Making Treasures

One of the things I love about creative endeavors is they allow you to make cute useful items that you can't purchase in the store. One of my favorite items is altered clipboards. These can be decorated and used in so many ways. They can add a bit of sparkle to everyday life when used at work or home. This one is designed to hold pictures either hanging on the wall or placed in an easel. It's made in a snap with craft paint, scrapbook paper, modge podge, and ribbon. In addition, changing photos couldn't be simpler. The basic colors and simple design make this a classic one that I never get tired of looking at. Be sure and check back because before too long I am going to share an idea to use the smaller sized clipboards to create a cute Halloween treat.

Beautiful Colors

We are about to enter my favorite season... autumn. The beautiful browns, oranges, reds, and yellows of the season are so beautiful. I've created an Autumn notebook and included in it are colorful creative craft ideas. In addition, some are just crafts that may not be fall related but use the colors of fall. I'm interested in featuring readers' work so please do not hesitate to let me know if you have a craft or idea to share. For right now...autumn related or using the colors of autumn.

Creative Chaos

Here's a sample of what I'm going for with our Beautiful Colors autumn theme here at The Creative Spirit...this lovely display of color comes from the blog: Creative Chaos. Just looking at the materials without them being "made" into anything yet...captivates my imagination and makes me feel all tingly with the beauty of it.

I can't wait to see what else she creates with her wonderfully pumpkin orange materials...

Patriotic Necklace

You can find directions for this cute little necklace over at Better Homes & Gardens.

Victorian Post Cards

Here's a sample of one of the Victorian Postcards available for printing and use in your Red, White, and Blue papercrafts or scrapbook pages. You can find these printables over at Country Living. It looks like there are six for printing and surely one will strike your fancy and getting your imagination in gear! I can visualize these making a cute unique scrapbook page.

Red, White, and Blue Garland

Check out this red, white, and blue garland over at the Martha Stewart site. Easy and inexpensive to make it's the perfect little eye catcher for July decorating or for a 4th of July party....

Altered Trinket Boxes

I love trinket boxes. They are super easy to make, almost always turn out cute and can be given as gifts. Tuck in a gift card, ring or earrings for an extra special presentation! I bought these trinket boxes at the Target dollar spot. There were two boxes in a package for one dollar. These are ones I made for my great nieces for Christmas

Creating a List Folder

Here's one of those "Best of the Creative". Blue Moon Stamping has an adorable folder creation that is perfect for tucking in lists. What a fun colorful way to keep track of something as mundane as your "to do" list or your shopping list. Displayed on a desk or countertop, its decorative, as well as useful. It would also make a cute addition to your scrapping area, where you can use it to jot down scrapping thoughts, items needed on your next trip to the LSS, and other important notes.

To read more about creating this project visit Blue Moon's blog.

Spring Card Idea

Over at Angelosity you can get the complete directions for this lovely Spring Card. She used it with Congratulations but it would be equally beautiful as an Easter card with Happy Easter rubbed on! Make sure you scoll down a bit when you check out her site there's another adorable card down the page a bit.

 

Altered Paint Cans

I love the look of altered paint cans and they have so many uses. Here's just a few: 1. Spa Bucket: Fill with bath and shower stuff 2. Manicure Bucket: Fill with manicure set, polish, etc 3. Birthday in a Bucket: Fill with balloons, candles, card, hat, etc 4. Over the Hill Bucket: Fill with all sorts of over the hill goodies 5. Wedding Pail: Can be used for cards at the reception This picture shows several pails that were created in a class I took at a local scrapbook store.












This is a photo of the pail I made at the class!!

Lerpechaun House: Step Two and Three

Sorry, got a little off track and neglected to put up information on the little leprechaun house. Step one of course was to find a chip board house to your liking.
Step Two is to paint the house. I decided to paint mine a deep green but really any other would do. Since it was for St. Pat's though I decided shades of green and orange would be nice.

Step Three: Is to start decorating your house. I found a nice striped piece of scrapping paper to use as part of the roof and added some lace trim. I also created mini curtains and a door. This is only the beginning....still more to add.

Leprechaun House

Inspired by Vicki Chrisman's Valentine's house, I was on the lookout for a chipboard house. I found one at Hobby Lobby. It is not the same type that she used but I think I will give it a whirl. I am going to share with you the process along the way here at MCS. So here's Step One: Buy or make a house!

Altered Altoid Tin

I love trinket boxes. They are easy to make, almost always turn out super cute, and make great little gifts. You can tuck a gift card inside one for an extra special presentation. This little cutie was made with an altoid tin and some left over paper from a Stampin Up scrapbook kit. I made it in a little over an hour and it's now sitting on my dresser. It was just too sweet to part with. That's the trouble with creativity, sometimes it's hard to part with the items you so lovingly create. I also have some I made from little plastic boxes found at Target dollar spot...two for a dollar. Being creative doesn't have to be expensvie. I'll post some pictures of them in a bit.

Valentine's Card

 

 

Over at Angelosity there's a challenge to write something about yourself for 100 days and then scrap a page!!! I love the idea but may have to do it a little later when I have more time available...I guess it would equate to a little over three months to complete it!!! She also has up some really fun card ideas. This is one that she created for her husband and it is cute as a button. I continue to be amazed at the wonderful creativity of people.

The Colors of Life

I love this little artistic graphic. It reminds me of how many wonderful colors are found in everyday objects like fruit, flowers, and other masterpieces of nature. I'm pondering how to use this idea in my photography since playing with photos and different uses is on my list of things to do this year! ..and would be a fun project either to frame or create in my art journal or scrapbook. I think 2 x 2 or 3 x 3 pictures might keep the size manageable. I think I would have to work at it awhile finding and shooting the right colors of objects...perhaps saving them in a file on the computer until I had quite an arrary to choose from.