How good are you at faking it? Are you good enough to fool that special someone in your life? Of course, experiencing the real thing always gives the best Wow!, but maybe you have been in a situation where you felt the need for some harmless deception. Read the rest of this entry
There was a time during the 1940s to 1970s when some families got to experience the Golden Age of Travel. These were the days of roomy planes with curtained windows and hot meals; luxurious hotels with gloved bellhops; and even wood-paneled stationwagons with kids frolicking unbuckled in the back, while adults navigated empty interstates using a map from the Amoco station.
Ok, truth be told, I don’t remember most of those either. I am not prehistoric after all!.
My altered art box reflects how I imagine some mid-century Americans families spent their holidays during this era You can read more about this altered art box, see a tutorial on how to make it and even find out what it has in common with Oprah by visiting my post at the Robin’s Nest.
Rebel that I am, I decided to break away from the crafting styles of late and head in a new–or rather, should I say, an old–direction.
With this altered art project I went back in time and put a little kitsch into the mix by transforming a cardboard book box into a retro pink refrigerator, or as it was called in the olden days, an ice box. Read the rest of this entry
Open your windows and put out the patio chairs for a new season has arrived. It’s the season when Graphic 45 selects its new design team for 2014.
Just like the Graphic 45 Staples Collection Metal Butterfly, I am irresistibly drawn to this event. The projects below serve as my audition to this prestigious annual event.
I made this gigantic egg (you can see it at at the top of the post) to add a little playfulness into the audition. You poor judges can only look at so many scrapbook pages, before getting a little blurry eyed.
The egg stands 11 inches tall and features the Graphic 45 Sweet Sentiments collection. The 45 is the numerical portion of the actual Graphic 45 logo, which I enlarged, traced and then hand cut from several pieces of foam core. I then stacked them together in order to give the 45 substantial depth. Read the rest of this entry
Both of my kids are circus performers. Don’t get me wrong–they aren’t out on the road, performing in big tops across the country. Rather, instead of participating in youth soccer or baseball, they take classes and perform at a circus performing arts school.
They both walk the wire, known to non-circus folks at the tightrope, The Daughter™ rides unicycles tall and small, The Son™ performs aerial straps. They do lots of other circus stuff too. While they aren’t the star performers at this very competitive school–far from it–the fact that they undertake these acts of courage when they both have serious anxiety disorders is pretty amazing. When The Son™ started at this school as a six-year-old, he found playground slides too frightening. Now he walks the highwire.
Anyway, since this isn’t a mommy blog (really, no, really it isn’t!), I shared this to point out that with my kids doing all these daredevil acts, you would think I would know a thing or two about balance myself. Apparently not. I demonstrated this when I neared the final stages of completing my Artist Trading Block (ATB) Circus Cannon. There I was–cheerfully working away with everything going smoothly. Then I attached the cannon barrel to the block and watched in dismay as the barrel lurched into the ground. If this was a real circus cannon, the circus girl would be shot straight into the elephant poop. Read the rest of this entry
Valentine’s Day is the 14th
Although the techniques I used for this tag were similar to the Heart aMazing Tag, I was much happier with the results. To continue the chocolate box metaphor, I guess this one had the caramel filling. Nom Nom.
When all else fails, Coke is it.
To most closely replicate this tag, you will need some sort of red ring. I am lucky that my vintage stash contains a plethora of red, white and green plastic translucent rings. I have no idea what they were used for or where I got them. I suspect they came from a game, but that’s just a guess. In any case, scrounge around your supplies and see what you discover. If you come up empty, you can always use the plastic top from a Coca-Cola bottle.
Measure the width of the interior of the circle and using a computer and a sans serif font, print out the number 14 onto to tan or ivory paper. Choose a font size that will mostly fill your circle. If you wish, you can print several different sizes to see which one you like best. You can always use the leftover 14s in some other Valentine collage. Center the ring over your chosen number 14 and use a pencil to lightly trace the ring. Then cut out the circle and glue the number to the back or inside of the ring. Read the rest of this entry
