Winners of the Itsy Bitsy 'For the Kids' Challenge

Last month was a fun month - we spent it creating projects for kids and I was actually thrilled to bits with the fabulous creations you all submitted especially since I have 2 little ones of my own. It's time now to announce the winners so without delay, here you go!

For Paper Crafting the winner is Sujana for this fabulous ensemble she put together for her little girl's birthday. Such fabulous elements and all hand made! How awesome is that!

For Jewellery Making our winner is Radhika for this fantastic clay jewellery set - such vibrant colours and what an amazing design too!! Well done!!

And now on to the finalists. In paper crafting we had a tough time shortlisting just 6 but finally we were able to narrow down the list. Here they are in no particular order.

Anushree for this fantastic quilled Chess Set

Avni for this adorable sock puppet

Charu for this smashing window card.

Pooja for this elaborate frame.

Dr. Sonia for this amazing swing card

And Ujjwal for this outstanding wall art! So cute!

For the finalists of Jewellery Making, we were really speechless with the entries. Amazing talent and intepretation of the theme. The finalists in no particular order are:

Anuja is so creative and this bracelet of hers is no exception!

Shylaashree is a regular on our list of finalists and here she is again with something spectacular!

Vasu for this bright and colourful creation

Congratulations to all the winners and finalists! Well done and we're so happy to showcase your projects on this forum. Winners please write in to info@itsybitsy.in to claim your badge and voucher of Rs. 1000 each. Finalists please write in to info@itsybitsy.in to claim your badge.

And thanks so much to all the participants for your entries! We loved stopping by your blogs and Happy Crafting!!

Bakers Twine for Teachers Day

As a child I always looked forward to Teacher's Day. I was one of those teacher pet types of students always gazing adoringly at my teacher and running to do her little tasks. And Teachers Day was the day to give cards and flowers to this mini-heroine in my life. Now as an adult, I am glad to see my son equally enthused about making his teachers feel special on this occasion. He was after me all week to make some cards for his teachers and this is what I cam up with. I had also recently picked up some of the fabulous We R Memory Keepers Bakers Twine from Itsy Bitsy and was eager to put it to use. 

For his art teacher, I decided to make a easel card. I started with some red and tan card stock and laid a pattern paper over it from the extremely apt DCWV Grade School Stack. With some craft sticks I put together an easel and added some red twine at the top. Finally I got 4 year old Dhruv to scrawl the sentiment on a piece of card and glued that on top. 

For his class teacher, I thought it would be fun to make a 'Report Card' for her. For the front facade of the card, I layered some black and red card and topped it off with this awesome Pattern Paper from the DCWV Grade School Stack. Gotta say, this pack was just perfect for my project. Then for the inside, I made a grid using the fabulous We R Bakers Twine. Inside the grid, I put categories of a great teacher and then Dhruv 'graded' his teacher by giving her an 'A' in every category. Fun isn't it!

For the third teacher I decided to make a secret compartment card. And this time, the fabulous paper from the Grade School stack inspired my front facade. I found this cute print of some kids in their laced up shoes so I used that for the bottom. Just above it, I continued the laced up shoe theme by inserting some eyelets and lacing the awesome Bakers Twine through them. Cool isn't it!!

For the inside, I used some paper from the same page to create this overlay. I fussy cut some of the laced up shoes and socks and glued them on 2 corners to embellish it. Then using the We R Memory Keepers magnetic twist trimmer with the 'Perforated Blade' I created a perforated central secret tab. The message on this tab read, 'Pull Back for a Secret Message'.

And this is what the secret message reads, once the tab is pulled back. As you have probably guessed, my son scribbled that out - not the neatest job I agree but he's still getting the hang of using markers. And after all, that intelligible scrawl makes the card that much more endearing don't you think?

Hope you liked my Teachers Day Cards. They are yet to reach the teachers so will let you know the response later. Would love to hear your views! Leave a comment and let me know! Till then Happy Teachers Day!

Supplies Used:

Scrapbook Layout for a Precious Little Boy

Those of you who know my work, know that I am big on Baby Scrapbooks. I did them for each of my kids, for my friends' kids and for my friends' friends' kids. And one thing that seems to be the trend is  that for a Baby Girl, I do pretty girly layouts and for Baby Boys, I do bold and colourful schemes. So this time I decided to steer away from the beaten path - my book was for a baby boy but the colour scheme was going to be baby blue!

And what paper pack goes better for a Baby Blue Scrapbook than DCWV's Nursery Baby Boy Stack available at Itsy Bitsy? Filled with soothing blues, greens and lavenders, this stack is a dream for any baby boy project, whether it's a card, baby shower invitations or of course a scrapbook. For my layout, I picked one of my favourite designs from the stack and then got to work. I used some of the new rectangular doilies recently launched at Itsy Bitsy. The detailing, quality and variety of these doilies is simply stellar, so many sizes and shapes. Check it out here!

The other feature I really liked in this layout was the border of blue roses. I recently returned from a holiday and one of the places we visited was Turkey. There in the streets near the Blue Mosque, vendors were selling simple floral wreaths, just like this border except it was round, to wear on ones head. I really wanted to incorporate this kind of design on the layout so I used the Itsy Bitsy Hand Made Roses with Stem. I twisted the stem of one flower around the stem of another and in so doing I connected the roses together to form this border. I love how it turned out! What say!

I used the Itsy Bitsy Glitter Frame for the frames and of course no project of mine would be complete without pearls so that's how I embellished them. The Itsy Bitsy Glitter Alphas always come in handy for scrapbook layouts and they're what I used for the title. An ivory bow at the corner finished the job and my page was done!

What do you think of my layout? Would love to hear your views. Leave a comment and let me know!!

Supplies Used

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