Xyron and Tet - the Vietnamese Lunar New Year

For this month's tutorial with Xyron, I wanted to make something to help my kids celebrate and learn about Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year.  Tet was always my favorite holiday of the year and it represented an opportunity start with a clean slate and with good luck on your side.

Amidst the red envelopes of lucky money and delicious food, one of my favorite activities during Tet was a game called Lac Bau Cua, literally meaning Shake the Gourd and Crab.  Basically, Lac Bau Cua is a simplistic version of Craps with six different animals (instead of numbers).  Here's a good you tube video I found that shows how the game is played.

TUTORIAL: LAC BAU CUA (Vietnamese New Year Game)

For today's project I wanted to create an updated Lac Bau Cua game board using animals from the zodiac calendar instead of the traditional crab, gourd and deer.  I also wanted to make something that would stand up to my little kids.

Supplies.  Xyron Creatopia (Protectz Laminate Cartridge); Xyron 1.5" Create-a-Sticker Maker; Cardstock (American Crafts); Gold Foil (Silhouette America); Binder Clips (Office Max); Sanding Block (Core'dinations); Unfinished Wood Blocks; Silhouette Cameo; WRMK Crop-a-dile; Fiskars Paper Trimmer.

1.  Cut Game Board Panels.  Start with 2 sheets of red 12" x 12" cardstock.  Using a paper trimmer, cut down six squares sized at 6" x 6".

2.  Cut Out Animal Silhouettes.  To embellish my game board pieces, cut out animal silhouettes from the gold foil paper.  I sized the animal images at about 4".  I used these images of animals and traced and cut them using my Silhouette Cameo.  And since I don't want to waste the paper, I went ahead and cut a bunch of hearts in all the extra spaces of the paper.

3.  Create the Game Panels.  Adhere one animal image to each cardstock square.  Then laminate each game panel using the Xyron Creatopia (Protectz laminate panel).

Trim the plastic around the panel, leaving about 1/8" around the cardstock.

Using the WRMK crop-a-dile, punch a hole along each edge of the game panel.  Then connect the panels together by threading mini binder clips through the holes you just punched.

4.  Create Game Dice.  In lac bau cua, you roll three dice with images of the animals to determine who is the winner.  To make the game dice, I used unfinished wood blocks.  I cut red cardstock squares to cover the came blocks.

Run the cardstock squares through the Xyron 1.5" Create-a-Sticker and place a square on each face of the block.

Sand all the edges of the block down.  I used the core'dinations sanding block and it works amazingly well!

Cut out scaled down images of the animals used in the larger game pieces from the gold foil.  Then adhere those onto the covered wood blocks.

Then viola, you have a durable and fold-able lac bau cua board complete with matching dice!

Wishing everyone health and happiness this new year.  As always, mahalo for stopping by!

30 Days of Holiday Projects with Xyron - Holiday Books Advent Tags

Welcome back to my second post for 30 Days of Holiday Project Ideas with Xyron.  Today, I wanted to share with you our family's Advent Calender for this holiday season.

Instead of 24 days of candy or activities, we are doing 24 days of holiday books!  Between the books we already own, checking out books from the library, and stocking up on some new affordable books from Scholastic Books, it's been a great month of reading thus far!

Using the new holiday papers from American Crafts, Crate Paper and Imaginesce, I made some super simple and easy tags to decorate the tissue paper wrapped books.  Here's how!

1.  Die Cut Tag Shapes.  I have recently (within the past year or so) started collecting steel dies to use in my manual die cutting machine (i.e. Xyron Creatopia with Shapez Component or Sizzix Big Shot).  Don't get me wrong.  I love my Silhouette Cameo (electronic die cutting machine) but there is something nice about not having to be at my computer and being able to cut other materials like felt or foam that keeps me reaching for my steel dies.

Here are the dies that I used for this project - from Spellbinders and Xyron, Sizzix, Lil' Inker Designs, My Favorite Things and Avery Elle.

I then die cut them out from a selection of super cute holiday papers from Studio Calico, American Crafts, Crate Paper and Imaginesce.

2.  For Layered Tags, Distress Edges with Ink.  For some tags that have layered pieces, I like to use Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Vintage Photo to distress the edges.  It makes the top layer stand out more.

3.  Apply Adhesive to Tag Pieces and Adhere to Tag Bases.  For the pieces that will be layered on the top of the tag bases, I run them through the Xyron 5" Creative Station with Permanent Adhesive.  This ensures that there is edge to edge adhesive on the shapes and it makes the process go SO RIDICULOUSLY FAST!!

 Then simply assemble the tags together.

4.  Punch Holes in Tags.  Using a We R Memory Keepers Crop a Dile, I punched little holes in the top of my tags.

5.  Apply Number Stickers to Tags.  Since it's an advent calendar, you need numbers!  I used a variety of American Crafts Thickers to put the numbers of the different tags.

6.  Choose your Books and Wrap Them Up!  Finally, choose a selection of books and wrap them up.  I personally like to use tissue paper since I have so much of it after buying some from Costco like 20 years ago.  :)  Using a white or kraft base also really helps the tag to be the main embellishment on the wrapped books.

7.  Add the Tags with Twine.  Finally, add the tags to your wrapped books with some pretty twine.  I used some Lawn Trimmings from Lawn Fawn.  Then display them all out for the kids to enjoy!

Since we don't have a mantle, I displayed ours on the piano along with some other homemade holiday decorations.

I hope that inspired you to try something new this holiday season (or for any holiday)! And just so you know, I don't put all the books out at once.  I get a good number of them from the library and mix them in with books we own.  That way, I don't have to have 24 Christmas themed books!  We also always have The Night Before Christmas reserved for Christmas Eve.

Check out these other advent calendar ideas from my blog.  Here is a banner advent calendar and a muffin tin advent calendar.

And please make sure to visit the Xyron Facebook Page all month for more awesome holiday inspiration.  As always, thanks for stopping by!

Xyron and Heidi Swapp Blog Hop

When I think of inspiring and beautiful and so amazingly creative, I think of Heidi Swapp as a person and as a brand.  So when I learned that I would get to work with Xyron and some amazing Heidi Swapp products, I was super excited and honored.

I have been a big fan of the Heidi Swapp memory file concept and wanted to create a mini album inspired by the concept - using her file folders, including lots of photos and making for easy yet photo filled books to document our December 2012.  This was super simple by just cutting up different patterned papers and file folders, punched them all with the Teresa Collins 2 Hole Punch, and fastened everything together using some book rings.

 

Supplies:  Heidi Swapp - Believe Collection (Patterned Paper, File Folders, Rub-ons, Stickers, Color Shine, Embellishments); Adhesives (Xyron 5" Creative Station, Xyron Mega Runner, Xyron Adhesive Dots, Xyron Double Sided High Tack Tape); Xyron/ Teresa Collins 2 Hole Punch; Other Letter Stickers (American Crafts, October Afternoon); Other Sprays (Studio Calico, October Afternoon); Other Stickers (Imaginesce).

As always, thanks so much for stopping by and make sure to visit the Xyron and Heidi Swapp blogs all week for some more inspiration!

30 Days of Holiday Projects with Xyron - Holiday Yard Sign

I'm so super excited to be part of the 30 Days of Holiday Project Ideas with Xyron!  Make sure to follow the Xyron Facebook Page all month for awesome inspiration from our design team!

For today's project, I wanted to make some Christmas decor.  I have been obsessed with signs lately after walking around a local craft fair and wanted to make my own using some delicious Holiday paper from Studio Calico.

Supplies:  Adhesives (Xyron 5" Creative Station, Xyron High Tack Double Sided Tape); Patterned Paper (Studio Calico); Chalkboard Paper (DCWV); Die (Lil' Inker Designs); Letter Stickers (America Crafts Thickers); Stamps (Stampin' Up); Washi Tape (Freckled Fawn); Die Cuts and Stickers (Imaginesce); Foam Board, Fence Post.

You will be shocked at how easy it is to make.  And if you don't want to adhere the little signs onto a fence post, just use them individually around the house!  Want to make one yourself??  Here's how.

1.  Cut Down the Foam Board and Patterned Paper.  Cut out three pieces of foam board and holiday patterned paper to 12" x 3".

Craft Tip:  Instead of foam board, you could use any strong base like cardboard or even wood.

2.  Adhere Patterned Paper to Foam Board.  Using the Xyron 5" Creative Station, apply adhesive to the patterned paper.  Apply the paper onto the foam board.  Using a craft knife, trip the paper as needed to make sure that the the front of the signs are completely covered.

3.  Distress Edges.  Distress the edges of the sign with some ink to give it an antiqued look.  Here, I used Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Antique Photo) applied with a foam applicator.

Craft Tip:  Notice the difference that distressing does.  The bottom sign is already inked along the edges while the top two are not.  This is a trick that I apply to almost all of my paper crafting projects.

4.  Embellish the Sign Bases.  Using just American Craft Thickers (dimensional letter stickers) and some simple embellishments, create your holiday signs.

For the top sign, I wanted to make a chalkboard Christmas countdown.  Cut out a small piece of DCWV Chalkboard Paper with a Lil' Inker Designs Stitched Rectangle die and then adhere onto the patterned paper with the Xyron 5" Creative Station.

And here is a shot of all three signs, ready to be mounted onto the fence post.

5.  Cover Fence Post with Washi Tape.  I bought this little fence post from Home Depot for 50 cents.  Super cheap!  I just covered it with Freckled Fawn washi tape to add some extra holiday flair.

6.  Adhere Signs onto Fence Post.  Finally, I just adhered the signs onto the Fence Post with some Xyron High Tack Double Sided Tape.

Craft Note:  If you want them to be more secure, I would suggest using a small nail to adhere the signs onto the wood.  But you're using it inside and don't have little ones, I think the double sided tape will work fine.

And here is another look at the finished project!  I will note that because it is unsealed paper, I would probably not leave it outside.  Even in Hawaii, it rains a lot this time of year.  But it would be the perfect sign for placing inside a potted plan indoors.  Or just use the signs individually around the house!  So many options and so super easy!

Make sure to visit the Xyron Facebook Page all month long (and into December) for daily inspiration!!!

As always, thank you for stopping by!