Stacks of Paper Come Full Circle

Fifty years ago: I played a lot in a dollhouse in the backyard. Not with dolls or toys, but paper. My dad would often stop by his best friend's printing company at the end of the day for coffee. They visited as good friends do and then my dad would go to the cutting room and pick up paper scraps of tablets, colored paper, etc. He brought home a box full of paper once a week. I was allowed to have round-tip scissors, a jar of glue with a brush attached to the lid and crayons. I was only about 5 years old and cannot remember exactly what I did with all the paper I kept in neat little stacks, but I do know I loved playing with it and stayed in the dollhouse for hours at a time!

What is my love and passion? Paper, stacks of paper. I cannot have too much. I have caught on to the inchies craze, but three by three is about the smallest pads I work with. Anna Griffin's eleven by seventeen pads are the largest. I fall for every Brenda Pinnick design on QVC. I also buy Provo Craft Slabs, DCWV Stacks, Making Memories Pads, the Paper Studio Packs, and on and on.

My dad recently celebrated his 90th birthday. Sadly for him, he has outlived many lifelong friends. His party was a small gathering of family and the elders and staff at the wonderful home he lives. One friend did come to his party, and even with my dad's advanced dementia, he recognized and knew the name of his friend. They sold newspapers on opposite corners in downtown San Angelo, Texas, when they were 11 years old. They both grew up with the same career and family goals. They traveled together on trips to Las Vegas when times were good at their businesses and their wives were very good friends.

They joked at the party about who was going to outlive who and which one is the oldest. It was a very joyous time for my dad (and me) and I believe he actually understood that it was his birthday and his best friend was there to celebrate. A friend he had visited every afternoon after work for coffee at the printing company. A friend who I realized at that moment, how very special he is to me as well.

Do what you love and love what you do!

-Molly

Quilling with Whimsiquills

Patricia Caputo, blog owner of Quilling with Whimsiquills, featured me in a two-part article. Part one tells about my earlier quilling adventures and a few pictures of miniature to huge quilling pieces. Part two is how-to details and tips about getting published-- from a magazine project to writing a book.

Thanks for looking!
-Molly


Pat has been quilling for more than thirty years and owns Whimsiquills, the mega quilling store that carries quilling papers, tools, kits, books, plus, a gazillion American, English and specialty papers. Order online, the eBay Store or via a toll-free phone call. [ quilled teacup, plate, spoon © Patricia Caputo ]

Inspirational Crafty Links

I want to share a few inspirational links I use when I suffer from crafter's block, or want to make something unique, or have a minute to research trends ... you get the idea.

http://www.wallwords.com/ideas.htm - ever need that one certain word? click on 7 strong words
http://www.wallies.com/ - design ideas
http://www.makeminepink.com/ - this is just a feel-good site for me
http://www.redenvelope.com/ - what people are buying
http://www.glenbrookfarm.com/herbs/recipes.htm - recipes to make a special gift, party favor or something for yourself (when is the last time you did that, huh?)
http://www.creativity-portal.com/howto/artscrafts/ - paint a rock, ideas for 8 to 80

Enjoy :o)

Linky Links

Happy New Year!

I don't go searching for these things, they just appear in my email Inbox for some unknown reason :o) I thought I would share a few links on various topics. Crafty links coming next week.

Daily Good

Health Effects of Clutter

10 Tips for Staying Motivated A Year Long

Spending Time on Social Networking - Make it Count

10 Ways to Have a Happy Workday

Have a great week!

Magnificent Magnets

Magnificent in the sense of inexpensive, easy and any theme you want to make.

You will need 2" white vinyl blind slats. Browse around a home improvement store in the area where they cut blinds to fit. If you cannot find the free ones to recycle, buy a small box for around $7. This will be enough to make hundreds of magnets. While there, buy the 3/4" ceramic disc magnets. Eight for less than $2 and they are heavy duty.

Use a dedicated pair of big scissors and cut the blinds in 2", 2.5" or 3" pieces, depending on the size of your graphic. You save and use the pieces with cord holes too. Use fine sandpaper or an emery board to smooth out the cut edges and round the corners. Wipe them off with a damp towel.

I do one of two things to prep: Cover the edges and part of the front edge and back with a Krylon metallic leafing pen and seal with Aleene's Paper Glaze. Or paint them completely with an acrylic paint. You may want to leave them white.

If I could draw or sketch I would. But I can't, so I print the graphics, laminate the page (Xyron 900) and trim. I run them though a Xyron 510 for adhesive and BAM!, you've got a magnificent magnet. A glue gun or Beacon's 3-in-1 will work best for the magnet piece.

Your cropadile will easily punch through this material so the possibilities of how to alter are endless. 

Halloween Crafts & Tips, Oh My

I started out the month behind-- being out of town the first of October. After getting through a tough project and over a short sick spell, I am even more behinder. (I know, that's not a word.) I am in a composing funk as well.

I am highlighting a link to some fantastic crafts and tips for the Halloween season. This is my designer friend, the fabulous Brenda Pinnick's Blog that can always be found here on my list of Designer Blogs. Brenda has made a cute ghost card using her Sizzix clear stamps. HER stamps, as in she designed them, Sizzix made them and you can buy them. These are from her Halloween collection. She has several die themes with Sizzix. Her paper sets can be found on QVC.

Be sure to check out the other links Brenda provides in her blog for more Terrorific Tuesday projects. I hope you find something inspiring make. Margot Potter's run with scissors charm bracelet is on my list :)

Happy October!

Shades of Autumn

I was googling for some pictures of autumn and have linked some favorites below. When fall arrives each year, I think of watching Martha Stewart's shows in the 90's. She used to have the best fall decorations, crafts and recipes. I think she still does.

I copied part of a 60 Minutes commentary by Andy Rooney. He says:

I think if we had a vote, fall would probably be most people's favorite season. Some people who like fall call it autumn. I never use the word "autumn." It sounds pretentious. The down side to fall is it's the beginning of the end of everything. Flowers die, the leaves dry up and come off the trees, water in the lake gets too cold to swim in and vacation's are over. First thing you know someone's trying to sell you a Christmas tree.

Here are the pictures linked on that page. They are a few years old, but are gorgeous, adorable, unusual. Kids and pumpkins just go together, don't they?

Quilled Fall Leaves and Instructions

Enjoy the autumn season :)