The past few months have been pretty crazy and I haven't been posting as much as I normally would. Here are a few cards I made this summer:
This one is probably my favorite of the bunch. This Harry Potter "shaker box" card was for my niece's birthday. For the non-craft nerd, a shaker box is made of cardstock on the bottom, clear transparency on top, with foam tape along the edges. Before you put the transparency on top, you fill the box with beads, confetti or anything that "shakes." Once you seal the top, you can "shake" the card. To allow the "Snitch" to move freely, I had to use a LOT of foam tape . . . it wound up being over a half inch thick!
The banner on the side says, "Can you spot the Golden Snitch?" I filled this shaker box with glass marbles, which are basically teeny tiny metallic balls. I then made a super small Snitch by rolling a tiny (and I mean TINY) piece of paper (for the wings) inside a small bead and painted it gold.
I dumped all those on top of a piece of cardstock on which I printed a Quidditch pitch (I LOVE the internet). I found a great Harry Potter pic online and printed that off, too. Basically, it's not just a card, it's a little game. You shake the card until you can find the Snitch. Cool right?
This card was for Hannah (Blackburn) Collins' baby shower. I had made the
invitations for the shower earlier (the barn door cards). I originally wanted to make tractor invitations because not only is all Hannah's baby stuff farm-themed, but Noah and Hannah's first date involved a tractor (gotta love the South). Anyway, I wound up making the barn cards, so I thought I'd finally make her a tractor card. On the stripe that would normally say, "John Deere," I wrote the baby's name and due date ("0808"--August 8th . . . thankfully, she had the baby way earlier than that!) And yes . . . the wheels do move! Well, you have to turn them. They don't move independently . . . haven't figured that one out yet!
This was a birthday card for my older brother Nathan. I always try to do something really creative for him since he's a super talented artist. Well, Nathan is a big Andy Samberg fan (who isn't?) and I decided to do a card based on the "Like a Boss" music video. (On second thought, Tina, after your comment, I decided to delete the link! It is pretty bad!) Er, if you have delicate sensibilities, I'd suggest skipping this video. It's just for reference, so you've been warned . . . it's pretty salty (and this is the censored version)! (Again, I deleted the link, so look it up on your own if you're curious . . . don't blame me if your mind is tainted!) My idea was to make a to do list that would've been in the boss's pocket during all the craziness. I kind of felt like this card was a cop-out (no music, no wheels) . . . but he was so excited when he opened it. He said it was the "best card ever" (just for the record, he says that about every card I make, but it's sincere!)
This was my mom's birthday card. My mom is probably the biggest "Law and Order" fans ever. She's watched that show since day one (like, 20 years ago! Will this show ever go away?). She even has a little dance to the
theme song . . . you know the one . . . bum BUM! So, I decided to make her a singing "Law and Order" card. I can't take total credit for this. I stole the music card idea from my brother Ethan. You buy one of those recordable cards at the store, then, instead of saying something, just record whatever song you want into it (although, after about 20 seconds, it'll change to the song programmed into the card). So, I recorded the Law and Order theme song in the card.
For the front, I found a PERFECT picture online (again, I LOVE the internet, added word bubbles using Word and glued it to the front of the card. For those of you who've seen "Law and Order," you know the best character on that show was Detective Lenny Brasco, played by the late
Jerry Orbach (who, believe it or not, was the voice of Lumiere in "Beauty and the Beast" and was a broadway star LONG before "Law and Order"). Every episode began with the murder scene, where Lenny always had some sarcastic remark. Once Lenny cracked a joke, you knew it was time for the theme song . . . bum BUM! Now, it seems like every crime show ("CSI: Miami" is especially bad about this) follows that formula.
I looked online to see if Lenny ever made a birthday joke . . . come on, the guy was on there for over a decade. There had to be at least one birthday joke. Nope. So I made one up:
Detective Green: Today was his birthday.
Lenny: Yeah, but somebody else blew out the candles.
Even though the quote doesn't make any logical sense, everyone was impressed with the "Lenny-ness" of the line! So, you read the card, then you open it and the theme song starts . . . bum BUM! So the card basically turned out awesome. It was just like watching an episode of "Law and Order." But my mom had this strained smile on her face, like, "Oh. That's nice." I was totally taken aback because I thought it was one of the coolest cards ever (Nathan thought so, but again . . . ). One of my siblings noticed the weird reaction and said, "Autumn made that card." My mom picked up the card again and went nuts. I fooled my own mom! That made me feel pretty dang good. She thought I bought it! Then, I got the reaction I was looking for. She goes, "I was so disappointed that you bought me a card!" Well, hello, even if I bought it, this card was the crap! Anyway, she still has that card "on display" in the kitchen two months later . . . and that means a lot because my mom doesn't even display her grandkid's pictures in the kitchen.
Okay, enough bragging for today. Sorry about that! A much humbler post will follow . . . :)
"I spent 3 hours on the shading of his upper lip. It's probably the best pumpkin I've ever done." (lil' Napoleon reference for ya . . . sooo excited for "Gentlemen Broncos"!) I've always been a Johnny Depp fan, but I've never swooned over him, you know? But I have to say, sculpting his cheekbones gave me a deep appreciation for his dark beauty . . . sigh. LOL! Actually, I'm pretty embarrassed on how much time I spent on this pumpkin. I told my sis-in-law 4 hours. That's way off. I would say it was more like 6-7 hours over 2 days. I really can't explain why I enjoy, nay, obsess over carving pumpkins so much. It's an extremely weird thing to do, even for me. But hey, for whatever reason, I can just do it. I entered this pumpkin in an online contest sponsored by "This Old House" magazine. Go and vote for Sweeney pumpkin! I'll warn you though, you have to click through a million pumpkins way better than mine to finally get to it, but if you have the time, and you love me, do it. : )
