Summer Sticker Celebration (with Washi Tape Stickers from Klutz)

If you haven’t heard of washi tape yet, then get thee to the nearest craft store, STAT! This multi-tasking tape, which hails from Japan, is easy to stick on and peel off and comes in tons of fun patterns and prints, making it a crafting must-have.

I’ve used it to recover old notebooks, add flair to my phone and iPod, decorate vases and so much more. But Klutz’s take on the washi tape craze is my favourite by far! With Make Your Own Washi Tape Stickers, you can shape this colourful tape into completely customized sticker designs that are perfect for any occasion!

With the sun shining up in the sky and the great outdoors calling my name, I pulled my copy out onto the deck at the cottage and washi-ed the summer sights all around me. I mixed and matched the tape in six fun colours and patterns, chose from a ton of easy-to-trace designs, and snipped out seascapes, beach scenes, and sweet treats! Now I’m sending my postcards to some friends so that they can peel-and-stick washi stickers and share in the summer love.  

Charmed, I’m Sure! (with Clay Charms)

Klutz and I have been besties for almost two years now, so we’ve started to settle into a familiar rhythm. Whenever I'm free, I give Klutz a call and can always count on some good, crafty fun. But every once in a while in our steady relationship, Klutz does something that totally knocks my socks off and this, my friends, is one of the times.

May I present to you... Clay Charms!

I will try to keep the gushing to a minimum but, you guys, this book is the COOLEST! A pretty little bracelet base, nine brightly coloured bricks of clay, and endless combinations of clay charm cuteness!

It wasn’t hard to decide what my first bracelet would be about. I mean, the only thing I love more than crafting is food, so I stacked it up with some yummy snacks. Cinnamon buns, tacos, s’mores, and a crunchy carrot for good measure! Then it was into the oven for a bake, a quick layer of glaze, and my tasty treats were ready to rock!

After my first bracelet went so well, I just had to share. So I packed it in my bag for a weekend away and my friends and I all went Clay Charm crazy!

 

Now I’ve got a whole tree of clay charms to mix and match to my moods. But have no fear, I’m not done yet. These colourful little bricks of clay sure do go a long way! So if you wondering when my Clay Charm obsession will end…

Well, you know!

Three Cheers for March Break (with Fancy Friendship Bracelets)

Once the magic of Valentine's Day is gone, winter kind of gives me the blues. I’m not a skier or snowboarder, and I don’t like making snow angels or having snowball fights. Skating is fun, but only once or twice a season... Basically, to me, winter is a months-long excuse to hide under the covers and read. But then March rolls around and this wonderful thing called March Break comes along to give us a taste of the free spirit of spring.

My March Breaks were usually spent in daycare, along with the other poor saps whose parents weren’t crazy enough to brave the hordes of families descending upon Disney World. The six or eight of us extra kids would be stuck playing baby games with the preschoolers while our friends basked in the sun and ate turkey legs the size of their heads.

But it wasn’t all bad... Sometimes, after some theatrical sighing, my mom would pack a big-kid activity to keep me entertained. Finding that treat in my bag was like a one-day ticket to my very own Magic Kingdom. I would pick a special friend, set up camp in a corner (away from the babies), and go to town!

This year, when I found a copy of Fancy Friendship Bracelets in my bag, I tore into it with the enthusiasm of my younger, daycare-stranded self. These colourful bracelets are miles ahead of those embroidery floss, summer camp faves and totally updated with bright, spring-coloured cord, tons of tiny seed beads, and six cute charms to finish them off! 

If you’re looking for a fun, big-kid-approved way to spend your week of freedom, try out this cold weather craft with a ton of spring fling!

Sticker Shock (with Sticker Design Studio)

My love of stickers began one hot summer day when I was nine and my mom took me to the Sandylion Warehouse Outlet. I stood amid rolls and rolls of stickers, and wondered how I would ever choose just one to come home with me. The shiny stars? No... the fuzzy puppies! But what about those glittery hearts? I needed the glittery hearts!

Unable to cope with the pressure of this monumental decision, I threw a total fit and sobbed for my mom to buy them all. This (obviously) didn’t have the intended effect and instead my mom swept me out of there, empty-handed and brokenhearted. I don’t think I’ve ever really recovered…

Until this!

  

Sticker Design Studio is pretty much the coolest thing to happen to stickers since the sticker book! With page after page of cute, funky, and even sparkly stickers to colour, I felt the hurt of my childhood sticker trauma start to disappear. I might have even stayed up into the wee hours of the morning because I just. couldn’t. stop. colouring!

The next day, I confessed the embarrassing source of my sleepiness to my friends and one chimed in with a story of her own. She had purchased Sticker Design Studio to share with one of her babysitting charges. But when she set the little girl up to start colouring, the glittery stickers caught her eye and it wasn't long before she plopped the girl in front of a movie and stole the sticker book for herself.

Stealing stickers from a baby… Oh yeah, it’s that good!

Get Inventing! (with The Book of Inventions)

Creativity comes in all shapes and sizes. Give me some paper, glue and ribbon, and watch me get to work. My friend Lisa, well, she couldn’t craft to save her life, but she writes some of the most beautiful stories I've ever read. And Karen, she could McGuyver her way out of any situation!

If your creativity tends towards the latter, you have to check out the Klutz Book of Inventions. It's packed with tons of cool, crazy, can’t-believe-they-don’t-actually-exist creations that will inspire you to start inventing!

I found so many wacky contraptions that could have saved me in the past. Like the Storytelling Sling which would have spared me the embarrassment of having to repeatedly explain how I broke my leg skiing in my backyard or how I dislocated my knee jump-kicking off my parents bed.

And I bet my parents wish they thought of Sibling Blinders for my sister and I when we got cranky on the way up to the cottage.

But most importantly, how much do I want a Snack Shirt with a pocket made just for ice cream cones? Mom and dad, take note, I know what I want for my birthday!

After nearly 200 pages of wacky inventions, Klutz challenges you to design your own. They even break down all the ways they came up with their out-there ideas to get you started. 

I sat down with a pencil and notepad and started to think...

For me, waking up in the morning is the worst! It’s a daily battle between hitting the snooze button and sinking back into sleep,  or getting in the shower like the clean, responsible young person I should be! I'm embarrassed to tell you how often sleep wins… Therefore, I think I’d invent a shower bed so you can take that extra 15 minutes of sleep while you get squeaky clean. I’m still ironing out a few design kinks, but expect to see my Shower Sleeper in stores in 2014!

Crazy for Quilling (with Twirled Paper)

Typically, after the crafting craziness of Christmas, I like to take a little break from my favourite hobby and spend some time seeking inspiration for the new year.

Then one day, while at a craft show, I spotted a booth filled with some seriously cool paper art. I went over to tell the artist that I loved all her stuff, and she happily introduced me to the art of quilling. This simple twirled paper art form looks seriously complex, but in truth, is super easy to do. Easy enough, in fact, that I decided to break my crafting hiatus and give it a try. And wouldn’t you know it, Klutz had its very own, all-in-one quilling kit to get me started.

Twirled Paper comes with tons of brightly coloured strips of paper, a handy little twirling tool, and some quick dry glue. With just those three ingredients, plus a dash of imagination, there's no telling where quilling will take you.

Now, I've caught the quilling bug and this easy, post-Christmas craft has blossomed into full-blown obsession.

Merry Christmas Mischief (with Gotcha Gadgets)

Dear Santa,

I have been such a good girl this year — doing all my work, keeping my room sparkling clean, even being extra-nice to my little sister — that I think I’ve earned myself a place on the nice list. So I hope you’ll forgive me this wee bit of naughtiness in the last weeks of December, because I've got a Christmas gift that's sure to get me into some mischief!

Gotcha Gadgets is a practical joker’s dream. This boxy beauty comes complete with four customizable electronic gizmos and a book filled with tons of mischievous ways to put them to use. Make a door alarm, motion sensor, sound machine and more to play pranks and jokes or catch people in the act! And with four hilarious sounds to choose from, like a bloodcurdling scream or a silly sound from the bathroom, the opportunities for hilarity and hijinks are pretty much endless! I’ve safeguarded my diary with a light sensor, planted a gaseous sound machine under my Lil sis’s dinner chair, and watched and waited for the mischief to go down, laughing all the way (ha! ha! ha!). And, hey, I even learned a little bit about the science of electronic circuitry along the way!

If you catch a glimpse of me setting a sound trap or playing whoopee cushion pranks, please try to remember the angelic Lynn of the last 11 months, and not the prank master that I’ve become.

Thanks and Merry Christmas!

Sincerely,

Lynn.

Colour Me Surprised

In my crafting life, I've come to accept that drawing is my Achilles heel. No matter how many times I try to draw a face or sketch out scenery, I quickly remember that it's not my forte.

 

For Spring Break this year, I have two things on my to do list: re-watch the entire Star Wars saga, and get better at drawing. I’ll tell you more about that first goal in another post, but this week it's all about rehabilitating the pour soul who created this into someone who might be able to tackle this.

First, I dug into my magic box of Klutz and pulled out two kits to guide me in the right direction. I warmed up with Splat Art. This kooky book is packed with all sorts of splatted, stamped and squashed things that you can re-imagine into something new. I made a sponge print into the "Knight Bus," turned some string art into yummy cotton candy and (okay, so technically this one isn't drawing) I transformed an looping ribbon into a miniature royal decree.

Once I had mastered the Splat, it was time to move onto something a little more challenging (relatively speaking, of course.) Because, with pre-printed backgrounds and an amazing fold-out book (so you can flip the drawing instructions right out front of you), it doesn't get much easier than Mix & Match Drawing. Still, this is me we’re talking about, so I was skeptical at first.

Turns out I’m not so bad! I may have struggled to keep things to scale (that knight should probably be a bit smaller than his fire-breathing foe), but the step-by-step, shape-by-shape directions held my hand till the end. I sat back to discover that I had drawn something pretty decent. Sure, there were a couple of small gaffes, but I’m getting better! And that’s more than I’ve ever been able to say before.

One goal well on it's way to completion and one left to go.
What are your goals for Spring Break this year?