Baggage Labels For a Fun and Memorable Holiday!

Craft can be applied to so many aspects of our daily lives. It isn't just for cards or scrapbooks. It can apply to the most mundane of accessories - luggage tags. I first saw this on Snehal's blog. She had made luggage tags for a friend and I thought - OMG what a clever idea. Now many months later as my family was planning a holiday, I thought - I'm going to make me some Crafty Luggage Tags. 

For any project practicality has to find a place in the conception. So I decided that my luggage tags had to be durable. After all they were going to get quite a beating with all the traveling, loading and unloading. I knew I couldn't add too many 3D elements, they would most definitely fall off somewhere along the way. So that was my challenge. Making minimalistic yet fun and exciting luggage tags. 

As always the fabulous range of supplies from Itsy Bitsy came to my rescue. As I mulled over how to make my durable luggage tags I came upon the chipboard sticker section of the store. Right in front of me were fabulous chipboard stickers, perfectly sized for luggage tags and perfect for my project. The picture above is the tag I made for my son. I added the chipboard frame to some red card stock, provided a space for the ribbon and a few buttons on the corner. That's it! A colourful and fun luggage tag for a colourful and fun loving little boy. 

For my daughter, I found an awesome girly chipboard sticker pack. Full of bright pinks and blues, it was just perfect for her. All I had to do was add the pink felt backing, some alphabet stickers and some pearls. For the ribbon I used one of the crochet lace trims at Itys Bitsy. 

My husband's luggage tag was a little tricky. He needed something masculine and minimalistic. Once again I found the perfect chipboard frame for the tag. I glued it onto some brown card stock, added the alphabet stickers, attached the ribbon and voila - I was done!

Practicality continued to play a role in this project. Luggage tags should provide space for the owners's contact details so that if lost, the bags can be reached to the original user. Here's a look at the reverse side of each tag. As you can see I left plenty of space for the address and phone numbers. 

Finally here's a look at the luggage tags in action. I attached them to each individual suitcase and was delighted to see that they worked quite wonderfully.

Isn't it a fun idea - crafty luggage tags! What do you think? Leave a comment and let me know. As always I love hearing from you!

Supplies Used:

A day at the farm - Guest Post

The kit this month contained  corrugated sheets in various colours. Instantly I wanted to try a craft that explored textures. I love the 3 Effect that corrugated sheets offer. 

First I took the Blue A4 sized Corrugated sheet as the background and support for our craft. To add layers, I cut hill shapes from green felt sheets . Using glue gun, stuck them in place. 

The third layer was the light green hill in the bottom of the picture. While using Corrugated sheets I like to contrast the grooves. It brings the 3D effect. ie. I the lower corrugated sheet was kept with horizontal grooves, the layer above it has vertical grooves. 

Added the barn house made with red corrugated sheet and embellished with barn door. Used a black marker for added effect. 

No farm is complete without a tractor .. A tractor, some wheels and an apple tree. All cutouts from more corrugated sheets. You can add any item.. More trees, A swing make a park scene o even a circus. 

Added some Foam farm animals, Clouds, flowers  & our farm scene was ready. 

What do you think? 




Shruti Bhat is a Software Quality Analyst by profession who mostly exercises her left brain during the day at work and her right brain takes over at home. She loves crafting with her 6 year old daughter and blogs at ArtsyCraftsyMom.com. She can be reached at @ArtsyCraftsyMom on Twitter, Facebook & Pinterest

Chocolate Rakhis for a Special Brother

In my opinion Raksha Bandhan is one of the sweetest festivals around. Celebrating the bond between brother and sister is a wonderful thing and even though it is not my festival, I always make it a point to tie a Rakhi for my brother and brother-in-law, and I encourage my son to tie one for my daughter. This year however I thought I would do it a little differently. Since the floss that forms the rakhi is usually discarded in a couple of days, I figured I could make it a sentimental as well as satisfying experience. Enter the extremely enticing Chocolate Rakhi!

This idea came to me as I was browsing the Itsy Bitsy store trying to collect beads, thread and fillers for my handmade rakhis. I soon came upon the baking section and I found these awesome flat chocolate moulds. They were made out of plastic and available in a variety of designs. Suddenly I thought, how about making a chocolate rakhi. I quickly picked up the moulds and hurried home to get to work. 

 

I melted about 100 grams of cooking chocolate in the microwave and poured the batter into the moulds. As these were hardening in the freezer, I took some Paper Rope from Itsy Bitsy and cut to the appropriate Rakhi length. About 10 minutes later, the chocolates were ready. I took them out and popped them out of their moulds. Then using a drop of melted chocolate as glue, I fixed the paper rope to the chocolate rakhi. Back into the freezer it went and 10 minutes later, it was fixed nice and tight! Isn't that great! No glue at all, the chocolate is totally edible!

Of course presentation is everything so I made some pretty gift boxes for each of the Rakhis. I chose browns and white as theme of my project was so chocolatey. I had some fabulous crochet flowers from Itsy Bitsy and they came in real handy for this project, as did the 3.5" doily that became a really nice presentation focus for the rakhi.

What do you think about my Chocolate Rakhis? Would your brother like to receive one? Leave a comment and let me know, I'm ITCHING to hear your views!

Supplies Used

Vintage Tags

I was in a very vintage mood the other day and wanted to embrace all things vintage. Maybe it was because I had recently picked up the DCWV Heirloom Stack or perhaps it was because of the Chipboard Lasercuts I saw at the Itsy Bitsy store or maybe it was the Spellbinders borderabilities dies I added to my stash - whatever the reason, I was itching to go Vintage and since I've never made tags before, I thought I would give it a try. 

The fact is that Itsy Bitsy really has a fabulous stock of vintage supplies so creating my vintage tags was such a breeze. For my first one, I took this newspaper design from the Heirloom stack and laid it over a tag of black card stock. Then I took my Spellbinders Contemporary Hearts Borderabilities die to create these 2 strips at the bottom of the tag. Isn't mesmerizing! Next I created a square using the same borderabilites die to serve as a background for the piece de resistance! The Chipoard laser cut Vintage Lock and Key set. A black organza ribbon finished off my tag and I gotta say, this tag was really easy  to do and ultimately really successful!

Nothing screams vintage more than the old fashioned mannequin chipboard lasercut at Itsy Bitsy. It was so easy to create my theme with this fabulous embellishment. I took a crossword sheet from the Heirloom stack over black card stock again. Then I added this adorable 3.5" doily from Itsy Bitsy, it's part of their new doily range, so compact and versatile. Next an organza ribbon bow with a fabric flower in the centre from the top of the tag and as a final touch I added one of my favourite Blue Moon charms at Itsy Bitsy - the scissor charm. This charm has vintage touch with the swirls around the scissor  handles so  I thought it went perfectly with my theme!

For my final tag I decided to incorporate some of the divine Vintage blooms at Itsy Bitsy. I added a deep brown paper from the Heirloom stack to black card stock and placed a gardenia flourish for some swirl. Then I glued two Antique Fusion Vintage Blooms at optimal spots on the tag. I realised I hadn't used pearls in any of my vintage projects and pearls are the essence of vintage so I added a few on the corner. 

I just LOVE my vintage tags. I love that they were so easy to do, I love that they look so great and I love that the theme came through. That said, I have no idea what to do with them now - Ha ha!

How do you like my Vintage Tags - I would very much like to hear your views. Leave a comment and let me know. Till then Happy Crafting Folks!

Supplies Used

Birthday Party Invites for a Music and Cow Loving Toddler

My daughter turns two next month and being the crafter that I am, I just had to make the birthday party invitations. I had just one unwritten rule in my head. The party should make sense to Kyra. She is just a toddler and I didn't want to do something over the top that she wouldn't understand. So I thought about what she likes. Kyra loves music - she loves to sing and dance. She also for some strange reason loves cows. Anywhere she goes she looks for cows and if she catches a glimpse of one, she just squeals with joy! So her party had to have music and cows. Put them together and you have a 'Moo'sic Party!!

This is the front facade of the card. I used a 4" by 6" white card and overlaid some black and white pattern paper on it. Then I embossed a piece of white card with an Itsy Bitsy Spots Embossing folder and this became my third layer. I ran a bright pink ribbon across the centre of the card and placed 2 scallop ovals coupled with straight ovals for the sentiment which was printed on my printer. 

And this is the inside of the card. Being a kids party, I thought a pop up element would be adorable and how about those super cute cow stickers from Itsy Bitsy. I just can't get enough of them. I am also extremely partial to picket fences so when I saw the new Couture Creations Picket Fence die at Itsy Bitsy, I grabbed it for this project. Isn't it just stellar! Here are some closeups of the pop up and a side view of the mechanism. 

Finally it was time for the envelope. I found these awesome pink envelopes at Itsy Bitsy that perfectly matched the punch paper I used for the inside. I added this winning picket fence design as a border on the bottom and 2 more cows finished it up!

Voila! My card is ready! Isn't it fun and cute! I was so pleased with the result and little Kyra loved it too! Now the only issue is making 20 more of them!! Whew!

What do you think of my 'Moo'sical Card. Leave a comment and let me know. Always LOVE hearing from you!! Till then Happy Crafting folks

Supplies Used

Saying Thank You with Cupcakes

A few weeks ago I was in a real flap. I was due to travel overseas and suddenly found out that my papers weren't in order. I suddenly needed to get a whole bunch of new documents in a very short time. Two very sweet uncles of mine really came through for me and helped me sort out all these issues. I really wanted to give them something special to say thanks and since I'm a crafter and baker, the obvious gift was Cupcakes in a Gift Box

For the first box, my colour scheme of choice was red, black and white. I took papers from the Fresh Floral Stack to cover the box base, and used black card stock for the lid. Then I used the Spellbinders Fleur De Lis Border die to create a dramatic border on the base and lid, love that fabulous almost Gothic design. I finished it off with a chipboard flourish, some Itsy Bitsy flowers, a card and some ribbon.

Here's a look at the inside of the box. Using some black card stock, the Itsy Bitsy Circle Die and some glue, I made this partitioned insert for this box. Each cupcake went neatly into its respective section so that they would remain untouched and unaffected until the box was opened. 

Here's a look at the 2nd box I created. This time I went a little vintage. I recently got the DCWV Heirloom stack from Itsy Bitsy and I have to say, the papers are just pure vintage! I used this awesome design for the box base and for card on top. For the lid, I was going to once agin use a borderabilities die, but then I found a doily in my stash. I placed it on top, and added 2 die cuts from the Spellbinders Kaleidoscope die. Then I used some brown roses with stem to make this beautiful arrangement on top. The final touch was a big satin bow! Here's a closeup of the flowers. 

And once again, here's the inside of the box with the cupcake dividers. I made red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. The cupcake liners I used are from the Itsy Bitsy baking range. Really perfectly sized for a compact little cupcake.

My uncles were just overwhelmed with the gift. One of them is a cupcake addict so he was so appreciative. The other was quite taken aback with the effort. I guess they are not familiar with how insanely obsessed we crafters get with our projects!

What do you think of my little Thank You gift. Leave a comment and let me know. Would love to hear from you! Till then Happy Crafting Folks!

Supplies Used

The Newest Itsy Bitsy Store in Bangalore at New BEL Road!

August 4th was a red letter day for the Itsy Bitsy family as we opened our 4th store in Bangalore and 5th store in India. We now have 4 fabulous crafty heavens in Bangalore and one in New Delhi for  craft addicts to stock up on their favourite supplies! As you enter the new store you are treated to a fabulous array of craft flowers all arranged in colour and line wise. As always they are so appealing, I just want to pick them all up!

Like all our stores, in the new BEL Road store we've got a section for every craft hobby. Here you can see the quilling section, the stickers, the general craft and the jewellery making areas. Perfect to explore the range and well organised to find whatever you need easily!

The Signature Feature of any Itsy Bitsy Store - the Bead Bar has a prime location at the New BEL store too! Scores of beads all arranged conveniently for the jewellery makers to touch, feel and choose as many or as little as they like. 

This store has a fabulous mezzanine floor providing even more space for our fabulous product range and allowing visitors and shoppers to view the entire store from above. 

As the crowd started coming in, the workshops began. Craftoholics sat down to learn and pick up tips and tricks for making amazing projects, all under the able guidance of our amazing team of designers.

Of course Harish and Rashmi Closepet, the heads of the Itsy bitsy organisation were happy to meet and greet the guests, shoppers, visitors and well wishers to the new store. It's always a pleasure to meet new crafters and this day was no exception.

What do YOU think of our newest store! I think it's looks like a dreamland. Would love to hear your thoughts so leave a comment and let me know!

The Itsy Bitsy 'For the Kids' Challenge

It's time for another challenge here at Itsy Bitsy and judging from the post title, you can guess what the theme is. We want you to make something for a child, something that a child would like and appreciate. For most of us our first tryst with craft began when we were kids at school or at home so we wanted to dedicate the month of August to making something for the kids in our life. Once again we have 2 categories - Jewellery Making and Everything Else. Everything else includes paper crafting, embroidery, crochet, 3D crafts and so on. Whatever you make, it must be for a child.

So here's what I made for the Paper Crafting inspiration. My son loves it when I tell him stories, so I thought I would make a little puppet theatre for him, packed with puppets so that I can make story time even more enjoyable.

The theatre is made out of an old carton. I covered it entirely with a really happy pattern paper - the DCWV Grade School Stack. I cut out a window in the front and a similar size panel for the base. The idea was that I could slip my hand under the base of puppet theatre and hold up the puppets on the 'stage' such that they could be viewed by the audience. I used the rotary cutter to create that scallop trim on the top and sides. And how do you like my title phrase, I used the fantastic Itsy Bitsy glitter alphas for that!

The puppets themselves were pretty straight forward. I picked up the Craft Stick Puppet DIY kit and made the spooky puppets you see above. For the rest, I just glued a 3D sticker on a craft stick! Voila, my puppets were ready. 

Now on to the Jewellery Making Inspiration and what do you think of this absolutely adorable necklace the Itsy Bitsy Creative Team put together for this post! Don't you just LOVE the colours and the delightful shell beads! I know any little girl would love to add this to her jewellery collection. My 2 year old certainly would!!

Challenge Rules:

1. For the Paper/ General crafting project, your submission can be a card, box, tag, scrapbook layout, dress, embroidery, crochet work etc - anything as long as it is handmade and intended for a child. 
2. For the jewellery making project, your submission must be some form of jewellery and once again must be for a child. You are not required to include a Sizzix element in the jewellery making submissions
3. Quilled jewellery or jewellery made out of paper beads will fall under the Jewellery making category.
4. The contest closes at midnight on 31st Augut 2013
5. In order to submit your entry, click on the inlinkz button provided at the end of this post, add your image and link to your blog post containing the submission. There is a separate button for each category.
6. If you do not have a blog, please create an album on any online photo gallery, ensure the settings are public and link it up as detailed in point 6. Ensure the tutorial photos are included in your album.
7. If you are unable to create an online gallery or blog,  please write in to itsybitsycraftcontests@gmail.com with your submission.
8. Each participant can submit a maximum of 3 entries within each category
9. Submitting old projects is not permitted. All submissions have to be created after 8th August 2013
10. In your blog post, create a link back to this page - The ItsyBitsy 'For the Kids' Challenge.
11. Entries are welcome from all over the world however if you are the winner, we can only ship your prize to an Indian address.
12. 2 winners will be selected, one for jewellery making and one for paper/general crafting who will each receive a voucher of Rs. 1000 each, redeemable online at www.itsybitsy.in.
13. In addition 3 to 6 finalists in each category will be selected all of whom will receive a badge to display on their blog. 
14. We would love it if you display our new badge on your blog, you can find it on the sidebar.

We are super excited to see what you come up with and judging by the talent displayed in previous challenges we are 100% certain that it's going to be a gala hit! So hurry up and start linking! Looking forward to your creations! 

Submissions for Paper Crafting

Submissions for Jewellery Making

Supplies Used: