Congrats and Birth Announcements

My sister recently had a very handsome little boy, and I couldn't be a more excited Aunt! I made her (and her awesome husband) a congrats card, along with all the Birth Announcements. I even filled them all out so the new parents wouldn't have to take time away from their bundle of joy to do so. 

Here's The Congrats card I made her:

I dont remember what paper I used, but I do remember that I used my Cuttlebug to dry emboss the bottom portion of the card. I think it turned out adorable!

The Birth Announcements:

This is just a couple examples. I made about 6 different variations using My Mind's Eye Twinkle, Twinkle Little Boy paper pack.  I also used Stampabilities hand and foot print stamps. I love how they turned out. 

I also made a fancier version with a different paper selection. I don't remember the brand because this was made from scraps of paper I had in my stash.

Have a great day and a happy heart,

~Kerri Elan

No Sew Reusable Bag...Yes, It's Really That Easy.

If you're like me, you probably have some shirts lying around that you haven't worn in a while, but you can't bring yourself to get rid of them. Why not make them into something useful and help save the environment at the same time? Here's a play by play on how to make this fabulous bag

What you'll need:

Old tshirts- I found that small/medium cotton shirts work best

Good pair of fabric scissors

Safety Pin

Step 1-

Choose what shirt you want to use. This is the hardest step...seriously :-)

Step 2-

Cut the sleeves off. 

Step 3-

Cut two 1''- 2'' strips from the sleeves, then stretch them so that they begin to curl some. You're going to use this to tie the bottom up. 

Step 4- 

Cut a rectangle from the collar area. The size of the rectangle will be based on how thick you want your handles to be. Do you see a bag starting to appear?

Step 5-

Cut a small slit in the bottom hem of the shirt. Be sure not to cut through the hem stitching though.  I made my cut in the center of the front and repeated on the back. 

Step 6-

Attach a safety to the end of one of your strips (cut from the sleeves). Thread it through from one cut to the other.  Tie it off and repeat going in the opposite direction with your remaining strip.

This is what it should look like when you're done...

Step 7- 

Stand back and admire your green project. 

These are great for grocery shopping, traveling, the beach, etc. Because of the two small holes at the bottom they're not ideal for small objects, but they're great for anything else. 

Have a great day and a happy heart!

~Kerri Elan

Altering Chipboard...It's easier than you think

I was working on a chipboard album of my nephew, Erin, and realized that I didn't have the right color, or matching letters, to simply write "Nephew" across the front. I sat there stumped for a while, when it dawned on me....."Simply cover the letters to make them match." It honestly didn't take long at all and I love how they turned out. Here's how I did it:

What You'll Need:

-Chipboard letters (or pieces..whatever you want to cover)

-Scrapbook paper or Card Stock

- Sticker Maker (I used my Xyron)

- Distressing/Sanding tools

- Good pair of scissors or X-acto blade

Step One-

Pick out what you want to cover. I think I used the cheap Colorbök letters that I found at Target.

Step Two-

Rough the tops up with a emery board/distressing tool/sandpaper.  This will help the adhesive stick to the chipboard.

Step Three-

Run the letters through your Xyron/sticker maker so that the adhesive is on the top of  your pieces. In the Xyrons...run it through upside down.

Step Four-

Place the pieces on to the back of your desired scrapbook paper/card stock.

Step Five-

Cut each piece out individually.  I used scissors to separate them but used an X-acto knife to to the fine detail. It's okay if it's not perfectly trimmed, you'll be sanding them down.

Step Six-

Now starts the fun part....sanding! Using files/sand paper smooth down the edges to make it look seamless. 

The "E" on the left has raw edges and the one on the right has been sanded down. At this point feel free to ink the edges if you want, but for my project I didn't need to.

This paper is from My Mind's Eye Twinkle Twinkle Little Boy collection. I love it!

Here's another project that I used the same technique on.

Congrats! You've just made your own custom chipboard pieces for your project :-)

Have a great day and a happy heart! 

~Kerri Elan

Welcome to Southern Sky Life.  Please give me time to get things arranged and in order. The plan is to merge posts from a previous crafting blog with this one and incorporate my love of photography too.
Check back often!

-Kerri