Duck Tape Birthday (a la Mojo Monday)

I had so much fun creating a birthday card for my daughter's best friend. This girl is as artsy and creative as my girl (and they are both knee-deep in the Duck tape frenzy), so I thought it would be fun to incorporate Duck tape into her birthday card. My daughter fashioned the "ribbon" and bow for the card  from Duck tape and generously donated some purple sheet Duck tape that she just received for her own birthday a few weeks ago. Mojo Monday Sketch 236 provided the perfect layout for this card which features some of the brand-new teenager's favorite colors, a cake image ('cause cake is one of her favorite foods), and—what else—Duck tape.

Here are the dimensions for the various layers in this 4 x 5.5 card:

• teal card base: 8 x 5.5, scored at 4.25
• white 4 x 5.25
• aqua 3.75 x 5
• purple  3.75 x 1.25 duck tape pieces
• purple 3.75 x 1.25 with top punched w/birthday edge punch
• yellow 3.75 x 1.25, swiss dot embossed
• teal 2.5” scalloped circle
• white 2.25” plain circle w/ heat embossed cake image
• white duck tape “ribbon” 3.75 x .5 and bow

Thanks for stopping by! 

It's beginning to look a lot like Spring

From a Christmas card yesterday to a spring wreath today . . . well, that's about how fast time is moving these days, or so it seems to me. I saw this wreath posted on two blogs that I follow, Thrifty Decor Chick and Moxie Fab World, and even though it was only days until Easter, I had to give it a try. Jenni and I did this together. She wrapped the dollar store pool noodle (thank you, Thrifty Decor Chick) in duck tape, and I wrapped it in fun fur. By shopping together at JoAnn, we were able to get each of the balls of Fun Fur yarn 40% off, which brings our investment in this project to a whopping $6. We then worked assembly-line fashion to create the paper daisies (die cut with the quickutz daisy die and my Big Shot, and fastened with a brad). We hot-glued our daises to the grass, added a pink ribbon, and voila—our spring wreath (and the daisies wanted their close-up).

Praying your Easter is blessed and happy, and that you know the One Who died and ROSE for you! 

Scrappy Christmas to all . . .

A few weeks ago, Cath Edvalson previewed the Paper Crafts magazine special issue, Practical Solutions for Paper Crafters, over on the Moxie Fab World blog. Soon after, I was paging through the issue in person and found myself inspired to tackle my scraps bin. The issue contains tons of innovative ideas for using and/or storing paper scraps. For instance, there was a wreath created by overlapping short strips of ribbon in a circle. And then there were the flowers made by layering short, thin strips of paper and securing with a brad. Super cute ideas!

Before long, there I sat in the art room floor, thinking about trying those flowers and beginning to cut paper into strips. It just so happened to be green paper, and inspiration struck! So I grabbed my phone and took a quick picture of my scrap pile:

I snapped another once the scraps took on the shape of a Christmas tree:

Finally, I decorated the tree with some flocked dots (just took the paper off one side of a foam dot and covered it with flocking powder), topped it with a star punched from a scrap of glitter paper, and layered it alongside some other scraps.  A leftover piece of white cardstock I'd embossed with snowflakes; a scrap of kraft cardstock transformed with an oval die, a trip through the crimper, and some inking around the edges; and a piece of snowflake ribbon from my ribbon bin to tie it all up—yep, I see a theme here.

Here is my card, made almost entirely from scraps. It is inspired by Paper Crafts magazine special issue, Practical Solutions for Paper Crafters, and I have entered it in the Paper Scraps Challenge in the Moxie Fab World. Entries are accepted through midnight, Monday, April 9, so if you are a paper crafter yourself, what are you waiting for? Get out those scraps and make something! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Mojo Monday 224

Okay. So I haven't played every week like I'd hoped, but at least I was able to get this card finished in time to link up. I started it Tuesday night after an hour and a half of cleaning/sorting in the art room. I almost scrapped it (pun intended) but decided to finish it this afternoon. I just happened to buy a little pack of paper scraps for 50 cents at JoAnn last week that seemed perfectly suited for this sketch. The little metal flower sticker was a previous clearance find and I was delighted to discover how well they went together. Unlike so many of my cards, this one will go in my extra stash. I can see it becoming a birthday, congrats, or bridal shower card. As always, the Mojo Monday sketch was delightful.

Here is my take on it:

Thanks for looking!

I thought I would never arrive at my design for this year’s Christmas card. In September, I began an in-depth study of the book of Isaiah, and I’ve gained a fresh perspective on Jesus. Amid pages and pages of terror and dread, of the wrath of God unleashed on a sinful people, the promise of redemption—the hope of Jesus—shines. I knew I wanted our Christmas card to be all about Him and His labor of love. Without Him, there is no peace on earth, no joy to the world, and no Merry Christmas. The gratefulness in my heart was something that I wanted to express through paper. But how to go about it?

Isaiah says that “the people walking in darkness have seen a great light” (9:2). Speaking of Jesus, John tells us, “the true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world” (John 1:9). We know that Jesus left his throne in Heaven, that “he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:7-8).  These truths influenced my design.

The central image for our card is a simple, rustic rendering of the manger holding the Christ child. I heat-embossed it in white against a dark navy background to represent the great contrast between the darkness of our sinful state and the light that He alone brings. I selected a brown kraft card base and natural twine for their rough texture and simple appearance. The hay in the manger must have been rough on tender newborn skin, but I imagine it was as soft as moss compared to the roughness of the Roman cross where He laid down His life for me. A brilliant star marked the advent of the Maker of the stars as He entered our world in tiny form. Our daughter lovingly formed the stars for our cards from polymer clay. The simple star hangs suspended on twine to cheer the babe, even as it guides wise men to Him. The front sentiment proclaims that “Unto Us a Child is Born” and the inside continues with eternal names of God . . . “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:5-7).

Now I realize that it is quite likely that no one will get all of that when they open our Christmas card. In fact, some will just toss it aside. But as I made these cards, I prayed that each recipient would somehow recognize the immense love of God contained in His simple gift. I prayed that each person would know the peace and joy of Jesus in a fresh way this Christmas, that they would know him as all He was prophesied to be and all He has proven Himself to be.  My prayer is that come January, as people toss or store the cards they received this season, they will be touched and refreshed by the Living Lord. 

Mojo Monday 221

I'm so excited about a new toy I got for Christmas. It's a Hero Arts/Sizzix Happy Birthday Cupcakes Stamp and Die Cut set. I gave it a quick test drive tonight using the Mojo Monday sketch. Can't wait to play with it more later! Here's this week's sketch on which my 4.25" square card is based:

I'm very excited to have time to play Mojo Monday this week. I haven't been able to play much lately, but I hope to play more consistently in 2012.

The Original Juice Box

Last week, Jenni and I were enjoying lunch at our kitchen counter and contemplating the oranges Randy had purchased the night before. Out of the blue, I remembered how my grandma used to fix an orange for me many, many years ago.

I really don’t know why I haven’t eaten an orange this way in the past thirty years because, after trying it with Jenni last week, I have to say it is the BEST way to eat on orange. “Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, how do we do it?” you are probably asking (that’s Sally from Peanuts Halloween Special in case you’re wondering). I was trying to think of how to describe the wondrous technique, but no need! When I googled “how to eat an orange,” I found that the blogger at The Hipster Home blog had already done it for me . . . with pictures. Thank you, Hipster Home Blogger. If you have not tried this, you must because it is neat, delicious, and just plain fun!