Little Prince Blog Hop - Create your own Custom Cake Plates!

Hey gang!  Welcome to Day Three of the Little Prince Blog Hop - thanks so much for stopping by!

If you missed the first two days you will want to go back and take a peek - EVERY SINGLE STOP on this three-day hop is giving away a prize!  Check out Day One here and Day Two here - you have until midnight April 5th to enter.  Good luck!

I love to create my own party decorations - but it can be hard (and expensive) to find themed decorations.  Why not make your own?  Today I've got a quick tutorial for you on how to create your own custom cake plate.

SUPPLIES
Xyron Creatopia with Permanent Adhesive
One sheet 12x12 patterned paper
One cardboard cake circle (you can use any size up to 12" - I used a 10" circle)
Coordinating buttons
Xyron High Tack Adhesive Dots (these won't be available until June - sneak peek for you!!!)
Craft knife and self-healing mat
Sandpaper

Set your patterned paper face down on your work surface, then run your cake circle upside down through the Creatopia.

Peel off top film, then peel the cake circle from the backing and place adhesive side down on your paper (remember - your paper is face down on your work area). Use a craft knife to cut all the way around the cake circle, then sand edges to smooth.

Use your Adhesive Dots to apply buttons around the outside edge of the cake plate.  Tip: I only put buttons about halfway around before I put the cake on the plate - just in case!  :)

Place your cake in the center of the plate, add the remaining buttons - and you have your own custom cake plate in just a few minutes!

Are you wishing you had a piece of this cake?  Can you just taste the sweet fluffy frosting?  Well...I'm going to let you in on a little secret.  I was dreading this photo shoot because I KNEW if we brought a cake in to the house we would eat it and I am trying VERY hard to eat healthier.  I shouldn't have worried. If you look very carefully at the above photo you may notice that the frosting at the top of the cake doesn't go all the way around.  This is why.

Our mastidane puppy - Bizzy - is NOTORIOUS for eating things off the table when we aren't looking.  We tried to shame her by posting this photo on Facebook after my husband's last birthday - but it apparently didn't phase her because I had everything all set up for this photo shoot, turned my back for less than 30 seconds and...

Clearly she loves cake even more than I do.  Gotta love her!

As a thank you for coming by I'm giving away a great prize pack of Xyron goodies - including a roll of the Xyron High Tack Adhesive Dots!  You'll be the first to try them! I'm also including an Adhesive Eraser, Tape Runner, Glue Stick for Corners and Magnet Tape. A whole box of craftiness!  To enter simply leave a comment here on the blog.  You have until April 5th to enter - I'll announce the winner on my Facebook Page on April 6th.  Someone is going to be very happy!

Please stop by and visit the other Day Three bloggers (complete list is below) - next stop is the SUPER talented Irit Shalom.  You are going to love her altered frame!

Happy Hopping everybody!

starts at: www.homespunelegance.blogspot.com
Beth Kingston www.aintshecrafty.blogspot.com - that's me!  :)
Irit Shalom www.iritshalom.blogspot.co.il
Jillian Shelton www.paperalamode.com
Madison Womack www.ifeeltheloveproject.blogspot.com
Karen Ladd www.ahomespunaffair.blogspot.com
Elizabeth Mindemann -  http://www.ejoym.blogspot.com
Liz Matsko -  http://www.217Creations.com
Rani Childs - http://www.ldsolutions.blogspot.com

Kids Crafts Saturday - Felt Garlands and Necklaces

Ok...it wasn't a Saturday - but for some reason any time we do crafts with kids I feel the need to call it that. I came up with this idea as a way to entertain the neighborhood kids one afternoon during Winter Break, but both of these projects would be FABULOUS Valentine's Day ideas!  All photos courtesy of Busy Bee Photography.

Felt Garlands
Assorted colors of felt
Die capable of cutting felt - I used Sizzix Circles #2*
Die cutting machine - I used my Xyron Creatopia with Shapez component
Xyron Creative Station with permanent adhesive - any size 5" or larger
Baker's Twine
*For the instructions I will refer to the circles, but they can literally be any shape you want.  How cute would hearts be!!

Using your die cutting machine, cut your circles out of felt (two per color/size).

Run one set of circles (one of each color/size) through your Xyron Creative Station.

Lay the other set of circles out in a line across your work space in the order you want them to be on the garland. Leave as much or as little space between each circle as you like - we left about an inch between each.

Lay the Baker's Twine across the center of your line of circles.

Take your set of adhesive backed circles and "match" them to the set of circles on the table.  When you press down to adhere the circles together, this will also hold your twine in place.

Custom Necklaces
Go to the jewelry aisle of any mass craft store and you can find pendant trays of every size and variety, as well as the glass cabochans (toppers) and chains that go with them.

You can also buy them in bulk on etsy and other online sites if you want to use them as a fun birthday party craft or school activity! I bought (and will refer to) 1" square trays.

Pendant Trays
Glass Cabochans
Photo, patterned paper, cartoon pages, etc
1" square punch
Xyron 1.5" create-a-sticker
Clear drying liquid glue - I used Diamond Glaze

Punch out your image from photo, patterned paper, etc and run through Xyron 1.5" create-a-sticker with image facing up.

Place image in to pendant tray - adhesive on the back will hold it in to place.

Place a small drop of liquid glue in the center of the image and quickly press glass cabochan in to tray. Hold for 10 seconds and then set aside to dry.

Several of the kids made these with their own photos inside for grandparent gifts.  What a wonderful idea!

One of the moms brought a toy catalog and the boys LOVED making necklaces with pictures of their favorite superhero.  I thought that was genius!

Last but not least - our neighbor Eleanor wanted nothing to do with crafts but is so stinkin' cute I'm just going to give her a shout out anyway.  Those sunglasses are the best quarter I ever spent!

Easy Cricut Gift Tags

aka - what to do when you are leaving for your nephew's birthday party in 20 minutes and realize you don't have a card!

Supplies:
Cricut Create-A-Critter Cartridge (and Cricut)
Xyron 5" Creative Station (also known as 510)
Xyron 1.5" Create A Sticker (also known as 150 or X)
WRMK Crop-a-dile
assorted scraps of cardstock (don't forget black for the features)

Determine which animals you are going to create and gather your supplies and coordinating paper (I literally used scraps I had laying around on my craft table).

 Cut each piece on the Cricut.

Run all of the larger pieces through the 510, set aside any smaller pieces. Remember that the adhesive goes on the BOTTOM of whatever item you put in through the machine, so be sure all of your pieces are facing up.

Use your scrap of black cardstock and cut out enough to cover the features (eyes, nose, etc) for each animal.  This piece will be hidden in between layers so it does not have to look pretty.

Run the black pieces and any small animal pieces through the X (right side facing up).

Start layering your pieces!

Once your animals are complete, flip them over to write a birthday message...

Use your Crop-A-Dile to punch a hole in the top...

and attach to your package!

Sparkly Snowflakes - Kids' Crafts Saturday

No...today isn't Saturday, but we made these on a Saturday - does that count?  :)

Actually - I call it Kids' Crafts Saturday because Don and I volunteer at the Fascinate-U Children's Museum in Fayetteville, NC on the second Saturday of every month (sponsored by Xyron - yay!).

We create fast and easy craft projects and have a BLAST doing it! I'm going to start sharing these projects here with you - maybe on Saturdays, maybe on other days, but I hope you'll be inspired to make these with some of your favorite little ones!

Supplies:
foam shapes (we got boxes of these snowflakes for a RIDICULOUSLY low price because all the stores were clearancing out holiday stuff)
markers
Xyron 5" Creative Station (also known as the 510)
glitter
tupperware container
scrap paper

Set out your scrap paper, markers and foam shapes on your craft space. (Tip - if your foam shapes have punch-outs in the middle, do NOT punch them out until after the glitter process. Trust me.)

Let the kids color on the foam shapes to their little hearts' content! (Another tip - if they color it TOO much the adhesive won't stick as well because the foam will be saturated.  We had more than 50 kids come through and it was really only an issue for about 4 of them - we solved that by just putting glitter on the non-colored side.)

 

Run your foam shape through your 510 (of COURSE I don't have a photo of this part!) with the colored side facing down. The 510 is easy enough to use that kids can help crank the handle! Peel off the top film, then peel the foam shape from the backing and place adhesive side down in your tupperware container filled with glitter.  You need enough glitter in the tupperware to make sure the bottom of the container is completely covered.

Help the kids move the foam shape around in the tupperware to cover the foam shape with glitter.  The beauty of Xyron is that if you pick it up and realize that you missed a spot - you can just stick it back down in the glitter!

And voila!  Sparkly snowflakes!  You can keep the foam shape intact,  or punch out the center for a cool shape.

Oh...and uhh...I held a snake.  :)  This has absolutely nothing to do with crafts - but it sure was awesome!

Happy Crafting Everybody!

surprise, surprise...more Xyron videos (and behind the scenes photos)!

I do do other things with my life than make Xyron videos - but I do love filming them and I do love my Xyron peeps!

We did a great series to celebrate craft month, including...

This easy and inexpensive guestbook (using the Xyron Everyday Stories system) that only takes a few minutes to put together and uses paper scraps and embellishments you already have at home!  This is PERFECT for newlyweds or as a housewarming gift, and can easily be used as a guestbook for a wedding/anniversary or birthday party as well.  I created something similar for my folks' 40th anniversary - everyone brought/sent a photo of themselves and a 3x5 index card with their favorite memory of my parents.  It was an incredible way to celebrate the people they've touched and gave them a lifetime full of memories in just one book.  Even if you don't consider yourself to be "crafty" this is a can-do project for you!

I was SO excited to be reunited with my buddy Jessica Barnett for this magnetic calendar project - I swear she is a creative GENIUS!!  Who walks in to a Home Depot, sees a sheet of metal, and thinks "oh yeah - I can make something awesome with that"?  I'll tell you who - Jessica!

Video shoots are LONG days and (if I get sidetracked...which usually happens after lunch) full of re-takes and close-ups and "are we done yet?" moments.  Good thing I am surrounded two of my favorite people on the planet - Julie and Rob!  Love you guys!

Julie is an 8-year breast cancer survivor!  We created this project (and a video that we'll release soon) to celebrate her and let people know about our Pink Ribbon X150. Xyron is proud to donate 50 cents from every Pink Ribbon X150 sold to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation Spread the word!

Rob and Julie - two of the best co-workers and friends a girl could ask for!

And this is what happens at the end of a very long day when the grown-ups leave the room for a minute.  'Nuff said.