It's a bird. It's a plane. It's a cube.

I really enjoy displaying as much of the art I get in trades as I possibly can. Especially in my craft room, but it spreads all over the house, too. When I came across this project a few years ago I was immediately attracted to it because, unlike ATCs and postcards, it didn't require anything extra to display.

I'm talking about these "collage cubies" -- a project created and outlined by Chris Dunmire. I held a swap for them back when I first came across the tutorial and had hoped to make it a regular collectible thing like ATCs, but it didn't pan out. I'm very good at self-starting projects and completing them, but returning to it and making the project a regular thing in my repertoire is something I do not have a knack for. I just steamroll on to the next project. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Annnnnyway, I'm returning to this project now and hosting a swap for it again. This time any medium goes for the cubie, not just collage, so I've dubbed them "creative cubies". Follow the link above for the full tutorial and templates; read on to see how I whipped up my sample this morning.

The first time I made a cubie, I printed the template directly on cardstock and collaged each panel. This time I wanted to do it a little differently and a little more quickly. You don't always have to spend hours on a project for it to be fulfilling and artistic.

I printed the template on regular printer paper and then glued that to a sheet of paint palette paper I recently liberated from my palette pad. Using palette paper gives me the look and feel of paint without having to go through the process of painting.

I glued the papers back to back, this way I didn't have to spend time cutting out the template, tracing around it and cutting it out again. Smooth move, Ex-Lax.

I cut it out once and scored it using the lines on the template.

Then I loosely assembled the cube just to see what I was working with.

I finally figured out what I was going to add to it...

I stamped some background textures: dots, text, paisley.

Then added some Fornasetti girl faces and finished with a quote.

Ta-da!

I think it took me 30 minutes? IDK, I don't time myself.

I like it and it's already found a home on my shelf.

Later, Vader.