show us your smile!

it's tuesday once again and thus time for another fun challenge at shopping our stash. this week we want to see your smile. ok, actually, we want that every week, but this time we'd also like to see an image that features a smile --or the word smile-- on your card. of course, in a pinch, you could substitute grin, laugh, guffaw, chortle, chuckle, giggle... well, you get the idea, right? awesome! here's my card:

text paper from an old dictionary; scraps of basic grey, ki, sei, creative imaginations and doodlebug patterned papers; black glossy cardstock by ranger for my card base, with the scraps used to make the sentiment via an XL tim holtz die; washi: freckled fawn; epoxy heart: stickopatomus; punches and corner rounder: fiskars, ek success; ink: colorbox; adhesives: elmers brand gluetape, 3m foam tape, sewing machine

do you love the little camera? sorry to be obnoxiously proud, but i made that myself, from scraps! actually, a variation of this card is part of a "free style" paper piecing class i'm teaching at paper anthology* in september and october. i know we all love to paper-piece stamped images, but what do you do when you want to make something for which you don't have a stamp, or you need it to be a different size? for the sweet little camera, i looked at some photos and realized a basic camera shape is actually a couple of rectangles, with some stacked circles for the lens. which made me think, "hey, i bet i could do that with the paper trimmer and some circle punches!" turns out, i was right!

in the same class we'll also make a card with a fun pair of sunglasses (using a copyright-free clipart image as template) and a little landscape that's made using ordinary shapes and dies in new ways. (that one's a version of this SOS card i made in june.)

speaking of SOS, the other lovely ladies over there have their very best smiles on this week too... why not stop by and see those right now?!

*paper anthology is a pretty fabulous paper crafting shop located in kenvil, the heart of central new jersey. if you're in the area, you should totally check it out!!! ♥