Etcetorize on Instagram

Have you checked out Etcetorize on Instagram yet?  What are you waiting for?  Here's a look at what you're missing....

I post pics of family, nature, projects, and other things going on in my life besides crafting.  Come on over and feel free to hit the follow button~

Playing Around

Sorry but I have no fun crafty projects to share with you today.

I finally took the plunge and bought an iPad!!!!  So, I've been very busy getting caught up on Mad Men via Netflix, playing Candy Crush, and taking photos around the yard.

I think just about anyone can take beautiful photos with this thing!  But it's not just anyone who can model like Katya.  Look at those eyes!

Besides...it's a long weekend and the weather is beautiful!  So, I'm taking the day off~

Have a wonderful August long weekend everyone!

A Whole New World!

I'm feeling a bit like Neo from the Matrix.  I've come across an amazing photo editing tool that I just have to share because it's opened up a whole new world of possibilities for me, and I think you'll like it too!

It's called Pixlr.

Those of you who are in the know are probably already using this amazing and FREE editing tool.  (Yes, I said the magic word... FREE).  But for the rest of us who have been making due with Picnik (which I like by the way) or whatever came with our computers, this is a major game changer.

Carolyn from Makin' Cute Blogs did a guest post on Free Pretty Things for You (Both blogs are awesome...you need to check them out!) the other day and she mentioned working with Pixlr. Check out the link, that's where I learned how to add the fun little banners I used in yesterday's post.

At first, I was totally over the moon with the cool Retro Vintage Effects tool.  It's super easy, just upload a photo, make a few choices and turn a so so photo from this:

Tamara goofing off beside the Ganges.

To this:

Tamara achieving total enlightenment on the banks of the Ganges in 1974.

Ever since I got my fancy pants new Canon camera I've been trying to get this old 70's style effect, but never really got it to where I wanted.

Take a look at this pretty girl:

And with a little tweaking:

 Love it!

So, as you can tell, I was already totally enamoured with Pixlr and then I realized there was a whole entire editing package as well!  I'm sure it's not anywhere near as complex as Photoshop, but for me, it's a huge step up from the mishmash of programs I've been using.

Take a look at what I did just playing around learning some of the tools:

Nice enough:

Now...super cool, kind of haunting and eery (and I have no wrinkles!!!)

I'll try my hardest not to go overboard and suddenly flood Etcetorize with weird looking photos but I think I'm going to have a lot of fun using this neat software.  (Go to the Pixlr Help Page for links to loads of great tutorials on how to use it).

What do you use to edit your photos?  Do you edit your photos?  (apparently this is quite a controversial subject these days in the blog world)  Have you used Pixlr before?  Got any cool tips and tricks?  Leave a comment~

**This post was not sponsored and I am not receiving any remuneration for this endorsement.  I'm just totally excited by this super cool tool~

Inspiration Shot: Nature Walk II

Last week I showed you a cute little moss heart I came across while walking in the woods.  Here's another great shot I got:

Please do not leave any comments telling me all about the disgusting insects that made this beautiful log.  I prefer to envision little leprachaun's dancing around in clogs all night with their elf friends and tearing up the dancefloor~

Inspiration Shot: A Walk in the Woods

A few weeks ago my mom and I took my niece and nephew for a little nature walk.  Look what I found!

Do you see the heart??

Summer Memories Collage

As I've mentioned before, I'm not a scrapbooker.  I should be, I have more than enough photos, but I'm just not.  However, I have this lovely new Silhouette machine sitting here beside me at the computer and I figured it was about time I dusted it off and tried it out again.

I've made a few projects with it but I think I started out a little beyond my skill level so I got frustrated pretty quickly.  Last weekend I decided to try just a nice simple layout to see if I could work my way up instead of reaching for the stars first thing.

(I was inspired by something I saw on another blog.  Unfortunately, I can't find the link so I can't credit the original source.)

My sister and her husband have been working really hard all summer so they've missed out on a few of the adventures we've taken their kids on.  I thought this would be a nice gift for her to see what they've been up to.

I know browns and golds are more fall than summer but this fits in with the decor in her home.  I thought my chances of having it displayed would be better if I made something that fit in instead of something that stood out like a sore thumb.

Anyway, that's my Show and Tell for today.  I like how it turned out and it wasn't hard to do at all.  I just may become a scrapbooker one of these days after all~

All of you new Etcetorizers....don't forget to check out the Follow my Friends tab up top.  Just add your blog button and you have a chance of being featured!  Don't think I haven't noticed all you wonderful new followers, especially all of my friends from Greece!  I'm trying to plan something special for the big 300 mark so stay tuned~

Have a great week everyone~

Shabby Chic Frames

On one of my many trips to the local thrift store I picked up some small wooden frames for a whopping 50 cents each.  I had a fairly good idea of what I wanted to do with them but of course when push came to shove I was frozen with indecision on what colour palette I wanted to go with to create my vision.

I had something in my head with vibrant turquoise, yellow, orange, and pink.  Eventually I had to be honest with myself and admit that I'm just not that colourful, well, at least my home isn't.  So I went with a very natural, neutral, shabby chic vibe instead.

Here's what you'll need for today's craft:

A pencil will come in handy too.

Steps:

1) I wanted to cover the frames with the beautiful handmade papers that I had.  But the paper is very thin and I could practically see the wood grain right through it.  I figured that once I added glue it would probably thin out even more.  So, my first step was to give each of the frames a light painting with some wicker white.  I think this helped seal the wood a bit too so that the glue didn't just seep right into the frames.

2) Once your paint has dried, place your frame face down onto the paper and trace about 3/4" all the way around the outside and cut out your rectangle.

3) Next, measure approximately 5/8" from the inside frame and cut that out too.

4) Now comes the fun part...the Mod Podge!  Paint a layer of Mod Podge onto your frame and place onto paper.

5) Cut the corners of your paper diagonally to the edges of the frame (inside and outside corners). 

6) Apply Mod Podge to the sides and back of your frame.  Fold the paper over and secure with the Mod Podge.  You should get nice clean straight corners.

 7) Add another layer of Mod Podge to the top of your paper to fully seal it and give it a nice shiny finish.

8) Cover the rest of your frames to create a little collection.

 9) While I was waiting for the Mod Podge to dry I went to my computer and printed out some photos that I've taken in my garden.

10) Once your frames are dry, place your photos in the frames and replace the glass and backing.

11)  I hemmed and hawed over what to use as my hanger but in the end I used some pretty lace that I won from Marina over at Frabjous Couture .  (Ah!  So many choices to make~)

Measure out approximately how much lace you need to hang your frames by laying the lace on top, leaving enough for tails at the bottom and some length and a knot up top.

12) Flip your frames over, lay the ribbon or lace or whatever you're using, onto the backs of your frames, taking care to make sure everything is level and balanced.

And now for the goofy part.  I'm so unsure that this is what I want to use this lace for that instead of gluing it down I just used masking tape to secure it.  I just have this feeling that sometime in the future I'm going to be making a pretty dress or blouse, need some lace trim and think, if only I hadn't glued that lace onto those frames!

So, obviously if you're not as weirdly undecided as I am and don't treat every little crafting decision like it's a UN resolution, then just go ahead and use your glue gun or crafty glue and secure everything down.

13)  Cut your bottom tails on a nice angle.

And voila!  You're finally done!

Pin It

I like putting up stuff on tiny little walls like this in the hallway.  I think every wall should have at least one thing on it!

There are so many ways you could add your own touch to this project.  You could use scrapbooking paper or even fabric (careful not to add to much bulk or you won't get your glass back in).  Use ribbon or twine instead of lace.  Hang a 5 or more frames, put pictures of all of your family members.  The list goes on and on.  Give it a go and let me know what yours looks like!

Don't forget to enter the Plaid Extreme Glitter Paint Giveaway before August 31st!

Also, I've added some new linky parties to the tab up top so go take a look and check out some parties for loads more great ideas from blogland.

Have a great week everyone!

DIY Family Match Game

Well, I've been on the road a lot for work lately so I've kind of been taking it easy with my craft projects over the past couple of weeks.  They were pretty easy peasy.  But this week, I was home all week, so I have no excuses.  So, I decided I get back into a project that required a bit more creativity, forethought, and actual work.  I'm so happy with the result that I think it was well worth it.

Here's the thing...I have no less than 5 birthdays to prepare for this month, three of them for kids.  I wanted to make something special instead of just giving them all another toy to add to each of their insanely huge stashes of toys they all already have.  So, I came up with this family match game:

I've sort of made this up as I went along so I don't have my usual photo of supplies but here's a list of what you need:
-paper
-photos of family
-scissors (or a cutting machine)
-glue
-laminating pouches and a laminator

Steps:
1) First, I let my Silhouette machine do all the work for me after I designed a shape to use for my cards.

2) Then I used my Silhouette again to cut my digital photos of family members to exactly the right size to fit inside each of the shapes.

3) I printed out two copies of each face and enough card shapes to do a front and a back for each of the faces.

4) Then I sandwiched everything together, adding a little glue to secure everything before I put it in the laminator.

5) I laminated all of my shapes with pictures on them, making sure to leave enough space in between each one so that I could cut around the shapes and leave them sealed by the laminator.

6)Then I had to cut out all of the circles.  I went old school on this step and used a blade and a hard plastic template, which I didn't mention in my list of supplies because that's totally not necessary.  You could just freehand it with scissors, but I was pretty sure I'd mess it up if I went that way.

And that's it!  When I was done I had a nice little stack of cards that were all pretty much exactly the same size and shape.

I wanted to use more goofy photos of everyone but I ran out of time and had to use what I had on hand.   You don't have to use family pictures.  You could use it as a learning game or just put all of the Thomas the Train characters on your cards (I have no idea how my nephew can keep all of those trains straight!).

I'm assuming you all understand the goal of this game...it's pretty simple.  Just turn all of the cards face down after you've mixed them up and then try to match them up by memory.  I'm such a nerd, my cousin and I used to play this game for hours when I was a kid, and I actually loved every minute of it.  I wish I would've had these cards instead of plain old playing cards though~

If you don't have a cutting machine, don't write this project off.  If you use simple squares or maybe even pre-cut shapes from the craft store you can still do this with minimal cutting time.

I think the kids will enjoy this.  And I can add more photos and cards as I collect more pictures.

What do you think?  Do you have other ideas of easy to make fun kids birthday presents????  I'm also making some tattoo's and personalized T-Shirts with iron-ons, I'll show them to you next week.  After this weekend, I'll have two parties down and only three more to go~

By the way....It's CANADA DAY here in Canada....HAPPY CANADA DAY everyone!!!!!

Easiest Photo Embellishment Ever

As I've mentioned before, I'm not a scrapbooker or a card maker.  I need all the help I can get in this area of crafting.

My new Silhouette machine is helping greatly but I have a feeling it's going to take me quite awhile to figure out all of the amazing things it can do to make me look like I know my way around a scrapbook.

Here's my first card I made with my new machine:

Don't laugh.  It was a last minute thing and I didn't really know what I was doing.

     

It drives me crazy that those scallops on the sides of the photo are the wrong way but sometimes you just have to suck it up and move on.

In order to detract from my grievous error I added a little something to my photo.  Do you see it?  They're hand made photo corners.  I made mine with lace but you can use anything, like pretty ribbon or even paper or fabric.

This is the easiest thing in the world to do but I'll show you the steps anyway:

Steps:
1) Cut a small length of ribbon, paper, or whatever it is you're using. The wider your material is, the bigger your corner will be.  Here I just used a scrap of paper I had left over from my Birthday Banner project.

2) Holding your ribbon horizontal, create a mitered corner by folding the top lines of your ribbon down to meet together in the centre.  Trim the ends.

3) Dab some glue on the back of your photo in the corner and slip your ribbon over the edge.  Press down onto the glue.

Here's one with ribbon:

That's it.  It's that easy.  I love using photo corners already but sometimes your album can seem repetitive if you see the same black or clear corners on every page.  This way you can really jazz it up and add corners that match the photo.  Fun right?!?!

I'll link up at the usual spots this week.  Just check out the linky tab up top and you'll find loads more fun ideas.

Happy crafting!