Altered Alphabet Flipper Toy

After many requests and a lecture from Cathy at The Playground about updating my blog :) here are pictures and instructions for the alphabet flipper I made. I used the TLC Urban Threadz line of paper and rub-ons.

This project was inspired by KreativeKarma on Two Peas, also a TLC consultant.

I started out with one of these flip and play toys. If you don't have one you can find them on ebay under alphabet flip. I took it apart and painted everything brown except the faces of the blocks, it took several coats. I layed out and bunched together all the blocks on the table and measured how large I needed the actual layout to be. I created the layout and used my paper trimmer to cut it into the small squares to attach to the blocks. I then attached the layout layer by layer to the blocks using Modge Podge. Next, I layed the completed blocks out in layout form to embellish. I trimmed off the excess paper on the sides. (Do not sand, it takes off the paint) I then inked with brown ink and finished it with Modge Podge.


This is the hard part.
Flip each of the blocks up to show the backs and bunch them back together to create the layout on the back. I had to keep checking to make sure I had everything flipped the right way so that all my blocks would be the same direction when they were flipped after I reattached them to the toy. Create your layout on the back the same way as the front. It might not be a bad idea to attach the backside of your blocks with removable adhesive the first time, flip all the blocks the same direction, as you would if they were on the toy, and make sure all the other sides of the blocks are the same direction before using the Modge Podge to attach. You don't just flip the whole layout upside down like you might expect.


Remember to be careful with how you layout the pictures, you don't want a face cut in half. The last picture above show the back side of my blocks. I managed to get my children's faces entirely on one block. It took me quite a while to find a picture that would do this.


I embellished the sides and the top of the toy with rub-ons then coated it with Modge Podge before putting it back together.


If I did another one of these, I think I would create a grid of the blocks on 2 transparencies, lay them over my layout for placement, then cut the transparency along with the layout for perfect placement.



I took this project with me the Scrapfest Midwest in Shakopee Minnesota a few weeks ago and I won first place in the project contest!


If you would like to see this project it is currently on display at Altered Art and Scrap Playground in Rapid City on Main Street next to the journal.

Happy Easter

This is one of the first layouts that I did. Believe it or not, it took me forever. The bunny and the basket on the second page are hand cut. It is all a little too busy for my current style, but I remember loving it at the time.

The kids are currently scrounging through their Easter baskets, begging to go outside every couple minutes to play with bubbles. I am currently stalling on getting ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa's for Easter dinner. I have to keep reminding the kids that we are going to have a big lunch and to go easy on the candy. Canyon keeps telling me "I won't puke Mom, I won't puke."

Last year we drove to Casper Thursday afternoon to spend Easter with JT's family. We picked up Canyon at daycare after his Easter party. He got a bag of jelly beans from daycare and was happily eating them in the car when he promptly threw up. In our defense, we didn't know he had eaten tons of junk at daycare already, or we wouldn't have let him eat jelly beans. About 2 1/2 hours outside of Casper we were on the side of the road, in a blizzard trying to clean up Canyon. Let me rephrase, JT was on the side of the road, in a blizzard, trying to clean up Canyon. I was behind the suburban dry heaving. I can't handle puke. I can do just about anything else, but give me puke and I fall to pieces. We stoped in Gillette, WY at a convenience store and bought an air freshener. It didn't help a whole lot. Luckily in Casper there was a car wash with an extractor and that took care of the problem. Since the candy puke incident every time Canyon eats lots of candy he has to let me know that he won't puke. It is actually pretty cute, gross as it sounds.

Happy Easter Everyone!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! This is a layout I did for a contest at a local scrapbook store last March, and I won! It is another one of my favorites, plus I was much skinnier then. The picture was taken at the Mirage in Las Vegas, which is also one of my favorite places.

Someday someone is going to have to show me how to get a good picture of a layout. The only way I can take it so there is no glare is to take it kinda sideways, then it looks like it is bigger on one side.

A friend and I are heading to Shakopee Minnesota tomorrow morning for TLC training. We are driving out on Friday (600 miles), and back on Sunday. We are in training until 6 on Saturday with a crop into the wee hours of the morning. I am wishing we would have set aside a shopping day, maybe I can make a sneak trip to Archivers Sunday morning before we head back. Not that I should be spending any money on scrap supplies. I am 100% positive I have enough 12x12 paper to wallpaper my entire house, and probably the ceilings, the floors, the outside... As a matter of fact, I am on a paper buying strike. I will not allow myself to buy any paper unless I use some. "Pretty easy" you might say. You would be wrong. I bought a few sheets at Altered Art and Scrap the other day anyway, but they don't count because I committed myself to buying them before I started my strike :)

So Cute

Used the same TLC retro runway kit shown below to create this layout. Purple Felt Prima, love it!

I buy toys why?

JT hurt his neck a few months ago and has been going to physical therapy a few times a week. He brought home this hard foam cylinder a few days ago from his physical therapy doctor. Canyon immediately decided it was his buddy.

This cylinder has been a dinosar stand, a christmas tree, a sword, and a chair among several other things. Yesterday Canyon decided it was his "bes' friend". The cylinder watched TV with him and sat with him for dinner. We decided to dress it up for even more fun. He played with this foam thing for longer than I have seen him play with almost any other toy. It is watching Tigger and Pooh with him right now.