Fun With Paper and Glue

About once a year or so I am inspired to make an elaborate card with cut paper. The process goes like this:

1. Lightbulb goes off above head, illuminating theoretical card so amazing it requires a power source and an operatic choir
2. Ten minutes later I realize I am lacking twenty-five of the twenty-eight colors of paper I need, wiring, and an operatic choir
3. Three hours later I am surrounded in an explosion of tiny bits of paper that look like deformed confetti
4. An hour after that I've glued myself to my desk
5. Following much thinking, rethinking, scaling-down, and acceptance of my limited array of tools and skills, I have a card that weighs about a pound because of all the stuff I've glued to it

One of these days I should document this process, but by the time it gets interesting, I usually have too much glue on my hands. Anyway, here are some finished products.

This is the one I just made, for my sister, to alert her that her birthday present (a season of The X-Files) is on its way. Those black lines had to be dragged through a pool of glue, it was a glorious mess.

This was for a friend who was living in Edinburgh at the time. It is an approximation of Edinburgh Castle, maybe 60% accurate.

A birthday card for Ivan. The 'hogs are drinking fermented apple juice probably because they're distressed that they live in a world with no sun.

And a card for a friend I met in England, who was present at the purchasing of Heslington. In fact, I think she was the one who assured me that spending fifteen pounds on a sheep-shaped doorstop was a really good idea. How right she was.

There are a few others in existence, but I forgot to take pictures before I mailed them. I've nearly exhausted my supply of decent paper (all that's left in any quantity is orange, yellow, and green), and should probably invest in some glue original to this decade, and maybe an X-acto knife, but I will probably leave it for next year. At eleven o'clock at night. Which everybody knows is the best and indeed only time to start projects.