Confetti

Sometimes I feel the need to make something impractical simply because the materials exist and I think it is fun to do.  An example of this is a paper chain made of Starburst wrappers.  Michael bought a bag of Starburst in the fall and I've been slowly working on this chain.  People keep asking me, "What are you going to do with that chain?"  Who knows?  Who cares?  It is just fun to make so I am making it. 

Along these same lines, I've had a dream for a long time of making confetti.  Whenever I make something with paper, there's always a pile of scraps that seem too pretty to just throw away (and by throw away I obviously mean put in the recycle bin).  But who really needs a bunch of confetti?  I finally decided that I don't care.  It would be fun to make, right?  So I'm making some. I dug out my cool paper punches and went to town on a pile of paper scraps.

And guess what, it is fun! It is so SUPER fun to make confetti.  I love it.  I even dug around in my craft room and found some old foil confetti that I had collected somewhere and added that to the mix.  Then I subbed for the church secretary one morning and I went around to all the hole punchers in the office and collected the dots.  That was fun, too.  It makes me so happy to look in my pail of confetti and see all the pretty colors.  I can't wait to add more to it.

Maybe someday someone will say to me, "Karen, I'm starting a pinata business, and I'd like you to be my confetti supplier."  That would be awesome, but highly unlikely.  Maybe I'll finally open an Esty shop and make loads of money (like a dollar or two) selling confetti. That would be awesome, too.  Although if neither of those things happen, I will still be giddy with happiness punching paper and sprinkling rainbow fun.

P.S. Who invited these two to this party?  This is not a plate of tuna. 

Lyrical Shenanigans

I was trying to figure out what to blog about today when this popped up on my facebook page: 

It was posted by my old college roomie, Kara.  Oh the fun that Kara and I had has roommates.  We shared many-a laugh and good times. 

Here is the story of that picture. We were in class together and had the very simple assignment of writing one of those poems were you count out the syllables.  It wasn't a Haiku, because that poem obviously doesn't have the 5,7,5 format but it was something similar to that. 

Our prof collected the assignment at the very beginning of class and Kara was annoyed to realize that she had forgotten to write her poem.  "Don't you worry," I said.  "I'll save you."  Literally while the papers were being collected I quickly jotted the down the world's absolute lamest poem, slapped Kara's name on it and turned it in. 

And we thought no more about it.  Until... 

We came into class about a week later and our professor handed out some sheets of paper.  He had compiled all of the student's poems onto one sheet and was giving them back so we could have them all.  There, at the very top of the page where you couldn't miss it was that awful poem with Kara's name on it.  She was horrified, and rightly so. I was highly amused. 

At some point later I commemorated the event with construction paper, and the bad poetry lives on. 

Thanks for the fun times, Kara.  And thanks for holding on to my silly artwork for all these years :-)

Valentine Making Party

Here is a confession:  I wasn't planning on making any Valentines this year.  "But what about your last post?" you claim.  Well, those were from 3 years ago, when I didn't have 2 jobs and I had a huge craft room.  I thought I'd just lay low this year and reminisce about my cool Valentine craftiness of the past.  However, Colleen encouraged me to get crafty, so get crafty we did. 

She drove up for the day, and two other friends, Jenna and Katie joined us. 

Michael even came over and mingled for a little. 

There was paper everywhere.  I loved it.  There is just something about a messy table that gets my creative juices flowing. 

Colleen was the Valentine making machine.  She made a lot. 

Jenna kept wowing us all with her fun ideas. 

Here's my measly contribution.  I made a bunch more later but forgot to take pictures (oops). 

Katie didn't actually make any.

She was having more fun drinking yarn and playing with Katya.  Both of which still make for a good time. 

My parents always send me a fun Valentine package every year and it arrived while we were crafting.  I opened it and found this awesome pair of pajamas.  Thanks mom and dad! 

I also have to include the Valentine my best friend, Meghan sent me, just because it is so cute and if she lived nearby, she definitely would have been crafting with us. 

But my favorite Valentine of all was the one Michael gave me.  He's the best :-) 

So here's to good friends, a messy table, and sharing the Valentine love. 

Happy Valentines!

I love making Valentine cards.  I have my mom to thank for that.  When my sister and I were kids, my mom rarely bought us the pre-made cards to pass out to our classmates in school.  Instead she bought us the Valentine card making kit, complete with sparkly heart stickers and all kinds of good stuff. 

I always liked to throw other things into the mix, too.  I remember pouring over the pages of a wallpaper book one year, and picking out all the pink patterns.  This was before the day of sweet scrapbooking paper, so a wallpaper book was pretty exciting stuff. 

I still love getting scrappy when it comes to Valentines.  I save things all year round in preparation for the crafty event.  Here are some of the scrappies that have made it into my Valentines (in addition to the obvious scraps of red, pink, and white paper):  canceled stamps, playing cards, a tag from a new shirt, the insides of envelopes, brown paper bags, a rescued hymnal, snippets from magazines and the newspaper, doilies, candy packaging, wrapping paper, and the leftovers from a used up sheet of heart stickers.  (It's too bad I don't have a picture of that last one, that was a good one.)

I know mainstream culture says that Valentine's Day is supposed to be a romantical day to get all mushy gushy with your significant other.  Well, my husband is not really the mushy gushy type, not that he doesn't participate by giving me a great card (I love cards) and something equally great like Snickers, but it in his words, "It's not like it's Reformation Day, or the opening of a new superhero movie."  And that's okay with me, because I see Valentine's Day as a great excuse to get crafty, put out cute decorations, and celebrate with girlfriends. 

Which brings me to another point.  Valentine card making is a great way to have fun with your friends, and even to make new ones.  Having moved around quite a bit, I've found that it's always pretty easy to round up a bunch of girls to make Valentine cards. 

So, keep your eyes open for the Valentine goodness.  Grab your glue, paper, and scissors and go to town.  And have a happy and crafty Valentine's Day.