A Glammed Up, Girlie Paperweight That's Seriously Easy to Make

Whenever I pass by a Target store, I'll often stop to pick up a few things so I can look through their selection of Papyrus greeting cards.  These cards are very well designed, decorated with all sorts of embellishments, and perfect for creating some seriously cute paperweights.   For this project you'll need a greeting card and a paperweight kit.  The card used in the example is a birthday card from Papyrus ("Four Girls Playing...

Turning Old, Brass Hardware into Pretty Paperweights

If you look closely for the small things we tend to overlook when searching for design elements, you can discover a treasure trove of findings you can use to create some very beautiful and unique paperweights. This paperweight was created with a brass key hole cover I found while sifting through a $1.00 box at an antique flea market.  The only other items required for the design include a couple pieces of scrapbook paper. Pictured above...

Capture Your Summer Memories in a Glass Paperweight

When my husband and I travel, I always keep an eye out for just the right souvenirs to bring home to family and friends. As you've probably experienced, finding the right mementos can be a challenge because so many souvenir shops are stocked with key chains, magnets, T-shirts, and other kitschy items that lack style and character. If you're traveling with children, visiting a souvenir shop comes with a special set of challenges. Stuffed...

Create Decorative Photo Mats for Use in Your Paperweight Designs

Creating a photo mat for your paperweight designs is easy.  This post will show you how I made a simple mat out of colored paper.  I'll also explain different variations that will help you achieve a variety of looks. The purpose of the mat is to offer a decorative border for your photograph while providing an area that may be used to apply decoration, add a small trinket, or feature text. For this project I used a hole punch...

How Do You Display Your Digital Memories?

While I was setting up for a design piece for my blog this morning, and about to recommend a project involving photographs, it occurred to me that we’re not printing pictures the way we did in the past. Now that film cameras are relics of a bygone era, and everything has gone digital, how do you display the memories you’ve captured in photographs?  How has digital photography changed the way you chronicle your life in pictures? var...

Collection of Low Profile Skeleton Keys from K&Company

One of the many memories I have of my grandmother's house, a small bungalow just outside Los Angeles, is a collection of decades-old keys that hung in a kitchen cabinet, seemingly forgotten.  Perhaps the only thing they opened was a memory or two - a first car, her childhood home, maybe a key she brought with her from Germany when she was a child.  What I would give for those keys now! Skeleton keys are among...

Applying Charms and Accents to the Top Surface of Your Paperweight

I love finding new products to use in my paperweight designs.  The latest is a collection of charms called art-i-cake by Amy Labbe (Distributed by Horizon Group USA, Inc.)  The designs truly capture the look of handcrafted pieces I've seen in magazines featuring mixed media artwork.  The quality is also much higher than many other charms and findings sold in typical craft stores. Amy Labbe's line of charms (pictured...

Creating Old-fashioned Paperweights with Antique and Vintage Photographs

I love to create old-fashioned paperweights with antique photographs.  It's a wonderful way to display long-forgotten images that would otherwise remain in album, box, or dresser drawer. When you're working with family photos, I recommend scanning the images to your computer so the original photo will be preserved.  This will allow you re-size your images and add text using a image or word processing program.  You can also print...

Antique Button Card Paperweight

  This paperweight would make the perfect gift for a seamstress or someone who collects antique sewing notions.  It's made with an old sewing card that still has it's pearlized buttons attached.  The artwork on the card features two peacocks with their outstretched feathers fashioned into a border. The buttons are sewn onto the card with a small sheet of foil behind them.  This has a mirror effect that adds a lot to this piece. ...

Bronze Paisley Paperweight with Ribbon and Buckle

When I thought of doing a buckle paperweight, I purchased the supplies to take it in two very different directions.  There's the bronze paisley design that's shown, and one that will involve bright pink ribbon and a round, rhinestone buckle.  I'll save the glitzy one for next week. This is an incredibly easy paperweight to create.  You'll need some decorative background paper, a slide buckle, and a short length of ribbon that fits...