Lilly's Birthday Party Invitation

2 Sketches 4 You contest submission--Kazan's sketch #28:

It's amazing what you can do with a Superman Underoos container.

I love to save empty plastic packages to make clamshell cards like this. Here, I made my front and back image, glued the finished piece to the bottom of the container, and placed several taffy pieces inside. Candies come in such beautiful colors. Making a clamshell card allows you to use them as part of your design, while giving your card recipient a little something extra special.

Make some doo-dad strip and glue it on to cover the ugly top of the container. I used a hot glue gun to adhere my sewn fabric to the plastic.

Add embellishments to the outside, too, for added dimension. It's way fun to paint on these -- if you mess up, it scratches right off with your fingernail! VERY forgiving.

I tore a page out of my Land of Nod catalog to use as the top of the backing. Loved the globe lanterns so much, and they were the perfect colors for my card. Catalog/magazine pages are fun to use in your designs.

After using rubbing alcohol, fingernail polish remover, and soap and water, I still couldn't get the sticky film to come up from where I'd torn off the price tag (Somehow, I don't think "Wal-Mart; Spiderman Underoos; $6.00" would have fit in with the rest of my theme). No biggie. I grabbed my paintbrush and painted over that entire section, let it dry, and then scratched out a heart with my fingernail. I'm happy with it. It's the inverse of the heart on the front.

The contest bug has bitten me again, and I'm entering this piece hoping to win some sweet pens from Sakura. I. Love. Pens. And I have precious few of them (I've been known to steal a Crayola marker or two from the kids' craft tub). Bring on the pens, Sakura!

Next time you buy a stapler, package of paper clips, set of action figures--you name it--save that clamshell container and get scrappin'!