Craft Hoarders Anonymous March 2016 Blog Hop

Welcome to the

Craft Hoarders Anonymous March 2016 Blog Hop!

You should be coming here from Pam Bray's blog, Scrapbook Flair. If you get lost along the way, or want to start at the beginning of the Hop, head over to Gloria Stengel's Scraps of Life blog for a full list of participants.

I'm not sure I can say the items I'm featuring in my project this month are truly hoarded. They really fall in the category of "things I never remember to use". I love keeping it Clean & Simple, so started with a pre-made white gift bag and then went through my craft room looking for something that would add a pop of color.

I have a lovely selection of brightly colored Italian crepe paper that I picked up from Mon Ami Gabby at a local expo a few years ago and started thinking about how I could use this to make a banner on the bag. The idea of tassels came when I realized I could use an old MFT Loopy Bloom die to quickly & easily cut the crepe paper. I'm always looking for quick & easy steps when mass producing anything.

The die cuts even slits inside the strip, so I snipped them all the way through along one side. Each tassel is half a die cut. Before rolling the tassel a beaded hanger is created by making a loop in the middle of about a 6" piece of microfilament. A dab of glue keeps the first bead in place and the filament is tied and cut after the 4 beads strung. 

A piece of 1/8" adhesive tape is run along the top of the crepe paper and the beaded piece added with a little glue. I found it was easier to keep the beaded piece in place if I waited for it to dry before rolling the tassel. A strip of glitter tape finishes of the top of each tassel.

I made an accidental discovery that the tassel would curl if I cut against the line of the crepe paper. The blue tassel that I used on this card is cut along the line of the crepe paper and never curled. You can see the other pieces of crepe paper have been cut against the line and all curled automatically. In fact, there was nothing I could do to try straighten them!

It is pretty clear that the sketch from CAS(E) This Sketch! #162 inspired this card, with the tassel hanging from the die cut replacing the flower.

I am also linking this to the Wednesday Challenge Blog at Simon Says Stamp where the challenge is to add texture this week - I think the glitter die cut, tassel and beads qualify.

I should also mention that half the beads used in making the tassels were saved from my daughter's childhood jewelry collection. I'd be concerned about my hoarding tendency if it went beyond craft supplies, but I am ruthless at keeping the rest of the house under control.

It's time to head over and see what wonderful creation Glenda Brooks has waiting for you on her blog, MagPie's Corner. Remember, you can always head to Gloria Stengel's Scraps of Life for the full hop list.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie