Spoonful of Imagination

Add it to a Family for Something Beautiful

DIY Burlap Greeting Cards

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How many of you have lost your significant other to the re-start of the football season?

Matt loves the NFL, especially our hometown Atlanta Falcons, and he tops it all off with multiple fantasy football teams. You may love football too, which is great. But for me, growing up with 5 brothers, football became a yawn fest for me. But I love Matt and he needs his down time too, so I try to muster up the strength to support him through a game or two each week. What I have found is that this can be an amazing few hours of crafting time. I don’t know about you, but I love when I can “find extra time” to create. So as Matt settles into a game, I start-up my craft on the other couch. We still get that time together but get to both focus on something we enjoy.

DIY_burlap_greeting_cards

So, while the NFL started it’s season last night I created these Burlap Greeting Cards. Win, win, win! I get to do something I love, I get to encourage my husband with some football time, and now I’ve got some fun cards I get to mail out and encourage some friends. And I’m going to give you the supply list, DIY instructions, and a free printable so you can make them too! Maybe even during the games upcoming on Saturday or Sunday!? 🙂

Supply List:

  • Cardstock
  • Scrapbook scrap paper
  • Glue stick
  • Scissors
  • Burlap
  • Mini round brads
  • Print out of graphic
  • Envelopes

Creating_greeting_card_suppliesI started by folding one of my big pieces of scrapbook paper in half and measuring how much needed to be cut off, so it fit perfectly in my envelope. For other cards I used my cardboard cardstock. The main idea here is to use a thick piece of paper to give it a real greeting card feel while also providing a sturdy pallet for all the embellishments.

making_a_greeting_cardOnce I had the size of my card, it was my blank canvas to decorate. I started on my first card by ripping the edge around one of my graphics to add a fun textured look.

worth_far_more_than_rubiesI cut a piece of burlap slightly bigger than my ripped graphic. I pulled a few strands off the ends of the burlap to create a more fringed look, and used a mini round brad to attach both the graphic and the burlap to my folded card.

DIY_encourage_greeting_cardI love the layer look and the mix of frayed edges with the clean straight lines of the card’s background. I started playing with my paper and came up with a few other designs. This next one, I cut the graphic out with straight lines (rather than the ripped technique) and glued it to the card. I then ripped a decorative piece of paper to border it. and glued it on top. Lastly, I cut out small burlap circles, pulled out a few strands again (to create a fringe), and used a mini round brad to attach the burlap flower to my card.

Burlap_greeting_cardI made these so quick. I love the textured look with the burlap, but you can keep your design even simpler. The following two I created with just scrap paper and glued them on the card with my graphic.

scrapbook_paper_greeting_cardsThese cards are all 5″ x 7″, but I then made some easy smaller ones as well. There are so many possibilities and designs when creating cards with just a few supplies.

DIY_scrapbook_paper_greeting_cardsThese were so easy to make. You could of course create your own printout with a special saying, quote, or picture and that opens the door for even more possibilities. You could also do the same techniques but put it in a frame rather than on a card like I did for my sister here.

I feel like I have been tired and trying to figure out the new normal routine with school here. I don’t think I am alone, as I have seen FB messages and Instagrams of others in the same boat as me. I am excited to share this valuable truth with all of you, You Are Worth Far More Than Rubies. I created this graphic for you to use and create your own cards. Click here to download the larger graphic I used for my 5x 7 cards and click here to download the graphic for smaller cards. Enjoy!

I plan to write a few friends this weekend. Do you have friends that could use some encouragement?

encourage_a_friend

Share this post somehow through social media, let me know how you did in the comments below and you’ll be entered to win a set of these cards to send out to your friends. I’ll randomly draw a winner on Monday for the first four 5″ x 7″ cards I shared on here.

beautiful_handmade_cards

Thanks so much for stopping in. I hope you have a great weekend and are able to add a spoonful of imagination into your day!
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Art from Tree Bark

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art with natural elements

Have you ever walked past something in nature and knew you just had to do something creative with it?  I had that moment.  It was about like picking up those sticks at the park to make my stick heart wall art.  This piece of bark is thick-almost like a piece of wood, yet it has the fun texture and dimensional elements of bark.  I knew it would be awesome for something, so I saved it and it worked perfectly for this little craft.

I love taking a natural element and mixing something else with it to come up with a beautiful piece.  This week I mixed this bark with some jewel type rocks from the Dollar Tree to come up with Art from Tree Bark.

craft with tree bark

To create your own piece, simply lay your rocks in the shape that you want on your piece of bark.  I think initials would look really cool too, but I went with a heart.

Creative card to give

Once your shape is laid out, pick up one jewel rock at a time and put a glob of hot glue on the flat side of the rock.  You then press the rock back into its spot in your shape.

DIY nails

hot glue crafts

After you get every jewel rock glued down and in place, you probably will have a lot of strands of hot glue all over.  Carefully, pull and wipe them off your new art piece.

jewel heart

It is then done!  It is that simple!

I made my art piece for my sister Joni as part of her birthday present.  I love the quote “don’t let anyone ever dull your sparkle.”  I love how the dull bark makes the rocks sparkle together, and I thought it was the perfect craft to put the quote on for my sister.  To do this step, I simply glued some felt and a piece of cardstock to the back of my bark and wrote her a little message.

creative card

dont let anyone dull your sparkle

This piece acts as a fun, different kind of card too.  I love that it is a piece she can put on a shelf in her dorm room to use as a reminder that I love her, and she’s special and worth God’s best for her.

art with tree bark

Don’t you love projects that are easy but the impact of them can be huge?  This was such an easy craft, yet it had meaning and I think my sister really likes it.

With Valentines Day quickly approaching, I think this would be a fun/not too girly craft to make for your love!  I can totally see this propped up on some books in a study or office. I hope you have a great week. Remember there is potential for creativity everywhere. Just add a little imagination to the mix!

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Birds of a Feather Flock Together {DIY Valentines}

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valentines day kids craft

I am so excited to share with you these sweet Valentines I made for my kids.

The other day I was watching them all play sweetly together (which as much as they love each other does not happen all the time), and it made me think of that popular phrase “birds of a feather flock together.”  They are my sweet little flock that always wants to be together.  They love each other and it warms my heart.

Valentines day decorations

I am going to show you step by step how to make these sweet little Valentines that you can also use as Valentines decor around your house.

The materials you will need for this craft are:

  • old jar lids (from spaghetti or pickle jars)
  • spray paint
  • scrap card stock/scrap booking paper for birds legs, and nose
  • paper (I used heart wrapping paper) for the back of your bird
  • hot glue gun with glue sticks
  • feathers (found at any craft store)
  • foam heart stickers (or you could easily cut out paper hearts)
  • Googly eyes (or your could use paper or draw them on)
  • printer to print off my graphic
  • scissors
  • pen

sequence of crafting bird1

1)  The first step is to spray paint the backs of your old jar lids.

2) Use the jar lids as a stencil to draw the right size circle for the back of your bird.

3) Cut out your circles and get your hot glue gun and feathers ready to glue.

4) Put a strip of hot glue straight across about the middle (depending on size of feathers) of your lid.  Press feathers into the hot glue.  I used about 5 feathers per bird.

5) Add another strip of glue on top of the end of the feathers to glue your precut circle bird back onto the lid.  This will cover up the ugly ends of the feathers and make your bird look more finished.

6) Press your circle onto the hot glue.  Add more glue to seal down the ends as needed.

DIY bird valentines

Next, I cut out small strips of creme paper for legs and hot glued them inside the lids.  Look at the picture above, I also used red scrapbook paper to cut small hearts out to use for the birds’ heads.

craft birds with legs

I went back and folded my legs accordion style to add fun dimension to my birds.  I then used small foam heart stickers to stick on the ends of my legs to be the feet.  I used four stickers per a bird, sticking them to the front and back of the legs.  You could easily cut out hearts to do this step.  I had snatched up a big container of these hearts in the dollar section on Target and have been looking for a craft to use them on.

Next, I added some googly eyes and a small triangle I cut out of scrap paper to decorate the birds’ heads.  Simply use some more glue to stick the features on.

You are almost done!  Print out my graphic (listed at the bottom of this post) that I have made and am sharing with you for free!  I created 2.5″ circles and have put six on a sheet for you, so they are easy to cut around.  Once you print them out, cut the circles out.

birds of a feather flock together

printable graphic birds of a feather flock togetherGlue the circles into the center of your bird’s belly (inside of the lid).  I went back and wrote my kids’ names on the bottom of their Valentine.  I left that room so you could put anything you want in the open space.

homemade valentines for your kids

Your bird(s) are done!  How cute are they!  I love how it would be so easy to make a bunch of different styles of these depending on the color/size of feathers and papers you use.  I think they make sweet Valentines, but you could also use them as decorations.  I think you could even add some glue and string if you wanted to hang them from a chandelier over your table, so they seem to be “flying.”

valentines craft

One quick tip:  Watch how you glue your papers on, or you might end up with some sideways hearts like me.  🙂  See above picture.

DIY kids valentines

My kids love their Valentines (that I already gave to them!?).  Now, they want to make their own, so we are going to!  I think we will substitute the hot glue for Elmer’s glue to make it more kid safe.

DIY Valentines Day Decor

To download the birds of a feather graphic, simply click on the link below and follow your computer’s instructions to save the pdf file. Once saved, open it, print, and enjoy!

birds_of_a_feather

Are you thinking of Valentines Day yet?  Will you make any Valentines?

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Now let’s get this All About the Kids Party going!  Please link up YOUR new post!



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