Sunday, January 29, 2012

Michael's Dollar (not 1.50) Haul

 I've always loved Michael's little dollar area and their recent change to $1.50 on those bins kind of irritated me. I know, not a big deal, but it was easier to load up when everything is a buck. Well on a wandering through Michael's today, I found a separate area where they have items priced from $1 to $5 and I stuck in the $1 area. They had beautiful flowers, rhinestones, and chipboard albums that you could easily pay much more for in the scrapbook aisle. I stocked up and brought home this great stash. You better beat me there if you want to get them before they're cleaned out!
A variety of bling! The rhinestones game in colors from browns to reds to blacks, very vintage.

The flowers look like classic Prima ones in solids, shimmers, patterns, and even sheers and glitters!

I got this little bag of tags in kraft, patterned, and they even have eyelets already set in them and came with coordinating ribbon.

Love these little crocheted flowers and they set on your page easily with a brad or adhere with a button.

They also had these great new shapes in chipboard albums including a flower and these scallop edged classic ones.

I usually buy a variety of the items and then put them in my own storage jars where they are easily seen and usable while scrapping.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Not only are these flowers green, they smell good too!

I love making paper and fabric flowers and I'm always looking for new ideas. I had heard about recycled dryer sheet flowers and had to give these a try! I love how they turned out and now I have a little basket I keep next to my dryer to save those used dryer sheets as I take out the dry clothes. Here are the instructions on how I made mine.
Gather multiple sheets of used dryer sheets. Trust me, this works best with used ones.

Stack the dryer sheets together.

I used my Sizzix to cut various circle sizes out of the dryer sheets. I folded the stack in half and it fit perfectly on the die. If you don't have a Sizzix, you can just as easily cut various circles out the dryer sheets. I did this method as well and you get very natural looking flower shapes.

Mist the dryer sheets generously with a glimmer or colored mist. I used Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist. I love the little trays that Banquet kids meals come in and I save these for my misting projects. They wash out really easily, stack neatly, and don't take up a lot of space!

Let your misted circles dry. Depending on your mist this may take some time. I let mine sit for about an hour. Once dry, stack various circles. I used two large on the bottom, two medium, then two small, and one extra small. Next, punch a hole in the center. I used my Crop A Dile but you could use a paper piercer or large needle as well.

Add a brad to the center to hold the flower together.


For a final touch, add Stickles to the edge of the flower circles. The pink flowers in this photo are ones I freehand cut so they have a little more variety to their shape. The purple ones are Sizzix cut and have more of a lollipop flower feel. The center purple one was sort of a happy mistake. I was getting impatient waiting for the mist to dry and used my heat gun on it. It sort of melted the dryer sheet, similar to the singed organza flowers you can make, and left a ruffly look on the flower.
These are so addicting and there are so many possibilities! And just think of all the dryer sheets that will now be going to use instead of ending up in the landfill! Go Green flowers!