Go, quickly, hug the ones you love, tell them you love them and show it….  You can never do that enough, so try, starting today, to make a point of doing it every time you think of it… and MEAN IT!  Especially with your husband, especially with your kids.  You can’t get more “handmade” than your kids.

On to crafty stuff….  Do you ever get a whole pack of little embellishments and wonder, “what in the heck am I supposed to do with all of these?”  For me, I’m not only a mix-and-match scrapper, but I tend to just use one of something here and maybe just another of something there.

When I got this little pack of embellies from the January KR kit, these Amy Butler Lotus chipboard embellishments, I thought to challenge myself to use every, single one of them on a layout…  and, what a challenge it was, for me anyway!  Here’s what I came up with…  and I love the finished product!  What can ???  We challenge you to see what you can do with a bunch of embellies from the same little pack…  Or, better yet, hand-make some goodies.  Get your felt and scissors out and cut out a bunch of little halloween shapes to use to scrap your photos from today!

that if you go here and leave a comment you could win a spot for design team member dina wakley’s new amazing art journaling 301 class : the grafitti of my life.

happy monday!
xo

I saw this tutorial for bookends and I immediately thought of scrapbook paper. The colors in this kit were so gorgeous, so I decided to give it a try. This project is so simple you won’t believe it.

Supplies:
2 Concrete Bricks (Home Depot has these for 35 cents.)
Kraft Wrapping Paper
Patterned Paper
Sewing Machine (optional)
Adhesive

1. Wrap the bricks with the kraft much like you would a present. Make sharp creases on all of the edges. See…

2. Cut 14 1 inch x 12 inch strips or enough to cover the height of the brick with a little room left over. I then sewed mine together with a zig zag stitch on my machine – that’s optional.

3. Adhere strips around wrapped brick (they will most likely not meet in the back.) Make sharp creases at the corners.

4. At this point you could embellish the front with words, alphabets or other embellishments. I’m a simple gal so I left them plain.

Install on a shelf – beautiful! If you make them, please link me up I’d love to see!

katie

With the holidays coming upon us we’d love to see how you create handmade items for yourself or friends. Show us what you can create with your Kenner Road items, this includes current and/or past kits, by loading your creations into the KR flickr gallery by November 2nd and you could win a $20 kenner road gift certificate!

celeste

jessi

lisa

dina

Now go make something!

eta : don’t forget to check the giveaway post below to see if you won the shabby chic craft christmas tag kit!

If you’re a scrapper, you love patterned paper. We all love it, buy it, hoard it. But, now and then, try setting the patterned paper aside and making your own handmade backgrounds. This one is inky & easy!

Supplies:

• Piece of white gift wrapping tissue
• Cardstock
• Spray ink (for this technique, I get the best results from Maya Mist or Tim Holtz Adirondack Color Wash ink)
• Paper towels

1. Crumple up the piece of tissue.

2. Uncrumple the tissue and put it over a piece of cardstock.

3. Saturate the tissue with spray ink–do the whole piece.

4. Roll your foll of paper towels over the inky tissue to really press it against the cardstock.

5. Remove the inky tissue and admire the cool pattern it leaves behind.

I used my purple background to create this layout, “beach.”  (I also did my “ice pops” layout from this month’s gallery with the same technique.) If you try this technique, link your layout here! I cannot wait to see what you create!