Arkansas Arts Center

If you haven't seen The Impressionists and Their Influence at the Arkansas Arts Center, then hurry and get yourself down there.  June 26th is the last day to see this beautiful exhibition.  Sweetie and I went today and it was really nice.  A little bit crowded, but that's to be expected.  For more info, go to http://www.arkarts.com/.  Here's a pic of the museum, located in downtown  Little Rock.  It's very easy to get to, and there's plenty of parking - even some shady parking!

This next picture is Vincent Van Gogh's 'Man With a Spade Resting'.  I had not seen this before and think it's wonderful.

And this is 'Snowscape with Cows, Montfoucault', oil on canvas painting by Camille Pissarro.  Just the kind of art you need on a really hot summer day!

A really lovely exhibition - check it out!

Wrap It Up!

This is a tutorial of how I make the pretty packages for gift wrapping my Bijou Booth jewelry.  Here is an example.

• Go to Walmart, Michael's, Office Depot - any store that has cardstock
• Purchase a bunch of different colors of cardstock, like those below

• Go to http://www.dodadidit.blogspot.com/ and search for "pillow box"
• Follow this nice lady's instructions for making your own pillow boxes
• Resize the template in Microsoft Word to the sizes you want and print them on your cardstock
• I used 90%, 100%, and 145% of the original template size

• Cut out the templates using small, sharp scissors 
• Place the templates on a Rotary Mat and score them with a knitting needle or a boning tool used for folding 
• Punch a little half moon on the same side as the fold edge - see picture below.  This makes it easier to open the box.
• Fold and glue the edge down
• Clip the edge with clothespins to hold it while it dries

Time to decorate!

• Wrap the pillow box with decorative paper or cardstock
• I used Microsoft Expression Design to create my own decorative paper - explaining all of that is another tutorial!
• Use Microsoft Word (or whatever you use to print address labels) to print out your labels on the cardstock
• Punch them out with a decorative punch
• Glue on your different layers
• Add some ribbon and decorations
• Wrap your item in tissue paper and secure it in the pillow box.  Place the pillow box into a bubble wrap mailer, mail it, and you're done!

Here are some more pics of the finished pillow boxes.