Project Life - Honey Edition - Journaling Embellishments

In 2013 I began a new journey in scrapbooking called Project Life. It's a pocket system using 3 x 4 and  4 x 6 cards for journaling and embelishments. After a year I have really become addicted to this system. It's so easy and fun. There are no rules except the sizing, but I have found this to be the best part. Normally pictures come in a 4 x 6 format which is why I say it's the best part. If you're interested in what the system is all about I encourage you to visit the creators website:

www.beckyhiggins.com

There are other names for this style such as daily journaling or  pocket journaling, but Project Life is the name you'll most hear about. There are also other brands which I encourage you to look into. They are just as great. 

One of the things I thought about as I got into 2014 was choosing my color scheme. I decided to build off the remaining cards that I had from the Honey edition by Becky Higgins Project Life. I had probably half the Core kit left. Last year I really didn't know what I was doing so my layouts are mostly pictures, but I love the way my 2013 albumn turned out. Through out the year I pinned lots of Pinterest pins and read lots of blogs so I am making 2014 the year of embellishments. 

I recently took to the internet to find coordinating paper and embellishments to add to my Honey core kit. I was greatly disappointed by the lack of items. There are a few out there, but I want to take a moment to share what I did to compliment the Honey core kit. This was a cheap DIY that I think you will enjoy and could very easily replicate. 

To begin I went through my cards and picked out the ones I had multiples of. Some were patterns that as a whole were too busy for me. 

To do this DIY you will need a few simple tools:

- cutting board

- corner rounder

- scissors

- punch

As you can see I am missing a few of the items I mentioned above. After completing this project I will be looking into purchasing a star, various size circles, and a boarder punch. They will make this project perfect. The scissors I have, just did not put them in the photo. Oops! 

Since this post is about embellishments I want to share what kinds I am personally wanting to use in 2014. So far I have been grabbing for banners or journaling strips to add to my picture. I also love little pictures or stickers. I found I could make coordinating embellishments right for the core kit. 

It took about 30 minutes or so to get it all cut out, but they came out great. The bottom pile is scraps for the cards I cut. I plan on keeping them just in case I need a little strip. 

So those are my embelishments. I don't have any pictures right now to use them on, but Sunday is Easter so I am sure there I will be lots of pictures to journal after that. 

Have a great day! Love, 

Farm Girls

P.s. A tutorial on creating my storage basket is coming. Here is a sneak peek...

Cloud Nursery Decor

My design inspiration comes from Pottery Barn Kids and their Haley collection.

Before our Emily was born I received a Pottery Barn Kids catalogue in the mail. A little secret, we named Emily after a monogrammed pillow I saw in the catalogue. That's another story though...I decided this design would be what Emily's nursery would be inspired by, bringing the outdoors in. I loved the pink and green color with blue and yellow accents. So many possibilities with this color combination. Since her birth I've added alot of details including a tree decal to the wall, but I felt it needed a little more.

 

Here are the steps for completing this project.

This project is very easy and I even got Emily's help with the paint.

Here is a list of the Materials you will need:

• light blue paper
• white washable paint or finger paint
• plate or cardboard
• tape
• scissor
• cloud template 

The First thing I did was tape the paper to the ground. I chose to work on the ground so Emily all full access to the paper and to express herself and she chose. To tape the paper down I used blue painters tape. It's super easy to remove and I knew I wouldn't leave a residue on the floor. (If I only knew what was going to happen I wouldn't have worried about the residue). The other reason this tape is nice is because it peels off the paper without tearing it.

The next step was the fun step, painting and boy did it get messy. Oops! But isn't that part of the fun? We used our hands and our feet. I only used my hands. I wasn't as brave as Emily. Our hand prints helped make the fun texture clouds have. What you don't see in this picture is the piece of cardboard I used as a tray for the paint. When we were done I just threw the cardboard away.

Emily enjoyed painting with her feet the most. All those marks on the floor are her feet. So cute. After we finished painting I pulled the paper off the floor and moved it to a safe and dry location. The paper was fairly wet from the paint so I didn't want anything or anyone touching it.

After the paper had dried overnight I flipped the paper over to cut out the cloud shapes. Instead of just drawing shapes I decided to cut out several cloud shaped templates out of file folders. The file folders were sturdy and easily traced around. Plus it gave me a good idea of how many clouds I could cut out of the piece of paper I had.

The light blue paper is butcher paper. It comes in really big rolls and you tear of what you think you need. I am not sure where you can buy it, but my school district has a teacher work area called The Learning Center where we can purchase paper by the foot. The Learning Center is open to the public during the day and some weekends. They have everything from die cuts to laminators. It's a dream for scrapbookers and crafters like me.

As you can see above I cut four different cloud shapes. Two large and two small.

To attach to them to the wall I used tape. For right now that will have to do until I can find a fancier method.

As always, I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and DIY. Please let me know in the comments below if you found this interesting or if you tried it.

<3 Farmgirls

Vintage wooden folding ruler star

 

Today's crafting project is fast and easy. The only supplies you need is a folding ruler.

Last month I picked up a folding carpenters ruler as the flea market. I purchased mine for about $1. I thought the white aspect was interesting, but I wasn't sure what to do with it.

I did a little searching on pinterest and found these great ideas:

Star and Crown

Source: patinawhite.typepad.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: thevintagedresser.blogspot.com via Laura on Pinterest

I decided for right now the best option for our decor was the star. Emily is learning the names of shapes so the star is perfect for her. Plus its a word she is familiar with and uses.

Folding up the star was a bit tricky. I realized that I had two extra bends/arms that I didn't need. To fold it you need 10, not 12. So I tucked two of the arms behind and it worked great. At some point I may secure it permanently, but for now it is loose.

To start I bent the arms into the five points. This is the trickiest part, making them all uniform. My best suggestion is to just playing around with it and push and pull them into the exact placement you want. Mine looked pretty silly at first and I am sorry I didn't take a picture. I got a little frustrated. In the end it worked out though.

I am super excited about how it turned out. When Christmas comes around it will fit into my decor with ease. If you live in Texas you could probably paint this red to match that great Texas spirit. I hope you enjoy this project as much as I did.

 

<3 Farmgirls



A cardboard box

My husband brought a huge cardboard box home from work. Its really thick material so it'll hold up well to a lot of playtime. He told me he gets lots of boxes like this every week. My head started spinning at all the fun things we could make. First a playhouse with cute windows and a door. Then maybe a kitchenette. The plastic ones sell for around $100 (ouch!). Oh the fun we will have. :)

 

Here are some pinterest ideas I love

Source: kimboscrafts.blogspot.co.il via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: mymakedo.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Source: lhj.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Jewelry Caddy

My second project in January was this beautiful jewelry caddy. It was made using tin plates and a candy dish I purchased at the flea market.

To assemble it I purchased three glass candle sticks from Dollar Tree, X6000 glue, and aqua paint from Walmart.

It was very easy to assemble, but it takes some patience to allow the glue to dry - about 24 hrs.

If you want to see more or would like to purchase one please contact me. I can make one to your liking.

<3 Farm Girls

project sneak peeks

I am currently working on two projects. Tonight was painting night. My awesome husband took our daughter with him to worship team practice which meant I got the whole house to myself. Yea!!! It's nice to have time to do things for myself. Is that bad of me to say? Yikes! Actually now that I think about it I am sure most women would prefer to soak up the time in a warm bath. Then there is me, crafting enthusiast and new blogger that would rather spend my time with you. Ah! I know, I'm probably crazy, but really, I love this.

So here are pictures of the two projects I started tonight.

 and

I cannot wait to show you the finished products. It's going to be so cool. I hope you can wait until I get another break to show you the rest.

Love,

{Farm Girls}

Christmas Card Ornaments

This Christmas we received some beautiful cards from my family and friends. I loved them so much that I wanted to try to incorporate them into my decor. Ive seen several people make books out of their cards, or reuse them as gift boxes, but I wanted to showcase them some how. After searching on the internet and in magazines I came across some great tutorials on how to make Christmas cards into ornaments. I know it may appear I am obsessed with ornaments this year, but it really is intentional. Last Christmas I recieved a faux tree with lights, but I had no ornaments. It's been my goal to fill my tree with beautiful things.

To my family and friends:

Thank you for the beautiful cards.

I hope you don't mind me using them in this way.  

Poinsettias

Better Homes and Garden Tutorial

 

This tutorial came straight from my Better Homes and Garden magainze (Dec. 2012). Please use the above link to access their tutorial and template. I did have one adaptation because I used Christiams cards. If you use a single color cardstock than their tutorial will work just fine.

Here is my adaptation:

Below you will see the templates I cut out. BHG's tutorial has you cut out strips and use the half-leaf you see just right of the card to make the poinsettia leafs. I found this nice, but it limited me to what sections of the card to use. Instead I made a whole leaf template and positioned it wherever I wanted. So much nicer and I felt I could be a little more creative.

When it came to attaching the hook I had to be a little creative because I had to use what I had on hand, stapler and pipecleaner. I staples the hook to the circle and then hot glued it to the back of the poinsettia. It secured perfectly. I am sorry the picture is a bit blurry or bright. I have to say there are prettier ways of securing a hook, but this was all I had time to do.

Cardstock Ornament

I found each of these ornaments very easy to make. The cardstock ornament was the easiest as it didn't require any clueing. I started off this project by cutting the front of the card from the back. Keep the back for future projects. Cardstock ins't cheap. Then I used my ruler to mark off 1 inch sections and cut them using my cutter. (see picture below).

 

You will need to cut one 4", two 5", and leave two uncut. Before I did this I layed my 1" strips on my cutting board (Yes, It's from Pampered Chef, but you get three in a pack and I needed a cutting board so I designated this one to crafting). Once layed out I decided what piece would be cut to what length (see picture below). This is the crative part and what makes no ornament exactly the same. I love that part.

Assembling the ornament:

7" - picture facing left

5" - picture facing left

4" - picture facing left

5" - picture facing right

7" - picture facing right

Hold the top very tightly and staple the strips together. A normal stapler will work with Christmas cards. Turn the pile over to the other end and staple the ends together like the top. You will notice the ornament will start to take shape once you bring the ends together. If you find the pieces bending just smooth out with your finger.



Finished product



For a tie, you can use whatever you want. I like to use green pipeclearner. It bends and cuts so nicely. Just wrap around one of the ends and secure together.

Pretty Bag Dispenser

I recently found a new way to store plastic bags on my daughter's changing table. I got my inspiration from the YouTube video below. Its a super cute video so please take a minute to watch it if you want further instructions.
Basically there are just three steps to this project.
1. Remove label and use it as a template with the scrapbook paper you've chosen to match your decor.
2. Use Mod Podge ( I used glossy) to make the paper more durable. Wipe it with a brush across print side. Let dry.
3. Brush Mod Podge across back of paper and adhere to the container.
The results: a beautiful coordinating storage container that costs only cents to make. This inspiration was a blessing to the pile of bags accumulating on the table. If you found this tutorial useful or inspiring please leave me a comment.
God Bless!
<3 Sarah
Watch "DIY Cute Bag Dispenser!" on YouTube