My Sorry Attempt at a Friday Tutorial

I'm going to come clean right away: the tutorial I was going to post this afternoon ended up being a miserable failure. Those of you who are long-time followers of the Simple Studio blog may remember that last year when I hosted in November 2007, one of the highlights of the month was a glitter accident involving my darling Gracie:

So really, you'd think I'd be smart enough to stay away from glitter here in the Simple Studio, right?

This would be my disastrous attempt to showcase how you can use acrylic stamps and glue stick to decorate little mini-pumpkins, and how easily that cool idea translates to little tags and other embellishments for your Halloween pages. When the glue stick didn't work, I got the great idea that maybe the thin strips of glue dot stuff (glue strips?) would work better. And then! And then I got out the embossing stamp pad! Because surely you can emboss a pumpkin! Next? Rub-ons. (They don't work very well either). Oh my goodness. What resulted was a whole lot of glitter and embossing powder on the floor and in my eyelashes, glue strips stuck to all my fingers, and the realization that I am not that great at Halloween tutorials. Perhaps you'd like to refer to Cheryl's incredibly detailed and awesome tutorial from last week instead? *sigh*

Note to self: Step away from the glitter, E. Step away.

OK. So as not to leave you without anything at all to look at this afternoon (though I do plan to be back with a few Halloween photos just for fun later on) I thought I would share a Halloween page I did a few years ago that is one of my all-time favorites. I think I might say that a lot, that a page is my all-time favorite. Hmm. But this one really is, not only because I love how it turned out, but it is the evidence that once I SEWED A HALLOWEEN COSTUME. Oh yes I did. Martha cast a spell on me and I made butterfly wings straight out of Martha Stewart Kids (oh, how I miss that magazine).

I've always loved this page, and even though purple is not my favorite color in the world, I can't imagine having used anything else. I like that there is some variety in my Halloween repertoire–a break from black and orange—and I like that I was able to incorporate some of the pattern in the page. (I photocopied some of the directions onto kraft cardstock to match, and chalked the edges with purple chalk. I also stamped a butterfly on top of the written instructions if you look closely). I used some scraps from the wings to replicate the wing design in the right-hand corner. (I sewed first, then just adhered them to the page). I like that you can actually see the wings in case they don't survive for years and years. Luckily I saved some of those scraps, because guess who is a butterfly this year?

Happy Halloween!

Comments

[marnie]

oh, elizabeth! i am proud of all of your efforts! halloween is such a busy day anyway, without all the tutorial efforts! the page is awesome, the wings are awesome, and i hope that you have a delightful evening of tricks and treats. well, maybe the tutorial was all the trickery you needed today. perhaps all you need now is lots and lots of treats!

[Katy]

look at all that you went through for us, your blog-reading public. Touched, I'm truely touched, as long as you don't try to glitter me. ;)
What sweet wings, they are lovely.

[Chere Mortensen]

With such a darling little girl how could any butterfly not be breath taking. With a smil like that, I am sure she will get lots of treats.