It's a Marvelous Monday!

Good morning my dear friends.  This has been SOME week!  Thank you for all your responses to last week's post, both on the blog and Facebook.  Your responses help me to make this all bigger and better.  

I had the fortunate opportunity to work at the Tucson Gem & Mineral Show, thanks to my dear friend Debbie Stertz and Feather Expressions.  

What a trip!  I LOVED it, as you can see from the pix! AND I've begun using feathers on my paper art!  You can see what I've done at my Etsy shop: khess136.etsy.com.

I took a couple of MMU (FAVE scrap booking store!) classes.  They were amazing! Alex never ceases to amaze me with her creative talent and continues to inspire me.  We made "Love to Go," a dozen little gift enclosure cards in a Chinese take-out container.

Alex Hardy, creator extraordinaire

the cards

My mess which gets me to the final product!

Oh, and then on Thursday I became Copic savvy with Copic Certified Instructor, Kiera Salkowski. She offers amazing instruction and technique.   If you haven't tried these markers....You must!!!  I'll be doing a demo and cute card at a later posting, but for now you'll have to trust me.  I can color and blend without ruining markers...YAY!!

The Master

The Student (Sandra)

And before the week ended, it was "be good to me" with a Shellac for the nails from my friend Scarlett at Gadabout Salon and Day Spa.  Ahhhhhh, and not a minute too soon - Valentine red!

Scarlett Shellac-ing

best part - the massage!

Gadabout Salon & Day Spa - Speedway location

My little project this week is an oldie, but a goodie.  You know, I wasn't going to post a project this week, but with Valentine's Day just around the corner I thought you might be able to use this one.  It's an ALTERED BINDER CLIP.  I've used them for a number of things:  at special parties we take pictures of the honoree with each guest.

Melissa's Roaring 20's Birthday Bash

That way a copy of the photo can be enclosed with the thank you note.  SO, an altered clip serves as  a cute little photo holder and favor!

It can also be used as a card holder at a buffet to identify the various dishes...Or a place card at a special dinner, or just a fun, funky message holder!

So, let's get BUSY!!

Altered Binder Clip

Materials

Large Binder Clip - 1"

3" square of scrapbook paper or card stock

embellishments of choice - rhinestones, feathers, buttons, flowers, etc.
ribbon, tulle, decorative cord, etc.

Tools

paper trimmer

scissors

ruler

Adhesive

double sided tape - for attaching paper to clip

Zip Dry - optional

glue dots - optional

Instructions

1.  Cut your paper so that it measures 2" wide by 3.25" long.

2.  Add the double sided adhesive to the paper on all 4 edges, and down the center.  Begin adhering paper to the clip; tuck it under the rolled edge at the top on each side.

3.  The clip bottom is not flat, so be sure to smooth the paper against it so you have a good bond.

4.  Your clip should look like this at this point:

5.  Now you can begin embellishing.  Remember to build outward.  In this step I added pom pom fringe.

6.  Next, I added white and black pearls.

7.  Finally, I tied on the tulle and ribbon, and added my message, which I stamped.  

I hope you enjoy trying this fun and useful project.  It's perfect for holding wallet size photos as well as the other uses mentioned earlier.  

One holiday season I included a decorative clip and recipe card along with the homemade sweets I gave my neighbors.

Have a great week and remember to listen for your muse!