Cosmo Cricket

Honky Tonk Mixed Media

I don't have images of our mixed media projects to share just yet, except for one. I'm a little shy about it since I did it myself and this isn't really what I'm best at.... still learning I'd say.

Anyway, I have a little friend that loves her cowgirl boots and I think she'll enjoy this after CHA is all said and done.


When I find some time, I want to do more mixed media. It's a huge challenge, but so fun to play with!

Now for our winners. Congratulations go to:

Our Summer Love winner, Natalie Elphinstone who said, "Oh my goodness. I WILL be needing every single piece of this!"

Our TV Dinner winner, Dianne Jenkins who said, "LOVE LOVE TV Dinner! can't wait to get my hands on some mid-century modern!" 

Our Sweet Disposition winner, Madelene who said, "This is the prettiest retro kit I have ever seen! I adore it."

And finally, the winner of Honky Tonk, Vera W Yates who said, "Being a Texan, this collection is a must have. :)"

Ladies, send your info to julie at cosmocricket dot com and I'll see to it that you get your goodies.

If you didn't win, maybe this can perk you up.... we're giving away beautiful and oh-so-soft scarves at CHA while supplies last. It's always cold on the trade show floor and besides, who doesn't want a pretty red scarft with embroidered guitars on it?!?!? 


 

Easy, Less Messy Tips & Tricks for Using Glitter

It's 12 | 12 | 12 and my world didn't end, so let's celebrate with some tips for using glitter! 'Tis the season for sparkle afterall.

I love glitter, but I hate how messy it can be. So follow my glitter tricks, and I promise a much less messy experience!

First, ditch the wet glue! I hate using wet glue with glitter. It is hard to get level, can make your glitter lumpy and you have to wait for it to dry. Besides, I always end up getting glitter into the glue bottle ruining it for future projects. Instead, opt for dry adhesive options like tapes, stickers and Glubers.

I love backing stickers, especially chipboard ones, with glitter. You can then glue down the printed side, or use both sides by making it into a charm or tag like I did with our Jolly Days chipboard Christmas tree.

If you don't have a sticker in the shape you like, recycle a cereal box by drawing your shape onto it. Before you cut it out, coat the whole area with adhesive tape.

I am using an AT gun, but any tape runner with solid adhesive will work. After it's coated, cut it out and glitter it up.

A few tips on how to "glitter it up." First, work directly over a garbage can. I am using Vintage Sparkle Glitter, that came with a little mini spoon (think doll house sized) for scooping it out of the bottle. I love it! If you don't have this, I really recommend dumping the entire bottle of glitter into a plastic container with a wide opening. That way you can just drop your item into the glitter and lift out with tweezers.

After you've got glitter all over your piece, tap it lightly over the garbage can. Then use another of my favorite tricks... a paintbrush. A soft paintbrush will sweep off all the extra glitter. Trust me, if you blow it off, it will be everywhere. If you only tap it off, the extras that don't fall, and there will be extras, will eventually end up all over your home. If you brush it off, you will get every loose piece.

My last trick is to just use Gluber dots or strips. I really love this because it's so easy and gives perfect results. You just stick them where you want and coat with glitter using the above tips. 

I hope this helps you all add a little sparkle to your holidays. If you end up getting some glitz on yourself, no worries. It just means you're awesome!



 

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How To Tie A Gift with Only a Ribbon Slide

This has got to be the slickest, easiest tricks for making a pretty gift bow! You will need a ribbon slide, ribbon or a strip of fabric and a gift. If using fabric, your gift can't be huge, or your fabric won't be long enough, but for something the size of a book, DVD, etc, you'll have plenty.

I used our Cheer Ribbon slides and a 2" strip of fabric from our Dear Mr. Claus collection, but I can't tell you what I used for the gift. 

Start by laying your ribbon or fabric, face down and placing your gift toward one end face up. Thread the short end through both openings on the slide.

Now, loosen the threading so that you have space between the two openings of the slide. We are going to take our long end of the fabric down through that space. Just to be clear, or try to be anyway, you are looking at the front of the package, the slide is folded back toward the right so that you can see the backside of it. The fabric has been loosened and the other end is coming around and down through the little space we made when we loosened the slide.

When we fold the slide back over and pull everything tight, our gift is well on its way to being beautified.

Working with the long end of fabric still, bring it around the backside of the gift, over the top and down the front until it meets the slide again. This time, we will take the end of our fabric strip and thread it through the LEFT side only of the slide. You will have to fold the slide back again to do this. Hopefully the picture helps you see what I'm doing.

Pull everything tight and trim your ends. The backside of your gift will be nice and flat.

The front side of your gift will be lovely, having two flairing fabric accents to the left.

If you are decide to use different slides or ribbon, you will need to experiment a little on what it takes to get the right amount of pressure to hold the slide tightly. 

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8 Techniques for Gift Wrapping with Kraft

I love packages wrapped in Kraft paper. For my kids, I must choose something bright and whimsical, but for my friends this the look! There's something so beautiful about the simple, drab brown color when it is dressed up for the holidays.

Here are 8 different techniques to use when you wrap up your own packages.

Our first trick is to use our new Gluber Strips to make ruffles from tissue paper. I used an old sewing pattern, with I think is lovely with the kraft paper. I wrapped over the center of the ruffle with heavy twine. In fact it was too thick to thread through my buttons, so our second technique is to split the ends of the twin, thread one half through each of the button holes and then knot. It made fun little bobble ends. (I used our Cheer Wooden Buttons.)

Technique number three is stamping. I used dark brown ink paired with our Jolly Days stamps for with all my packages, but white, dark red, gold and dark green ink are all beautiful on kraft. As is obvious in the above photo, I worry little about making a perfect impression. I like stamping to look hand-done.

I think you could make lovely packages with just stamping alone, but I usually combine it with other techniques like number four, threading your buttons on the string you're tying your package with (with bigger packages, you can use buttons to make a garland or bunting effect).

To add a little holiday bling, try technique five, coating Glubers with glitter. I used white Vintage Sparkle Glitter from Sulyn and according to Kate, it really looks like snow. The Gluber strips make lovely ribbons to hang button ornaments, while the circles are fun for polka dots or snowman building. We thought placing the twine so that it could double as the snowman's scarf was clever!

Ribbon slides are one of my favorite ways to wrap things up and make our list at technique six. You can thread them with fabric, ribbon or even tissue paper. Tomorrow I'll show you step by step photos of how to knot them to wrap all four sides without using any adhesive, stitching or even any knots! (These are our Cheer Ribbon Slides and the fabric comes from our Dear Mr. Claus collection via Moda Fabrics.)

I just love how this one turned out. Tip seven is to coil your twine onto a Gluber. I went from the outside in, but I think one could go either way depending on your outie to innie preference. A simple Cheer Canvas brad in the center completes the look. (And yes, that is my FAVORITE stamp!)

We can't do a post using this many  Glubers and not have some flowers made with them, can we. I think not! Ruffle some tissue paper, I'm using sewing pattern paper again, from the outside in to make a pretty gift topper for technique number eight. Place your Cheer Canvas brad through the center and stick the whole thing to your gift. Super easy and so cute!

Technique number nine, (I know I said eight, this is a Holiday surprise!) combines our twine gluber technique with our glittered gluber tecnhique. This one is my personal favorite! The floating polka dots look like the kraft was torn and rolled back to reveal sparkle goodness underneath. To get the effect, just place your Glubers as desired, press twine around the edge and then fill the inside with glitter. For the glittery garland, cut some glubers in half and follow the same steps. 

I think I could add even one more tip to round it out to ten, especially if you have little elves helping you with your wrapping. Consider a couple valium, maybe a strong drink or two and some holiday music. That way when one child knocks over the glitter and another child sits on a gluber, you won't mind so much. It will all just be sweet holiday memories!

Now, we must announce the winner of our $100 Gelaskins giveaway. A super-duper congratulations goes to Lillian. For the rest of us non-winners, I guess we can take the consolation prize of free shipping until tomorrow.  Lillian, send me your info to julie at cosmocricket dot com and I'll send you your prize. 

Happy gift wrapping everyone!

 

Cookie Cutter Christmas Ornaments

I do make cut cookies every now and then, but until Friday afternoon, I didn't own a single cookie cutter. This is partly because I hate the accumulation of stuff. (I like that I have empty cupboards in my kitchen... they're so much easier to clean.) But, it's also partly because I am practical to a fault. When I make my cookies, I use a glass to roll out the dough and then flip it on it's end to cut the cookies. I think circles make the best cookies anyway, they can be pumpkins, ornaments, faces, sunshines, etc.

BUT.... when I came across an entire box of cookie cutters at a tag sale on Friday, I couldn't resist. Not because I planned on baking anything, but because I new they would be darling as ornaments. And they are, don't ya think?!

This brings the Comstock family a tiny bit closer to our goal of a handmade Christmas tree this year! YEAH... only a bizillion more ornaments to go. I hope we are ready to decorate, as tradition holds, on the day after Thanksgiving! 

We love Sketches with Hexas

I posted this sketch a while back on our facebook page, but I don't think it ever made it to the blog. It's a great one though... especially if you love hexagons, multiple photos and double page  layouts!

Please enjoy!

And, congratulations go to Nicole Doiron who said, "Aww... these are great! I would so love to win! I would use them as middle of flowers! Really, the possibilities are endless. Thanks for the chance to win! :)" Nicole, please send your info to me, julie at cosmocricket dot com and I'll make sure you get your prize. Please put Button and Brad Winner in the title of your email. Thanks!

Here's one more project idea for Nicole's prize. I've shown it before, with instructions, but it's still one of my favorites.



Now go, create, make something beautiful... it's almost friday! :)

 

Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks = LOVE

Happy 100 Block Day, USA Election Day and Thanksgiving Month! I think we should combine these events and be really grateful that we won't have to watch 100's of blocks of election advertising anymore.

Instead, let's get a peek at a super cute and easy block that has nothing to do with politics.

I am not one of those really talented, corner-matching quilters and so I was sure to make my block nearly fool proof. (I say nearly because whenever I'm involved all bets are off!) If you are a beginning quilter or seamstress, this is a great project to start with.

As you can see, it's actually four smaller blocks made into one larger block. This means you can have tons of fun rearranging the individual units. Instead of a square, you could arrange the letters in a row for a cute table runner or wall hanging. Here's what I plan to do with the pattern and our new 2WENTY-THR3E fabrics. 

For neighborhood holiday gifts, I let the individual units stand all alone. I am making them into these cute coaster sets out of our Dear Mr. Claus fabrics.

I think when they are bundled up and paired with some home-made chai latte mix they will be well appreciated!

If you would like to get your hands on the pattern and instructions for this block, leave us a comment. We'll choose a random winner to receive a free issue of the 100 Blocks Magazine. Our winner will be announced Wednesday morning. Best of luck everyone.

Now I must run. I have something to do today and if you change one of the letters in my block, you'll know just what it is.




 

Stray Dogs and Handmade Ornaments

Yesterday, my girls and I were making these fun paper ornaments with our Jolly Days collection  when Eric yelled, "What are these dogs doing in our kitchen?" 

We had just come home and were bringing groceries from our garage into the kitchen. Jack finished up the last items and forgot to close the back door. We don't actually know how long they were in our kitchen when we found them, but if you should find lost dogs in your kitchen, don't start yelling because in a matter of minutes all calm turned into a chaotic rush of kids and fur running through my house.

The dogs had no collars or tags and I couldn't find anyone in the neighborhood that recognized them, so they spent the night on my back deck. This morning, I was on my way to see if they were microchipped when I spotted a sign for two lost dogs. All is well now... except the present one of them left for us on our deck just outside the back door!
So, we didn't get as many ornaments made as we hoped, but we are on our way to this year's Christmas idea... to decorate our tree with entirely handmade ornaments. I'll keep you posted on how that goes!

 

Coffee Stained Paper & Fabric Garland

Before I get to anything more than a few handmade Christmas gifts and cards, I do have to decorate for Thanksgiving. It's one of my favorite holidays. Not because of the food, but because of family, togetherness, movies and PUZZLES! (I secretly love puzzles even though everyone I know hates them. I think it's because of the brand Ravensburger and my Aunt Carol sending them to us, the Ravenberg family.)

I want my home to be cozy for the holiday and so yesterday I decided to jump aboard the garland/bunting bandwagon and make something festive. I have a huge box of fabric scraps from 2WENTY-THR3E and so I started with those, but I also had some of the fun Art Angel tags that remind me of my blessing that I wanted to include.

When I got the colors together, they weren't exactly as coordinating as I thought they might be. Never fear, a little dying with coffee mutes everything down making a warm and welcoming vintage effect.

To coffee stain your paper and fabric, put it in a dish (not metal) and pour your coffee over the top. I just re-used the grounds from my morning cup to make the dye. The paper will soak up the liquid quickly, so pull each piece out, crumple it a little and set is aside. Once all the paper has been crumpled, do the same with the fabric as soon as it's dark enough for your taste.

Then, take all your materials, put them back in your dish and pop them in the microwave for a speed drying session. I microwaved mine for 5 minutes turning and testing for dryness after each minute.

After they are dried, they will be AWESOME!

All you have to do now is stitch everything together. For those of you that have yet to try this, can I suggest using a zig-zag stitch over a heavy weight thread for added strength between your garland cuties. 

It only takes a few minutes to put these together and they are popular for a reason..... they are super cute!

Congratulations go to Margie Visnick who said, "Thanks for the freebie!! Love CC!" Margie send your info to me, julie at cosmocricket dot com and I'll make sure you get your goodies. Thanks for playing everyone... we're almost to Friday! YEAH!!!!

Help Me Find My Mojo!

Where, oh where has my mojo gone?
Where, oh where could it be?
With is it's attention span short
And it's quirkiness long,
Where, oh where could it be?

If you find it, please return to:
The Comstocks
C/O The Julibrain
5' 08"  Noggin Road
Northern Region, Insanity @#&%$ 

If you can't locate it, please offer me suggestions on finding it myself! Until I do, enjoy this fun countdown project by Miss Donna of Meme's Art Place using our Jolly Days collection. Please note: There are only 62 days until Christmas. This was the count from CHA Summer.