Cut paper scene in shadow box: the antique shop

Here is my latest paper shadow box... It's an antique shop, it is made with paper and cardstock. I am loving cut paper illustration and my next project is going to be a city street I think. Let me know if you like it or have any ideas. Thanks - Christy Horton

iDad Fathers Day Card

For Fathers Day this year I saw a similar card on Pinterest where all of Dads contributions to his child's life have been displayed as apps on an iPhone, affectionally changed to "iDad"... I decided to turn it into a paper card instead of a photoshop image and I invented my own apps and pictures to put on the phones display. I chose talk, love, time, advice, support, repair, direction and example. It's made with cardstock and mounted onto a piece of adhesive foam then placed on a standard card. Hope this inspires you for your Fathers Day card! Happy card making.

Boy's Valentine Box

Ahh remember the good days of elementary school when we turned tissue boxes into self-made works of art for our valentines to slip Barbie or Superhero valentine cards in? Well here is a tissue box turned Batmobile I made with my 5 year old nephew for his Valentine party. 

It is made from black poster board and gray cardstock. The plastic dome is one half of a clear plastic ornament ( at least I think they are for ornaments, they are around a buck and are sold at the craft store; basically a ball that comes apart.) Bumper is mirrored scrapbook paper and the flames are cut vellum colored with washable red, yellow and orange markers and are glued inside a gray cardstock cylinder. I did have to hot glue the flame cylinder and the batman on to the box but other than that I just used an Elmer's extreme hold glue stick to put it all together. 

Perhaps Batman is on his way to give Wildstyle her Valentine's card? 

(that's from the lego movie, if you haven't seen it go right now, like now, drop what you are doing and go)

Casino / Las Vegas-Themed Party Invitation

Having a casnio party? Here is a fun invitation my mom thought up for her parent social at school. The name of the person you are inviting is written on the other side of the hand and the party details are placed on a piece of washed out money. This was done in Microsoft word, I took an image of play money I found online and inserted it into the document, then I went to "format picture" and selected the "washout" option. After, i just created a text box over the image for the text and hit print. For the full tutorial see below.

Getting Started & Materials

Select a sheet of cardstock in your desired flesh tone to become the hand and two colors for your poker chip. (I chose green and yellow.) You will need playing cards, a circle template or two circle objects you can trace of similar size, one slightly smaller than the other. A small piece taken from a sheet of adhesive backed foam. Scissors or an x-acto knife, glue, pencil and any color Sharpie or marker.

Trace your hand on to the cardstock, then cut it out. If you are making multiple invitations, I recommend that you make a template of your hand on white cardstock, this way you don't have to keep re-tracing your hand.

Place 5 playing cards in the palm of your hand. Make sure you don't forget to give them a good hand! Then glue them down once you are happy with the placement. 

Now you can fold the thumb over so you can see where to place the poker chip. The poker chip can be any color you want. I chose green and yellow with 10$ on it. This part is a little tricky to explain but I'll do my best. If you get confused hopefully the photos will clarify :)

The Poker Chip

Start by selecting two circles on your template to become the size of your poker chip. One circle needs to be slightly smaller than the other. You will be constructing a top piece and a bottom piece to the chip. Trace the larger circle twice so you have two identical circles and then set one aside. Take the other circle and center the smaller circle over top of it, trace the smaller circle inside the larger circle once you feel it's centered. Take your scissors or x-acto knife and cut out the circles and the inner smaller circle. Now you will be left with two shapes that look like this ....

The solid circle will become the base and the other will be the top. To give the top more dimension like an actual poker chip I added a layer of foam between the two circles. I cut a circle from an adhesive backed soft foam sheet (silly winks brand, bought at craft store for 89 cents) and glued it to the top piece making sure it was hidden beneath it. This gives it a floating effect and makes the chip about the same depth of a typical poker chip.

Glue the top piece to the bottom piece/circle. Now begin to decorate the poker chip however you want.  If the casino party is a birthday party, try putting the birth year in the center, your initials or the date of the party. 

After your hand and chip are finished you can add the play money with party details. Glue everything down in place then fold the thumb (if you have not yet done so) and glue it down. 

Finish the invitation with the name of the recipient on the back of the hand, stamped or written with a Sharpie marker.  Place in an envelope and send or, if you're super fancy, hand deliver them with a Wayne Newton or Elvis impersonator! Just kidding :)

Fun idea:

My mom made a poker chip in Microsoft word that is a little bigger but had all the party details on it, she printed it and put it on the invitation instead of the money and cardstock 3D poker chip. Both look great but I wanted to put the idea out there for those who want to skip the extra step. Hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Let me know what you think. Thank you!

Hey everyone this is my first post, I'm really new to blogging but after following a ton of cool blogs I have decided to start my own so everyone can see the best of the best in design, beauty, art, crafts, food, music and fashion that I have discovered through my endless hours of searching on Pinterest and just about everywhere online. I have found really cool DIY beauty recipes, amazing crafts and home decorating ideas and yummy treats that I want to share with you all. I will start posting stuff as soon as I get the basics down so check back often because there is more to come! XOXO -Christy 

Krispy Kreme Coffee & Doughnuts

Check out this amazing polymer clay tutorial by Toni Ellison. She has some amazing stuff on her blog and very instructive videos. Totally amazing I'm going to give this one a try this weekend. The directions, box and cup template are available for print if you follow the link below...

http://toniellison.blogspot.ca/2014/01/krispy-kreme-doughnuts-coffee-miniature.html?m=1