Allison Kreft Abad

All about the shoes

I can't believe how fast Adelle is growing already. I took these pics last week, it was her first time wearing shoes. (...which only lasted 10 mins). I thought it would be fun to scrapbook them using the Washi Tape banners, which Leena demonstrated how to create on the Hambly Blog. Such a fun technique. I used a fiskars punch for the scalloped pennants, and all Hambly products on the layout.   

Scrapfest 2011

This year we will be back at Scrapfest in MN at the Mall of America. I'll be teaching a mini book class called "Capturing Moments" (with a mix of new and favorite Hambly products including the Washi Tape). I used all pictures of Adelle for my book, but any subject will work. I have lots of baby pictures around here.

Just look at that precious face :) 

SF Bizaar Bizarre

This year I'm excited to be a part of Bizaar Bizarre in San Francisco. I usually go each year as a customer, it's the perfect place to get a fun selection of hand-made gifts from all the crafters there. This year I'll be there running a booth for Hambly. (Either my mom or Zach will be helping out).  I'll be teaching a variety of make-n-takes using some of my favorite Hambly products I have designed. The "Moustache-on-a-straw" project I created special for this show. I thought they would be fun to make for holiday parties, with all the festive drinks this time of year. The show is at Fort Mason in SF Dec. 11 & 12.
If you come to the show be sure to stop by and say hi :)

Halloween Garland

Last night I had a few friends over to carve pumpkins, so I decided to make some Halloween garland for decoration. Here's a quick tutorial for 2 different garlands. You could easily make this garland for any holiday and just swap out the colors and images.

Happy Halloween!

-Allison

First I gathered the paper I wanted to use, the Hambly Brocade in orange and black was perfect for Halloween.  I also wanted to add some vintage paper, so I took some pages with a gothic looking font out of an old book. (It was from a estate sale and in German, so I wasn't planning on reading it anytime soon.) I cut out a variety of birds on the papers using my silhouette. You could also easily use die-cuts instead.
The vintage paper from the book was really thin, so I used a Xyron 250 create-a-sticker to adhere it to stronger paper. This was my first time using this Xyron machine. It's perfect how it covers the entire cutout, even the thin delicate parts with adhesive.
Next I used my sewing machine and connected the birds using a straight stitch to make the garland! I just kept sewing one bird after the other.

After I finished the bird garland, I decided to make a quick coordinating Halloween Banner. I grabbed my pinking shears and cut out little flags in a variety of the same papers. I added some black sticker letters to the banner to spell out Happy Halloween, then glued 2 papers together for each banner to add more dimension. I wanted the banner to be stronger at the top, so I used a zig-zag stitch over bakers twine which worked great.  This banner went together really fast!

Here's the final banner!

Happy Halloween Everyone!

-Allison

NY Recap

Just wanted to post pics from New York. We had a great time at the show and in NY - such an inspiring city! Here's the group that went to NY -  Rose, Cris & myself (Allison).

 Making paper garland for the demo was lots of fun!

I had a chance to walk around the ICFF downstairs. I thought these decorative lamps were so elegant and different from Lilite.

Plus these cool hanging lamps in the Spain section.

The last night in NY i decided to stay at the Night hotel in times square. Love the black & white patterns everywhere.

I didn't have time to do a lot of shopping, but did by this cool plate from Fishs Eddy. It looks like a sheet of graph paper, and is perfect to serve cheese on.  There is so much unique kitchen stuff at the place, if you are in NY it's worth a visit :)

Paper Fortune Cookie Tutorial

Here's the tutorial for the paper fortune cookies. I put little love notes in mine for Valentines Day, but this could also be fun for Chinese New Year- or think how cute they would be scattered on a table for a Wedding Shower, Wedding Favors, or Baby Shower with customized messages :)

Supplies:

Circle Cutter, or template to cut 4" Circle (fiskars circle cutter)

Glue to adhere cookies (i like the Glue Zots, holds them together easily)

Hambly Little Hearts papers (still a few left of the limited edition colors, like i used)

Printed out fortunes to go inside (Here's a PDF of Love Notes i printed from online)

1. Cut out you paper in 4" circles. 

 

2. Gently fold your paper circle in half, and ONLY crease it about 1" in the middle. (You don't need to crease the whole fold, only the middle to help the cookie fold evenly)

3. Place your Glue Zot to either side of the crease as pictured.

4. Hold as pictured below and start to push in at the crease with your index finger on your right hand.

5. You can see the glue right below my index finger, once it starts to fold take out your finger and the glue will hold it together.
 

6. Keep folding until it looks like a fortune cookie.

7. You can either put the little fortunes in at the end with glue- or slip them in at STEP 4 , and then they will stay folded in, I suggest making the first one without the fortune to get the hang of it, then start folding them in.

I also made a quick video showing the fortunes folded in the cookies. We were having some issue with sound- but at least the video gives you an idea....

 

Hope you have fun making them :)

 

Kimberly Crawford who writes creates a lot of crafts and fun projects has a similar tutorial posted on her blog.  She also puts them in a take-out box which is such a cute idea!!

"My Favorite Things"

Here are some pics from the "My Favorite Things" clear mini book class i just taught.
The size of the book is 6"x6", then i cut the pages on the inside to different widths to give a layered look. The cover of the book is made from Clearly Heavy Overlays, then embellished with some Elegant Label rub-ons, Urban Chic Frame Overlays and clear Journaling stickers.

We used an assortment of the Fiskars Border punches on the white on white Raffle Leaf paper! The punches just add the perfect touch to the page!The yellow Frame  Overlay is a clear page, that has pictures floating in the middle. (Make sure the photos are the same size and glued back to back).  The Wings paper also cuts down nicely to make beautiful pages for mini books. I used the All Mixed Up overlay in white and glued it to the back of the Wings paper. I cut the edge of the overlay along the design to create a nice decorative edge. The brown frame overlay is another clear floating page, with photos on either side. I cut the biggest frame out of the Urban Chic Frame overlays. For the last page, i ripped off the bottom of the Little Circles paper, and adhered it to another section of the Wings paper. I also added the clear journaling stickers throughout the book. These are so fun to use, and you can write easily on them.

If you made this book, i love to see how it turned out, and what your favorite things are. Leave a link in the comments, and i'll check it out.

-Allison

Who knew paper could brighten a whole room!

During the CHA show this past January, I met an amazing paper artist Jeffery Rudell. He was at the CraftStylish booth giving a demo on making paper flowers. I was inspired to use our silk-screened papers to make these.  I have to say making these flowers was kinda tricky at first, but by the end I wanted to keep making more. I even tried a few with our clear overlays for a cool effect.  I have a bunch of extras to tie on presents, and use for other little projects. I love how the paper flowers look with all my glass art. You can see how to make them on the CraftStylish website- also check out some of Jeffery's other wonderful creations- like his chandelier and french wigs- all made from paper!!!