Paper Craft

Such a great idea. 

Laura just posted a photo tutorial on how to make these.  And
there’s a giveaway.  In fact, I think she’s doing something like five
different giveaways this month — Have a good idea for how to use
fabric brads?  Someone suggested belt decor.

And I totally missed the boat on this next one.  Stephanie did these
amazing Trash Ties hair dos.  Amazing.  Have you ever seen a blog
that’s all about creative hair-dos for girls?  She had a Trash Ties
giveaway.  And I forgot to tell you.  But you should see these
hairstyles!  (All of them.  Not just the Trash Ties ones.)  Stephanie definitely gets it.  You really can do anything with them. 

My computer’s still acting up.  I think we might have fixed it
today, but man, was I discombobulated for a few days there.  I’m
ping-ponging between a dozen projects that are all about 95% done. 
Hand-written lists are everywhere.  Getting very close.

Glad to be back on my own computer again.  We have other, faster, more-powerful computers, but I still like mine best. 

Where’s my card reader for the point n’ shoot?  I was going to show
you some random shots from my trip to Charlotte, NC, but I can’t find
the card reader & I don’t want to wake Isaac up over it.

I was going to name the post "Old News," as I’m finding it hard to
be very current with my updates (still meaning to show photos from our
Disneyland trip months ago & my antique store finds with Laura).
Now, when I do find the card reader, I’m going to have to name the post
"Very Old News," as it will have been a whole week since I headed out
to Donna’s Inspired. event.  Which was mightily impressive!  What a tremendous feat, Donna & Bill.  You must be fearless.  And everything was beautiful & seamless.

Donna has two new books out.  I picked up a copy of each while I was at
the event.  I knew that she had used a couple of my pincushions in some
photography for Fabric Scrapbooking, but I had no idea that
my Freshcut line was used throughout the whole book & on the
cover.  That was a fun surprise.

Cool projects too.  Donna has no fear of fabric, though she doesn’t
profess to sew.  And she’s spreading the love.  The owner of
Scrapbookin’ Adventures is all jazzed now to carry my Freshcut fabric
collection, as well as the whole Freshcut scrapbook collection (coming
in June, I’m guessing. I’ll get some dates.)  I think Donna’s to blame.
Or maybe Christina.  She taught a fabric/paper project too.  Anyhow, I
can’t wait to see what projects they put together.      

And a big thanks to all of the wonderful women I met last weekend.  I had a ton of much-needed fun.

Ah, paper crafts — sweet, peaceful, clippy, foldy, gluey goodness.  You guys called it – the cat has flown
the bag.  I have a new line of paper craft & scrapbook goodies on
its way, announced last weekend with my googly eyes peering down at the
crowd from the top of a 12-foot banner, as if to say, "Hey down there,
be nice now." 

This has been in the works for a while now, so my lips are quite sore
from the super glue.  Figuratively.  Pschewwaa, what a relief.  Now
that I can talk, you have got to see the vintage button stickers I have
coming down the pipeline – all shiny & 3-D – and the french paper
clips, die-cut felt ribbon, chipboard buckles-thingies, etc, etc, etc.
Gaw! 

Heck, here’s one peek – Ribbon Charms (buttons & buckles to
me).  Autumn Leaves doesn’t have the collection up on the web yet &
it’ll be a while before it hits stores, so I better not go further just
yet.

And another fun thing.  I ran into Kathy from Mary Engelbreit’s Home
Companion at the show and guess whose article made the cover for the
next issue!  They have some sort of public internet vote to pick the
cover – cool tradition btw.  Well, I meant to campaign, dance
in a clown suit, whatever it would take for you to go vote for Isaac’s
covershot, but completely missed the vote all together.  It came &
went.  And there we are anyway, with no guilty feelings for swinging
the vote either.  He-yaw.

These Party Chicks are one of the projects I put together for that
upcoming MEHC article, place-card holders for only the most
decadently-playful table setting. That’s watermelon &
orange-flavored licorice back there. Who needs veggies?  I used
aluminum soda-can-sides, together with art papers & random whatnots
from around the studio.  And each chicky-girl roosts on a vintage toy
block. 

Easter’s only a month away – free pattern in sidebar : )  Fun for baby shower or birthday decor too – or as gift tags.

I have a couple of days left to go in polishing up the paper
collection for production, then it’s onto another new adventure in the works.

I’ve made a last-minute decision to head out to Anaheim for CHA this
week, the big craft & hobby industry show. If any of you will be
attending or hosting a booth, email me your booth info and whatnot
& I’ll try to stop by for a hello!

I’ll be back here in a couple of days.

Now
here’s a version that’s a little more in season.  These valentine
ornaments are made from my Paper Globes pattern.  These go together easily with a glue stick and a good
helping of sit-around time. 

Ornament Tips: For the dangle, string beads from the top of
each embroidered heart,
locating a large ball-shaped bead at the end of the string of beads.
Then insert that large bead into the
paper globe before gluing the paper flaps on either side of it shut.
Likewise, for the ribbon loop, stitch the bottom of the loop
into a ball-shaped wad, then insert that part into the paper globe at
a joint before gluing the paper flaps on either side of it shut.  When
done, the large bead and the wadded up base of the ribbon loop are
securely fastened within the paper globe where they don’t show.
Follow?  I probably should do some sketches.

We may have been behind on Christmas, but we’re looking all set for
Valentine’s day.  That’s an notable accomplishment for us.  From
December 25th through January 26th our family has Christmas (&
Christmas Eve), New Year’s (& New Year’s Eve), our wedding
anniversary and both of our kids’ birthdays to sort through.  We’re
always a bit cross-eyed this time of year.

I’m getting there.  I can just about make out the light.  Getting
caught up on things can be so dangerous though;  that’s when the To
Do List gets frisky and starts to breed.

I
spent the earlier part of the week going over fabric strike-offs,
color-bossing every nuance.  The next collection is looking pretty
crazy fantastic and I’m excited to push it one more step toward the
finish line. There are a couple of pieces that I’m going to have to
design some clothes around.  That’s just it.  Can’t stand it.  A fitted
little cocktail jacket out of one and a flared 50s dress from another.
Something to do during the wait, I guess — draft patterns & do
stomach crunches (50s dress requirement).

I’ve
uploaded a new pattern to my sidebar called "Paper Globes."  This is
one of several projects I put together for the upcoming Home Companion
feature (April/May 08).  The shoot was last May.  See, everything I do takes a year these days. These are super easy and fun.

And you don’t have to make a topiary.  They make great ornaments
too.  In fact, this design stems from an old-fashioned tradition of
creating paper kissing balls from the year’s Christmas card intake.  The ones
I’ve seen were pretty hokey though, with too many illustration styles
garbled together. It’s high time we modern folk take the concept further and
explore other styles & uses.

Wouldn’t these be great for a baby shower or a wedding?  Or
strung along a garland?  (Speaking of, have you seen the Ga-Ga
for Garlands photo group lately?  Amazing.)  I’d love to see some of
these paper globes made from vintage children’s book pages.  Or as
luminaries.

I put together a few Valentine’s ornaments using this pattern last
week to help me get Christmas out of my system.  They’re pretty fun. 
Really fun, in fact.  I’ll snap some photos for my next post.

Feel
free to shrink or enlarge the pattern as you please.  These paper
globes can be made any size you like.  You just need 20 little circles,
each with a perfect isosceles equilateral triangle scored in their middles. The
main trick is in assembly.  It’s easier than it looks though. Download the pattern and instructions to see how it all comes together.

Try spelling isosceles from memory.  Eek.  Which reminds me…
Elijah tore his way through the school spelling bee this week and has
been invited to compete at the district level.  He probably hasn’t
heard enough "atta-boys" though, as I’ve been trying to warn him that the kids
who win the National Spelling Bee have crazy, mean parents who make
them study dictionaries all day long.  Even nice coaches with jump
ropes are still probably crazy.  Oh, what do you do? 

And a big Happy Birthday to my surprise speller too.  Elijah turned 11 earlier this week.  Birthday sleepover bash tomorrow night —
all Spiderman and big-screen-projected, multi-player video games, all
night long!  And junk food.