Water Bottle Hangers

Happy Monday!

Yep ... my favorite day of the week is here again!  Just me, the cat and the dog to get things back in order after a relaxing, warm weekend.  It was great!  The perfect mix of cleaning, crafting, napping, socializing, exercising and eating.  A great, great weekend :)

I'm FINALLY getting around to posting the little treats I made for my club girls last month ... I've had them done and ready to share ... but I just didn't find the time to POST them! Well today's your lucky day - the project with full pictures to boot!

I'll start by saying the idea didn't come from me - I came across it from fellow demonstrator Sherri Gross - I tried to upload a picture of Sherri's project but it wouldn't work so you''ll have to pop over to her blog at www.stampinsherrie.blogspot.ca - to see her original version - she has a great blog with some great project ideas!

So here is the project ... it is a Water Bottle Hanger ...

Aren't they fun??  I love these little guys!  I made them about 5 years ago and forgot how quick and easy they are ... and people LOVE getting them!  I was going to make 30 for my club girls and a few extras to have on hand "just because" ... but of course, you know me ... if 30 is good then 60 is better *lol* ... so I made 60 of them.  Tomorrow I plan to take a case of water in to the school and leave them for the teaching staff at the girls' school.  It's smokin' hot here this week and I figure the staff could use some water ... and sugar *lol*.  So here is a tutorial and dimensions on how to make these little cuties:

First off I made my own DSP ... yes, I KNOW SU sells DSP but I couldn't find what I wanted ... so I made my own.  I used 2" strips of whisper white and stamped it in Real Red ink using the Travel Journal builder wheel (page 108 - $5.95)

 Now ... I know I mentioned this before ... but I didn't have pictures for you ... now I do :)  I'm not a huge fan of wheeling ... well, I'm pretty good if it is one of the Jumbo wheels, but the standard and builder wheels not-so-much.  If I don't get just the fight pressure then I got blotches and edges that I don't want ... so I've started ripping the wheels apart and using the rubber portion like a stamp.  Here is how to do that:
Simply take your scissors or an exacto knife and slice along the seam in the rubber:

 ... then you just peel the rubber off the wheel!  It's only attached TO the wheel with a double sides sticky tape and it pulls right off!

 Once the rubber is off I usually cut it down to a manageable size, run a tiny strip of snail along it and stick it to a glass block to use.  Easy!

 For storage I just keep them all in on of the clear mount cases that you can buy: (page 7 of the main catty - $7.50 for 4)

 Once I had my DSP made I cut strips of black cs 8 1/4" x 2 1/4" and then scored them with my Simply Scored Scoring Tool at 2 1/4" and 6":

 Next I punched a hole in one of the 2 1/4" x 2 1/4" squares (I just acored) with the 1 3/8" circle punch.  Now!  You KNOW it would drive me insane if the hole wasn't perfectly centred in the square, right?  So in order to accomplish THAT quickly and easily I simply grabbed (2) of my post-it-notes and punched a circle in them (i.e. the post-it-notes are on top of each other so it is two sheets thick .... just to give it some sturdiness).  I made sure that when I punched I had a bit of the post-it stickiness on the circle so that the punched out circle would gently stick to my card stock.

 I then took the little punched out yellow circle, stuck it my cs and lined my punch up directly over the yellow post-its. Wa-low! A perfectly centered circle! Aren't I clever? *lol*

 I cut the 2" strips of DSP into 2" x 2" squares and rounded the top corners with my corner rounder punch (page 183 - $8.95).  I also rounded the (2) corners on my black cs ... the corners tht DON'T have the circle punched out:

 I then simply folded the hanger on the score lines, attached the DSP to the front and then used Silver Brads to hold the scored flap to the hanger.  It's important that you do this and don't just use tape.  Once you put your Crystal Light, Cool Aid or Hawaian punch in the holder grabity will take over and they will pop open on no time.  Poke a brad through the entire contraption and it will make a nice, tight, secure pouch.

I then used my 1 1/4" scallop circle punch (page 36 of the spring mini - $21.95) for the black scallop and my teeny little 7/8" scallop punch (page 17 of the spring mini - $15.95) to punch out the sentiment that is from the new "Round Array" stamp set that is in the upcoming catalogue.  You can buy it NOW for $17.95.  I stamped it in Real Red and popped it up on a dimensional.

All that was left to do might make some of you want to stick your pokey-tool in your eye but I had to do it (the punching, not the sticking in the eye *lol*).  I made a little scalloped edge to go around the hole.  Here is how you do it:
Punch a hole in your cs with the 1 3/8" circle punch:

 Then using your 1 3/4" scallop punch you punch again, over the hole you just made ... and it gives you a little borders.

I then used my tombow glue to glue the border to the hanger.  Yes, this last step added about 1 1/2 hours to the project completion time ... but I was crafting with my newest Mommy friend Sara and it was fun to just craft and glue.  CONGRATULATIONS Sara on your precious little Brock ... 1 1/2 days old!

 

Wa-low! Here again is the final product:

Pop in again soon ... I have an AWESOME card to share that we will be making in class tomorrow night (with the Stained Glass Technique) ... just gotta get it snapped and blogged!  Until then ... have a SUPER stampy day!!

 

Tam