Southern Scraps

    Calling these ten minute earrings is being really gracious. A skilled jewerly maker could make these in under five. This is another great bead stash busting project that will use those up those random leftover beads, so it's got another thing going for it.   I made these as a Christmas gift. If you get in a pinch for a Valentine's gift, they would be great for that too. If you want them to be more in theme with Valentine's switch out the dragonfly charms with heart charms.   You will need:   a set of earring wires/hooks two sterling silver charms two beads of your choice two eye pins two jump rings (optional) jewelry pliers   Thread your beads on the eye pins and make a single loop at the top of each one. Attach the charms to the bead unit with a jump ring or attach directly to the loop of the eye pin. Attach earring wires to the top of the bead with the loop you just made. DONE!   Sharing here: Think ...

Metal stamping has been on my list of things to try out for a long time. I have owned a set of metal stamps purchased from Harbor Freight for over a year now but just finally got around to using them a couple of months ago. I made necklaces for Christmas gifts for my mother and in-laws. These were a lot of fun and come together fairly quickly so they would aslo be great gifts for Valentine's Day, Mother's Day or anytime you need to whip a a gift for a special girl friend. My stamp set is 1/8 inch and I used 9mm sterling silver discs. I also used sterling silver chain for these since they were gifts. I purchased my supplies in bulk from  Silver City Beads on etsy so I have around $10 invested in each necklace. They can be made for less if you forgo the sterling. Other supplies included beads, charms, 4mm and 6mm jump rings. This is a great stash busting project if you are already into jewelry making or beading. Adding a bead to your nec...

Still need a last minute gift? Need it to be budget friendly? Run to the Dollar Tree. For a dollar, grab a plastic bucket/basket. I bought the ones I used back in the summer, but I've seen them in other colors. I bet they have red right now. Design a monogram in your Silhouette SD/ Cameo, etc or other digital cutting machine. I made mine by drawing a circle and the filling it with my initials. Once I had the letters the way I wanted them, I erased the circle. I cut the monogram from vinyl and applied to the basket.   Don't have a cutting machine? Design a monogram in Word  and trace it on vinyl. Or print one and apply it using this method.   I'm using mine in the place of "stockings" this year and the basket itself is a gift since it has been personalized for the recipient. (You could put their name instead of initials.) Fill it with their favorite things and wrap in a basket bag tied off with curly ribbon and you've got a fun gift! Or ...

Are you down to wire now? Do you need a quick gift idea? Combine two hot trends right- chevron and monograms- and you will have a cute quick gift. I've had these tumblers in my craft/ gift closet for a while now. They are designed to insert photos into the tumbler.  They started out as pictured below. Cute polka dots, but not really what I wanted. I also have not learned photoshop very well and did not know if I could manipulate a photo template to add photos. So... instead I printed out some fun chevron prints on an 8.5 x 11 in piece of cardstock. I took the existing paper in the tumbler and used it as a template to cut my cardstock. Then I inserted my new fresh pattern into the tumblers. You can print free chevron papers here. (The site I originally used has a bad link.) I designed my monograms in Silhouette using this tutorial , except I stopped when it came to point editing. Basically, what I did was draw a circle to place my letters in and then deleted t...

I have been saving some Starbucks Frappicino bottles for quite some time. I finally used them to make some stocking stuffers. I took some cardstock strips and made a Santa bottle. It's filled with red Hershey's kisses.   Then I took more Hershey's kisses and labeled them with free printable labels from Amanda's Parties to Go.  I filled more bottles and then topped the bottles with ribbon and flowers from my scrapbook stash. I love how they turned out.    

  One week to go! Do you need a cute, quick gift for someone? The hubby and I made these last year for our Sunday School class and a few others. We picked up the mugs at Wal-mart for less than a dollar each and filled them with chocolate spoons and an instant cocoa packet. You can make the spoons really festive with sprinkles and make them in almost any color scheme you want. To make the spoons, you will need: chocolate or other flavor chips plastic spoons sprinkles Melt the chips over low heat. Dip the spoons in and then lay them on wax paper to cool. Go ahead and add sprinkles before they cool, so the sprinkles will stick. Once they are done, tie them up in some plastic. We stuck a small treat bag over the spoon and tied it with ribbon. Our complete package was placed in a festive goody bag from the Dollar tree and a tag was tied on with ribbon.  I made tags with the computer and scalloped punches using Psalm 34:8- "Taste and see that the Lord is g...