Decorative Wooden Box

This was a wooden perfume box. When I did this some years ago, I was going through a sunflower stage at home. I think I was painting our mailbox at home for my Mom. I channelled my inner Van Gogh here. 

I used Acrylic paint and various gel ink pens to add some glitter and highlight some pieces. When it was dry, I sprayed the entire thing with Windsor and Newton's Matt Varnish, so that the ink pens would not rub off. 

It held up well. This project is over 6 years old. There is only one bit of wear and tear, which was due to my extreme carelessness and before I added the varnish. I never fixed it but with varnish, it is extremely durable and long lasting. 

Supplies Reorganisation: Pill Box

T-9 days before I head back to school. I am in the process of reorganising my craft supplies to be packed away as school is going to be taking preference and cleaning out my apartment.

Here is one inexpensive reorganisation tip for all your small trinkets: Pill Boxes.

I have tons of small objects from my various crafting projects: buttons, jewellery clasps, beady eyes, rhinestones, beads, etc. Storage can sometimes be a problem because I could never find them all at the same time which is an issue because I forget what I have and then buy more supplies.

The Solution? Cheap Pill Boxes. I picked up mine for under $10TT at Pennywise.

Just open them up and fill them with your goodies.

The great thing about these is that they are kinda transparent so you can see what you have stored inside, and each column pops right out so you can take out just what you need.

Do you have easy craft organisation solutions? Let me know below.

Thank you for reading  and cheers to cleaner work spaces!

Memory Jar (of Love)

I am back home in sweet T&T from the Dominican Republic! More about that another time because today is Valentine's Day! Here's another crafty idea.

In my previous post about Valentine's Day shopping, I mentioned buying a large glass jar. 

The original glass jar purchase. Oh the possibilities!

My original thought when I purchased it was to fill it with all sorts of Valentine's Day goodies. Turns out ALL my chocolate purchases were too large for the jar, so I enacted Plan B- The Memory Jar.

Traditionally, a memory jar is kept over a year and good memories/events are written on pieces of paper and kept inside of the jar. When the year is over, you can open up the jar and review all your happy moments.

For my version, I merged that idea with an old one from a house mate of mine and created The Memory Jar of Love. Sounds corny but hey it is Valentine's Day after all :D

My Memory Jar

For my jar of love, I filled it up with little notes of past memories/dates of importance to my boyfriend and I. Each with the full date of the event and some of my thoughts about it as well as my signature because it was from my point of view. The idea is that maybe the 2 of us will fill up the entire jar and have something to review on our next anniversary or on the next Valentine's Day. It is also much easier to maintain than a daily diary or a scrapbook and great when you are busy but would like to keep some record because you have a terrible memory (like mine!)

Close up view of my labelling

To the right is a closer look at my labels. I wanted to keep with the same theme of my mini-envelopes.

To do this I used similar colours and patterns. The materials I used were: black cloth ribbon, red and black construction paper, black and white plaid patterned paper, embroidery thread, coloured transparent beads and some silver hardware

How I made my own label

First I figured out how large I wanted my label to be, and then used a compass to draw a circle of that size onto some black construction paper. This black circle would act as the base for the label for me to add more detail and also provide a nice clean surface for the back of my label.

I then drew another circle of the same size on some black & white plaid paper. I don't have a wide array of scrapbook paper so I simply printed out a design I liked and adjusted the size to suit on my computer. I really wanted plaid to match the mini-envelopes but other alternatives that I use in similar projects are patterned gift paper, kite paper or cloth.

On red construction paper, I drew a smaller circle about 1.5 cm smaller than the previous 2. I designed my label on my computer, then printed and cut all the pieces.

I simply glued all the pieces together with the black construction paper circle last to hide the excess edges of the black ribbon.

To attach the label to the jar, I at first cut out a long strip of black construction paper to wrap around it and planned to adhere the label to it, to mimic the labelling on bottles or jars of edible treats. However, I did not like the effect that it had on my jar. I thought it was very obtrusive and hid the jar and notes rather than enhance the clear glass.

I decided I wanted my label to hang instead from the jar. I used some tiny rings from some old earrings, a key ring and some extra black ribbon. I used an embroidery needle to make a hole through my label and attached one of the little metal rings. I tied the black ribbon around the jar and a key ring to it and attached the label to the ring. Just because I wanted some extra decorations on it, I used black embroidery thread and made 2 hanging strings of beads and attached it to the key ring with another of the tiny metal rings. Another alternative to the beads, would be to attach some small tassels which you can purchase at most fabric stores.

What to fill your jar with?

So if you decided to make your own as a gift for someone, you can:

• start filling it with past memories
• OR - include a small notepad and pen or a stack of some pretty paper so that the person has something to write their own memories on. 

You can start filling up your jar with memories from Valentine's Day and read them next year.

You can also add little charms, photos or greeting cards to your jar. (In my case, I have a few photo booth pictures to add, some ticket stubs from movie dates and some rocks from hiking trips.)

Some people like to keep bills from dinner restaurants so you can also write notes on the back of the bill and add to your jar. Basically fill it with whatever is meaningful to you. THERE ARE NO RULES!

Other alternatives:

• For Valentine's Day, fill up your jar with candy and chocolate, mixed in with romantic notes.
• Make your jar into a "Things I love about you" Jar. Write down those things in a little book as you remember and then fill your jar up when the time comes.
• If Valentine's Day isn't really your thing, make one for yourself! Use it as your own personal memory jar so that you remember all the little happy things that happened throughout the year. 

My Jar was a success with my Valentine! :D I think I'm going to try my hand at my own personal memory jar. I hope that you all felt a bit inspired as well.

Happy Valentine's Day all! I hope that you shared the love with friends and family and continue for the rest of the year :D

More Mini-envelopes!

This weekend I had my biggest order yet! 20 of my mini-envelopes! I don't think I quite understood how much time it took me to make them until I had a deadline (a self imposed one but one none-the less) and 10 more than I normally make at a time.

20 new Valentine's Day themed mini-envelopes
You can see the rest I made in my previous post called Valentines Day Crafts- Mini-envelopes

I am sure I could have saved time by sticking sequins instead of stitching each one by hand but I wanted to make sure that my creations were of a high quality and were very durable. Must keep the standards up!

It was a great experience working with a deadline. I'll be making about 15 more to fill up some other orders for some good friends and then I'll be closing up shop. No more new orders because I am going on vacation :D

But if you would still like to purchase some, they will be selling at Roses & More! A gift shop at Atlantic Plaza, Pt Lisas. They have all your Valentine's Day needs there and they do beautiful flower arrangements and deliver. Call them today at 679-4563! (and request one of my envelopes ;) )

I've never sold any of my work before and it certainly put a few things in perspective for me :) The biggest one is that I really enjoy making things for the people I love and you really can't put a price on those things. You don't really realize the amount of work that goes into making them because it really does not matter when its for someone you care about.

Thank you everyone for your support! For purchasing them, sharing them about, liking them and letting me know how you feel about them so I can improve. It really meant a lot to me. I took all your suggestions to heart. For those who purchased, I hope my envelopes help make your valentine's day an amazing one :) They really were stitched with love ;)

Valentine's Day Crafts: Mini-Envelopes (cont'd)

The original 9 Mini- Envelopes

After my post about my Valentine's Day Mini-Envelopes, I was considering the idea of selling some.

Right after, a good friend messaged me asking me if I was. She wanted to order some. I took it as a sign/ answer to my dilemma on whether or not I should.

I headed to Trincity the next day and bought some more buttons and got to crafting.


The following are 10 more new mini-envelopes. Again hand crafted and embroidered with buttons, beads and sequins.

Custom made 10 Valentine's Day Mini-envelopes

To these however, I added their own notebook paper in a matching theme to the checkered print. I left them simple so one can use them to pen little love notes or as gift tags for that special someone.

I also decided to try my hand at packaging the envelopes. I ended up decided on the following, because after its delivered, the owner can then use the packaging as a bookmark by simply cutting it in half. Not pictured here though, I added some hanging embellishments to the packaging for when it gets turned into a bookmark.

The mini-envelopes are approx 5.5 cm x 6.5 cm. If interested you can email me at shazanna@gmail.com. Place your orders early because I won't be selling anymore after the 8th! :D

Front: (also front of bookmark)

Back: Plain Red and Black versions of the Tag are featured inside each envelope

House of Jaipur Finds and other Crafty Supplies

The gorgeous wrapping paper from House of Jaipur

Last week I visited the House of Jaipur. It was my first visit to this Tea House and I was blown away! The food was delicious but the deco was definitely a winner in my books. I had their lunch with a special someone and I felt as if I were transported to another world. Adjoining the little eating nooks were rooms filled with even more beautiful finds.

Of course you could purchase any of the items seen while you dined. Vivid hanging cloths, oriental pillows and throws, ornate boxes and jewels, notebooks and gift bags! I love browsing places like that. My only regret was that I forgot my camera at home as the visit was spontaneous.

Anyway the point of this was that I found the most gorgeous "gift- wrapping" paper there. I'm using quotations because that is what they referred to these sheets of paper BUT I think they must have some other "better" purpose. They are too beautiful to be ripped apart when opening gifts!

Tea Strainer

I did see however notebooks, envelopes and gift bags covered in the same, if not similar paper. I thought that was a nice use. Very classy.

From my last post you saw that I made some wrappers for Tea bags. House of Jaipur was one of the recommended places from my tea-drinking friends to pick up some delicious gourmet tea. They sell them loosely however. So I either would have to make my own Tea bags from Coffee filters (because I can't think of anywhere that would sell the cloth tea bags individually in T&T, which could have led to custom heart shaped tea bags) or I could have scratched the entire tea/envelope operation and simply purchased a Tea Strainer or a Tea Ball.

Tea Ball

For some reason, I forgot about those things, even when I do have about 3 "Tea Balls" in my house.

At home we use them around Eid to put cloves and cinnamon in when making our Sawine, to add flavour and keep the cloves out of out bowls when we're ready to eat. Nothing is worse than biting a clove accidentally!

So now I have been educated. lol Those metal things are really for tea! and I can now buy loose tea leaves because I know how to use them. lol

In other news, I had a shopping trip to West Mall and I found my next craft project for Valentine's Day. This big glass jar! I found at a home-goods store while I was looking for coloured cupcake liners.

I'm not going to say what I'm using it for, just in case my Valentine reads this, but those mini-envelopes look like they may have found a home :D I can't wait to fill it up!

My shopping trip also yielded some new patterned paper and tissue paper. Turns out I bought some of the same patterned paper last year for Valentine's Day and only used a tiny portion of it AND I almost bought some kite paper in a fancy design that I had in an unopened pack already! I forgot they existed because they were stored at the bottom of a bag.

My sorted paper pile!

In light of this, I have decided that it is about time that I sort through all my materials and clean up and repack my Arts and Crafts cupboard. I probably haven't touched some of the things in there since I put them in in High School and it is rather dusty! I certainly have the time now and once I start my clinical years, it is rather doubtful that I would be using my supplies with the same frequency as I am now.

Cheers to new projects and a cleaner workspace!

Hand Painted Wooden Earrings & Pillow Box Packaging

I painted some earrings for my friend Cherisse. Cherisse has a cool fun style and after her trip to Haiti, she came back with hand crafted wooden earrings by a local artist. I was not amused :P I told her that if she wanted a piece of wood painted, that she could have checked me. We joked about me desiging a jewellry line for her to wear. I would make it, and she would promote it.

About a year later, I happened upon some plain wooden knob earrings at a steal of a price and bought 3 pairs of earrings with the intent to customise them somehow.

I decided to do an Island themed design for Cherisse based on my Barbados painting. Of course they have different patterns on them because Cherisse is cool like that and loves mismatched earrings.

Barbados/Island inspired hand painted earrings by Shazanna Khan :)

Eventually I would like to do a pair inspired by Van Gogh's "Starry Night" and "The Scream" by Edvard Munch.

I did these around Oct/ Nov 2012 so I am a bit late in posting, but only because I recently finished making the packaging for the earrings. (Yes! I am going all out. lol) I used natural materials like Hemp, recycled paper and wooden beads on some brownish scrapbook paper to give it an island feel. I also love the combo of navy blue and brown/cream. I highlighted some parts of the packaging with some gold acrylic paint to give a slight sheen and add some more interest to the brown packaging. Here's a look below:

Buttons are my new favourite decorating accessory! :D All in all I really enjoyed making these packaging that I have been doing lately. I'm thinking to mail out some to some friends abroad (and in T&T) if I have time to make some. lol So in the mean time, message me your mailing addresses (at shazanna@gmail.com)  if you would like to own your very own SK Creation. I'm not making promises, but you never know ;) You may get something in your mailbox one day.

EDIT: I finally remembered the name for these boxes. They are called Pillow Boxes.

Valentine's Day Crafts: Mini-envelopes/ Tea bags

I've been shopping around for creative ideas for Valentine's Day for a little while now. I'm going on a little family vacation and returning home on Valentine's Day itself, so I thought it would be nice to leave little presents for my Valentine to open while I'm away. One interesting find that inspired me was from Design.Wash.Rinse.Repeat.com with Valentine's Day Tea Tags (with printables). I thought I would design my own tea tags and individual tea bag wrappers.

The wrappers/ mini-envelopes were really simple to make and here is how you can too :)

Gather up your equipment and materials: Ruler, Scissors, Pencil, White Glue, a few Sheets of construction paper.

Step 1: The template!

I first made a template out of pink construction paper. I drew a rectangle the size of the tea bag that I wanted and added some flaps to it that were long enough to reach each other to glue together. Just glue along the edges and leave one flap "unglued".

As you can see above I made a tester to check the sizing. (I was still free styling the design)

After you finalise your template design, use your template and outline its shape unto some scrapbook paper (or any other paper of your choice). Cut out your pattern. Scour where your folds would be, by running a scissors along those lines. Fold your mini envelope and glue the flaps into place.

You should have a completed mini-envelope! The next step is to decorate.

Cutting out the squares

I designed some tags on my computer  saying "Be Mine" and cut them out. My original thought was to include some cute sayings, ("you suit me to the tea" or "orange you glad to be mine" for orange flavored tea) BUT THEN! I found some free vector graphics at Vector Graphics Blog. The 3 x 3 squares with little hearts on them were adorable and were just the right size for my envelopes. Also I thought the black and white theme seemed more masculine and perfect for a guy for valentine's.

After you cut them out, the next step is to simply stick them onto your envelope as seen below. I chose to take mine a step further.

Sequins, buttons and embroidery thread. Extra embellishing!

Because of the squares had a sort of stitched look to them, I decided to use red thread and some sequins to add a little dimension to my hearts. I also dug up some old white buttons and white embroidering thread.

Lots of careful hand stitching later, I came up with the following:

Ta-da!

Turns out that my Valentine is more of a coffee person than tea and I think the final products look too nice for a mere tea bag. I think I'll be using them with cute notes instead. I have just the container for them!

The great thing about this envelope-template design is that you can adapt it to make bigger envelopes. So custom greeting card envelopes, or gift envelopes for jewellery and other small gifts, or even at this size- gift tags!

I hope you all were extra inspired by these! I tried to keep it simple on the design to help out some friends of mine, but feel free to leave a comment below if you have any questions or if you were extra inspired to make some of your own.

Happy crafting :)