Sprinkle Card

Hello y'all!

Today I'm showing you a card that makes me pretty

darn happy.

I won't get into the whole story, but my nephew and niece

adopted their son, over 6 yrs ago,

now they are pregnant, so they are having a 

drive by "sprinkle"

I'm so excited that we'll have another new baby in 

our family.

Below is the card I made for the sprinkle.

I drew the hearts lightly with pencil on watercolor

paper, then painted around the hearts with water.

Water colors will only spread as far as the paper is wet,

when doing this technique.
I then put little "blobs" of watercolors into the

wet areas and let it dry.

I hand wrote the
Baby Boy

into the hearts.  Then cut the piece down

to size and adhered it to a coordinating 

card stock base.

I know they will appreciate this card

along with their gifts.

Thanks for stopping by today,

I hope you have been inspired in some way

and will come again soon.

Until then:

celebrate a child!

 

Cute Little Pocket Tutorial

Hello everyone!

I haven't done a tutorial in ages and thought this was 

such an easy little project that it would be one 

that everyone can make.

These cute little pockets are easy and quick to make.

You can use them to hold a note for hidden journaling,

to hold a tag or a picture, or maybe a piece of memorabilia

on a scrapbook page.  They are also great to use on cards

for a gift card or a little note or even a tag on a gift.

Use them in any way you can think of.

The larger one measures 

2.5"x3.75"  the smaller one is 1.25"x2.25"

You can start with any sized piece of paper or

card stock, as long as it is square.  This one is

5.25' square.

Fold square corner to corner and crease.

Then fold the opposite way and only put a small crease

in the center to show where the center of the 

square is.

I have marked the center here to show where it is.

For mine I measured 1.25" from the center on each side

along the crease and marked it with a pencil.

Now fold corner over to meet the pencil mark on the 

opposite side.

Fold both sides over in this manner.

If the corner is extending over the edge fold,

I snip it off, both inside and outside.

Now fold it along the crease and you have a cute

little pocket.

I glued my pocket backs together from top to bottom,

but if you'd like a little slide through area, you can

just glue them together at the peak area only.

This is a piece of paper I had in my handmade background

stash. I wish you could see the shine this has,

it's really beautiful in real life, but doesn't show

the shine in the photo.

I didn't like the back of the paper, as it was white and

a mess with random ink spots.
I took another scrap piece and glued it to the inside of the

pocket to cover the messy area.

Here are a few of the pockets I made in various sizes.

This is a larger pocket that I made with a piece that

was approximately 12"x12".

Again the back of the piece was a mess, so 
I cut off the top peaked part of the back and 

glued it inside the pocket.

Here you can see where I cut it off and then

glued the bottom to the back of the pocket.

I had 2 small pieces of background paper in my

stash that I made with shaving cream and alcohol inks.

I loved how they worked together, so I glued the 2 pieces back

to back to make this little pocket.

It turned out really cute, 

but.......

since it was 2 pieces glued together, they were a bit thick

and didn't fold well and split at the bottom.

I did score them first, but they still split.

So, just be aware that this can happen.

If you want the inside and outside looking

pretty, this may work with paper rather than card stock,

or you can use double sided paper or card stock

or use the method I used above.

Thanks for stopping by today,

I hope you have learned something new today

and maybe will give these little pockets a try.

Until next time,

make someone smile.

 

Dryer Balls #2

Hello crafty people!

A few posts ago, I showed you some dryer balls

that I had made and told you I'd be making some more.

I got 2 100% wool sweaters from Goodwill

and deconstructed them and unraveled them

and rolled them into balls, about the size of tennis balls.

I then cut an old pair of panty hose and put the balls into 

the legs of the hose. I tied a knot after each yarn ball.

I then put them in a pot on the stove and boiled them  for

about 10 minutes.  Once they were boiled I put them in

the dryer to dry.  This took quite a while as they hold a lot of

water.  Once they were dried, I took them out of the hose.

This was the hardest part, untying those knots was

tough, but I got them out and they were all nicely shrunk 

and felted.

Here is what I ended up with.
From 2 sweaters I got 14 dryer balls.

Here is a link to a tutorial about making these 

kind of dryer balls.

Why use dryer balls?

Here are a few reasons......

• eliminate the need for fabric softener or dryer sheets (these are bad for your dryer, your clothes and are full of chemicals that are not good for you.)
• are eco-friendly (no more throwing away dryer sheets)
• reduce drying time by 20% (less money spent on energy)
• remove static cling
• are easy-to-use (just throw a few into the dryer with your laundry and then leave them there for the next load)
• are chemical-free (better for you and the environment)
• you can add natural scent if you apply essential oils
  
  
  Thanks for coming by today,
  I hope you have learned something new 
  and have been inspired in some way.
  Come again soon.
  Until then,
  try something new.

 

Father's Day Gifts

Hello crafty people!

Today I'm showing you the shirts I made for 

my husband and son for Father's Day.

I think each shirt really suits the one it's made for.

This is obviously for my hubby.

This is for my son.

When I saw this somewhere online, I knew

I had to make it for Jaryd.

It is so him.

The kids and I pitched in together to get Dave

a bike trailer for his new bike.

We gave it to him early and he was thrilled with it,

now he'll be able to go for rides and take Marie along

with him.

Jaryd is getting a gift certificate from 

Carlin Brothers Coffee.

He and Sara love their coffee and candles.

The family is getting together to celebrate these

2 Dads and I'm sure we'll all have a great time.

Thanks for stopping by today.

I hope you have a chance to celebrate with a 
Dad on Father's Day.

 Come again soon,

you never know what you'll find on

Kristie Kreates.

Just a note card

Hello and welcome.

I'm glad you've stopped by today.

I have a friend whose father is in rehab after

some health problems, so I wanted to send him

a card that would hopefully bring a smile to his face

and let him know people care and are thinking about him.

For the sky and grass I used 
Salty Ocean and Mowed Grass

Distress Inks with blending foam.

I cut a piece of scrap card stock with several

"bumps" on it and used it in different positions

to create the clouds.
I used colored pencils to create the grass.
The train is a stamp available from

Stamp On It

I stamped it with 

Onyx Black VersaFine Ink

I used Black Soot Distress Ink

and colored pencils to color it.

I fussy cut the train image and adhered it

to the background piece.

I liked the silver card stock and black 

card base, I think it really sets off the image.

Inside, I wrote a personal note.

Thanks for stopping by today,

I hope you have been inspired in some way and

will come again soon.

Until then,

brighten someone's day.

 

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.

Layouts

Hi All!

Now that the pandemic is more under control and 

many of us have had our vaccines, we have opened our

scrapbooking and crafting studio again.

I'm finally finding the time and motivation to get moving

on my scrapbook of our granddaughter.  I have 18 months to 

catch up on and I'm making a decent dent in that.

Here are a few layouts that I've finished.

If you click on a picture you can see them enlarged.

When I had my kids they didn't have this kind of photography

available at the hospital.  Beautiful pictures!

It was wonderful getting to visit and hold my 

first grandchild!

My hubby was out of town when Marie was born,

but the first thing he did when he got home was 

go and meet her.

Our daughter was so excited to be an Auntie.
Aunt Zoe is Jaryd's God Mother
Uncle Brian and Aunt Kelsey Ann are Marie's

God Parents.

Sara's Moms and sister got to visit her too.

I think this is my favorite layout that I have done so far.

I love all the smiley faces.

Buffalo Bills fan, Harry Potter fan, little ballerina and just

silly fun.

First Christmas!

Daddy and his girl.

Thanks for stopping by and visiting for a while.

I hope you'll be back soon to see what else I have to 

share with y'all.

Until next time,

Cherish those you love!

 

Dryer Balls

Hello blog friends!

Today I have something a little different to show you.

Dryer balls!

When I visited 
Scrap Creative Reuse

in Ann Arbor, Michigan,

I found strips of wool fabric and decide to

try my hand at making some dryer balls.

Wool dryer balls are simple to use,

you just throw them in your dryer with your

laundry.  They cut down on your drying time and

help with static.  Dryer sheets are not good

for your clothes, your dryer or you,

so you can eliminate them and fabric softener and

throw a few dryer balls in the dryer.

There is a lot of info online about the benefits

of using dryer balls rather than dryer sheets.

This is what I started with.  I got 3 bundles of these

kind of strips of wool fabric.
Most dryer balls are made with wool yarn or roving,

but I thought I'd give wool fabric a try.
I simply rolled up the strips of fabric and pulled them 

tight.  They needed to have a little stitching done on the

outside to hold them together, but they came together nicely.

I then tied them inside of socks and put them through a hot

wash and dry.  This "shrinks" the wool and compacts it.

Once they were removed from the socks,

they were ready to go into the dryer with my laundry.

Okay, so they aren't pretty, but who cares?
After all they are just dryer balls.

This is what I'm working on now.
I went to the thrift shop and found a couple

100% wool sweaters and I'm unraveling them and 

making them into dryer balls.
Here is the video that I found showing how

to do this.

I am thinking I will be making dryer balls for 

Christmas this year.  I think I'll be able to get 3

balls out of each sweater.

Thanks for stopping by today to see what I've been up to.

I hope you'll give wool dryer balls a try, whether it's 

home made ones or not.

Until next time,

try something new.