OSAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD.

And I made a cute birthday card today, which is clearly the more important thing.

Martha's Birthday Banner card is adorable, simple and effective. It took me around 20 minutes to whip this up, perfect for the lunch break I had today in between community service training. I didn't use Martha's template, and instead cut out triangle flaps and hung them over a piece of string, which I attached to both sides of the inside of a card. I glued the flaps closed to secure them, and hand-wrote the letters on them.

Instructions and materials:


This card, created in honor of the American Cancer Society's More Birthdays campaign, offers celebratory greetings with a fanciful flourish.

 



Tools and Materials

• Cardstock
• Ruler
• Bone folder
• Scissors
• Circle cutter
• Colored baker's twine or embroidery floss
• Hot-glue gun and hot-glue sticks
• Glue stick
• Banner template
• Pencil
• A7 envelope

Banner Birthday Card How-To
1. To make the card, cut out a 10-inch by 7-inch piece of cardstock and with a ruler and bone folder, score down the center of the cardstock, perpendicular to the 10-inch side. Fold the cardstock in half along the scored line and with scissors, round the edges of each corner of the folded card. The result should be a 7-inch by 5-inch card.

2. To make the balloon for the front of the card, cut out a 2 1/2-inch circle with a circle cutter. For the "knot" on the balloon, cut a small triangle out of the same color cardstock. With a hot-glue gun, attach the balloon knot and a piece of twine to the back of the circle. Let dry.

3. With a glue stick, affix the balloon to the front of the card and tack the twine down in a few spots using small dots of hot glue. Let dry.

4. Print banner template on colored cardstock. Using a ruler and a bone folder, score template on dashed line. Fold cardstock along scored line.

5. To create each pennant for the banner, use scissors to cut out triangle around each letter. Be sure to cut through both layers of the cardstock. All of the letter pennants should be double-sided and have a fold along the top edge.

6. With a glue stick, glue the triangles of each pennant together, sandwiching a piece of baker's twine between them, along the fold, and leaving about 1/8 inch between each pennant. "H-A-P-P-Y" should be on one piece of twine and "B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y" on another.

7. Center the "H-A-P-P-Y" banner above the "B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y" banner and gather twine ends together, allowing both banners to swag evenly. Secure with knots on both ends.

8. On the inside of the card, measure and mark with a pencil one inch in and one inch down from the top left and right corners. With a hot-glue gun, attach knots on the banner to marks in the corners of the card.

9. To mail or give as a gift, place card in an A7-size envelope.

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Banner Birthday Card - Martha Stewart Crafts

Daffodil

The art of the thank you note is slowly fading into oblivion. It's just so much easier, cheaper and faster to shoot over a nice e-mail thank you than to write and mail the old fashioned way. Plus, it's almost considered polite. I don't even have most of my friends' addresses at all.

But I'm trying to bring it back.

Post-Passover seders I have at least two thank yous to write. So, slightly belatedly, I decided to put something together that was a little more personal than an e-mail.

Martha is essentially the card goddess, so naturally I turned to her. I thought that her Year of Cut-Out Cards was a great idea, and, even though it is no longer March, I decided on the daffodil design because it was the cutest... and simplest. And daffodils are the best, no matter what month it is.

I printed out her template at 1.5x the normal size because I wanted to make the flower slightly bigger. I cut out each piece separately. In order to use these pieces as templates, I taped them onto card stock. I quadrupled the card stock and cut out along the taped template borders. For the top of the daffodil, I decided to use some of the colorful fabric I had lying around.

Although these are obviously not at cute as Martha's, I think they make great homemade cards that will be perfect for thank you notes. Now I just need to round up the correct addresses.

For instructions: http://www.marthastewart.com/how-to/how-to-make-paper-cutout-cards?backto=true&backtourl=/photogallery/easter-and-spring-greetings#

Pen-palling the old fashioned way

Does any one else miss the good old fashioned days when pen-palling was done on paper instead of by email? Ok... I know I'm being hypocritical. After all, I am communicating through this blog, online, at this exact moment.  It's great to have this convenience and I can't imagine how I would be keeping in touch with my college friends if I didn't have the internet. I would have to pick up a phone or something and that just wouldn't fly. 

BUT there is something to be said for the traditional route. Yes, I am talking about *GASP* good old snail mail. Even that term makes it sound sad and outdated. Who, asides from me of course, actually likes snails? Not many.

I love the feeling of getting letters in the mail: the surprise of opening my mailbox to see something personalized, the beauty and the feel of the paper card, handwritten of course, and the thoughts painstakingly written down instead of typed at rapid speeds.

Plus, I absolutely love card-making. As I have mentioned before, powder embossing is one of my favorite things. The simplicity of the craft is excellent and the result looks professional. The best part is that even the mistakes seem intentional, smudges appear whimsical instead of sloppy. At least that's what I tell myself.

I followed Martha's instructions for Heat-Embossed Personalized Stationary.

A few weeks ago, I went a little crazy because Joann's (I swear, I don't get any money for promoting them! I just love this place!) was having an intense sale on stamps. I bought approximately five hundred (only a slight exaggeration) clear acrylic stamps and the corresponding acrylic mounting mold. This is MUCH cheaper than buying rubber stamps one by one: each individual stamp was one or two dollars and the acrylic mounts go for less than three. Plus, the ones I bought were self-sticking so all I had to do was peal the stamps off and re-stick them to the mount. Once I was done, I simply removed the stamp and I can use both the stamp and the mount for another day.

I covered the stamp with embossing ink and stamped it onto some card stock that I cut and folded into a card shape. I bought tinted embossing ink so I could easily see the outline of the stamp. I poured plenty of embossing powder on the stamped area and poured the extras back into the bottle. After a few seconds of heating with the embossing gun, the resulting card was good to go.

Now I just need people to send these to...

Instructions (courtesy of Martha "it's cooler to send snail mail" Stewart):

Tools and Materials
 Clear acrylic stamp mount
Letter stamp set
Card Stock
Embossing pad
Embossing powder
Heat gun
Decorative stamps (optional; we used Martha Stewart Crafts Butterfly and Bird stamp sets)

Heat-Embossed Personalized Stationery How-To
 1. Arrange clear letters on stamp mount.
2. Press lettered stamp onto embossing pad. Stamp onto card using firm, even pressure.
3. Sprinkle embossing powder over stamped design. Tap card to remove excess powder. Brush gently with a makeup brush to remove any more excess powder around the design.
4. Hold a heat gun two inches from the design and move the nozzle in a circular motion, melting the powder-coated areas. Gently wave the card to cool and set the design.
5. Repeat with other decorative stamps, if desired.
6. If the paper curls after you have finished the design, heat the back of the card, and fan it again. Place the card under a heavy book for 5-10 minutes (this will not smudge the design).
Resources
This lovely craft is featured in "Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts." Clear acrylic stamp mounts and clear acrylic stamp sets in Serif Font, Butterfly, and Bird, from Martha Stewart Crafts, are available at Michael's and Walmart. Embossing pad, powders, and heat gun provided by Ranger Ink. Be sure to read our new crafts blog for a behind-the-scenes look at our crafting department.

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Heat-Embossed Personalized Stationery - Martha Stewart Crafts

Kids night-light, grown-up style

APRIL FOOLS! So in honor of April Fools Day, I took a Benedryl and, naturally, passed out at 6pm. I woke up in a panic at 1am, realized that I had forgotten to post my Martha craft, and passed back out until 10am. Yes, I literally April Fooled myself. Welcome to my life.

What I meant to post was an adorable craft meant for kids' rooms, that I, in my quest to decorate my room, decided to use. Martha's Paper-Cutout Night-Lights were simple and cute, a subtle addition to my bare room. I figured my bedside lamp could use an update.

I printed out Martha's templates. Since I couldn't decide between the Koala and the Birds, I decided to do both - one on each side of the lamp. That way, when I'm bored with one, I can easily rotate the shade and look at the other side.

Since I didn't have any colored paper, I colored the templates in with crayons. I used white glue, instead of adhesive, to glue the templates onto the lampshade. I covered with a layer of Modge Podge to finish it off.

All in all, a cute, simple craft for my Benedryl-addled Friday. Looks like I learned my lesson...

Note: Pictures to be uploaded soon.

Instructions


Tools and Materials
 Bird or koala template
Colored card stock (We used green card stock for the birds and brown for the koala.)
Craft knife
Screw punch
Spray adhesive
Night-light with half shade
Mod Podge
Paintbrush

Paper Cutout Nightlights How-To
 1. Print the bird or koala template onto colored card stock.
2. Cut along the inside dotted lines first with a craft knife. The circles for the eyes may be punched out with a screw punch.
3. Completely cut out the shapes along the solid lines.
4. Lightly spray the largest piece with spray adhesive. Position this piece on the outside of the shade and press down to adhere.

5. Hold the night-light shade up to a light source to position the inside shapes (the leaves for the bird night-light, and the baby koala for the koala) referencing the positioning map on the template. Secure the shapes to the inside of the shade with a dab of Mod Podge; let dry.
6. Use a paintbrush to coat the inside and outside of the shade with a light coat of Mod Podge.

Resources
 Special thanks to Rachel Weber for demonstrating this craft; for more information, or to purchase a paper-cutout night-light, visit fogandthistle.com. Special thanks to Nicolecrafts for giving night-lights (available for purchase at your local AC Moore store) to our studio audience. Card stock, craft knife, and screw punch are from Martha Stewart Crafts. All other tools and materials are available at crafts stores. Get more innovative ideas with television's crafts for kids and these animal-inspired projects.

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Paper-Cutout Night-Lights - Martha Stewart Crafts