Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Here's looking at you, kid...

I found blog post inspiration a few days ago as it was headed for the trash. 



I had to pick up some contact lenses for one of my girls and the eye doctor's office sent them home in the cutest little bag - clear but covered with eyes (Appropriate? - Yes!)  Just as I was about to throw the bag away, all those different style eyes got me thinking about all the spooky eyes that might be peering out from the dark around Halloween- so I decided to see what I could come up with.  (I love Halloween and it appears that I can't really put it behind me until the actual day has come and gone)

So let's see what options we have and have a little lesson about conveying emotion through punched eyes

First I just made a series of simple eyes from the small oval punch and either a standard hole punch or a "piece" of the 1/2 inch circle punch.  This page shows just a few possible options.  And these are all glued down - they will remain consistant for four pages of examples.



Next I added just a small white highlight with the white gel pen on most of them and gave all but one ANGRY eyebrows  with the slot punch (one pair of eyes was already slanted to look angry).  This shows how adding just two small punch shapes can totally change the emotion of your character.




Next I slanted the eyebrows the other direction.  Now some look surprised, shocked, bemused, scared etc.  The eye slant, brow slant and positioning of the "iris" all combine to give emotion now.




Finally I just mixed it all up to make myself happy with the variety.




Of course the real variety is endless.  You can use so many of our punches for eyes and you can use PIECES of punches for eyes.  Look at this variety using the butterfly punch - trimmed by varying amounts with the small oval punch - that is right - no hand trimming - just punch a butterfly then punch again with the small oval (once for each eye)

I don't know about you but I definitely see frog eyes and owl eyes in this batch.

Imagine all the possibilities with the different circles and ovals PLUS why not star eyes?  why not word window eyes?  You have already seen me use various hearts for the whites of eyes on my punch creatures.


And you still have time to take this info and mail a simple Halloween card to brighten up a friend's day - if you stop reading blogs and make it RIGHT NOW!

Just punch a pair of eyes and pop them on a black card front like this...
Stamp a simple "Happy Halloween" on the inside, add a short note and you are good to go!

Or if you really have no time - file this away and use the eye idea in the corner of a black Halloween scrapbook page for a simple spooky accent with all the photos you take on Halloween.

12 comments:

Gaby said...

These eyes are soooo cool.
You can make just about any kind of face expression with it.

Thank you so much for sharing.

Creations by Patti said...

This is a great linrary collection of eyes - wow!!!! put these in a box to pop out atcha........love them....can't wait to see them on faces or things. Thanks for sharing your inspiration!!!!

Sharon Field / Inky A*Muse-ment said...

I see Owl eyes, frog eyes, and cat eyes too! some of those butterfly eyes almost look like ghosts kissing, or birds too.. (minus the eyeballs). Love how you play to create.. very inspirational!

Carey said...

You see inspiration in just about everything don't ya? Wow, you are just really great. I promise I am not sucking up to get anything, although if you want to send a check or something green my way go ahead. Better yet don't, Roscoe would probably eat it. You are one smart gal.

Unknown said...

Great eyes! I always have a problem with them, so thanks for sharing this great info. Honestly,
I couldn't create anything with punches before I got inspiration from you, and you taught me how to look at the punched parts in different ways. Thanks for everything you do to inspire us.

Hugs,

Dano

Anne said...

Brilliant as usual! Thanks for the inspiration.

Whimcees said...

This is the greatest Halloween card I have ever seen! I LOVE it!

Thank you for this wonderful idea!

Barbara Diane

Sunshine said...

Oh wow! hat a cool idea - love it! Thanks for sharing - love your blog & have it on my favourites:-)
Sunshine NZ
http://www.ihearttostamp.blogspot.com

Az Scrappin Sisters said...

You are ONE CREATIVE lady!!!! I really enjoyed you info eyes and making eyes for emotions.Thanks for sharing.

Carolyn Gibbs said...

Gosh this is great! I think I might have to pinch the eye-deas (*groan* sorry, pun intended!) for a few projects of my own!

CardsbyMarianne.blogspt.com said...

I love all of your creative punch ideas! You've inspired me to try some of these!
Thanks for sharing!
Marianne
http://cardsbymarianne.blogspot.ca/

Colorado Crafter said...

Just came upon your blog today and love your punch art work!! I hope you'll answer a question for me even though this post is from a long time ago. I looked up the SU small oval punch and they still have one available, but this one you used looks thinner. So, I'm wondering if you know if the small oval punch they sell now is the same as this one you used, or if my eyes are correct in thinking it's a fatter oval now.

I realize that even if the punch is now fatter a person could narrow the punched shape, but that would definitely add time to any project and also makes it difficult to get all the eyes exactly the same. Being a perfectionist, I wouldn't want eyes that didn't match.

Thanks,
cocrafter@gmail.com