Personalized Paper Bows

Posted on December 13, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

I’m officially obsessed with this paper bow template (http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2013/04/how-to-make-paper-bow.html) and that’s okay with me. I’m going to my niece and nephew’s birthday party and I wanted to personalize their gift bows. It takes a little time, but the end result is wonderful, at least in my opinion!

I used construction paper for the first bow and printed out the name in various fonts on Word.

For the second bow, I scanned the template and uploaded it on Word, then changed the color and inserted the name, here and there in various fonts as well.

I love these personalized bows and can’t wait to make and use them for my Christmas presents.

Take good care all.

Until next time…

Washi tape to the rescue…

Posted on December 6, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

Here’s an idea to spruce up any plain boxes you may have around (in my case: a cardboard red box that stores my bracelets) or even gift boxes for upcoming Christmas presents. You can use washi tape. They come in many designs and can be easily removed so if you make a mistake or get tired of the design, just peel it off and reposition or pick another design.

I chose a script writing washi tape that I found at A.C. Moore on sale. These little tapes can be expensive so when they go on sale get as many as you can. If you’re a crafter, you won’t regret the purchase. I just covered the top of the box and lined up the tape so it would look like a continuous design.

I wanted to see the finished box with a gift bow so I took out my scrapbook paper, which I also got on sale at AC Moore (buy, buy, buy) and my bow template courtesy of http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2013/04/how-to-make-paper-bow.html.

I love my cardboard red box now more than ever and if I was gifting this box, I would add the paper bow.

I decorated my kids play doh accessories box with the Super Mario (brand DUCK TAPE) design (found it at AC Moore, not on sale 😦 ). I found the birthday duct tape and glitter tape at the dollar section in Target. Yup, $1 . Score! The other washi tapes that I have are silhouette birds on a wire and cloudy sky with red hearts. I have a strong feeling this tape collection is going to be growing. I’m gonna need a big storage box, STAT!

Take good care all.

Until next time…

DIY felt Goomba, Bullet Bill, and Mario Star

Posted on July 22, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody!

I hope you guys are well.

My daughters absolutely LOVE Super Mario and friends. They’re always looking at videos on YouTube and love seeing the cartoon on Netflix. Two weeks ago my oldest found a tutorial video on how to make your own Super Mario star using felt. Inspired by that video, my husband and I decided to make a couple of star buddies for our daughters.

Fortunately, I already had a foam star from my daughter’s birthday decorations, which became a perfect template. I traced four stars, front and back, on yellow felt with a disappearing ink pen (found in the sewing aisle at the craft store). I cut those out along with four little rectangles using black felt for the eyes. That was my job. The sewing part went to my husband who’s better at sewing. We used cotton balls for the stuffing since we didn’t have anything else. Once the stars were done and presented, the squeals that ensued were proof enough that they came out great.

Then my daughter declared that she was going to make Bullet Bill. She told me that she needed black, red, and purple felt. And tape! Those aren’t exactly the colors of Bullet Bill, but I indulged her anyway. With her scissors she got to work and asked me if I could cut out two big circles from the red felt and two smaller circles from the purple felt. These circles were going to be the eyes. She tried her very best and taped something up that was supposed to look like Bullet Bill, but wasn’t quite holding up since she used tape. My husband soon stepped in and improvised with what we had in hand (supplies were running low). Without a template, just a picture of Bullet Bill and their creativity, a felt buddy/villain was created.

But that wasn’t the end. Oh no, another request, and a trip to the craft store (cotton balls finished), was made several days later. Why stop now? Let’s make one more. Let’s make Goomba! Again, with the help of a picture of this little villain as well as a sketch template of the body, which my husband did, they got to work and had a lot of fun seeing this little guy come to life, especially with its new stuffing (we purchased a 12 oz. bag of Poly-Fil 100 percent Polyester Fiberfill).

Here are the newest additions (missing a star) to my daughter’s plush Super Mario and friends toys. They absolutely love these guys. As you can see my husband added some red and pink felt streamers to Bullet Bill (not part of the original picture, but creative).

I know more characters are going to be requested and we’re going to do our best in bringing them to plush life because it’s a lot of fun.

Take good care all.

Until next time…

DIY PAPER BOWS

Posted on April 26, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody! I hope you guys are well.

I absolutely love making my own paper bows so when I came across this wonderful DIY tutorial at http://www.howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2013/04/how-to-make-paper-bow.html I knew that I would be sharing it with you immediately. It’s that awesome for all you crafters out there.

There’s a free PDF template at the link posted above. I used several colorful cardstock papers to make my bows, but of course you can always use regular paper or simply print out the template on cardstock, because it’s sturdier, and trace onto any other paper like newspaper, magazine pages, scrapbook paper, etc. The possibilities are endless and here’s a great idea for a one of a kind paper bow: print the template on regular paper, have your child design it (color it in), cut and put it together. They’ll be smiles all around!

Paper cutting frenzy

I decided to use brads at the center to hold my bows together. Then I wrapped and glued the final piece.

I literally squealed with delight.

This project and its end result made me really happy.

I love these bows and can’t wait to make more. Many, many more!

THANKS to Jessica Jones at http://www.howaboutorange.blogspot.com/ for creating this template and offering it to everyone. I’m a new fan and follower!

Take good care all.

Until next time…

Celebration Recap

Posted on April 15, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody! I hope you guys are well.

My youngest daughter is officially three and we had a birthday week-end celebration with friends and family. We broke things down by celebrating her actual birthday on Friday, just us in the house. I wanted to make a small (I like the Jiffy cake mix), funfetti cake

and it was the perfect time to try out these Bake-Even Cake Strips (Wilton) that I’ve seen online and found on sale at AC Moore craft store.

I didn’t realize I went overboard on the sprinkles until…

…the cake was done and I flipped it out of the baking pan.

As you can see the cake strip (around the pan) worked, but there were noticeable differences other than the cake dome that appears when you don’t use this strip. The cake sticks to the side of the pan more and the bottom was moist when I took it out. I like that it baked even, but I don’t know if I’m going to use the strip again. We’ll see.

I melted a little bit of the Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy Chocolate frosting (15 seconds in the microwave) in a glass bowl and this made things easy to spread on the cake. I really don’t like when the cake crumbs combine with the frosting. I threw a little bit more of sprinkles, yes more, on the frosting and then…

…the #3 candle. My daughter loved her funfetti cake.

I chose the theme of the cartoon Bubble Guppies featured on Nickelodeon. I decorated with free printables from nickjr.com and purchased a huge #3 balloon. Balloons are always a huge hit.

The banner, poster, and pin the tail game were cute, easy, and fun to put together. Just go to nickjr.com and click on birthdays and you’ll see all of the themes and projects available for each.

The following day was Saturday and we invited friends and family with kids to join us at an indoor playground/arcade (funtopiausa.com). We paid for the kids admission, tokens for them to play the arcade games, and food (pizza, popcorn, and drinks). We stayed for about two hours and when it was time to go I gave each invited guest a goody box filled with candy, toys and stickers.

My aunt had given me these boxes about a year ago and I was so happy to finally have a reason to use them. I glued the images of the Bubble Guppies, which I printed out at nickjr.com, and made the middle image with my daughter’s name. I then took the glitter glue in blue and green and made swirl lines like waves on the boxes. I then filled the boxes with candy (skittles, smarties, Tootsie rolls, lollipop, rose ring pop, candy bracelet, and sixlets) from orientaltrading.com along with little toys like a mushroom spinning top (not shown) and Easter Pop-Ups, which are a lot of fun for children and adults.

We ended the day with my husband’s homemade piñata, which he made with a balloon, scraps of paper, and modge podge.

My husband had fun making this and the kids had a lot more fun whacking the heck out of it.

On our last day of celebration (Sunday), my family came over and we sang happy birthday once again with another cake (Oreo No Bake Dessert), chocolate lollipops (vanilla, dark mint, & peanut butter), and great, homemade food. Thanks Mom and my aunt Aida!

I was pretty happy with this plan of action for celebrating my daughter’s birthday. Many people get really stressed out planning birthdays and end up spending a lot of money. I didn’t want the headaches or the empty wallet. No offense to anyone who goes big, because of course, if I had space and extra money, I would be singing a different tune, but at this moment minimal is the way to go. So one birthday down, one more to go.

Take good care all and thanks for visiting.

Until next time…

DIY Valentine Cards

Posted on February 5, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody! I hope you guys are well. I love sending mail to my family and friends. It’s almost Valentine’s Day and I’m going to be sending out valentines along with a couple of pictures of my daughters to them all. I could always go to Target and buy a set of valentines, but where’s the fun in that? Here’s what I came up with this year for my own Valentine cards:

Using Microsoft Word, I made a quick design with a heart and our well wishes for Valentine’s Day.

I made four to a page and printed it out on white cardstock.

Then using Anita’s All Purpose Acrylic Craft Paint in True Red and a little bit of water mixed in, I painted the hearts and let it dry. Then I outlined the hearts with studio g Glitter Glue (I couldn’t find the name of the color but it’s sort of yellow/gold).

I cut out the cards using my trusty cricut paper-cutter. It makes things so much easier and neater.

Here are my valentines! Ready to be accompanied by a picture and shipped off to my loved ones.

This craft project was quick and I can’t wait to ship them out.

Take good care all.

Until next time…

DIY VALENTINE DECORATIONS

Posted on January 31, 2013 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody! I hope you guys are well. I love decorating for Valentine’s Day especially for my girls. They love seeing all the hearts and pastel colors sprucing up our home.

Using my heart puncher, I like taping hearts in various places like my china cabinet, the TV unit, the door, etc. My daughters always seem to find all the little decorations I put up. It’s like a game for them and I love seeing their smiles when they discover hearts here and there.

I love decorating with banners and I made these two last year using felt and my heart puncher.

I purchased purple, hot pink, light, pink, and glitter red felt in order to do my banners.

I cut out the triangles (freehand) and then sewed them together right at the corner. For the heart banner, the glitter red felt was a bit thicker and I was able to punch out hearts and string them together.

I put the pennant banner outside my doorway with this cute little guy declaring his love for you!

I decorated my picture shelf in my living room with the heart banner. I want to make a couple more and overlap them, but I ran out of the glitter red felt so it’s off to the craft store. Yippee!

Take good care all.

Until next time…

DIY: MEET OUR TURKEY

Posted on November 14, 2012 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody! I hope you guys are well. Remember our Halloween door monster. If you don’t, then here’s a reminder:

I wanted to continue this door decoration idea right into Thanksgiving so our adorable monster has had a major transformation.

Meet Gobble Gobble Mercado!

I think I love him more than my daughters do. Oh well, he’s simply adorable and I had a blast doing this. I kept the eyes from the monster and printed out the hat, beak and feet. I used party streamer paper and found two red strings for the wattle. I hope this turkey brought a smile to your face.

Stay alert, stay alive.

Until next time…

DIY Banners

Posted on October 10, 2012 by themercadoproject

Hello everybody! I hope you guys are well. Today I would like to share a project with you that has endless possibilities. I love using banners to decorate, especially for birthdays and holidays. You can always buy pre-made ones, but I like making my own so I can personalize them specifically. Using the shapes application on Microsoft Word, I start with a triangle shape, and make it as big as I want. Then, regarding the theme, I look for clip art online and I copy and paste onto the middle of the triangle. I enlarge and flip around the images to my desire and then I print on white cardstock.

To make things easier and less time consuming, I use my Cricut paper trimmer to cut out my triangles. Then I simply punch out little holes at the top corners of the triangle and using any string, I like twine, join the triangles together and you’ll have a one of a kind banner. I like to use painter’s tape (the blue one) to put up my banners because they’re temporary (the banners) and the tape doesn’t mess up the paint on the wall once you take it off. I usually put it on the back of the first, middle, and last triangles.

I made this banner for my daughter’s 2^nd birthday. The theme was the cartoon from Nickelodeon, Team Umizoomi. I went to their official website, http://www.nickjr.com, to get some ideas and found a lot of printable material for birthdays including a square banner and a poster, which was awesome. I couldn’t copy and paste the characters on that website, so I went to AOL search and found a bunch of clip art, which I used on my pennant banner. On the picture tool bar, I re-colored the images using the color mode to fade the pictures so the letters would pop out more, but you can still see the image of the characters in the background. There’s really nothing available in stores with this theme, which boggles my mind because kids are absolutely crazy for this cartoon and it’s been on the air for years now, just saying.

I recently did this banner the same way as above. I found the clip art on AOL search and you can download these cute bats, along with a couple of pennant flags, here: http://partyplanningcenter.blogspot.com/2011/09/halloween-banners.html

I used black ribbon to bring everything together and hung it up outside my door. I hope you like this idea. Of course you can make the banner using squares, circles, etc. Like I said before, endless possibilities! 🙂

Take care all. Until next time…

themercadoproject

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Tag Archives: crafts

Personalized Paper Bows

Washi tape to the rescue…

DIY felt Goomba, Bullet Bill, and Mario Star

DIY PAPER BOWS

Celebration Recap

DIY Valentine Cards

DIY VALENTINE DECORATIONS

DIY: MEET OUR TURKEY

DIY Banners