You are Positive, Mental Health Awareness

 Hi again friends! 

I am excited to share my projects using the new Box Pops, You are Positive die set. As soon as I saw this set, I knew I wanted to use it for a Mental Health Awareness project or two, so that's exactly what I did!

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, this is a subject that is extremely important to me. I struggle with severe anxiety, depression, and panic attacks. Life unfortunately gets the best of me, and without my support system, that consists of friends, family, my i-crafter family, and medical professionals, I would stumble into a dark place. We often feel that we are alone in the midst of a mental crisis, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness's message for May is "You are not alone." Mental Health is health. To help improve awareness, we need to talk about what we are dealing with, taking mental health sick days, and supporting our friends and family when they are struggling with their own mental health issues. 

Now on to my projects! I made two, first, I used the "You are" base and added two of the word inserts "strong" and "enough" to it. I used a yellow cardstock for the exterior of the words. I added a dark teal to fill the words "you are" and "enough" words. This is a smaller card, so the words took up most of the card. I kept it simple and just mounted it on a kraft base that has white polka dots. This card is perfect for someone who feels alone and needs to be reminded that there are people who care, that someone is thinking of them.

My next project, I wanted to create a bookmark for a gratitude journal that I found at my local secondhand craft store, Lost & Found Crafts. Gratitude journals are a fantastic way to help combat anxiety and depression. They help our brains focus on positives in our lives and see the good we have. I used the colors from the journal to inspire my bookmark.

I started with the base of the Zip Gift Tag die set in a bright pink cardstock. Next, I used the teal cardstock with the Box Pops, You are Positive die set, I did "You are enough" this time. I added the yellow centers to the letters from the last project.

 There was a blank space at the bottom, so I die cut one of the butterflies from the Butterfly Burst dies. I covered this in Nuvo's Rose Gold Glitter, it was a bit messy, I don't typically play with lose glitter. To finish it off, I laminated the entire thing, used a hole punch, and added a light pink ribbon to the top.

I hope my projects, and message have inspired you. I hope that we can all take a little time to let someone in our lives know that they are not alone, and I hope that you know that you are not alone. 

Be sure to join the i-crafter Facebook Fan Club, then follow us on Instagram, and Pinterest too! Don’t forget to include this month’s Anything Goes Challenge hashtag #ICrafterApril21 to enter our giveaways. We love seeing all of your creations using the i-crafter products!

Until next time,

R. Winn 

i-crafter Prize Ribbons

 It's release day at i-crafter and I had fun playing with the new Prize Ribbon dies!

I started by creating a Prize Ribbon for my BFF, Molly. She loves candy and I found this super cute patterned paper from Queen and Co. in my stash that reminded me of her. This was my first attempt at the Prize Ribbon, so there was a little bit of a learning curve when I tried to glue the folds together (don't do that!) The key to making these look perfect on the front is cutting an extra center circle out and gluing it to the back of the face to hold it all in place.

 

I used different paper from the same pad for each piece of the ribbon and decided to add Doodlebug Sprinkles to the top add a bit of sparkle. In order to make my bottom ribbons kinda wavy, I used the round handle of the i-Press tool to curl the papers in different directions. 

My next Prize Ribbon is intended for a momma-to-be who is a baby girl! I think this would be SO cute pinned to a dress at a baby shower. I loved this ducky paper that I found to use, the only hard part was keeping them facing the "right" way since you need 3 of the piece that gets folded to create the back part. All in all, I think it turned out pretty sweet!

I used some heart enamel "dots" to embellish this time. I also cut word in the circle instead of using the cut negatives; this added another layer to my ribbon center and let me tie the brown from the bottom ribbons into the top half of the project. 

My last Prize Ribbon is for a momma-to-be expecting a baby boy! This one is probably my favorite. Again, I used the same ducky patterned paper, this time with a blue backing.

I used solid enamel dots this time, no sparkles here! I also used the negative cut out letters. I used the brown paper again to pick up the brown in the lettered paper. I also got a little more brave with my curling and exaggerated the curve more. It looks REALLY nice in person.

I wanted my ribbons to be functional, so I reached out to my local secondhand craft store (yes, it's a thing, and yes it's awesome!), Lost and Found Crafts, to see if she had any pin backings that are often used for jewelry making. I used some thin foam tape to adhere the backings to my ribbons. Plus, I got a big bag of the backings for future projects for super cheap!

This was way outside my norm, but these Prize Ribbons are so cute and easy to put together, I can see creating them for all sorts of events! Plus, I have plans to used the pieces to create a card as well, this ends up being a really versatile set when you look at the pieces individually then put them together differently than they were meant for.

We have five new die sets that are all begging to come home with you this month! Be sure to head over and grab them at i-crafter. Be sure to join the i-crafter Facebook Fan Club, then follow us on Instagram, and Pinterest too! We love seeing all of your creations using the i-crafter products.

Until next time,

R. Winn