jumping into Fall

Boy, the Fall weather is right on time, isn't it? There was quite a chill in the air this morning at the bus stop! It made me want to stamp a quick Fall card... so I did.   :} 
Of course I was limited to the meager supplies I've managed to unpack so far. But I think my card turned out pretty nice... 

After putting together the Gorgeous Grunge stamp set, it quickly made friends with some Summer Starfruit, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, and Wild Wasabi ink. Before adhering the Very Vanilla layer, I wrapped a teeny bit of Witches' Brew Washi Tape around the right side, and added Wild Wasabi pieces from the Chevron Border punch on the left side. 

Then I quickly assembled my Magnificent Maple stamp (yeah, yeah, yeah). I first inked the entire leaf with a Summer Starfruit marker. Then I added spots of color with Pumpkin Pie and Wild Wasabi markers. After coloring the edges with a Chocolate Chip marker, I spritzed the rubber with a little water before stamping.  *cheesy grin*  I like the "artsy" look of this!  :} 
Of course now I want to go nuts and stamp every project idea I've been thinking about all summer, but I know I need to pace myself, or I'll end up with an even bigger disaster than I have now! I'll be a good girl and clean up the mess from this morning. (sigh) Cross your fingers for me to sneak in a little stamping time on Wednesday!

back in the saddle, again...

Whew! I think there were just as many cobwebs in my blog as there are in our new house! As I logged in tonight, I seriously thought, "do I even remember how to post?" 
It's been an amazing summer! Unbelievably hectic, but nonetheless great. Two biggies: I started a new job at my church working with young children and their families - LOVE it!!  Aaaaand... we finally closed on our new house - YAY! The house needs work, but I have waaaay to many ideas. I think we will just continue unpacking, and just "BE" in the space for a while so I can narrow down my ideas and thoughts to fewer choices. Of course the unpacking would be so much easier if my little darlings would stop making messes in rooms I just straightened!! 
Ok, so I have two MDS projects to share with you today. The first is an "art" piece I made using a sentence from one of my pastor's sermons. I like to create digital "art" pieces (some I print, some I just view on the computer, some I share) with inspirational quotes... thoughts... ideas. It keeps me motivated. This one helps me so much, especially when my days start to feel "cluttered" with lots of little tasks. 

I originally created this for the blog I write as part of my new job, but I thought it might help you as much as it helps me, so enjoy!   :}

My second project is simply because today is "Talk Like a Pirate Day." That's right! And my little Aaron absolutely LOVES everything pirate, so it feels like a holiday created just for him.  He even hid his pirate hat in his backpack to take to school! 

Isn't he a cutie? It was really hot when the kids got off the bus this afternoon, so of course Aaron had to take his blow-up pirate ship for a cruise in the pool! Good times  :} 

Just as soon as I unpack the rest of my stampin' goodies and clear off a desk to stamp on, I'll be back with more fun stuff to share. I wanted to unpack and set up my craft room first, but hubby had this crazy idea we should set up the kitchen and bedrooms instead. That's so unfair, right??!!

the best things in life

The best things in life really aren't things... but sometimes it takes a few things to help make the good stuff happen. 

Giving myself time to relax and let go of stress is definitely a good thing. Quiet time with my stamping goodies does just that. Sending a hand-stamped card to brighten someone's day is also one of the good things in life, so it works out quite nicely! 

After distressing the edges of the 4 x 5-1/4" Certainly Celery layer, I stamped my greeting (Feel Goods) in Lucky Limeade ink, and adhered that layer directly to my Certainly Celery card base. 
Even though coordinating stamp sets and Framelits are technically "things," I would have to say they might just lean towards being one of the best things in life simply because they make my crafting time easier and more enjoyable.  :}   For this card I used the Secret Garden stamp set and Framelits. The flowers are stamped in Calypso Coral ink onto Whisper White card stock, and the leaves are stamped in Lucky Limeade ink onto Certainly Celery card stock. One flower is adhered directly to the card, another has 1 Dimensional under it, and the third flower has two Dimensionals under it. 
Besides quiet stamping time for yourself, what are some of the "best things" in your life?

Secret Garden

My mother-in-law loves to garden. She's even won awards for her flower gardens. So a Mother's Day card for her using the Secret Garden stamp set was perfect!

After stamping the leafy image twice in Pear Pizzazz ink, I die cut the leaves with the Secret Garden Framelits, and adhered them to my Island Indigo card base. Over those leaves, I added a strip of the new Gingham Garden DSP (look for this pretty paper in the upcoming catalog) down the center of the card. 

Onto Very Vanilla card stock, I stamped one flower in Melon Mambo ink, and another flower in Daffodil Delight ink. After using a Blender Pen to color the flowers, I die cut both of them with the Secret Garden Framelits. My sentiment is also from an upcoming new-cattie product --- Banner Greetings (a new Hostess stamp set). 

I wish I had even 10% of my mother-in-law's green thumb. Unfortunately, plants don't survive long around me. Perhaps that's why I make so many flowers out of paper... 

Happy Mother's Day!

Today is such a special day... A day for thanking our Moms and all of the Mother figures in our lives who have guided us, prayed for us, and taught us to be who we are today. 

One of the best things about stamping your own cards, is that you can create a one-of-a-kind card that fits the personality of the receiver. My Mom loves the vintage style, and really loves cards with lots of layers. I worked on this card quite a while yesterday to get it "just right." Hope she likes it! 
I started with a Pretty in Pink card base. To that I added a layer of Tea For Two DSP, which I dry embossed in the Lacy Brocade Embossing Folder to double-up on the quilted look. Then came the layers... 

For the two sentiments I used two different stamp sets - You're Amazing and Teeny Tiny Wishes. Both sentiment layers have Crumb Cake ink sponged around the edges, and the larger sentiment also has a little spritzing on it with a Lucky Limeade marker. 
Since my darling angels that made me a mother are begging for breakfast, I'll give you the shorthand version for the rest of the layers.  :} 

Delicate Doilies Sizzlit, Lucky Limeade card stock

Hearts a Flutter Framelit, Tea For Two DSP

Pretty in Pink button, Lucky Limeade Baker's Twine

Pretty in Pink grosgrain ribbon,  Paper Daisy

Papillon Potpourri stamp set, Elegant Butterfly punch, Bitty Butterfly punch

Basic Pearls 

Happy Mother's Day to all of our mothers, in our homes and in our hearts, and to all those who have "mothered" us through the years. God bless you!  

Teacher Appreciation Week - Friday

Whew! I made it... five gifts (well, ten since they're for two different teachers) in five days. See the smoke coming from my paper trimmer?   ;) 

All of the gifts were fun to make, and the teachers deserve them very much! Both of my boys have talented, kind, helpful teachers. We are so blessed! 
I'm not sure how I will live without the Fancy Favor Bigz XL die. I was actually shocked to find this "go-to" Big Shot die on the Retiring List. Well, I won't exactly be "living without"... it will go into my vault!
Anywho, I assembled the Fancy Favor box to hold gardening gloves and seed packets. The largest flower (Mixed Bunch) is stamped in Melon Mambo ink onto Twitterpated DSP and punched out with the Blossom punch. The other two flowers (Fruit & Flowers) are also stamped in Melon Mambo ink; one onto Blushing Bride card stock, and the other onto Whisper White card stock. 
I've seen the sentiment "thanks for helping me grow" added to a nice flowering plant. That would have been a super gift, but as I mentioned in the other "teacher appreciation gift" posts, the boys are the delivery service for all of these. And they ride the bus to school, for about twelve entire minutes. Boys can do lots of things in twelve minutes! Can't you just picture the dirt trail from their bus seat, down the steps, into the school, down the hallway... Ummm yeah, seeds work just as well with this sentiment. I created the sentiment using My Digital Studio, and then trimmed it to fit. Easy peasy! To make sure it all arrived inside the Fancy Favor box, I slipped the gifts into Gusseted Cellophane Bags and tied them closed with Melon Mambo Scallop Dots Ribbon.

And now... the conclusion to Aaron's animal alphabet book! I hope you found some inspiration for your classroom and/or punch art creations in this book.

 

Teacher Appreciation Week - Thursday

A week of teacher appreciation gifts was a great idea... right up until I saw Tuesday's and Wednesday's gifts in Aaron's backpack! Aaagh! I emailed his teacher so she could ask him if he has anything in his bag to turn in. Silly little boy...

Sometimes a gift card is the perfect gift. I do worry that it doesn't seem very personal... that's where the "delivery system" takes center stage. Once a gift card is wrapped up in pretty packaging, it becomes fabulous!
Using a 4 x 12" piece of card stock, I designed a pretty gift card holder. Since my gift card is for that yummy coffee shop we all know and love, I thought the BIG mug in the Tea Shoppe stamp set would be perfect. I put the holder together so that it looks like the card is sitting in the mug.   :} 
I used a 22" piece of Riding Hood Red Taffeta ribbon to tie the gift card holder closed. Since I didn't want the ribbon to fall off once the holder was open, I adhered a 4-1/4" square of Chocolate Chip card stock to the back. 
If I were personally hand-delivering these gift cards, I would have stopped there. But since they were being delivered by two little boys, I enclosed them in Clear Envelopes for a little extra safe keeping.   :}  

And now... a few more pages from Aaron's animal alphabet book- 

Teacher Appreciation Week - Wednesday

While making the teacher appreciation gift packaging for the Wednesday gift, I stumbled across a really nice color combination: Basic Black, Melon Mambo, and Soft Sky. Yowza! These colors are great together!! 

Everyone can use a fun clip-on scent holder for the car, right?? The bags are tied closed with Melon Mambo Scallop Dots ribbon. Then I used 1/8" Basic Black Taffeta ribbon to tie on the tag. 
For the tag, I started by stamping (Forever with You) in black StazOn®, and die cutting the image with the Window Frames Framelits. Then I adhered a strip of Melon Mambo card stock. After punching out a layer of Soft Sky card stock with the Decorative Label punch, I wrote my greeting, and attached it to the tag with Dimensionals. A single rhinestone adds just the right amount of "bling." 

For those of you following Aaron's animal alphabet book pages, here are a few more for your classroom and/or punch art inspiration...  

Teacher Appreciation Week - Tuesday

I love how paper-crafting can turn something ordinary into something adorable. And giving it as a gift... well, that's just awesome! 

For Teacher Appreciation Week, I thought it would be nice for the boys to bring little treats wrapped up in cute packaging. I'm trying to keep the gifts small and light enough so they don't get destroyed during the twelve whole minutes on the bus.  ;)  The gift for Tuesday is strawberry flavored gum, wrapped in Real Red DSP. 
To ink the strawberry stamp (Fruit & Flowers): I inked the berry in Real Red ink, used a Blender Pen like an eraser to remove the red ink from the leaf area, and then colored the leaf and stem with a Lucky Limeade Marker. 
The image is punched out with the 1-3/8" Circle punch, then layered over Lucky Limeade card stock die-cut on the Delicate Doilies Sizzlit. A doubled bow of Lucky Limeade Baker's Twine adds the perfect finishing touch. 

In my last post, I started sharing Aaron's ABC animal alphabet book. I know several teachers who will like these, and I also know several punch art fans who will get some cute ideas. Here are a few more of the pages... 

 

Teacher Appreciation Week - Monday

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to all the teachers out there! That's right folks... it's teacher appreciation week. My boys will be bringing cute little gifts to their teachers this week. Here's what they took on Monday: 

This is super easy to create! I wrapped some Sunshine & Sprinkles DSP around a box of fish-shaped candy, and adhered it together with Sticky Strip. The polka-dot ornament from Delightful Decorations is stamped in Daffodil Delight and punched out with the Ornament punch to create the fish body. A flower from the Boho Blossoms punch is folded in half to create the side fin. (I used a retired flower punch for the other fins.) And the googlie eye just makes me smile! 

As a former Kindergarten teacher (and current substitute teacher), I could not resist sharing an AMAZING project my son brought home. I know that all of my readers who are teachers for the "little ones" will want to make this book next year! And for those of you who love punch art, there are lots of ideas in this project. 

The students created a page when each letter was introduced. Now, at the end of the school year, Aaron's teacher has laminated every page and with two binder rings at the top, assembled a book for each student to keep. The animals are adorable, and of course remind me of cute punch art animals.  >>>Remember the walrus ordeal??  ;)  
Be sure to check back throughout the week as I share the rest of the teacher appreciation gifts and animal alphabet book!

trends in papercrafting

Sometimes it's fun to be trendy... run with the IN crowd. Just be sure to put down your craft scissors before you run.   ;) 

This card is the "cat's meow," and has some of the latest craft trends all over it! I started with the idea of wanting to make a card using blues and purples. Then I thought giving it sort of an ombre look would be great. And you can't leave out chevrons or flags. Throw in some Baker's Twine and a good amount of white space, and you've got yourself one of the hippest cards in town! 

I used the Tasteful Trim Bigz XL die to cut scraps of (from top to bottom) Wisteria Wonder, Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum, Baja Breeze, Island Indigo, and Pool Party card stock. Wisteria Wonder Baker's Twine tied into a bow around the 1-1/4 x 2-1/2" Pool Party DSP looks pretty darn cute. 
What? What stamp? Oh! You want to know where I got that neat-o greeting that's stamped in Elegant Eggplant? Um, yeah. That's from an awesome (and very trendy!) Hostess stamp set in the upcoming catalog. That's right, Banner Greetings is a Hostess stamp set. Why? Because we know that you want to be like all the other super-cool people and host your own stampin' party so you can get cute, trendy, free stuff too! C'mon... you know you want too...   ;) 

National Scrapbooking Day 2013

I usually laugh at all the "made up" holidays (I'll try to find the energy to create an apology if anyone is offended). I mean, do we really need a National Sandwich Day?? A National Chocolate Covered Raisin Day??? You are dealing with someone who doesn't even understand Sweetest Day! But why, oh why, isn't National Scrapbooking Day celebrated with even greater flair than a Federal Holiday?! We should all have the day off work, free babysitting, and hours of scrappin' time. Oh, and maybe even a short parade where they throw out embellishments and ribbon instead of candy!  We certainly shouldn't be freezing our dupas off in the rain at a campout for our cute little Cubscouts. Perhaps I'll stage a sit scrap-in next year... 

I made this 12x12 digital layout with some fun photos I took of my oldest son playing in the snow. My boys were so happy to finally get a chance to use their sleds from Santa. It was pretty strange for us to have to wait until the end of March to see this much snow!  Of course it was gone as quickly as it fell...
I love how my title turned out!! The letters to spell spring are "punches" filled with "paper."  I will probably copy and paste the same title onto the pages for my youngest son. Heck, I might just create duplicate pages and change the photos! Have I mentioned how much I love My Digital Studio?! 
So what are you scrapbooking today??? 

let's talk about scrapbooking

Hello and Happy Friday!! I'm hoping to spend the weekend doing a little scrapbooking, but somehow I have the feeling I'll be taking more pictures to "scrapbook later" than I will actually scrapbook. Well, that is if the rain doesn't turn into a downpour at our campout.
I've been pondering scrapbook styles lately... 
My scrapbooks are primarily 12x12 full-page layouts. I will occasionally create a smaller album for a trip or special event. I also like to make digital pages just for the heck of it (these pages of my boys are saved onto a disc for them to keep). But there are so many options... page size, bound book vs individual pages, single page vs full-page layout, traditional vs digital or hybrid... 

Inside my scrapbooks, you will find pages created with "traditional products" --

Note: the chalkboard art technique looks just as great on scrapbook pages as it does on cards. Be sure to try all of your card-making techniques on your scrapbook pages! 

You will also find digital pages...

Note: I started this page to measure 11 x 8-1/2, but I have plans to import it into a 12x12 project. I LOVE that I can do that in seconds with My Digital Studio! 

...and "hybrid" pages. Hybrid projects combine both digital and traditional products.

Note: One great benefit of digi-scrapping is editing my photo size multiple times while creating the layout. On this layout, I ended up making one photo cover the entire 12x12 page - LOVE!

Note: traditional supplies include stamped and punched layers, chipboard, buttons, etc.

So what are your thoughts on scrapbooking? Are you a traditional or digital scrapper - or both! What's your preferred size? Do you scrap single or two-page layouts? What types of projects do you like to look at online? I'd love to get a good discussion going!!

***** Isn't that title/ journaling box on the digi page neat?? Click on over to my Facebook page to get it (and two more!) for free. They will look great on your scrapbook pages! Print them now so you can use them tomorrow while you're scrapping for National Scrapbooking Day!  :}  *****