Whooooo Wants A Treat? Happy Owl-o-ween!

I'm on a little owl kick but I just can't help it.  I love the exaggerated features, especially the big eyes, and owls are the perfect critter for Halloween fun.

For this project, I used Echo Park's Chillingsworth Manor collection and Trendy Twine's orange licorice to whip up a Halloween treat bag.  This was a really fast and simple project.

I started by cutting a piece of double sided patterned paper 3 x 12 inches, scored at 4.5 inches from either end.  I folded the paper into a tent, stitched across the top to secure it shut, then added a large triangle beak.

The scoring measurements gave the treat container a 3-inch base which fits flat-bottomed treat sacks from Martha Stewart.  I buy the MS bags at Michaels and always keep some in my stash. 

To make the owl's eyes, I used a punch to cut two large circles from black cardstock, covered them with adhesive, then added twine.  To wind the twine, I started by tying a knot and using that knot to anchor the twine in the center of the circle.  Then I carefully wound the twine tightly around the knot and around the circle until all the cardstock was covered.

After I made the twine circles, I added large googly eyes.  I glued the twine circles on top edge of the triangle nose and added a die-cut journaling spot behind the eyes. Lastly, I ran a journaling card through my printer to add the sentiment: Whooooo wants a treat?

You can find more Halloween-themed design team projects on the Trendy Twine blog all this month.  You can also play along! To join the Trendy Twine October challenge, see the details on this post.

Linking to: Tip Me Tuesday.

Documenting Baby's Growth: The Months Rocket By

Long before I had a child or started scrapbooking, I saw a baby project on the Martha Stewart show that stuck with me.  A crafter – and new momma – had taken a photo of her baby every month on his birthdate in a plain white onesie.  Then at the end of his first year, she made a photo collage of the 12 photos and framed it.

I loved this idea and decided to follow suit when my son was born.  I went to the store and bought a Carter’s plain white onesie, size L, which fits babies up to 20 lbs.  Wow, that onesie looked gigantic and it was hard to believe my little sweetpea could grow into it in one year’s time.  But he did!

And so I set about photographing my son each month in the onesie.  For his newborn pic and 1 month pic, he’s wearing a long-sleeve onesie because he just looked ridiculous in the size L onesie. But after that, I faithfully took his photo each month in the same onesie. 

I still haven’t made a photo collage of all 12 months. But I did make a layout of the photos from the first six months.  I used October Afternoon’s Rocket Age for this layout. Although Rocket Age is not a baby line, the theme of time rocketing by worked perfectly.

I reduced the size of each photo so I could punch it in a square.  I also punched squares of patterned paper and stitched them to the page for a quilted look, then added some space-themed embellishments, including a rubber charm to stand in for the "o" in rocket.

This layout was published in the April 2012 issue of Scrapbooks Etc and is reposted with permission. 

Sewn Hearts

I love the trend I've been seeing on cards and layouts lately to sew columns of embellies straight down a project. I thought it would be fun to try this with hearts for a Valentine card.

I got out some Echo Park Paper scraps (mostly Victoria Gardens) and a heart punch and made nine hearts. I tacked the hearts lightly in columns on a white cardstock base. I intended to sew a single line down the middle but I got slightly off course on my first row, so I decided to make each row a double.

To make the columns of hearts into a card, I followed a layout design for my inspiration. My friend Karen Tarpley made this adorable layout with sewn butterflies.

I thought her layout would be easiliy adaptable into a card. Following her design, I added a bit of patterned paper above the hearts, then added a bit of pink trim, a doily and a journaling card.

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Thanks for the inspiration, Karen. You can find more of her work on her blog. 

Supplies:

PP: Echo Park Paper

Trim and Resin Heart: Webster's Pages

Doily: Martha Stewart

Ink: Ranger

Mist: Tattered Angels

Sewing Machine: Bernina