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!

I wanted to share a really quick and easy idea for dressing up glass candle holders. Sonoma County has a few really good latin markets that sell these inexpensive candle holders, i purchased mine blank for about $1 each. Most times you see them with an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe or another Saint printed on them, but our local market also has them in plain colors without any markings too. ;)

I always love getting a large assortment of these for outdoor parties as the candles burn forever and the long tapered glass enclosure helps to keep the candles from blowing out. Once I get them home I always dress them up in some fashion with little bits I have left over from kits, so I thought I’d show you two versions using bits and pieces from the Kenner Road July kits.

To create the Birch Beer candle I cut a 3″ x 7″ piece {i measured my candle circumference so I had an exact measurement for this} of JBS pattern paper {Scarborough Faire kit} and stitched along all four edges about 1/8″ in to create a border. Then I hand-cut the Birch Beer label {Blue Ribbon Kit} and layered it over a piece of cream cardstock. I cut the cardstock about 1/8″ larger than the label so there would be definition between the two pieces of patterned paper.

I then adhered the cream cardstock piece to the pattern paper. Then i adhered an embroidered ribbon {Sweetwater embellishment kit} to the cardstock and applied the Birch Beer label over the ribbon. Next, I punched holes in the corners of the Birch Beer label {there are four little circles in each corner which i punched right through} and then slipped the Tim Holtz brads and one metal leaf {Blue ribbon kit} for some visual interest.

After getting the label completely ready i adhered it to the candle with some heavy duty tacky tape making sure to center on the candle holder and match up the back seams.

Next I tied the ribbon up and trimmed the ends so they were a bit shorter than the candle and wouldn’t touch the surface it was sitting on. You of course could leave them long or tie a big beautiful bow.

Here you can see how the layers work and the metal foliage pieces really accent the label.

For the other candle holder I used the big gorgeous Basic Grey flower rub on in the june bug olio pack {Blue Ribbon kit}. This was a bit tricky as the glass was super smooth and the rubons didn’t want to release. My trick was to hold the rubon in the glass with my hand covering it so it heated up the rubon. then i began rubbing on one end and once it began to release i slowly started helping it by pulling up on the rubon film {the piece the rubon is adhered too}. Be slow and steady when doing this so you don’t break your rubon.

Once I had the rubon applied, I glued on some flower accents {Animal Crackers kit} and some more foliage metal pieces {Blue Ribbon kit}.

To finish off the candles i threaded the wicks with some buttons and a few mini metal flowers, just like all of those expensive candles you see in boutiques.

Now I have a few candles waiting for our next party or even as a hostess gift when we go to a friends house.

Also, we wanted to announce the winner of our July Blog Challenge “stamps”, Didee. I adore her cuddles in the garden layout and the stamped tag she used! Congratulations Diana you win a Blue Ribbon add-on kit!! Send me an email info [at] kenner road [dot] com and we’ll get it out to you asap.

Stay tuned for some sneaks and more as we get ready for our August reveal on Friday at 9pm pacific!

xoxo

hey there!

this month’s theme of summer reminded me that i have a few summer getaways coming up and every year i try to remember to either make or buy a little notebook to keep with me when i travel. next week we are heading to a wedding in florida, after i’ll be heading to cha, and then later in the summer is our annual trip to cape cod. i use little notebooks to keep track of everything from items i saw that i liked, grocery lists, books i want to read, phone numbers/emails of friends i met, to memory joggers for journaling on my pages later.

this year I decided to make a little vacation jotter using the july kit.

you’ll need:

• your july kit and add-ons
• chipboard (you can use cereal boxes for this)
• 3×5 index cards – you can purchase these blank and lined in either direction
• larger index cards to cut if you plan on making the bingo cover
• a cropodile or standard hole punch
• binder rings (you can get these at an office supply store)
• large eyelets
• gel medium (or other adhesive such as mod podge)
• the corner chomper or a standard corner rounder
• brayer or bone folder

Directions

1. using your cutter or scissors cut two 3×5 inch chipboard pieces.
2. cut a piece of patterned paper to 3×5 inches. apply gel medium to the chipboard and adhere the paper. use a clean brayer or a bone folder to get rid of any wrinkles. do the same to the other piece of chipboard. let dry then cover the back sides of the chipboard as well. let dry overnight.
3. round all four corners of 30 index cards. i used my we r memory keepers corner chomper which allowed me to do a lot at once. you can use a standard corner rounder it will just take a little longer.
4. round all four corners of the two pieces of chipboard. if your standard corner rounder won’t cut through, trace the corners using one of your index cards as a template and use a craft knife or scissors to round the corner.
5. decide which piece of the covered chipboard will be the front and which side will face the back.
6. using your cropadile, punch one or two holes in the top edge of the chipboard pieces. the location of the holes will be determined by the lines on your index cards. (for one hole I’d punch the top left.) be sure to line up the holes on both pieces. i added large eyelets to mine so the ring would slide through easily.
7. using the cover as a template mark a small stack of index cards and punch through using the cropadile – continue until all of the index cards are punched.
8. add rings through the punched holes and add embellishments to the front cover as desired.

you can vary the size of these jotters, use fabric to cover them, use graph paper or other paper for the sheets, and really make them your own. if you make one of these, be sure to link me up!  have fun!

I like that this month our blog projects are based around a ‘friendship’ theme.  I think friends are a really important aspect of our lives, especially women’s lives.  We always have our tried and true friends but every day there are opportunities to meet new friends.  Sometimes though, you have to reach out.  Just a little bit and sometimes a whole lot…it’s worth it though as you never know what type of potential friend is just waiting for you to make the first move.

Something that comes to mind for me is ‘new neighbors’….I tend to always be the new neighbor.  We are a military family and have graced more new neighborhoods then I have friends. :)  I have had neighborhoods where NOT a soul welcomed me.  No acknowledgement or greeting.  I have also had neighborhoods where neighbors have come out of their homes and welcomed us with open arms.  Some with brownies or lists of good places to go around the area.  Some of my best friends have been neighbors.

We’ve had many a beer tasting parties, chili cook offs, 4th of July, Cinco De Maya BBQs  etc have been had in those neighborhoods.  I miss those good days.

Well, we are about to be new to another neighborhood.  I’m nervous and hoping that this is a friendly neighborhood.  So here’s to lots of cookouts and mad games of Spades.

So, the thought of how to welcome a neighbor to the neighborhood became my focus for this blog post.  Not just the offering of help and time but a little crafty gift.  My first idea was to make a little “welcome to the neighborhood” sign, but then realized…”how long can they keep that up?” and instead decided to do something that could be used as a home decor piece for as long as they wanted to or worst case scenario, could be easily re-gifted.  I’m practical like that.

I used mostly the May kit on this project, I pulled in a couple of extras into it for added effect.  I made a little wall hanging, using the chubby little bird stamp that came in the May kit (exclusive to Kenner Road btw).  I added a quick note on the back to the recipient.

I used a leftover chipboard page from a mini album for my base and a wood cut out banner for the top.  I used a crackle glaze for the top of the sticker letters to add a little shine and personality. I also used lots of pop dots to add some depth to the piece.

Thanks for checking out my blog post!

Have a great week!

~Katie Watson

Mothers day is this Sunday in the US and i wanted to create a little brag book for my mom {with pictures of the littles} that she could either carry in her purse or display on a shelf. The Fancy Pants whimsy journal book was perfect for this; and all of those different size papers made the stacked interior easier to create with. I used products from all three of the April kits, but you could easily take these ideas and create it with items, including vintage ephemera, that you already have on hand.

Time needed to create : 1-2 hours maximum

Kits & additional products used : Central valley, Hen house, Two-by-Four, mini manila tag

Adidtional Tools used : sewing machine, dry adhesive, AC slick writer fine point in black, Foam adhesive or Pop Dots,

To begin I removed excess pages from the interior that i didn’t want to use. I chose one page to remain for each differently cut journal page inside {this will be more obvious as you look at the images below}. Then i sewed the edge of the sheer cover on my sewing machine and then i gathered various chipboard shapes, ribbon, and fabric and slowly layered them to cover the logo on the front cover. The ribbon actually wraps all the way around the back of the scalloped chipboard piece, the adhesive on the chipboard helps keep the ribbon in place once it is tied in the front.

I didn’t use alot of alphabets with this, but you can obviously add any journaling or titles that you’d like on yours. I adore how the book looks open, all the layers and pictures peeking out… i’m a sucker for whimsy and odd shapes and sizes. lol

This piece was so fast and easy to create. The natural chipboard is actually a pink paislee chipboard piece and i removed the top pattern and then stitched a sqaure with my sewing machine. {Debee’s april gallery totally influenced this decision. I love how she stripped the alpha in her layouts.} Then i punched the photo with a circle punch and used foam adhesive so the picture floats on top a little. Those small teardrops are the negative pieces from the Y & Z alphas that came in the central valley kit.

Aren’t my littles the cutest kids ever… ;)

I love how quick and easy creating page was. I just stitched around the photo and then adhered it to the page. I added a rubon accent and those Jenni Bowlin pearls and it was done.

This accent was created by again stripping the pattern off of the chipboard house and stitching a felt butterfly to the house before it is adhered to the page. Then simply add the rubon right onto the butterfly. The trick when putting rubons on fabric is to go slow and make sure you hold it firmly in place so it doesn’t slip or slide. Felt fabric generally works well because it has a high tack surface. ie : it is like a sanded surface with paint, it allows something for the rubon to stick to.

This page is actually stitched right to the back cover. I applied the tall flower to the left edge but cut the left side leaf off and reapplied it to the right side. Don’t be afraid to take embellishments and turn them into something else or to make it fit your project better.

This little corner actually hides a stitching error i made. Totally common when i sew. Sometimes I leave because it adds a quirky quality i like but this one was a thread problem that was all clumpy… so not cute! So I hid it with a chatterbox sticker and the prima pebble {which fit perfectly inside}.

The back was covered with another page from the interior. I simply cut off the perforated edge and used a corner rounder so it would all match and so there would be clean edges. Then I added the alphabet stickers.

Because this is the back outside of the album I was worried the little pink paislee alphabet stickers wouldn’t stay on the butterfly so i stitched them down with the butterfly right onto the chipboard flower. I don’t think they’re going anywhere now. ;)

I hope this has inspired you to create something, anything, handmade for a mom you love. If you do please feel free to share here in the comments or post it in our flickr gallery.

Happy mothers day to all of you moms. It’s truly amazing work that you do!!

xoxo