My first altered item

I tried my hand at altering something this past week. I had made up the other 4 pirate card kits I had (see this post) and decided to make a "Captain's Log" notebook to go with it. I tried to find composition books, but wasn't willing to pay $2 for one of them, so decided to try it just using the spiral notebooks I have at home. I was at Micheal's to pick up mod podge to coat it with and found a set of 3 cute pirate foam stamps for 50 cents. My husband designed a "Captain's Log" logo to cut out on my craft robo.

I attached a piece of black paper to the notebook, cutting a little tab at every spiral piece along that side so I could put it through the spiral and cover that part of the cover also. I then folded it over to the back, and covered the folds with a black piece of cardstock on the back of the front cover. I stamped the foam stamp on the paper and another smaller skull stamp I had. I then attached the "Captain's Log" logo and then mod podged over it so that the paper wouldn't tear as easily (mog podge is a paper sealer that makes the paper stiffer and thicker basically). It looked good, but it was really hard to see the skulls. So the next day I took the big skull stamp, stamped it on the paper again, then covered it with embossing powder and melted that. I did the embossing powder so the stamps would be protected but I wouldn't have to do another layer of mod podge and possibly have them be muted again. I think it turned out well. Unfortunately, I only sold one at the fair, but my boys are thrilled about that because it means they each get one instead of having to wait for me to make more of them.

Pirate card

After we saw Pirates of The Caribbean: At World's End, we stopped by Robert's Craft Store so I could exchange some adhesive I bought a few weeks before that just didn't work (I picked up the page to put it in the page protector and all the pictures started sliding off). It was a Saturday afternoon and there was a guy there from Rusty Pickle (a scrapbook manufacturer) doing a make-and-take with their new pirate line. I messed up on the first kit he gave me, so he gave me another kit to start again (which is really nice). We got there right before he was off for the day, so he was handing out extra, left over kits to anyone who asked for them (one of the ladies who finished right after I started had her granddaughter with her and the granddaughter wanted one to take home. The guy asked how many she wanted and gave her several). When I was finishing up, he asked if I wanted some extra and how many I wanted. Our older son was standing behind me and whispered "3." So I told the guy that I had just been commanded to get three extra : ). He was really nice and gave me 3, making a total of 5 kits he gave me. They are really cute and would work well for birthday invites and maybe a birthday card.

The card is made from 2 sets of mini file folders. This is the first page. We tore the paper around the skull and cross bones to give it a less formal look. We also inked the edges of the "pirates beware" word block.

The first inside page. If I was doing this as an invite, I'd probably put the information about who the party is for here.

Second inside page. For a party invite I'd probably include any special instructions here, like if you wanted the kids to dress as pirates or something.

Third inside page.

Back page. I'd put the address, RSVP number, and any driving instructions on here and maybe the previous inside page.

Very cute card. The guy who did the make and take designed the card, which sort of surprised me, since he was probably 21 or 22 years old. Most guys I've met that age aren't really into paper crafting.