Sponsor Spotlight: Aly of Artisan Des Arts

My name is Aly, and I blog at artisandesarts. I live in Ottawa, Canada, where I am a French teacher to a wonderful grade 5/6 class. In addition to that, I teach art daily to K-6, while my students are in their English class. I have never considered myself an artist, but have always been a huge crafter. I absolutely love all kinds of crafts, from weaving to sewing to paper-cutting.

Over at my blog, I post all of the art projects that I do with my art classes. I try to include step by steps, and sometimes I’ll even make a video how-to. As well, I post a lot of DIY’s that I do in my spare time (especially during Summer break!)

My favorite art project that I have done with my students is my hand dyed paper with silhouettes (done with grade 5/6 students, but the concept could be applied to many other projects!).

My favorite DIY was for my sister-in-law’s baby shower bomb or my Lego Red Sox costume (so hot inside the head!)

Please take time to visit and follow my blog!

xo, aly

500th Etsy Sale Freebie

A quick note to let you know: I'm at 498 sales in my etsy shop! Whoever places the 500th sale will receive an extra little package of paper and other bits of goodness :) So if you've been eyeing a couple things, now is a great time to order them and receive some extra freebies :)

experimenting with watercolor pencils

I received some watercolor pencils and paper for Christmas and have been experimenting with them here and there :) I know they aren't the real watercolor paints, but (even though I was an art major in college) I've never been great at painting ;) So to me, these are great ;) 

I didn't really know what I was doing - I just kind of went for it and drew some stuff with a pen. And then colored it with different colors. I added water with a small paintbrush and loved watching how it changed the texture to a much softer and delicate feeling. I'm thinking this could work well in a journal page - maybe make a border around the page with pen and then color it with watercolor? Anyone else use watercolor pencils? Any ideas or techniques you use?

I am loving the quote "Make Something Good Today" - I got a new notebook at Target that had that written on it. Love it. :)

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May is almost here! Are you interested in advertising your blog or business on my sidebar for the month of May? Go here for more details and feel free to email me at: thecreativeplace (at) gmail (dot) com :)

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Food: Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon Chips

This recipe has been a spring and summertime fave in our house for quite some time. It just tastes like summer. It's so, so yummy and will disappear quickly.  A perfect recipe for a get-together or cookout :)

Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon Chips - adapted from allrecipes.com

• 3 kiwis, peeled and diced
• 2 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and diced
• 1 (6 oz.) pkg. raspberries
• 1 pound strawberries
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons strawberry preserves
•  
• 10 (10 inch) flour tortillas
• butter flavored cooking spray
• 1/2 cup cinnamon sugar

In a large bowl, combine kiwi, apples, raspberries, strawberries. Add white sugar, brown sugar and fruit preserves. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut flour tortillas (use a pizza cutter) into 8 triangles. Spray each side with butter flavored cooking spray. Place cinnamon sugar mixture into large ziploc bag. Add coated tortilla triangles and shake until thoroughly coated. Arrange on a baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes, flipping triangles over once while they bake. Cool. *Note: I used mini tortillas from Target - they were about 5" or 6" and cut perfectly into quarters. I had never seen these before but like that they make smaller, more bite-sized triangles than the 10" tortillas :)

Serve fruit salsa with cinnamon chips. Enjoy!

DIY :: Mini Album from One Sheet of Paper

Yesterday, I shared my latest mini album, and how it is made from a single sheet of 12"x12" scrapbooking paper (cardstock). So for today - a step-by-step of how to make your own :) I'm thinking these would be great gifts. Simple to make (all you really need is a sheet of 12"x12" paper, scissors, a ruler, and adhesive), but very thoughtful and personal :) Fill them with pictures, notes, journaling, or Scripture. Voila! A cute and meaningful gift :)

Supplies:

+ 1 sheet of 12"x12" double sided cardstock

+ adhesive (I use Tombow permanent rolling adhesive)
+ ruler and pencil to mark measurements

+ scissors, paper cutter, or a cutting mat and rotary blade

Begin by cutting a 4 inch strip off of one side of your cardstock. You won't need this 4 inch strip, so save it for something else :)

Turn the sheet so it is 12 inches long and 8 inches tall. Measure 3 inches in from one of the short sides, and 4 inches down from the top (I used that heart strip below as a guide as I was measuring my 3 inches in from the side). See below measurement guide.

Next, cut a straight line from the right side, up to that mark you just made. See pictures below.

This is what your sheet should now look like (I put something under the top piece to show how it is cut ;)).

Fold the wrong sides together (that you don't want visible on the inside pages). 

Open it back up so you are looking at the wrong sides (this side will actually be your cover and back cover). Fold one side in half (6 inches), see below.

Now do the same with the top flap.

Open the flaps back up and fold those flaps in half (3 inches).

 Now fold the other side (the left side below) in half 3 inches.

You should now have 4 equal sections (each 3 inches wide and 4 inches tall).

Stand the paper up so it looks like this.

Fold the top section per the picture below.

 It should look like this.

Now do the same with the bottom section.

 We're almost finished. This is what it should look like.

Now, glue the "pages" together. Glue the two sides that are shown with the black arrows together, the two sides with the white arrows together, and then the extra flaps shown with the brown arrow together. You'll now have 5 pages, including the page that will be the cover and the page that will be the back cover.

 It should look like this.

At this point, you can glue a cover sheet (approximately 4"x6.25" sheet of paper) to cover up the spine. I decided to just use washi tape. Then, fill with photos, journaling, quotes or Scripture :) Voila! A cute little mini album that's quick to make :)

Mini Album: a few faves spring 2012

So I finally figured out how to make a mini album out of one sheet of cardstock paper. I've seen these done before, but I had trouble with the folding part. After much trial and error (I know, it shouldn't be that hard, but it was for me ;)), I figured it out. This was SO quick to make -  printing and cutting the pictures took the longest ;) Below is my album, I will be sharing the how-to tomorrow :) *Edited: Go here for the tutorial :)

I snapped a few shots of some things around my home that I am loving right now to put into this little album.

working on: a quick mini

Finishing up this cute and quick mini-- it's made from one sheet of 12"x12" paper! Will be sharing the final later today :)

weekending

excited for the weekend. not really any big plans in the works. which is just how we like it :) as mentioned before, we are in the thick of the end-of-the-semester and end-of-master's-program with my hubby's schooling right now, so it's crazy busy. but am looking forward to a little bit of down time for the next couple days. 

more planting to be done. blog and shop planning. cooking and grilling. and of course, lots of family time. have a fabulous weekend! :)

DIY :: Vintage Sheet Sketch Journal

I wanted to throw together a super quick journal with blank pages (much like this journal, but with blank pages) that could be used for throwing in a purse, taking along, and using for sketches. I decided to use a vintage sheet (and a vintage button), lined with white fabric for a cover, a button and tie closure, and blank recycled paper pages. This seriously took me about a half hour start to finish (including cutting and pressing the fabric). So it's super quick (read: done during naptime :)). *I am having some camera lens issues right now, some of the images are not the best - my apologies ;)

 Supplies:
+ 9"x12" piece of vintage sheet fabric (or any fabric)
+ 9"x12" piece of white fabric
+ large button
+ 7" piece of decorative ribbon
+ 10 sheets blank recycled computer paper
+ needle and thread
+ sewing machine, scissors (for trimming)
+ butterfly document clips (to hold pages in place while sewing, not pictured)

Begin by sewing the button to the vintage sheet. This way the thread won't show through on the inside cover. Next, pin the sheet to the white fabric, and pin the piece of decorative ribbon opposite and lined up with the button (see picture).

I simply sewed the two pieces together with about a 1/2" seam allowance. I started where the ribbon was pinned to reinforce it.

Sew all around the perimeter and then you have a nice looking little journal shell.

Using the document clips, clip the paper in place, centered on all sides of the fabric shell (sorry for the weird blurry picture!)

I measured in 5.5" and made a couple marks so I would know where to sew down the middle.

Sew down the middle and backstitch on both ends. Trim the extra threads off.

Voila! A quick and easy vintage sheet sketch journal :)

around here

around here. + it is finally strawberry season (!!). i love that we have a local strawberry patch 10 minutes from our house. so easy to run over there and pick fresh strawberries every couple days. + am really wanting to make this cute "market tote" i found in my 1, 2, 3 Sew book. + i just ordered and received a bunch of vintage playing cards. so fun to look through all of the different pictures on the cards. will be putting these in paper scrap packs and using as little "extras" in my etsy shop packaging. + starting to collect little pink clothes :) + i bought this paper a couple weeks ago and have decided to work them into some more art journals at some point (hopefully soon). + mostly finished planting seeds. we chose to direct-sow them all (instead of starting indoors several weeks ago), we'll see how it goes :) still have a couple more different seeds to plant and will do that in the next several days. + we planted sugar snap peas a couple weeks ago (apparently they are to be planted early while it's still cool). hoping it's not too hot for them since we had such an unexpectedly short winter and very warm start to spring. love going out to look at them (they're about 4"- 5" tall!) and water them each day. i hope the other seeds do as well as these! + herbs and newly planted seeds. i tried planting basil seeds a couple weeks ago and they didn't take (i think we have a bug in the soil that ate them. thankfully, the plants are doing well in a container on my porch). i had already bought some basil (I couldn't wait!), but went ahead and bought some more, in addition to some other herbs. so excited growing season is here. praying we have a good crop this year :)