Paper Plate Pumpkins

Need a really easy and inexpensive Halloween craft, suitable for all ages?  I love making Paper Plate Pumpkins.  You'll need orange paper plates, green and black construction paper, scissors and glue.

Start by cutting out a face from the black paper.  It can be as simple or as complex as you want. 

Cut a green stem, then glue down all items. 

 Done!

Trevor has been making these each year since he was two.  I love seeing how his cutting skills have improved over years.  I ask him to sign each one, then I add the date. 

He named this pumpkin "Smily."

I love the creative names he gives his pumpkins.  This one (from 2010) is named "Wink." 

Here is Wink, along with some of Trevor's other creations from 2008, 2009, and 2010. 

Smily went on a different wall with some other pumpkins.  There is a third wall filled with pumpkins.  As you can tell, Trevor really enjoys this craft.

What fun!

Gradnation

Among my 18 unfinished layouts was a page about Trevor's preschool graduation.  It was basically done except for the title.  I had some pale lavender stickers that were the perfect size and font, but the color was completely wrong for the page.  So I painted them.

When I lifted them off the sticker paper, the paint trails between letters stuck!  It was pretty cool, but not for this layout.  So I gave them a quick trim.

I adhered the letters to the page and was getting ready to scan it when I noticed that the title did not say 'graduation' as I'd planned, but instead said 'gradnation.'  Phooey.  I put the u on upside down.  I managed to fix it without damage, thank goodness. 

(Inspired by Julie DeGuia's "Kindergarten" Creating Keepsakes, Sept 2010)

Scanning Layouts

One of the biggest frustrations among scrappers is that there is no company that makes a 12x12 scanner.  Very large flatbed scanners do exist that could accommodate the 12x12 page in a single scan, but they come with a large price tag ($2000+) to match their format.  For those of us who can't justify that but still want the clean look of scanned layouts, we have no choice but to scan and stitch.

I own the Microtek ScanMaker 4800.  I bought it around 12 years ago and it's served me very well over the years.  Considering it was under $100, I'd say I've more than gotten my money's worth!  It's a typical desktop scanner with an 8.5 x 11.7 scanning surface.  Since I am unwilling to chop 0.3 inches off the edge of my layouts, the only way to end up with a complete scan is to scan all four quadrants and stitch them together.

To do this, I use ArcSoft Scan-n-Stitch Deluxe.  It's a bare-bones program with an extremely simple user interface.  It has 5 scanning choices: Legal Size Page, A3 page, Scrapbook Page, Long Page, and Poster Size Page.  You simply click one and it shows you what scans to do.  After my four scans, I click the button that says 'stitch' and my layout magically pops into place.  The price is currently $39.99.  When I got it, it was $19.99, which was a no-brainer.  At $20, I love it.  At $40, I'd still recommend it but not as enthusiastically. 

My only hesitation with giving full marks to the software is that sometimes the stitching fails.  Despite getting four good scans, there are times when they don't come together perfectly.  Sometimes I redo it and it is perfect.  Other times, I try three or more times and it fails in exactly the same location.  This is an example of a stitch that repeatedly failed:

(Inspired by Jessica Sprague's digital layout "Dude", CK Sept 2009)

It may not be readily apparent at this size (though my eye goes right to it), but there is a weird blip in the upper right hand corner.  That bugs me.  A lot.  But after I've tried repeatedly and get the same error, there comes a point when I just have to accept it.  Fortunately, this is rare.  Less than 5% of my scans have a problem.

I'll continue using my Microtek scanner and ArcSoft stitching software until that glorious day when someone manufactures an affordable 12x12 scanner.

Thoughts on Photo Editing

Every once in a while, someone on scrapbook.com asks whether or not it is OK to edit photos.  Should a photographer crop photos?  Adjust color?  Blur the background?  What about removing wrinkles, or erasing pimples?  Fixing crooked teeth?  Adding people that weren't in the original photo?  Removing 50 lbs?  Where is the line?   

It is an interesting question.  As you might expect, there are as many opinions as there are people. 

I do not heavily edit my photos.  Part of the reason is because I don't have the skills or the proper equipment.  I use a point and shoot camera and free photo-editing tools (Picasa), so some things (like putting myself in a setting where I haven't been, or erasing my farmer's tan) are beyond my abilities.    

But even if I were able to do so, I wouldn't.    

I do crop mercilessly- cropping doesn't alter what was really there, it just changes the view of it.  I will take out red eye, as it wasn't really there to begin with.  As for everything else, my simple rule of thumb is whether or not it is temporary.  If it's a permanent/semi-permanent part of someone (like a mole, extra weight, crooked teeth, a scar), it stays.  If it's temporary (a pimple, a piece of lint on someone's pants, one strand of flyaway hair on a windy day) and is distracting from an otherwise good photo, I don't feel wrong fixing it.

Here's a typical example of the photo editing I do.  The photo on the left is straight from the camera.  I cropped it to remove Trevor's classmates' feet.  (If their faces were in the photo, I might have kept them in it, but unidentified feet do not need to stay).  I also used the retouch tool to remove that tiny circle of light shining on Trevor's cheek.   

What are your thoughts about photo editing?  Where is your line of what is OK and what is not?

Decorating Plastic Storage Containers

I get a lot of random craft-related emails.  Recently, friends have emailed me to ask which glue gun is best, what favor to make for a 90 year old's garden-themed birthday party, and what projects I know using crumpled tissue paper.  My most recent email question was how to decorate this:

My friend Janet bought a bunch of these at a dollar store for her Girl Scouts to decorate.  Specifically, she wanted to know what would stick to it.  She was planning to have them draw with permanent markers, but wanted to know if I had thoughts about how else they could be decorated.  Rather than guess, I decided to experiment.

I started with rubber stamps.  As I suspected, regular ink rubbed right off, but Staz-On ink worked well.  It smears if you touch it right away, but after drying for 30 seconds, it's fairly permanent.  (Meaning, you can scratch it off if you try, but it doesn't just rub off.)  I tried a variety of pens to color in the stamps.  None were great, but Sharpies worked best. 

I tried paint next.  I thought it would fail and it did.  I didn't even photograph it.  Just imagine paint not sticking to plastic.  Stickers, however, were great.  They adhered easily and held firm. 

I tried two different methods to attach buttons and paper flowers.  Both Glue Dots and hot glue worked very well.  Obviously, the hot glue gun may not be the best choice for a group of children, but it was very effective (and far cheaper in cost per use than the Glue Dots). 

My final experiment was with Mod Podge.  I cut out double-sided patterned paper to fit in the grooves of the lid, then punched out leaves from the scraps.  I put a good coat of Mod Podge on the lid, added the paper, then slathered another coat on top, added the leaves, and put a final coat on that.  After it dried, it looked good and was secure.  Like just about everything else, it could be removed if you were specifically trying to remove it, but it's not going to just fall off.

My project looks a bit crazy since every side is decorated with different materials that don't really go together, so it won't be on display.  But it will be fine for holding garage odds and ends.  It was certainly fun to experiment.  I'm looking forward to seeing what the Girl Scouts make!