Nothing Like Waiting Until the Last Minute

 This past weekend, I was teaching my kiddo how to make a book for a history project and planning for today's Halloween hooha, keeping me from making Halloween goodie-bags for the ballerinas in Piper's dance class.  I was thrilled when I saw the Halloween Treat Holders posted by HappyScrapper64 on Facebook and on the Circle Message Board.  You can find her project on her blog, Random Thoughts of a Scrapbooker.  I didn't just see them and use her idea, I also asked her on Facebook if they would work with candy bars.  Honestly, she did everything but actually make them for me, so thank you, Brenda, for saving me today by sharing your brilliant use of a card as a treat wrapper!

I cut mine for 1.55 ounce Hershey bars.  I used Artiste (page 76), cutting at 4-3/4" on the Expression.  I stamped "Boo" using a glue pad and glittered the image.  These went together so incredibly fast and with only one cut and no layers, I was loving Brenda during this entire process.... Please check out Brenda's fun blog filled with her other great ideas!

Sooo....  My daughter and I have been working hard on a book she is creating for a history project.  It is a 3rd grade school project, but most (ok all) of this project has been done at home, not at school.  I have had to teach her several new things, including how to decoupage chipboard to make a cover, how to make letters with a shadow on her Cricut (she has never used the shadow feature even though she has her own Cricut and uses it), how to use a Bind-It-All to punch holes (we haven't bound the book yet but I will probably close the wires for her), how to use a light-box and lined  paper behind unlined paper to make text straight.  Needless to say, I am glad we have until December to finish this!

She has been getting on my laptop and finding facts about each of her 26 historical Americans and drawing her own portraits of them, but the actual 'putting together a book' part of this project has been a big art lesson between Piper and me!  It has been fun, but I remember making books in middle school where we learned a crude binding process using cardboard covered in contact paper and embroidery floss to sew the pages into the cover.  I also remember getting the technical how-to info at school!

So, today, I am grateful that I have the time, skills, and tools to teach my kiddo and to help her.  And... I am grateful for crafters who share their projects with cut sizes and other info as Brenda did!

Speaking of grateful, I was reminded to thank God for all we have in a text I received last night from my friend, Gina Piazza, who is enduring the aftermath of hurricane Sandy while she waits on an upper floor for 6 feet of water to recede from her home and for power to be restored to her neighborhood in New York.  My thoughts are with Gina as I pray for speedy solutions, safety, and full recovery for our friends who have come in harm's way and who have lost so much due to the storm!
Thank you for checking my blog post today.