Sweet Valentine Gift

So it's valentines day, or your mans birthday, or a special anniversary and you need a creative gift.  I have the perfect idea for you.  Modeling after my grandparents goal of traveling all 50 states together, I decided to make my boyfriend a map of the states and to tack a picture taken in the states we've been to so far.  It's a cute, easy gift that's sure to have him wooing in no time.

Supplies:
1.  Cork board (smaller one)
2.  Paint (I chose two variations of blue)
3.  Tacks
4.  Pictures of you and your special someone
5.  Paint pen (I used black)
6.  Map of the US printed out or a picture online if you're ultra risky/artsy
7.  Cute travel icons (optional)
8.  Scrap booking letters
9.  Glue gun and sticks

How to:
1.  If you printed out the US map on a piece of paper, cut it out like a stencil and trace.  If you did like I did and didn't have time/access to an immediate printer, do your best to draw it from a picture online (google image search US map). ** don't forget Alaska and Hawaii
2.  Squirt your paint colors on a plate and paint alternatively on the map while mixing and blending at the same time to get a swirly blended look.  If that's to hard or time consuming you can do one sold color.
3.  Outline the whole thing with a black paint pen.
4.  If you want you can outline each state but I found it easier to just put the abbreviations of each state (it makes it not look as cluttered)
5.  Glue on your letters at the top for the title (mine is titled Garrett and Courtney's Travels)
6.  Make a section for Countries off to the side
7.  Glue on any cute icons or adornments (I bought a "travel" themed set of pieces in the scrap booking section that had little planes, luggage boxes and travel buttons)
8.  Tack on each picture to the corresponding state
9.  Wrap and give to your lovey!


Now that you've wowed the socks off of your special someone, go book yourself a trip to Hawaii or an Alaskan cruise to knock off some of those hard to get to places!  Lucky for me I get to mark off Minnesota, New York and New Jersey this spring break! Hurrah!

Snap Cup

 Need a crafty idea to boost moral at your chapter meetings or events?  Why don't you make a snap cup. Kudos to our friends from Legally Blonde.  This simple snap cup can add a lot of fun to your meetings by having your members put anonymous encouraging notes in the cup and then reading them loud for all to hear.  Try and count how many people blush!

Here's how you pull this puppy off:

Supplies:
1.  Glass or plastic cup (the bigger the better)
2.  Anything that shines! (jewels, sequins, sparkly buttons, etc.)
3.  Ribbon
4.  Glue gun and sticks

How to:
1.  I started off by gluing the ribbon to the top of the glass.  This would also be cute if you had some feather ribbon to add to the top of the glass.
2.  I then took sequined string and glued it around the two bulging parts of the neck of the glass. (this can get messy with glue so go slowly!)
3.  Next, adorn the bottom of the glass with a pattern of sequins and jewels.
4.  Add a design of jewels and sequins to the cup of the glass.
5.  Finally I added a cute flower to the top of the glass with a silver button in the middle.

Now you can express your inner Elle Woods and maybe even slip an anonymous note of affirmation into the cup for yourself.  After all, you are a crafting diva.

Festive Folders

 Need a cute way to organize your files?  Perhaps you want a spiffy gift to pass out to all of your cube mates.  Or maybe you have a ton of manilla folders and a bunch of paper scraps and ribbon hanging around.  Here's a fun, easy idea for making uber cute folders.  Just follow these steps below:

Supplies:
1. Manilla folders (any office supplies store or even hobby lobby has them)
2. Scrap book paper and/or cardstock
3.  Ribbon
4.  Scissors
5.  Sharpie
6.  Stencil (optional.  I used a leopard print one)
7.  Glue gun with plenty of glue sticks
8.  Glitter spray paint (optional.  I used on one of the folders)
9.  Any cutesy stickers, jewels, adornments, etc.
10.  Paint and paintbrushes

 How to:

1.  Glue on the paper you'd like to use as the base.  You can use several different types, do it landscape or profile and use different widths.  I like to make one paper base a little bit wider/bigger than the other.

2.  Glue ribbon down the separation line of the two opposing paper bases.  You can use multiple pieces of ribbon next to each other for a different look.  Feel free to use other kinds of ribbon like fluffy feather ribbon or the rosette kind I used below.

3.  Now paint on your stencil on the larger side in the middle or just simply cut out a rectangle of a different colored paper to serve as your "label" for the folder.

4.  Draw on a name for the folder or add on any adornments you deem necessary.  (I like jewels, glitter spray, cool scrap booking stickers and sequins!)

Now go knock the socks off of your coworkers and sorority sisters with your fashionista folders!  Hey you never know, maybe your teacher will give you an A for creativity.  I know I would.