Something I have never done before......

Many of you may relate to what I'm about to say......When I get bored, I like to shop. Most of the time, I "intend" on just window shopping but there are times when I actually buy something that I most likely will not use right away. Case in point............about a year ago, I bought a wood burning tool, brought it home and put it away in a locked case so wandering hands wouldn't get to it.

When Amber with Crop Chocolate gave us the challenge for August to do something that we had never done before, guess what popped into my head??? Yup! I pulled out that wood burner and started to play. Number one thing I loved....the wood I purchased at Hobby Lobby smells SOOO good when it's burned!!! I know....silly huh??? Still, I loved it and that's that! ;)

Anyways....I was a little nervous about how it would go over since it's really not using a lot of Crop Chocolate product so I showed a few friends and they LOVED it and said, "Michele...you need to use that!!!" So...I did! I really love how it turned out! Here's a pic of it...

It's such a fun technique and I don't know if it's ever been used for something like this. I would like to think "not" until now... ;)

In addition to this cute little ghost, I made a little companion piece that will also be displayed for Halloween. Here it is.

I have also made some cute teddy bear ones and they were purchased as soon as they were made. I'm now thinking of other things I can do using this technique so I can sell them. Watch close...I may have something that you may like...  ;) If there is something I haven't posted but would like me to make for you, PLEASE let me know and I'll get it going! I'm always up for more projects!!!!

1st Official Crop Chocolate Blog Hop

Hello my friends! Thanks for joining me for Crop Chocolate's very 1st Blog Hop! YAY!!!! Yes..I'm sooo excited! This Blog Hop is to celebrate Crop Chocolate's first and SUPER AWESOME 2011-2012 Design Team which I'm soo excited to be a part of! Here is a list of our super talented ladies:


bethd488 - Beth
corriew - Corrie
Craft-a-holic Queen - Michele :)
cricutica - Paula
D2 - DeeDee
ScrappyCanuck - Karen
Moon - Jenn
JeepMama - Paula
runzalot81 - Alissa
LMissCrafter - Jamie




 (Imagine confetti, streamers and balloons all over the place...this is a BIG deal!!!)


For those of you who do not know what CropChocolate.com is, it's a deal a day website that sells WONDERFUL crafty products and SUPER SWEET prices. The people who run it are pretty "sweet" too! ;)


I am the 4th stop on the blog hop. If you started here first, you need to go to the beginning which is Crop Chocolate's website. From there you will be able to follow the hop in order. :)

My project that I made for our blog hop is a decorative accordian album. The paper that was used is Bo Bunny's Gabrielle collection. I simply LOVE this paper! 


Here's some easy (I hope...lol) instructions on how to make this fun album:

I used an accordian album that I have had laying around for some time. I believe I bought it from Close To My Heart. I cut 8 pieces of paper to be 6 1/4" x 6 1/4" and used tacky glue to glue the paper to the album. (Since the front and the back of tmy book are slightly larger than the pages, it was helpful to have that additional 1/4". On the other sheets, I trimmed them down as needed.)

I used about 24" of twine and wrapped it around the left side of the front of the album and tied a little knot to hold it together. I also put a medium sized glue dot under the center of the twine to keep it secure.

I added embellishments to the other pages as I wanted using labels from the paper collection, Thickers, etc.  If you want to learn how to make the flowers I put on my album, you can go to my friend and fellow crafty queen, Chocolate Miwa's challenge she did for Crop Chocolate (and also see her ADORABLE project too!). :D If you want to just watch her video, click here.

 I used a couple of labels from the collection, Thickers "Daydream" letter stickers, Basic Grey Glazed Brads, My Mind's Eye Lime Twist twine and My Mind's Eye Paper Reverie tape...all purchased from Crop Chocolate!

I hope you like my project! Feel free to "follow" my blog to see any past and upcoming projects that I post. If you click here, you will be taken to the next blog in our blog hop which belongs to "cricutica" (Paula I.).

I hope you have a wonderful time "hopping" today! Make sure to leave a comment on each blog so you can be entered for some "sweet" prizes!