[Swapping Sisters] November Swap

One of the reasons I was so easily convinced to go to "Stamping Around" with Belinda was because I signed up to do this card craft swap with Belinda and two other girls. Seeing that I know nothing about paper and crafts -- I figured it'd be a good learning experience. I'll have to post those projects later with some of my fun learning experiences.

Anyway, I digress. The card craft swap is actually a neat idea, since we are all spread across the continental US. A fun way to stay in touch with old friends and new friends, and make new friends.

So the deal is each month one of the girls creates four identical kits and sends them out. We each make something out of the stuff in our kit and then post (ideally) on the same day. Most of you guys know that I'm not (yet) a paper crafter, and since the girls were so nice to "loosen" the card craft swap to a craft swap, I decided why not! It's a great way to learn something about making cards (without buying all the crazy hardware) and keep myself accountable on the crafting.

I mentioned earlier that we would all post "ideally" on the same day. This first project post date was November 9 and, well, we know what today's date is...To my defense, it's all because of the traveling and working.

So here is a breakdown of Project Craftiness with the Swapping Sisters. Belinda started with Round 1 and sent us a kit with the following ingredients: yummy Cosmo Cricket Paper (Early Bird), a nice long strand of dark blue ribbon, some yellow & green brads, and a punched out star.

Stamps: Blast Off (Sweet 'n Sassy)
Paper: Beige (Recollections), Early Bird (Cosmo Cricket)
Embellishments: Dark Blue Ribbon (?), wooden stars (Michael's), Blue Awning letters (K&Company)

I had planned to convert this blue, fabric journal I had picked up from Border's. There were a few challenging issues with this: hardback, fabric, and for a boy. Here is what I came up with:



I found some chipboard letters to spell out the recipient's name on the journal. I actually had these purchased before the card kit came in. I decided that I wanted to create a fun three-panel with the green Early Bird pattern paper. The other pattern paper were really fun and hot, but too busy for the boldly colored space shuttle to stand out. The space shuttle is from the Blast Off digi set from Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps.

To keep this project from too much girly, I needed to come up with an idea to incorporate the ribbon and decided to wrap the panels. I like how the dark blue ribbon adds another shade of blue to the green paper -- a nice and simple effect. Last, the whole thing was finished by adding a moon and a few wooden stars.



By the way, all coloring was done with my trusty Prisma markers & pencils--which I have had since 10th grade in high school. At least there is one unexpected high point in paper crafting: going back to using my art mediums is making my mom happy. She always questioned why I needed such expensive pencils...

So now that you have seen my project, hop on the other gal's blogs and see what other fun & creative ideas they have come up with:

Belinda
Laurie
Stephanie