Party Favors

Wow, January blew by fast and was so jammed packed with events and preparing for events that I didn't have time to add posts. I was able to do a variety of fun projects and thought I would share them with you.

First off I spent a lot of time last month helping our Christian school prepare for their big upcoming Benefit Auction, which is tonight! In among the many responsibilities that I take on with that, I got to do some fun projects too. :) I love designing with the computer, so I designed flyers, programs, posters, etc. We are also offering a couple of VIP tables this year, so I offered to make and donate table favors. The colors of the Auction are silver, black, white, and burgandy so here are a few pictures of the favors that I made.



I used white cardstock, the Tags, Bags, Boxes and More Cricut cartridge, black and silver embossing powder, stamps, burgandy tulle, and a variety of chocolates. Fun and easy to make!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! I am excited to see what this year has in store. Right now I am on technique overload...Soooo many great techniques and too little time. :) I have been coming across several great project ideas and I am ready to get started making them. Soon I will be scheduling workshops to personally show you fun and easy techniques. I will be sending out an e-newsletter with dates soon, so if you are not already on my e-mail list and would like to be, let me know by dropping an e-mailing to judesigns@hotmail.com.

Here are a few fun projects that my daughter and I made as Christmas gifts for my nieces. It brings me such joy to see faces light up when they open up a gift that I either personally made or have added a personal touch.

Fabric Flower Bracelets
These bracelets were fun and fast to make. We chose some fun colored fabric, cut different sizes of circles, sewed them together and added a button in the middle. For the bracelet we used a stretchy rubber bracelet, tore a strip of fabric to wrap around it and added the flower on top. Too cute!! E-mail me at judesigns@hotmail.com if you would like to place an order for bracelets and let me know if there are certain colors you would like me to incorporate in them.



Headbands with Satin Fabric Flower
For this project I cut different sized flowers using my Cricut, but you can also cut circles. We used a heat gun to crinkle and melt the edges of the flowers, added a jeweled brad in the center to hold it together and glued it to a headband. Very cute on! E-mail me at judesigns@hotmail.com if you would like to place an order for headbands and let me know if there are certain colors you would like me to incorporate in them.


Beaded Magnetic Hanging
Kiddos enjoy playing with magnets and displaying pictures they have drawn or notes they have written. Here is a great gift idea that is magnetic and can be used as a message board. These can be customized to fit any room of the house, so if you would like to place an order just drop me an e-mail. :)

More Christmas Decorating Ideas

Here are some more ideas I have used around the house this season to help make things more festive. Below is a picture of a centerpiece I put together for our dining room table. It is a clear glass vase that I etched the deer and word "Joy" on, I then filled it with red bulbs and topped with a couple of berry sprigs. Fun, Easy and Festive! I am selling these embossed vases for $8. Pictures of ones I already have made up are located in my store at: www.judesignstore.blogspot.com. Glass etching can be done on any glass and mirror surface, so if you would like for me to etch on a vase, cookie jar, glass plate, mirror, etc. for you, just let me know!

Here is a red plate that I added the word "Noel" to with white vinyl.

For one of my shelves in my Hutch, I made this festive "Noel" frame. I stamped and white embossed the medallion on black paper and used red vinyl on the glass for the word "Noel". I am selling frames like this for $6 with the word "Joy" or "Noel".

Another fun project that I made was for the kiddos. I used a clipboard to create this Countdown to Christmas. My son enjoys changing the numbers on it everyday. I sell altered clipboards starting at $10.

Christmas Decorating

Well, my first big show and Thanksgiving are behind me. I have been staying busy with filling orders, but did take a short break to decorate for my favorite season of the year...CHRISTmas! There are so many things I love about this time of year and one of them is all of the pretty colors of decor that we have to choose from to help make our homes look so cheerful. Every year I challenge myself to come up with at least one new way to decorate differently from the year before, whether it is using what I already have and changing it up a bit or spending just a little bit of money and getting something new. This year I changed several things up a bit and decided that I would like to purchase a wreath to go over the fireplace. I made a trip to Hobby Lobby and found the perfect wreath! The only thing was it was $130, but it was on sale for 50% off. I still was not wanting to spend that much money so I decided I would purchase the materials, that were also 50% off, and make one myself. I am tickled with the outcome and spent way less than $65!!

Fun with Vinyl

As I am still getting ready for our big local Craft Show in a couple of weeks, I have been having fun working(playing) with vinyl. Here are some projects that I have created using vinyl.

These first couple of projects I used my cutting machine to cut out the designs and words. The neat thing about the plate is that it can also be used as a message board. Just use a dry erase marker to leave messages for your family or guests. On the frame I heat embossed the medallion on paper and placed it inside the frame and cut the word "Noel" out of vinyl and placed it on the top of the glass.


These next couple of projects I made using stamps, paper and vinyl. The "Blessings" frame is a magnetic frame, so I also made some magnets to go along with it. The 5" x 7" frames start at $8 and the 8" x 10" frames start at $15. If you would like to place an order feel free to contact me by e-mail at: judesigns@hotmail.com.