Altered Frappuccino Box & Bottles

This is a fun and very quick set of instructions ladies... great for gifts!

1. Purchase your preferred flavor of frappuccinos. Then you can choose to drink them, clean the bottles, alter the bottles and fill them with goodies. Or you can simply alter the box and leave the bottles as is for someone else to enjoy.

*I will have my altered box (frappuccinos included) as a give away at my church crop. And separate altered bottles are going to be filled with different scrapping goodies such as metal letters, flowers, buttons and chipboard. Then ladies at the crop will have to guess how many pieces are in the bottles... whoever guesses closest to what I counted will win that bottle. :o)

2. Pick your paper and your embellishments.

* I chose Gabardine paper from Basic Grey's Urban Couture line, I also planned to use logos from Starbucks cups and coffee beans.

3. Cut two sheets of paper to 5" x 10 1/8"

4. Temporarily stick one side of your paper down and trace the inside of your box onto the paper.

*Use one paper to help you cut the other.

5. Then cut four 2" x 8 3/4" strips to go on your bottles.

6. Ink the edges of your paper to give your project a more completed look.

7. Adhere the paper to your bottles by wrapping the paper around the bottle and gluing the two end edges together... no gluing to the bottle is necessary.

8. Adhere the paper to your box... matching the top edge, because if the bottom edge doesn't match up it will be less noticeable than the top.

9. Embellish as you wish.

*If you choose to use coffee beans I found that hot glue was the best thing to stick them on with, since they are greasy little suckers.

This only took me a couple hours from start to finish including notes and pics for you, so please don't be discouraged this is an easy one.

Altered Lunch/Recipe Box Instructions

*These instructions are made using the Basic Grey LunchPail album kit, so if you are using any other type of lunchpail you will have to alter the plans accordingly... enjoy!

1. Pick your paper...

* If you are struggling with this task, I find that a lighter color on the top with a darker stripe on the bottom never fails. Also be sure you pick coordinating paper for the inner dividers mentioned in step 15.

2. Pick all paint and or brads and eyelets, because these have to put them on before the paper gets adhered to the box (not required).

3. Cut 2 -1/2"x12" strips for the bottom, and another 2 strips at your desired height.

4. Line your top paper up under the back of the open box top and make a mark of how tall you want your paper.

*It's alright if you make the second or bottom strip too tall, the top paper will overlap it.

5. Sketch a mark in the center of your top strip mimicking the shape of the latch.

6. Cut the notch out of your paper and test it... notice the paper starts right under the groove, that is just where you want it be.

*This does NOT need to be perfect (coming from a perfectionist), really no one else will notice it is crocked when the entire project is complete.

7. Cut another 2 - 1/2"x12" strips for the lid and repeat steps 5 and 6.

8. On the inside of your lid, using a butter knife bend the metal prongs up.

*Don't worry about scratches they will be covered in step 16.

9. Remove your handle and set it aside.

10. Cut 2 - 3 1/4"x7 3/4" pieces and round the corners with a corner rounder.

*One piece for the outside, one for the inside :o)

11. This is the step that you prepare everything before the gluing stage... in my case I painted all the metal that would show through, but if you have brads or eyelets to put on your paper, do it now.

*If you are using acrylic paint like me, be sure to put a top coat of glue on before you adhere all the paper down, to keep the paint from chipping off too much.

12. Ink all the edges of your paper to give it a more detailed and finished look.

*Be sure NOT to ink the side edges were your paper will meet up. I did the inking while my paint and glue were drying.

13. Are you ready? Here comes the fun part! Gluing all your pieces down.

*Glue your back pieces down first, then your front, because the sides will overlap.

14. Put a protective top coat of glue over everything.

15. While you are waiting for your protective coat to dry, design your inner dividers.

16. Now that the outside is dry put your handle back on, bend the prongs back down and adhere your paper to the inside of your lid.

17. Decorate the front accordingly.

*Be sure to put a protective coat of glue over any lettering you might have.

18. Tie pretty ribbon to the top handle, and Wha-La! Fenito!

Let me know what you think of my instructions, share them with others, and if you make something come back and share it with me :o)

Mmmm Another Thing

I love making my Patterned Paper POP!!

This particular pattern I outlined with my chocolate brown marker to make it more bold, then when my layout was complete I took a duplicate sheet, cut out my desired flowers and leaves, matted them on coordinating paper, and used my 3D dots to pop them up! I love this effect!

I actually did an altered paint can with this same POPPED pattern, but I do not have a photo of it :(. It was the only can for a client that I almost couldn't give up.

Look what I tackled this week

I have been quite behind on my Scrapping for Others work. My dear husband says I should stop waiting till the last minute to do things, but my response is always that I am taking a break to get some rest, but then after I get the "rest" I have to cram :o).

So this week is me cramming. I have three different albums all due very soon, and one last minute Altered Art project to do.

Here is a photo of the custom paint can a client of mine requested as a gift for her Pastor's wife.

And here are some of the layouts from the memorial album I delivered to a friend of mine as a sympathy gift for his wife Lila passing away a year ago of Cancer.

I also set up about 114 photos into 12x12 layout form to get ready to review them and take comments on them with my client tomorrow.

Paper Bag Album Instructions

1. Measure and cut your bags to desired size (mine are 8 1/2 inches). The reason for this cut is to dispose of the thick bottom ends and to have an opening for each layout.

* I am going to use my left over ends as disposable snack holders for my daughter.

2. Cut your desired papers to 7.5 x 6 leaving one inch of space for your binding. (Test these measurements on one bag before you cut everything, just in case you have a different size bag than me.)

3. Distress edges, add brads, eyelets, or anything else that requires your paper to be loose BEFORE you glue it down. (You don't want your embellishments going thru your paper bag, so whatever you insert into the bag will not get scratched up.)

* To glue I used Perfect Paper Adhesive (love this stuff!)

4. Be sure all of your layouts and inserts are completed before binding. (This is so you will know the thickness of your album.) Also be sure to leave the front and back cover unfinished till step # 9.

5. Now stick 1/8" thick strips of foam inside the end of each bag to pad the binding, and even out the album. (Be sure to place them INSIDE each bag to ensure they are not see-able when completed.) Also we are using foam because it is easy to puncture.

6. Mark dots 1/4" apart with a pencil on the uncovered area of each bag where it will be bound.

7. Pre-poke your holes where you made your marks.

8. Sew your album together (I used embroidery thread).

9. Finish front and back cover, and make sure you cover those ugly foam strips!

10. Don't forget to add some fun ribbon to your inserts and maybe a way of closure... I used Basic Grey magnets attached to ribbon under the top paper bag.

These albums make a great gift, this particular album is not only the first one I have ever made, but it is also a gift for my in-laws as a welcome home... they moved to Maui under two years ago, and they just got back two days ago.

Class Project

This is my first altered clipboard, it is a project for a class I am talking with Big Picture Scrapbooking called Library of Memories taught by Stacy Julian.

The class is awesome so far, teaching me a liberating new way to organize my photos and layouts giving me more time to actually scrapbook! which is great because trying to do stuff for myself among all I do for others gets difficult at times.

Stacy (whom I know understands my busyness) was actually blessed with this system she teaches about 41/2 years ago, and still loves to continue using it and sharing it with others. She even includes a detailed list of the organizational products she has used so we can glean from her choices.

I can't wait to learn more, and pass on what I have learned :) As Stacy would say, "This is So Big".