Big News! Big Change of plans!

Hello friends!

Many of you know we are missionaries in Spain, spending some time here in Bluefield.  The plans were to go back in June of next year.  In many occasions we even considered being here a little longer, in case our girls needed us.

Having some family discussion we came to the conclusion that our middle daughter, currently a Senior, would be better off finishing her HighSchool with friends in Spain.  We first thought of sending her back on her own but we quickly realized the best family decision was to go with her.

SO, we are leaving in January to go back to Spain!  We are excited but have mixed feelings, as we have made some good friends in the area.  BUT we do have to say, that since we have decided, our hearts of full of peace and joy, a confirmation we are obeying God in this direction.

NOW, what does that mean in regards to the classes?

Our last class will be this Saturday, our special Christmas in November!  Even though we will still be around for another month, we have many things to take care of making our time limited.  We have medical check ups, etc., lots of little things that add up.

SO, this Wednesday will be our last weekly lesson ... some Thanksgiving and some Christmas.

On Saturday, all Christmas.  see pics

On Saturday it will be extra special as I will have some friends from TN as well.

I hope, for all these reasons, to see all of you during this week.  It will be extra special, I promisse!  We will have our coffee and cookies as always, and some extra fun ... SURPRISE!!

Hoping so see you all, please confirm assistence so I can prepare your kits!

NOTE ABOUT OUR MINISTRY IN SPAIN: I cannot take heavy things, but you are welcome to donate small items for the ministry there. Not required at all ... but I know it is ablessing to give to God and I would like to give you this oportunity. It will be used in our different groups that meet in Spain. There are about 6-8 different groups of ladies in different parts of Madrid ... the resources are limited so anything, anything is very appreciated. Some ladies cannot afford the material and they have nothing. It could be small paper pads, stamps, stamp pads, mixed media items,dies, embelishments, etc ... I am writing as many of us have materials we do not use and not even plan to use and someone else could use and enjoy it. Especially in this case, it will be used as as means to show God's love to these ladies. Even if you cannot come on Saturday you can bring the items to Hobby Lobby and have a coffee with us. I will share some information of our ministry there as well.

Fall Wall Hanging ... Tutorial

 I had so much fun making this wall hanging.  It is so easy and you can use whatever paper you have around.  You will just need one page which is going to work as a base color (checks in my case).  The rest of papers are all scraps. 

 You will need:  
1. a box to recycle.  (I used it for a base to give it more stability.  I coverd with the check paper)  
2. 1 page for the base ... enough to cover the 4 squares 4 1/2x 4 1/2
3. I used a strip of paper of about 2 inches (in my case they are green and cut with special scissors, you could also tear it)
4. Printed letter.  You can use any alphabet you have at home.  I printed in cardstock to have the specific color. 
5. ribbon to hold it together and a loop to hang up. 
6. leaves or any other decoration you might want to use.7. scraps of paper to decorate behind the letters.

A close up to show some of the steps I took:  the squares for the letters are 2x2 and I glued them imperfectly to give it some interest.  I used staples for the ribbons to give a grundy look.  I tried to place the leaves in different areas to give be pleasing to the eyes. 

The final result!  I hope you can make something similar to decorate your home for this special time of the year. 

Easel Card with link to tutorial

Hello ladies,

We made this card at Hobby Lobby the other day.

I wanted to show the result and have a link so you will know the mechanism of the card.  It is simple but it looks complex.  So here are the pictures and tutorial.

This is the final project.  I want to bring up two things in this picture:  I used the ribbon as a stopper.  I also used a precut card in purple and I folded it inside out.  I inked the white part  to give some color along with fake stiches.  That way when the the card is standing you can see the purple part. So, my measurements are not like in the video.  I just used a regular card 5,5 x 8 inches.  I scored at 4 and then one side at 6 to make the easel part. 

These are the materials I used:  one pre cut purple card, inking in pink, a message stamp, one coordinated piece of paper 6x6, a piece of ribbon, and some decoration.  In my case I cut out another coordinated paper (cupcakes). 

Here it is the tutorial ... enjoy it!

Decorating a Storage Box ... an easy tutorial

Hello ladies, as any scrapbooker I have lots of material to keep and storage.  I just moved from Spain and need some cheap solutions, since I had nothing to start with.  Here is what I did. 

I first found a box that could serve the purpose for its dimentions.  I chose some paper.  I also needed a ruler, cutter, washi tape,  pencil and glue.  I measured the wall of the box and cut the paper to cover it well.  I did not have to be very careful about the  angles of the box, as I used washi tape to do the finishing.  You can see the use of the washi tape on the label. below. 

As said before, the washi tape can be very helpful in hiding mistakes and giving an good finish.  I used a cut our of the very paper to decorate the label.  I adhered the label with foam so to give an interesting look. 

And this is the result:  pretty, handy and cheap.  You can use this same idea with many boxes depending on what you need to storage.  The only danger is to buy the products on the grocery store because of the sizes of the boxes they come in, even if you did not need them.  That would defeat the purpose of saving, but it would give you some fun moments of crafting!

Thanksgiving this week and Christmas on the 15th

At Hobby Lobby ...

Wednesday, November 5th, from 10 am to 12 pm
10 dollars, all included. Theme:  Thanksgiving  (see pictures below)

Wednesday, November 12th, from 10 am to 12 pm (projectos to be posted next week)

Saturday, November 15th, from 10 am to 2pm
20 dollars, all included.  Bring sack lunch :  Christmas in November  (see pictures below)

These pictures are our inspiration for Wednesday.  You can find the link to each on my Pinterest

Inspiration for our Christmas in November, on the 15th.  You can see the links in my Pinterest, on the Christmas cards and Christmas scrapbooking folders.

Christmas Explosion Box Tutorial

In our first Christmas in October we worked on this beautiful explosion box.  It was a fun and easy project that can be adapted to so many occasions. 

Let´s get started ...

For this project you will need 4 plain paper, in 3 diferent colors.  The repeated one will be the lid.  I also used 3 different coordinated print paper.   Decorations in the same scheme of colors.
Besides you will need: scorer, paper cutter, glue

Let´s start with your 3 basic pages.  These will be the measurements:
12x12
11 3/4 x 11 3/4
11 1/2 x 11 1/2

Starting with the 12x12, score at 4 and 8, both directions, so you will end up with 9 squares 4x4.
The second page is a bit smaller.  You will still mark 4 inches.  Do the same turning the page around.  At the end, you will have 4 inches square on the sides and a center square a bit smaller.
Do the same with the next size.
Remember, in every page mark 4 inches all around!

After marking all the lines, cup the corner squares from each paper.  Keep them to use as decorations later on, when you add pictures. 

This is the way it will look like.  

Round all the corners.

It will look like this. 

For the lid, cut the paper to 7x7.  Score all around at 1 1/2.  

Make a cut in one of the sides of each corner, like seen in the picture

Glue the corner to form the lid. 

Keep it secure with a paper clip until the glue dries. 

Glue the center squares to each other, centered. 

Voila!

Decorate, decorate, decorate!

I hope you like this and make many explosion boxed to celebrate the special events in your life!!

Mara Williams

Christmas in October ... a fun morning!

Hello friends,

Just wanted to show you all hat went on this morning.

We meet at Hobby Lobby, Mercer Mall, Bluefield WV
Next Christmas Saturdays: November 15th and December 6th.
We also meet every Wednesday from 10 am to 12 pm.
Call us for more information.

We had our faithful friends who enjoyed themselves making beautiful projects! 

When we first arrive, everything looks very organized, but it does not last long :)

We also had an open house.  We had a few people that came by and some even ventured on making a project.  This darling little girl's Mom gave me persmission to use these pictures, since it was so adorable to see her cutting and inking her little hearts which would into a beautiful Christmas tree!

For our guests we had a table showing some of our work during these last few weeks, coffee and cookies.
For the participants the treat was in sharing fun dies, and embossing folders, plus using a variety of materials from the resource table. 

Besides our star mini album (see above) we made 3 different cards using different techniques, such as paper folding, stamping, washi tape art, etc. 

We also have fun making fun tags for Chrsitmas.  We've got to be ready as Christmas will be here before we know! :)

Just wanted to show off our morning.  It was very fun for me to put it together and spend time with my sweet friends doing what we love so much, such a privilege!

I am working on posting all the step by step of some of our more complexed projects.  So come back and visit to know more about it.  

Again, if you wnat to come to any of our classes, please call me at 276 970 0090 or 276 970 1590. 

Mara Williams