Sunday, February 22, 2015

PaperCrafters Corner Magazine Monday #87

Papercrafting Challenge: Magazine Mondays - Week 87 Inspiration Piece (image)     Well, first I'll show you the inspiration from PaperCrafters Corner, then the longer than usual story as to how "we" arrived at our finished project.
     DH, dear hubby, and I provide child care for our DGD (Dear Granddaughter) four or five days a week, usually.  But with Mommy and Daddy both working out-of-town for a two week stretch, Gramma and Papa were kept extra busy entertaining our recently turned 5-year-old.  Okay, it works both ways.  She entertains us, too.  We are all tired at the end of these days.
     Before her mom left, she asked if I might figure a way to come up with some game pieces for a Disney game she purchased at Savers. It was all there except for the little marker things.  She knew she could print out characters, but needed a way to make them stand to move around the board.  No problem.  I have a box of wooden blocks from rubber stamps that I altered to be cling stamps.  That was a couple of years ago, but I knew I would be able to use the blocks eventually.  (Side note:  these were the blocks that fell through a toilet paper tube.  That's how you can tell whether or not they are save for a toddler to play with.  Those that didn't fall through, have been in a toy cubby and seen much love as roads, houses, cars, etc.  These were the toddler rejects.) 
     I figured out the size, and DGD and I decided which characters we wanted from free Disney clipart we found on the net.  I printed out a separate sheet for DGD, so she could craft with them, too.  And craft, she did!  She made a game!   
 Well, after a time of basking in my preschooler's brilliance, I saw the similarities of her game with the inspiration piece, circles and people. . . I hope you see it, too.  Because hers was made on computer paper, I tried to get DGD to draw it on cardstock, but she assured me she was tired of drawing shapes. 

      We moved on to Mod Podge.  We adhered  printed cardstock to a thin cardboard, then used more Mod Podge to cover the board before and after sticking down punched squares.  All the characters are MP'ed front and back of the stamping blocks.  DIL, daughter-in-law, needed 12 game pieces, but we made lots.  DGD numbered small pieces of paper to draw and determine how many squares to move, but I think she figured out how to cheat with those.  "Elsa" always won.  So I found some dice to use when she comes back this week.  :o)  
     I warned you it was longer than usual.  Thanks for looking. 

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Crafting in 20 minutes or less with PaperCrafters Corner

     Once again, DGD  (DearGrandDaughter) and I made Valentines for her preschool class.  Her part was mainly signing them, which took much longer than making them.  I used a large Spellbinder Spiral Blossom die, like this one:
     I punched a hole in the center, curled the paper around a pencil starting on the outside part, stuck a Tootsie pop into the center hole and let the paper uncoil into a flower.  Putting Sequoia's tag on the bottom of the flower kept it all in place.  Pretty fast.  I can make quite a few in 20 minutes.  :o)
 

                                                                                              



PaperCrafters Corner Magazine Monday & DCWV Stackaholic Challenge!

     Once again I started with one idea and ended with another for Magazine Monday.  This is #86, if you are counting!  I have some very sweet old Valentines that belonged to my husband's grandmother.  I was going to use them on a scrapbook page, but ended up going in a different direction:  Playing with my new Cricut!!  Kinda elaborated on the DCWV challenge, too, because those cute little critters that I cut were crying out to be used!
Papercrafting Challenge: Magazine Mondays - Week 86 Inspiration Piece (image)
Magazine Monday #86
     The big red heart fit (accidentally!) both the DCWV Stack-a-holic Sketch challenge and PCC's inspiration!  The titles were both in the same place, too!  I didn't have to think too hard to combine both challenges!  Way cool!  I cut the heart, the title (using the negative space), and the critters all on the Cricut!  Great fun! The papers were from DCWV Bright Cardstock Stack.

DCWV February Sketch

     It doesn't show well in the "picture of the picture," but DGD has a black eye from a tussle with her little brother over some bongo drums.  Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, February 8, 2015

More PaperCrafter's Corner Week #85

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Week 85 Inspiration
     PaperCrafter's Corner has the one challenge I follow weekly.  When they threw me a curve and extended last week's challenge, what was I to do?  Well, I did it again!  I took the challenge in a totally different direction, making a card this time. 
     I'm becoming obsessed with Mary Ellen's Dearie Dolls digi stamps.  They are just the cutest things, and I totally relate to the Gramma she has been drawing lately.  I knew I wanted to use the one of DH and I the old couple sitting on the park bench.  I tried to find a suitable background and finally decided to go into my own photographs.  So that's what this is, an old couple, DH and I, in love and enjoying London.  Love and London, that's what I took from the inspiration!

Sunday, February 1, 2015

PaperCrafter's Corner, Magazine Monday #85

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PCC Inspiration
     I love the inspiration piece!  I want it blown up to a full-size poster, maybe wall-size!  It doesn't have any magazine info on it, so I'm not sure where it's from.  I guess I'll have to ask Steph for the source.  Maybe I can get a poster of it!  In the meantime, I'll settle for my the wall-hanging I did. 
    My project may seem pretty simple, but I won't tell you how many times I had to print it out to get it right.  The simple facts are that I right-clicked on the inspiration piece to save it, then printed it out at 8" x 10".  I had a old picture frame with a mat it in.  I used the mat as a template to cut the center of the picture out.  The outside was glued to the mat and the center was recessed into the center.  I used a black marker to go along the inside edges of the mat to get it to stand out more.  All-in-all, I wish the mat was thicker, so there would be more of a difference in the two sections.  But, until I get a poster, this will do nicely.  I love London!!!