E - I - E - I - O!

I'm so easily distracted! While in the middle of some Christmas projects, I ran across this piece of farm animal print paper from Reminisce. A light bulb came on! I shoved the current projects to the side and started working on this card. Easier said than done. First I had to find a simple barn template on the internet. My pattern was too large for a folded 12 x 12 page, so I had to make it in two pieces. Then I decided to paper piece the front. Okay, cute barn, but I still hadn't used the paper! It had to go on the inside. Writing will have to be done on the left side. Oh, well!! I'll probably not make another one of these cards, but this one is kinda cute.

Don't You Love It.....

......when you get an idea (this time at the last minute), you make it, and it turns out just the way you wanted?? I had one of those moments yesterday. Before going to Iowa City for the day, I decided to make a "team spirit tag" to hang from my purse. I knew there would be THOUSANDS of Hawkeye fans in town for the football game (we were going up for volleyball) and I wanted to see if my "experiment" would draw any comments. Well, (sigh) no comments, but I thought it looked dang cute hanging on my purse. Sooooo easy and sooooooo inexpensive!

Ask Your Mummy for a Candy Bar

Here's Frankie's buddy! Too stinkin' cute, don't you agree?! I used vinyl wallpaper strips for their texture. I didn't ink the edges of the first one, but I did the rest. Much cuter inked (as always!). There are little white dots on the eyes that add a lot of personality, but they don't show up well in the scan. Spiders are from my never-ending supply of confetti. A plain Hershey bar lies beneath. (Disclaimer: This is not an original idea. I saw a sample done at Memory Bound in Ankeny. They had used scrapbook paper designed to look like what I did.)

Carter's Card

Here's the card I just whipped up for a little boy's first b'day. His party is this afternoon. I work with his grandma. The paper is from Reminisce. The balloons are 3-dimensional and from a pack of confetti. They were the perfect size for the front of the card. 3-d --- what fun!

18 Random Things mini-book

Make a Smilebox slideshow

If only getting this project into a viewable format was as easy as the project itself!! Augh!!! Anyway, here's the details about this project. I completed it in one day, with interruptions. The pages are slid into sturdy, top-loading trading card sleeves. There is a thin layer of cardstock between the two papers to make it easier to slide in and out. I used a 4"x6" package of Dollar Tree paper for the entire project. (No 12" x 12" papers were harmed.) I also used 4 colors of coordinating paper from my scrap collection. My goal was to keep it simple - no inking, ribbon, or froo-froo. For one thing, there isn't room, unless you adhere the embellishments on the outside of the sleeve. I also forced myself to use my own handwriting - something I rarely do. The letters on the cover were cut free-hand. I should have mixed up my papers - you know, been a little more RANDOM. Don't know what I was thinkin' there. I used my Big Bite to punch the holes. I used a strip of torn brown fabric tied in a knot to "bind" it together. I could have easily put the question and answer on the same page and only done 20 pages instead of 40! Oh, the things we learn when doing something for the first time. I hope you had a good time learning some of my little "quirks"!!

Halloween Card Class

I am on a blogging BINGE today!! 2 posts in one day??!!! CRAZY!

I made these ADORABLE cards at a class last weekend, taught by papercraft queen, Lynn Warner. It was easy, but allowed me to work with some products I hadn't worked with before. This experience with acrylic was MUCH more enjoyable than my last. And I LOVED the primitive stickers by Cosmo Cricket we got to use. I would have liked to ink the edges of the acrylic, but I didn't have any Staz-On with me. I'm curious as to what would happen if I applied a quick, light coat of stain get over the surface of the sticker. Would it cut that "sticker look"? I may try that this weekend. Stay tuned for the results of that experiment...........(nothing should explode, so it should be safe)!

Frankie (draft)

I saw these cute little candy bar wrappers at Memory Bound and couldn't wait to make them. There's a mummy and a Frankenstein, but I've only got Frankie done. I think he needs "bolts" coming out of his neck. What do you think?? I'm open for suggestions!! This is only a draft. I'm going to make these for the gals at work for Halloween. Hy-Vee has the "full size" (as opposed to fun size or king size) candy bars for $.50 right now, by the way.