Paper Pleasures

"All you need in life is a friend who has chocolate."
I think that quote is so true!  Oddly enough, my best friend Marian is NOT a chocolate lover! The one flaw in an otherwise perfect friend!  How could I become best friends with a woman who doesn't love chocolate as much as I do?  NO IDEA!  Life is funny sometimes.

Anyway.  I ran across a darling rubber stamp with that quote and had to have it.  I wanted to make a really cute project incorporating real chocolate, and this is what I came up with:



I started with a hinged metal CD case I purchased online here.  I searched through my extensive stash of scrapbooking papers until I found some cute prints that incorporated the color brown.  I chose some coordinating solid colored cardstock and covered the entire tin, inside and out, with paper. 

 





I stamped the quote on cardstock and matted it with a matching color, then glued it on to the front of the tin.  I trimmed one with some satin ribbon and a button, and the other with just a button. 

 

Two full-sized Hershey bars fit perfectly inside this tin!  One to keep, one to share with your friend.  (And since my friend doesn't like chocolate......I guess I get them both!)

 

This cute project would make a great little gift for a friend.  You could even tuck a gift card inside for an additional surprise. 

 

Happy Thursday!

Lisa

 

I have these available for purchase, but not in my etsy shop.  Contact me if you are interested!

 

Supplies used in this project:

Hinged metal CD tin (SKS Bottle & Packaging)

Various printed scrapbooking paper (Hobby Lobby)

Various colored cardstock (Hobby Lobby)

Rubber Stamp (Inkadinkadoo)

Brown ink pad (Stampin' Up)

Buttons and satin ribbon

3M Glue Dot Tape Runner

Hershey bars





Marian's Vessel

This is a piece I made last spring for my BFF Marian's birthday.  I've mentioned Marian before.  She is truly my BFF.  We are so alike it's almost eerie.  She, too, is an artistic sort, so we have lots of common ground there.  She is quite dear to me, and no ordinary gifts will do for her.  I don't stroll into Bath & Body Works and grab a gift basket for her.  Oh, no no no. We like to make each other things.  Even if I purchase something, it has to be something artsy.  Something unique.  Something special.  Like our friendship. 

Her home is quite contemporary, filled with lovely objects and nice artwork, so I try to find things that would fit into her life nicely.  She loves the work of Dilly Pad (which I featured here) and the gorgeous porcelain vessels of  White Earth Studio on etsy, so I used those as inspiration for this piece.

This vessel was very fun to make.  While it might look like it was very tedious, it really was not.  Yes, it took several hours to construct, but since there was no "right" way to make it, it was also very freeing.  It's made of hundreds, if not thousands, of pieces of white Premo polymer clay.  I did not start with a sketch or a set idea of what I wanted it to be.  I just did what the clay told me to do. 

 Sometimes all you have to do is listen to the material you are working with, and it will guide you.  "I want to be a flower."  OK.  "I want to be a coil."  You betcha.  "I want to be a circle."  Anything you want. 

Once the pieces were all in place, I took a stylus and added little details to the work.  Then I put some glasses inside to brace it a bit while it was baking.  And kept my fingers crossed.  And said a little prayer to the Polymer Clay God.  And held my breath.  And in the end, it came out just right.

I loved making this project so much that I'm considering doing another one.  Perhaps this time I will use all black.....

Sometimes it is just fun to step outside of what you normally do and create something completely different.  Take a leap of faith.  You never know what you'll come up with!

Thanks for stopping by!
Lisa

OH--in case you are wondering, this piece is perhaps 8 inches wide and maybe 4 inches high.  Give or take a little bit.  It lives in New Mexico and I live in Nebraska, so I can't just pop over and measure it right now.  I WISH!