New Giveaway Added to Inspired at Home Radio

GRASONVILLE, MD – Thursday night – BIG GIVEAWAY ANNOUNCEMENT! Whoo-hoo! We’re doing the happy dance! Thanks to our friends at iLovetoCreate.com, we’ve just added a GIGANTIC ALEENE’S GLUE GIVEAWAY to this Sunday’s Inspired at Home Radio Show! We’re giving away an assortment of 50+ Aleene’s Glue! Yep! That’s right – one each of the Aleene’s glues will be given away to one wonderfully creative crafter this Sunday night! To enter, just send an email to giveaway@inspiredathome.com and then listen to the show on Sunday night! Deadline to enter is Saturday October 3, 2009 so email today!

I Love My Aleene’s Super Thick Tacky Glue!

LOS OSOS, CA – Monday morning – As you know, my passion is eco-crafting! Here’s a fun recycling project that transforms bread bag plastic tabs into jazzy jewelry. It’s a fun conversation piece! I use Aleene’s Super Thick Tacky Glue to create the necklace “charm” centerpiece and my Tulip 3D Fashion Paint to create the retro patterning. So start saving those bread bag tags! Fun! Fun! >>Heidi

Heidi’s Jazzy Jewelry

Materials
Aleene’s® Super Thick Tacky Glue™
White paper scrap
33 plastic tabs from bread bags in assorted sizes
Acrylic Paint – black
Paintbrush
Tulip® 3D Fashion Paint: silver, gold, bronze
Needlenose pliers
44 gold finish jump rings
28 size-10 brass snap swivels
2 size-7 brass snap swivels (available wherever fishing tackle is sold)
1 pair fishhook earrings

Instructions
Cut 2 tiny strips of paper for each of 23 plastic tabs. Glue 1 strip to each side of 1 tab to cover slit only. Let dry. Repeat for each of 22 more tabs. (This step will help to keep the jump rings from pulling through the slit in the tabs.)

Paint both sides of each tab black. Let dry. For necklace charm, glue 5 tabs together, using 1 tab with paper strips at top of charm (see photo). Let dry. In the same manner, glue 4 tabs together for each earring. Referring to photo for design inspiration, paint 1 side of each tab, necklace charm, and earring design with metallic dimensional paint. Let dry.

Using needlenose pliers, attach 1 jump ring to each of 20 tabs. Attach 1 jump ring to necklace charm. Attach a second jump ring to each jump ring. To assemble necklace, link together all size-10 snap swivels. Attach jump rings to necklace. For each earring, remove snap from each size-7 snap swivel. Using needlenose pliers, attach 1 jump ring to each earring design. Attach jump ring to 1 end of 1 size-7 swivel. Attach fishhook earring to other end of swivel. Repeat for other earring.

Heidi’s Designer Tip: For added strength, be sure to add a dab of dimensional paint over area where you glued strip of paper. This will give added strength to this area where the jump rings are attached.

I Just Love My Aleene’s Glue Stick!

LOS OSOS, CA – Monday morning – One of my most favorite creative projects are these cute little paper boxes. Just ask my family and friends how many times they get little gifts in these cute handmade gift boxes!!  They are so quick to make!  You can use up those extra pieces of scrapbook paper for something besides scrapbooking!  If you’re not into scrapbooking you might even want to buy a few sheets just to make these boxes! The 12″ x 12″ are just the perfect size and they come in amazing prints and designs. Or you can use gift wrap, wallpaper, newspaper, brown bag or ????  It’s a fun technique you will use over and over and over again!  I also like to keep cute little embellishments handy to trim the tops of the finished boxes.

You will need two sheets of paper for each box – 12″ x 12″ sheet of paper makes a box 2-1/8″ x 4-1/4″ x 4-1/4″ -  a 10″ x 10″ sheet of paper makes a box  1-3/4″ x 3-1/2″ x 3-1/2″ -  8″ x 8″ sheet of paper makes a box 1-1/2″ x 2-3/4″ x 2-3/4″ .  I use Aleene’s Original Tacky Glue Stick to quickly glue the paper to paper and Aleene’s Super Thick Tacky Glue to hold the embellishments onto the top. I have posted the instructions and diagrams below. Don’t let all these diagrams fool you. Once you get the hang of making the first one, you’ll be making these by the dozens! Happy Crafting! >>>Heidi

Scrapbook Paper Boxes

For making a box from 12″ x 12″ paper, center and draw a 4-1/4″ square on wrong side of  paper (diagram 1). Referring to this diagram, label corners A, B, C and D and center square E as shown. Fold each corner in to meet at center of E (diagram 2). Fold top and bottom edges in to meet at center (diagram 3). Fold side edges in to meet at center. Unfold paper. Referring to diagram 1, cut along broken lines only. Do not cut into center square E. Label flaps f, g, h and i as shown. Refold corners A and C to center. fold each edge up, forming 2 sides of box and overlapping flaps f and g (diagram 4).  Use a swipe of Aleene’s Glue Stick to hold flaps together. Fold in flaps h and i and use a swipe of glue to secure (diagram 5).  Refold corners B and D to center to complete box top (diagram 6). Use a smudge of glue to hold. For box bottom, trim 1/8″ from each edge of paper square and repeat steps.Decorate box as desired using Aleene’s Super Thick Tacky Glue for your heavier embellishments. Enjoy!

diagram 1

diagram 2

diagram 3

diagram 4

diagram 5

diagram 6

If this is Monday, it must be Aleene’s Day!

GRASONVILLE, MD – Monday morning – We’re so excited because every Monday we are going to be sharing with you a new Aleene’s project that we have created. And, if we feel like it, we might just share two!  So, here’s my Aleene’s project of the day!  Enjoy >>Tiffany

Grab & Go Gift Bags
If you are like me, most times you want a quick and easy project that shouts creative fun! I make these grab & go gift bags by the dozen – and in all different colors – so that I will have the perfect quick gift when I need it.  The materials list is really easy and you probably have all of them in your craft supplies closet:

Gift bag
Shipping tag
Pre-cut scrapbook shapes
Rubber stamp – word of your choice 
Small beads and buttons
Aleene’s® Original Tacky Glue Stick
Aleene’s® Fast Grab Tacky Glue®

So, you can probably figure this out really easy but here are the steps:

Glue scrapbook shape onto shipping label and gift bag with Aleene’s Glue Stick.  Stamp word onto tag. Glue bead and button onto center of paper shape with Aleene’s Fast Grab Tacky.  Let the glues dry completely and tuck these grab & go’s away for your next special gift occasion. 

Need something interesting to put into your gift bag. We found these cute glass jars at Michaels and filled them with dried herbs.  Feeling ambitious?  Fix Candace’s Yummy Garden Salsa recipe and fill up some decorative jars:

1 cup plum tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup red pepper, diced
1/2 cucumber, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro (use fresh, as cilantro loses its zing when dried!)
2/3 cup fresh lime juice
Salt and pepper to taste
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon minced jalapeno (optional)

Prepare all vegetables and place in bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and chill. You can spice this up if you think it needs more zing by adding more jalapenos or chili peppers. Serve with tortilla chips. Ole!