Cosmo Cricket

Tutorials: Split Leaf Flower & Ruffled Leaf Flower

Sometimes I'm asked why I make things. Why I spend so much time making a card, a tag, a garland, a scrapbook especially when it's probably cheaper to just buy it already done.

All I can say is this.... Making things makes me happy. It gives me a reason to get out of bed and clean up my house. It gives me satisfaction as an accomplishment that my children won't undo. It gets my brain working and my creative juices flowing. And that my friends is the real point when it's all said and done. We joke that crafting is cheaper than therapy, but it's not really a joke, is it?

Besides, a handmade card or tag, a gift designed specifically for the recipient or a scrapbook containing my voice and personality can't be bought at the store... 

(Used in the above project: Art Angel Mini Deck, Art Angel Stamps, Wooden Buttons in Natural and 2" Gluber.)

On that note I had some leaves left over from my garland and I am not one to let a good scrap go to waste! I made the above flower with my paper leftovers and was so happy that I decided to teach you all how to make your own. 

You can easily follow the picture tutorial, but in a nutshell here's what I did.

1. Cut petals in half, then make a cut to split them open stopping 1/4-1/2 inch from the tip.
2. Fold the right side of the lower half over the left side to make the petal cup.
3. Fold a pleat in the center of the petal.
4. Stick to Gluber.
5. Repeat until all the Gluber is covered.
6. Peel and stick to your awesome project.


For my fabric leftovers, I created this "ruffled leaf flower" by overlapping the leaves slightly as I gathered them through the center making a chain. When they were all strung together and ruffly, I folded them in half and brought the ends together, pulling my thread tight. A canvas brad in the center is perfect with these coffee dyed fabrics! 

Have a happy Friday, a wonderful weekend and a great autumn season..... and, make something beautiful today!

DIY: Ombre Tissue Paper

If you haven't thrown out the tissue paper wrapping from your last gift, don't! You will need it. If you have, I'm sorry, because the above "creative girl problem" now applies to you.

Yesterday, I got the idea to bleach colored tissue paper. I had wanted to dye the edge of white tissue paper, but I didn't have any. So instead, I took my colored paper, folded it up (fan fold style) and then dipped the ends in bleach.

After it dried, I opened it up to reveal this.

 Isn't it so pretty?

The ideas startled swirling in my mind and I haven't even had more than a minute to get started on them. Except to make these Gluber flowers and ruffles. I can't wait to use them on girlfriend cards. I love the pink. I love the ombre look. I love it when an idea turns out to be great!!!

Happy crafting everyone. 

PS: If you are interested in how my kids' first day of school went.

Jack: Didn't make a new best friend, but will keep working at it. He doesn't like that the kids in his class are noisy and they think they are being funny. "Mom, it's not funny because I think it hurts the teacher's feelings."

Abby: Has made dozens of new friends already. One of them doesn't speak any English and they just "act out what they need to say."

Kate: Has one friend to eat lunch with, but she is Eastern Indian and Kate can't understand her name when she says it. Today's plan is to have her write her name and number down so Kate can call her.... and find out how to say her name. Also, Kate's Spanish class is full emersion and she can't understand even una palabra! 

Ethan: Worst first day ever. Ethan is dyslexic and transposed the numbers of the first classroom he was looking for (1236 to 2136). He wasn't even on the right floor and ended up being late to his first class.

His second class, he was looking for the right room, but when he found it he misread the numbers on the door and thought it was the wrong room. He was late to his second class.

He thought his third class was Properties of Exercise, but it was really Physical Education. His third class determined which lunch he was to attend. He went to the first lunch when he should have gone to the second lunch. He was an hour late to his third class.

To finish it all off, he missed the bus home because he couldn't remember the new bus number.

We are hoping for a better day today, but we are so glad that Ethan is the kind of kid that just rolls with it all!!!

10 Tips for Raising Creative Kids

I was inspired to write this post on raising creative kids after reading an article on the decline of creativity. These are my tips as a creative parent and mother of four creative children.... those are the only credentials I've got, so take it for what it's worth!
10. Celebrate differences. When a child asks you which child is your favorite, resist the urge to tell them that you love them all the same. Instead tell them that you love them all different. Tell them what you love about each one pointing out how they are unique and you are glad that they are because it makes the whole family (and world) a better place. The permission to be different is one of the biggest challenges in my opinion to creativity. It can be scary and is often not rewarded by peers or society. Tell them you love them for being different!

9.  Don't say yes right away. When my kids come asking for things like new toys, treats or clothes, if it's something I may say yes to (cell phones need not apply) then I like to have them make a list of all the reasons I should say yes. This is a great activity that can keep them busy for hours, but it also teaches them persuasive argument skills and creativity! Did you know that a case can be made for how new clothes can positively impact school performance?

8. Give permission to be wasteful. As thrifty as I try to be, this really sounds like bad advice. But NEVER give a child art supplies and tell them not to waste them! The fear of messing up a sheet of paper or using up an expensive bottle of paint on a failed project can make even the most daring child retreat. Wasted art supplies are not the end of the world. When a project goes awry, point out what was learned from having done it and tell them that all the supplies were worth that lesson.

7. Ask them their opinion on important things. When asked their opinion, children think. I like to pick out stories from the news and ask my kids what they think about them. If your children are younger, you can ask them what they think about the rules in your house. This is always fun. When they tell you what they don't like tell them why you have the rule, listing out all the reasons. Then ask them if they have an idea of a different way to get the same results. 

6. Empower them. My mom always said that you should never do for a child what they can do for themselves. It worked for her because her kids were perfect. ;) But, my kids whine, "I can't do it, I need you to." They have this down to an art that rivals any torture technique invented! So we have a rule, "If you try three times and you still can't do it, then I'll help you." Now that they are getting older, this rule applies to things like friendship problems. When they ask me how to solve their problem, I tell them to come up with three ways they could handle it.

5. Come up with lots of ideas. When a child tells you they are bored, say, "If you could do anything right now, what would you choose? Make a list of 10 things." I did this just yesterday with Jack. He was so bored, it took him an hour to get to 7. I helped him come up with the others by giving him prompts like "go look around your room" and "what things do you like to do outside." Coming up with lots of ideas is great creative practice.

4. Play creative games. One of our favorite creative games to play is to take two completely different things and try to find ways to tie them together. For example, what do a dog and a toothbrush have in common? Another game we love is telling stories where each person adds one sentence on their turn.

3. Be inventive. Let your kids see you solve problems creatively and they will too. I'm not great in the kitchen. We experiment a lot and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. My kids have seen me come up with many creative culinary solutions like washing off salad when the dressing turned out awful and making a bundt pan by placing a glass in an oven safe bowl. In fact, I use glasses a lot since I don't own a rolling pin or any cookie cutters.

Yesterday my girls made peanut butter bars and the cookies sheet they choose was too big for the recipe. They called me to the kitchen to help out. I asked what ideas they had since we didn't have a smaller pan. Kate suggested making more to add to it. Abby suggested just using half the pan and making a decorative edge.

2. Upcycle and fix things. Is it an old tee-shirt with holes and stains, or a new headband with ruffly flowers? Teach kids to see the potential in things and find new uses for what they no longer need.

1. Change the game. One of our favorites things to do is paint with our kids, but pick out something besides a brush for them to use. How can you paint with a credit card? Can you paint on fabric? Do your favorite things, but in new ways. It gets them thinking, keeps them from being bored and is a lot of fun.

PS: Thrifty Thursday will be back when my home doesn't have 18 fans blowing!

Placemat to Mini Album, Necklace and Hair Clip

Boy, oh boy, have a gotten a lot of mileage out of my bamboo placemat. Even with yesterday's and today's projects I still have more than half of it left!

I'm really happy with this cute mini I made using Evangeline papers between placemat book covers. I plan to fill it in with some pressed flowers from my yard as a keepsake when we move.



Next I made a hair clip for Abby. Don't worry, I know she will break, lose or flat out refuse to wear it in a matter of weeks! But, it's just so darn beautiful against her red hair that I couldn't resist.

The fabric flowers I used were machine cut, but if you don't have a fabric cutting machine, you can see an easy technique for cutting them yourself in this video. To make your flower, simply fold your cut fabric in half and press it around the edge. For this style, bring the fabric much further onto the Gluber as shown in the picture below. Repeat with a smaller cut of fabric for the inner petals. I used hot glue to attache the gem because it is quite heavy. Then flip it all over and glue on a hairl clip and find a beautiful girl to wear it!

Last, I made this fun little necklace for a friend of mine. Is it just me, or do the cream colored Tiny Text stickers make the bamboo look like piano keys? I love that and hope my musical friend will too! 

Well, I'll leave you to your Friday. I hope it's fabulous and that you all have amazing weekends! 

Thrifty Thursday: Turning a Placemat into Jewelry

These cute accessories were made from a lonely bamboo placemat I picked up at Ross for 3 bucks.

They only take minutes each to make and you could literally get dozens out of one mat. I made the cuff by trimming my favorite color of cardstock (aqua) to fit over the tiles! You can find this subtle pattern and beautiful color in our Baby Jane Mini Deck. It took about 1/2 of one sheet for the whole bracelet.

I used Glossy Accents to glue the paper to the tiles and then covered them with it to make them look enameled. String it together with some elastic thread and you're done.

I really love it! My only issue will be keeping it out of Kate's hands. She's already been caught trying to sneak off with it.

With such a cute cuff to wear, I got to thinking about more accessories. How about a brooch pin?

For this one, I used one of the long pieces of bamboo, three 1" Glubers and a bit of aqua fabric from Odds and Ends.

You can see how I coil the roses onto the Glubers in this video. The technique is the same for the one inch size, you just go around the Gluber one time only.

After your flower is made, back it onto the fabric so that it won't be sticky. You do this because the flower overlaps the bamboo and the exposed backing is adhesive which would stick to you or your clothing. (This photo looks funny because I am so close to the flower.)

Trim around your flower and use a little hot glue to attach it to your bamboo piece. I thought that three were cute. Flip your bamboo over and add a brooch pin.

Embellish with a little bling if you like!

If you are planning to sell handmade items at a summer art fair or craft market... if you need summer camp or family reunion craft ideas... or, if you still need a Mother's Day gift idea.... these would be fabulous. You can get soooooo many accessories from one placemat. We have more placemat projects to show you tomorrow so check back! 


 

10 Tips for Boosting Creativity

Follow these tips and you may just find yourself on your way to the land of creative mojo.

#1. Don't go shopping!
Hey, isn't it my job to convince you to go to the store and buy all the latest products? Well, I guess it would be OK if you were to buy all the Cosmo Cricket stuff, but other than that, try improvising. Improvisation will force you out of your box. You will HAVE to try and solve the problem with something you didn't think of first and that could just turn out to be a brilliant new idea! 

#2. Clean your desk. 
Ahhh, I know we all hate to hear that right! But a messy area will make you feel overwhelmed and that feeling is NOT going to get your creative juices flowing! I am the queen of messy desks, but since we put our house for sale, I have had no choice but to keep it clean. Here's what I've discovered, for my 10 minutes of clean-up time each day (yes that is really all it takes), I have been 100 times more productive! It is well worth the investment.

#3. Take a walk.
It doesn't have to be a walk necessarily, I get great results with showers too. It's funny though, on almost every walk I come home with at least two new ideas. There's something about the repetition of movement, the sound of my steps and being outside that let's my mind wander to little creative places.

#4. Expand on what works.
When you get a good idea, try to extend it out to as many new ideas and uses as possible. Turn your spark into a flame and your flame into a fire. I was amazed how many ideas I got for sewing tissue paper after I started thinking about it.

#5. Bounce ideas off friends. 
When I posted the DIY activity book, one of our facebook fans suggested Golden Books for the cover. I didn't think of that on my own, but it's a great idea and it sparked other ideas for me too like giving a new life to a child's favorite book that may have been loved too much to be readable.

#6. Re-Define
Sometimes we get so caught up in what something has been, that we neglect to see what it could be. Is it a book or a purse? Is it a sewing pattern or artsy tissue paper? As you walk through stores constantly ask yourself, what else could this be?

#7. Take a Break
If you find yourself in a creative rut on a project, take a break. Walk away. Give yourself a time-out. It's amazing how after coming back from a break you can have a completely new perspective.

#8. On your break, drink a coffee
Studies show that after only 20 minutes of drinking a cup of coffee, people's brains are more alert and creative making better and faster connections.

#9. Keep a notebook nearby
I especially find a notebook on my bedside table to be handy. I often get good ideas right when I'm waking or falling into sleep. I jot these down and then look at them when I'm fully awake. About 50% of them make sense and about 50% of those are actually good.

#10. Live your Life
You can't have new ideas without new inspiration and I don't mean Pinterest. Get out there, enjoy a picnic, play a game with your kids, go see a movie. Creativity is actually just coming up with new and useful connections, but you need things to connect and that comes from living!

So, now that you've got your creative thinking caps on.... tell us, what do you think we'll do with this bamboo placemat I picked up for $2.99 at Ross? 

We'll show you some great ideas with it for tomorrow's Thrifty Thursday.

Book Frame with Collage Art

Maybe it's because I am a romantic when it comes to sappy, inspirational, and somewhat cheesy quotes, but I love framed messages. I think this one is especially sweet being framed in an old book. "Your life is a story, make it good."
This book's cover was titled Don Juan, and although I briefly thought about making a scrapbook with stories of my old flames titled The Don Juans of My Life, I re-thought that when I saw Kate reading one of my past journals. Instead I simply flipped the book over and cut it into a frame.

I saw the idea for cutting stepped frames from old books years ago and it's something I've always thought of trying. Here's how I did it.

I measured 1" in on all sides except the bottom which I weighted by cutting 1.5" inches from the edge. A cork backed ruler is handy here because they don't slip, but if you don't have one, you can drizzly a bit of hot glue on the backside of a plastic ruler to make it non-slip.

After your window is cut, measure in from its edge 1/8" all the way around. (By the way, you could make little shelves with this technique simply by cutting the bottom edge flush with the opening.)

Make sure your blade is very sharp or it will tear the soft book paper. Press very hard through as many levels of paper as you can. Do this a couple times. Then carefully lift out all the pages you have cut. When you get to the lower levels, there will be some areas you have to go back over to free them. You want to make these cuts deep enough to go through the first third of the book.

Repeat this two more times. Each time, bring your frame in 1/8" and make your step another third deep. When you are finished, it will look like this.

The front binding on my Don Juan book was falling apart. This is a very common problem with old books, but a bit of tape secures it nicely. 

Next, I need to glue the book pages closed to give my frame much more structure and keep the book from sagging funny. I used some acrylic medium in matte (no, I am not endorsed in any way by Liquitex, I just like their product) and some binder clips.

While that was drying, I created my framed quote to place inside. I really liked the idea of using the book paper I had just cut from the book for this, but alas, the story of Don Juan didn't seem to have the right words! I found the words I was looking for, after spending far too much time reading steamy scenes from Don Juan, in The Beloved Vagabond book from last week.

I wanted the word "story" to stand out and so I took some of our Ready Set Chip Alphas and covered them in book paper. To do this, I coated them with Liquitex, placed them on the paper and then trimmed around each one with my craft knife.

Next, I took all my cut words and my new story letters and put them on some of our cardstock from Evangeline. I muted the background pattern by using some of Tim's Distress Ink in Tea Dye.

Since I may want to change out my frame at some future point, I taped the collage in place with Washi tape.

For the finishing touch, I ran some ribbon between the spine and the binding to hang it on my wall.

And there you have it. Total project time, 1 hour. These would make super cute gifts!


Tomorrow we'll show you what we'll be using for this week's Thrifty Thursday. Check back!!! 

DIY Activity Book & Fabric Giveaway

I think I may be the last person on earth, with four children and no media player in the family van. I don't usually notice this fact, except that June 2, I will drive Ethan, Kate, Suki (don't worry, she will be in the car, not strapped to the top of it) and two Mac computers to Austin. Eric will be flying with the little two and hopefully recovering from knee surgery (keep your fingers crossed we get a donor).

As part of my effot to keep Kate entertained, I made her my version of a DIY Activity Book. There's three reasons why I think this is much better than buying an activity book. First, it requires creativity to come up with your own activities. Second, Kate, like myself, gets car sick if she tries to read things on the road, but drawing is not a problem. Third, it's just so darn cute!

Here is a guide to help you make one for yourself or someone you love.

First, you'll need to cut the insides out of an old book. This one had been in someone's basement for so long that it had spider webs behind the binding.... that nearly made me run screaming and not come back, but I managed after just one shriek. (Yep, terrified of spiders.)

Then, you'll want to re-inforce the binding area by cutting a piece of cardboard or tag board. Before you glue this down, make sure that it isn't too wide to allow the covers to fold still. I had to trim mine down slightly.

Use the book as a guide to cut out your background fabric. I wanted to piece mine out of two, but you don't have to!

Use a pencil to draw around your book onto your fabric. Then iron the edges behind, rolling the pencil line to the backside. Use your book as a guide to make sure it is looking good. You can iron right on top of it if it's easier for you.

Next your make your pockets. I used an element tag from our soon to be release Odds and Ends fabric. I simply cut it out, hemmed the top edge, ironed the other edges back and top-stitched in place.

For the pencil pocket, I cut my rectangle twice the height plus top edge allowance. (I would give dimensions, but everyone's books will be different in starting size). I hemmed the top edges and stitched the sides, wrong sides together to make a pocket that was a separate piece from my background. Then, I stitched every .75" for each pencil holder. 

When you pin this to your background, please keep your pencils in place. They are quite dimensional and with the pocked backing up to a hard book, you won't have any give once the project is completed.

You don't have too, but I even left the pencils in place as I stitched the pocked to the background fabric. To do this you will need a zipper foot. If you don't have one, simply resist the urge to flatten out your pencil pocked from where you placed your pins while the pencils were in the pocket.

Don't stitch across the bottom. Leave that free. Otherwise, we would have to take tucks and gathers and go to more work than this project really justifies!

I got some purse handles at Joanns on clearance for 97¢. I'll be they still have some if you hurry.

I sewed tabs to attach them to the book, but ribbon or twill tape would be cute too.

I used hot glue to attach the tabs to the book.

Then I hot glued my insides. The best way I found to do this was little by little. You can press and spread the glue out that way. If you get a glue lump under your fabric, you can use a craft iron (I have a dedicated iron for messy projects that might ruin my good iron) to heat the glue back up and spread it out. I only had to do that once though until I learned my little by little lesson!

If you like this project let us know! And, if you like the fabric below let us know that too. We'll be giving away one yard in the color of your choice to one lucky winner. This is a light weight canvas print from our Odds and Ends collection. The print is called Happy Thoughts and it is so fun for bags, aprons, pillows, chair cushions, etc! I plan to make some things with it this weekend for sure!!

Leave a comment to be entered into our random drawing. We'll announce the winner on Monday. Have a happy weekend and wonderful National Scrapbook Day everyone!

 

Thrifty Thursday: Old Books Get New Lives

You've seen us make them into Kindle Covers

Shaddow Boxes

And Secret Compartment Boxes

Today I'll show you what I did with "The Story of a Bad Boy." I found the title so funny, and I've been wanting Eric to make a scrapbook so that our kids will have his perspective on some things, rather than just my own. But, how do you get a man to make a scrapbook????

Well, in my experience, you don't. You make it for him and hope he'll add to it! So, without further ado, here is what I made for Eric. Call it a DIY Smash Book, a Man Book or a Pocket Book, either way, it turned out really fun!

I first cut out the insides. Is it a sin to cut up an old book? If the book is not a first edition or valuable in some other special way, then I don't think so. They are simply too abundant! You can find old books discarded for pennies, sometimes even free, at libraries. They run 50¢-$1.00 at my local thrift store. But the book I am using today I bought at a yard sale just for the title. It was fairly priced at a buck!

 Then, use one of the inside pages as a template, to create your pages. I wanted mine to be pockets, so I doubled the page width and added a quarter inch gluing strip to the sides.

Then, I made pages that would be easy for Eric to fill in. Think about what you would like to remember of the person you are making your album for.



If you know Eric, you know he is the antithesis of a bad boy. That is what makes this so funny!!!

If you like the looks of this project, here are some other ideas:
Gardening Book: Use the pockets to organize your seeds.
Card Organizer
Interior Design Guide: Use the pockets to hold swatches, magazine clippings, paint chips, etc.
Business Reciept Keeper: Make a category for all your expenses.
Wedding or Party Planner

Check in tomorrow for a fabric sneak peek and giveaway. We'll show you more ideas for old books before we get to next week's Thrifty Thursday. Have a great day everyone!

UPDATE: Brenda asked if I would give more details on making the individual pages. Well, here you go! I hope this helps... they are the only photos I got of the process.

First, since all books come in there own size, you need to cut one of the pages from the book to use as a guide. Measure its height and width, then follow this diagram.

As always, if you don't have a scoring board, just use a ruler and the BACKSIDE of a craft knife.

Take your cut and scored paper, cut the tiny bit of horizontal fold that extends past the 1/4" score lines on both sides.

Then fold your paper as shown below. A bone folder comes in really hand here!

Use a strong adhesive runner to apply glue to both tabs on the right had side. Then, fold your page in half sandwiching the glue between the tabs. For added design interest, I used a circle punch to cut the half-circle tabs and punch outs. You could make tabs in lots of ways though, or not at all.

DIY Easy Gift Bag

The results of my 9th grade aptitude test came with a suggestion for possible career choices. These included:
Mechanic Every 14 year old girl's dream. "Hey Eric, can you bring me the washi tape, I need to re-attach a hub-cap." 
Mover Yes that is a job choice. Although I can squeeze as much into a box as anyone except Mary Poppins, my weak little arms can't ever lift them afterward.
Home Organizer This one is just so funny I needn't say more!

With this selection, what is a girl with great Spatial Reasoning scores to do? Well, it just so happens that being able to organize shapes is handy as a designer and being able to fold up little drawings in your mind and know what they'll look like makes creating packaging much, much easier. Funny though, artist/designer was never suggested.

Lucky for me, I found my calling and with my mental box folding skills in mind, today I'll show you some of my tricks for making your very own gift bag.

You will need two pieces of 12" cardstock. I used my favorite print from Evangeline. To begin, you will need to score your cardstock. I used a scoring board, but if you don't have one you can simply use a ruler and the BACKSIDE of a craft knife.

Score both sheets of paper at 3" and at 9".


Next, you'll turn your paper 90 degrees and score at the 10" mark. Do this to both sheets.

Use a craft knife to cut along the folds below the 10" score line. Then go back with your knife and eyeball 1/4" away from the 10" score line and cut away a slightly angled sliver from either side of your first cut (in the photo I still need to do this on the outer edges). This will make your bag fold look crist and neat, like it was store bought.

On the second sheet, you will cut off the two smaller sections. It will look like this.

It's almost time to glue it together, but first we want to make our top border. Trim off 1" from the top of your bag.

Cut it apart on the fold lines too. (The yellow print is on the backside of my cardstock.)

Now, we can glue it all together. Start by putting adhesive on the side panels as shown. 

Adhere this to the other half. Then glue together the bottom. If you are putting something heavy in your bag, you may want to cut a 3" x 6" rectangle to adhere over the bottom as reinforcement. 

Add your border. If you like, make a tissue paper ruffle.

Punch some holes in the top and add a ribbon handle. I also made a fun tag using the Baby Jane Element Deck and Chipboard.

Tomorrow we'll feature another Thrifty Thursday. Drop by to see what we do with these books we picked up at a yard sale for $1 a piece!