Southern Scraps

I saw this cute idea at the Silhouette blog, but I have the SD and cannot cut 12 inch files, so I made a box for a flower gift the old fashioned way. I'll show you how. These make great teacher's, thinking of you friend, or mother's day gifts. I know Mother's Day is passed and for most of you, you are done with teacher gifts, but they really work for any occasion. Here is one I made for a friend just to cheer her up. (She later told me she put an air plant in her box so she could take it to work and keep the box - awesome idea since the box won't hold up to watering a regular plant.)

I finally got brave and tried my hand at making a skirt from a men's shirt. Hubby put some shirts out for a yard sale last year and they didn't sell. I held back a couple of them from the Goodwill pile. Here's what I started with: Here's the end result:

<center><a href="http://www.southernscraps.blogspot.com/"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBgxGBXg7vyYHniSnCuaCAM5qQ3oLvB2PRFOhLMlCldBtvoTzPjSkfLJyRUHkSXZCT2K3isLeciNMkO100DzHgIVbnlWGc23WWQQwOJ9KJRUn75oH8Gakwsz3DGkn1uaZsIDyfCR5-uww/s1600/marchbutton.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBgxGBXg7vyYHniSnCuaCAM5qQ3oLvB2PRFOhLMlCldBtvoTzPjSkfLJyRUHkSXZCT2K3isLeciNMkO100DzHgIVbnlWGc23WWQQwOJ9KJRUn75oH8Gakwsz3DGkn1uaZsIDyfCR5-uww/s1600/marchbutton.jpg" /></a></center> Next in the series of earrings is another pair inspired by the geometric shape of the Kate Spade earrings in the last post.  This time I used circles and rectangles.

Welcome to my first official post of March Madness- Bring on the Bling. Remember I made some earrings last week and could not stop at one pair? I'm on a earring/jewelry kick and will be making and sharing more this month in this series. (BTW- don't forget to enter the giveaway for a custom photo card or invitation from Simply Rosy- there's a link above in the header.) I was surfing a fashion/style blog recently and saw these Kate Spade earrings posted. Source I was inspired to make these (they are not a copy or even the same shape, just my version that was inspired by those):

I had some fun this week playing around with felt flowers. Most of these flowers I have made before, but not with felt. I tried two variations of the pom pom. I made this one with the usual method of folding circles in quarters and gluing them around a circle. This one I made by scrunching my circles, as shown here.

I used some handmade flowers as package bows on a wedding gift recently. I followed THIS tutorial, but cut the center stems very short. I also used brads in the center of some so they would lay flatter. I used the paper that stores wrap your breakables in. Not sure what to call it- it's heavier than tissue paper but still pretty soft. I had saved some from previous shopping trips. These were quick and easy but turned out very elegant. Linking up here: Think Pink Sundays * Keep It Simple Sunday * Under the Table and Dreaming * Sundae Scoop * Strut Your Stuff * Creative Bloggers Party and Hop * Craftomaniac Monday * Making the World Cuter * Just Something I Whipped Up at TGC * Masterpiece Monday * Motivate Me Monday * Inspire Me Monday * Market Yourself Mondays at Sumo’s Sweet Stuff * Pink Hippo Party * More The Merrier Monday * Running With Glitter * Twenty Minute Tuesdays * Take a Look Tuesday * Handmade Tuesdays * Tuesday Time Out * Tell Me Tuesday * My Uncommon Slic...

I love scarves. I always have but I didn't have the confidence to wear them when I was younger. Girls just didn't wear them where I 'm from when I was in school and I always worried about how they looked on me. I grew up and got over that! I love wearing them now, winter or summer, casual or dress. There are a ton of diy tutorials out there to make your own. Here are a few on my list to try: Pleated knit scarf from make it and love it

Good morning! It's almost Friday. This week I tried out Beverly's tutorial at Flamingo Toes for the Anthro Pernilla knock off. By the way, this necklace is no longer available at Anthro, so I consider the tutorial for it highly valuable.

Here is a necklace that I made for my mother as her mother's day gift. I didn't really have a completed project or directions to go by for this. I browsed some bead magazines and picked up a few ideas, like the beads inside the shell circles, but mostly I came up with my own design and went with it. Here's a list of materials and a how to. Most of the materials came from Michael's. This is simply stringing and the only skill you need is crimping. Make sure you get the right size crimp bead for your stringing wire. Beadalon tells you on their packaging which to use. HERE is a tutorial on how to close a crimp bead. Rose shell carved pendant Beadalon Satin Silver stringing wire 2 crimp beads 2 split rings 1 lobster clasp 8 6mm gemstone beads 2 25mm Round lentil beads 8 Jet shell loops 6 round jet cat's eye 6 each 6, 8, and 10 mm faceted beads 16 silver bicone spacers 10 glass sead beads 10 white Nebula glass shiny 8x10mm beads I didn't write down the finished...

For many kids, college students, and parents it's back to the books this time of year. Crazy4challenges issued a "book related" challenge so I've created a bookmark. Papers: Pink cardstock, BasicGrey sugared Tools: EKSuccess treading water punch Accents: Flowers, brad, ribbon Here are a few steps to making your own: Cut a 6 1/2 inch by 3 1/2inch  piece of pink cardstock. Punch each long side with a decorative edge punch. Cut a 6 1/4 inch piece of decorative paper. Adhere to pink piece. Cut a  2 inch by 4 1/2 inch piece of white cardstock. Stamp image. Color. Adhere to decorative paper. I then sponged walnut distress ink around the edges of my image panel. Punch a  hole in the center at the top. Tie in a piece of ribbon.  Layer flowers with a brad in the center. Attach at the top so they cover the hole. Voila! Super easy bookmark! I'm linking this up to the Crazy4Challenges blog and to the link parties on the side. I'm also putting this bookmark in ...

Last week I was browsing around Ann Taylor loft for jewelry and fashion inspiration. I saw this cuff bracelet . In case no one has noticed, I'm into big chunky jewelry right now. It's not a bad price, but I still thought that I could make one for less and that it would be fun to do also. So I did. Here's my version: Mine does not have rhinestones. And to tell you the truth, I didn't notice the rhinestones in the Ann Taylor loft version to begin with. I'm not a good tutorial writer, but I did take a few pictures of the steps and will try to explain. I ordered a 2-inch aluminum cuff blank from here. I got a 99-cent fake leather belt from the Good Will. (I'd say this is a fabulous upcycle for this belt.) You'll also need some black felt. It was already in my stash, along with Beadalon medium curb silver plated chain. I cut off a portion of the belt and glued it to the cuff blank with Fabri-Tac adhesive. Cut it a little wider and fold the edges to the i...

Last week I set out to make myself a dress- the first since I took a sewing class in high school. I've had this piece of striped fabric from my Grandmother's stash for years. I just couldn't decide what to make out of it. Then during my surfing one day I came across this dress . It inspired me to use this fabric for a similar dress. The complete directions aren't there so I did a litte more surfing. THIS video helped out a lot. Here is my dress: Here is how I made it (sorry- no photos of the process). Cut two rectangles of fabric- To determine size- take widest measurement (widest point of hips for me) and add 7 inches, divide in half. Each piece needs to be this wide. For me this is a little too wide- you could probably get away with adding five inches. My dress is rather "tent like" in the body and I wouldn't dare wear it without a belt. To determine length- MS says measure from top of shoulder to desired length and add five inches. I just held the mat...

I took a few days off work this past week and had a stay-cation. I did not travel, but rather worked on some projects that were on my list of things to do. These are some of my projects: 1. Ruffled t-shirt- As I mentioned in a previous post, I'd like to learn to sew. I've been following some blogs and how to's and decided to try to embellish my own t-shirt with ruffles. I got two in the same color from Old Navy off the clearance for $3-$4. This is my finished shirt. I used the tutorials found here and here . 2. Photo album scrapbook- I put my grandparents' 50th wedding album in a scrapbook. (Prior to learning about scrapbooking, the photos were in one of those horrible magnetic albums. We pulled them out and for years they have been in a box waiting to go in another album). It's not a traditional scrapbook but a scrapbook nonetheless. If you have not heard about photo album scrapbooking , you can check it out here. It is a great way for a beginner to ease into sc...

The coloring on this card was done with the chalkboard technique. The tutorial for this can be found here . Some things to note: You definitely want a solid image. Your chalk is sticking to the ink. An image that is an outline will be impossible to color on dark cardstock. Also, I did wait for my ink to dry. It seemed to be smearing when I started applying the chalk while the ink was wet. The stamp used here is by Inkadinkado. Here's a close up of the image.

I'm actually posting another Technique Thursday. The card below (it's listed in my shop ) was made with a technique called crayon resist. Using glossy paper and a white crayon, you can really make images pop! I had fun with this. Tutorials on this cool technique can be found at splitcoast stampers and hero arts .

I love to "alter" things with my papers and scrap supplies. This week I have been working on an altered paint can that will be filled with goodies for a baby shower gift. Here's a quick tutorial for doing this with scrapbook paper. Supplies: Gallon paint can (clean and empty) 2 sheets coordinating 12x12 patterned scrapbook paper. Adhesive (Decoupage medium or a xyron ) Ribbon, stickers, embellishments 1 inch circle punch 1. Cut your paper 10.5 in in length and whatever width you desire. My top piece is 4 in. and the bottom is 3.75. Cutting them the same length will allow your seams to match on each side. This length allows for a slight overlap but you can still line up the seams. 2. In order to cut around the handles on each side, use a circle punch and cut out half of a circle. Measure down from the top of the can to find the appropriate place. 3. Apply decoupage medium or run pieces of paper through xyron. Adhere to can. Also cut a circle for the top and adhere. I used ...

Mother's Day is tomorrow. Did you get Mom a card? Or will you be putting one together at the last minute? Here's some inspiration for you if you need it. I made this one for my mother-in-law. If you don't have photo corners on hand, don't sweat it. Here's a tutorial for the notched kind. http://www.scrapfriends.us/articles/photo_corners.html

I made some Easter cards for my family this week. This one is a variation of the one in my shop. Here's another one. (Sorry about the blurred photo. The card was already sealed up to mail before I realized the pic was bad.) Here is a quick tutorial for making the trifold card. Supplies: Egg stamp Bunny Stamp ( Inkadinkado ) Happy Easter Stamp ( Inkadinkado ) yellow cardstock white cardstock brush markers primary colors ( Marvy Uchida ) ink 1. Make trifold card from yellow cardstock. Start with a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2 inch sheet of cardstock. Score and fold 2 1/4" from one end and 2" from the other end. 2. Stamp egg four times on white cardstock. Color with markers. 3. Trim and mat to bottom third of card front (2 1/4 piece). 4. Stamp bunny on white cardstock. Color. Cut out. 5. Adhere bunny to bottom edge of top third so that he extends below the bottom third inside. 6. Stamp Happy Easter on top third of card.