Hi. (Coming Soon!)

Be on the lookout...there are two new stamp sets coming soon (next Friday!) from Ink Blot Shop, LLC.

Here's a little peek:

Check back again on Friday to see more projects from the new sets!

Supplies:
Watercolor Cardstock: Ranger (Distress Watercolor Cardstock);
Patterned Paper: Studio Calico (Wanderlust - 6x6);
Stamps: Ink Blot Shop, LLC (Flopsy Birds, Tiny Bubbles);
Ink: Ranger (Archival - Jet Black);
Twine: The Twinery (Solid Charcoal);
Other: Watercolor Paints (Master's Touch Watercolor Paint Set - 24 Colors);
Tools: Fiskars (Trimmer, Scissors); Scor-Pal (Scoring Board);

Prince of Peace Christmas Card Set {The Twinery}

Wow!

Christmas is coming up quick! 

While I do love many things about Christmas (especially the real reason for the season), the abundance of red is just not my style. So, going with a completely non-traditional color scheme of blues, browns, and golds, I created this watercolor Christmas card set:

Since I was creating a card set, I did everything assembly-line style. I started out by stamping the focal image on several pieces of watercolor paper. Next, I added a few highlights with some quick watercolor.

I then hand placed a few small star-shaped sequins, to give it a little bit of sparkle:

Once the watercolor panels were done, I adhered them to a variety of colored card bases that I created from some cardstock.

To finish it all off, I tied everything together with some of The Twinery's Solid Marigold twine. Twine is a great way to keep a stack of cards and envelopes together and ready for giving away, while still being able to see the card design. The bell added an extra holiday touch:

I hope you have a very merry Christmas!

Supplies: 
Twine: The Twinery (Solid Marigold);
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink;
Watercolor Paper: Canson (Watercolor 140# Cold Press);
Stamps: Unity Stamp Company (Prince of Peace);
Ink: Ranger (Archival - Jet Black);
Other: Martha Stewart (Sequins);
Tools: Fiskars (Trimmer, Scissors); Scor-Pal (Scoring Board);

Handmade Holidays Blog Hop 2016

The Introduction:

If you are hopping along with us today: Welcome!

If you aren't already a follower, I'd love to have you follow my blog!

If you are on Facebook, please "like" Ink Blots by TRD.

If you are one of my regular readers: Thanks for coming back! I love having you! Please feel free to join along in the hop.

The Project:

I'm excited to be part of this year's Handmade Holidays blog hop! I've participated in the past and have always enjoyed it. You can see some handmade gift ideas I've previously shared here.

This year, I joined the hop with a simple (but practical) decor idea to share. This idea came together quickly thanks to some of the great hop sponsors, and it is something that you can re-create easily with just a few simple supplies.

When it comes to decor, I am not one to have closets full of items just for the holidays. I like things that are practical (and pretty) and I love it when decor is functional. All of that came together in this rustic shutter photo hanger:

I started with a wooden rustic shutter from Walnut Hollow and painted it with a couple coats of DecoArt's True Teal paint. 

I love the pop of non-traditional holiday color that this piece brings to my home for the holidays. With the addition of The Twinery's new Icicle twine, it is the perfect place to showcase the photos that arrive in holiday cards each year.

Of course, it can also be used to hang the cards themselves, or even a few special ornaments.

While I had my paint supplies out, I went to work making a few special ornaments to complete the display. I love how paint and a few simple stencils can bring such a cozy feel to some round cuts of wood. The stenciling reminds me of a cozy Christmas sweater:

Be sure that you hop on over to The Twinery blog next, where you'll find more beautiful handmade ornaments.

Thanks for stopping by today - and happy holidays!

Supplies were from the following sponsors: The Twinery, Walnut Hollow, DecoArt, and Buttons Galore & More.

The Giveaway:
Before you move on - don't forget about the giveaway! This collection of craft supplies will be sure to help you make this holiday handmade. Enter to win using the link below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Hop Order:

Be sure to continue on the hop!

Fall Napkin Placecards

Ooooh...isn't it getting beautiful outside?

The leaves are changing colors and the fall weather is finally starting to break through the heat.

When I think of fall...I think of food.

(Or maybe I just always think of food.)

And what is a good meal without some cute decor to spruce up the table? Today I wanted to share these cute napkin ties that double as placecards for a fall meal:

As I was walking through a craft store, those giant wooden buttons just screamed at me to make something with them, and I think they are the perfect way to tie up some cloth napkins (with the help of twine, of course).

On each of the punched tags, I added a name and some leafy branches with some of my stamps, then added just a touch of color with a colored pencil.

The Twinery's Solid Natural twine is so perfect for fall. (But there are lots of other great fall colors available, too!)

Happy fall, y'all!

Supplies: 
Twine: The Twinery (Solid Natural); 
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Rustic Cream); 
Stamps: Ink Blot Shop, LLC (Quirky Alphabet, Floral Frenzy); 
Ink: Ranger (Archival - Coffee);
Colored Pencils: Prismacolor (Dark Brown - PC946);
Tools: Fiskars (Tag Punch - XXL Lever Punch, Scissors);

Happy Birthday Gift Bag {The Twinery / SRM Stickers}

I don't know if you've noticed, but to me it seems that there are a whoooole lot of birthdays happening this time of year. 

And where there are birthdays...there are gifts. 

And where there are gifts...there is a need for cute gift bags.

Enter The Twinery and SRM Stickers:

I took a plain glassine bag and jazzed it up with some birthday border stickers. Then I turned the flat glassine bag into a dimensional gift bag by folding it along the three closed edges (the same depth of fold on each side). When I opened up the bag, I just folded in the bottom corners, and voilà!

The finished product is perfect for giving a small gift, or even to use as a party goodie bag. And, of course, The Twinery's twine is perfect for tying (pun intended) it all together.

Happy gifting!

Supplies: 
Twine: The Twinery (Blue Lagoon - Limited Edition); 
Bag and Stickers: SRM Stickers (Flat Glassine Bag, We've Got Your Border - Birthday); 

Need a necklace? No problem! {The Twinery}

It's no secret that I love using twine. I use it for crafting, of course, but I also love to use it for quick and easy jewelry. (You can see some past jewelry projects I've done with twine here, here, here, and here.) I love using The Twinery's twine for jewelry because it is so soft and lightweight, and it adds a great pop of color.

Recently I was looking for a last minute addition to my outfit, so I simply grabbed my spool of Solid Mandarin twine and went to work. I started with three strands of twine, knotted it in several places along the middle section and then braided both ends. I made it extra long so that I can also wrap it around a couple times as a super skinny belt, but love using it as a multi-strand necklace as well. 

With so many colors of twine available from The Twinery's shop, I've got lots of options for additions to future outfits...and you do, too!

Hi. {The Twinery}

Hi.

I'm happy to have you here!

Today I wanted to share this card featuring a few of my favorite things - mason jars and twine...and (stamped) flowers. 

I love using The Twinery's twine to jazz up mason jars, and I wanted to give the same feel to this mason jar stamp. Rather than wrapping my twine around the entire card as I often do, I just pierced holes in the card around the rim of the stamped mason jar and threaded the Solid Lilac twine through the holes. I love the final product!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies: 
Twine: The Twinery (Solid Lilac);
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink (Kraft); 
Stamps: Ink Blot Shop, LLC (This & That; Quirky Alphabet); 
Ink: Ranger (Archival - Jet Black);
Colored Pencils: Prismacolor (Premier - 24 pack);
Tools: Fiskars (Trimmer, Scissors);
Scor-Pal (Scoring Board);

Multi Strand Spine Bookmarks {The Twinery}

If you've been around my blog lately, you know that one of my favorite "crafts" is Bible art/journaling. It seems like at any given time there are a couple of particular passages that are in the queue for future pages to be done, and this is a pretty way to mark those places. 

These bookmarks are particularly useful for a large book like the Bible, but they can work for any book. 

And even better...they aren't just regular bookmarks - they can tuck right into the spine of any hardcover or case bound book. 

They were simple to make, too:

1. To start, I cut a strip of paper just a bit more narrow than my Bible's spine. (I used patterned paper for mine so that they will look good as regular bookmarks, too.)

2. I wanted to add a little sturdiness to these, so I did my very sophisticated laminating technique (aka - adhere clear packing tape to both sides and trim). This will not only help protect the paper piece, but will act as reinforcement for the punched holes.

3. Next, I punched a few holes near the top of the bookmark to give me a place to thread my twine.

4. Then, I threaded the holes with twine and and finished them off by a combination of braiding and/or knotting. You can choose any method for this that strikes your fancy. You can even add beads and/or buttons to the ends to give them some weight. 

(Photography fail - I meant to show the steps in order for making a bookmark, but you'll just have to tell your eyes to go right to left.)

If you want to tuck these into the spine of your book, it is probably easiest if you lay your book out open and flat and slide the paper portion into the spine. You can even insert two (or more) to get more place holders.

Once the bookmarks are inserted into the spine, just use the twine place holders as you would a ribbon bookmark that comes adhered to your Bible or hard cover book.

 Happy reading!

Supplies: 
Patterned Paper: Heidi Swapp (Favorite Things 12x12);
Twine: The Twinery (Solid Stone, Solid Caribbean, Solid Pink Sorbet, Solid Mandarin, Solid Honeydew);
Tools: Fiskars (Trimmer, Scissors); We R Memory Keepers (Crop-A-Dile);
Other: (Clear Packing Tape);
Bibles: Zondervan (NASB Note-taker's Bible); Zondervan (NIV Holy Bible, Journal Edition);

Find all my posts pertaining to Bible art or journaling here.

Upcycled Notebooks {The Twinery}

It's Earth Week and in the spirit of reducing, reusing, and recycling I've got some quick & easy upcycled notebooks to share with you today. 

I started by taking some empty boxes with fun, colorful designs and I cut them to a variety of sizes (making sure to have both a front and back of the same size for each notebook). Cereal boxes and snack boxes are a great to way get chipboard for a variety of crafting projects.

I put lined notebook paper inside, but this is also a great project for those printing mistakes and other projects that are ending up in your "scratch paper" pile.

To keep these notebooks together, I tied them up with The Twinery's Solid Natural, Solid Peapod, Solid Charcoal, and Solid Denim twines.

These are fun to make and are easy enough for kids to do. These would be great for kids' parties, too - just take something like a LEGO box and cut it to size for a great LEGO party favor. These can also be used like mini albums (just fill them with pictures instead of paper).

So many different ideas and they will get you looking at everyday boxes in a new way!

Supplies: 
Twine: The Twinery (Solid Natural, Solid Peapod, Solid Charcoal, Solid Denim); 
Tools: Fiskars (Trimmer, Scissors); Scor-Pal (Scoring Board);

Quick & Easy Garden Markers {The Twinery}

Hello! 

Today I wanted to share these quick & easy (& cute!) garden markers with you. 

I started by taking some craft sticks and snipping one end to a point with some heavy duty scissors. (Please don't try this with your standard pair - it will surely throw them out of whack.)

Once I had the points completed,  I got out my stamps and ink. I stamped each stick with a single large letter (for example: 'r' for rosemary), but you could easily stamp a whole word or just write it on with a marker. One thing you will want to keep in mind is to use a waterproof ink or marker, otherwise an "April shower" could make your label vanish.

After I had my markers marked, I took a little bit of solid twine (I used Caribbean, Strawberry, Marigold, Peapod, and Lilac) and wrapped it around the top of the garden markers to add a fun pop of color.

Quick & easy, and ready to stick in the dirt. 

Have a great day!

Supplies: 
Twine: The Twinery (Caribbean, Strawberry, Marigold, Peapod, Lilac);
Stamps: Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps (Cold Coffee Alphabet); 
Ink: Ranger (Archival - Jet Black);
Other: (Jumbo Craft Sticks);
Tools: Tim Holtz (Scissors);