Posted on Saturday, August 20, 2016

Going Back To School: Gift For Teacher

I am back to my craft room this weekend after taking a week off going on vacation with my family. We enjoyed every moment together making memories. And today, I would like to share with you a Going Back To School gift idea for Teacher – design team project inspiration with The Cutting Cafe.

My oldest is going back to school this coming Monday, and I made a card set for her new 2nd grade teacher. I use the digital cutting and sentiment printable files: Apple Shaped Card Template – Cutting File, Apple Treat Cup Card Templates – Cutting Files, and Pencil Shaped Card Template – Cutting File.

To make the Apple Shaped card is very easy. In this Apple Shaped Card Template – Cutting File there are digital cutting files and also printable template. This time, I cut out the Apple Shaped card with the template printable. I still have some the Paper Studio – Holiday Heavy Weight cardstock combo and the red and green are perfect for the apple and leaf. I used kraft cardstock for the stem. I after they all cut out, I put them together with glue pen. Then, I added some faux hand-stitches with Uni-Ball Gell Pen. Then I added the sentiment I printed out from the Apple Treat Cup Card Templates – Cutting Files. Inside of the card, I cut out the apple shape out of printer paper and glued it on for us to write a note for the teacher 🙂

For the card set, I cut out 6 apples using the front panel template. I used the Paper Studio – Polka Dots papers. And I put them together by gluing every pieces on 5×7 card bases. The printed sentiment is from Pencil Shaped Card Template – Cutting File. I used ek-Tool 2″ scallop circle to punch them and added them on the apple card. I added some faux hand-stiches all around the apple using LePen Journaling Pen.

I put the cards inside a cello bag, add the note card on top of it, and then tied it up with some natural twine. And the gift is ready for her teacher 🙂

Making handmade gifts is a way for us to share joy and love with others. Need more inspirations? Visit the Cutting Cafe blog to see more of inspirations from the team!

And I hope you all are inspired today to make something to share with others or even for yourself 🙂 THANK YOU so much for visiting today and have a fabulous blessed day!

Posted on Monday, December 21, 2015

Gift Card Holder With 3 Pockets

This is the season of giving with a joyful heart. There are so many ways we can give to bless others.

A week ago, my friend ask me if I could help her with making a gift card holder that can holds 3 cards. To Pinterest I went look for some inspirations 🙂 I saw many giftcard holders for 1 or 2. But I also saw some tag pockets that I thought… Hmmm… I can make big enough for the gift cards with similar idea.

These gift card pockets made using WRMK Envelope Punch Board. On the punch board, there are sizes for any sizes of envelopes, including 2 sizes of gift card envelopes. I made 3 – 2.5″ x 3.5″ envelopes, but instead of having a flap to close the envelope, I cut it to make the pockets. I used Heavy Weight Holiday Colors Cardstock from the Paper Studio (Hobby Lobby).

The front card, I used STAMPlorations stamp set, Framed Christmas: Peace, Love, Joy. On a piece of Strathmore Watercolor Paper, I stamped the image & sentiment using Archival Black Exclusice Ink Pad (CTMH), then watercolored the poinsettia using Sakura Koi Watercolor using Aquash Watercolor Brushes.

I started with lighter color, then added more colors on the areas where the shadows are for some dimension. You can let it air-dry but I used my Craft Heater for speedy drying process. And I finished the card with red ribbon and tie it up a bow. I used some double-sided tape to hold the bow in place.

That’s my finished card that inspired by one of the STAMPlorations Inspiration Project #52 and I think this gift card holder will make a perfect of giving gift cards for coffee lover, right? 😄

This card I link up at:

Thank You so much for visiting me and have a blessed week!

Posted on Monday, November 9, 2015

DIY Mini Embroidery Hoop Ornaments

Welcome to Joyful Stars Monthly Blog Hop! I join a group of CTMH Consultans to share project inspirations using Close To My Heart products.

You should arrive from Nancy’s blog. If you are here first, please continue hopping until you make the loop. This blog hop starts at Joyce’s blog and there you can find the full list of participant just in case you got lost.

For this month hop, I created these 4 mini embroidery hoop arts. They are perfect as ornaments because the hoop is 4″ mini size. But they also will make cute home decor during the Holidays 🙂

Supplies you need for this projects are:

White Pines Paper Packet
White Pines Complement
Red Enamel Gems
Fern Thick Twine
Sparkle Clear Assortment
Stamp Sets: Christ Is Born, Reason For The Season
Exclusive Inks Stamp Pad: Black, Cranberry
VersaMark™ Ink Pad
Ranger™ Silver Super Fine Embossing Powder
Ranger™ Princess Gold Embossing Powder
Craft Heater
Liquid Glass
Non-Stick Micro-Tip Scissors
3D Foam Tape
My Acrylix Block:1″ x 3 1/2″, 3″ x 3″, 4″ x 5″
4 Mini Embroidery Hoop (I got mine at Walmart)

Making them is easy and fun:

Cut the papers in 4.25″ square.
Glue the hoop on the paper using Liquid Glass.
When it is dry well (only take a minute to dry), cut along the edge of the hoop.
Decorate them with the White Pines Complements, Red Enamel Gems and Sparkle Clear Assortment.
For the Glory To God Hoop, trace the hoop with pencil, then stamp and heat emboss the images. Then glue the hoop and cut the edge.
Add the Fern Thick Twine (I cut 6″ long for each hoop) and tie up to make a hoop to hang it.

I really enjoy making them and they will be a gift for my daughter’s teacher. We had our first Parent-Teacher meeting with her and so thankful to get to know her more. We heard a lot of of amazing stories from our daugther about her teacher. She adores her!

And I will make more when I have a chance to get more mini embroidery hoops using the leftover supplies I have 🙂

Hopefully you are inspired to create something for Christmas this year. If you have any questions, please feel free to leave your question at the comment box. I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Your next hop is Andrea’s blog to see what she has created this month. THANK YOU so much for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

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I link up this project at:

Word Art Wednesday – Challenge #208, Anything Goes

Inspire Me Monday – Week 201

Share Handmade Kindness Week 2 – Community

Posted on Wednesday, November 4, 2015

DIY Fall Wreath Wood Plank

Hello crafty friends! Today I would like to share an amazing challenge for us who love making gifts and cards from our hearts.

Jennifer McGuire host this event called Sharing Handmade Kindness. She is awesome card designers and really love her heart for others. You can watch her video about this event here.

This fot the first week of Share Handmade Kindness Challenge and it is all about family and friends. The challenge is to make something for family member or friends, and actually send or give it to them. Isn’t that a great challenge?

Who doesn’t like handmade gift that made out of love and care? I know I do 🙂

For this week challenge, I made this Give Thanks wreath wood plank.

I found this pre-made wood plank at Hobby Lobby. It is ready to be decorated. I got these Fall Wreath cutting file and the quote “In Everything Give Thanks” at Silhouette Design Store. I cut them using my Silhouette Cameo – the best crafting buddy ever! 🙂 – and put them together. I added some Vintage Photo Distress Ink at all the edges of those leaves and using embossing tool, I scored some lines on those leaves to give them some textures of leaf vines.

For the acorns, I gave them some glitter using glitter glue. And using the handle of my embossing tool, I curled the edges of the acorns a little bit.

Final step is adding the finished wreath on the wood plank. I used the Gorilla wood glue. It is a stronger glue compare to glue gun or all-purpose glue on the wood.

It is a gift for our friends, who also our Pastor and his wife. So thankful God sent them to our church and to teach us the truth. What a blessing!

Crafty friends, you still have time to join this challenge and share kindness to your family and friends this week. To link up you project(s), please go here.

I also link up this project at:

Thank you so much for visiting today and have a marvelous day!

Posted on Monday, September 14, 2015

DIY Wavy Blooms Watercolor Muslin Bag

Handmade gift is one of the best way of giving gifts to family and friends. This is one of our favorite way of giving gifts for any special occasions. My daughters and I love creating gifts together for special occasions, like birthdays, holidays, anniversaries and gifts for their teachers.

What is your way of giving?

Today, I’d like to share with you a watercolor muslin bag I made which can be used as a gift bag or storage bag. I learned how to make this bag is from Big Picture Classes.

For this project, you will need these supplies:

a muslin bag (you can sew it or use the premade one)
a piece of cardboard or cardstock as insert inside the bag
watercolor paint (or fabric paint, or fabric markers)
watercolor brushes (or Aquash water brushes)
some water
your choice of stamp set
stamping blocks if you use acrylic clear stamps
Staz-On ink pad (or any ink pad that won’t face away when it interacts with water while coloring)

For my bag, I used pre-made 6″ x 8″ muslin bag. I stamped some of the flowers from Wavy Blooms stamp set from Close To My Heart using Black StazOn™ Ink Pad. And then, add the piece of cardboard or cardstock inside the bag to avoid bleeding through on the back of the bag. The next step is to color them with Watercolor Paints. Pick the color one by one with the paint brushes. I used Pentel Aquash water brushes medium and small sizes.

A tip for you, if it is too much color on your images, you can use paper towel to take some away while it is still wet. You can simply dub them away. Do not wipe them off because it will smear them all over.

You can see there some colors bleed out of the stamped images, that’s okay. But if you do not like that, you can use Craft Heater to dry them quickly rather then leave it air-dry slowly. Some images that do no have colors out side of the images are the ones I dried using my Craft Heater.

This watercolor bag cannot be washed. I would suggest to paint the flowers using acrylic paint or fabric paint for washable bag. I use this bag as gift bag with some watercolor cards inside. Cards that fit perfectly inside this 6″ x 8″ bag are 4 1/4″ x 5 1/2″ cards and 5″ x 7″ cards with envelopes.