Evolution of a Box

Yep, I have been away for a while.  When school is in full swing, it is hard to etch out crafty time.

Halloween can sometimes require some craftiness, as it did this year.  Max wanted to be a car wash.  Not just a car.  A car wash.  His recent perseveration.  So here are photos of its evolution.

We started with a plain box and made a few alterations.

We then spraypainted with primer and metallic gray, as Max wanted it to look like my beloved Swagger Wagon (Toyota Sienna).

The next parts were fairly tricky.  I'm not sure I am 100% in love with the results, but I tried.  I printed off headlights and taillights for a Sienna onto cardstock.  I used Tacky glue to affix them.  I used page protectors for scrapbooks and leftover laminating film from school for the windows.  Scott used black electrical tape to give the "windows" definition.  I used Liquid Applique to give the appearance of "suds."  I used small white balloons to give the suds a bit more size and depth.

And here is "Car Wash Boy" himself.

We'll see if he keeps it on at all during tomorrow's festivities at school.

Styroartist

I had these pictures developed when I got a big batch developed for Project Life.  Well, I have this "issue" with putting vertically-aligned pictures in the Project Life album horizontally.  Just.  Can't.  Do.  It.  So I figured these, and a few others, would be good 12 x 12 DPS layouts.

There was a degree of scraplifting for this page, so, without further ado, let me give credit to Rebecca Cooper, whose book Real. Life. Scrapbooking. helped give birth to this page.  Here's the layout that inspired it all:

 ...and here is my "styroartist" page that came from it...

I used 12 x 12" textured cardstock from Stampin' Up!  Not sure about what color that might be... Maybe Groovy Guava...  Alpha-stickers are Basic Grey's Mini Monogram Stickers.  The patterned paper was something I won from The Scrap Review: Cosmo Cricket Snorkel Collection - Current.  I could not believe how much it matched Max's pattern when I was going through my paper stash.  The brown hues of textured papers are also SU! Chocolate Chip and Close to Cocoa.  The blue base is Enchanted Evening from Papertrey.  The stamp used for the journaling came from Autumn Leaves Stampology clear stamps designed by Katie Pertiet.  I used SU! Buckaroo Blue ink.  I used it to do some inking on the edges, as well.

There are some subtle differences between Rebecca's layout and mine, but her page anchored my design elements.  Had to make it a bit more "dude-like."  In all, I like it very much.  It's tough to come up with your own design for 4, 6 x 4" photos.  I like how one of the photos gets to "stand out" from the others.

DigiMessing

I love "real" scrapbooks.  I love my kids being able to look through a book.  Something tangible.  I loved looking through photo albums as I grew up.  It's like comfort food for my mind.

I must say, though, I really love the ease of digital scrapbooking.  It feeds my need for design... everything looks cute in digital.  With Photoshop (or Photoshop Elements), I can make a page in minutes, with the right elements saved on my computer.  The image above I made in maybe 5 minutes, not counting the time for downloading.  It's three layers: background paper and two .png files, all layered in Photoshop.  And it's cute.  And the elements for it were free downloads from Scrapbooks, Etc.  Crazy, right? 

The thing about digi is I need a kick-butt larger printer, like a beautiful Epson (to the tune of $300-$400) to print them out in a fashion is worth the ink.  I can use my 8 1/2 x 11 HP Scanjet, but now that I saw what the Epson can do, I am, yes, coveting it.

For now, I think I am what one would call a hybrid scrapper.  I still like the layered elements in real life.  But digi is quite fun indeed.

New School Year

It's been one hectic August, to say the very least.  Ignatius started eighth grade on Friday, with a little dash of high school Algebra on Thursday, and Max starts Kindergarten tomorrow.

I made this card 2x, once for Max's general education teacher, and one for his special education teacher.  The Knight is an image from his elementary's website... he's their mascot.  I loved the "Teachers Rule!" play on words with the School for Changito set.  The inside of the cards used SU! Smile Some More set.  The card also included a Borders gift card with a "learning" theme.  The card uses the school colors (for those of you thinking, "Wow, look how JoLynn has come a little out of her color neighborhood.").  Only when forced do I use an orange base. :)  The blue is, I believe, Blue Bayou, or at least that's the ink I used.

Deep breathing.  I am so much more nervous than Max even knows he should be.  Hope it's for the best.  Starting Kindergarten is stressful enough without a disability.  Just gotta go with God...

My Go-To Set for 2010

Signature Greetings by Papertrey is quickly becoming part of my stamping Hall o' Fame.  There are so many uses for this set, and it fits cards from the casual to the more formal.  Definitely getting my money's worth.

Today's card is clean and oh-so-simple.  My good friends let my 13 year old tag along to Six Flags last week, sparing me the agony of a day at an "amusement" park.  Don't get me wrong, I like Six Flags, but I would have had to take my 5 year old, too, and that was not at all appealing.  OVERSTIMULATION to the maximum!

I knew I had this roller coaster sticker, and I figured I could make a fairly easy, yet still fun-loving, card based on it.  One story from the day was that Ignatius and Erik waited 2-1/2 hours to get on the Raging Bull roller coaster, so I figured a coaster theme would be appropriate.

I am also loving Chalk Box's Creamy Brown Cat Eye.  Talk about versatile!  It is a simple way to make a card pop.  I inked the coaster hill, as well as the outside of the card, with it.  I used SU! Chocolate Chip for the sentiment.  The cardstock is SU! Bordering Blue, and I think the brown is textured SU! Creamy Caramel, or its Bazzill equivalency.

I remember a few years back I was a member of a card club, and the leader of the club said using stickers was becoming passe.  Every time I use a sticker, her voice pops in my head.  It was such a ridiculous statement, especially considering the explosion of Thickers and rub-ons.  If I can incorporate a cute sticker in a fun way, then call me passe, baby!

Button, button...

I thought I would give the Everything But the Kitchen Sink Challenge a try this week.  They asked for us to use buttons.  There are some really creative submissions at the challenge site! Here's mine:

I have to say, I backed away from buying buttons at the CHA Super Show because I have tons of them and I just forget to use them.  So, I was happy to pull out the stash and give them a whirl with this card.  I decided, and undecided, and re-decided... it was bordering on obsessive as far as what I wanted to do with this card.  I pulled out some old SU! DSP, some SU! buttons, the Top Notch Sizzix die from SU!, my paper cutter, my SU! scallop punch, my SU! 1 1/2" circle punch, Glue Dots, and adhesive, and went to town.  I used some Cat Eyes for inking as well.

Tell me, why is it that when you want an adhesive to stick, it doesn't, and when you want an adhesive to be a little generous, it's like cement?  All I have to say is I have some SERIOUSLY adhesive Glue Dots in my stash.  Once something went on this card, there was no movement, despite my best efforts.  Weird twist of science...

For those wanting to cut several pieces of patterned paper as I did, if you decide to use six strips, each strip is 3/4" wide.

This is one of my favorite sentiments, a la A Muse.  Just like my You're da Bomb! card, this sentiment is something I would actually say, so I am excited to get to use it.  I think this one is going to a co-worker who is coming back to school amidst absolute chaos in her home.  I am amazed that she can keep herself together.  Truly God is lifting her up!

A challenge on a few levels

I decided to participate in a challenge while I still had some time.  I will be getting things ready for my classroom soon, so my craft time is fleeting... I know the realities of the school year.  Sigh.

This card is for the wee Memories Scrappy Saturday Challenge.  Yeah, I know it's Tuesday.  Things go a little slowly in the Plato household.

I made this card for my new student teacher.  For those of you looking from the outside in, student teaching is exciting and frightening all at the same time.  You are FINALLY going to get your feet wet, well, soaked, doing what you trained at least 3 1/2 years, and spent thousands of dollars, to do.  You kind of know what you're doing, but not really.  I love student teachers because they are so excited and their ideas are so full of life.  They remind me of why I am, and continue to be, a teacher. 

I tried to find a sentiment that would inspire, or that would be funny, or that would completely fit the situation.  I finally just came up with one from SU! Warm Words: welcome.  That's really what it's all about.  I want her to feel welcome to the school, my room, my students.  I want her to feel welcome to try things, to embrace successes, to learn from failures (yes, you heard it here... teachers mess up... and we know it... and we're not perfect... and many of us are OK with that because we are human).

The challenge asked us to use chipboard.  Man, I have way more chipboard that I will ever use.  And, at one point, I was a hoarder of really chunky chipboard!  I found this medallion that came with an SEI mini album and was left over from the kit.  I coupled it with some SEI Dill Blossom patterned paper, some SU! Sahara Sand cardstock, attached it with a Basic Grey brad (which is one of my favorite parts of the card) and used some SU! Sage Shadow taffeta ribbon for that linear part of the design so near and dear to me.  I used my Fiskars scallop blade on my cutter for a cute little edge.  SU! Tempting Turquoise ink was used on the sentiment to pull the blue in a bit more.  I put an additional strip of patterned paper on the inside, as I am digging the tie in of the inside of cards as of late. 

Enjoy!