby Boy Printed Chipboard Alpha (733513)
Lullaby Baby Boy Cardstock Stickers (733511)
Lullaby Baby Boy Scratch Off Cards (733521)

Aloha in your heart | Hula Girl scrapbook layout, free cut file and tutorial

Aloha everyone!  I wanted to chat with you today about journaling but first, I just have to say—I love working with the Sunshiny Days collection! They are perfect for all the fun summer activities we've been doing as a family.  From the pool to the beach (and all the sweet treats in-between), it seems to cover the full spectrum.  Naturally, it was my go-to for documenting my sweet daughter practicing her hula dancing on the beach. Take a look below at the hula girl scrapbook layout I created and then I'll walk you through a step-by-step tutorial.

Hula Girl scrapbook layout

Hula Girl scrapbook supplies

This layout can be used for any type of tropical, summertime activity. To re-create this layout, you'll need to gather a few supplies...

patterned paper for palm leaves

my free palm leaves cut file for Silhouette

ephemera

stickers

Thickers

adhesive

Print a photo that's approximately 7" w x 9" h and place it in the upper right corner of the page.

Then cut a 9 1/2" circle template out of scrap paper to use as a photo template.  You can also cut the photo using your die cut machine—I'm not brave enough, so I went with this method to make sure I cut it exactly where I wanted. To use my method, I've found a super cool trick to finding the perfect placement.  First, take the leftover paper from the circle you cut out and place it over your photo until you see exactly what you want to show (see example above).

Next, without moving anything, place the circle back inside the cut out, over your photo, as shown above.

Remove the outer circle piece so that just the circle remains over the photo, like you see in the photo above.

Then carefully pick it up and cut your photo using the circle as your guide.  Now you have your photo cut exactly how you want.

Palm Tree Leaf Border

Download my free palm leaves cut file for Silhouette and cut different sized leaves from 2 - 3 patterned papers.  The photo above includes leaves I cut using my file as well as ephemera from the Sunshiny Days collection.

Adhere the leaves around the circular part of your photo, creating a border of leaves and flowers. Place a few more in the opposite bottom corner (I also added a couple at the top corner of my photo).

Journaling tips

I decided to journal in 2 ways.  First, this layout will coordinate with a 2nd layout telling the story of how my daughter learned hula, I thought I'd make this the "hero" or title page of the album and use the 2nd page to tell the longer story. With that in mind, I wanted to use a big title.  How does this relate to journaling? Well, the 2nd way I decided to approach this was to use hula blessing as my title.  Since it was too long for an actual title, I hand wrote part of it (journaling) and then put the key part of the quote in Thickers to highlight them.

I enjoy using quotes, song lyrics, things my children say, etc. as my title.  It's also super fun to mix them in with the journaling. You can easily tell your story instead of a quote (like I did) and then choose key words or phrases in your journaling and highlight them within your story.

Supplies:
Sunshiny Days Paradise (733596)
Sunshiny Days Puffy Stickers (733611)
Sunshiny Days Chipboard Stickers (733610)
Sunshiny Days Ephemera Die cuts (733609)
Sunshiny Days Cardstock Stickers (733608)
Heart of Home Thickers Words / Pink Foil (733767)
Heart of Home Thickers Letterboard White Foiled (733767)
Tealightful Bouquet (733527)

Summertime at the Beach | Mermaid Scrapbook Layout

Aloha everyone! While I may be back from our trip to Hawaii, I'm still living in vacay mode. I figured now would be a good time to get started on documenting the highlights of the trip. Why not start with this summertime at the beach mermaid scrapbook layout?

Be a mermaid & make waves | Mermaid scrapbook layout

My daughter loves everything mermaid, from fashion to her favorite television shows to documentaries so we gave her a mermaid tail a few years ago as a gift. She only swims with it when in the pool but we brought it along on the trip for a little play time.

Since the mermaid scrapbook layout was also about the beach, I wanted to incorporate some visuals in that theme - waves and mermaid scales.

Cut scallops from the Let's Float scallop paper to resemble mermaid scales as well as waves. I love the scallops on this paper because they aren't all shaped the same.

Starting at the bottom of the layout, overlap the scallop strips. Layer some more than others so it doesn't look too symmetrical. Then I added a patterned paper to the top half to resemble the beach.  A thin paper strip at the seam helps give the page a more finished look.

Next, I added a frame around the photo, a card with hidden journaling tucked behind the photo and embellishments. I didn't want to add too much here because the lower half of the layout is quite busy. I used an anonymous quote I ran across as my title. For a great visual, I wrapped it around my photo and to the side. This also helped fill in some of the empty space on the page.

Last but not least, I added additional embellishments around the mermaid scrapbook layout to fulfill the visual triangle design principle. And of course, a fluffing of the scallops to finish it off.

I gotta say, she's the cutest little mermaid I have ever seen.

Pebbles Supplies: Sunshiny Days Paradise (733596), Sunshiny Days Summer Day (733606), Sunshiny Days Let's Float (733604), Sunshiny Days Pink Flamingos (733597), Sunshiny Days Daydream (733598), Sunshiny Days Paradise (733596), Sunshiny Days Puffy Stickers (733611), Sunshiny Days Chipboard Stickers (733610), Sunshiny Days Ephemera Die cuts (733609), Sunshiny Days Cardstock Stickers (733608), Sunshiny Days Alpha Thickers (733607), Merry Merry Gold Glitter on Kraft (733725)

Beach Tag Mini Album | Quick Gift

Aloha everyone!  I'm writing this blog post while on an amazing vacation in Hawaii.  I wanted to create a beach tag mini album to document our activities as a gift to my family.  The idea was to create a new page every day and add a small 2" x 3" photo of the day.  The photos show the album without pictures since we are just beginning our vacation.  I will be back home by the time you read this so join me on Instagram (@heatherleopard) to see it with photos included.

As you can see, I created a pineapple box to hold the beach tag mini album.  The mini album is made using many tags, die cuts and stickers.  So cool, so fun and so QUICK!

This project took a little planning ahead of time. I knew I wanted to give it to my family when I got to Hawaii but I didn't want it to get damaged en route to Hawaii.  With that in mind, I cut the box bits and tags ahead of time.  I knew I wanted to use my mobile printer that prints 2" x 3"  photos so I made the tags large enough to hold the photos.  I waited to put it together until I got there (super easy to pack since I left all the pieces flat!).

Pineapple gift box

I used a cut file from the Silhouette store.  The pineapple leaves came in one size but I wanted them to better resemble a pineapple stalk so I cut three sizes and layered them over each other as shown.

Naturally I had to use the pineapple patterned paper to cover the base of the box that will hold the beach tag mini album.

Beach tag Mini album

I pre-cut each pattern in various-sized tags including everything from standard tags and leaves to scallop circles. I liked most of the Side A and Side B patterns so I ended up dividing many of the the tags for greater variety.

The die cuts and cardstock stickers are great for adding dimension and layers to the tags.  Some of these will be tucked under the photos while others will go on top.  In addition, I also added mini puffy stickers because they are just too cute.

Beach tag mini album assembly

The first tag I created was the cover.  These are quite small so I had to keep it to a minimum. I started with a palm tree (and added a sun/puffy stickers later). Next, I included the location and year.

Here you can see the tags for the first half of the mini album. You can also see how I added the sun and puffy stickers to the cover tag. To make these, I sorted the larger tags in the order I wanted them and then I added the smaller accent tags.  I finished them off with additional die cut shapes and stickers.

Below are the tags for the second half of the mini album.

Once they were all complete, I tied them together with a palm tree leaf. Some of these will hold photos while the others are perfect for journaling and holding items we may collect along the way.  I may also add tickets and other items using a hole punch.

Ready for the memories

Once the palm leaf dries, it will become more sturdy.  However... I may want to add in more tags  or souvenirs, so a metal book ring or ribbon might be better suited for the job.  That way, I can tie on the palm leaf to when I get home.

So there it is. This beach tag mini album was very fast to put together. It seems like it took me only about 30 minutes once all the pieces were cut so probably 45 - 60 minutes max.  Simply cut the tags, embellish, add photos and journaling, you are done!

I can't wait to fill it up with details of our trip but I'm looking forward to creating memories with my family most of all.

Supplies: Sunshiny Days Flower Garden (733603), Sunshiny Days Summer Day (733606), Sunshiny Days Fresh Squeezed (733605), Sunshiny Days Beach Day (733601), Sunshiny Days Pineapple Float (733600), Sunshiny Days Flip Flops (733599), Sunshiny Days Daydream (733598), Sunshiny Days Paradise (733596), Sunshiny Days Puffy Stickers (733611), Sunshiny Days Chipboard Stickers (733610), Sunshiny Days Ephemera Die cuts (733609), Sunshiny Days Cardstock Stickers (733608), Sunshiny Days Alpha Thickers (733607)

DIY Indoor BBQ Picnic

Hi everyone.  I am sharing a DIY Indoor Picnic Idea with you today.  I don't know about you but I love picnics. We do them as a family all the time but they aren't always a normal picnic at the park. We also picnic in the front and back yard but what my girls really love to do is picnic in the house. We basically layout out blankets and/or towels in a room other than our dining room and there's just something really fun and special about it.

DIY Indoor Picnic

I surprise my girls with an indoor picnic every couple of months because sometimes it just seems like the fun thing to do.  Just don't plan to do it on spaghetti night due to the fact that it can be a mess.  While you can certainly use your normal dishes for an indoor picnic, I figured we should make it fun by creating a picnic caddy for the house. As a result, it's basically everything we need in one little package.

Create a picnic caddy

You can use a box or a crate for this, an upcycled fast food drink tote or almost anything you'd like. I had cardstock and my die cut machine therefore, I chose to make one out of paper.

This is great for utensils, condiments, straws, napkins, you name it. While it's not carrying anything especially heavy, it holds up pretty good. You probably don't want to load it up with drinks unless you really reinforce it.

Add some custom plates

I wanted to create custom plates so I bought clear plastic plates and lined them with patterned paper.  Simply trace the center of the plate on your favorite patterned paper, cut it out and adhere it to the bottom with mod podge.  NOTE: only apply the mod podge to the bottom of the plate.  I'm pretty sure you don't want to eat from a mod podged plate since it probably has chemicals you may not want to ingest but maybe I'm wrong?!?!

Picnic themed invitation

Next, create a cute little apron card. I downloaded this one from the Silhouette store. Isn't the grill set cute?

This can be an invitation to the picnic, a menu (on the inside) or just a cute piece of decor in addition to whatever else you have planned.

Ready for the picnic

So there you have it... a fun DIY Indoor Picnic that's as cute as can be.  Just add your favorite food & beverage and dine in style.

Supplies: Sunshiny Days Ephemera Die cuts (733609), Sunshiny Days Daydream (733598), Sunshiny Days Flower Garden (733603), Sunshiny Days Fresh Squeezed (733605), Sunshiny Days Flip Flops (733599), Sunshiny Days Cardstock Stickers (733608)