Playing with Paper

Number 4 on my 14 in ‘14 list was to scrapbook/craft each week. There are piles of papers and tools and supplies on top of the dining room buffet so when the urge hits, paper crafting can ensue without too much prep. I’ve made birthday cards for the twin niece/nephew, and gift tags for next Christmas, so something has been happening, just not each week.

On Friday night I dug out several envelopes full of photos and sorted them into piles. On Saturday I spent some time assembling four pages. Yep, just four. Scrapbooking takes me awhile. On Sunday I finished one of those four pages. The other three will be done before the end of the week. Pinky swear.

Here is “the one”:

It’s a little busier than what I usually do, but I got a new Cricut cartridge (Boys Will Be Boys) and I needed to cut out all those bugs!

 

 

This entire page is made from papers and supplies I already had. The bugs each have little eyes glued on, and pop dot scraps under, so they “pop” off the page.

No worries that this will be a scrapping blog. I pretty much relate to that little blue and yellow snail up there when it comes to scrapping speed. LOL.

 

Post-Thanksgiving…

My husband, the Great DIY-Guy, ordered a little part for my laptop, then watched a few YouTube videos, disassembled, reassembled, and I’m back to computing with my own machine. Yea!

So, even though Thanksgiving has come and gone, there are a couple of things I want to show you over the next few days. The first of these being the fun turkey t-shirts I put together for the grandboys.

The t-shirts came from the local W Mart. I like to pick up a few different colors in the boys’ sizes each season, then I keep them at my house for those days a change of clothes is needed. (They’re just under $4 each, which I don’t think is too expensive, but if I found blank tees at a garage sale for less, I’d pick those up instead…)

The turkey body and feathers are fabric that I cut using my Cricut, after designing the shapes on the computer. To cut fabric using the machine, you need to use an iron-on adhesive like Wonder Under or Heat ‘N Bond. You adhere it to your fabric using a hot iron, then before peeling off the paper, run the fabric through the cutter. The beak and wattle were hand-cut out of the leftover scraps.

I arranged the pieces, then ironed them on the shirts. (Wash and dry the shirts first, but don’t use any kind of softener or dryer sheet.) After the fabric was secure, I sewed around each piece. That didn’t really have enough “weight” for the design, so I went back and zigzagged atop the stitching. I am not a prize-winning seamstress, so my appliqué looks homemade. I just tell myself that’s part of the charm of the shirts and what makes them a keepsake. :)

The boys looked so cute when they arrived here for lunch yesterday, dressed in khaki pants and their turkey tees. They wouldn’t pose for a photo (there were other kids here and they needed to go play!), but Jess managed to corral them for a second and got someone to snap a quick pic. Here are my two favorite turkeys and their mama:

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration with both sides of the family. I love that we can all gather together and not worry about “his” side and “her” side. We feasted and watched football, the kids played indoors and outdoors, and my MIL even got some Christmas shopping done online. My two little turkeys went home exhausted, but that meant an early bedtime for them, something their mama and daddy were thankful for, I’m sure. LOL.