Mischka! (and Cards 101)

Mischka's Model Shoot! Showing off his fake fur. 

As I'm procrastinating on math homework (for as long as I can...gonna ignore it for like two more minutes) and don't have time for another project right now, I present to you an old project: Mischka! :)

A while ago, a family friend gave me a nutcracker. I'm a fan of all things classical music, so opera/ballet/orchestra is really up my alley. I mean, he was mini and didn't *actually* crack... nuts (I AM NOT GOING TO LAUGH. I REALLY AM NOT GOING TO LAUGH. Ahh, immaturity, how I missed you...) But the point is that I got to paint him. Stick stickers on him. And fake fur! Ohmygosh fake fur for the beard and hair!

I named him Mischka after my guy friend. (My guy space friend.) And I love, love, love this little statuette. So, how do I give a thank you card for that?

Well, knowing the Nutcracker story by heart, I made a book card... :)

Book Card
Materials Needed: Scissors, pencils, paper, thread, hole puncher
Extras: Stickers, paint, ribbons
Time: 5-10 minutes to make it, minus however long you spend to write in it!

1) So, lucky me, I had a bunch of "postcard-style" cards that are basically a card cut in half. Not folded, nothing written in it, nada. These were my pages. You can also cut out pages from paper or cut a bunch of plain cards in half. If you're cutting out pages from paper, I recommend 5x4".

2) Write and draw on the pages. I, for one, am not awesome at visual arts. I drew stick figures :D (speaking of which: drawastickman.com! I found this from... hold on need to search through my web history...) However, I also recommend using pastels, water color (if your paper will hold up under it) or even very light paint. Maybe you could even use canvas as paper and write with pastels.

3) Hole punch the bottom, middle, and/or top of each page. I just did the bottom and top. It's awesome if you use a shape hole puncher. Unfortunately, my star hole puncher doesn't work due to excessive overuse.

4) Ahh, bookbinding. (not.) Since I was feeling just the tiniest bit lazy, I did not pick up my needle and instead looped a thin shiny string through each hole until I was done with that segment, then tied the ends of the string together. However, there are several ways to do this. I recommend using an awl to poke through the pages and stitch them together like so:


5) Decorate the cover!

This can be last minute or a... slightly less non-last-minute project (what's an antonym for that? Anyone?) depending on how much time you want to spend on it. I love the tiny books and the receiver loved it because it was so customized! Handmade gifts are the best! :)