Craft Night!

Finally got together with my girlfriend, Lexi, after about a zillion months of life getting in the way of our craft night! The only bummer was that the items I had purchased for us to make didn't arrive in time for us to make them (of course, they came in the next day's mail). So with no time to come up with something crafty on a whim, I told Lex to bring whatever floated her boat and we'd come up with something!
(Here we are at a school reunion a few summers ago; the catalyst for rekindling our friendship!)
First she showed me this bag of cool stuff she snagged for $2! I told her I think she should get some PMC and use these to make molds.

Then after a lot of dilly dallying on my part and Lexi already completing a cute little pair of earrings, I decided I'd work on some shadow boxes so I went down to the studio and dug out my bins of specimen shells

I started messing around with the display only to get frustrated that the shells I wanted in there the most were too thick for the boxes to close properly. Grrr


Then after some quick research and spell checking, I typed up the scientific name of each shell. Lexi suggested an old typewriter looking font, so I used Courier New in Word. Then to age the paper I put some water in a container and added the morning's coffee grounds.

Oh, oops, who'da thunk that the filter would get soggy and rip? Oh well, it's in there now...

After a bit of this,

I find I'm impatient. It's not getting brown fast enough, I'm adding a tea bag. Mmmm, that mint actually smells pretty good!

I left it overnight and after drying this morning, this is what I've got. Not bad!

I wrapped it in a papertowel and pressed it with a heavy wood cutting board to make sure all the water was out and it was nice and flat, then cut names into little strips and adhered them under the shells.


I like it, it sort of has a look of something you might find in your stodgy old professor's dusty study!



Honestly, when I complete projects that are this easy and this satisfying I wonder what the heck is wrong with me that I have had these shadow boxes for so long and done nothing with them...

And Lexi wrapped her night up with this fab pendant made from a smooth and perfectly oval beach stone wrapped in sterling silver with a pretty little pearl and a smashing shimmery foil lined glass bead. Nice!