I organized my craft room last weekend. By switching a few things around, I managed to find a system that made more sense in my room and that what I needed the most often was what closest to my desk. I went through my papers while organizing to see if there were some papers that I could part with to make some room. One of the packs I pulled aside was the Fan Fair Designer Series Paper. I haven't made a big dent in the pack and my usual style is on the cutesy style, which does not really fit with those papers. I had also pulled out some printouts of the old flyers of the Christmas parties we had organized in the past. I've kept them all of this time because I wanted to include them on a layout and after seven years, it still had not happen. Ironically, both the paper pack and flyers were sitting on the kitchen table, waiting to be discarded - and then they grabbed my attention and I realized that the colours were very similar. And could work very well together. So what do you know, it inspired me to sit down the next evening and make something with it. It also happens that the olde worlde map we had used as a background in the photo spot at the party ALSO matches the papers perfectly. (That much I knew, because I had alrteady scrapbooked another picture of the party with that same paper pack.)
Funnily, because I organized yesterday, a lot of my older supplies were fresh in mind so I pulled them out to embellish the page. Another thing that was in the "donation" box was my Crop-a-Dile Big Bite. I was a more active scrapbooker back when the Crop-a-Dile came out and decided I wanted the Big Bite for my pages. I did use it a bit, maybe not enough to say it was a good investment, but when eyelets went out of fashion and I became more of a card-maker, this tool wound up at the back of the shelves, gathering dust. I finally decided it was time to give it to a good home yesterday and then as I was adding those eyelet brads to my corner piece, my handheld punch couldn't reach far enough... so I got up and pulled the Big Bite out of the donation box, while extensively rolling my eyes!! Not sure now it I'm putting back in the box ot giving it another chance...
Our theme that year was "world tour." Everyone was a good sport and dressed up according to the theme, even the executives. You can see one of them as a pilot, another one as a Frenchman, with the beret, striped shirt and an accordeon under his arm! I went for something roman-inspired myself. I already had a dress that worked, I bought some inexpensive jewelry I found in the clearance bin that could work, and I made my cape with a piece of fabric I pinned in place with a decorative pin recycled from an earlier costume. I initially wanted red velvet but could not find the right fabric anywhere, so I found this sparkly, sheer fabric that I decided to get as a backup and it ended up working pretty nicely. The best part was that it did not fray, so there was no sewing involved! My favorite part of the costume was the laurel wreath. I wanted to make one and I got the idea to buy a hair band and glue leaves on it, then wear it around the back of my head. I was planning on spray painting the whole thing gold, but then at the dollar store, I found some leaves already covered with gold glitter, and I used my glue gun to add them to the hair band. I swear, it turned out even better than I could have planned for, and it totally made the outfit.
Stampin' Up! Supplies
Stamps: Empire Alphabet Lower, Morning Post Alphabet
Ink: Distress Oxide (Fired Brick), Stampin' Up! Classic ink (More Mustard)
Designer Series Paper: Fan Fair
Accessories: Washi Tape, Eyelet Brads (unknown source), Vintage Trinkets,
Riding Hood Red Striped Grosgrain Ribbon, Vintage Brads, Square Punches,
Subtles Candy Dots, Essentials Jumbo Clips
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