A non-card related post today. But surely crafty! Hope you’ll enjoy it. Stay tuned for tonight’s card video later on.

It’s tradition in Greece to dye red eggs (or any other color lately) for Easter. If you are into organic and biological foods here is a traditional natural way to dye red eggs!!!

Well, what you do is get the skins of many red onions and boil them! Look what you gonna have:

That’s a red dye!

Now if you like some flower designs on your eggs here is how you can prepare them before you boil them.

You need to collect leaves and flowers from your garden. Then place a leaf or a flower on each egg. And wrap the eggs to hold them in place with net fabric and tie the fabric with thread. (recycling tip: use your old stockings)

Don’t they look lovely?!

Now take the skins out of the pot and put the eggs to boil.

and the result

They are not as red as they would be if you used egg paint but don’t they look lovely?

This weekend I am not making a card but a set of envelopes to fit your 3×3 cards.  I had an eye on these cute little envelopes by Maya Road here but they are always out of stock. So I decided I should make my own.

Enjoy the video and scroll down to download the templates.

Don’t forget to leave a comment cause I love reading them.

Supplies/tools:
- Digital Cutter (CraftRobo)
- Kraft paper
- Crop-a-dile
- 1/8 red eyelets
- string

Download:
Click on the image below to download a zipped file containing all 4 envelopes in .SVG format for your digital cutter and also in .PDF format for those of you who cut them with good old scissors. If you need the files in different format contact me. I am happy to help

UPDATE: The file now contains 4 formats (PDF, SVG,GSD, DXF)

If you used these templates to create your envelopes do link your projects below. Me and my visitors would love to see those envelopes in different colors and patterned papers!

Your Creations:

I hope you had a great weekend. This is a gift tag for your Christmas presents.

It takes some time to make but if you need to make a lot of them don’t do the embossing and the paper piecing part. Just stamp the journaling stamp, mask it and stamp the snowman. Instead of the greeting you can stamp “From- To”.

Enjoy the video here or on YouTube for a bigger screen and scroll down to read the list of supplies and don’t forget to leave a comment!

Supplies:

• What’S Cooking 4X6 Clear Stamp Set By Hero Arts
• Holiday Sayings Clear Stamps By Hero Arts
• Let It Snow Clear Design Stamp Sets By Hero Arts
• Zing! White Opaque Embossing Powder By American Crafts
• Fingertip Craft Knife by Fiskars
• Fired Brick Tim Holtz Distress Ink
• Ink Blending Tool by Ranger

December is here so I wish you all a great month! My advent calendar is ready and in use. The kids love it and it’s a perfect decoration for my Christmas house!  Here is a photo of it on the fireplace

Note: Keep in mind that tradition is different here. We find Santa’s gifts on 1st of January in Greece. So I needed 30 + 1 days on the calendar. On the 31 of December I’ll give the kids a letter so here is the rest of it.

“Making Of”________________________

Supplies:

• BasicGrey designer paper Wassail Collection 6×6
• favor tins 2,5 inches diameter
• neodymium magnets (really strong)
• Christmas stamps or digital images, ribbon, numbers and embellishments
• 40×50 cm frame
• deep red paint and brush
• metal sheet

Step1

Fist I decorated the tins with designer paper and images. I have used my CraftRobo alot for printing and cutting the digital images as well as the paper circles.

Step2

I bought a golden frame 40×50 cm, took off the front glass and the thin wooden backing.

I then painted the thin wood. I let it dry and then assembled the frame with the wooden back (I didn’t use the front glass).

Here is the metal sheet which was 100×20 cm since I couldn’t find one exactly as my frames dimensions (50×40 cm)

So I had to cut it in half to make two pieces of 50×20 cm each and then put them side by side to make a 50×40 piece. Pretty easy if your DH has many tools… Thank you Aris

I then secured the two pieces on the back of the frame.

Step3

I used the neodymium magnets to put all the tins on the wooden frame. No need to attach the magnets on the back of the tins. Just put them inside!

They are so strong that they stick perfectly to the metal sheets although there are actually two layers between the magnet and the metal sheet! That is the magnet –>inside favor tin–>on top of thin wooden back –>on top of metal sheet.

And here are some close-ups of the final result!

And here is a sneak peek on the treats (a little car, a Barbie dress, Christmas stickers, small tree ornaments, cookies, etc)

You can also check here and here. They are all versions of tin advent calendars. For more inspiration just take a look here.

Hope you enjoyed the post and got inspired. I’ll be back with a video on christmas tags!

Here is what I’ve done so far for my “Advent Calendar” project.

I have used the Wassail paper collection by BasicGrey. After measuring the top I used my CraftRobo (European version of Wishblade – same machine different brand) to cut 30 circles in just a few minutes and cover each tin. Also I have used strips of paper to cover the edges. I am so happy with the result!!! They are so cute!!! I love them!!!

I have used my ATG 700 gun which is great! The glue is so strong!

Anyway, now I have to embellish them with cut outs, stamps, glitter and whatever else I can think of! Then attach the magnet and finally prepare the base panel. At first I thought of just sticking them on the fridge… but then again it’s not a proper place for such a beauty! LOL! So I’ll be more creative!

Since I love reading your comments please let me know:

Do you have a digital cutter? Are you happy with it ? If you  don’t own one, do you plan to buy?

Did you know that Santa would come to give gifts in Greece on the first of the new year, and not on December 25th?

So since I am in the process of making a new advent calendar for the kids I have to make 31 days… the whole month of December. And that’s a lot of work!
This is what I’ve made last year.

Every little box is made by me. It took me the whole November to finish it. It was a great success, the kids loved it but now lies in the basement.

So this year I am doing something else. I just got these 30 favor tins and also I got a stack of very strong little magnets (neodymium magnets are the strongest you can get). I am planning to decorate each tin and then use the magnets to stick them on a decorated tin panel.

Day 31 has no tin, just a small message saying that Santa will bring today’s treat tonight. LOL

I have to finish by the end of the week and fill them with little treats. So I’ll take photos though out the process and let you know how it’s going. I love making it! I am so excited!

Here is a post-it pad I’ve made for my mom!

She always uses a post-it cube to write her shopping list. So I thought I should make her a cute one! On the back of the pad I’ve used self-adhesive magnetic sheet and it’s ready to put it on her fridge! Cool! I think I’ll make myself one too in another color combination!

Supplies:

• What’S Cooking 4X6 Clear Stamp Set By Hero Arts
• Nook & Pantry 6X6 Paper Pad By BasicGrey

Don’t you just love this instruction video by Kristina Werner on how to make your own sketchbook?
But what happens if you don’t have this stapler or the one you have does not open to use it on top of a pillow?
Well here is a video I’ve made for you! Hope I’ve helped
Excuse my bad lighting, I’ll make sure to fix that for the next recording.

Following Kristina’s idea and instructions here is what I came up with

A fun sketchbook where I keep my ideas, I tend to take it with me in my bag all the time so I can quickly sketch whatever comes to mind and it’s already half full!

They say “an elephant never forgets” so here is my notebook where I write my TO DO list. This one instead of frames to draw it has just lines to write, as simple as that … but always in my bag and very useful.

Love them both! Thanks Kristina!

As I’ve told you a couple of post ago I am in the process of creating a template and make another one based on the same instructions but for another use… I’ll let you know when I am done and share the template as well.