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Having been sick in bed for almost 2 straight weeks, I was FINALLY able to get back to work and back to the computer just last week.  One of the emails I missed was from one of my readers, she asked if I had ever made a paper pieced hospital patient.  Well, I haven’t  but oddly enough my father just had knee surgery and is in the hospital this week and I needed to make him a ‘Get Well’ card.  Here’s what I came up with: 

Yes, it’s a little…ummm…..tacky maybe?  But it made Dad smile and that was the point.  

 This page was a gift for my daughter’s Kindergarten teacher.  She had her own daughter in March and is no longer teaching at the school, but for the past nine years she has watched Alyssa and her classmates grow from little Kindergarteners to these graduating 8th Graders!  It took several tries to get the second picture (with all the 8th Graders on the Playground)…Mother Nature, exams, etc. all working against us…but in the end we managed to get the shot with all of them in the same spots they were in 9 years ago.  WOW!  Nine years?  I can’t believe she’s been in the same school for nine years…and now she’s off to High School…where has the time gone?  <<sigh…>>

This page is made up of leftovers from Alyssa’s 8th Grade Scrapbook (and no, I didn’t help her!)  Not enough cardstock on hand for full photo mats so I got creative with these funky, triangle mats (IOW-I got 2 mats out of 1 rectangle!)  The stickers are Mary Engelbreit, the journaling was done on the computer (the poem is, God Made Teachers - author unknown), but the mortarboard and tassel are my own paper pieced creations

Update: Since posting this, I’ve actually had a few GACS Moms contact me and ask for their own page…YIKES!  How much should I charge?!?!

 Yup!  I finally tried making a Punch Art Boy…He’s still in the experimental stage (they are a little harder to dress than I expected!) But this little guy looks like he’s ready to lead a Memorial Day Parade…with his flag and his outfit.  The "stars" on the flag are stamped (white Staz-On on blue, using SU!’s Itty Bitty Backgrounds…all my other stars looked too out of proportion.)  I also gave him little ears…without them (and without long hair) his face looked unfinished.  Like I said, I’m still toying with this…

Happy Memorial Day and thank you to all who serve in our Nation’s military!

Today’s Punch Art cutie is headed to the shore…she’s got her wide brimmed hat (see detail photo) on and her sunglasses and she’s wearing a cute little cover-up, too!  But what really makes her unique is her face…I used the Large Oval cut almost completely in half and that gives her a more adult look.  Such a minor change, but I think you’ll agree…it makes quite a difference!

Now, up close you can really appreciate the detail that went into her hat…it’s nothing more than a Large Oval Punch combined with a 1-1/4" Circle punch (for the body of the hat) but in an effort to make it look real, I carefully cut a slit in the middle of the Oval and slid it down over her head and *PRESTO!* the perfect punch art sun hat!  And of course, I just love the Tab Punch as the cover-up/dress…isn’t she darling???

Here in the Sunshine State we make several visits each year to various theme parks (not voluntarily mind you…but as host to visiting friends and family.)  And all those trips mean plenty o’ pictures!  This little theme park commando looks like she had a wonderful time…she has a balloon, "ears" and a shopping bag full of souvenirs!  The only thing she’s missing is a sunburn and her camera  

There’s tons of detail on this little girl…and you can really see how I put the t-shirts together.  The ends of a small oval punch are her sleeves, the neckline is punched out using the 3/4" circle punch and her neck is just another Word Window Punch.

And the Punch Art Princess just keeps crankin’ ‘em out!

Please forgive the repeat…but I just wanted to show how cute these two look together…almost like the Junior Scout is welcoming the Brownie into her troop!  Now I just need to get some photos of my niece and her troop from my sister so I can start working on a page for these two!  Ok…I’m done now

Since everyone seemed to enjoy the Punch Art Brownie so much, I figured I just had to make a Punch Art Junior to go with her!  I mean really, you can’t talk about "bridging" and Brownies with mentioning Juniors, right? She’s basically the same as her younger counterpart…but I tried to give her almost a baseball cap.  Now, it’s ok, but I’m not thrilled…the little dot under the bill of the cap is a small piece of quilled cardstock that is holding the bill out (see close-up picture)   

Otherwise, the hat would just lay there flat on her head and it looked awkward (and well, the Punch Art Princess here just wouldn’t stand for that

Now, if I can just figure out the hair…I’m thinking some little boys could be next!

 Today I am ‘making new friends’…LITERALLY!  Scouting is all about making friends, learning new things, sharing ideas and going places.  It is also a fabulous time to scrapbook!  Unfortunately, it is also one of the hardest.  Unless you are going to place an order online or head to a speciality or GS Council store, you’d be hard-pressed to find scrapbook elements specifically for scouting!  This was one of the most common laments I heard as a scrapbook instructor…"Why isn’t there ever anything for Scouting?"  Well, now I’m in the same boat (sort of.)  My own daughters never made it past Daisies (much to my despair) but my niece, Tabbi is bridging to Juniors next week and I couldn’t be more proud of her!  So , this is running in the back of my mind (don’t forget to send Tabbi a Bridging card) while I’m cleaning up the mess left on the dining room table by Darling Eldest Daughter (yes, Scrapbook Sloppiness is an inherited trait apparently!)  Gather the papers, throw out the scraps, pick up the punches…<<SPARK!>> And just like that, I can see a little Punch Art Brownie in my mind’s eye.  To be honest, what I envisioned was something closer to the Brownie uniform I wore weekly to the meetings of Troop#429 (conveniently held in my garage…yes, my mother was the troop leader  Please tell me someone else suffered through the brown knee-highs (complete with orange fringed garters…who thought THAT was a good idea???) printed blouse, brown vest, brown skort and let us not forget the ubiquitous brown beenie!

But I digress…Today’s Brownie still wears a vest (mine even has patches!) but that’s about it.  I did add little brown and blue hair bows  Her vest is simply the small tag punch, cut in half, her shorts are another small tag punch (with a small "v" notch cut out), her blue shirt is yet another small tag punch…but this time I added part of the small oval punch as sleeves.  Her Brownie Badges are 1/4" punches in various colors…the three gold dots are her pins.  I realize she’s not perfect, but she’s adorable and she’s an easy element to add to your next Girl Scouting page…or to make as a Girl Scout swap???? Hmmmm…

In celebration of National Scrapbook Day, here’s a quick and cute idea for your next birthday page (or a card or even a gift bag!) Yes, I know it’s pretty basic…but sometimes that’s a good thing!

Now, imagine a bunch of these in various colors, sizes and shapes…see where I’m going with this?  The basic concept is simple enough: A punched shape (circle, oval, etc.) add a small flower as the knot on the bottom…a dab of white gel pen or Crystal Effects to add dimension and you have a quick and easy Punch Art Balloon!  Get creative with the string…here I used a Double Punched Large Oval, but you could use floss, thread or even a quilled paper strip!  I’d love to see what YOU come up with!

Where to start?  At the top I suppose…her hair is done in a sweet little bun (a 3/4" circle) with a head piece made from the Scallop Circle Punch (only 3 loops, each punched with a 1/8" Circle).  The veil is simply the Tab Punch punched out of vellum cardstock (this is important, Vellum paper doesn’t work well in punches).  The scallop neckline of her gown is a small flower (from one for the triple flower punches) re-punched with the 1/2" Circle Punch.

Now, I prefer a dry tape (monoadhesive or Therm-O-Web tape runner) when working on large areas but for these tiny, delicate areas of scallops and lace, I used the Quickie Glue pen!  Love this!!!  It’s so precise…it let’s me get into all the little nooks and crannies!   Frances over at Hearts In Touch has them and has promised to order more to keep up with my demand Go ahead and email Frances directly if you’d like one of these nifty little pens, too!  Thank you, Frances!

Now, The flowers were so much fun!  I just went through my pile of spare ‘punchies’ and started playing.  The 3-D effect was created by cutting the flower (between 2 petals) about halfway across.  Then overlapping the petals to create a cone shape…the more you overlap, the smaller the flower.  I used the tape runner for this but very carefully…you need an adhesive that’s clear and will dry QUICKLY!  In a weird twist, I spent a ton of time on her arms and sleeves and you can barely see them!!!  Her arms are the the Word Window Punch (of course!)  The top of her sleeve is the end quarter of the Small Oval Punch.  This is trimmed with half a flower from one of the triple flower punches.  Her arms actually bend at the elbow to hold her bouquet!

Her bodice?  Well, she needed shape…a little nip at the waist and a flair at the top and bottom…sound familiar?  It’s the Tab Punch, unfolded!  (It’s hard to see from the photo because her flowers are in the way…but the little nip in the middle really looks like her waist!)  Her skirt: The tiers of ruffles  are just halves of the Scallop Circle Punch, layered over and over again.  The bottom ruffle was punched from vellum cardstock, with each scallop re-punched using the 1/8" Circle Punch.  Finally there’s a pair of wee, little shoes.  I used the 5-Petal Flower and cut off two petals.  I re-punched these using the 1/2" Circle to give the illusion of a pair of pointy-toed, high heeled shoes.  These are decorated with tiny hearts, cut from one of the flowers from the 3-Flower Punch.  

Yes, this was time consuming but I equate it with running a mini-marathon…I wasn’t sure it could be done…but now I’ve done it!!!