The Crafty Lefty

I used another template from Paper Source's Wall Art Calendar the other day: pillow boxes and matching tags! Here is the print for the month of September and the pillow box/tag template. Who knew mushrooms could look so artistic? Paper Source. Paper Source knew. Okay, so the first thing I did was cut out the pillow box along the solid lines. After that, I scored the dashed lines with the blade from a small pair of scissors. Scoring just means pressing down really hard on the paper in a line for the intended purpose of folding on that line. If you're using scissors instead of a bone folder or a butter knife, be sure not to push down too hard or you'll pierce the page. After that, I folded the dashed lines really carefully. This is a harder template because the lines are not straight, they are the curved lines lines you see in the template above. Here's what mine looked like before and after scoring and folding. Okay, don't hate! It hard to fold on a round edge! Don't worry. It'll look fine once you're done. Then, you're going to fold that bottom flap in, so that you see the print. Take double-sided tape and place some along the bottom flap on the print side. You're going to fold the box in half so that the print side touches that top straight edge and press down firmly. This is what your pillow box should look like now. It should form a loop with two open sides. Then, take one side of the pillow box., and fold the flap with the cutout flap down and in towards the other flap. On the exposed flap (the one without the cutout), you're going to put double sided tape on the top and bottom of the flap (see below). Then, press the taped flap firmly into the folded flap and hold until the tape stays firm. I put my fingers in through the open side of the box and pushed up on the flaps so that I could apply more pressure. And that's it! You're done! You want to leave one side open so that you can put your gift in there. There were two tags that you could use with either this pillow box or any other gift. I cut out the circle one using my 2" circle punch and punched a hole using my super tiny hole punch that's perfect for stringing in some twine. To make the rounded edges on the rectangular tag, I just used my corner rounder tool. Above, you can see all the tools I used for this pillow box and matching tags.

Hurry! Michaels is having a 50% off sale on their Thanksgiving crafts this week! This is the second year that I've bought holiday craft kits from Michaels, and I haven't been disappointed. I find that their selection & types of crafts is much better than the competitors -- JoAnn and Hobby Lobby. I went to a fall picnic last week where I was hosting a craft table for kids, ages 5 to 10. I got the following three kits from Michaels: I found that the fall animals kit (far left) was great for the little ones - ages 4 to 5. I used the turkey craft kit and the foam shapes for the kids who were a little older (or just a little more focused!) The foam shapes kit comes with over a hundred foam fall leaves, pumpkins, acorns, and feathers. Now, if you're not crafty and don't know what you could do with these foam shapes besides having the kids stick them on a plain piece of paper -- scour Pinterest for ideas! It's a great resource for any holiday or DIY crafts. I had the kids make a Thanksgiving wreath with the foam shapes. I also made construction paper leaves ahead of time, on which I had them write what they were most thankful for. I still have a bunch of foam shapes left, so I thought they could make a frame and decorate it with the foam shapes. Here's how I did it: I took 4 jumbo popsicle sticks and glued them in the shape of a frame with wood glue. Then, I stamped "thankful" on the bottom and decorated the frame with the foam shapes. I'm planning on having my nieces and nephew do this when they come home for Thanksgiving. I'll take a picture of them with their family on Thanksgiving Day that they can put in the frame to remember this Thanksgiving. These are the completed crafts: Don't they look fun? Be sure to leave a comment if you are doing any crafts with your kiddos this holiday.

Hi folks! We're pumped to tell you that the Crafty Lefty's products are now available in another retail location -- Love Sweet Things Bakery! Stop by and you can see our all occasion gift tags, as well as Thanksgiving and Christmas gift tags. They are also selling our Thanksgiving and Christmas cake banners. Check us out at their cute bakery located at 7430 North Beach Street in Fort Worth (and pick up some of their scrumptious cupcakes to go!)

Stir Crazy opened a second location on Magnolia in Fort Worth today! I was delighted because 1) I absolutely love their cupcakes and other goodies and 2) because my handmade cake banners and cupcake toppers are available for sale there! My girlfriend and I visited the grand opening today and helped ourselves to some cupcakes and savory tarts. I was ecstatic to see my toppers and banners on display for purchase! If you're interested in placing an order, please visit the Shop link above. Below are pictures of my display at Stir Crazy. I made an assortment of toppers -- scrabble letters, hearts, flags, paper candles, and banners. I wanted to do something special for Robbie, the shop owner, so I made her a banner for the grand opening. She put it on a fresh batch of sprinkled cupcakes. See pics below!

The Cakeroom, a swank and Marie Antoinette-inspired cupcakery in DC is now selling The Crafty Lefty's cupcake toppers and cake banners! We are so excited to start branching out in the DC market where there are tons of cute mom-and-pop run bakeries and cake shops. If you're in the area, stop by The Cakeroom for their famous nutella chocolate chip cookies or mini banoffee pies. Yummmmmmm All of the toppers available at The Cakeroom can also be found in our Etsy shop: Love is in the Air toppers, Little Black Dress toppers, Congrats Banner, Happily Ever After toppers, and our tiny balloon toppers. Not in the DC area? No problem! Click here to purchase these cuties from our Etsy shop.

A few weeks ago, I was in Costco, and my mom and I were looking for gifts for my neice and nephew. We were strolling in the Christmas toy aisle, and I spotted the Giant Art Jar. Speaking as someone who regularly has pom poms, felt, popsicle sticks and pipe cleaners at home at any given time, I was amazed that this jar has everything you need to construct over 100 art projects with your little ones! It comes with a detailed instruction booklet, complete with color images for every craft that you can make, and EVERYTHING that you need to build these crafts. My 6 year old niece and I created some crafts from this jar last week. I let her go through the booklet and pick the craft that she wanted. She made the popsicle stick butterfly and the bird nest scene on the paper plate. (Full disclosure: I didn't have the patience to take out every single thing from the jar to see if it included glue, so I used my own glue.) She was the perfect age and temperament for these activities. I don't think kiddos under 4 (unless they're really focused and have developed their fine motor skills) would be good for this, and it's probably going to entertain kiddos all the way up to 8 or 9. I would definitely recommend this for a rainy day activity or a sunny day activity when you've run out of ideas to do with your kiddos!

Anyone that knows me knows that I love all things Paper Source. If you're lucky enough to have a store in your city -- make a trip this weekend! Besides having all sorts of really cool supplies that any crafter should have in their toolbox -- punches, stationary, stamps, etc., it also inspires me to stay creative. Sometimes, I just browse the store for their handmade crafts and take pictures on my phone. Later, I upload the pics to my Pinterest board so I have new designs to try next time I feel like being creative. I know. I sound sooo cool right now. One of their products that I love the most are their wall calendars. Specifically, their Wall Art Calendar -- it's two great products in one. When you're ready to flip to the next month, each page has a template on the back to make anything from cards to gift boxes. I tried the easiest template first -- turning the page into a file folder. Here's the print for the month of July and the template on the back. Then, I followed the instructions on the back, and cut along the solid lines. The corners are supposed to be round so instead of cutting them, I used a corner rounder tool from - you guessed it - Paper Source. In the template, it suggests that you score and fold the folder along the three dotted lines in the middle. Instead of using a bone folder (which I don't have), I just used the blade from a small pair of scissors. I didn't see why I needed three folds, so I just folded the folder in half. The final product is below. As you can see in the second image, the back of the folder will still show the calendar portion. But, I don't mind since it's on the back. I'll do another post when I use a different template in a few days. If you have this calendar at home, leave a message in the comments and tell me what template you used!

The Crafty Lefty was a part of this year's Fort Worth ArtsGoggle! It was the first time folks saw our new Holiday line and we got to meet our customers face to face! In addition to our traditional toppers and banners, we also sold greeting cards, rose bobby pins, and table banners. We are super excited to have another booth this Saturday at the Eagle Mountain Annual Fall Carnival in Fort Worth!

Our Holiday Collection is here! Cupcake toppers and banners for your holiday parties are available for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas! If you want to get these goodies, be sure to check out our Etsy shop.