How to make HOP TO IT Easter lettering sign with die cut letters

Today is the first day of lent so that means I can officially start crafting for Easter and I whipped up this HOP TO IT sign with 6 inch letter dies, a bit of scrapbook paper, and of all things binder clips!

I picked out a variety of colors of scrapbook paper with different prints and then die cut them taking care to place the dies on the squares slightly off center as I will use the outside die cuts in future projects- you know how I love twofers!

I also cut a set of these letters out in black and white print paper. The only letter that doesn't flip is the "P" so I had to make 2 letter P's. All the other letters when flipped are in the right direction.
I glued all the letters back to back and this made them stand up.

For the stands I used binder clips embellished with organza ribbon and buttons. I arranged the letters on the shelf with pretty Easter eggs in front of the clips and a few bunnies.
Since "HOP TO IT" works as an inspirational quote I will flip the letters over and use the black and white side after Easter. I promise to share it so be sure to subscribe to our email and you won't miss it.

Postal art, altered cards and collage art

I wanted to share with you a few pieces of art I have been making. This first piece above is a Christmas card that I then added all sorts of other bits of art and washi tape. The envelope is embellished with washi tape and rubber stamped and I used a collection of vintage postage for mailing.

This art card I also used a bunny paper punch for some negative space.

This is another mail art envelope that I had so much fun collaging the vintage postage and rubber stamping. I highly recommend sending out paper mail and you just might get some back in your mailbox! Bring back the art pen pal in 2019!

Embellish bird shower curtain rings with washi tape

I scored these bird shower curtain rings some time ago and had planned to dress them up with washi tape. I ran across them when I was cleaning up the house prepping for Christmas decorating and thought why not finally get to this project and use Christmas washi tape.

I have to admit it took me about 15 minutes to cover the birds with a strip of washi tape. Oh and then anothe r10 minutes to swap them out. Not bad, hu?

I think after Christmas I will peal the Christmas washi tape off and replace it with something "spring" themed.

Dress up cell phone covers with die cut sewing machine and knitting yarn stickers

See how easy these sewing machine die cut sticker and ball of yarn with knitting needles over at Craft Gossip. I will be making lots of these to go on every surface I can think of!

Rolled paper die cut flower party banner, tea light and straw covers

If you like to make your own party decor with paper die cut flowers pop on over to Craft Gossip for my tutorial on how to make a tiny paper paprty banner and tea light flowers and straw flower covers.

You are my world Mother's Day card/ Earth Day card

If you like my latest Mother's Day card / Earth Day pop up card head on over to Craft Gossip Recycling for the step by step tutorial.

How to make a die cut bird recycled wool felted sweater drink cozy

Here at Sweater Surgery I have a new favorite tool- the Crafter's Companion Gemini Die Cutting machine and the Crafter's Companion Mixed Media dies today's- the bird mixed media die. 

These two tools will die cut recycled sweaters like a dream! 

With the hot weather just around the corner cool drinks will be by my side and that means new cup cozies.

 The cuff part of the sleeve of a wool felted sweater works great to keep a drink cool.

After I die cut the body of the bird and the wing I stitched a pearl bead onto the body of the bird.

I glued the bird body onto the cuff while it was on the cup along with the wing.

I am sure these will work for hot drinks as well. Be sure to come on back to see more recycled sweater die cutting creativity with all the mixed-media dies.

Die cut recycled shampoo tube planner charm

I love making planner charms and clips. It's like making jewelry for my planners, sketchbooks and mixed-media journals.

What do I like making my planner charms out of? Recycled materials of course and my new bird mixed-media dies and Gemini die cutting machine from Crafter's Companion are the tools I am in love with cutting all sorts of recycled materials with.

For this planner charm I die cut a shampoo tube in beautiful copper color.

I opened up the tube and washed it out. I taped the tiny mixed-media bird die in place and ran it through the machine.

As well as cutting the bird shape it also curved it slightly. This works out great as when I glued the bird to the round earring wire the glue pooled nicely on the back side.

I added a pearl bead onto the earring wire before closing the wire up.
The earring wire is linked to a clip with a jump ring along with a few bead dangles in a variety of colors and shapes.
I added a bit of glitter washi tape to the clip to dress it up further.

How to make conversation heart planner charms with a candy mold

I love conversation hearts and when I found a conversation heart candy mold I new I had to make some charms for my Happy planner.

They are super easy to make.
First bend little pieces of wire into a "U" shape and then bend them so the ends extend into the heart half way.
Tape them to the plastic mold.
Mix up a batch of Durham's Water Putty. I like to use this stuff as it is a bit more sturdy than plaster and these charms will be jostled. You may want to cover the molds with your favorite release so they pop out easy.

Once the hearts are dry pop them out of the mold and sand the rough edges if needed.

I had a bunch of real conversation hearts to use as my color guide. I gathered up a variety of Plaid paints that matched. If you don't have an exact match it's pretty easy to mix.

Paint the full heart and let dry. Then paint the letters with a pinky red color. I had to go back and fill in a few spaces with the background color in a few cases.

I tied my Valentine's Day conversation heart charms to the disks on the planner with a variety of colored organza ribbon.

Alternative Facts machine embroidery on unicorn fabric

Today's quote is "Alternative Facts" by Kellyanne Conway machine embroidered on JoAnn's unicorn fabric with Coats and Clark pink embroidery thread.

Machine Embroidery - Whip It Good - Devo song lyric

Today's embroidery is "Whip it Good" the song lyric by Devo done with Sulky lavender thread on Free Spirit green polka dot fabric.

Cry on the Inside Like a Winner movie quote machine embroidery

Today's machine embroidery features a quote from the movie The Other Woman, "cry on the inside like a winner" on ballet dancer flannel fabric from JoAnns.

Fight Like A Girl Machine embroidery quote

Today's machine embroidery features the quote "Fight Like A Girl" sewn with DMC Thread on Windham Fabrics.

Easy way to organize and store your washi tape

I recently splurged a bit and got some new Create 365 washi tape from Me & My Big Ideas. So pretty!

I keep my washi tape in recycled cigar boxes. The rolls tend to get all messy in them so I came up with a way to keep them all organized in the cigar box.

I cut the plastic tubes the washi tape comes in and placed the halves in the box.

Voila! All neat and tidy, not to mention recycling the packaging.

Good As Hell machine embroidery quote

I combined the song title "good as hell" with golf toile fabric. I used Coats and Clark pink embroidery thread.

Balls Up Christmas machine embroidery

Just me being silly with a little Christmas double entendre machine embroidery.

Easy Halloween decoration- Candy Corn Stack of books

If you have a stash of books why not make an easy Halloween decoration with them by stacking them by color to form a candy corn.

Cost: Zip!

And best yet when the holiday is over no need to worry about where you are going to store your out of season decorations simply pop them back on the shelf where they belong.

Mummy cat rubber stamped and redacted recycled book page Halloween decoration

Have you tried redacting book pages to make quotes and fun phrases? I love it. It's like a puzzle but creative.

I thought I'd make some more book cover art with the redacted book pages and adding my favorite new Halloween stamp - a mummy cat from Judikins.

 This page I actually found Kat and craft on the page!

The other 2 say

"One of the problems...an ordinary...person....is to keep a covert eye on him. He....would...hide behind.....tombstones.....of course.

and

What do we know?....asked....the....tail....he's....to...destroy....incriminating.....information.

Try hide and seek with words!

Wiggle eye planner clips oh my!

Fun and easy project for you today.

Simply grab your stash of wiggle eyes in a variety of sizes and some paper clips.

Heat up the hot glue gun and attach the wiggle eyes to the single bend end of the paper clip.

These wiggle eye planner clips are so easy you could make a whole bunch and give them out as treats to all your friends.

This project approved by my pompom candy corns.

Easy way to dress up an old pair of boots with a stencil

I can't stop stenciling! I had this great bird stencil from Stencil1 and an old pair of motorcycle boots that were just calling for embellishment. I slipped some cardboard into the boot to flatten it a bit and used a Sharpie to draw in the bird onto the side of the boots. I'm thinking about hand painting some color into the outline of the bird shapes?