shrinking and folding

How do you like these shrinky-dink portraits I drew last night? (I drew! Ha. I wish. The truth is I traced them from an vintage drawing instruction book ) I put a hole in the top with the thought that they could be turned in to a cute necklace or charm bracelet or something. I also was thinking how fun it would be to write inscriptions on them--something like, "Looking for Mr. Right" on the man portrait, or some such silliness. Then I tried a portrait of myself. Behold, a second grader with two brand new front teeth, circa 1971....

I like how the portrait turned out except for, ummm...the teeth. My pen was just not fine enough to do that tiny detail so, yeah. I look like I have a mouth full of black marbles. Note to self: next time, get a finer tipped pen. I'm thinking I might like to do one of these with a photo of each of my kids all around the same age. Could be cute for something, no?  Anyway, shrink plastic is another fun way to record your children's artwork too. These tiles that Noah did a while ago will always be so special to me.

(Do you see that little bit of white peeking out on top of my shoulder? That was a brace I was wearing because I broke my collar bone!)

There has been a lot of refolding and organizing going on in blog land I've noticed and I can no longer ignore my own fabric that has been calling out to me...

"Please Toni, come and refold us. We are all crumpled and leaning far to much on each other."
Days, weeks go by.
"Toonnnii, we said please."
(me: la la la lala...not listening)
"Yoo-hoo! We know you hear us...we said PLEASE!!  Don't make us come over there!!"
(me, having a nightmare of it all caving in on top of me)
Alright, alright!

I'm posting about this because there is a certain amount of accountability I feel to actually get it done now that I've told you about it. So now I can have the goal of showing you a pretty 'after' picture when I get it all done. (me: kicking myself now because I have to do this...I told you it works!)

Comments

[Mama Urchin]

Just think how easy it will be to find everything. And you and your buried fabrics can be reacquainted. I bet the exerience will be inspiring, or at least keep telling yourself that.

[VanessaAnn87]

okay, i think this should be the link to my blog, and hopefully not a huge picture of me... hehe
xoxo

[Michelle]

Hey, what's the problem? You can still see your bright metal shelving, and most of the wall behind it. I see absolutely nothing wrong with that. Um, yeah. You don't even want to see my fabric mountain...

[Kristy]

The shrinky dinks have given me a few ideas!I adore the line drawings in old books.That's def going in my notebook for when I have time!
Now that is a serious stash of fabric Toni I must show my hubby then he will believe me when I say I don't have that much lol!!

[Sue]

love the shrinky plastic portrait idea....! i may try something similar for my kids - seriously cute idea!

[Randi]

Shrinky dinks are so fun!

Best of luck with your folding. You will be so happy when you are done!

[Crystal T]

Awsome idea for shrinky dinks! Love them.

I have the same metal shelves holding my fabric too. :)

[Monica]

Welcome to Fabric Folders Anonymous!

[jen b]

You could make a charm bracelet with the pictures of all your kids!

[meg]

those are adorable. and brilliant. and i just realized i bought shrinky dink paper months ago and forgot about it. off to find it...

[tamara]

Oh my, I would just ignore the fabric and keep making those lovely shrinky-dinks. You did a great job, even your own portrait as a child is adorable, marble mouth and all :) Your son did a great job with his shrinky-dinks, that is a fantastic memory. All the best and happy folding, or not.

[noelle]

i have similar fabric issues, but i have been avoiding thinking of it as a "problem". I (kind of) know where every piece is, just nobody else knows. love the shrinky dinks.

[amandajean]

it is fun to sneak a peek at someone else's fabric piles. ;) you must love blue.

[Tracy]

LOVE those shrinky dink charms--great idea! I was just recently folding & organizing fabric myself last week--finally had to do it, so I can sympathize. You have tons of fabric...Good luck with that--LOL! Happy Days! :o)

[weirdbunny]

Brilliant shrinkydink portraits!

[marie-hélène]

Drawing teeth is a challenge. The most difficult thing to draw in a portrait !
The charms are cute !

[Natasha]

Love the shrinky dinks, I still have a "badge" my "BFF" and I made in the second grade!! We drew ourselves, its pretty funny.

Once you begin to re-fold your fabric you will be bowled over by inspiration!! I promise~

[pam]

Toni, just don't answer. Seriously. I'm not, I don't care how much they yell.

[Jennifer]

Shrinky dinks!!!! How much fun. I love it. I also love your piles of fabric. Ahhhh.
First time visitor!

[AmeliaB]

I love the shrinky dink! Also I thought your picture was the after picture (he he). Compared to our fabric uh...pile yours look like paradise. ;-)

~Amelia

[Sheldon Schwitek]

It's good to see that I am not the only one with piles on wire shelves, sort of sorted and showing the signs of love and digging. Been meaning to post something for a few days now. Will try and get a picture of the fabric stash in the studio posted tomorrow.

As for the Shrinkys, they are so cute. I remember when they first came out. I still ahve a couple of christmas decoartions that I made when I was a pre-teen. Yours are much more sofisticated than that.