"Let Freedom Ring" Mini-Album

Disclosure: As a member of the Deflecto Crafts design team, I received the Deflecto products for free in exchange for my design ideas. 

The July 4th holiday may be over, but now you have to get all of the photos that you took at the cookouts, parades, and fireworks displays scrapped! Why not create a mini-album using Deflecto flexible pouches and pear clips?

Materials:

• White and blue cardstock
• patterned paper in patriotic colors 
• July 4th-themed stickers (I used American Crafts stickers)
• Buttons Galore Patriotic Mix buttons
• tape runner
• adhesive dots
• adhesive foam squares
• scissors
• paper trimmer
• ribbon
• Deflecto large flexible pouches 
• Deflecto pear clip

How to:

1. Using a paper trimmer, cut 5 pieces of white cardstock to 5" x 7".
2. Using patterned paper and blue cardstock, create layouts on both the front and back of each piece of white cardstock. 
3. Embellish each page with stickers and buttons. Use foam squares to "pop up' some of the stickers to give your page dimension. Attach buttons using adhesive dots.
4. Once all pages have been completed, place each page into the pouches.
5. Use a pear clip as a ring to hold the pouches together in an album.
6. Cut 6" lengths of ribbon. Tie around the pear clip. 

Now you have a simple mini-album that you can easily carry to show off those favorite holiday moments!

Summer Fun-Glasses

Who cares if you can’t make it to the beach this summer? Bring the beach to you every single day with these super cute crafty sunglasses (that look and feel like they are covered in sand) featuring summer-themed buttons from Buttons Galore!

Father's Day Baseball Stand

Disclosure: As a member of Deflecto Crafts and Buttons Galore design teams, I received products used in this post fore free in exchange for my ideas and creativity. 

Is your dad or husband a baseball fan? If he is, then I have the perfect project for a Father's Day gift that will "knock it out of the park" -- a place to display his best souvenirs!

Deflecto's Acrylic Display Block is such a cool way to show off your treasures. It's a solid piece of acrylic that is just the right size for displaying smaller items: a baseball fits perfectly on it!

In keeping with the baseball theme, I decorated the display block with these adorable buttons from Buttons Galore. They are so easy to attach to the block -- just put a little dot of hot glue on the back of each button!

I placed a baseball stand on top of the display block to hold the baseball. I actually made it myself using my 3D printer! But if you don't have a 3D printer, you can always keep the ball from rolling off the stand by placing a large metal washer on top of the block (attach with hot glue) and then placing the ball on top of the washer -- the hole in the washer will hold the ball so it won't roll.

Now, Dad has a fun way to display his favorite ballpark memories, either at home or at work!

For even more fun projects using Deflecto products, check out the Deflecto Crafts blog. We have such a talented team of designers that make awesome things every month!

Exciting news -- New DT's

It's been a busy time over here at Forty11 Designs, and it's just getting busier... and better. I have been named as a brand ambassador for U-Paint Metal Crafts and Buttons Galore!

U-Paint Metal Crafts is an arm of the Frank Morrow Company, designed expressly for DIY craft market. After eleven months of effort, the all-new crafts division features three unique lines for the craft industry and individual DIY crafters.  

I am part of their very first design team and I can't wait to show y'all all the cool uses for these awesome products.

I am also a new member of the brand-new Buttons Galore team! Buttons Galore was established in 1998 primarily as a wholesale distributor of craft supplies. Since inception, the company has evolved into a designer and manufacturer of novelty buttons and other embellishments. 

So be sure to check back here often to see all of the new things that I will be sharing with y'all. Lots of fun and exciting crafts are just around the corner!

Mother's Day Floral Desk Set

The month of May is here, and we know that May brings two things: flowers and Mother's Day! I decided that I would combine those two lovely things into one beautiful desk set just for Mom.


For the frame, I started with Deflecto's purple border slanted 4x6 sign holder. The gorgeous purple color just lends itself to decorating with flowers! I found this wonderful family quote from Keller's Creations, and I attached it to a piece of patterned paper from the Recollections "Boho" collection and placed inside the frame.

For the outside of the frame, I took 2 doilies (also from the "Boho" collections from Recollections) and folded them into quarters. I attached them to two corners of the frame.

I then took paper flowers and added a little color and shimmer to them with some spray ink and shimmer spray, both from the same collection as the paper and doilies! Once those flowers were dry, I attached them on top of the folded doilies using adhesive dots. I finished them with buttons from Buttons Galore.

For the other half of my project, I used the Deflecto Stackable Cube Organizer. Using the same patterned papers that I used for the frame, I placed 4 pieces of paper inside the cube and attached them to the sides using adhesive dots. I then placed doilies on the outside of each side of the cube, and finished them off with a paper flower and button to match the frame.

Mom will love this set -- it can be used to brighten up her desk at work, hold her makeup brushes in the bathroom, or hold cooking utensils in the kitchen! She will think of you every time she sees it!

CHA Mega Show 2016 Recap #3 - New and Noteworthy

Welcome back to my recap of the 2016 CHA Mega Show! Ihere's a look at new and noteworthy crafting products that I fell in love with. 

First up is ARC Crafts! They have specialty paper, envelopes, labels (that you can run through a computer printer), adhesive backed sheets and more... all made of wood!

Next is 28 Lilac Lane, a new button collection from Buttons Galore, designed by May Flaum!

Don't you just love the bottle that these buttons come in?

How about your own stamp maker? Here's the new Mint custom stamp maker from Silhouette! This cool new machine lets you turn any font or any design (in the Silhouette Mint store) into your own stamp. Learn more about it here!

Do you know how hard it is to find my name spelled correctly on anything?

Now my vote for "Cutest Product at CHA... or Maybe EVER" goes to Little B's new"Wooderful Life"! With these adorable pieces, you can make your own music boxes, displays, and more. These pieces are not available yet; let's keep our fingers crossed that they will be soon!

Beacon Adhesives, one of my favorite adhesive companies, has a new concrete product out that really got my creative juices flowing -- Maker's Mix! It is a quick-setting concrete mix that you can use to make all sorts of cool projects like vases, bowls, beads, and more. The line even includes pigment powders that you can add to the mix to make custom colors.

Now while Creative Options is not new (they are my absolute go-to travel products when I go to a scrapbook crop), they have some beautiful new patterns on their cloth storage products and new colors of plastic storage (designed to match the cloth patterns)! Forget craft storage -- I just want to carry some of these bags as my everyday purse.

Isn't this gorgeous? LOVE the colors!

My last "new and noteworthy" find was Photo Play Paper. This new company has some of the cutest new collections of paper, stickers, and diecuts on the market. My favorite is "This Guy"; it really stands out as a fun, masculine option for pages and cards! And full disclosure time: I was honored to be asked to make some cards and pages for this booth!

The card on the far left and the one in the front middle are mine, made with the "This Guy" collection.

"Party Boy" and "Party Girl" are two new collections. And my card is the yellow one on the second row!

More "Party Boy" goodies. Hey - who are those cute people in the pages on the left and right? 

Back to School Frame with Deflecto and Buttons Galore

DISCLOSURE: I received free product from Buttons Galore and Deflecto Crafts to use for this project. All designs are my own.

I love buttons. Round buttons, big buttons, shape buttons -- I love them all. That is why I am such a fan of Buttons Galore. They have a ton of adorable buttons made for sewing, scrapbooking, cardmaking, and any other crafty project you can think of. So I was so pleased be chosen to be a guest contributor over at their blog!

For the full instructions and supply list for this awesome back to school frame featuring Deflecto frames, head over to the Buttons Galore blog!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. As a member of the Deflecto Design Team I have been provided product in exchange for my creative ideas, views and opinions.