KiyomiKrafts

Camping Memories

Happy Summer!!  Today I have a special project that I made for The Cat's Pajamas.  The project is a gift box you can give to the little ones before a camping trip.  It's filled with No Mess S'mores, an album, and a journal to capture their special moments and thoughts.  The box is based on my candle gift set I made a while back; the instructions for the box is HERE.

The picture above features my favorite alphabet set of all time in Nightie.  The little squirrel and his nuts is from the set Happy Camper.  I colored the squirrel with my copics and then added the little stripes with Fun Flock to give him some fuzzy texture.  

This is the back of the box.  The back is covered with special cut-outs included in the Cosmo Cricket patterned paper set - Mr. Campy.  These cut-outs are also the basis for the journal that I put together for the gift box.  

Aren't those the cutest cut-outs?  You'd be hard pressed not to use these in your projects.  

Here is the box in it's entirety.  I hope you like it!  The ribbon and buttons are also from The Cat's Pajamas.  

Above is my No Mess S'mores.  If there is a no-mess way to do something I'm all about it especially when it comes to the twins i.e. S'MOREs.  I came up with idea because I, personally, love the taste of S'Mores; however I am totally freaked out by the messiness attached to eating these scrumptious delights.  I understand that the mess is part of the experience, but there is a deeper issue behind my aversion.  I have an extreme phobia of ants.  Yes, the little creepy crawlies make me very uncomfortable.  If I see one ant I just totally freak out and yell for Travis.  So the gooey mess is not what I'm afraid of it's the aftermath of stickyness that the kids leave behind that I'm afraid of.  The last thing I want is a sticky sugary heap of marshmallow heaven waiting for hungry little ants.  Anyhoo, the recipe for the No Mess S'Mores is very easy...

        No Mess S'Mores (About 6 - 8 servings)

• 4 cups of any Chocolate flavored Cereal (Cocoa Puffs, Chocolate Honeycombs)
• 4 cups of Golden Graham  Cereal
• 3 cup small marshmallows  

You can increase or decrease the recipe depending on how much you need.  You can probably add real chocolate chips in it too, but I really wanted to make it NO MESS.  I wanted something I could give to the kids despite the heat of the sun and their little hands.   

Here is the My Favorite Journal for the kiddies to keep their thoughts or pictures of the camping experience.  I think it was Millie that this project in our Stampin' Up club swap.  I thought it was so clever and cute.  

This is the inside of the album.  Double sided scrapbook paper works the best since you can see both sides of the paper.  

The album fits nicely in the box.  There is lots of room for memorabilia and knick-knacks after the consumption of the no mess s'mores.  

Supplies:  Green bazzill, Chocolate Chip CS, Cosmo Cricket (Mr. Campy), Nestibilities, TCP Ribbon, TCP Buttons, Corner punch, Prima Flowers, Linen Thread.  

Have You Had Your Can of SPAM!

Happy Wednesday!  Have you had your can of SPAM today?  Unless you live in Hawaii your answer is probably no.  SPAM is to Hawaii as Cheese is to Wisconsin.  Well, that statement was not entirely true.  We don't produce SPAM here in Hawaii, but I think you get the idea.  In Hawaii, we eat more spam than anywhere else in the United States per capita.  Interesting!  Just some useless information for you.   

I know you're probably shaking your head and, maybe, mildly grossed out.  But, if you like luncheon meat you'll like SPAM.  They essentially taste the same.  Hmmm, maybe I should take that back, because although I love SPAM, I hate luncheon meat.  Go figure... LOL

I got the idea from our Stampin' Up meeting over a month ago when we were shown this awesome idea ~ use your left over SPAM can as a holder for a group of cards.  All I did was wash the can out throughly to get the oil out.  Then with a straight edge plier I pinched the edges of the can down so the sharp edge laid flush with the can.  

I made this little individual 3 by 3 cards that fit perfectly in the can.  The images are from All That Scraps.  There a whole bunch of new releases for the month of December, so be sure to hop over there for some Christmas shopping.  

Supplies:  Cosmo Cricket paper, Bazzill Light Green, Ribbon, Riding Hood Red Taffeta Ribbon, Nestibilities, Scallop Edge Punch, Circle PUnch, Scallop Punch AND A LEFT OVER SPAM CAN! 

Candle Set

Happy Saturday! In one of the magazines that we get as demonstrators for SU there was a project for a decorated candle and holder. The holder was very clever because they used the corner of a cereal box to make it. My only problem with the holder was how I was going to accomplish the task of cutting out the corner of the box as nicely as they did without seriously distorting it. So I decided to make my own template and I wanted to share it with you. Trav and I also did a pictorial tutorial to accompany the template. Here's the set! Do you likey!? I hope you do. It actually comes together rather quickly which I liked. And if you know me, I don't like all those funky measurements, so I simplified it as much as I could.

The flowers are a Sizzix long die that we are currently selling in our new Holiday Mini Catalog. How cute are those flowers!? Here is a picture of the side of the box with both candles in it.

The holders fit nicely in the basket/box and makes an appealing triangle at the same time.

The template is NOT to scale. It's just a guideline to show you where to cut and score.

I usually leave the diagonal cut for last. I will show how I made this diagonal cut in my tutorial below.

STEP 1

Cut and score according to the template provided. This is what it looks like before the diagonal cut.

STEP 2

I line up my paper corner to corner on my cutter and cut.

This is what it looks like after you make the diagonal cut.

At this point you can decorate as desired: stamp or cover with patterned paper as I chose to do.

STEP 3

Apply adhesive. I would recommend using Red Line adhesive for this project. (I'm using this particular adhesive for photographic purposes.)

STEP 4

Apply adhesive to tabs as shown here.

STEP 5

Start to assemble box. Adhere sides of the box to tabs.

STEP 6

Small tabs are swung inward. You will sandwich the tabs between the front lip of the box.

STEP 7

Begin to adhere the front of the box.

STEP 8

Fold over to the inside of the box.

DONE!!!

Here is what the box looks like before it's put together. This is the same template that I use for all my boxes.

At this point you can stamp on the box or adhere some pretty patterned paper to it.

Apply adhesive (Red Line adhesive is preferable) to the inside of the tabs and assemble.

After the box is assembled I attached a handle to it with Rhinestone Brads. The handle is a strip of 1 1/4 inch patterned paper with sizzix flowers glued to it.

That's it! For the candle I wrapped a piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock around it. Then I layered a piece of Riding Hood Red ribbon around that. I stamped the Dreams du Jour stamp, colored it with my Blender Pen and Ink, cut it out, and adhered it to the ribbon with dimensionals. Simple! I hope you can try it when you have the time!

Supplies: Bella Rose DSP, Chocolate Chip CS, White CS, Dreams du Jour Stamp Set, Sizzix long die Flowers, Rhinestone Brads, Riding Hood Red Ribbon/Classic Ink, Kiwi Kiss Classic Ink, Basic Brown Ink, Blender Pens

Olives For You

Hope your Monday was a good one! I think waking up on Monday morning is one of the hardest things for me, well, besides birthing children... haha.

Anyhoot, this is the kitchen gift set that I made over the weekend. I used Olive You by Artful INKables. As soon as I saw this set I knew that I had to make some sort of gift set with it; I think it's the perfect set to buy for any man/woman that's good in the kitchen and likes giving gifts from the kitchen.

This is a jar of olive oil jazzed up with a pretty tag. This is a plain bottle of olive oil that I bought at Safeway for about 5 dollars and poured it into a pretty jar that I got at a local craft store for about 3 dollars. The tag cost me next to nothing to make. I now have a beautiful gift that cost me less than 10 dollars but looks like it cost double what I made it for. You could also attach a piece of fresh rosemary to the raffia for an even more sophisticated look.

Here is a close up of the tag. I actually cut that little tag out that is hanging on the olive oil and wrapped the top of the bottle with linen thread to make it a little more realistic.

Supplies
Artful INKables (Olive You)
Chatterbox Holiday Floral
SU Kiwi Kiss CS
SU Very Vanilla CS
Flower Punch
Tag Die Quickutz
Circle Punch
SU Scallop Border Punch
Raffia
VersaFine Onyx Black
Vintage Photo Distress Ink

Here is the recipe card that goes with this set. I really wanted to stay with the olive oil theme, so I chose my favorite recipe that uses olive oil in it. I chose Chicken Piccata by Giada De Laurentiis. I love, love, love this recipe!

For the recipe card I took the olive branch from the olive oil stamp and placed it on the bottom. This is a standard size card 4 1/4 by 5 1/2. All I did was cut a couple inches off the top and used red-line tape to glue the sides down to create a pocket.

Supplies
Artful INKables (Olive You)
SU Very Vanilla CS
SU Kiwi Kiss CS/Ribbon
ChatterBox Holiday Floral
CuttleBug Embossing Folder
SU Corner Punch
Nestibilities
SU Oval Punch
VersaFine Onyx Black
Distress Ink Vintage Photo

Finally, here is a small gift card to go with the set. Quick and simple, but the card ties the theme together very nicely.

Supplies
Artful INKables Olive You
SU Very Vanilla
SU Kiwi Kiss CS/Ribbon
Chatterbox Holiday Floral
SU Scallop Border Punch
VersaFine Onyx Black

Copics and Prismas used on these sets

I hope you like this set. I will try to make more of these in the future, especially with Christmas right around the corner. I think homemade gifts are so very special. I always love to receive a gift that I know someone made; it means so much to me knowing that they were thinking of me when they were creating it!

Kristin at Artful INKables is offering free shipping with all purchases over 35 dollars for the month of August! This offer applies to US and Canada only.

Mini Cork Board Coasters

I started and scrapped away 4 projects tonight in my effort to create my Aloha Friday video. I succumbed and decided to just do something different altogether. So, no Aloha Friday for Friday. I'll get it done over the weekend if it kills me, I promise.

So here is a cork board coaster mini! All I did was lay a thin sheet of cork board over the coaster, then embellished. The stamp took beautifully to the cork which I was very happy about. The Pressed Petals set from Artful INKables is just so versatile and perfect for cards or 3-D items.

I didn't have flat thumbtacks, so I just used some small brads as the tacks. It's functional and I think it came out half-way decent. And butterflies. I had to use more butterflies!

SUPPLIES
Artful INKables Pressed Petals
All Natural Accents Flowers
Prima Crystals
Stickles Gold
Butterfly Punch (Punch Bunch)
Ribbon
Large Brads for SU
Rosa Bella DP
Kimberly Poloson Designer Paper
MM (Travel)
American Crafts Thickers

Sorry, again for the lack of an Aloha Friday video. Please stop by again this weekend to see the video! Mojo?? Mahalo, JeNN