Paper Whiskers

birthday cake on a Wednesday afternoon

Okay, it's been a week, so I need to post something.

How about the cake decorations I made to replace the ugly ribbon that came on my birthday cake last week? (ugly, because I didn't get off work in time to pick it out myself at the bakery. darnit.)

I used paper punches in different sizes and some paper scraps from my My Minds Eye stash (my current company). Unfortunately, these pictures are "take two" because I didn't notice the memory card wasn't in my camera until after we started cutting into the cake. oops.

They turned out cute, but I have to admit to being annoyed that I was decorating my own birthday cake. At least I didn't have to make it. :)

4.5x7 Embellishment Hideaway - Hacked

In my quest to get more organized, I found this Cropper Hopper storage box on clearance at TwoPeas:

 

I found no information on what the inside looked like, so went ahead and got it anyway, gambling that it would have the space I needed. It fits perfectly where I planned to put it, and I could easily stack another on top (which I may still do, since they are still on sale). But I was really hoping that it had no dividers at all.

As you can see, it does have dividers. Lots of them. By the time this came, I had decided to use it for stamp storage - the ones that I always forget to use because they are sorted into drawers. Those 3x3 slots weren't going to cut it.

So, I hacked it.

 

It's actually very easy to do, because it's made of chipboard, covered in fabric on the outside. I used an xacto knife to trim out the first divider and glued down the loosened pieces that came up when I pulled out the inner pieces. Then I picked out paper:

 

and started trimming liner pieces. I ended up using the left two papers (Fancy Pants Designs) and cut them to these measurements:

6.5 x 6 3/8 for the base (cut 1)
6.5 x 3 5/8 for the sides (cut 4)
6.5 x 1.5 for the scalloped strips to top the sides (cut 4)

I glued them in this order: base, scalloped strips, sides. I used fabri-tac for the scalloped strips, since they were being glued onto fabric, but I don't think it's entirely necessary. I think the Scotch Quick-Dry I used for the rest would have worked just as well. I used liquid glue, over red-line tape, for durability. Liquid glue bonds the paper with the chipboard, whereas red-line tape (strong as it is) just sits between the layers and doesn't have the same absorption property. But that's more information than anyone cares about, so moving on!

When I glued the scalloped strips in (and later the sides), I used clamps to keep pressure on the middle and corners, to help the bonding process along.

Once I had everything glued, I realized that I needed a better handle than the one that's on it. Luckily, there are two handy holes pre-drilled in the handle, so you can add ribbon or tags or whatever. Nice. I decided to use a fancy fabric brad from my vast collection of brads, that matched the insides perfectly:

 

Pretty!

And here's the final product, put to use:

 

The brad might get put back into the stash soon, because I'm not quite sure it's going to work as well as I'd thought. I may end up using ribbon after all.

:)

Grad party centerpiece

Sandy graduated from UNI last weekend (YAY SANDY!!!), and I helped with the table decorations.



I had a die cut of the school logo, so used it as a template to make a mat for the flower vases. I traced, then hand cut two corners.



The wrap was made with a strip of printed tape on vellum. The medallions are three layers: purple base, scalloped white with the cap sticker, and an embossed circle of vellum on top, stamped with one of three things: congrats!, yippee! and woo-hoo!



:D They turned out really cute, I think.

"Valentine"

(click on the photo for a closer look)

A bit of catching up. This is the valentine I made Eric last month. Does the brown banner look familiar? :) It's from the same rubon set (Hambly Screenprints) that the Easter centerpiece used. The wings are made by Hambly, as well. I applied them to thick vellum, then cut them out. The heart is a precut piece of chipboard, from the Bare Elements line by Creative Imaginations. It' part of a ring book, so I used the existing hole as the hanger and added the metal washer and ball chain. The main part of the heart was created with a red rose patterned paper, stamped with big black swirls and inked around the edges.

Then I added a coat of crackle glaze (made by Ranger) and let it dry overnight. See where the cracks are smaller and closer together on the right-hand side? Yeah, that's not on purpose. LOL  That's what happens when the glue holding the paper to the chipboard isn't completely dry, and curls up when the crackle glaze dries. That whole half was curled right up the next morning. Frustrating! But, I fixed it with redline tape, inked the heck out of that side, and glued the banner over the worst of the damage.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and Eric liked it, so in the end it was a successful project.

Easter Dinner Table Decorations

I made one of these for each place setting. I used painted wood eggs and mini grapevine wreaths I found at Michaels. Then I added moss (not much is showing on this one) and tucked scraps of embroidery floss and feathers, to make it look like a bird's nest. (I imagine the floss was stolen on the sly, from a cross-stitcher who likes to watch the birds while she stitches in the garden.) The ribbon is white Martha Stewart seam binding, colored with a Copic marker. It's pretty cool, because the marker ink stiffens up the ribbon, which made for an easy little banner. The names were stamped with Papertrey Ink's Simple Alphabet. I really really like this alphabet set. It's clear acrylic and designed so the letters automatically have that great spaced out look. Even better, it includes several duplicates of many of the letters, so I could do everyone's name in one go. I do wish the numbers had duplicates, because I'd love to be able to stamp dates with this set.

This was the centerpiece. The final result is almost exactly the same as the idea I first thought of, which almost never happens. I knew I wanted a bunny in a nest, to match the small bird's nests, but wasn't sure what kind. Then I saw these moss-covered ones at Michaels (and if you are thinking Chia Pet! like Mom did, I don't want to hear it LOL) and realized they'd be perfect, if I could duplicate the grapevine nest. I think it worked, although I would have preferred a slightly larger nest, I like the nest/pot combination. I added moss, feathers, and floss just like the small nests and then made the banner. I made the banner using a Hambly Screenprints rubon (I love these, and have almost run out of the sheet this is from), more stamping with the alphabet stamps and letter stickers I've had for years. I sandwiched the sticks with a blank piece of cardstock and stacked up the foam strips to make it sturdier, then shoved the whole thing into the floral foam (under the nest). Eric will tell you how excited I was when I finished. Perfect!! :D

This little sign was Dad's contribution to our Easter dinner. I got a call at work last week, requesting this little notice be added to the table. So, of course I had to make it match everything else! More lettering with alphabet stamps (yay for duplicate letters! especially for 'available') and the little chick stamp that I can't remember where it's from now. I've had it for years. The purple paper is half of an Arturo notecard that I like the texture of. It goes well with the brown textured piece behind it (which is another thing I've had for years and hadn't used yet). It's extremely thick and has different textures on each side. It's kind of an odd paper frankly, and I've been wondering how to use it ever since I got it. And now I've finally thought of something. :)

You may have noticed that the photos in this post aren't as clear as usual. The photos I took weren't perfect (I'm still playing with the settings on my new camera) and I just installed an update to Photoshop Elements and was playing around with it last night, when I realized that the photos looked like a magazine page. Cool. So, I duplicated the effect for all of them. I think they look like magazine clippings from an old issue of Better Homes and Gardens. That's a good thing. LOL

And as a bonus: one of my contributions to this year's family Easter egg collection. Ain't he cute? :D

Getting ready...

for tomorrow. Craft Day 2007 starts at 10 a.m. and I'm almost ready. Woo!

I've done some baking (that smell a little funny, so I'll be doing some taste-testing later), lots of assembling, and right now I'm creating a soundtrack for our day. It, along with some family favorites in the CD changer, should have us in the holiday spirit all day tomorrow.

For those who are attending tomorrow, here's  a little sneaky peek:

Yeah right. Like I was going to give it away!

LOL

Yes, she is that much of a fangirl...

The idea for this quilt came about from Emily's Christmas present last year (Superman pillowcases). I knew I needed to make a matching quilt. But I couldn't find any of the fabric she used, so ended up getting a set of sheets. That ended up being better, of course. I'd still like to find some of the fabric, for other projects.

Click on all photos to see them bigger.

This is the front. I made the patch with the shield from the sheet set pillowcase and sewed it on with a finishing stitch. First time doing that, and I ended up sewing it three times, to get a nice edge. I didn't trim the fabric, so it would fray in the wash. I like the look now, but may trim it off later. I also quilted the detailing on the shield. Don't look too close! LOL I didn't use a walking foot, and I went too fast, so it's a pretty bad job.

These two photos show the quilting. I followed the 'tire tracks' on front, and outlined the smaller shields in the line. All four are outlined. You can also see the backside of the big patch. The binding was a lucky find at Hancock Fabrics - 50% off. And I guessed at how much I'd need, buying the last three packets they had and I used most of it. Lucky. And I used a dark blue thread on the top, and a red in the bobbin. I love how it looks.

I'm not sure what the final measurements are. I started with twin sheets, trimmed down the fitted one, and then trimmed again when I had the fabric-batting-fabric sandwich laid out. It's going to be the perfect chair quilt, I think. Also, I'll now have a matched set for retreat weekends (the first one being this coming weekend). :D

ETA: Sally's comment reminded me I didn't get a shot of the 'overnight trifecta.' So, here it is. Emily's pillowcase is on the right, and the duffle bag is the one I discovered this summer. It went on sale, and it's even monogrammed!

So, yeah. Fangirl. That's me!

Oooo, pretty ribbon!

All organized. Well, almost all. I still need to wrap the multi-colored, which will have to go in the opposite side of the box. But, for the most part, it's done. Yay!

The supplies. I used an entire box of 350 straight pins and part of a box of 250. I tape down the start, and pin it after winding the ribbon on. Sometimes, if the ribbon seemed like it would be damaged, I taped it down instead.

For the curious, there are 6 pink cards, 5 red, 3 yellow, 3 orange, 4 purple, 1 grey, 4 black, 7 brown, 6 blue, 8 green, 4 white. Huh, didn't expect so much brown. Makes sense I guess, it's pretty universal. I caught up on a lot of TV this weekend. LOL

Up next: organizing my pearl cotton thread.

Finally Friday ::photos added!::

This week has dragged on and the end is finally in sight.

I just started an organizing project, on my ribbons. I don't have pictures yet, because it didn't occur to me. (That's how far off the blog-wagon I've fallen. It used to be I'd have thought of it first thing, not two days later.) Anyway, my ribbon collection started out on spools and baggies. But that was too scattered, so I deconstructed everything and sorted all the loose ribbons (not the spools, they were threaded onto an over-the-door towel rack) into a Cropper Hopper photo box, like my friend Kelly keeps hers. That was perfect for a long time, but then it got full. And I re-sorted some stuff and found more. And it's a mess to go through. (Especially at the last minute, which is usually when I'm doing cards.) So, something had to be done.

While I'm perusing blogs and online galleries, I always keep an eye out for scrap/stamp room organizing ideas. I save what I like in a folder on my hard drive for that studio I'll have some day. And that's where I got the idea for the ribbon storage I'm working on now. Wrapping multiple strands on a cardboard piece sized to fit in the photo box. It's almost too neat and tidy, which is why I hadn't seriously considered it before. I like the chaos of a mass of ribbon. I also didn't like the look of raw cardboard. But then I saw someone wrap it with brown paper. Bingo! That's exactly what I didn't realize I wanted to do. I have tons of brown wrapping paper. I love it.

So, Wednesday and Thursday night, that's what I did. I borrowed Mom and Dad's living room (and cable - they're the best two TV nights!) and made a mess. And it's obviously going to take awhile. I only finished brown and orange. But I'm happy with how it's coming together. And it's going to be much easier to see what I have at a glance. I just hope it all fits back into the photo box.

One Photo and A List

{Trent and Uncle Eric, hanging out in the hammock.}

1. My hair is 10 inches shorter, as of the day after we returned from vacation.

1a. Perfect timing, don’t you think?

2. I’ve seen Transformers 3 times already, and have plans to see it at least once more.

2a. Anyone need a movie buddy to see it? I’m your girl!

2b. Seriously. This summer isn’t quite in the same league as Superman Summer, but it’s pretty darn close!

3. Happiness is:

3a. The tug of toddler fingers on my necklace, accompanied by a little voice: “po-lar bear?”

3c. Pink glasses perched on a freckled nose

3d. A wide open grin that doesn’t seem to care that in a swimming pool, it’s usually better to keep your mouth closed, lest you get a mouth full of water

3e. A good heart that worries about the new puppy’s mommy missing her baby

3f. “Bubble Land”

3g. Schwans ice cream bars

3h. Long talks with sister-in-laws

3i. Bluebirds keeping house

3j. Long naps in hammocks

4. Calvin and Hobbes STILL makes me laugh so hard I cry

5. Number fill-ins beat sudoku any day of the week.

6. I think Lucy is going to have to stay skinny for a while.

6a. It’d be nice to have a digital SLR (so nice!), but for the amount of pictures I’m taking right now, film is fine.

6b. Bummer. :(

6c. But at least Target has cheap developing, and will put them on CD!

7. A .30 cent gas price increase over the lunch hour is ludicrous.

7a. LUDICROUS!!!!!!

8. I have seen many movies lately, but will have to do a movie review post later.

8a. Live Free and Die Hard

8b. Down With Love

8c. Miss Potter

8d. Happy Feet

8e. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

8f. Oceans 13

8g. Man of the Year

8h. Catch and Release

9. Despite the fact that I am not saving up for big purchases anymore, I’m coveting these Copic markers.

9a. Alcohol-based (so don’t smear/dot like water-based)

9b. Blend-able, like Prismacolors

9c. Many, many colors, in such vibrant shades!

10. I read a romance novel while on vacation.

10a. First one in two years, I think.

10b. All-Star Superman, Vol 1 was light-years better.

11. I made a quilt for Tina, with the scraps from the kids’ Christmas gifts. It deserves a post of it’s own, but I’ll just post a link to the album for now.

11a. 5 Quilts album (4 kids quilts and 1 mother’s quilt)