My name is Miki and I'm a link-a-holic.

Yes, I collect links. Links to everything & anything that I love on the internet. My favorites, folders & desktop are filled with links. Most of them are links to crafts that I would love to do someday. I have enough cute craft links to last me a lifetime. There's just too many talented people out there who are willing to share their craftiness with others!

So I thought I would put some of these links I have collected to good use. I thought maybe our readers would like some links to easy, last-minutes holiday gift ideas. If your a crafter, then chances are pretty good you might have the supplies on hand for some of these. But if not, I did try to keep the list to supplies you could find locally.

Here's what you'll find in my list of crafty links:

1. Had to be quick & easy.
2. Needed minimal supplies that were (hopefully) easy to find.
3. Couldn't cost a fortune.
4. Anyone could do them!

I thought I would start off with some food gift links. Who doesn't love receiving yummy treats during the holidays? Some of these are perfect for doing with your kids too!

Homemade Toffee from French Knots

Check out the adorable packaging on this one! Homemade Peppermint Bark from Martha Stewart

Chocolate Dipped Candy Canes from Make and Takes

These are way too cute! Oreo Cookie Snowmen from According to Kelly

I made this one this past weekend & it really is yummy! Funky Monkey Bread from Mish Mash

Marshmallow Snowmen from Speckled Egg

Here are some crafty gifts to make that you could use your scrap supplies for.

Stamped Dish Towels from Design Sponge

Framed Paper from JCaroline

Marble Magnets by Not Martha

This one uses fabric, but you could easily use scrapbook paper too! Decorated Office Supplies from How About Orange

I don't know about you, but this would take me hours...HOURS to do myself. And that's assuming I could figure out what images I wanted before Christmas was even here. Totally worth the $5 price! Print and Give 2009 Mini Calender from Little Brown Pen

If you can sew, then you might want to check these out. These wouldn't be quick & easy for me, but in case you can sew in a jiffy, you might like these.

These first two are downloadable (is that even a word?) patterns I found. Super cute and well worth the pattern cost if you make a few.
Wristlet PDF Sewing Pattern by Jenna Lou Designs

City Tote PDF Sewing Pattern by keykalou

Ribbon Key Fob from JCaroline

I made some of these last year and you don't have to be an expert to sew them (I promise!). They are also a great way to use up fabric scraps. Raggedy Quilted Coasters

And for us slow-sewers or non-sewers, here are a few no-sew patterns I found.

This one is fabulous! Simple but Chic, no-sew scarf by Little Birdie Secret

No Sew Fleece Blanket & Pillow from Joanns

Tiny Pincushions from How About Orange

These final ones are just plain fun!

This one would be perfect for your kids to make & give to Grandparents, Teachers or anyone else! Doodled Notepad from Martha Stewart

Baby Onesie from Joanns

Easy Wine Glass Charms from Not Martha

I want to make these just to have sitting on my counter in their pretty jars! Homemade Bath Salts from Martha Stewart

Fabric Fridge Frame from How About Orange

Hopefully I didn't just waste your whole day surfing the net oohing & awwing over these great gift ideas. I seriously could go on & on with these links. But I am hoping that it will maybe solve a last minute gift idea or maybe help with that hard to buy for person on your list.

Enjoy this great list of links and don't forget to check out the list of tutorials we've done here (and there's been some really great ones!). You can find it right there down the right side of our blog.

A big THANK YOU to all the crafters out there who share their talents with us over the internet each day!!

time to be thankful

Fall is here and after a busy summer it's always nice to finally sit down & relax a bit. The weather is cooler, the days are shorter and in just a few weeks we will be enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving meal.

It's also a great time to be thankful and express our gratitude to family & friends! Why not take a moment this month and send your family & friends a little note of gratitude? Pull out those supplies, let your kids join in and just write a simple, heartfelt note thanking someone. Let them know how thankful you are that they are in your life!

Here's some great quotes to motivate you, along with some examples of a few easy cards that you can do.

Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone. ~G.B. Stern

We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. ~Thornton Wilder

Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action. ~W.J. Cameron

He who thanks but with the lips Thanks but in part; The full, the true Thanksgiving Comes from the heart. ~J.A. Shedd

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. ~William Arthur Ward

Supplies used:
Pattern Paper: Paper Salon Spice Foil Falling Leaves
Rub-ons: Paper Salon Spice
Sticker: Paper Salon Spice
Other: Pop-up Dots


Supplies used:
Cardstock: Bazzill
Stamps: Inque Boutique, Heidi Swapp
Chalk Ink: Colorbox, Paper Salon
Ribbon: Source unknown
Button: Autumn Leaves
Decorative Scissor: Fiskars


Supplies used:
Cardstock: Bazzill Basics
Pattern Paper: Bo Bunny Autumn Wood
Stamps: Paper Trey Ink Holiday Tags, Paper Salon Fall Frolic
Ink: Ranger Distress
Lace: Source unknown
Die-cut: Quickutz Scallop Circle
Tools: Provocraft Cuttlebug
Punch: EK Success large circle, Creative Memories corner rounder

Us gals here at The Pursuit of CraftYness blog are very thankful for all of you! So I put together a little giveaway as a thank you.


All you need to do is post a comment right here and tell me who you are thankful for or who you plan on sending cards to over the next few weeks. And like always, if you post some of those cards...please share your links with us. We always enjoy seeing what our readers are doing!

You have until midnight Saturday, November 8th to post your comment here (one per person please). I will pull a name and announce the winner no later than Monday the 10th. Please post your email address so that I can contact you and get your package out right away!

THANK YOU for all your kind words, sharing your amazing projects and hanging out with us here!

no tricks...just treats!

October is offically here, which means Halloween is just around the corner! Halloween treats are always fun to pass out to your kids, teachers, co-workers and friends & family.

I thought I would share some ideas on decorating yummy treats with your own creation of spooky papers. I found some great Halloween stamps at Michaels for only $1 each, but you could use whatever you have on-hand or even use some Halloween clip-art.

Instead of buying new papers, I used some older papers I had in my stash and made them into spooky, new ones! It was really easy to do and I bet you even have the supplies on-hand already. Here are the Halloween colored papers from my supplies that I used. These are from Karen Foster, but any colors that you like to use for this holiday would work.


You can do the following to either a whole sheet, smaller pieces (great way to use up scraps) or pieces you die-cut first. I tried all three ways and I found working with smaller pieces a bit easier. For this example, I pre-cut what I wanted to use for my treats.

Once you have chosen your papers, ink them up with black, brown or a combo of the two. I used a bit of both for mine this time. I used my Ranger blending tool to apply the ink, but you could use a make-up sponge or whatever you like. It doesn't really matter what ink you use, but I used a mix of Ranger Distress & Versafine. Apply as much or as little as you want until you like how it looks.

Next I misted the inked papers with water. You could probably skip this step if you want, but I think it helps to kind of "blend" the inks together with the paper and softens the ink too. Again, its personal preference...do it how YOU like it! You can also add more ink while your papers are wet.

You can let them dry now or you can move to the next step. I'm not very patient, so I didn't wait for them to dry before moving on. I think this is the fun part...now add some watercolor splats! All you do is use a lot of water and load up your brush with black watercolor paint.

Then shake & tap your very wet brush over your papers. This can be messy (or maybe it's just me?) but I used a tall box to put my papers in and then did this. You could also take it outside on the grass too. Here's what you'll have when your done.

Now let them dry.

Here is a photo of what the papers looked like before and after. See how spooky & fun they are!

Now for the decorating part. While going through my older papers, I also found these by Daisy D's and thought they would add an old, distressed touch.

Here are the treat bags I came up with, using the $1 stamps, my "new" old spooky papers and the distressed papers. To get a softer, stamped image, simply "kiss off" your stamp onto scrap paper first and then stamp your image. I think the softer images add to the oldness and look great with the spooky papers we just made. Look at the skeleton...you can see the crackled paper through...creepy!

Instead of tying my tag to the bag, I used a binder clip. I just tied my tag to the clip first and then clipped it to the bag. Simple & easy!

On the second one, I first stapled the rectangle over the top of the bag and then added my ghost tag on top. You guessed it...simple & easy!


Here are a few more that I did with some bulk candy, $1 treat bags I found at Target and more of the $1 stamps from Michaels.

I also did some candy bar wraps. The Spellbinders Nestabilities, large rectangle is the perfect size to wrap around a regular sized candy bar. No measuring or fancy folds...just a simple & easy die-cut! Then I just layered more of the $1 stamped images on top.

supplies used:
Pattern Papers: Karen Foster Lemon Chiffon, Kiwi Splash, Tangerine Swirl & Purple Swirl; Daisy D's Antique Dot, Antique Stripe & Antique Harlequin; Cut-it-Up Brushed Black
Stamps: Studio G Halloween (Michaels $1)
Ink: Ranger Distress; Versafine
Stickers: Making Memories Halloween Word Fetti
Die-Cut: Spellbinders Scallop Circle, scallop rectangle Nestabilities
Other: Provocraft Cuttlebug Machine
Ribbon: assorted scraps
Halloween bags: Michaels, Target

I hope I've given you some fun ideas to dress up your Halloween treats along with making those old papers into something new! If you create some of your own, make sure you link to it here so that we can check out what you did. I would love to see how you made some of your old papers into something spooky & new!

Chipboard and Maya Mists

I've recently aquired some new Maya Mists, a new colouring medium by Maya Road. I particularly like using them to colour my chipboard pieces. The mists are very easy to use, the chipboard is dry within minutes and the coloured surface has a lovely matt finish.

Here's how to use the Mists

Lay out the chipboard you wish to use. Place a large piece of paper under your chipboard as the mist does cover a large area when sprayed.

A couple of sprays will be enough to cover the chipboard. Leave to dry.

In a couple of minutes your chipboard is dry for you to continue with your project.


Maya Mists can also be used to colour cardstock or paper, in this case the base of my card. A couple of sprays was sufficient to cover my card giving it a "spritzed" look.


I further enhanced the my chipboard pieces using my souffle pens to add a little glitter and glaze.

To finish off my card I glued the chipboard pieces to the card. The "icing" section was raised slightly with a foam adhesive. And I finished my cupcake with a little flower decoration on top.


This was a very simple and quick card to put together. The Maya Mists enabled me to colour my chipboard easily and I was able to assemble my card in less than 10 minutes.

Materials:

• Maya Road Chipboard: Cupcakes Chipboard set and Noah Chipboard Alphabet set.
• Maya Road Maya Mists: Pink Mist, Brown Mist and Green Mist.
• Maya Road Trinkets Crochet Shimmer Blossom.
• Sakura Pens: Gelly Roll Glaze and Gelly Roll Stardust.

Thanks for visiting. Hope you have a great day.

Cheers

Fiona

Cuttlebug Quick and Easy Cards

Okay - so I've had my Cuttlebug for almost a full year and I have to admit, I haven't fully experimented with it like I should. Admit it - how many of you have the Cuttlebug but don't use it as often as you intended to? I hope after you read this post, you're inspired to get it out and play.

I recently bought some new folders for my Cuttlebug wanted to try them out. I decided to challenge myself to make some cards with limited supplies. Cuttlebug has some new combo sets out. They are a combination of embossing template along with a die cutting plate. I used the "With Gratitude" set for these cards. Believe me, they are quick and easy! And my supply list is very limited: cardstock only!







For added visual interest, I used colored cardstock with a white core, and a piece of sanding paper on the embossed images.

Supplies for all cards:
Cuttlebug Combo Set: With Gratitude
Cuttlebug Die Cut System
Cardstock: Bazzill Basics (2 sheets of white), 1 sheet of teal (Die Cuts with a View)
Sandpaper
Corner Rounder
Adhesive

To change things up a bit, I used a totally different embossing folder (Argyle) on one additional card and same die as used above.



I hope I've inspired you to dust off your Cuttlebug and make some cards. I had fun and am already imagining different color combinations to use on future sets.

Have a great Friday!!