Birthday Cake Decor with Glue Dots®

Eek! A month since I last blogged! Sheesh! Things at work continue to be crazy, and I'm traveling from one end of the state to the other a few times a month. The good news is that there's light at the end of the tunnel (let's hope it's not a train!!), and things should at least be slowing down pretty soon!
I was thrilled when the lovely ladies (and possibly a few gents!) at Glue Dots wanted us to create some birthday decor. Little Miss O's birthday was earlier this year, and I was just waiting for a good opportunity to share how to make this cute little cake banner!

Banners seem to be all the rage right now with decorating, especially for a party. Anyone who knows me when it comes to my kids birthdays, I tend to go over the top with their cakes! This birthday was not the exception, either. A banner on the birthday cake? Genius!
While I was perusing the party section at Wally World, I came across some clearance flags on toothpicks. A pack of 30 for 50 cents! I wasn't sure how they would work, but the colors were perfect. The first step was getting the toothpicks out of the equation.

Use your fingernail (or whatever else you'd like) to tear one side of the flag's paper. This gives you a great little space to adhere them along your string. I used Micro Glue Dots® and bakers twine.

I used Mini Glue Dots® to adhere some K&Company chipboard letters to the front of the flags.

Leave enough extra twine to be able to wrap and tie the ends of the banner around the supports. I used paper straws from Target (again, on clearance! Score!)

So, a little over the top with all of the other decorations, but Little Miss O loved it...and I'll admit...I kind of did, too!

If you're wanting to see more of this la-la-lovely LaLaLoopsy party, check out my post here and here!

Supplies used:

• Micro and Mini Glue Dots®
• Baker's Twine (The Twinery)
• Chipboard Letters (K&Company)
• Paper straws (Target)
• Toothpick flags (Wal-Mart)

I wrote this blog post while participating on the Glue Dots® design team

Buttons Galore and More Blog Hop

Hi! My name is Erin and you've made it to my stop along the Buttons Galore & More Blog Hop. Thanks for joining us! If you came here first and need to get back to the beginning, click here!

I was super excited for our Glue Dots® team to partner with Buttons Galore & More for this hop! They have the cutest buttons, and I am thrilled to work with them for my project today.

I created a gift for graduation for my project today. It feels like I always get stuck in a rut of a card and some moolah as graduation presents. It's easy, right?? Well, this project is just as easy, and it gives the student something to keep for years to come (and it still can include $$!).

I started with a simple, clear ornament. I made a graduation cap to cover the top of the hanger.

Knowing my weakness of getting anything glued onto an ornament straight, I started this time using a small rubber band. I stretched it around the ornament until it was nice and straight, and used that as a guide to put my Thickers foam numbers on. Oh, and BONUS! My empty roll of Glue Dots® is perfect to hold the ornament while I work on it!

hehehe...kind of a self portrait here, too!

 To finish this up, I added an cute little football button from Buttons Galore & More using Craft Glue Dots® (after I cut the plastic shank off the back using nail clippers). I made a tassel and added that to the top of the cap, then rolled up some money, tied it with some rick rack, and adhered that on with a Mini Glue Dot®. 

 

This is a great project because it's quick and completely customizable with different colors, buttons or even adding their name.  

Thanks for joining me along the hop today! 

Here's the complete line up:

Dawn Barrett 

Donna Budzynski 

(You are here!! --->) Erin Bullock

(Go here next!)  Joy Dickson

 Holly Gagnon

 Danielle Hunter

 Smitha Katti

 Michelle Philippi

 Anita Scroggins

 Laurel Seabrook

 Samantha Taylor

Materials used:

• Clear glass ornament
• Thickers - Sunny Glitter Foam Letters
• Canary Rick Rack - Wrights
• Green string
• DCVW - The Silky Smooth Cardstock Stack
• Football Button - Buttons Galore & More
•  Glue Dots®: Craft and Mini

I wrote this blog post while participating on the Glue Dots design team

A Quick Mother's Day Treat

So I'll start by saying that if you happen to be Marty, my own, personal mother, STOP HERE! Ha! Spoiler alert!! You'll be seeing this very shortly in person, so Happy Mother's Day in advance!!

Let me say that I am becoming very aware of the fact that I'm an extremely good shopper! I have an eye for bargains, and I know exactly what styles I like to work with. That being said, my space is extremely limited as far as storage and workspace. I've put myself on a shopping freeze (except for my monthly kit subscription...I need my Scarlet Lime!!), and I'm forcing myself to use up the enormous stash that I have. 

I picked up a cork board at a crafty store for $1 (before the shopping freeze!), not knowing what I would eventually make with it (but seriously, for $1?!? I could come up with something, surely). I have a bag of flower petals my best crafty friend was getting rid of (free!), and a super huge stash of Thickers -- one of those craft items I like so much I never want to use! Add some American Crafts ribbon, some Craft and XL Glue Dots®, and you've got yourself an awesome cork board for someone special!

Quick, easy, inexpensive, and a Mother's Day present your mother might actually use :)
Happy Mother's Day, Mom!!

I wrote this blog post while participating on the Glue Dots design team

Playing Along with The Play Date Cafe!

I always check over with The Play Date Cafe to see their color creations for the week, and this week was irresistible! I've been feeling in a creative rut recently, so this was the perfect pick-me-up to get going again.

Here is the inspiration picture (which I kind of love!!) they pulled their colors from:

And here is what I came up with!

I love this color combo, and I love even more that a new paper pad I got from Basic Grey matched this combo perfectly!! I'm kind of excited about this card, too, because it's going to a special cousin who's graduating college soon. So proud of her and the accomplishments she's making in her life!!

I love these pins from Little Yellow Bicycle, and I'm always looking for a chance to use them :)

I stuck everything down with Glue Dots, and I added an extra little dab of Elmer's Craft Bond on the stick part of the pins to keep them in line.

So, congrats, Heather! So proud of you.

EcoScrapbooking eBook Launch Party

 

 You've made it to my stop along the EcoScrapbooking eBook launch party!! If you missed the first few posts, click here to start at the beginning!
My name is Erin and I'm glad you've joined us today. I first want to wish Danielle a very happy belated birthday, and much congratulations on releasing her book! She's put a lot of hard work into this project, and I'm so fortunate that she included me in it.


Eco-conscious scrapbooking has always been in my brain, but I'd never put a name to it until I met Danielle! I love repurposing old or found items and including it in my work. There's something about using vintage materials that gives pieces just the right 'look'!


Check out Danielle's new eBook, EcoScrapbooking: Crafty Ideas for Eco-Conscious Scrapbookers by clicking here! Feel free to check out the PDF version here, as well.

I thought I'd throw whip us a super quick and easy eco-friendly project for you. I know this eBook is about scrapbooking, but I love the reuse of these materials to make a mouse pad!

My workplace was redoing their logo, and all of their current promotional items were getting tossed. Although I knew I didn't have much use for 23 mouse pads, I couldn't see them get thrown away, either! I was sure I could repurpose them.


I trimmed my paper down to the size of the mouse pad, ran lines of Continuous Glue Lines around the edges, and adhered the paper. See? Super easy!! I finished it off with a top coat to seal the paper.

 

Kudos on your eBook, again, Danielle!!
Keep of hopping, folks! Thanks for stopping by!

Danielle Hunter | EcoScrapbook

 Zaira Sierra | Hacer Scrapbooks

Lisa Troch | The Cherry on Top

Cathy Sanders | What's up with Cathy

Jules Hollis | Inspired Jules

You are here --->  Erin Bullock | Deeply Rooted Life

Go here next! --> Stephanie Medley-Rath | Scrapworthy Lives

Renee Joy | Charms Buttons & Bows

Andrea Friebus | Lights C.a.m.era Action

Jody Spiegelhoff | SpiegelMom Scraps

 

 

Materials for the mouse pad:

• Mouse Pad
• DCWV The Green Stack 8x8
• Continuous Glue Lines
• Mod Podge

String Art for baby Quinn

Hey, crafters!!

One of my best friends just had an amazingly beautiful baby girl, and I used some Pinterest inspiration to make this super cute wall hanging for the nursery.

I started by printing off the letters in the size and font that I wanted my text to be, and taping that down to the board.

I used a clothes pin to help hold the nails as I nailed along my printed letters

 (it was about here that my hand started to cramp...

 And here are the nails finished.

 Next rip off the paper from around the nails, are you're left with...

 This!

The most genius part of this project is this pencil. Hollow out a mechanical pencil and cut the tip off of where the lead usually comes out. Thread your string through and use this little device to wrap your string around the nails...

Can't take credit for this idea...thanks, Janny!

 ...like this!

Close up of the wrapped string

Get creative!! Spell out anything you'd like, use whatever string you'd like...the possibilities are endless!!!

A LaLa-Lovely Bed for the Lalaloopsy Room!

I just finished telling you all about the new Lalaloopsy bedroom that my little one got for her third birthday. As a part of that renovation, her bed went from a small toddler bed (that was a built in piece) to a big girl twin bed. I searched around the web a bit, looking for a perfect bed frame for the little princess, and I found this:

Bed from Wal-Mart

So. First of all, I love the tufting. So cute. Second, what princess doesn't love pink!? I thought the color, while having the possibility of being extremely overbearing, would compliment the colors of the room nicely. At $200, it wasn't a bad option, but...I'll say it again...I HATE paying for something I feel like I could make!!

I'll admit, I've never made a bed frame, let alone a headboard. I knew I needed a little help structurally here, and my mother in law found this at a second hand store:

It's wicker. White wicker. Not really the hugest fan of white wicker, BUT...look at the shape of it. It has the same gentle curve along the top, which was one of the parts I liked about the inspiration headboard.  ---and look!!

Seriously?! $7.50?! For all of you keeping score, that's about 4.89 pounds over in England, 7.61 dollars up in Canada, and 408.83 Rupees.

Bargain!!!

I wanted a plush head board with soft fabric, so I headed to JoAnn's (coupons in hand!) and got a roll of batting and some material. After I cleaned off the head board pretty well, I stapled down two layers of batting, then cut away the extra.

Next, the material was stretched over the batting and stapled down (this isn't rocket science, here) :)

And lastly, I gathered up random sized, shaped, and colored buttons from my ginormous stash and started randomly tufting. I used the wicker to my advantage here and tied my floss onto the little pieces to hold the tufting.

I think the final result was worth the $20 I ended up spending on it!! So I wonder if I can use the $180 I saved on other crafting supplies now... :)