A Boys Life: A Shark Box & A Wolf Tail | New Vintage Treasures

A few weeks ago we started working on Z's Valentine's Day box. I was planning on covering a shoe box with white paper and putting primary colored hearts and stuff on it. So I asked Zane what we wanted to do and he said he wanted a sea creature (he's opposed to hearts in general). Then he said he wanted a shark. And I thought that would be so much more fun than what I was planning. I had already bought a large paper mache mailbox from Hobby Lobby when they were on sale in anticipation of Valentine's Day. I was thinking I needed a box that we could open the top and make a shark mouth to drop the Valentine's cards down into when it hit me I could turn that mailbox up on it's end and use that for my shark mouth!

We painted the outside grey, the inside red with a red glitter mouth, I cut a styrofoam ball into eye sockets and bought blue animal eyes at Hobby Lobby. I used hot glue for everything - well, except the glitter. I drew the teeth and let him cut them out then glued them onto the inside of the lid and if you position it just so the mouth will stay open if you allow the teeth to rest on part of the mouth opening. He helped me paint, applied the glitter, pushed the eyes in, and cut out the teeth. I used red foam Thickers for his name. Then I drew and cut the water waves out at the bottom because even though he can cut just fine, waves aren't in his cutting repertoire yet. It's really pretty simple but oh so cute!

We (meaning me and most of you blog readers who are fellow crafty people) do stuff like this all the time so I forget sometimes how cool this kind of stuff is to people who don't craft - but people were amazed at this box! All the kids gathered around him when he walked into the room and wanted to see it. Adults were commenting on it all the way down the hall as they walked into the building and I got compliments on it at the school party. And it's going to look cute in his room all the time, not just for V-Day. I had to give myself a little pat on the back for coming up with this one ;)

So, this is our next crafty adventure - Fairy Tale Day. Zane wanted to be The Big Bad Wolf. But he really looks like The Little Sweet Wolf. We had these wolf ears from Great Wolf Lodge in Texas. I used some of the fur fabric I bought for the tail and put some on the ears so they would match.

I bought the faux fur fabric at Hobby Lobby. I just cut it into the shape of a tail, slightly tapered at the bottom. I used just a little stuffing in the middle then glued two sides I had cut together leaving the top open. I cut two pieces of elastic and hand stitched them into loops on the back side of the tail so that he could slide the tail onto a belt and I used two so that one would be on either side of his back central belt loop on his pants so the tail would not slide around - and the loops were hidden that way. I could have stuffed it more but I wanted him to be able to sit on it. I think it's pretty darn cute! It was his idea to get down on all fours to pose :) Cuteness.

This is just a new pretty picture of my special little girl. This was after church one day. This girl has gotten so talkative! Like non stop! She loves attention and she's figured out that by talking your leg off all day long that's a way to make sure she's getting all she can get, lol. She is my little shadow and how blessed I am. She's almost 4 years old - how time has flown.

Now, yall ready for some new vintage goodies! This is my installment called, "Recently From Ebay."

Lots of tag and lots of Victorian calling cards - like a huge lot, maybe 60, for not much money! I also got a set of 5 Dennison crepe paper crafting booklets for 10.00 I think it was. The printed tags didn't come cheap but they are so cool. There in the upper left you can see an old string  holder. I have another one on the way - can't wait to show you that one.

Paper doilies made in England - they are much finer than anything I've seen or own. Very intricate.

Squeal!!! Tin biscuit box with a lovely patina on the inside, great colors of the band advertising, some embossed manufacturing wording in the back, and you can't tell, but this is a glass lid!! Score, baby!

This is a great little, black wooden tray that I think I got for 10-15 dollars. Each little slot is slightly angled so when you have stuff in there you can see the labels of your stuff better and it kind of displays in a staggered manner. Isn't this fabulous??!

I couldn't believe it when I read Jenni's blog and she had a project using a vintage seal! I've been collecting those too and I even ordered a new one with my initials on it! My new one is the black one, the silver one is the vintage one. Jenni is going to have some for sale on the 15th at the Mercantile. They also sell new ones at Paper Source - I have one and it does a great job. However, can you believe that I actually ordered it with an incorrect date on it?? How dumb I can be sometimes! Sat right there and proof read it and I have the wrong established date for our family! Bwahaha - what a dork. The good news is the embossing plate are interchangeable with the embosser machine so I can just order a new plate.

Here you can see the one I had made - not from Paper Source - some online company who only makes embossing seals, can't remember who but can look it up if you are interested. There were all kinds of designs to choose from, most all looked like the vintage originals. I used malted milk ink on the tag with my initials to make it show up better. The other one with the Indiana seal is a vintage one, it's more of a simple design I would say.

This is a detail shot of one of the Dennison booklets showing how to use their crepe paper to decorate cars and trucks for a parade. The old crepe paper was much more sturdy than what we use today and was sold in big crinkled sheets so this would have been more possible with the heavier crepe.

 

Good for Christmas stuff

Here's the black box, a new mini chips stand holder with the calling cards clipped on, two stamp holders, and the string holder. Whew! Lots o' shopping going on here.

Finally I leave you with a little sneak of the JBS Mercantile March kit! The kits go on sale tomorrow night at midnight central time!

Tart Tins & Number Cards Garland for JBS

Our blog assignment for the rest of the month at JBS is to create something with Jenni's foundational pieces like large chipboard or bingo cards or tart tins, etc. I jumped at the chance to use those awesome tart tins. I combined them with Jenni's Number Cards as well as vintage metal marquee letters. I used her chipboard pieces, Office and Old Time Photos, along with her Decorative Brads, Doily Flowers, and buttons. Here I've displayed the garland hung between two silver candlesticks and finished with gray grosgrain ribbon. I used an initial for each person in our family then the number 4 since I didn't have a J ;) I was thinking it might be cool to use your One Little Word for 2012 if that's something you're doing.

All the JBS supplies are linked on my post at the Jenni Bowlin Studio Inspiration Blog as well as detailed instructions, a list of tools needed, and step by step photos. If you think this is something you might like to do, please check it out!

File Folder and Tags Project for JBS Mercantile

**Watch for this project in Scrapbook Trends September 2012**

I made this out of a file folder so I would have the option to display it in the house for a while and then if I got tired of it setting out I could cut it in half and put it into a book. Best of both worlds ; ) This was made using whatever I had in the rest of my stash from the February Mercantile Kits. The manilla tags all came from Staples including the little one with the gray reinforcement which is from Martha Stewart's new line there.

And this is what it looks like bent where it will stand on it's own - double pics, couldn't resist, I know you get the idea. I sliced the file folder down the two sides so I would be able to flip it open like this.  I've really been into wanting to display more of my scrapbook work and not put it away in a book (ha, who am I kidding, it's just a pile) and forget about it. I've got a long ledge in my hall I may start setting layouts on, the newer ones, that is.

Half of the tags are glued down flat and half of them are attached with foam dots. I wanted it to have that dimension and variation.

This is one of the while velvet-esque millinery flowers we got in the Antiquarian Kit. I used my JBS Speckled Egg Re-Inker mixed with a touch of water and poured some in the lid of a water bottle. I dipped the flower stamens down into that to stain them aqua. If you do this don't leave them there for very long at all because they do turn a little gummy - get them out and get them dried off with a paper towel. Then I took my finger and dipped it into the re-inker mist and went all around the edge of the flower painting the color on. Then I dapped my finger in water and blended the color all the way around for a watercolor look. Finally I added one of those adorable cabochon hearts from the main kit.

One of the things I was kind of proud of myself for doing was using the watch crystals (I think that's what they're called, clear plastic, domed inside) from Antiquarian to make little raised embellishments on my tags. With the circle watch part I used a small circle punch on the sticker paper making sure to punch out the word family. I just used clear glue sparingly along the rim to glue it onto the little ticket. 

I am just so crazy crazy about those little cream paper roses Doris put in the mini album kit. LOVE 'em. I used those on that little Martha Stewart tag. The only thing on this layout other than the tags that is not from the kit is the little brass rosette. If you like that it can be currently found at Lowe's in the hardware section. It's called a brass mirror rosette.

I loved layering the little kraft label sticker (backed with cardstock) onto the little ticket from Antiquarian. Too cute if I do say so myself, lol. The key tag was the left over from the key I cut for the project kit. It's a Silhouette cut.

The record ticket is what I did with the other watch crystal. It's like a little puffed rectangle and as I was searching through all my kit bits looking for something to fit there I came across the 7 Gypsies labels Doris had put in the mini album kit - there was a rectangular label! You know as a fellow scrapbooker how awesome it is when some little detail works out so well like that! Perfect! All the cuts on here are Silhouette, the title (but I cut that apart with my scissors after the machine was done with it) and the hearts. I jotted down a few key phrases of what family means to me in the oval shaped tag.

Another thing I like about this project is the color scheme. It's mostly muted, warm colors but then there's a few touches of chartreuse, some dusty aqua, then the touch of purple in my daughter's face paint and shirt so I used the plaid tag (with a punch) with a little purple in that. I know purple is not the in color, but I have to tell ya, my little girl loves purple and this mama is really starting to like throwing in a hint of it in my projects. It's a very unexpected color here and I like that. I wished I had room to add just a tiny bit more.

*Check out this giveaway*

My friend, Amy Baldwin (who designs for Paper Issues), is having a fabulous give away in celebration of her 100th post. She is wicked good with mosaic (and calendars, and gift presentations, and tons of altered stuff) and she's giving away one of her creations! Check it out! You've got to check out her calendars while you're there.

Vintage Bingo Card with Paper Rosette for JBS Mercantile

I made this using primarily the February JBS Mercantile Antiquarian Kit. What a great kit - and I sincerely mean that! You get this nice sized vintage bingo card, heavy and sturdy, with sliders over the numbers. Also from the kit is the white ribbon with red numbers, and the vintage tomato abel. The seam binding is from my stash but you get green seam binding in the main kit, yellow seam binding in the mini album kit, and aqua seam binding in the Artisan kit. The rest of the stuff is from the main kit except the red paper strip, from Artisan.

Doesn't it look so cute hanging on my old, chippy dress form? 

I cut the label in half length wise. Then I used Martha Stewart fringe scissors all the way down my strips. I punched a cardstock cirlce and glued down the fringe as I folded it around the circle. I hot glued the shamrock milk cap from the main kit into the center of my rosette. I cut my seam binding pretty long, several strips of about 12", 18", 24" and held them all together and tied the center in a knot. I held the knot where the ribbon was going vertical out the top and bottom of the knot and hot glued it to the bingo card then glued the rosette to that. I took my scissors and trimmed up the seam binding a little more to accentuate the different layers.

The little metal clips that I used to attach the ribbon hanger to the bingo card are from Close To My Heart and are currently available. I would not be surprised if you could find something similar anywhere that sold picture hanging kits.

Here I've just displayed it hanging down from two antique corbels.

 Hope you like it!

Little random stuff like the 100 year old kid & the exploding soup

One hundred days of school down. Does your kid's school do this? The idea was for all the kids to dress up like 100 year old grandmas and grandpas. They did lots of 100 activities and crafts and worked on counting to 100. We finally talked Zane into dressing up. He and Adam found white hair spray paint at the party store. It turned out to be more gray, not white, which I liked because it matched the beard so well. We also got those Harry Potter glasses (all they could find), the beard, like I said, and they found a walking stick at Michael's that Adam cut down to size, and last but not least, they found Billy Bob Teeth. Do you know what those are?? Like what Cleetus wears. The look like a 100 year old hill billy so I thought they would work :) Zane loved those the best, of course. He didn't wear the beard all day because it was itchy and got in the way - just for their class photo, but the Billy Bob teeth, uh, yeah, he kind of took those in and out all day. I will not share a photo of 6 year old 100 year old Billy Bob teeth. Just can't do it, it hits too close to home to my back woods Okie heritage. LOL. I'm not joking.

Someone has been playing on Ebay. I was going to say way too much but I changed my mind. You can never have too much Ebay!!! That is unless you can't keep up with your Paypal account balance and your husband has to keep transferring money into it, haaaa!!! That's when it comes in handy he's got the banking background and takes care of all that and I just smile and keep on clickin' on!

I know, I know, don't be hatin' me too much, this is SO great!! The numbers are really big and what a great type style! They're like a little under a half an inch. Fabulous, right? I know. And that big bolt of ribbon is from 1945, stamped on the top with the old label. Will I ever be able to use it all? I have no idea :) Don't care to know the answer either.

 

Speaking of ribbon, I finally got all my seam binding up on the wall where I won't forget to to use it. Oh, getting that up there was quite the episode. If you have any old rolls of seam binding, you will notice the center hole of the wooden spool is very small, much smaller than a roll of regular ribbon. So I wanted these to be pretty, of course, and decided I wanted to use towel bars to do it. Only the rod of the towel bar is too thick. Back to Lowe's. I searched around and finally found these rods. Rods where the signs are like "for sale" and reflective numbers and stuff. And they were bright yellow. I'm thinking, oh yeah, baby, you did it. We headed home. 

Then Adam gets out the saw so we can cut them down to the perfect length. There we are like to idiots, I'm holding the rods steady on our two supports (ahem, cat carriers setting in the garage) while he cuts. And we discover . . . . . . I have purchased FIBER GLASS rods! You know how we discovered that right? Then we discovered  . . . . Gorilla Glue will get fiber glass shards out of your hands if you let it dry on there!  What a fiasco. The only good thing is they are quite strong to be so narrow and that's good for all the weight of the seam binding. They looked like stained and sealed wood in the store!

Then I took a day spray painting them to match the towel bar ends (cause yeah, you probably won't see the rod but then again, you just MIGHT see some peeking in between the ribbon spools and you can't be too careful with your scrap room decor (sarcasm at myself here). You know, I need a third one, rule of threes and all. That means . . . back to Ebay, baby!

Happy 34th Birthday to my husband, Adam! I got this photo the other night when we were opening his gifts. I used the the timer on my camera and propped it up on the lounge with a stop watch beneath for just the perfect height. I'm so clever, I know (sarcasm intended here : ) ) I had to use the flash. Do you hate the flash like I do? I do hate it. But I am finally embracing it after about 5 years of disowning it. I'll take the shadows, I'm finally tired of the grain, tired of hesitating to take photos at night. See, I'm telling myself, it's not so bad! I did have to photoshop the glare off his glasses though. This is the first good photo of all of us together I've got in almost a year. Thank you flash! Well, Ava does look a little shell shocked or something, but I still love it.

Finally I leave you with the story of The Exploding Tomato Soup. Was it really that good you're asking? Well, yes, it was but it was literally the exploding soup. I had this idea to make some really super fab tomato soup (my husband loves the stuff, could drink a gallon jug of it). I searched and read reviews at allrecipes.com. Got it all planned out, headed to the store. I was cooking along, got to the step where I needed to puree. I got out my industrial blender from my MIL from a past Christmas, a Vitamix, like a $450.00 blender (no, I would never spend that on a blender either but I'm sure glad she did, lol). No kidding, it's a big mama of a blender, the kind they use at Frulatti and places like that to make smoothies. This blender laughs at ice chunks. I'm going on and on about the blender so you will know she does have the power. I'm fearful for my fingers. I'm rushing around, throw the piping hot soup into the industrial blender, get the lid down, and turn on that baby full blast cause if she can eat ice, she can eat soup. However, I did learn, that if you put boiling hot soup into the blender and crank her on full blast --- she will blast. I screamed. I had piping hot tomato soup all over my arms, all over the floor, all over the counter, the cabinets (upper and lower) and even in my hair, all over my clothes, top and bottom. I froze. The family came running. They did not know if they should be concerned or laugh. Adam smiled. Zane laughed. I was still frozen with hot tomato soup dripping off my being. I should've had Adam take a pic but I was freaked about the mess, about my burning scalp, lol. Lesson learned: if you have an industrial blender and boiling hot soup creating some kind of wicked pressure build up, don't crank your industrial blender on high right out of the gate.

The February JBS Mercantile kits are live!

This is a fun kit, girls! I would say there's a lot of variation to this month's kits. The main kit has gorgeous blues, dusty blue and aqua, deep green and bright green, and lots of cute patterned neutrals. Here I used the main kit on kraft for a cute boy page. There are two amazing vintage circle die cuts - love those - and plan to use those for a page for the gallery update - I can't not use those! This layout was based on a quilt, one of my fave techniques if you could say that. I also made this for our main kit + punches challenge. I have an extra large square punch then cut them on the diagonal to create the triangles. (I just had to include that top photo, think it's pretty on that rust tole tray : ) )

I used two drafting triangles to get all the triangles lined up perfectly. I have a wooden shelf with a little decorative lip/ledge that belongs in my cabinet but never got put back after painting. I use that to set in bed and scrap or carry around the house. Anyhow, that little ledge acts as a guide/base for my drafting triangle. It's kind of like having a drafting table only the slider doesn't move. But it helps keep stuff lined up. I'm not always obsessed with perfectly straight but when I want it that way, this is the way I do it :) With a quilt pattern you really kind of want it lined up pretty well in my opinion unless it's kind of an organic or crazy pattern.

The next layout I did was for our sketch article for the Gazette so I won't say much more (cause I want you to download the Gazette at mid month - he he!) but that this is based on Leah Farquharson's layout "Family Reporter," from last month. It was great inspo cause I do adore this page! This was made mostly with the mini album kit. I heart that pink and yellow floral paper!

Finally this is the project I made with the mini album kit, Picture Windows, designed by Doris Sander. You can create a mini album in it like Doris did or make a shadow box like I did - or like Diane Payne did - our guest designer for February - and she made a hanger to put hers in her office! I'm so excited to have Diane, who I've known for a while and admire her work, as our guest! And I wanted to also mention last month we had a new friend to me and the girls at JBS, Julie Weiss. Both ladies have created fabulous things for us! Back to the project, Doris made a mini in the larger opening but then she also made three little minis in the small boxes! What a fun idea! Like I said, I think it's a really versatile month in terms of colors and kinds of projects.

I haven't had a chance to make something with Antiquarian yet but I'm getting started now! This is an incredible Antiquarian! LOVE it. There's a heavy chipboard bingo card and millinery flowers! And I'm kinda giddy about what I have going right now.

There's also the Artisan kit with bright pops of color and lots of fun themed embellishments. There are Ormolu fabric tags in there!

The remaining Mercantile 2011 Exclusive stamps and stencils are on sale right now! Run! LOL, they are limited!