Eileen Hull

My husband was going through a bunch of his computer stuff the other day. What a mess! I thought the shredder was going to explode. But I happened to spy some cute little cases in the trash which I snuck out.

We usually give gift cards to my nieces and nephews for Christmas so I thought these were the perfect size to doctor up and give them in. I decided to use an old book of sheet music as the background paper. 

1. Use the insert that came with the case as a template, cut pieces of sheet music to size and score folds on a scoring tool
2. Cut a piece of foamboard to fit exactly inside the case.
3. Decorate foamboard and sheet music with stamps.
4. Add double sided tape to the back of the gift card and place on foamboard.
5. Insert into case- you are done!
6. I added a label designed and printed on the computer. 

You could also use ribbon and lots of other embellishments to pretty this up. My time is tight right now so I went simple. You could also use old CD cases in the same way.

I am flying to Miami on Friday to drive back to VA Saturday with my newly expectant daughter, her puppy and bunny. Woohoo, road trip! Merry Christmas everyone!

I know you all have been waiting with bated breath to hear who won the Noodle Contest… you can go to this post to see all of the projects.


(drumroll) And now for the winner…. It’s Kathryn, who received the most votes for her noodle portrait of Amy Winehouse! So congrats, your bag of goodies from Noodles and Company was sent out yesterday! I asked Kathryn to give us a little background on how she put this project together and here’s what she said:

The hair is made out of Ramen noodles. Use the kind that comes in a bag, not the cup. The bag noodles work better. The face is just made out of Tabasco sauce. You can make a similar piece of artwork with any person or character. You can also use the ramen for a person with a lot of facial hair (beard, mustache, etc.). The hardest part is to paint the plate with Tabasco sauce to make sure it looks like the intended person.


This is a very cool project but involves drawing skills which I lack. Maybe if I had a photo taped below and worked on a clear plate, I might be able to trace the main features though…hmmm. Might have to try that.

Remember I told you that I made an appointment at Noodles and Company to try the Grown Up Mac? Well, we go on Friday at 12. Looks like Hayward (my husband) and Ray (Hayward's 91 yo stepdad who lives with us) will be joining me for lunch. I'll let you know how that goes.

I apologize- not sure what is up with Blogger tonight but the spacing is all weird. Too tired to fiddle with it tonight! It has been a frustrating day and I need to calm down with a good book. Night everyone!

I don’t think I ever showed you all the project I made in my class with the fabulous Cathe Holden at The Creative Connection this past September. Cathe had everything all kitted up for us so we just followed along and did what she told us. I was sitting next to Deb Berger of Scrapbooks, Etc. so we had a nice chat while we assembled our projects. Tauni had a small small glitter malfunction, but aside from that we behaved and all finished our projects. Here are more photos of the class on Cathe’s post.

The project background was what looks like an old paint by number winter scene. Does anyone else remember these? Ah, the smell of the paints! It seems like they were oils- could this be? How did my mother ever let me do that? 

We inserted the copy of the painting into the back of a canvas, turned it over and covered the wood frame with some old Christmas photos that fit perfectly in antique slide mounts We added a personalized banner, glass glitter, some snow and a bottle brush tree.

I’m getting ready to hang this up- finally decorating! 

This project was soooo quick and easy! At this time of year, projects like this are great when you need something at the last minute. These were materials I had on hand. The frame was purchased about 2 years ago for $1.99 and I had been meaning to sell them at the Barn Sale but never got the art done for the frame opening. So luckily, this was already spray painted and ready to go. The noodles were left over from last year’s noodle extravaganza, so this took about 10 minutes to make! Good thing-my week is crazy with lots of deadlines! Oh and shopping, baking, parties, etc.