WiseArts

Want to make some lettering using decorative paper for a card or collagey project? Here’s one way to do it!

1. Open up Photoshop and make a new document at the size you’d like.
2. Add white text saying what you’d like in a font that won’t be too difficult to cut out!
3. In the layers palette, make sure the text layer is selected, and add a stroke using layer effects. Make the stroke grey. The point of this is so that you have lines to cut on, and no dark areas that will interfere in the final project.
4. Now go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal
   Here’s what it looks like:
   
   Now if you don’t have Photoshop, most drawing programs should be able to get similar results. You can also do it in Microsoft Word: Go to Insert > Picture > Word Art, select the style with white text and black outline and format the text the way you like, then on the Drawing Toolbar go to Draw > Rotate or Flip > Flip Horizontal.
5. Now print your letters on light copy paper.
6. Glue the printed text onto your decorative paper, back-to-back. I like glue sticks, but any glue will work if you spread it thin.
   
7. Now you can cut out your text using tiny scissors or a cutting device of your choice. Cut right on the lines. I used straight-blade cuticle scissors, which work well for the tiny-ness!



8. Now you can stick your letters on your project with adhesive of your choice. I stuck mine atop some ripped banana leaf paper on a blank note card.

The End!

I got started late so I didn’t finish it yet, but I’m making an Easter Birdy (tutorial from Molly Chicken). I’ve had this one on my to-do list for quite a while, and decided to make one finally. It’s a super cute pattern. Here’s the progress so far:

As for the barbacoa (made yesterday), it was fabulous! Still not exactly like Chipotle, but getting closer. I’m sure the other ingredients play a hand in that flavor too… When I got home and started preparing everything to make burritos, I discovered I didn’t actually have that can of black beans that I thought I had. I called my husband and told him to pick some up on his way in. He came home with a can of refried black beans. Not the same. I used it anyway. Close enough.

I heated the tortillas and let them get singed a little bit over open flame, in hopes that they would pick up a bit of that fresh-made flavor. Not bad! Tongs are highly recommended for this process…unless you have some hair growin’ on your knuckles that you wanna get rid of.

Then added the hot rice, beans and barbacoa, the pico de gallo, and the green Tabasco - just like I do at Chipotle! I rolled it all up and it was good to go, no foil wrapper necessary. Overall, a tasty meal, and very close in flavor to the original. And more importantly, you don’t have to ask for more of your favorite ingredients! Don’t be stingy!

I had a taste-test this morning, and it is pretty darn good! My only gripe would be that the sauce is a little thin, but I think it’ll thicken up on reheating. So, it’s in the fridge now, ready to be heated up and assembled into delicious burritos when we get home. I’ll snap a photo of the final product to add to my crafty post this evening!

Edit - I’d like to add that I did get up at 1am (as I mentioned I was going to do in my last post) to check on the progress of the barbacoa, and it was not nearly done. Maybe the “Low” on my Crock Pot is a little too low. I just left it on low until I got up at 6am and it was perfectly done at that time. So it cooked for about 10 hours total. Perhaps putting my pot on “Medium” would’ve cut it to 5 hours. This worked out fine though. Now I know I can start it, go to bed, and wake up to the lovely smell of roasting spices and not crusty burnt meat.