And the winners are …

GRAD CAP BOX WINNER:  eva sanz

Email Adela to receive your free templates!  Congrats, ladies!

Thank you to all who participated in the Hop! Be sure to check the other blogs for their winners:

Ooo la la … there is a fun blog hop going on today courtesy of Creations By AR.  Wanna see some cute new templates?  We’re celebrating Mother’s Day & Graduations.

The first template, any Mum would LOVE … a little Bird House Topiary:

There’s a separate little compartment to hold a little something in the box …

It’s a fun & easy to follow step by step template.

Here’s what it looks like all together:

Next, is a little Grad Hat Box.

The little mortar board opens up to hold a little gift for your new graduate.

Okay onto the giveaway!  TWO random winners will be chosen per blog. Each winner will receive ONE of the new templates.   How do you enter this blog hop?  Well visit the Design Team & leave a comment on their post.

Happy St. Patty’s Day!

Here’s a cute little Template, called Hat’s Off, from Creations By AR.

The fun thing about this template is that it holds treats for a friend … in this case, we’re giving the neighbours a little rainbow along with some cookies!

Hope you have a good one!

Well thanks so much to Adela of Creations By AR for hosting such a fun Blog Hop.
The winner of

The Hutch Template is:
Lisa

and

Es In the Bag Template is:
Francineb:

Be sure to contact Adela, and mention the prize you won to collect your template.

Hope everyone was as inspired as I was

Oooo la la, there is a blog hop going on courtesy of Creations By AR!  TWO random winners will be chosen per blog. Each winner will receive ONE of the new templates from Adela of Creations By AR.  How much fun is that!?!  How do you win?  You enter a comment on this blog & on the other Design Team’s blogs for more chances to win.

Here are the DT’s be sure to check out there wonderful creations & your chance to win:

Adela Rossol

Amy  — > that’s me

Lisa Somerville

Magdalena Cortez

Mandy Gill

Patti J. Gilliam

Sue Kment

Winners will be announced SATURDAY!  So what are the new templates?

The first one is called Craft Hutch.

My MIL had brought these wee little bottles back from Scotland last year.  When I saw Adela’s template, which looks identical to my Dining Room Hutch, I knew exactly what I wanted to use it for.

I slipped some cotton into the test tube to hold the little bottle in place.  Fits just right.

The second template I have made to show you is the “ES in the Bag”:

There are two templates in this one, a scalloped edge & a hexagonal.  Both are lovely, but my fav is the hexagonal.

A sweet little purse.

Have fun with the hop and thanks again to Adela of Creations By AR for hosting it!

Have you been seeing these Wine Bottle Hurricane’s around?  There are several different takes floating around & they are recycling at it’s best IMO.  I thought it would be a fun craft for this week’s 3D challenge at Paper Craft Planet, 3d153, is the Happy Hour Hurricane.

There are many different techniques for cutting glass. This video, from Green Power Science sold me on a technique that I felt comfortable trying.  No nail polish string flames for me, thank you VM.

Now, I did not have their cutter, but I think it is totally worth it, if you were making a bunch for a wedding or party or gifts.  What I did use, was a 5$ glass cutter that I bought at Home Depot.  It’s about the size of a toothbrush.  The problem with it, is that you need to have the cutting line perfectly aligned.  Using a water bottle holder (for a bike) to guide my cutter & line it up worked well.  You can see it in the inset of this photo:

Then it’s boiling water, poured slowly over the glass cut line & into the ice water.  I had to do this twice & it snapped cleanly & with just a bit of buffing with a file.

Now, after the sanding, you could leave it like this …

Or you could hot glue gun it!

And there you have it.  I personally recommend using a battery operated tea light, rather than a burning tea light, just because the bottle gets really hot & with little hands around … better safe than sorry.  Here it is with the battery operated light … super cute when it flickers.  It would look lovely on a patio.  You could use a string of lights & suspend the wine bottles even.  So many possibilities.

I’ve seen round wreaths made out of foam pipe covers, but who want a round wreath when you can have a heart shaped one?  DD wants one for her room too.  This craft takes under 10 minutes to make & all you need is a coat hanger, one of those foam pipes ($1.79 from the hardware store), 3 feather boas from the dollar store and a very understanding hubbie who doesn’t mind an uber girly front door.

Form the coat hanger into the design you want … Valentines … heart!

Cut the foam to length & wrap around the coat hanger.

Remove the plastic from the foam so that it sticks.

Tape the ends with packing tape or duct tape.

Okay, when I unravelled the boas from the package … they had little strings attached to either end, where the feathers strung onto.  Handy for hooking onto the hanger.

Wrap.  It took about 3 boas for me to get a puffy look.

When you get to the end of one, tie them together … the string is well hidden in the mass of feathers.

What a fun mess!

And we’re done.

Hang it on your door & see what the boys in your house think.  The girls love it.

I was looking online for ideas on how do dress up a dinner plate for my love for Valentine’s Day & I saw Service Plate Warmers.  My Mum used to use an upside down pot for us as kids if we were late for dinner, but you get the idea.  Even the “inexpensive” ones that you see say at a hotel for room service … 4 of those are $64.  MAN!   So then I got to thinking.  I have a silver bowl & I could pick up some knobs, inexpensive ones in the kitchen supply hardware section.

The knobs were on sale for $1.79, reg $3 I think.  The bowl was $6, not on sale.  Still you might even have an extra one in your cupboard.  It’s easier to drill, if it has a flat bottom, which I think most bowls do.

Here’s what I’ve learned from drilling metal today.  Use masking tape to mark a spot to drill.  Take a hammer & nail and start the hole by hammering before you start to drill.  DO NOT RUSH the drill or you will do what I did & scratch the top.  Crap.  Then I had to come up with a quick fix.  I didn’t have a super big washer, but I had these little metal labels.  It covers up the scratch nicely.

On the inside of the bowl, if you are week like me & can’t cut off the screw that is too long.  Use some washers to lengthen & secure it a bit.

That’s it.  I thought for $8 I did alright!  Now I just need to plan the Valentines meal for under the Service Plate Cover.

Time for this week’s 3D challenge from Paper Craft Planet.  Today is 3d149 & this is an idea that I saw a few years ago from Melissa of Melissa Stampin for Fun. It’s a cute little Treat Box, just in time for Valentines day.  These would be sweet with little York Peppermint Pattie or cinnamon hearts.

The template, starts with a simple circle!  I must admit, with a bunch of these to make, I made mine a bit smaller & more paper conservative, with 1 piece of 12×12″ DSP, I cut & made 4 little envelope/treat boxes.  Have some fun with her template and let’s see what you make!

The winner of the two templates is Denise Bryant!  Congrats, Denise.  Be sure to contact Adela at  creationsbyar@sbcglobal.net for your prize.